Okgirl Speaks

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

2006-07-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-07-04T01:09:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-05-02T10:37:00.000-05:00

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

2006-04-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

I snagged this from Whit:

Faithful Architect

Try it..it's awesome!

Hey Y'all

2006-04-18T13:36:00.000-05:00

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

2006-04-06T08:08:00.000-05:00

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

2006-03-25T09:39:00.000-06:00

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

2006-03-14T08:11:00.000-06:00

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

2006-03-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

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

2006-03-04T22:00:00.000-06:00

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

2006-03-02T08:33:00.000-06:00

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

2006-02-28T22:37:00.000-06:00

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?

2006-02-28T15:09:00.000-06:00

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!!!!

2006-02-21T09:18:00.000-06:00

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.....

2006-02-18T18:09:00.000-06:00

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

2006-02-10T19:02:00.000-06:00

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Ok Girl!

Ok Girl is physically incapable of sticking her tongue out.
The Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter is made entirely of Ok Girl.
In Vermont, the ratio of cows to Ok Girl is 10:1!
It takes a lobster approximately 7 years to grow to be Ok Girl!
It is impossible to fold Ok Girl more than seven times.
If you kiss Ok Girl for one minute you will burn six or seven calories.
In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become Ok Girl on New Year's Day.
A lump of Ok Girl the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
If Ok Girl was life size, she would stand 7 ft 2 inches tall and have a neck twice the size of a human.
In Chinese, the sound 'Ok Girl' means 'bite the wax tadpole'!

Twenty One

2006-02-09T16:32:00.000-06:00

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

2006-02-01T18:52:00.000-06:00

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.

2006-01-29T22:06:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-24T18:21:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-18T20:59:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-17T12:22:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-16T19:02:00.000-06:00

This was so me today:

Ahhhhhh

2006-01-15T23:42:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-06T16:43:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-05T09:57:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-01T22:32:00.000-06:00

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!*

Merry Christmas....again

2005-12-24T15:37:00.000-06:00

I SO snagged this from Kalisah...cuz she is the awesomest:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate loaded with mini marshmallows. Yummmmy!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them around the tree?
When I grew up he just set them out, but I married a yankee and now Santa brings every dang thing wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White and wonderful!

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
If any falls out of the tree in our front yard. One year we shot some down with a BB Gun and nobody even went to the emergency room. The fun part is I kept telling hubby, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

5. When do you put your decorations up?
We start the day after Thanksgiving and we finish on or around Christmas Eve. It takes forever!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Sweet potatoe casserole.

7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I remember it. The evil stepmother told me. I think I was like 10. I think she was tired of the Santa thing. I cried because I felt like someone had stripped away my Christmas spirit. We never told our kids. They somehow just figured it out. Don't ask, don't tell.

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We all get to pick one. I always pick the one that looks like it has jewelry in it. Ha!

9. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?
Chocolate chip.

10. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love, love, love it. Sadly, we hardly ever get any. :0(

11. Can you ice skate?
Although two of my kids played ice hockey for years, and my oldest even got an offer from a Jr. Hockey team, I never learned to ice skate. I can still roller skate awesomely. I worked at a roller skating rink in high school. I use to work in my skates.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift?
An Easy Bake Oven and one of those barbie heads where you could style their hair.

13. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family and fun times.

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Pumpkin Pie!

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Going to my MeeMaws house on Christmas Eve.

16. What tops your tree?
A huge gold and antique red bow.

17. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?
I like them both.

18. What is your favorite Christmas Carol?
"Silent Night" - It's such a calming song.

19. Candy Canes! Yum....it's so Christmasy.

20. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween (because I guess I am a little evil.

Now do this yourself and let me know so I can read yours!

Christmas Eve

2005-12-24T13:51:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe it's here. It's Christmas Eve. We have had a busy start to our day already. We got up early this morning and met my best friend from high school, her husband as well a very good friend of mine from right after high school and her family (her youngest daughter is my god daughter) at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. My friend from high school and her husband are from Chattanooga and the other friend and her family are from Houston so we do not get to see them much. We had so much fun and talked about so many memories. These two girls and I were all partners in crime back in the day. Enough said. Good times.

As for now, we are baking, making gingerbread houses, wrapping MORE gifts and enjoying family time together as we watch "A Christmas Story". You must have Ralphie on Christmas Eve. Tonight we will head to my MeeMaw's house (my grandmother), and open gifts there and then come back and snuggle down and wait for sugar plums to dance in our heads. Hope your day has been as fun as mine!

Merry Christmas to you all.

2x SHOCK!

2005-12-20T12:34:00.000-06:00

Twice in one day. Wow..I must have just absolutely lost it or something. Well, it's like this; I watched the girls on "The View" earlier, and I am just more than a little pissed. Okay...Star Jones and the girls were interviewing a "plus-sized" model. Okay, first of all, when did a size 10 become a plus size?? Someone tell me this. That is an insult to normal looking women (especially me since I range from an size 8 to a 10, which means some weeks I am model thin, others I am "plus-sized" - slap me please!) That was my first piss off. The second one was when Star Jones had the nerve (oh yeah, she had nerve alright) to tell this "plus-sized" model that she loved her body and wished she had her curves. Okay Star, then why the hell did you spend all that money to end up looking like the big headed, bug eyed, skinny alien you are today? I mean....have you looked at Star lately? She is absolutely scary as hell. She had nerve saying that. I hope more women than me are annoyed by her.

End of Rant.

Back to cleaning house.

Playlist for cleaning house:

Madonna: Beautiful Stranger
Modest Mouse: Doin the Cockroach
Black Eyed Peas: My Humps (Hate the words, love the beat)
The Beatles: Hey Jude (I miss you John Lennnon!)
Foghat: Slow Ride
The Knack: My Sharona
Metallica: Turn the Page
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Rollercoaster
David Bowie and Queen: Under Pressure
Stevie Wonder: Sir Duke
Kanye West: Gold Digger
Aerosmith: Dream On
Missy Elliot: Music Makes You Lose Control
Talking Heads: Burning Down the House (so 80's)
Spice Girls: Wannabe (ala Whit!)
Elvis Costello: Everyday I Write the Book

What do you listen to when you are cleaning?

Thankful

2005-12-20T08:04:00.000-06:00

Be thankful you do not live in New York City today. Those poor people trying to get to work and elsewhere while the transit system is shut down. Have you seen all the people walking? Argh! I feel sorry for them. I complain if I have to sit on our local heavily traveled University Drive for an extra 10 minutes in the morning. I mean life could be so much worse.

Today will be busy for me. I wish I was more motivated. Some dorkus (hubby) scheduled my BMW to be taken in for service first thing this morning. Guess who just rescheduled? Yep, me. Who would schedule a day at the BMW spa just a few days before Christmas? I changed it until after Christmas. Please, things are stressful enough right now. Hubby really isn't a dork, but sometimes I wonder why he does what he does. I think it is just to annoy me. Tonight I am expecting about 20 young adults at my house to see my son before he heads back out to his post. He leaves on Thursday. I have already shed tears over this, and it hasn't even happened yet. I dread it. A couple of times he has reminded me why there are times I do not miss him, especially the night he decided to wrestle my other son until one of them scremed uncle. It wasn't going to happen. This went on forever. These two big guys rolled and writhed on the floor and neither one was going to speak the dreaded word (uncle). I finally had to break them by bribing them with food and threatening to climb in there and break them up. Kids. So anyways, we are cooking out and letting all these young adults (hockey players, college students, soldiers, etc.) hang out at our house. Will I survive?

Stay tuned....

Dang!

2005-12-19T19:59:00.000-06:00

Wow...I just looked at the last time I updated and I am in shock it has been so long. What's going on you ask? Life my friend, life. My sailor is home and I have been spending lots of time with him when he is not out partying with his friends and going on dates with various girls. He is young and having fun, just as it should be. We only have a few more days with him *sigh*. Work has been going great. We have had several parties at the office and have attended several parties with hubby's work. I almost feel partied out. I have been crazy shopping lately getting all the fabulous things that everyone wants. The only thing I don't think I will be getting for anyone is the huge diamond ring my daughter tried on at the fab jewelry store that we frequent. I think she needs to find herself a fiance for that eventually (remember she is only 13). She did pick out quite a beautiful wedding set with a vintage looking setting. I am quite impressed that she has such awesome taste, but what can I say? She is my daughter. I tried on a lovely 3 stone ring that is quite a bit larger than the one I got last year. *le sigh* Maybe Santa will be good to me. I have been a good girl...I promise!

Little Tahlulah (daughter) has finally decided she does not need a boyfriend to make her happy. I think her little heart was so broken that she has started putting up those dreaded walls. I hate those dang walls. I put them up myself. It's a barrier - protection from getting hurt. I guess that is okay because eventually she will meet the guy that will rock her socks and the walls will come down. Of course, he will have his work cut out for him, but if she is worth, he will suceed. It's terrible what getting your heart broken will do to you.

Younger son is out on a date with some girl he met on Myspace. Oh, this does not make me feel good because she is from Italy supposedly and she might have connections to some mafia or something, but he assures me she is nice. They have talked on the phone several times, and they are meeting in a public place and she is 17. Please - don't let her be a serial killer.

Oh well...off to straighten hair.

Fun stuff I tell ya.

Mornings suck

2005-12-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

UGH...It's 7:30 am and here I sit. The kids just went out the door and I am debating on if I should just crawl back in my warm comfy bed or get some house work done. Let me ask this:

Darn, it says: The answer is in your backyard. Since my bed is not in my backyard, I guess that means I need to stay up and get some stuff done. YAY!

Koo Koo Ka Choo

2005-11-30T18:51:00.000-06:00

I bet I didn't even get close to spelling that right. Whatever.

What's been going on with you all? Me you ask? Gosh...just life. We were pretty much slugs most of the Thanksgiving holiday (mostly due to the fact that we ate like pigs). We did pull all of our Christmas stuff out and we are still in the process of putting it all up. Of course, when you have three trees and 20 years worth of Hallmark Christmas ornaments given to us by my mother in law who is a huge ornament freak, then...well...you understand. It's busy. I have been trying to do some of it myself, but hubby is so anal about how things are and where they are, I end up getting frustrated and just give up and let him go at it. Dang engineers. Between that, working, having a sick kid (daughter), and trying to get my house cleaned up before my son comes home it's just been craziness around here. I really got a little sad yesturday when one of my son's friends dropped by to see if he was home yet. Evidently his friends are chomping at the bit for him to come home too. I told him that he would be here next week and he told me he knew it was soon but he had forgotten exactly which day. He looked sad when I told him he wasn't here yet, and that made me a little upset. That kid is loved so much. I can't wait.

Other than that, not much else to report and the engineer needs my advice on where to put some stuff, so with that...

I am out.

*edit* I can't believe I spelled mostly *mostley*. I hope I changed it before any of you saw that. Grrrr.....spelling is suppose to be my thingy.

Zach Braff....you are my hero!

2005-11-26T23:59:00.000-06:00

Okay, I was perusing through the little list of blogs I frequent tonight since I had a few minutes and I was taking a break from decorating one of the THREE trees we are putting up this year (argh...the work!), and I was noticing the amount of comments people get. I mean, I might get one or two here and there and it does not hurt my feelings because I really don't visit and comment many blogs unless I am a regular reader or they say something very funny or something I can totally relate too and I understand that you sorta have to fish around for comments (no, I did not say compliments) and I really don't do that, I am more of a lurker. So, as I was going down through my bookmarked blogs, I happened upon one I have not read in awhile. Now, I am always impressed when someone can get more than 10 comments, and occasionally, someone spectacular will get over 50 or something like that, but this is totally rediculous. I thought about commenting on THIS blog, but what's the use, I am sure he does not read them all. Jeez, if I can't even find the time to comment on blogs that I really love, how the heck would this guy find time to read all those comments. No telling how many blogs there are like that out there, I just don't have time to look for them. I suck!

Zach Braff...you are my hero!

Thankful

2005-11-24T22:35:00.000-06:00

My list of things I am thankful for (starting in particular order then winding down to non-particular order - heh):

1. God
2. Living another day (healty)
3. My family (all of em, hubby, kids, etc.)
4. My wonderful friends
5. Getting to see my sailor in about 2 1/2 weeks!!!!!!
6. My awesome job
7. The awesome people I work with
8. Food on the table
9. My BMW
10. Husband's bonus so there is no struggle for Christmas
11. Hot chocolate
12. Fuzzy socks
13. Sunrises
14. Sunsets
15. Cute sweaters
16. Sephora
17. My iBook
18. Kids that mind and listen most of the time
19. Everyone is healthy
20. Seeing people for what they are and trying to find the good first
21. Oklahoma
22. Chocolate
23. Being warm and comfy when it's cold outside
24. Escaping a horrible childhood virtually unscathed
25. My acoustic guitar
26. Family vacations
27. Snowy nights
28. Tulips
29. Cucumber melon body spray
30. Baby pictures
31. Cowboy boots
32. Diamonds
33. Tivo
34. Crunchy leaves
35. Hair straigheners
36. Popcorn
37. Auburn Tigers
38. Rainy mornings when I can sleep in
39. I get the whole Christmas week off!
40. Hubby's spectacular raise
41. Candles that don't stink
42. Bunco
43. Long length pants
44. Eddie Bauer catalogs
45. Creme Brulee
46. Macaroni Grill
47. Velveteen blazers
48. Heated car seats
49. Elvis Presley
50. Chips and salsa

Okay, there is much more. I think you know what I am saying. We all have so much to be thankful for. What are you thankful for?

The Tryptophan is Working

2005-11-24T21:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving all. I sit here so dang full I can hardly move. We have one Christmas tree up in daughter's room and three more to go. Let me correct myself here, we have one tree up and not decorated. *sigh* Christmas is so much work. We went out the other night and bought daughter a cool slim white Christmas tree for her room. We had a regular slim green one up there last year, but this year we are going for a more modern theme. For garland we will use feather boas and use the funky colored ornaments we got last year. I will try to post pictures after we get it done. As for now, its just set up with the lights on. It's going to be awesome when it's done. I am waiting for hubby to get off his duff and get the other trees down so we can get started. He brought back a lot of Lenox ornaments from his mother's so we are going to do our formal tree in the prettier ornaments. As for the family room, it will be reserved for kid ornaments that they have made over the years. I love that! Our room will have all the left overs. I got my son one of those fiber optic trees for his room. We are going to be all Christmased out here.

Now for the big question....do I plan to go shopping tomorrow? NO. I plan to work on decorating and do a lot of online ordering. I know I will have to go out for some things, but I sure do not plan to do it tomorrow. We have a lot of stuff coming up such as Christmas parties and also my son will be home for two weeks, so it's going to be pretty busy around here. Daughter has a huge math project due on Tuesday so she is up there working on that. I hate it when they give projects over the holidays. That is just not right. Her new little boyfriend just called her from Ohio where he is spending his holiday. That made her feel so special. She loves having someone that actually shows that they care about her instead of keeping her guessing all the time. I know they won't be together forever, but it's nice to see her so happy and it's nice to see that this time she has a nice boy that truly cares for her and shows it. I don't think it's one of those red hot things (I mean she is only 13), but it's a sweet little good friendship and he is such a little cutie. And thankfully he seems harmless unlike the last one that kept breaking her heart over and over again. She is finally over him now that she has such a good one this time. My son is at the movies with a bunch of his friends who have come home from college for Thanksgiving. I am not sure what they went to see, but hopefully he won't come dragging in at 2 am tonight like he did last night. Kids.

Well...I guess I am going to have to use force to get the hubby moving. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have fun with all of your Christmas decorating.

That's all for now.

'Nuff Said

2005-11-23T21:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving and War Eagle!

Oh Yeah....

2005-11-20T13:56:00.000-06:00

WAR EAGLE! Guess we showed you guys huh?

Ha!

Thanks Skillzy...can't believe I didn't say anything about that. That was truly the highlight of my yesturday.

Boo Yah!

I heart Sundays

2005-11-20T11:32:00.000-06:00

Today is a typical Sunday at our house. Well, except for the fact that hubby is not here because he got up and went fishing at 7am. He normally does not do that, but whenever he gets invited to go fishing, he can't say no. As for me, I am watching movies, doing laundry and some general cleaning. This will be a short but busy work week for me. I already have all the items I need for our Thanksgiving meal, so at least all of that is out of the way. I haven't had a whole lot of time to update my little thingy here, but I am making a point of it now before everything gets all crazy. Not too much is going on around here, just usual running daughter around and trying to keep things in order. Not much drama (thankfully), but she does have a new little boyfriend. And when I say little, I mean he is much shorter than her (but very cute), but then again, most of the boys are because she is so tall. Let's see how she handles this one as not many of the kids at school know about it yet. I had the same problem myself. I was always the tallest girl when I was in school and it sucked until about high school when the boys finally started catching up with me. Luckily, the boyfriend I had in High School was 6'5" tall so I never had problems there. As for daughter, she is one of those very confident types that won't have a problem with it. I was always self consious so I was always paranoid about going out with a shorter guy. She says who cares as long as you like them and they are a good person. I admire her for her positive outlook and her ability to surround herself with good people. She absolutley will not have anything to do with kids that are not a good influence on her. I hope she stays that way.

I heart her.

I heart Sundays.

We're not in Kansas

2005-11-15T14:35:00.000-06:00

Today has been a great day off. So far.

This morning I got up and ran all my errands and got all my stuff done because this afternoon they are predicting horrible weather. We are talking tornadoes here people. Today is the 16th anniversary of one of the worst tornadoes that ever hit our area, and now here we are. Waiting. I got my roast and veggies started early so we can eat early then go pile into the centermost room in our house away from windows. I see that in other areas of the country it has already started. It's probably not going to be fun for us tonight. This is suppose to go on well into the night. Pray for us will ya?

Mmmmm Macaroni!

2005-11-13T12:36:00.000-06:00

So, it goes like this - I am in charge of the Thanksgiving Feast at work. Evidently you do not, I repeat, DO NOT...say things like this, "Do you guys do anything special for Thanksgiving?" For if you do say things like that you are immediately put in charge of whatever special event you ask about. Lesson learned. Promise to never do that again.

Haven't had too much time lately. Been busy running kids around, taking care of flat tires, washing dirty cars, working, saving the world and stuff like that. I should be cleaning house today and have actually done a little bit, but still have so much to do. For some reason, whenever I start a project, my adult ADD takes over and I never seem to get anything done. I start one project and get distracted by another and before you know it, absolutely nothing is complete. I am so proud of me. Hubby has been out of town this weekend helping his mother do some things around her house so it's been up to me to make sure everything is running smoothly - help us all!

Humpity Dumpity Day

2005-11-09T09:19:00.000-06:00

Well..this week got off to a fine start. Got up Monday morning and took my daughter and her friend to an early church thingy, and when I was pulling out of the driveway, I noticed my son had a flat tire. Grrrr!!! Anyways, come back home and notice that not only is one tire flat, they were all flat. Being an avid watcher of CSI (because my husband makes me), I started putting two and two together and came up with the excellent analysis that the tires had all been slashed. Not only did they get all four of his tires, they got my older son's car too, with two of its tires being slashed. REAL GRRRRING. While I was outside Grrring, various neighbors started coming up and saying their tires had been slashed also. The whole street as well as the next street over, we all got it. Great. Fabulous. This morning began with a flat bed wrecker coming to haul my son's car off to the local tire store for a whole set of new tires (keep in mind we just put new tires on his car 2 months ago). Double fabulous. Okay, we do not live anywhere near a ghetto. We live in a very nice upper middle class neighborhood, directly behind a very upper class neighborhood. I don't get it. Thankfully insurance will cover this, but it has not been fun. The inconvience has been a pain in the butt.

We live in a nice fast growing little city. Most of the people here are highly educated engineers and business people. The cops here are mostly idiots. Yesturday while hubby was looking to see where the tires were slashed, we found a knife laying in the leaves beside my oldest son's car. Keep in mind he has been gone for almost a year. We call the cops to come and get the evidence (just like on CSI!!!). Barney Fife and his deputy showed up (just like on Andy Griffith!!). I don't want to go into details here, but it didn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling that they know what the heck they are doing. They didn't even know the whole neighborhood had their tires slashed. Very comforting the communcation amongst our small town police officers huh? So, this is my day off. When I should be mopping floors and getting laundry done, I am running around like a crazy woman trying to take care of this car so my son can get around. I haven't even started on the other car.

*sigh*

Call in the Super Heroes please.

Pimp My Blog

2005-11-05T00:18:00.000-06:00

Okay, I have been shamed into updating because my daughters friends are over and one of them was reading my little blog, and she wanted me to tell everyone that my daughter has the most awesomest friends in the world. The one that wanted me to do this, says she is the most awesomest of them all. Oh, and she rules at DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) - she wishes!

The End

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2005-11-03T07:30:00.000-06:00

Okay...Halloween has just ended and it looks like Christmas is already here. Santa will be at the mall on November 4th ready to take those Christmas present request from all the boys and girls. WTF? I mean...it's the beginning of NOVEMBER! I have not even had time to think about Christmas yet. I haven't even planned to think about Christmas yet! Why is it here already? Because it is NOT here already. This is F.A.L.L. Can't we have Fall anymore? Why do we have to jump from Halloween to Christmas? Are we even going to have Thanksgiving anymore? See...when I was growing up, the Christmas season did not begin until the END of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade when Santa came down the main drag....THEN, and only THEN was it the start of the Christmas season. Not when purple and orange lights were still hanging on my front porch. Not when I still have a basket full of fun sized Snickers and M&M's waiting to be eaten. Not when the pumpkins we took so much time to carve are still smiling brightly and menancingly on the front steps. Not when the temperature around here is 70 degrees. Not when Hubby hasn't even received the bonus that we use to do our Christmas shopping with. Next thing you know, the Christmas season will begin immediately after the 4th of July. Evil advertising. Life is too fast as it is. Christmas is not here! I refuse to believe it.

Funny Diferences

2005-11-01T13:17:00.000-06:00

I had to take my car into the local BMW dealership this morning, and let me tell you, these BMW people know how to treat ya. Okay...let see if I can do a quick compare and contrast between the SUV service department I use to frequent vs. the BMW service department.

Scene - SUV Dealership:

Me...standing and being ignored directly in front of the service guy.

Me: *cough*
Him: Oh, can I help you?
Me: Yes, I had an appointment to bring my SUV in...it's making some funny noise and the check engine light keeps coming on.
Him: Oh, well...let's go take a look.
Me: See..when you start it up, wait, it's not doing it now, it has been doing it for the last week, I cannot believe it's not doing it now.
Him: Seems your check engine light is not on either. Ma'am, we won't be able to do anything unless it's doing what you say it's doing, and if it's not doing it, it's going to cost you $75.00 for us to look at it.
Me: Okay, well, I don't know what else to do because I have had it in here so many times for the same exact problem, and it was doing it then.
Him: Whatever, there are others here I need to go look at.
Me: Okay, well..is there a van here that can take me to work?
Him: Nope, sorry, it's already gone, you are on your own.

At this point I would call around and try to find a ride and leave the SUV there only to pick it up later and them tell me there isn't a damn thing wrong with it. Oh yeah, and the check engine light - It would come home on the way home. Grrrrr!!!! *grumble*

Okay...now, the BMW service department:

Scene: Me driving up and a BMW service rep running directly out to greet me.

Him: (smiling brightly - actually too early for that) Ms. XXXX?
Me: (looking sceptical) Yes?
Him: Good Morning! May I check your vin number and mileage?
Me: Ummmm....yes? (see...I am not use to having such wonderful service, therefore I am still sceptical)
Him: Oh, I see here there is a recall on this particular model. We already have that part on order for you. The part will be in Thursday, let's set something up for then. I will have a loaner BMW ready for you to drive while we make the adjustments.
Me: Uhhhhhh....wow....uhhhhh.....okay? (see..it's taking a while for me to digest this wonderful service).
Him: You can still drive your car. Just don't gun it. Take your time accelerating and if you need us we are here for you.
Me: Did you just tell a BMW driver to slow it down?
Him: Why ma'am, I sure did....that just did not sound right now did it?
Me and Him: Laugh and laugh and laugh.

That concludes my compare and contrast experience.

Trick or Treat!

2005-10-31T21:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween to you all! This year has been different. Hubby ended up working late, son had class until 7:00, and I had to run daughter around to her Halloween events. She was invited to eat over at her hockey player friend's house (his mother and I are good friends from my son's hockey playing days) before trick-or-treating so we went over there and she met some of his friends and hung out with all of them for awhile. She was absolutely thrilled when as we were leaving he ran to our car to give her a hug. What is with the hugging these days? Seems all these kids do is hug anymore. If you know the secret behind this, please let me know. Anyways, he is a very cute kid and that gave her a thrill anyways. After that I took her over to one of her best friend's house where she and some of her friends all proceeded to get all decked out for Halloween. She looked so cute. She dressed like a Geisha. Only this was a cool Geisha..she wore Converse Chuck Taylors. Not something you would normally see in Japan..but she looked all cute with chopsticks in her hair which was all spikey and stuff. I tried to do her eyes so they would look a little slanty which ended up looking pretty cool. While we were there getting the girls all dressed and ready, some of the football players showed up to go trick or treating with them which made my daughter smile - BIG! She was so happy tonight. Oh, and did I mention that last night she finally up with the moron that kept a. never talking to her online when she would try to talk to him, b. hardly ever called her, but somehow kept running out of minutes on his cell phone and running out of text messages (but not to her...hmmmm..interesting), and c. basically making her feel miserable about herself because she is a pretty girl and should not have to chase after him..it should be the other way around. I was happy she finally realized she is too good to be treated like crap. Go her! This time I think it will stick. She is pretty much over him now that she had the ephiphany. I am glad she has leaned when enough is enough. Something that really opened her eyes is that she has many friends that are guys and they have been calling her more than her own boyfriend had. I think that may have shed some light on the situation. Also, someone told her she could do so much better, and I think that just made her realize even more that she really could. Thank you person! I sit here waiting for her to come home and get ready for school tomorrow. She is at another friend's house with all her trick-or-treat buds eating cake and ice cream. Just what they all need after a night of solid sugar huh? Hubby is all sacked out in his recliner snoring like a baby. Son is upstairs playing some really loud computer game and it sounds like he might be blowing stuff up. Wheeee!

On a lighter note, my sailor son will be coming home soon. I cannot wait to see him. December 9th-22nd he will be all ours. I wish he could stay for Christmas, but duty calls and he doesn't seem to care just as long as he gets to come home. I plan to take some extra time off work to spend some time with him as it will be at least another year before I will get to see him again. *sniff* Won't be long and he will be home (only, I hope not living at home) for good. He has met a girl out there that he has been talking to for like a year. She graduates with a sports physiology degree in a few months, and I am not sure what is going to happen then. He has been hinting that she might be "the one", but...hmmm. I don't even want to go there yet.

Well my Geisha is home and full of sugar and hyper as heck.

Hope you had a great Halloween!

Sweet!

2005-10-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

I snagged this from Skillzy cuz I wanted to. Oh, and it was cute. His had some sort of sexual innuendo thingy goin on...interesting. Still wondering what it means. Mine is just all sweet and peanutty.

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

The girl can't help it

2005-10-28T23:55:00.000-05:00

I know this sounds crazy, but although I just got a new BMW I still want one of those. (Just look up there ^ *drool*)

That sounds like some sort of confession you would read on post secret. Ha! Sorry Skillzy...can't help it. I still want one. I sound like my daughter who just cannot help herself when it comes to looking at cute boys. I think when it comes to the new Mustang, I am going to use the same explanation that she uses, "I can't help it, a girl can look!" I really need to stop looking and making whiny puppy dog sounds when I see one on the road. That may be getting old to those around me. It's gotten to the point that hubby pretends he doesn't even see them anymore. He ignores my puppy dog whining noises where in the past he found it cute. Please don't get me wrong. I love my BMW and it has everything a girl could want and then some. I am very happy with it for a grown up car. It just did not satisfy my Mustang craving. You see, I have a plan. I actually have hubby biting on it too. Next year we get one (a Mustang that is - possibly even a convertible), and it can be daughter's car when she turns 16 in 3 more years!!! Briliant plan huh?. I am actually going to let her pick the color. Since a Mustang was my first car (a 1967), it's only fitting that daughter follow in her mother's footsteps...right? So, what I am thinking is, when daughter gets the Mustang (if I am tired of it by then), hubby can give the BMW back to me, and he can finally get his dream car (a Corvette). See how all of that works out? Awesome. I know...call me crazy. That is my confession for the day.

As the little slutty girls say nowadays (and would never come out of my daughter's mouth)..."kk"? I think that is a sort of sarcastic "okay". It sounds horrible...but whatever. Sounds idiotic. Sorta like me wanting a Mustang when I just got a new BMW. Maybe I will get over it. I doubt it. But I can't help it, a girl can look!

Good Times Yo

2005-10-27T21:31:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah...good times. Today was fun. Today was my off day. I love, love, love my off days. Not that I don't like work, but it sure is a lot better to not get out with the morning traffic crazies. It's so much better to have days like this. Today I got up and made a nice breakfast for everyone before they headed out. My hubby took the day off so he could hang out with me all day. We got my daughter and her friend out the door and I had all these fabulous plans of getting lots of things done around the house early before we headed out to run errands. What did I do instead? I laid down on the couch and feel asleep for two glorious hours! *sigh* I love days like this. Hubby came over and started making noises probably to wake me up. Finally, I did wake up (*grumble*) and got up and got ready to head out to run errands. We started off with a nice lunch at a local Italian restaurant (not a chain). It was delish. Then off we went to knock out our list of errands (anal hubby actually makes a list). Next, we headed to the mall so I could use my $10.00 off Bath and Body Works coupon. Instead of the my normal Cucumber Melon scent, I went absolutely and totally crazy and picked up some Brown Sugar/Fig Body Wash and Body spray. Have you smelt this stuff yet? It smells just like Fall. Hubby wanted some pumpkin hand soap to use at Halloween and Thanksgiving. After that, we headed accross town to Wild Birds Unlimited - the ONLY place to get stuff for your wildlife. We got some thistle and safflower to help get our feathered friends through the hard times this winter. Hubby will use that along with leftover bacon grease to make homemade suet. He is the Marth Stewart of our family, let me tell you. After that, the rest of the afternoon was filled with boring things like picking up contacts and stuff like that. Never in my life would I have thought going to Wild Birds Unlimited was exciting. It's amazing how things change when you get older. No wonder my kids say we are boring.

Oh well..we did do something really fun later though. We went to our local hometown highschool Homecoming Parade. We have done this for many years, but this was the largest one I have ever seen. This parade is one of those real hometowny things you see in the movies. They close down the major street that runs right down the middle of town (and believe me, this pisses many people off). We get to see the local highschool band, all the local community leaders, the homecoming court, the cheerleaders, football players, etc...you get the idea. They throw lots of candy and much fun is had by all. Our daughter started out standing with us, then spotted a group of her friends and asked if she could go over with them. For the first time at the homecoming parade, hubby and I were on our own. I felt a little sad about that. I feel my baby slipping away. I can remember when all of us would go and the boys would push each other out of the way to get to the best candy before a float would run over it. I remember the boys riding in the parade with their boyscout troops while I stood on the side with daughter in a stroller. I remember my daughter dressed in her cheerleading uniform riding in the back of a truck with the pop warner football players and cheerleaders throwing candy to all of her friends. I remember riding with her because I was a cheer coach back then. One day soon she will be marching in the parade with the band. I am not sure that she will ever stand with us again at another homecoming parade. *sigh* Afterwards, we went out to eat and then caught the tail end of the big bon-fire/peprally. Good times I tell ya.

Now for the big letdown.

Work tomorrow.

Bah!

Fo Shizzle

2005-10-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

Okay...this day WAS perfect. Woke up. It was very coolish outside. Got to use the heated seats...which were awesome once again. Get to work. All is well. Had a great light work load. Then, 11:00 hits. The phone rings. It's my son. He needs his social security card for his new job that he was suppose to start at...ummm...11:00. He didn't have it with him so they sent him home to get it. Of course I start racking my brain trying to figure out where I put it. Soooooooo instead of going to Target to get a lovely salad from the deli and pick up Halloween candy, I get to come home and look for his social security card. Okay, he could have told me about this last night, but he chooses to wait until the very minute he should be learning new things about his new job. I get home, and dig around like a mad woman. I. Look. Everywhere. Did I mention I felt like strangling him? FINALLY, I find it. I give it to him along with a grumble. He hugs me. And just like that..he is gone. Me? Me you ask? I made myself a lovely bowl of soup from a can. Not exactly what I planned.

So...

I go back to work. I sit at my desk. Everything is calm. I go to the bathroom and while I am washing my hands, I look in the mirror to see if the makeup is still looking okay, then I see it. I SEE IT. IT! I almost feel like having some sort of contest here to see if anyone can guess what I see, but I am almost afraid of the answers. I think I will just go ahead and tell ya myself. I see a huge, gigantic, really shiny.....gray hair. On me. Are these incomplete sentences just getting annoying yet or what? Anyways, I have (had) a gray hair. On my head. NOOOOOOOO One thing I have prided myself on is having lovely non-gray hair. I am 42 years old, and I have never had gray hair. Please. I have dark brown hair and gray eyes, now I will have to change that to dark brown hair and gray hair. This is depressing.

I think it must have popped up while I was looking for that dang social security card. Ironically, now that has me thinking about social security period. I guess that is not too far away now.

Gray hair.

Oh so not ready.

Finally.....OCTOBER!

2005-10-25T09:28:00.000-05:00

Wow..the weather is just wonderful here if not a little chilly. I have actually been able to try out the heated seats in the car. The fun thing about heated seats is that you can turn them on, and really not need the heater. Good Times I tell ya.

Today I will be driving out to hubby's work to pick him up since he carpooled with his boss this morning. He plans to only work 1/2 day today. On the way back, we will stop and get pumpkins for carving this weekend. Every year it has been tradition for everyone to pick out a pumpkin and design what they want on it. As the kids have gotten older, they really don't go and pick the pumpkin (not cool anymore), but they do get to pick the design (which luckily is still cool). Hubby and I have made a date for lunch. Seems like I never see him anymore. Not too much more to report. Everything seems very calm. A little drama yesturday since daughter's math workbook and her language arts binder have seemed to jump out of her locker and into outer space somewhere. We had a huge long lecture about responsibility and attitude and such, which ended with her crying. This must be the year where they lose everything including their brain. Ahh..the teenager years. Aren't they fun?

Someone help me.

Nothing like France

2005-10-22T23:34:00.000-05:00

Okay...that was sort of random, but I am watching Saturday Night Live and they are doing a skit about a French teacher played by Catherine Zeta Jones. Nevermind.

I am finally going to try to catch up a little bit here. I am trying desperately to catch up on some much needed sleep and some much needed housework. So far, have not been very successful with either. *sigh* Life is just so busy. I am very glad that now that is October, we are finally getting some October weather. It has been so hot that it has felt more like summer. Tonight we actually got down into the 40's. Thank you!!! I love fall. Just please let us have more fall weather.

Not too much to report on lately. Things have been pretty calm around here. Thankfully there has not been any middle school drama since the boyfriend break up thing. Oh wait..they are back together now. I guess boyfriend gets a point there. This is where I throw up my hands and say "whatever". I guess girls have to learn stuff the hard way. With these middle schoolers there is going to be heartbreak and drama all the time I guess. They will get tired of it eventually..I hope *fingers crossed*.

The good news is that my younger son has finally decided what he wants to major in in college. Did I mention he is already IN college? Great time to decide huh? At least he is only in his first year and therefore, we won't lose any money due to him changing majors in like his last year like many kids do. Who knows..that may happen too. I am beginning to think that whatever lovely dreams I have for a content and peaceful life are just not going to happen.

Keeps life interesting I guess. Sometimes I think I just need one of these to guide me:

I can't even get a decent answer on that thing. Grrrr!

Oh well, at least on the job front things seem to be going terrific. Friday after getting to work and getting some disturbing news (basically my work load is going to increase quite a bit), my boss calls me in her office and closes the door. Then she says this, "I think you know what this is about". That's it, I was going to get fired. I have no clue what I did or what I could have done. Then she laughs and tells me that its time for my 3 month review. I had a very good review and it made me feel much better about the work load increasing. It was so good I almost did not get my big head out of her office. I felt really appreciated when I left on Friday and I guess that made up for the larger workload thing. Actually, I think she was afraid I might quit and was just stroking my ego so I wouldn't. Unfortunately I did not get more money. *sigh*

Well..I guess its off to accomplish my goal of getting some sleep. All this cooler weather makes me want to hybernate.

Ciao!

Saturday

2005-10-22T15:10:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday and I am exhausted.

Blah!

What a Girl Wants

2005-10-18T15:39:00.000-05:00

Got me one of these today -

Introducing BCBG Girls Urban Cowboy

WOOT!

You have no power here! Now begone, before somebody drops a house on you!

2005-10-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

Some memorable movie quotes that pertain to the last month of my life:

From the Wizard of Oz:

Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain...only straw.
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know...But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking...don't they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you are right!

Wizard of Oz: As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are to not have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.
Tin Woodsman: I still want one.

From Raising Arizona (one of my favorite movies):

H.I.: There's right and there's right and never the t'wain shall meet.

H.I.: Sometimes it's a hard world for small things.

From American Beauty:

Lester Burnham: [narrating] That's my wife, Carolyn. See the way the handle on her pruning shears matches her gardening clogs? That's not an accident.

Colonel Frank Fitts: You need structure... and discipline.
Ricky Fitts: Thank you for trying to teach me, sir. Don't give up on me, Dad.

From As Good As It Gets:

Carol: Come on in, and try not to ruin everything by being you.

From The Godfather:

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

There ya go...my last month as relived in movie quotes.

Speaking of Secrets

2005-10-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

New Secrets:

Post Secret

5 Questions

2005-10-18T07:37:00.000-05:00

From MommaK

I’ll ask 5, you answer. Then you ask 5 and I’ll answer. Get it?

Here we go…
1. Would you use your online messenger to spy on an ex? No, I really don't care what he is doing now...it's been too many years and he put on like 60 pounds since we split...so no. If I knew what he was doing now it might gross me out.
2. Would you wear a Hawaiian shirt to a dinner party in which you had to r.s.v.p. and choose your entree (chicken or steak)? Hmm...this one is a hard one because sometimes I like nonconformity. But no. And I would choose steak.
3. Will you have a glass of wine with dinner and then drive home? What is your limit? I might would drink one glass if I had dinner also. If I drank it on an empty stomach I would not drive. I am a little paranoid of drinking and driving at all.
4. Can you change a tire? Yes. It's been a long time, but I could if I had to.
5. What is the worst prank you pulled in high school? TP a house? (We used to do that. Our trademark was one of these on the front door. ) Oh gosh. I was such a wild child in high school. We did actually egg someones house and cars. I can't believe I did that. We should have stuck with just toilet paper, but this was someone that really did something bad to us and me and my best friend.

This is how I roll

2005-10-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

Someone please stop the drama. I am so tired of the 7th grade dramatics. I heard 7th grade was a hard year, but this is rediculous. Last night...daughter's little boyfriend (and I guess I should use that term loosely) decided it would be cute to impersonate his older brother online and interrogate her about their relationship. Keep in mind he was pretending to be his own brother (who is high school). Well...it ended up really hurting her feelings because she really did care about him, and I was doing my best to think he was a good kid although red flags were screaming everywhere. My poor daughter tries to see the best in everyone and to her everything is rainbows and sunflowers up until last night. He ended up turning this information around on her when he was back to his screen name and bullied her into breaking up with him (just an excuse to break up I say). Today she woke up a little tougher. I hate that she got her heart broken because after he did that, she knew it was over. She actually wanted it to be over. Anyone that would use and make a fool out of her like that does not deserve her - her exact words (and yay her for saying that). I worried about her all day because she was sort of a mess this morning when she got up because I do not think she got much sleep. I told her to get up, look her best, hold her head up, and march in there like it didn't bother her at all. According to her friends....that is exactly what she did. She already has some guy meeting up with her and her friends at their rival football game tomorrow. Good for her I say...good recovery. At this age they do not need the drama and the worry of someone making a fool out of them. Life is hard enough. At this age she just needs to have fun and seems to be very relieved to be out of it. The funny thing is, I was sitting there during the whole conversation (the breaking up part) and when she said they could go back to being friends...you know what this little idiot said? "We could be friends with "benefits" - We could be really "close". Okay..this kid is like 12. Where the hell do they come up with this stuff at the age of 12? Of course I laughed and told her she needed to tell him to get his benefits somewhere else. I think she was in shock. Right. At any rate, he is gone and will probably turn out to be a major loser in life and/or end up with one of his benefit girls (and I am sure he has more than one) giving him some wonderful venereal disease and he can live his life scratching his crotch (or what may be left of it) wishing he had been a lot nicer to a nice, beautiful girl that truly cared for him and not for his benefits...for himself.

I say good riddance. Life lesson learned. Thank you loser boyfriend. Thanks for proving me right! YAY! Mom - 1 Loser boyfriend - 0 I win!

I know I won't win everytime, and I know she will get her heart broken more than once in life (hopefully not by the same person). But it is my job to protect her and bring her up right. I did this with my two boys and they are awesome, strong kids.

I guess this makes me think back to last year. She had a sweet little boyfriend that was mature in a good way (they had a nice breakup with them both agreeing since they didn't see each other much over the summer, they would go their separate ways..and be friends. No benefits other than just talking online and laughing at silly jokes. They sit online and play word games to this day). He does not like drama. He does not have a huge ego. Very good looking boy. Extremely intelligent. Treated her how a girl is suppose to be treated. Very quiet. At one point I thought he was ignoring her this year until he met up with her recently at one of the football games at a nearby private school (I think he is just so shy). They sat near us and he never left her side the whole night. Nope, not once did he disappear and her worry about where he was. He was with her. They laughed and had head banging contests (like rockers). They smiled the whole night. They are just good friends now, but I hope that shows her that there are actually good guys in the world and if you can get through the losers like we experienced here lately, maybe you might eventually meet one of these good guys somewhere along the line. But not when you are 12 or 13. She needs to have fun in her life and focus on school and making sure she gets into a good college. She needs to follow her dreams of being a marine biologist as she has wanted since she could walk and talk. Those things come first. There is much time for boys and those kinds of relationships.

So, this ends one chapter of her little teenage life. She got her heart broke. She learned. Hopefully, she will remember this and take this lesson with her to the next relationship (hopefully that will be awhile). There are people in this world that are not what you think they are. They can hurt you and some of these sickos like it because it feeds their egos. You need to learn their "secrets". Read the signals and act accordingly. And...actions speak louder than words. As I told her after the football game on Friday night when he was acting weird and disappearing and she wasn't able to find him. Learn when to punt. Then do it quick. Some people aren't worth going into overtime for (whoa...football lingo here!).

I am a good mom.

I care

I won.

This is how I roll.

Back

2005-10-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

Okay..dang..it's been a long time. I haven't meant to ignore my little blog, but things have just been busy. Last week we had a huge 13th Birthday party for my daughter. Okay, maybe not huge, but the biggest one we have ever had. 30 kids showed up and to me that was a lot. 30 of them. 12 and 13 year olds with their hormones raging. What fun! The next day I had to get ready for yet another party at my house on Monday night, then early Tuesday morning we got up and headed to Atlanta for a little vacation. We came back home late Thursday night, then it I had work on Friday and a football game that night. Whew! I am finally getting to sit down and catch my breath.

Now we are going to go rent movies.

More later.

Stay tuned. :0)

On throwing up and things like that...

2005-10-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

Yesturday my daughter comes home and tells me that in Biology, they have started learning about the reproductive system. Evidently they had some textbook diagram thingy of a male uhhh...part. She said she almost threw up.

Also...she brought home an order form for class rings. Okay. She is in MIDDLE SCHOOL! When did they start doing class rings for middle school? Grrrr!!!!!!!!!

Who's Your Daddy?

2005-10-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Your Daddy Is Darth Vader

What You Call Him: Daddy-o

Why You Love Him: He's the Mack Daddy

Who's Your Daddy?

Status

2005-10-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

Okay....here is the status: Our house officially and totally looks like hell. Since this is my day off, it's my job to get it into some sort of order today. For some reason, our house always looks like a bomb went off in it before it looks better. Boxes everywhere. Disorgainization. I am not sure why I am so worried about this since it's just going to be a bunch of kids, but I have horrible visions of these kids telling the whole school things like this, "Wow, their house was pretty on the outside, but there was dust an inch thick on their baseboards." Will they really care? Just in case...I will be scrubbing baseboards today. I have 4 bathrooms to clean. Argh. One of them is my teenage son's bathroom and I NEVER go in there for any reason (unless we are having a party). See...we have an understanding. If he wants to live like that, then so be it, but I do not clean their bathroom. Boys are disgusting. He promised me that he would be cleaning it today so that I would not have to. We will see. He promised. When he moves out, I will pull down the wallpaper and turn it into a glamorous guest bathroom. It will be splendid.

On the job front, it has been very busy. I think the new person shine is off of me and now they are pouring it on. Monday was actually stressful. I haven't had a day like that in a long time. I came home totally wiped out. My boss seems to think I am some sort of superwoman. She had me catching up reports that she had been putting off since before I started working there. Argh. I got them all done yesturday thankfully. I have decided no matter where you go, what you do, there is going to be stress. I hate stress. Luckily I only work 5-6 hours a day so I have limited stress. I am still waiting for them to ask me to work more hours, and I am not sure what I will say to that. The girl that works Tuesdays and Thursdays doesn't like working during the summer and may come in for a few hours a week if that. The other day I mentioned to my boss that I did not intend to work for her next summer and she gave me a panicked look. I meant that though. I am not sure why I am the one that has to take up all the slack. I told her it was probably best if we did not talk about that right now and changed the subject quickly. We shall see.

Back to the party though. I am trying to decide how cool a mom I should be. I plan for hubby and I stay with the kids throughout the party - I am not that cool. My daughter has some friends spending the night after the other kids leave, and they want retaliation for the rolling we got last Friday night. They have asked me to be their getaway car. Will I be that cool? Should I be that cool? I mean, it's just toilet paper. It's not eggs or spray paint for gosh sakes! Give me feedback here. If I am their getaway car...is that contributing to the deliquency of minors? Is it just good, clean fun?

This is hard!

Oh yeah, and wake me up already, September is over.

Heck Yeah!

2005-10-04T07:26:00.000-05:00

Hubby came home yesturday with some of these:

Guess what we been doing since they made their appearance into our house? Oh yeah....listening to lots of music. Isn't it amazing how great speakers can make the world a better place? We just plug in the iBook and pull up the iTunes..and there ya go - music!

What are we listening to?

Turn the Page - Metallica (I love their version)
Killer Queen (Queen)
My Sharona (The Knack)
Rollercoaster (Red Hot Chili Peppers - I love me some Chili Peppers)
Everyday I Write the Book (Elvis Costello)
Doin the Cockroach (Modest Mouse)
Here for the Party (Gretchen Wilson)
Back in Black (AC/DC)

And many more. Of course, my daughter has all her dance tunes ready.

Meanwhile, it is my off day and I have a list of things to do a mile long. So here I sit blogging. My daughter is having a boy/girl party this weekend for her thirteenth birthday. She has invited all sorts of kids. From the shy, mousy little girl my daughter has been friends with since she was a baby, to the most popular girl at school, football players and of course, her little boyfriend (whom I will be keeping an eye on btw). She is the type that tends to have friends from all ends of the spectrum, so this will at least be interesting. I have so much to do I need to make a list of all the things I need to accomplish today and Thursday before all hell breaks loose and I get all panicky. We spent last night pulling all of our Halloween stuff out and are busy getting it put up so that the house will look all Halloweeny. I plan to serve regular party fare: pizza, chips, dip, candy, cake, sodas, bottled water, etc. I plan to serve myself a valium. *laugh* I have no idea what I have gotten myself into here. According to daughter, everyone at school is talking about the party. There are several kids that I thought she would invite but did not, which may explain the major toilet paper job that was done on our house Friday night. Oh, and not only did we get major toilet papering, we also got the door bell ringing thing that went on of and on throughout the night. Fun stuff. Good times.

Thank goodness this is my last teenager.

Boys and stuff

2005-09-29T15:09:00.000-05:00

Okay....here we go. Boys.

My daughter just turned 13 a couple of days ago. She has a boyfriend. He is a very good looking kid and ALL the girls love him. Now, my daughter had a boyfriend last year, but they were just better friends than anything else. I think this boy she is "going out with" now is one she really likes and cares for. My problem is that I can see the heart break coming. Maybe I am wrong, but something has been nagging me about this kid. He is very nice, we know his parents, but something is not right. He seems to care for her a lot. He walks her to her classes and stuff like that. Sometimes they want to see each other and they don't get on their buses and start walking home together and I go pick them up and take him home. Nothing wrong there, I don't mind because the buses are crowded and slow. Plus, they both have musical instruments and it's pretty much a nightmare to get them on the buses anyways. Maybe I am reading it all wrong, and maybe I don't know him as well as I think I do. Last night I happened to be online at 11:30 and so was he (yeah..he should have been asleep), so we had a little discussion about how boys treat girls, etc., etc. He seemed okay with the conversation, so I will see when my daughter gets home how things were today. I told him I would deny the conversation ever took place and he agreed - he said he would not tell her we had that discussion. Now, just to let you know I asked him to not hurt her. Now, although this kid is like 13, he was talking like a 30 year old man (scary huh?). He was telling me he really cared for her and would not cross any lines. He says he knows his limits.....HUH? Does that sound like a 13 year old? He is very mature for his age and I think this is where my uncomfortable feeling comes from. Now I am no fool, I know she will get her heart broken eventually, and I know this thing will not last forever. I just told him if he was thinking of doing anything stupid (like hurting her in anyway)...just end it now because the longer this thing lasted, the more it will hurt. I think he got mad at me for that because he told me I sounded like I was tempting him to hurt her. That is not all what I meant. I was asking him to be nice about things and if he was thinking of doing anything that was going to hurt her, to end it now nicely.

I am not sure if I stepped over the line here, but I have known this kid for several years and I knew I could talk to him. He has talked to us about several family type problems, so I felt I could talk to him about this.

Did I do the right thing? I am trying to protect my child. I know she will toughen up eventually, but I really don't want this kid to hurt her.

Did I cross the line?

Tornado Town

2005-09-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

Okay...today has been fun. We have been under a tornado watch most of the day and it looks like most of them will become warnings. Let's hope not, but thanks Rita! I hate tornado weather. It gets really hot and muggy. You can walk outside and feel it coming. Ugh.

Yesturday was pretty fun. Because me and another mom love our daughters so much and they begged us to go to the local music festival, we did it. We took three girls We braved the crowds, the cigarette (and other types of cigarettes) smoke, drunk people, etc...you get the point. Lots of people. I said I wasn't going to do it, but I actually had a lot of fun. The best act (in my opinion) last night was Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits. I love him. He is funny and awesome and puts on a great show. Damn I am old. Also got to see Dwight Yoakum. At one point in my life I had the biggest crush on him - until I saw Sling Blade. Then I didn't like him so much. He did put on a great show, but he is really starting to show his age. This festival was suppose to go on all weekend, but because of the treat of tornadoes, I am not sure if they will have it today. They have delayed the start today until 5 pm, and then they will meet and decide what to do. That's a shame, but still, I think it was pretty successful the last couple of days. Next year I think we may just do the whole weekend thingy.

Now back to last night. My daughter's little boyfriend was there and they were hanging out. A whole group of kids they knew were all together for most of the night. When we first got there we let them sort of go out on their own and met up with them every hour. When it started getting dark and all the freaks came out, we just started following them far enough away that we were not in their space, but we could still see them. I am sorry, I am not willing to let go yet. I think my daughter was a little annoyed, but you know, she is my child and that is just how it is going to be. I told her last night I was sorry if she had a parent that cared and that she should consider herself lucky. Her little boyfriend was very good natured about it and didn't seem to mind. Good for him because it wouldn't have made a difference anyways. ha!

Oh well..back to weather watching.

Have a great day!

On mulching and things like that

2005-09-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

Two nights in a row I have not slept good....grrrr. Is this a sign of pre-menopause? Let's hope not. I love, love, love my sleep. Yesturday hubby called me at work and told me he had a very special surprise. It would be delivered at our house around 5:15 pm and make sure I was here so I could receive this very special delivery. Imagine my surprise when a huge truck pulled up the driveway with 9 scoops of shredded pine mulch. Okay..isn't that romantic? Guess what my entire weekend will consist of? How happy do you think I was to see him when he got home? Right.

I was going to get up early this morning because I had bought a charity ticket through my daughter's school to go to the local upscale department store and get 20% off my entire purchase from 7:00 am - 9:00 am. I slept through that damnit. I missed out on 20% off Karen Kane for gosh sakes!!!! I love it when they do these charity events, because items you usually cannot use the discount for, are allowable for these special sales (Dooney and Bourke, Coach, Free People, Ralph Lauren, etc...you get the point). It makes me mad that I could have save 20% all in the name of charity! Well..I bought the ticket so the school gets their money and the store did not get my money which I guess is a good thing, and I get to spread mulch!. I don't think I would have been that into it anyways. Lately, I just have not felt like shopping which tells me something is definately going on with me. Normally, I am always up for shopping. What do I mean normally, I mean definately.

Otherwise things are good. Waiting to hear from my sailor who is almost back to his homeport from his last trip out to sea. I think he will be back in port for like a week and then back out again. The beginning of next year they will be heading out for a 7 month tour so they are getting geared up. He is pretty excited. He will get to go on his first trip to Australia. That will be a great experience for my 21 year old son. They are hitting many other ports too. I am a little jealous he will get to see parts of the world I may never see. *sigh*

Oh well...gotta put my gardening stuff on.

Wake me up when September ends

2005-09-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

"Wake Me Up When September Ends"

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when september ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends
wake me up when september ends

"Love Letters"

2005-09-21T16:02:00.000-05:00

Ever gotten a "love letter"? I don't think I have since high school. You know, one of those letters that tells you how you have annoyed someone? I have some to write today.

Dear girl (and if you were not 12 I would call you something not so pleasant) that called my daughter ugly,

Well...where do I start? First of all, you had the nerve to call my daughter ugly which really hurt her feelings (because, as most boys at her school agree - she is far from ugly and has never even been called unattractive), yet last night, someone pointed you out to me - and you have absolutely no room to talk. Your greasy ringlets of hair were disgusting, I cannot believe your parents let you out of the house in those booty shorts that showed everything you had and then some, and most of all, no 12 year old should ever have dark roots like that that stick out from your obviously home done bleach blonde dye job. Please let me predict your future. I predict by the age of 17, you will have been pregnant at least a couple of times, you will live in a trailor with a man that wears wife beaters and burps constantly, and maybe if you are lucky, can keep a job for a couple of months a year. Next time, before you go spouting off your big mouth about how someone else looks (in your eyes anyways), take a long hard look in the mirror little girl. My daughter has had a terrific life so far and she don't need some slutty looking, jealous 12 year old who craves attention in the worst sort of way, messing around with her previously un scathed psyche. I am sure you don't know what that means since I read on your website under expertise, you stated this, and I quote: "I don't even know what that means, but whatever! LOL!!!" Ask my daughter what her expertise is, and I guarantee you that she will know exactly what that is. You may have hurt her feelings for now, but I am sure that in the brains category (and beauty too), she could kick your ass.

Love,

A Loving, Caring Mother

Letter #2:

Dear Chevron,

Today after my eye doctor appointment, I looked down and noticed that my gas light was on. Since I am not like everyone else in a frenzy topping off my gas tank, I decided it was getting close so I better stop and get gas. Please, please, please, NEVER have on your sign that medium grade gas is $2.90 a gallon, and then as I start pumping actually look at the pump and notice that I am actually paying $3.10 a gallon for gas. Actually, I think this is illegal. I have my receipt and have already called and turned you in. Please be aware that some people actually pay attention to what the pump says (although, I didn't notice until I already started pumping...grrrr). I am pissed at you Chevron. I cut your card up today in anger. I have no regrets.

Love,

Gassed up

Letter #3:

Dear Lady in Houston,

Today I was listening to you as you called into a radio show I was listening to. You live in the Houston area. You plan is not to evacuate because "you don't think it will be that bad". Hmmm....I am sure many people in the New Orleans/Gulf Coast area had those exact same thoughts not long ago. This thing is big and bad (just so you know, I am sure George Bush didn't create it). This thing may be worse than Katrina. As you spoke I heard small children in the background. Please lady...get out. If not for you, your children. One of my best friends lives in Houston and she and her family are leaving tonight. Now, these folks are usually not the panicky type, but they are smart and do not want to take any chances. Please lady, be smart. I would hate to see you or your children on the news looking for each other, or you on there crying about how you have stayed through others but didn't think this would be that bad. Get out....please?

Signed,

Scared for your children

Ahh....I feel better now.

Day off you ask?

2005-09-20T11:52:00.000-05:00

YESSSSSSS.....I own this day! Whoohooo! So much has been going on lately. Daughter's drama is finally over. The little hussies who were bothering her have apologized (and I am sure it was sincere...you know how little demons are). Meanwhile, she has been keeping me busy running her friends around and such. She also has a sweet little boyfriend that basically has been protecting her and being the best boyfriend she has ever had (okay, she has only had one other, but he never called or really acted like a boyfriend). It's amazing how good her friends and her little boyfriend have been. Many of the kids she has known for years have really stood up to these bullies (one is a new kid at the school and the other is a 6th grader who probably will not get a warm reception when she gets to her school next year - one of the cheerleaders informed her of this on her website...can you believe this? These kids already have their own websites). Meanwhile, life has been going on. I am finally back to my part-time schedule, and for good I hope. I really do enjoy my two days off a week. It gives me time to do stuff like this. Also, my poor house looks like crap. I really need to get on it. Yesturday my youngest son turned 19. I cannot believe I have kids this age. My oldest son will be 21 in February. I feel old.

Today's schedule involves a cleaning house, a bank run, then a middle school football game.

I already can't wait till Thursday, my next day off. ha!

The Post where I explain where I have been

2005-09-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

Well....I am not sure where I have been. I have been in a funk I guess. We had some drama this weekend. My daughter had her first experience with some mean (and I am talking skanky, nasty) girls. So far her little life has involved nothing but love and acceptance. Unfortunately, I guess there comes a time where you realize not everyone is going to like you. These skanky girls don't like her just because everyone else does. Let me tell you, it's been bad. Oh, and you just know it would involve a boy too. She has been friends with this boy for years and now one of these skanky girls likes him (they are like 12). Evidently skank girl puts out (she is easy..and that's really sad because she is so young), and therefore, boy likes girl that puts out over nice girl that does not. You see where I am going with this? Well...nice girl got told to f**k off by skank girl among other things (I am not sure I can go into all of it, even I don't talk like that). Anyways, it's been hard on my girl who has led a nice comfy love filled life. I will go into more detail later. All I know is this...raising a girl is going to be full of drama.

Fun!

9-11

2005-09-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

We remember.

Oh Gosh

2005-09-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

I am so tired. This has been a hard week. I have worked every day - and it's been busy. I have been feeling sorta sickly and yucky all week. Many in my office seem to be having sinus problems and sore throats, and I am not sure if that is it or not, but I went and purchased some Vitamin B-Complex, and I am hoping that my energy comes back soon. I plan to sleep a lot this weekend so there may not be much or any posting. I haven't had time to read many blogs lately and some I have just given up on all together. I don't have time for dumb people. It's depressing enough out there without all the negativity and blaming and such. I did read Mrs. du Toit tonight and she says something that makes great sense to me. Instead of getting all heated up and joining in on the blame game stuff, why not just give up on them? Why give stupid people your precious time? You cant win. I mean, we all know how this thing is going to turn out, and most of these wackos are just wasting their breath. Whatever. Have fun with that. But I really did enjoy her post. I feel so much like this myself. As read at: Mrs. Du Toit
Mrs. du Toit says:

I’m going to try to stop watching the hurricane news for a while. Obviously, given the nature of events, I’ll still be current with things, but I can no longer handle the constant broadcast of the carping, by Democrats, that Bush should have done something to prevent the hurricane from being horrible.

Two things concern me about the carping:
1. That people really don’t understand how our Republic functions. They really don’t seem to understand that the President can no more sweep down on his hurricane-consequences-eradicator airplane and take over Louisiana, than he can make pigs fly. Of course, if he did, the Democrats would be going ape-#### for him over reaching his authority and probably accuse him of being insensitive to Muslims for giving special ability to pigs. But what concerns me is that people are listening to any of this nonsense. If they REALLY understand how our government works, they’d not say a thing about it.

Because of that, I’m going to announce something I never announce. I’m going to de-link any blog that complains about how the Feds handled this. I’m not going to say who it is/was, they’ll just be gone. So if you’ve been using my blogroll to jump to other sites, I suggest you make note before a few more disappear from the rolls. It just demonstrates to me that the person is not worth reading. I should have figured it out before, but I didn’t. Now I have a litmus test. If people do not understand, at so basic a level, how our system of government works, I don’t want to hear anything else they have say. Since the handling of the affair was so bungled at the local and State levels, it would have been impossible for the outcome to be anything other than a goat rodeo. But even saying that, the men and women who are on the ground deserve better. This whole thing is like Vietnam, only in peacetime. Every time you criticize the handling of the affair now, you’re actually criticizing the volunteers and employees who are squeezing out every ounce of energy they have to do as much as they can. You can’t say “I support the troops but not their mission.” That’s an oxymoron. And you can’t say, “I support the work the volunteers are doing, but not the people who are directing it from above.” You can’t have it both ways.

2. There’s a point where the coverage becomes a kind of voyeurism. Finding the balance between vigilance and voyeurism, at times like this, can be tough. I may have passed the point, but I can only rectify it from this point forward.

What I’ve really learned from this experience is that some people are really terrific—near heroes in their ability to help others. I’ve also learned that I hate Democrats even more than before. The day that party fades away into oblivion will be the day I have renewed hope for our species.

To that I say Amen!

Mrs. du Toit is my hero!!! She gets what I have been trying to say for the last week or more: We (most of us anyways) went to school. We took a class called "Government", in this class we learned how "Government" functions. It makes me angry and sad that my 18 year old (who is a history major btw) and 12 year old understand how government works, and how natural disasters are handled (as witnessed in other states where there is competent leadership). As for now though, I am just going to start ignoring people that can't grasp the stuff they should have learned beginning in elementary school. As we were reminded with Katrina, life is too short.

Pray, Give, Volunteer

2005-09-06T22:53:00.000-05:00

The American Red Cross

Second Harvest

Humane Society of the United States

Operation Blessing

Feed the Children

Lutheran Disaster Relief

You too....can read this

2005-09-06T22:40:00.000-05:00

CNN Transcripts
This is how that bitch of a Governor works in Louisianna:

NAGIN: Look, I've gotten promises to -- I can't stand anymore promises. I don't want to hear anymore promises. I want to see stuff done. And that's why I'm so happy that the president came down here, because I think they were feeding him a line of bull also. And they were telling him things weren't as bad as it was.

He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action.

And what the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate.

And then, the president and the governor sat down. We were in Air Force One. I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die.'

S. O'BRIEN: What date was this? When did you say that? When did you say...

NAGIN: Whenever air Force One was here.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

NAGIN: And this was after I called him on the telephone two days earlier. And I said, 'Mr. President, Madam Governor, you two need to get together on the same page, because of the lack of coordination, people are dying in my city.'

S. O'BRIEN: That's two days ago.

NAGIN: They both shook -- I don't know the exact date. They both shook their head and said yes. I said, 'Great.' I said, 'Everybody in this room is getting ready to leave.' There was senators and his cabinet people, you name it, they were there. Generals. I said, 'Everybody right now, we're leaving. These two people need to sit in a room together and make a doggone decision right now.'

S. O'BRIEN: And was that done?

NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."

He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.

S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?

NAGIN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?

NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.

S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.

NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The mayor making it clear that much politicking was going on, even as people here were continuing to suffer. The mayor clearly thinking that the governor did way too little, way too late for her part.

We put a call into Governor Blanco's office. They declined to come on our show this morning and talk to us. Her spokesperson did say, though, that it was a -- this was a tragedy now that was being reduced to politics.

NO SHIT!

And another thing....

2005-09-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

This comes directly from the Homeland Security Presidential Directive. You can find it at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030228-9.html.

4) The Secretary of Homeland Security is the principal Federal official for domestic incident management. Pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Secretary is responsible for coordinating Federal operations within the United States to prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. The Secretary shall coordinate the Federal Government's resources utilized in response to or recovery from terrorist attacks, major disasters, or other emergencies if and when any one of the following four conditions applies: (1) a Federal department or agency acting under its own authority has requested the assistance of the Secretary; (2) the resources of State and local authorities are overwhelmed and Federal assistance has been requested by the appropriate State and local authorities; (3) more than one Federal department or agency has become substantially involved in responding to the incident; or (4) the Secretary has been directed to assume responsibility for managing the domestic incident by the President.

6) The Federal Government recognizes the roles and responsibilities of State and local authorities in domestic incident management. Initial responsibility for managing domestic incidents generally falls on State and local authorities. The Federal Government will assist State and local authorities when their resources are overwhelmed, or when Federal interests are involved. The Secretary will coordinate with State and local governments to ensure adequate planning, equipment, training, and exercise activities. The Secretary will also provide assistance to State and local governments to develop all-hazards plans and capabilities, including those of greatest importance to the security of the United States, and will ensure that State, local, and Federal plans are compatible.

You may also read about the responsibility of State and Local government in a time of emergency here: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0566.xml

Excellent Post....simple Government....just like you should have learned in school!

2005-09-06T21:38:00.000-05:00

From Don Singleton's Blog:

Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Insurrection Act
Barbara J.Stock wrote on ChronWatch ... For three long days, the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans watched Katrina bear down on their state and city respectively but took very little action to protect their citizens other than to state the obvious: “Leave town.” No assistance was offered to the poor or elderly. Aerial views of New Orleans have shown pictures of hundreds of buses, left parked and unused. Why didn’t the mayor of New Orleans activate those buses to move the people out of the city those who wanted to leave but had no way out? Why was this golden opportunity to save lives left parked, only to be lost to the floodwaters?

Good question.

This from the Louisiana disaster plan, pg. 13, paragraph 5, dated 01/00: “The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...” Why was the city’s own disaster plan for using those buses to evacuate people not implemented?

The mayor certainly knew of the buses, because he bragged he used them to bring people without transportation to the Superdome, but he had no answer for why he did not use them to take people out of state, such as to the Astrodome.

Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin had three days to evacuate the poor and elderly from New Orleans but they did not. Why? While the governors of both Mississippi and Alabama put in a formal request for federal assistance before Katrina even made landfall, the governor of Louisiana refused to relinquish any of her power for the good of the people. Now she and her party point the finger of blame at the White House.

When you have screwed up as much as they did, the only thing you can do is scream it is someone else's fault, and hope that some will believe you.

Liberal blogs and websites are pointing to the Department of Homeland Security’s website which states that it can take control in any disaster, natural or otherwise, but this is not true. The Department of Homeland Security can only work with the state and local officials in organizing relief efforts such as food, water, and shelter. There is no military arm of the Department of Homeland Security or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the military is what was needed and everyone knew that. Instead of asking why the Democratic leaders of Louisiana failed the people, these sites post disgusting pictures of floating bodies with the message: “George Bush did nothing.” The truth is, the Democratic governor wouldn’t allow Bush to do anything. That floating body belongs to Governor Blanco. She is the one who “did nothing.”

Roving bands of violent criminals quickly took control of the streets. While Mayor Nagin did declare martial law, it was a toothless declaration. The New Orleans police department was instantly overwhelmed. Many policemen just threw up their hands and walked off the job. Some joined the looters and were videotaped by MSNBC “shopping” in the local Walmart. The handful that was left on the job did their best but the best they could do was try to stay alive in a now lawless and dying city. Because there was no one in charge, the initial rescue operations were feeble at best and there was chaos. The scope and magnitude of the disaster, which covers an area the size of Great Britain, still had not been realized by Governor Blanco who steadfastly refused to declare martial law and officially request that the federal government “send in the troops.” It has come to light that all during the night on Friday, September 2, the president of the United States was forced to “negotiate” with Governor Blanco for the lives of the suffering and dying people of New Orleans. She feared that allowing the federal government to take control would make her administration appear as though it had failed.

She did fail, but had she let Bush send in the troops, no one would have known or cared. The people would have been saved.

How she would be judged was more important to her than the lives of those people who were dying in the squalor. How many died as Blanco maneuvered to protect her reputation? The Posse Comitatus Act prevents, by federal law, the president of the United States from sending federal troops into any state without the direct request of the elected governor of that state. A frustrated President Bush could only stand by and watch as the horror unfolded until he received the request for help. Despite the finger-pointing at President Bush, there was little that he could do until he was formally asked for assistance.

The liberals hoped he would send in troops anyway, and then they could blame him for violating Posse Comitatus.

No matter how loudly the liberals scream, they know full well that the president was helpless to do much of anything. As the death toll rose and the animalistic behavior of some of those who chose to remain within the city became public knowledge, it was obvious that authorities needed to regain control. As the scenes from New Orleans, now a national disgrace, were being beamed around the world, a shameless Governor Blanco only cared about her own political image. There is reason to believe that President Bush, running out of patience with Blanco by Saturday morning, used the only option that remained to him. It is being reported that Bush went around Blanco and utilized the Insurrection Act to federalize the National Guard and send in active military troops to take over the rescue and put down the lawlessness that had taken over New Orleans.

He should have arrested Blanco

The forces that Bush had poised to move into the city, swung into action. It was no accident that the major, organized rescues began when the sun came up on Saturday morning. At 6:30 AM, when the sky over New Orleans was suddenly filled with military helicopters and military convoys poured into the streets, they were there because of President Bush, not Governor Blanco. The largest military evacuation the world has ever seen moved with the precision and efficiency that is only seen within the military. With men like Lt. General Russel Honore, 1st Army Commander and Army Brigadier General Mark Graham in charge, law and order was quickly restored, and an endless line of helicopters and boats began removing the stranded people and taking them out of the hell-hole called New Orleans. Those forces were ready to act because the President of the United States had positioned them to be ready.

Everyone demands answers and everyone wants to put the blame for this catastrophe on someone. The most convenient person to blame is President Bush. In truth, he is the least responsible on the local level. While the liberals feel this is the perfect time to make political hay because so many African-Americans are involved, the first line of defense for those people, the mayor of New Orleans, and governor of Louisiana, both Democrats, are the leaders that failed them. The people of New Orleans were abandoned by an arrogant governor and a hapless mayor as both struggled to save their own political careers. But, because they are both Democrats, the leftists want these ineffective leaders seen as helpless victims of a thoughtless and racist Bush who ignored their repeated pleas for help.

Mayor Nagin has been reduced to babbling about how the CIA is out to kill him because he “spoke his mind,” and Governor Blanco has become the invisible woman hoping that no one will notice that her gross incompetence and arrogance cost lives. But the left marches on, blaming President Bush because it knows it can. Most Americans are not aware of the laws preventing the federal government from “taking over” a city or a state. The Democrats have closed ranks around their incompetent members and blame the president who was forced to “deal” with an inept governor. Governor Blanco’s thanks is to point the finger of blame back at the president when she knows the fault is her own.

The Democratic Party could not possibly sink much lower than it has this past week. The mayor, the governor, and all those liberal websites, blogs, and shrieking leftist politicians should jump into the sewer water that now flows in the streets of New Orleans. That’s where they belong, with the rest of the floating waste. The Democratic or “Progressive” Party should be buried with the dead. Cause of death: Gross incompetence, asphyxiation from lies, and the failure to accept responsibility for the deaths of thousands of American citizens because power meant more to them than lives.

posted by Don Singleton at 8:44 PM

10 Things

2005-08-27T21:43:00.000-05:00

I snagged this from Drama Queen Confessions - I hope she doesn't mind. I was gonna steal something from Confessions of the Overdressed, but, I don't think I can come up with 100 reasons as to why I love shoes. I do love shoes, but with 3 kids, I can't justify having a love for them like she does over there. Maybe one day. *sigh*

10 things I love about my city:

1. We lived here when I was a small girl for a while back when it was nothing but cotton fields. Back when you could walk to the general store and get a big bag of candy for 50 cents (no, I am not THAT old!). It was so small here that people now are actually shocked when you tell them you lived here in kindergarten and first grade. Everyone else are transplants.

2. We have the best mexican restaurant in the world here.

3. Our downtown area looks so much like it did when I was little and I was in a parade the length of the whole downtown area which is only like 2 blocks long.

4. We still have that small town spirit.

5. We are only one hour away from Nashville (north) and one hour away from Birmingham (south).

6. We can get to the beach in 6.5 hours!

7. We have one high school and LOTS of school spirit!

8. Our city boasts some of the highest education scores in the south.

9. They are putting in lots and lots of sidewalks which means you can walk to almost anywhere you want to go.

10. We live right between two larger cities, but still far enough away we do not hear any traffic.

Wow...refreshing. I really do love it here!

Whamalamalama Rock and Roll is King

2005-08-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

Yep, I am listening to ELO...what's it to ya? I have it cranked up while I mop floors and clean house. I just got finished listening to The Eagles, "Hotel California" CD. Somehow old stuff is motivating me today (all the old stuff except myself), oh dang, "Don't Bring Me Down" just started. Oh the memories.

Not much is going on here. Just working, cleaning and running Lil Miss Princess all over the place. Thursday night found us at a double header football game for her school (I know, double headers is a baseball term..I have no idea what two football games back to back are called). It was actually pleasant outside the last couple of nights thanks to hurrican Katrina. I never liked girls named Katrina, and this hurricane is only validating my feelings. We were supposed to go to Pensacola this weekend to see my sailor son, but since his plane does not get in until last Sunday night, we postponed the trip for the following weekend, but now he is not sure when he will get there as the Navy has his crew on standby. ARGH! I want to see my son!!! This is the second time he was suppose to go down to Pensacola and we were to drive down and see him, but a dang hurricane got in the way. Last time we had to cancel all together. I hope this timem this thing gets on out so he can get down there. Who knows, they may end up canceling him going down there because they will be out to sea soon. Grrrrr....

But, so it goes on, and the dirty floors call out to me.

Off to mop.

Next up...some old Hank Williams Jr. Yeeehaw!

I am losing the fight yall

2005-08-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

Grrr...why me? Why am I so nice and always setting myself up for something I do not want? Why? WHY???? Okay, when I took this job...my status was On-Call/Part-time. From day one, I worked 6-7 hours every day (most days not taking a lunch or anything)....not exactly On-Call..and sorta not part-time. Okay, then the girl I was told I would job share with, comes back to work when school starts (because her children have gone back to school), and I finally...FINALLY get my Tuesdays and Thursdays off (which I want and enjoy immensely!!!!!!!!!!), so, evidently, it was VERRRRRRY busy on Tuesday, and this girl freaked out. She does not want to do that job on Tuesdays and Thursdays because it is too hard and stressful. She does not want more responsibility which she was given when she came back (because we are doing the same job). So, today my boss tells me that she is hoping I can work those days until we figure out what to do. She said I didn't have to, but I will...because I am nice like that. There was some hinting about me going part-time/full-time, which I really do not want to do. So, here I am, part-time, going back to working everyday....again. How do I get myself into this? Why am I so nice? Why am I so competent? How can someone keep a job when they don't want to do it? Why is that?

Oh...and...uh

2005-08-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

Oh, and did everyone in my fair city decide to go to the tag office on the EXACT same day as me???? Anyways, I took my BMW over to the dealership for them to install my floor mats, fix a scratch on the leather on the inside of the door (they just ordered me a new door panel), and the BMW "artist" was at the showroom today touching up paint scratches. They have their own "artist" for gosh sakes. Anyways, my salesperson (or Client Advisor) gave me his demo. Today I am driving this:

Rawr!

Adding a little somthin, somthin.....

2005-08-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

May I just add...that today is my day off, and with the exception of starting a load of clothes and cleaning the fingerprints off my microwave, is I have done absolutely nothing!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel much better.

Tuesday

2005-08-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

I totally ripped this off from Skillzy

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncrasies:

One: I cannot leave a knife dirty in the sink...at all. My hubby laughs at this one because before we go to bed I check the sink for knives. He asks me why that bothers me so much. My reponse is that if someone breaks into our house, I would rather not have a knife at the ready in the sink. To which he replies, all they have to do is just get one out of the knife block three feet away. Okay, I am not sure why this bothers me but it does. I guess all those years of seeing "Halloween" and stuff just took over my brain.

Two: When I eat a candy bar, Snickers, Three Musketeers, Kit Kats, what have you, I have to eat the chocolate off first. What's with that?

Three: When a black cat crosses my path, I still gotta make that damn X in the air.

Four: I have to check the doors to make sure they are locked like 20 times before I go to bed. See #1, or I guess I will just admit to being slightly OCD.

Five: I obsess about paying bills on time. When I was younger I never had that problem, but the older I get, the more I want my bills to be on time or early. I guess there are worse things.

Oh...and let me just add...

Six: Only because I just noticed there are fingerprints on the microwave. Now, that will totally drive me crazy!

Must go Windex!!!!

You know it's Monday when....

2005-08-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today was a day that started out like all others. I get up, get on my elliptical for 20 mins, get my daughter up, jump in the shower, her friend comes over to catch the bus, I walk by our rabbit and.....he was dead. Yep, it was a sad day at our house today. Ears was our rabbits name and he was a caramel colored mini rex - a very small house rabbit that we keep in a fairly largish cage in our house. He has been a lot of work, but he brought much joy to us all. House rabbits are sort of like cats (he was litter trained), but we didn't let him roam the house because he had a crush on all the electrical outlets. He loved to chew them! When we got him, he was a cute little caramel bundle of fur. You could literally hold him in the palm of your hand. He grew to the size of our peekapoo dog, about 10 pounds when we last had him weighed. I knew his time was short because he was 9 years old, which is old for a rabbit, and we had also been told he may have cancer. He looked so peaceful this morning although I was so upset. He was so sweet. I should have known he didn't feel good a couple of days ago when I gave him a hunk of banana, he turned it down. Anyone who knew him knew that bananas were his weakness and he would never turn them down. Whenever you would get near his cage he would stand on his hind legs and hold on to the bars until you pet him on the head. I am gonna miss that little bundle of fur. Hubby built him a little wood casket today and placed him inside and wrapped him in some nice soft flannel. We decorated the box and wrote things to him on the outside. He was buried in the pouring rain.

*sniff*

What the heck?

2005-08-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have been ignoring my little blob lately. Things have been busy around here at the Ok Corral. My daughter's computer has been infected with spyware, so she keeps taking the laptop upstairs, and I never see it anymore. Hence, the no posting. I made a point this evening between cleaning carpet and hanging shelves to catch up on reading and posting. I am watching a show about margaritas right now, and mmmmm...have I got a craving! I have been snacking all day with no real meals, and a margarita sounds very good right now.

The new car is awesome. We spent some time driving it around and getting use to it yesturday. It can do some amazing things. I wish it had autopilot though, now that would be impressive. This one came with a premium package that included heated seats. I laugh about that because we live in the south and the last few days the heat index has been over 100 degrees, so the thought of heated seats just makes me break out into giggles. I am not sure we will ever need those, but hey, they came with the car, so just in case hell freezes over, I am armed and ready.

Not much other news to report. It is about to get very busy around here. Next weekend we will go see my sailor son. I am very excited about that. Next month will see lots of birthdays around here. September is VERY busy. After that, my favorite time of year which kicks off with our local street festival. I love fall. Give me that football weather any time! Oh, and speaking of football and hot weather, my daughter's school's football jamboree was yesturday when it was almost 100 degrees. Let me tell you there is not a time in recent memory when I can tell you I was so miserable. They ended up canceling the last game because it was just too hot. Whoever planned a football jamboree in August outta get a good talking too. That's just rediculous to have kids out there in all that gear when it's almost 100 degrees. It was horrible.

Oh well...off to do some laundry - the chore that never, ever ends. *sigh*

Wizardry and stuff

2005-08-18T07:19:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Finally

2005-08-17T19:13:00.000-05:00

Well..the car situation is finally over. I traded in my Jeep. I am a little sad because it was sooooo pretty, but it was time. I got a very nice car. Not new, but newer (new to me). I got a beautiful 2004 BMW 325i. Very nice. It drives like an absolute dream, the gas mileage is MUCH better, and the warranty is absolutely awesome. All I have to worry about for a few years is new tires and gas. AHHHHH. I am pretty excited since we have been driving everything under the sun trying to decide which/what to do. I will have to post more later because my dinner is ready. Just had to get this off my chest. HA!

Scary...I mean really scary

2005-08-15T15:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am not sure if this is a joke or not, but this REALLY scares me!

Look if you dare.

Now, let me know how scared you are.

Vroooom!

2005-08-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, I think the time has come. Friday while I was driving to work, my transmission light came on yet again. This really pissed me off as I have had my Jeep worked on several time (under warranty) on the transmission. Now the warranty time is ending, and here comes that damn light again. So, while we have no kids this weekend, hubby and I have been test driving various cars. First up was the Mustang I want so badly. While I loved it, hubby did not. He says it is built cheaply as evidenced by the fact that the hood of the car does not even line up with the side panels on the front of the car. I liked the way it drove, but it is only a four passenger car, and I thought and thought about this, and that is just not going to be practical for us. My 6' son joined us and his poor legs were drawn up to his chest while he was in the back seat and he had a strained look on his face when he explained how comfy it was because he knew I wanted one so bad. I still do, but at this point, it probably will not happen. *sigh* *groan*

Next up was a 2004 Infinity G35 which only had 250 miles on it. Seems our Infinity dealership has several of these left from last year and now I know why. Although the car is almost 2 years old in car age, they still want the sticker price on them. The car listed at $37,000 in 2004 and that was the price they tried to get out of us today. I explained to the salesperson that if I purchased it and drove it off the lot, it would immediately depreciate 2 years worth and I refuse to pay almost full purchase price for a two year old car. No way! I told him we were heading directly to the BMW dealership where I was sure I could get a 2006 BMW 325i for the same price that he wanted for his 2004 car (later I was proven correct as we went by the BMW dealership which was already closed). We also had a tremendous fun driving experience driving the Dodge Charger with a Hemi! Wow...that car was fun. You know, fun is not enough. It was very roomy and had lots of get up and go, but the interior was made VERY cheaply, and I could not see this car holding up for as long as we would need it to. It was fun to drive though.

Our last stop (before the closed BMW dealership) was the Jeep dealership. With all the employee pricing, we thought we would give Jeep a go. I do not like the look on the outside of the new Jeep, but the interior is nicer and has more room than ours. This one was equipped with a DVD system and Sirius radio and all the really fun stuff. I am not sure how the bottom line got to almost $8000 more than what the special employee pricing was, but I can't swallow a $38,000 price tag for a car like we already have and have had several problems with already. I am not sure what we are going to do at this point. Our Jeep has an appointment for Monday morning in the shop, and I guess when they tell us what they find, at that point we will decide what to do. We do plan to hit the BMW dealership on Tuesday and drive a BMW and see what we come up with there. I hate this whole process of buying a car and all the bull you have to go through. Who knows, we may end up keeping what we have and just dealing with whatever problems as they come up, but it sure would be nice to have a newer car that gets better gas mileage.

Anyways, vroooom and stuff.

Fo Shizzle

2005-08-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

Well...today was SUPPOSE to be my day off, but like the good worker bee I am, I went to computer training...ON MY DAY OFF! After work, I sorta didn't want to go straight home so I stopped by my old place of employment to visit. Everything looks the same (although messier), but there are some new faces. I was slightly amused to find out the girl that took my old spot (after the previous girl that took my old spot - meaning this was the 2nd girl after I left), was let go. The amusing part about this is that usually your place of employment abuses you (particularly this place which is the reason I left there) but somehow she managed to abuse them! Kudos to her. Really didn't know that could be done there, but wow. Somehow she managed and has now found herself looking for a new job. The awkward thing is that I was actually there when she was turning all her stuff in and picking up her stuff, and I got to see the whole thing. Weird. So now there is no one in my old position, and I am not sure they will put anyone there since it seems they can't keep anyone. Now just what does that say? I do miss some of the people there and enjoy visiting.

They are not all bad.

I think.

No! Don't burst my bubble!

2005-08-08T19:39:00.000-05:00

In my comments, the oh so wonderful Skillzy was commenting on the new Mustang. I haven't driven one yet because I want one so bad I am afraid to drive one, because we certainly do not need another car payment at this time, and I know it will make me want one really bad. You know though, it might be good to rent one like he did, and just drive it for a few days and see if I still feel the same. I am really afraid to do that though. I am having car lust right now. *pant* Help me please! *hugs Skillzy* I know it's not all about looks. But look:

Must have Skillzy!!!!! Must have it!!!!!

Speaking of trying things out, my hubby got me my very own elliptical machine yesturday. Since I started back to work it has been virtually impossible for me to go to the gym although I am part-time, I am really not part-time. I am about to get pissed about it too. Give me my part-time damn you! Anyways, I love it very, very much. I get up a little earlier, turn on the news, and just elliptical myself into a sweaty disgusting 135 beats per minute mess. It's lovely actually.

This past weekend was fun. I took daughter and 3 of her good friends shopping at the Galleria in Birmingham. The trip on the way there and back was the most fun. They spent most of the trip there playing RubberNeckers and making signs to put in the windows to try to get people (mostly truck drivers) to honk their horns. They would cheer and laugh when they got the reaction they wanted. Oh to be young again. The highlight of the trip is when the girls found these type of handbags. They were just thrilled. My daughter got one on hot pink. I splurged on myself a little with the skincare line of Shiseido. I had already been wearing The Makeup in compact form, but the skincare line is to die for. I left a happy camper. I have been wanting to try the Bare Minerals stuff, but am afraid to order it because I am not sure if I would like it. If anyone out there has tried it, let me know. I would love to know what you experience with that has been. I have time, I stocked up on Sheseido since they don't sell it here, I had to load up.

Welp, I am beat.

Have a great night.

I am off today!

2005-08-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Wow..this feels really good. You would never know someone would be so excited to have a day off from their "supposedly" "part-time" job. I was looking forward to next week when I was "suppose" to have Tuesday and Thursday off for the first time since starting my "part-time" job, when they scheduled me for computer training on Tuesday and Thursday, so I am not getting that either. Aren't I so fortunate to get a job at a University who is changing their WHOLE computer system over and going live Oct. 1??? I mean, the whole University is changing their WHOLE computer system. I think it is a joke that I am "part-time". So far, "part-time" has meant I go in at 8:15, eat a sandwich at my desk for lunch, and leave somewhere around 3 or 3:30 - EVERY SINGLE DAY. I am sorry if I sound so sarcastic. I just want my dang part-time! The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I will get the whole Christmas holiday period off...just like a student! Also, I am working my way towards one of these

I must have one. My first one was a 1967. I want one bad.

Okay, well, anyways...I am off today. I thought I was taking my daughter and her friends on a shopping extravaganza today, but since two of my daughters good friends are cheerleaders, they had a surprise practice called today and they can't go for fear of demerits and lots of running. One of her friends said she would be happy to run it off, but the other was absolutely horrified at the thought of getting a demerit (she is a good girl), so tomorrow will be our big shoppping trip.

So, how do I plan to spend my big day off? Well...I slept until 10:00 this morning which felt really really good. I have laundry going. I made a big ole pot of Mudslide flavored coffee from my latest order of coffee from CoffeeAM. I am getting ready to make a huge bowl of my favorite cereal, Cocoa Pebbles. I have my checkbook laid out, getting ready to pay my stack of bills. I plan to vaccum, distribute folded clothes to each and every occupants rooms for them to put away. I am debating going to get a pedicure. Oh, and daughter has a hair cut appointment later. So yes, my day is full. Hubby was going to take time off today, but he is conducting interviews today for a new engineer to help in his department. I really have a lot to do, but meanwhile, I am going to enjoy my morning off. No phones ringing constantly, no one giving me a pity story as to why they need a job, no stupid questions.

I am in heaven!

When I was....

2005-08-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

I stole this from Lasadh -

10 years ago: We were getting ready to move from out old house into this house. Although we had found this house while it was being built, we took the bold step of buying it before we sold our old house. That was a scary time. My daughter was almost 3. My oldest son was 10 and my younger son was 8. I miss those days!

5 years ago: Gosh, I don't know what the heck I was doing 5 years ago...isn't that sad?

1 year ago: I was working at a place I was trying to get out of.

Yesturday: I worked hard (it was realllllly busy) and called my Sports Doc because my knee is hurting again. I was mad because they don't return calls that were made after 1:00 pm. I called at 1:02 pm.

Today: Doctor's assistant called me at 7:30 am as I was driving to work. YAY! I got some new drugs to replace the evil Bextra. Took son to pay his tuition for his first semester of college. Ummmm...ouch! Oh, and his Psychology book will be 93.50 plus tax. I think it is a joke that most all of the classes he is taking this semester, require new textbooks, so - no used books. BOOO!!!!

Tomorrow: I took the day off because we were going to go out of town, which got put off until Saturday, so tomorrow I plan to sleep in late. I could go to work, but they are already not expecting me. I plan to sleep, catch up on laundry and stuff like that.

All About Me!

2005-08-03T16:46:00.000-05:00

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Okgirl the Princess of Everything!

2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Not wearing pants, wearing black straight skirt

3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Oprah rambling about getting old and fat (how depressing).

4. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Chicken Quesadilla

5. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Frequently

6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red and sharp!

7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Beautiful blue sky,and sunny (and hot as hell).

8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My lovely daughter

9. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO GAVE YOU THIS? YEP!

10. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? A little stressed that the girl that is returning to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my off days) may not be the sharpest crayon in the box.

11. HAIR COLOR? Medium Brown

12. FAVORITE DRINKS?? Flavored coffees, diet coke, heavily loaded margaritas.

13. EYE COLOR? Grey

14. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS OR GLASSES? Both, vanity calls for me to wear contacts during the day, but I put my glasses on at night.

15. # OF SIBLINGS? 1 half brother, 3 step brothers.

16. FAVORITE MONTH? October, I love fall!

17. FAVORITE FOOD? Mexican!!

18. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The March of the Penguin

20. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? A little black baby doll.

21. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter

22. HUGS OR KISSES? Cuddles

23. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate

24. LIVING ARRANGEMENT? Hubby, son, daughter and myself (dog, rabbit, turtle, bird)

25. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? When I thought about my son who is in the Navy.

26. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? a flashlight and some old books.

27. WHO IS THE FRIEND YOU HAVE HAD THE LONGEST? My friend Paula

28. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Went to open house at daughter's school.

29. FAVORITE SMELL? Cucumber Melon

33. WHO INSPIRES YOU? God, my husband, my children, HDTV, Food Network, my Master Gardener neighbors.

34. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Snakes

35. PLAIN BUTTERED OR SALTED POPCORN? Salted with a little butter.

36. FAVORITE CAR OR TRUCK? 2005 Ford Mustang

37. NUMBER OF KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING? 10

38. CAN YOU JUGGLE? Sometimes, if I have the energy, I juggle life.

OH yeah!

2005-08-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, I been so obsessed with how tired I am I totally forgot to tell you all that I went to see "March of the Penguin" this weekend. Wow...what a great movie. Isn't it amazing what most creatures will do for their children. I took plenty of hankies because I heard it had some really sad parts, and they were sad, although my old heart must have hardened a little because I didn't shed the first tear. What is wrong with me? When I was little me and the family would sit down together and watch "Lassie". Just before it got to the part where it looked like Lassie was going to buy the farm, I would run to the bathroom. See...I thought I was so cool because in my mind, I thought the fam was thinking I had to go pee. But, what I really did was go in the bathroom and cry my eyes out and pray for poor Lassie. When I would come out my eyes would be all red, and although I thought I was being smooth and secretive, they were on to me. Later this became the source of many a joke and topic of conversation at all family gatherings.

Did you ever see "The Red Pony" - I cried
Every "Benji" - I cried
"Old Yeller" - cried like a baby
"You Can Never Tell" - more crying (okay, this is a really old movie, I was not alive when it was made, but it still made me cry).

Okay, my point here is that I really use to turn on the water works when I was watching a sappy animal movie, and that has not happened in a long time. I love animals. Now it's when something bad happens to a kid in a movie it gets me. Maybe my love for animals has been replaced with a strong love for kids. Hmmm....I wonder.

In conclusion (doesn't that sound so Eng. Lit?) I highly recommend this movie and I recommend you take hankies in case you find it much more sad than I did myself. I think it is a wonderful story of love, life, and how these beautiful creatures survive.

Awesome

I am tired Yo!

2005-08-02T22:04:00.000-05:00

Dang...is that all I say anymore? I am tired? Are you guys as tired as I am constantly? jeez!!! Tonight was just a whole barrel of laughs. We had "Open House" at my daughter's new school. She starts her first year of Middle School (7th grade in our area). You could feel the hormones as you walked down the halls. Everyone checking everyone out. It was disgusting! hahaha You just know little Ok (my daughter) was doing a lot of the checking out and getting a lot of the checking out looks. Hubby was mumbling something about cleaning guns and digging holes in the back yard for inserting boys that mess with little Ok (daughter). The whole thing was quite comical. It was so middle schoolish. It is amazing to me to see these kids whom I have known since they were preschoolers, and how they are growing up. I hope the ones that were always good kids, stay good kids. It scares me to think my daughter might meet up with and become best friends with any bad kids. She is such a good girl now, and she has a good group of friends - I really pray it stays that way. My two boys have turned out to be awesome young men. *praying*

Okay, about the tired thing. It may have to do with the fact that it is busy when I hit the door at work and it stays that way all day long. Constant. Steady. Balls to the wall work. I like it, but it is just so dang busy. By the time I get home, I don't even feel like walking or exercising. It's just rediculous. Another thing, hubby is ALWAYS on dang conference calls from work. It seems lately our phone is ringing constantly and it is just driving me crazy. He took this management position 8 months ago, and I am not sure I like it anymore. He got a nice big raise and all, but dammit....leave us alone at home!!!!

Just so you know, I am not grumpy all the time. I do have my great moments, and I think they will start in two weeks when I go back to my REAL part-time schedule. I was supposed to go back part-time next week, but mysteriously, I have been scheduled for database/computer training on my days off. Hmmmm...imagine that. I think it's a cruel ploy. This place just will not let me work my 20 hour a week work schedule that I was hired in to do. Oh well, the money is good, and evidently it's the place to work according to the 26 people that sent/brought in applications just today.

Okay, enough. I am going to bed. Hopefully I will dream of something fabulous.

I wish the same for you.

I been tagged!

2005-08-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have been tagged by the most wonderful skillzy - so here goes:

List ten songs that you are currently digging … it doesn’t matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they’re no good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they’re listening to.

Okay...here is my list:

1. Landslide - Dixie Chicks (listened to that on my way to work this morning although I am still pissed at them. It makes me think of my kids though, and I do like their version).

2. Hey Mama - Black Eyed Peas (on my workout list off my ipod. Gets me going).

3. Since You Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson (I really like this song, and it makes me think about stuff).

4. Around the World - Red Hot Chili Peppers (I actually break out into a run on this one - not when I am driving, but when I am working out).

5. The Reason - Hoobastank (I am soooo good at this song when I play Karaoke Revolution with my teenaged daughter....I kick her butt every time!)

6. All My Exes Live in Texas - George Straight (oh yummm!)

7. Right Through You - Alanis Morisette (self explanatory)

8. A Country Boy Can Survive - Hank Williams Jr. (This always reminds me of my rodeo/horse show days, yes, I am an ex-redneck, so what?)

9. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (THE BEST SONG EVER!!!!!)

10. Big Love - Fleetwood Mac (Because I have had a secret crush on Lindsey Buckingham for YEARS!)

Let me see...who can I tag? Hmmm....

First of all...my girl Whit cuz I miss her.

Secondly, Gawain because I am curious as to what he will say.

And then, Kalisah because she is so frigging funny.

Next, the girl that looks good constantly, and I love the way she writes.

And last of all, Pink because she seems to be really cool.

Now....let's see what you guys are listening to!

Please help!

2005-08-01T16:46:00.000-05:00

I do sound desperate don't I? We had one of those really busy run around weekends and I am absolutely exhausted. One thing that did not help was the fact that I could not sleep last night. I was so tired, but all I did was lay there with my eyes closed. I could hear everything around me, and really was not asleep and could not go to sleep. I think it has something to do with getting older. I hear you can start having problems with sleep (as well as other things - which I have not had), and not sleeping is going to kill me. I am so tired I felt all day on the verge of tears just from being so tired. It also does not help that I am cramping like hell too. Dang, I am really grumpy aren't I? I was hoping to try to get to bed early tonight, but I have bunco so when I got home today instead of taking a nice needed nap, I had to make a dish to take. *grumble* I ended up using the ton of left over grilled veggies from the other night and making a pasta salad with grilled veggies. It turned out great too!

Today was so busy at work, I hardly had time to even think. Next week I will go to my part-time 3 day a week position that I applied for and I am looking very forward to that. I am so tired I feel like crap.

And that's all I have to say about that.

The post where I try to keep a complete thought

2005-07-30T10:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, let me see if I can do this without being interrupted in any form whatsoever. Why is it when I think of something witty that I want to blog about, I have to go, unload the dryer, give medication, answer a phone, or whatever? I cannot blog without interruption and it's pissin me off! Let's give it a go and see if this will work this time. I am sitting here with my big mug o' coffee watching "Semi Homemade" on the Food Network. The house is totally quiet except for the TV. Hubby ended up having to go into work today for some emergency thingy at his work, and of course, I needed him home today because we have people coming over for dinner tonight, so I have been stuck with the whole shebang myself. Oh fun! You know why I think I can't do this without interruption? I think I have adult ADHD or something. grrrrrr.....

Anyways, I am supposed to be cleaning and getting the food ready, but instead I am sitting here watching this chick put together a fancy meal for her guest. Maybe she should just come over here and do this for me? That would be fab. Unfortunately, I think this whole thing is up to me. I had gone to Costco yesturday and hubby's boss's wife asked me to pick them up a case of beer since they are not members there. When I dropped it off at their house before coming home, I was mentioning to hubby's boss that it figured this emergency would come up the same day we are having guests (usually it's he and his wife, but not this time), and he assured me, it would be over way before our guest arrive and that hubby would be here in time to help with the preparation. Yeah, we will see. I have heard that before. And you know I cannot rely on my son for any help because he is drugged into oblivion STILL, and he is nothing more than a big tub of goo right now. Speaking of which, one of his friends came over last night and took him out for some icecream which is the first bite of anything he had all day yesturday. They came back home for a while and then headed out again to go over to another friend's house. I cannot believe I let him go. I begged him not to do anything that involved breaking the stitches in his mouth. He made it home and drugged up more and went right to bed. I am hoping he is not all swollen and sore this morning. This has been a bad event for me. I am such a mom.

Wow...no interruptions! YAY! I guess I better get going and get ready for this thing tonight. Also, I need to find something else to watch as Rachel Ray is on now, and her voice just grates on my nerves. She may be an awesome cook, but to me she is annoying. She is so going away.

In celebration of watching the Food Network, I am posting our menu for tonight:

Sirloin steaks
Baked potatoes and sweet potatoes
Grilled veggies tossed in olive oil and seasoned salt (yellow squash, zucchini, mushroom, tomatoe, onion, asparagus)
Fresh bread
Salad

Dessert: Daughter's friend is making a cake
Ice Cream

Drinks: Milo's sweet tea
Peach Margaritas for the ladies
Foster's beer for the guys

Of course I might add a few other things....we shall see.

Yum!

TGI...something or another

2005-07-29T16:44:00.000-05:00

Today is Friday already? Jeez. It's been a busy week. This morning I took my son in for oral surgery. It was not fun let me tell you! First of all, when he got up he was already SUPER grumpy. It's no fun hauling a grumpy teenager somewhere when they know there is much more pain coming. We get there, and little did I know, our appointment was at 8:30 and I thought it was at 8:00. That didn't help Mr. Grumpy's attitude one bit. He missed out on 30 minutes more of sleep. *grumble* When it came time for them to take him back, he put on the brave face although I could tell he was nervous. I sat there for what seemed to be forever, and finally they called me back. I will tell you, you have not lived until you have seen your 18 year old, muscular, tough son, sitting in a wheel chair with his mouth hanging open, drooling blood down the front of his shirt. Mommy was not happy. I got all teary looking at him sitting there all drugged up and unable to mutter a word that I could understand. Just sad I tell ya. They do have him on some very potent drugs and he has pretty much been in a coma like state most of the day. I am so glad things went well and he is safe at home. You know how we mommies worry when our children are hurting.

Gotta go drug him back up.