PSA and Other Stuff

I got my first call from a telemarketer on my cell phone tonight. Do yourselves a favor and go to www.donotcall.gov to register your cell phone numbers if you haven't already.

As for everything else, we're all doing ok here in Vermont. Snow, snow, snow, but that's just Vermont. The girls are having a great time playing in it this year. We got them a coupla sleds so they go out almost everyday sledding in our backyard.

We got our Christmas tree up and decorated. I just love it. It's huge, lol. I named it Jose, heheh. No, I wasn't drinking eggnog at the time either. I have most of my shopping done, which is more than I can say most years at this time. I haven't wrapped anything yet though, lol. We're having a hard time keeping Chloe out of our tree and the presents that are already under there. I've had to re-wrap two presents so far. She also scoots her cage so that it's up against the tree so that she can chew the branches through her cage, lol. She just as bad as a dog.

I can't think of too much else that's going on. I mainly was posting because of the do not call thing. I hate telemarketers. I'm thinking I hear an echo anyway. So, I'm done for now. Laters.

Halloween P.S.

Here's a little post Halloween fun.

http://members.home.nl/saen/Special/Zoeken.swf


Feel free to thank me for it.

Karma...It'll Bite You in the Ass

The title doesn't really have a purpose. It's just something to remember.

Anyway, the girls had a great Halloween. Their costumes and makeup turned out great. We drove to an actual neighborhood so they'd have houses to go to. There aren't enough places in our little rinky dink town for them to walk to, lol. But, they got the goods and had fun so Halloween was a success this year.

This time change deal is for the birds. I don't like being tired at 10pm, lol. I almost wish we lived in Indianapolis or Arizona where they're smart enough not to have daylight savings time.

The elections are tomorrow. Everyone ready to vote and for the ad campaigns to stop???? I sure am. The Redskins lost last night. Anyone know how that relates to the presidential elections? Kinda interesting and scary if you're hoping Bush wins.

C got his promotion today. He's officially a Staff Sergeant now. I didn't get to go to the "ceremony" cuz I would've had to take the girls out of school and stick my neighbor with having to find someone to watch her daughter, but from what C said, I didn't miss anything. His command sucks dog crap. What else needs to be said?

Now, I gotta get Sid ready for the bus. So, that's that. I hope everyone is still keeping up with the Blog...

Hello

Nothing much to say, just trying to be more consistent. Ummmm, let's see. Can you all believe the gas prices?? I just paid $2.02 today. Geez.

Wanna hear something funny?? I got a letter today from C's CO congratulating me on his selection to Staff Sergeant. I just thought that was funny cuz it's his promotion, not mine. Oh well.

That's it I guess, lmao. Oh one last thing to Jennifer. Spooky Slots is back at Pogo, heheh. I know you probably don't have time for it, but it brings back memories. ANYwayyyy, that's it. Laters.

TGIF!!

Yesterday, I decided to buy bulbs to plant for the spring. I spent three hours yesterday digging up my yard and I have about 4 or 5 more hours of work today and I'm feeling the pain this morning, lol. I got daffodils, crocuses, and lots of tulips. The pain will totally be worth it when they come up next year. I can hardly wait, lol.

I also drove around and took some early Fall pictures. I guess the locals hate that around here, lol, people pulling off to the side of the road to take fall foliage pictures. But oh well. I don't care. I plan on taking pictures of all the different stages of the seasons here. The trees are already amazing. I don't know if it's just because we haven't seen Fall in about 6 or 7 years or if it's just Vermont, but some of these trees look like they're on fire they're so brightly colored. It's not even peak leaf time yet.

We had the girls' Open House last night. We talked to both of their teachers and toured their classrooms as well as the Library and Music Room. Their school is really big. I didn't realize that until we walked around it yesterday. Both of their teachers told me that the girls are doing great in school this year. That's such a relief for us to hear, lol.

Well, that's it for today. Hopefully, after I get done planting my flowers, I'll still be able to move enough to update tomorrow, lol. Later.

Car Foibles

I discovered two things today while out running errands. The first has to do with coming home from my friend's house Saturday night. As I was driving along, the minivan in front of me came to a sudden stop and I could see a skunk rolling around underneath their van. The skunk, narrowly escaping death, looked me dead in the eye, then proceeded to run in front of my car and into the brush alongside of the road. The smell was atrocious and....has lingered as I found out this morning. (I was busy playing slug Sunday and Monday) Big ugh!! I'm not sure what to do about the smell, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Then this afternoon, I was at the Shell station getting gas. When I opened up the gas door I heard this "plop" sound. I looked over at the ground to see a large toad writhing on the ground in front of my tire. It was all black from car and road dirt and flopping around on it's back. It was absolutely disgusting. I had to back up when I was ready to leave to avoid further smashing it under my tire. C said that I should've just run it over and put it out of its misery, but I couldn't stand the thought of toad guts all over the car. EEEWWW!!

Great News!!!

We found out this morning that C got selected for Staff Sergeant!! Woohoo!! He'll probably pin it on in February. Oh, that's E-6 for yous that don't know. This is a great pick-me-up for us. It's been a rough month around here. But, YAY!!

2 Posts in One Day. Don't Get Used to It.

I just had to say that I ended up hanging out at a friend's house tonight. I just got home actually. We had a great time commiserating together. Sometimes, there's nothing like a fellow RD wife to get you through the day, lol. Plus, our kids play really great together, so they all keep each other entertained.

C should be home shortly, but who knows anymore. He's bringing a buddy with him to stay over cuz they both have to go down to Mass. tomorrow to get their butts chewed. Misery loves company I guess.

And that's definitely that for today.

It's Saturday. What're you doing?

Big fat zippo on our end. C working the entire weekend, I'm chatting with a friend online, and the girls are playing Mario Cart on the GameCube. Yay! I think I might get out of the house and go to a friend's today. It's dull sitting at home all the time. I get bored a lot more often since I don't have any school work to keep me busy. I like having the time off, but miss it at the same time. Know what I mean?

The girls are doing good. School's going great for them. They're both doing really good this year. There's no school on Monday for a work day thing,so they have a three day weekend. Yay for them.

C and I are fine. He has work but nothing's new on the front. However, I got some really good news this week. My sister is going to have a baby! I'm so excited for her. She is due May 17th. My little sister, awww. Lol. I can't wait.

So, that's that for now.

Remembering

How is everyone choosing to remember September 11? It's pretty basically just a day of reflection for me. Remembering where and how I heard the news, how I spent that day and the days following, etc. We're not doing anything specific such as festivals and things like that that other people are doing. I do plan on putting candles in the windows though. C had to leave first thing this morning for an overnighter with his poolees, so he won't even be here. The girls don't even remember it or understand much of why this is a special day in our history. But, even going about our day like normal, there's a nugget of gloom in the back of my mind like a shadow hanging over the day. ANYway...

I hope everyone takes the time to remember those who died on September 11th and those that risk their lives everyday to try and ensure something like that never happens to the United States again.

Sept 8

Happy Birthday C

Being Old

Today is C 27th Birthday. He had to work, is in fact still at work, but doesn't have to go down to Mass. tonight, so at least we'll get to see him at some point today hopefully. Like I already said, we don't have anything special planned. It's hard to plan something when he works every waking hour of every stinking day, but whatever.

Today, I watched my friend's daughter for her and negotiated my babysitting contract with the neighbor, lol. I have a pretty good deal where that's concerned so it's all good.

The girls both had good days at school. They both had gym today. Nothing exciting where they're concerned. If, however, anyone has tips on how to make kids clean their rooms, it'd be much appreciated. I swear, I'm one minute away from boxing up all their toys and giving them to some charity.

It's been a relatively boring day. It's raining, of course, and it's supposed to get worse since what's left over of Frances will be here soon. I guess this is the third wettest summer on record according to the local weather people. Woohoo. How nice for us.

Anyway, that's that. Until next time...

Little Wishes

So, anyway, last week was dull. I like dull weeks. Besides family crap rearing it's ugly head, things for us here in Vermont are going good. I still think that someone should invent a filtering device for phones and make them sorta like e-mail. I'm thinking something like having a subject line. When someone calls, they have to state their business into a recorder type deal. Then when the phone rings into your house, you can hear what they want before you allow their call to come through. If it's your pesky friend that needs a babysitter for the weekend, you can just hit a button that says you're not home and you'll get back to them. Then, you mysteriously never get the message. If it's a friend calling to say they're paying back some money they owe you, you can answer it cuz that's a cool call. If it's a bill collector, you can hit a button saying that they've called the wrong number, lmao. Something like that would make my day.

Well, now that I'm done dreaming, how was everyone's holiday weekend? Three day weekends are great. It's nice being able to sleep in for a few days. 6:30 is really early in the morning, lol. C had Sunday off and we spent the day being slugs around the house and then grilling out dinner.

C's 27th birthday is tomorrow. We don't have anything planned. I think he's supposed to take a kid down to Mass so we might not even get to see him. I'm not sure though. The girls are more excited about his b-day than he is, lol.

So, that's it for now. Hope everyone is doing ok.

The Famous Bus Incident of 2004

I was finally able to talk to someone at the school about what happened. The girls' story turned out to be true, lol. They got into trouble for "singing and giggling" on the bus. Apparently, there is a no singing rule on the buses even though this isn't listed in the Bus Rules handbook. Whatever. There isn't anything that's going to happen to them, they were just told to stop. However, the reason for the crying turned out to be the 7th grade girl harassing them. She's been reprimanded and told that one more incident will result in her not being allowed to ride the bus anymore. How completely retarded is this whole thing? I'm just glad it's done with.

As for other news, C still working the fair. It totally sucks. He didn't get home till 1am this morning, then had to get up at 4am to be in Massachusetts this morning. What a crock of bull. He's worked that stinking fair everyday except for one. That's another crock of bull if you ask me. Sometimes, and this is one of those times, I'm just not willing to make excuses for why RD sucks. There is none for why somebody is only getting 3 hours of sleep a night.

The girls and I haven't had anything exciting happening lately aside from the bus deal so that's that.

Families...Have you ever wondered what is "normal" when it comes to families? I think you could look at mine and C from any and every angle and still not find one iota of normalcy. Yesterday, we were thrown a curve ball where this topic is concerned so any good vibes and/or thoughts you all would like to pass along would be really appreciated. TIA.

That's it for today.

Matt's Car

Car

Ho Hum

Today, I took my computer final. I think I did ok on it. After a while, all those comp acronyms look the same. It only took me an hour and a half though. Not too shabby when I had 3 hours to complete it. And I got to go and see Vermont Law School in South Royalton. I had never been there before. It's a neat little New England-y type town.

The girls and I visited with a couple of friends today. It was nice just sitting around and chatting. But now, I have a killer headache and I'm beat. So, that's it for today. Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend.

Is that a skunk I smell?

We've had a coupla visitors to our yard the past few days.  Yesterday, we had a deer.  I tried to get some pictures of it, but it was clear at the back of the property, so I don't know how well they'll turn out.  Today, we had a skunk in the yard.  That was up closer to the house, so I had the girls come inside until it went away.  The last thing I need are for the two of them to get sprayed, lol.  Our animal visitors have been the only highlights of the day. 
 
I've been busy with school work (Yes Jennifer.  I'm doing my homework too :P) and I've been making more signature lines in PSP.  Like I said, it's a lot of fun and interesting to know that I can be creative, lol.  Not much else is going on.  Same ol, same ol around here.  That's how we like it though.  Keep your bad news to yourself. 

See How Talented I Am??

Check this out. I made it all by myself. ::Pat on the head please:: It was pretty easy to do and a lot of fun. I'm bored, lol. What can I say??

"Even a fool may be wise after the event" Homer

Well, since nothing is going on around here, it should be a good thing, right? Ohio can just drop off the face of the earth as far as I'm concerned. Or, maybe, when Canada takes over Vermont, they can take Ohio too. Only bad news and bad things come out of Ohio. And stupid people are the only people in Vermont. Who needs all that?

Anyway, the girls and I haven't been up to too much lately. They've been pretty bored cuz it rained to beat all hell yesterday, and it's cold today, so they've been stuck in the house. I've been keeping myself busy around the house, mostly just so that I can avoid doing my school work, lol. Anthropology is BORING, and my computer class just sucks. So, I cleaned out the car Thursday night. It's the first time the car's really been cleaned in months. We still had ash in it from the fires back in October, heheh.

Yesterday, I finished up the boxes in the living room. I had to take all the packing paper out of the boxes (about 35 of them) and put the paper into trash bags, and break down the boxes so the we can get rid of them. It took an entire box of 30 gallon trash bags to accomplish this task. May Paul Arpin and the movers of Liedke Moving Company burn in hell. But first, I hope they're painfully tortured and then they can burn in hell.

Today, we went grocery shopping. Woohoo. I did find a new way of getting to the grocery store so that I can avoid "downtown" Barre. You'd think that for such a small town, they would have smooth running traffic. But, I'm telling ya, it takes me half an hour to drive 10 measly miles to the grocery store because of the slow-butt drivers of Barre, Vermont.

You might be wondering why I don't mention C too much. Well, all he does is work. He had to take some butt-munch kid to Massachusetts to do pull ups of some stupid thing this morning. He had to get up at 4:30am to do this. He normally works from 7ish to 9-Midnight-ish every day. That's his life. And he doesn't get paid overtime either. In 3 months, he's had about 4 days off I think. So, if you think your job sucks, think again. Well, unless you're a recruiter too, heheh.

Oh! We watched Monster last night. Ya know, with the oddly misshapen Charlize Theron? Well, that was one weird movie. Charlize totally deserved the Oscar she got for that movie though. She did an awesome job. That being said, I don't think I'll ever want to see it again. Just too weird for me. Tonight, we're either gonna watch Cold Mountain, or The Butterfly Effect that came in the mail this morning. We'll see.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Front and back pictures of the lodge. The interior is very nice as well. They also have a family of bears that live next door. They are our neighbors as well since my neighbor that lives behind us has seen bear tracks in his garden, lol. Gotta love Vermont.  Anyway, my landlord owns and operates the Millstone Lodge.  Figured I should mention that since I snagged the pics from his website, lol.

"Is death the last sleep? No--it is the last and final awakening." Sir Walter Scott

Every other day seems to work best for me.  Who really needs to read what we do here in Vermont every single day of our lives??  I don't think too many people really care. 
 
Here's something to think about:
 
Should institutions such as libraries and public schools have filtering software on their computers?  In case you're unfamiliar with the term, filtering software is a program that monitors which websites people can access on a computer.  I'll give an example:  In San Diego county, California, two public high schools had children who viewed the beheading of an American hostage in Baghdad on the internet on the school computers.  Should they have had access to the website or should it have been blocked by filtering software?  Just food for thought... 
  
  
                                                                                                                        Bye, Aunt Brenda

"A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for." W.C. Fields

I thought the title quote was funny. It's not necessarily a rule I live by.

I forgot to update yesterday. But, it's not a big deal because nothing interesting happened. The girls and I went grocery shopping and C got to come home early from work (9pm) cuz he had to get up at 3am this morning. Oh! We did see three deer cross the road on the way home yesterday. The girls were really impressed. We're easily entertained by nature, lol. I'm still waiting to see a bear in my yard. I just hope I get to the camera fast enough to take a picture.

We don't have any plans for today. I'm cleaning the downstairs, and the girls are cleaning their rooms upstairs, then I'm going to do some Anthropology homework and relax the rest of the day. Fun, fun. Hope everyone else has a more exciting weekend than we are.

Is Summer Really Here?

Today we went to Walmart and bought lawn games for the kids. Our bbq is finally on for tomorrow, and they'll be a few extra kids running around. C actually has today and tomorrow off if you can believe it. We're still in shock.

Yesterday, the kids and I made a mistake by attending a Family Day function for C's office. We drove 3 hours, with a friend and her 3 kids, to Mass. sat there for three hours, and then had the 3 hour drive home, for practically nothing. It's a long complicated story as to why, but let's just say that everyone at RS Springfield,MA sucks out loud. We had a lousy time and it will be the last family function that we attend. But, that's why I didn't update yesterday; I was gone all day, and exhausted by the time I got home.

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic Fourth of July. I'll be back to update on Monday. Have a safe and holiday.

This Day in History...

1859...Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
1921...The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed.
1934...Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."
1936...Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published in New York City.
1950...U.S. President Harry Truman ordered U.S. troops into Korea and authorizes the draft.
1952...CBS-TV debuted "The Guiding Light."
1953...The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.
1958...The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.
1970...The Cincinnati Reds moved to their new home at Riverfront Stadium.
1971...The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.
1986...The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
2000...U.S. President Clinton signed the E-Signature bill to give the same legal validity to an electronic signature as a signature in pen and ink.
1917...Lena Horne was born.
1966...Mike Tyson was born.
1977...I was born.

A Quiet Day in the Neighborhood

Peace at last. This is the way all Sundays should be. I got up this morning with C. After he went to work, I cleaned the kitchen, did some homework, went to WalMart ::shivers:: and watched movies the rest of the day. WalMart was actually a funny experience. I had to do this experiment for my Bio Lab class where I invade random people's personal space and see what their reactions were. People at the WalMart now think I'm a scary, weirdo lady, lmao.

But, that's my Sunday. Doing nothing, made it a good day.

So, Tip of the Day:

Take time to relax and have some "me" time.

Tip of the Day

Buckle up. I just makes good sense.

Statistics from www.buckleupamerica.org

Tip of the Day

Honesty is the best policy. Don't ask me a question or ask for my opinion if you're not sure that you want to hear the truth.

If I Could Trouble You....

To keep my great aunt Brenda in your thoughts. She's been struggling with ovarian cancer since September and at this point, from what I found out from other family, it's just a waiting game. She was always a neat lady and one of my favorites in my family.

A Typical Day at Our House

This day started out really hectic, and at 7 pm, is finally slowing down. In anticipation of our guests this weekend, I've begun cleaning the house. This included cleaning the girls room...AAAgain. I hauled out three bags of trash from their rooms. It's just disgusting. I can't imagine if they were boys, lol.

I also have a Humanities paper due tonight that I've barely had the chance to start. Just in case anyone's interested, it's about the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War. Fun, fun.

The washer repair dude finally came today...2 hours late, but oh well. It turns out that I have to have these rod deals replaced. They're not too expensive, $20 for a pair, and we need 2 pairs. So, in addition to the service charge, it's gonna be about $110 altogether. Coulda been a lot worse. The guy said it's a typical problem with our kind of washer, so if you're in the market for one, don't get a GE.

Well, this is going to be a short entry cuz I'm exhausted and I still have to write my paper. Maybe after I'm done, I'll be inspired to write more, lol.

Tip of the Day

Did you know that in addition to it's excellent search feature, that you can use Google as a calculator as well? Not just simple 2+2 functions either. Try it out.



www.google.com

Recipe of the Week

My mother-in-law (Hi Vickie!!) wanted this recipe, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Pan-Fried Bass

1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp water
1 large egg white
1/4 c seasoned bread crumbs
2 tbsps cornmeal
4 (6oz) bass fillets skinned
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp butter
4 lemon wedges

1.)Heat large, non-stick skillet over medium heat.
2.)Combine flour, salt, and pepper in large zip-lock bag. Combine water and egg white in a shallow dish and stir with a whisk. Combine breadcrumbs and cornmeal in another shallow dish.
3.)Working with one fillet at a time, place fish in bag and shake to coat. Dip in egg white mixture, then dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining fillets.
4.)Add oil and butter to skillet and melt. Add fillets to pan, and cook 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

These are my own tips with this recipe. I quadruple the flour, salt, and pepper, cuz those amounts just aren't enough. Either that, or I use really large fillets. I also use a little more cornmeal and breadcrumbs too. I always run out. I use slightly more oil and butter too. But not a lot. The whole point of this recipe is to NOT deep-fry the fish. But I use enough oil that each fillet gets a golden brown. One last thing, bass isn't a requirement. We use Haddock and it works just as well. The girls come back for seconds and thirds. They just love this recipe.

Tip of the Day

Use spellcheck. Is it really that hard to click a button?? 

It's Raining! It's Pouring!

The girls and I didn't do that much today. The girls took a bath, and we hit the grocery store. Chloe's expen also arrived so we changed out her area. Messing with Chloe's things is always an adventure. She lunges at you and growls, lol. Very funny. And, as you can tell from today's title, it's rained all day. The temp barely made it into the 60's, but at least it's not snowing

So far our blog has served it's purpose, and it's only been one day. I've heard from a lot of our friends that I haven't heard from in months. It was truly great hearing from everyone that called or emailed. We miss our friends in California like crazy. Vermont's pretty lonely with only having four un-scary families living on our street.

One more item of interest. If you would like to leave a comment to any of our posts, make sure and sign your name to it, or I won't know who you are unless you have your own Blogger account.

Chloe Bunny

This is a picture of Chloe that I got from her previous owner. I'm going to take my own pictures of her soon. 

Barre, Vermont

This is Barre, Vermont. I have no idea what that statue is, heheh. 

Turning a New Leaf

I'm thinking that I might try updating on a regular basis again. It's a good way for people to keep tabs on us, without actually having to talk to everyone, lmao. Just joking. I don't know how steady I'll be at this with my school work and life and stuff, but I'll try.

I guess I should start out by playing catch up...

We've been in Vermont for 5 months and 21 days now. It's been an adventure to say the least. Vermont winters are harsh and none us enjoy them, not even the kids. It's the first day of summer, and it got down to 46 last night, and 35 the night before. That's just craziness if you ask me. And it actually snowed on our anniversary this year, May 3rd. ACK!! But, Vermont is beautiful and we have a huge yard, bears for neighbors, and the kids are going to a great school. Take the good with the bad.

C's job is nutso, and that's an understatement. Some of you already know what he goes through, but it's too much to go into on here. If there are any Marine families reading this, AVOID RECRUITING DUTY AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!! No matter how bad that you've heard it is, it's ten times worse. On a good note though, C's in the zone for promotion to Staff Sergeant. We'll find out later this year if he actually gets the promotion. And he's also planning on re-enlisting for his third contract in October. Yay re-enlistment bonus!!

The kids are doing great. They've made friends with the neighbors next door, and are thriving here. Although, M complains regularly that Vermont sucks and she wants to move back to Cali, but oh well. Because of moving in the middle of the school year, as well as other factors, C and I decided to have M repeat the second grade. It's one of the hardest decisions that we've had to make as parents, but feel it's for the best.

I've started taking some college courses online. So far, I'm taking Biology, Biology Lab, American Adventure (A humanities course), Anthropology and Archaeology, and a computer class. It keeps me so entirely busy, that I don't have time for anything else including being upset that C's never home. It's a positive thing for me even though I feel overwhelmed a lot of the time.

We recently got a bunny. Her name is Chloe and she's a 16 month old English Lop. She runs around the house 24/7 since she doesn't need to be caged. She's 100% litter box trained and doesn't chew cords and things. She's awesome and we really love having her. I'll post a picture of her shortly.

On a sad note, we no longer have rats. They died and the kids said that they were tired of having rats die all the time and don't want them anymore.

FYI:
-The kids will not be going to Ohio this year to visit. Nuff said.
-We have no idea when we'll be going to Ohio at all. It'll be at the VERY least June 2005 before C's allowed to take leave. I have no desire at all to go to Ohio by myself, so that's that. And stop asking.
-We are not made out of money. Keep this in mind.
-Check back regularly if you're interested. I'm nobody's keeper and am not going to keep on everyone to check for updates. Bookmark our blog to your favorite places, bookmarks, or whatever it is that your browser calls it.


And lastly, food for thought...

Do you think that a scientist, who studies evolution, can also believe that God played a role in our creation?