I’m Not Saying It

You know what day it is.

My kids decorated their pumpkins for the holiday this morning. They lucked out and they don’t have school today for a teacher work day or something like that. Anyway, we thrive on being untraditional so rather than carve the pumpkins, they decorated them with Halloween-themed words in Halloween-colored foamies and glow in the dark glitter glue. They turned out rather nice I thought. The oldest child is going to be a princess turned into a vampire and the youngest is going to be a fairy princess. Pretty traditional. They rounded up about four other girls from our street and they are all going trick or treating together tonight. A six pack of giggling girls should be interesting. Since our development consists of two streets that are both cul-de-sacs, we’re letting them go alone this year. Since this is our first year in the neighborhood, I’m not sure how many people are going to give out candy or how many trick or treaters we’re going to get. I hope we get a lot of both.

8 days to go until our vacation.

Can We Get Some Heat Please?

This is what I’ve been hearing all week from my kids. I’m cold!!! It’s like they’ve never met me before or something. They should know by now that I’m The Heat Nazi. Yes, it’s a bit chilly in my house in the mornings with the temperature hovering around 67 degrees. But it warms up to 73 or 74 when the sun comes up so it’s all good. I don’t think it’s necessary to turn the heat on yet. And why is it that if the temperature in the house during the summer was 74 they’d be complaining that it’s too hot? It’s because they are never happy. My solution to chilly mornings? Put on a sweater, jeans, socks, and grab a throw blanket. I’m perfectly comfortable in the morning with just jeans and a sweatshirt on. Pansies. We could still be living in Vermont where they have snow on the ground. Get some perspective.

9 days until we leave on our vacation.

11 Days to Go

Things are progressing with the house in Vermont. I would go into detail, but it’s pretty boring if you’re not living it. Bottom line, they have until Nov 7th to pay November’s rent and the $700+ late water/sewer bill or they will be served with an eviction notice. I’m not holding my breath.

In other news…

Geez. I have very little “other” news. Between the Vermont issues, work, and the kids, I do very little else. In the 20 minutes of spare time I get a day (this is the time I sit in the carpool lane of the oldest child’s school waiting for her to get out. I deliberately leave that early so that I have that quiet time in the car. Pathetic, right?) I’ve been reading a certain book. I would tell you all about it, but it’s not time yet. No, it’s not a book telling me how to best take over the world. That one is in my TBR pile. ;)

School continues to be a drag. Big. Giganto. Un-fun. Drag. I have my Lit midterm this week which means the semester is half over thank GOODNESS! Weirdly enough, I’m just chock full of weirdness, I’m looking forward to next semester. I’m taking marketing and finance classes. One is a basic marketing class that’s a pre req for a upper level class I’ll take the next semester. The other is a finance class for entrepreneurs. I never saw myself heading in this direction before, but my work has opened new doors for me that I want to pursue. I half-wish that it wasn’t too late to change majors. But I’m so burned out that switching would be a very bad idea. Bad, bad, bad. I’d never make it.

And I’m tired and starting to ramble. Gonna hit the sheets.

11 days until we leave on our vacation.

And the Saga Continues

I’m sure you all are as tired of hearing about this as I am of talking about it. But you know what, it’s either get it all out or sit here and cry until I puke. I don’t like throwing up so this is how it’s going.

My renters bounced their rent check again. For anyone keeping tabs, that’s four times in 21 months. Too bad for us is that we had already paid our mortgage and as a result of the two events colliding, my checking account is very much in the red and my savings account if frozen. YAY ME!! I’ve never had a frozen bank account before. I feel like one of those crooks you see in the movies. Anyway, luckily, I get paid the old fashioned way and we were able to cash my check so that we could do things like, oh I don’t know. EAT!!! Also, for those of you that keep up with the drama in my life, we are set to go on our Outer Banks vacation a week from Saturday. Good news/bad news is that the house is already paid for but it’s also non-refundable. So, we either go and have no money to spend while we’re there and spend extra money on gas and food, or we stay home and we’re out a nice chunk of change. Yeah. It’s a conundrum.

Oh! And you know how we found out her check had bounced? We were in Target trying to pay for the oldest child’s knee pads for volleyball when my debit card was refused. Nice. Real nice.

You’ll be happy to note that I’m done being walked all over. There’s nice and then there’s being a doormat. I’ve engaged a lovely lawyer who said that she’ll collect her fees when we close on the house. She’s reviewing our case today and will be sending out a notice to pay or quit tomorrow. It’s the first step in the eviction process. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that we won’t get some bleeding heart idiot judge who will refuse to evict a family in the winter. Either way though, they either leave by eviction or they leave when the bank forecloses on the house. Because if they don’t make it so that we can sell the house, it’s getting foreclosed on, plain and simple. If we’re REALLY lucky, and I mean REALLY, we’ll be able to scratch our way out of this hole without having to let the house go into foreclosure. The plan is to put the house on the market as soon as they are served their eviction notice. If they don’t trash the house too badly, and I’m not a big enough idiot to think that they won’t trash the house on their way out, we should be able to get it sold before things get way out of hand. The realtor I talked to said that Vermont hasn’t been hit as badly as some other places in the country economy and housing market-wise.

I just don’t understand people like this. It’s not as if I forced her to move into the house and THEN told her how much the rent was going to be. Why do you move in somewhere that you can’t afford? And if you can’t afford your rent, why do you buy four ATV’s and shell out for a huge SECOND wedding??? Despite the fact that we are in serious financial SHITE, my rent will still be paid on time. This is how life should be:

1. Pay rent/mortgage.
2. Pay electric/heat and water bill
3. Pay renters/home owners/car insurance
4. Pay car payment
5. Buy food somewhere in there
6. Everything else

Am I the only one that thinks this is the logical and RESPONSIBLE course of action? You have to have somewhere to live. That somewhere has to have heat and running water. That somewhere needs to be insured and you have to have an insured vehicle to earn the  money to pay for the above. HELLO!!! If you are old enough to get married, have kids, and vote, you should be mature enough to figure out how to manage your finances. It’s also not as if she is making less money than when she moved in either. She works and has worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. That job is the whole reason she moved to Vermont in the first place.

Grrrr!! People suck and you can’t tell me that they don’t.

To Quote…

The oldest child, “OMG!!” You guys have got to read this news story:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/online-divorcee-jailed-after-killing-virtual-hubby/1259111

When I have the time, I’m an avid gamer but this is something else altogether. This is just craziness.

Having Dog Issues

 

Does this look like a mean dog to you?

My sweet dog is being not-so-sweet lately. Bailey is having issues and I can’t figure out why. She’s three years old and until recently, I could never in a million years picture her being mean. Just in the last couple weeks though she’s not been herself. 

She snarled at me when I made her get off my bed. (We have a no dogs on the furniture rule.) She bit the youngest child on the hand just a few minutes ago. She mounted one of the kids when they were on the floor playing with her last week. She’s also been showing dominance over Hannah lately and when we first got Hannah, Bailey allowed her to be the dominant dog even as a puppy. Maybe it’s all the changes since we moved. She became depressed when we moved from Vermont to North Carolina which is one of the reasons we got Hannah in the first place. We don’t want a third dog right now so getting Bailey another puppy is out of the question. 98% of the time, Bailey is perfectly fine. She’s affectionate, she obeys commands, and she’s just generally well-behaved. It’s that other 2% that has me worried because she could progress really fast into being aggressive if I don’t figure out what to do. She’s also been extra hungry lately but I have no idea what that could mean. Maybe I should take her to the vet. She’s not due for a check-up but it couldn’t hurt I suppose. She’s not spayed either. We never came to a decision on whether or not we wanted to breed her. It’s probably time to fix her and be done with it though. If we can’t make a decision after three years, it’s not meant to be, right?

I would be devastated if anything ever happened to either one of my dogs. I need a solution.

On Being a Winner

A couple weeks ago, I unknowingly entered a blogging contest at A Novel Menagerie. When I originally responded,I thought it was a regular, run of the mill meme. I only realized it was a contest when the blog’s author informed me that I had won. I never win anything so I was pretty excited. Monday, my winnings arrived in the mail.

I received a very pretty book thong and a much needed book light. How nifty, eh?

I just want to thank Sher for selecting my entry and for sending me these wonderful bookish items. They are much appreciated and will I get a lot of use out of them.

Our Weekend Version 1 Gazillion

I had an awesome Friday night. I attended my first ever virtual wine tasting. How’d it work? Well, at Twitter Moms, there’s a group of Twitter Wine Moms. A variety of wine was chosen for the group and a time to meet up on Twitter. We bought the bottle (or some of us bought whatever we could find. Luckily, I was able to find the suggested bottle.) and then we chatted about the nose, color, taste, etc. on Twitter. At first, I was looking forward to it. Then when the time came, Friday night at 8 pm for me, I was just tired and didn’t care. But once we got started, it was so much fun! It was only supposed to go from 8 to 10 eastern time, but when I signed off after 11, the chat was still going on. As the time progressed and wine was consumed, we totally got off topic and talk of boobs and such started up, heheh, but I still learned a little about wine and I made some new virtual friends. Welcome to Trisha’s Nerdville. I know.

Saturday, the Mister ran in his 10k. This was his second official race and both times he got rained on, lol. Despite being prepared, his right nipple didn’t fare so well, lmao. I wonder if women runners have this same problem since they wear bras? He ran a pretty decent time though and was happy with the results. It boosted his confidence a little as he’s starting to worry about the OBX Marathon in November.

Sunday the oldest child had her first volleyball practice. She had a good time and said that she did pretty good at the skills they were introduced to except for serving. Sometimes, and this is one of those times, I have to wonder how she ended up being my daughter. I hated, and still do, sports and joining in on stuff. She’s a social butterfly. I’m glad she’s not like me in this way. The rest of our Sunday was pretty much affected by my next paragraph.

We got bad news Saturday evening. A friend of ours from Ohio died Friday. It still shocks me to say it. I’ve known Ben since I was ten years old. More than half my life. He was only 36 years old and the cause is still unknown. Almost all my memories of Ben are funny. He told the best stories and could make you laugh no matter what kind of mood you were in. The summer I spent with my brother here in N.C. when I was 16, Ben was there too as he was originally a friend of my brother’s and his wife. We all went to dinner at this Chinese place in Jacksonville called Mai Tai’s. It was amazing that we didn’t get kicked out because Ben was doing this voice and telling these jokes (yeah, they were off-color but what the hell) and we were all laughing so hard that we were totally being obnoxious. I’ll never forget that. He also did a favor for me that summer for which I will always be grateful. The Mister knew Ben before he knew me. They worked together at Donato’s Pizza in Marion and they became friends too. The Mister has lots of his own memories of Ben making him laugh as well. Marion is a weird little town like that where someone knows someone who knows someone else and then they end up related or some weird thing like that. The last time we saw Ben was this time last year in Ohio at our brother-in-law’s funeral. They were also good friends and despite Ben’s profound sadness, he still managed to make us laugh. That was Ben. I’m really going to miss him.

Those Darn Kids

I have great kids. They are respectful and pretty well behaved but they are LAZY. Holy cow! Last night, I grounded them FROM the living room until Wednesday because I’m tired of them leaving their stuff, namely ten pairs of shoes and socks, all over the room. I’ve also implemented a new allowance system that I got from watching an episode of Super Nanny, heheh. Anyway, instead of earning an allowance, they have to keep from losing it. They start out the week with a set amount of points. During the week, if I have to tell them to do their chores, homework, or get on them for misbehaving, they lose points. At the end of the week, their leftover points translate into a monetary allowance. So far, it’s working way better than any other punishment/reward system we’ve ever tried using. They are 12 and almost 10 years old and have to learn responsibility. It’s not like I make them wax the floors or landscape the yard. They have to unload and reload the dishwasher and take care of the trash and recycling. They also have to keep their rooms clean and walk the dogs. All in all, it’s not a lot of work and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Do they like to do it? No, not at all. Last night they lost points because I’ve been telling them to clean the kitchen since Friday and they’ve yet to do it completely and not half-assed. Case in point:  The oldest child put away my large, glass pyrex mixing bowl in the cabinet in such a way that when I opened the door, it fell out and shattered all OVER the freaking place (I was very sad to have my favorite mixing bowl broken). Why did that happen? Because she was trying to do as little work in as little time as possible. Points lost.

I’ve always felt that paying kids to live in their own house is wrong. That didn’t stop me from paying them to do stuff around the house because I was desperately trying to figure out a way to get them to be responsible for themselves and not to be total slobs. Suffice it to say, it didn’t work. But this way, they get an allowance because I’d like them to have their own spending money and to realize how much things cost. They are spoiled with having too many things. Cell phones, iPods, Gameboys, Wii’s, enough toys for 20 kids, enough clothes and shoes for the entire neighborhood, and other random stuff. As a result, they don’t take care of any of it…Oh, I lost my shoe? Mom or grandma will buy me another pair. Whoops. I broke Barbie’s head off. Oh well. I bet I can get grandpa to buy me ten more. When it comes to the oldest child’s cell phone (the youngest doesn’t have one yet), the iPods and that type of thing, I threaten their lives to get them to take care of them. This hasn’t stopped the dogs from chewing on the youngest child’s iPod out in the yard though. So, they have their own money so that they can realize how much it takes to buy the things they want. But, they have to act like civilized human beings, because in reality, that’s all I’m asking for, or they will have their money chipped away at until they are left with quarters instead of dollar bills.

Even after our preliminary success with our new allowance method, I still don’t have much faith that it will last. How sad is that? We’ve tried other things in the past that have temporarily worked until I get tired of keeping up with it and end up doing everything myself. Is this a control issue maybe? Or what’s the word? Where a person takes everything on themselves so that they can make everyone feel sorry for them or feel like crap for not doing anything to help? Whatever. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will work out for us.

Do you have success or failure stories when it comes to kids, chores, and allowances?

Funnies

I subscribe to an RSS feed from True Mom Confessions. It’s kinda like anonymous Twitter for moms and if you don’t know what Twitter is, you’re a little behind the e-times. Anyway, I consider this a guilty read because so much of it makes me giggle. I just had to share a confession that came through today:

tmc639419015

Oct 16, 2008 2:29 PM - Show original item

When I am in the restroom stall, people think that I am typing on my blackberry, really I'm playing my gameboy.

Hehehe. I think that is so funny.

Another funny I saw on the net today was this line:

I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself.

HAHAHAHA!!

Overheard at my dinner table tonight from the youngest child:

Aww man!! You put your nuts in them (the green beans). Why did you put your women’s nuts in the green beans?

The Mister and I about peed ourselves from laughing so hard. She had no idea what was so funny, thankfully, but oh my gosh! It was hilarious. In case you were wondering, she was talking about almonds. I made fresh roasted green beans with almonds. She thinks they are my nuts because I like to munch on them as snacks from time to time. Ah hem.

Lastly, the Mister sent me this video in an e-mail today. It’s clean if you’d like a silly laugh.

Keeping Up

I have done exactly NOTHING interesting at all this week. I’m not really feeling sick anymore with just a mild case of the stuffy-s and the sniffles, but I get tired really fast. It’s all I can do to keep up with work and school this week. Whine whine.

We’ve been having the bestest weather. It’s been in the mid 80’s all week and it’s the middle of October, heheh. I don’t miss the cold weather, fall, snow, NOTHING about it at all. Sadly, it’s going to be cold this weekend with highs only in the 60’s.  :( Don’t worry. I’ll survive.

I made my second foray into audio books this week. I’m listening to I Am Legend by Richard Matheson for Readers Anonymous. Listening to him obsess over his lack of a sex life is funny. After I listen to the book, I’m going to watch the movie. We picked it up on DVD on sale last week. From what other addicted readers in my group have been saying, I’m going to like the movie much better. We’ll see.

I’m also reading about Hinduism and Buddhism for my religion class this week. Interesting stuff.

Did I mention that the oldest child is playing volleyball? Her first practice is this Saturday. She’s so tall that she should be halfway decent at it. With her genes, however, it’s really going to be a toss up. Also this Saturday, the Mister is running in a 10k here in our bitty town. With volleyball practice, I’m probably not going to get to watch him though.

Speaking of races, we only have 23 days until the start of our Outer Banks vacation!! WOOT!! I’m beside myself with anticipation.

Sorry. That’s it. I’m drained. I’m so BORING! I don’t even have anything to rant about for pete’s sake. Sheesh.

Columbus Day

All of us in the Trisha household had a three day weekend. The long weekend was nice, but the Mister and I spent most of it laid up in bed. Get your minds out of the gutter. We were both sick, heheh. We loaded up on tissues, OTC meds, which are pretty much a joke thanks to all the meth heads out there, and made sure the remote control was within reach. Fun times, let me tell ya. We’re both feeling much better today though. In the grand scheme of things, this little, tiny, sniffle is nothing compared to what used to hit me when we lived in California. I used to get colds that would evolve into bronchitis which would knock me down for two weeks and require antibiotics every four months. While I’m still sniffle-y and sneezy, the worst of this cold was over in 48 hours. Is this what a “normal” cold is like? I didn’t even lose my voice.

Today the Mister and I took the kids to Target to buy their Halloween costumes and to let them spend their allowances. Then we went to Best Buy where I spent my Best Buy reward points on season three of BSG. Too bad I didn’t have that at the beginning of the weekend when I was stuck in bed. It is GOOD so far!

So, I didn’t update for three(?) days and this is all I have to say. It’s hard to have anything to post when all you did in that time was blow your nose and pop useless pills. I had 99 e-mails waiting for me this evening too, lol. I checked my e-mail last night before I went to bed and I still had 99 e-mails. None of them were spam either.

Now I’m tired. I get worn out pretty quick the last few days. I’m going to hit the couch.

I Had No Idea

North Carolina's Expensive Gas
Eastern NC   -  10/8/2008

North Carolina has the most expensive gasoline in the continental United States.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday that drivers in our state were paying an average of $3.79 a gallon for regular gasoline yesterday. That is 31 cents above the national average, and higher than in any other state except for Alaska and Hawaii.
Industry and government officials say the hurricanes that disrupted production in the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for the higher prices. Extra deliveries at Wilmington's port improved supplies in the eastern part of the state, and some stations had prices below $3.40 earlier this week.

From News Channel 12

I know that I said a while back that I was tired of obsessing over gas prices but this shocked me. I paid $3.78 yesterday and I thought that was cheap comparatively, lol. What do I know?

It’s That Time of Year

I feel a cold coming on. I’m on my second cup of tea trying to sooth my throat. My first cup was a white tea with blueberry and pomegranate. Yum! Now I’m drinking some oolong tea. I need to look up the medicinal properties of tea to see if one variety is better than another. I just like the warmth on my throat. I usually try fending off a cold with denial. It hardly ever works.

Something else that happens this time of year? Well, at least for us and it’s only every four years. The Mister is eligible to reenlist in ten days. Even with the bonus money dangling like the proverbial carrot in front of our faces, we are still hesitant. He doesn’t have to do the reenlistment in ten days because he actually has until October of next year before his contract is up. However, the bonus money won’t necessarily be there for that long. So, we have a little time to make the final decision but not a lot. I wish that I believed in fortune tellers so that I could consult one and then blame them if it turned out to be a bad decision, lol.

And, Halloween. The oldest child wants to be a vampire princess and the youngest just wants to be a plain old princess. Bailey is, of course, going as a pumpkin and Hannah just gets a bandana because she prefers to eat clothes rather than wear them. The Mister and I are boring and we don’t dress up. Our California to Vermont movers lost my Halloween decorations and I haven’t built up a new collection yet so I don’t know if I’m going to bother with decorations or not. I can’t even remember if I have decorations at all. I have a feeling that the neighborhood kids will have some tricks up their sleeves for Halloween. They already like to play with the street signs as a prank. They (and I actually know who they are) keep turning the signs so that they are facing the wrong streets. We tried to get pizza delivered the other night and the delivery guy called saying that I wasn’t home even though I was. I told him he was at the wrong address but he was adamant that he was on the right street, right house. That’s when I figured that the signs had been turned again. Funny, but a bit annoying and the guy acted like it was my fault, lol. Oh well.

I think I’m going to see if I have any cold meds to chase with my tea. My head feels like it’s in a vice.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

What was the last book you bought?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

All the Harry Potters and all the In Death books.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

I’m shallow so I can’t think of one.

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

If there’s a new book by an author that I’ve loved or hated, I’ll either buy it or stay away from it respectively. I also go by recommendations of other bloggers.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Fiction.

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

The plot. For me, a book isn’t worth reading if I don’t care about the story or the characters.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Eve Dallas

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

Sadly, none.

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

I read The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall Tuesday and I loved it. I’m in the middle of reading another book the title of which I can’t currently remember, lol.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

I gave up on Frankenstein and Dracula in high school but when I read them a couple years ago, I loved them. I just wasn’t ready for either book while I was in high school. Other books I’ve set aside with the intention of coming back to read them later. And I will.

The Past Few Days

We had a fantastic time at the N.C. Seafood Festival Saturday night. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was gorgeous. We had shrimp, funnel cakes, and salt water taffy. There was also a N.C. vineyard, J. Wesley Vineyards, that hosted a wine tasting at the festival so I tried I think five different wines and bought a pretty decent bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

The thing about these outdoor festival deals is that your choice of restroom is pretty limited. You have porta potties and restrooms inside of businesses which are usually closed to the public. Well, the youngest was in desperate need of a potty so we headed towards a bank of porta potties. I checked them out and HOLY COW!! Unfit for humans is the only nice way to put it. I wouldn’t even let my dogs in those things. But what do you expect from porta potties? By this time, the child was doing the pee pee dance and was looking pathetic. Our only choice was to head to a restaurant and pay for some food. We went to this restaurant called Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant. We didn’t actually want to eat there because we wanted to eat at the festival so we got salads and drinks. For the privilege of a clean restroom and a little bit of food, we paid $52.00. Oh well.

The wine tasting.

Heading towards the funnel cake vendor.

Looking down a street.

Sunset over the river or inlet or whatever body of water this is. I really like this picture though.

On the way home we stopped at Petsmart for some dog food and ended up buying Bailey her Halloween costume.

Heheh.

Bailey the ham.

Those pictures were taken with my digi camera not my phone.

Sunday we didn’t do a whole lot except for go to the commissary, the Mister ran 14 miles or something like that, and he mowed the lawn which needs watering.

Yesterday I was feeling quiet. Not depressed or grumpy, just quiet. I didn’t want to hear the TV, the kids, music, or anything. I dug out a book from one of the boxes in the garage and read it. It’s the first time in recent memory that I’ve started and finished a book in one day. I miss that. It was sort of like visiting with an old friend.

Today I’m still feeling a little bit on the quiet side. Unfortunately, both of my phones have been ringing off the hook and I’ve had to deal with rent issues again. My rent, not the Vermont rent. I first tried mailing the rent check on 9/22 and it was returned as undeliverable yesterday. Then, on 10/3 I tried doing an electronic transfer. I got an e-mail from the Mister this morning saying that they still didn’t have the money so I went into a bit of a panic and a lot of fury and proceeded to figure out what the hell. Turns out that it takes three business days for electronic transfers to complete when they are transacted between my bank and an outside bank. All in all, it took me 11 days to pay my rent. What a PIA.

Random Stuff from Saturday

I almost feel a need to explain last night’s post. Because of that, I’m not going to.

On to other things…

The oldest child’s concert was a hit. All the kids played very well and they looked like they had a good time. I was able to take some decent video with my camera for the Mister since he couldn’t make it. Why do they schedule these things in the middle of the workday?

We are also having our first overnight guest over. The oldest child’s friend, S, came over last night. We absolutely love her. She’s almost seems like a long lost daughter because of how well she fits into our family. She’s sarcastic and a smartass just like the rest of us. She was calling the Mister “grandpa” last night which had all of us rolling.

Today we are going to go to the North Carolina Seafood Festival. I wanted to go last year but we had to go to Ohio for a funeral. The festival would have been much more fun, lol. I’m totally excited though. The food has to be awesome, right? I’m going to try and take pictures to post. We’ll see how it goes.

Funny, funny story. Yesterday afternoon, the oldest child was going outside to hose out Bacon’s cage when I happened to notice something different about her. I called her back, took a good look, and my jaw hit the floor. She cut her own hair!! She only gave herself bangs but I was a bit shocked. Then I proceeded to jump down her throat. I asked her if she was five years old because that’s something five year old kids do. Right Jennifer S.??? I couldn’t believe it. Once I got over my shock and disbelief, I started to laugh. Her “bangs” actually look like a five year old went after them with a pair of safety scissors. I’m going to have to take her to a professional and get her hair fixed. And you know what else? It’s coming out of her allowance. She’s 12. If she wants to go around looking like a freak job, I suppose it’s her business but I sure as heck am not paying for it. That’s the same thing I told her when she said she wanted her ears pierced for a second time. I said, sure whatever, but I’m not paying for it. She still only has one hole in each ear. I also told her that she was just going to have to take all the ribbing she was going to get from her father and me because how are we supposed to resist teasing her about this??? Teenager-hood-dom is going to be an absolute lovely ride for us.

After the concert yesterday, I took a drive over to our old neighborhood. I like the new house, but I really miss our old neighborhood. Our old house still isn’t rented out yet. It doesn’t look like they are even trying all that hard. The rental sign is leaning up against the house, sideways, and behind a bush. Not an effective way to advertise. While I was out that way, I decided to drive over to the “exclusive” part of the neighborhood and I took this picture of a house over there:

A house on the same street is currently for sale for $2.3 million. Crazy. You can’t see it, but they have a river in their backyard. Gorgeous area. This is why people were so shocked when they heard where we used to live, lol. Umm. We lived in the old section, heheh.

Well, I’m off. Lunch is in order am I’m starved. I also hear banging coming from downstairs so I should see what the kids are up to.

Things That I’ve Been Thinking

But that I haven’t been saying. Believe it or not, I hold back.

1. I don’t respect your right to smoke especially when you do so in the car with a child riding along. There’s a reason why it’s illegal in some states now. Get a clue.
2. Along that vein…I don’t understand how people who have watched their loved ones, especially their fathers, die of lung cancer can still smoke everyday. I have had a LOT of people die in my life between my family and my husband’s family and lung cancer, so far, is the absolute worst way to go.
3. Furthermore, I think it’s terrible when you have to borrow money for groceries yet you always seem to have enough cash to buy cigarettes.
4. I’m amazed at how often and how many people are content with listening to what they want to hear instead of seeking the truth.
5. Ya know what? It’s not always about YOU.
6. Learn how to freaking drive. Okay. I’ve said this one many times before but I was almost hit by someone who lives in my neighborhood today when she ran a stop sign and another day this week by someone who apparently had a desperate need to go to McDonalds.
7. Your kid is a nightmarish, disrespectful brat. Ya know what else? I’m not the only one that thinks so.
8. Nice houses in a nice neighborhood doesn’t always mean nice neighbors. I think some of my new neighbors are either drug dealers, gangsters, or both.
9. I don’t mind being passed by a Porsche.
10. Your McDouche bumper sticker is tasteless and I didn’t appreciate having to field questions from my daughter on what it meant in the carpool lane of her school. I think the last time I heard someone being called a douche was in high school. You’re that immature and I would think so if the thing had said Barack Odouche.
11. I would say that I think our country is going to hell in a hand basket but only if that hand basket was equipped with warp speed.
12. I don’t feel comfortable talking about my political views and my job on my blog for fear of who is reading it. Plus, I think we hear enough about politics from all the commercials we’re being bombarded with these days. What’s more is that I almost deleted this one because of my concerns.
13. I post these types of updates too often. I need to learn to speak my mind in the “real” world.
14. You’ll never convince me that you were “crazy”. I think your stint in the psych ward was your way of escaping responsibility in your real life. You know. Taking care of your kids, cleaning your nasty house, working on your marriage, doing your job. Those types of things. Scarily enough, this applies to two people that I know IRL.
15. I’m starting to feel less like a nerd for being knowledgeable about things like Web 2.0, social media, the Internet, gaming, etc. You know why? Because that knowledge and those skills landed me in a kick ass business. Deal with THAT.
16. It cracks me up when my daughter says, “OMG!!”
17. Kids that are in band aren’t band geeks. I really hate that generalization. I would give anything to have an ounce of musical talent. Maybe I have a different perspective because at my high school, band was the best thing we had. When adults say that, I look down my nose at them in return.
18. It makes me feel good that I can afford to rent a beach house and invite my family to stay with us.
19. I never thought that I’d have a reason to wear a pink ribbon. No. I don’t have breast cancer but someone close to me does. It was dumb and naive of me to think it, but I never thought I’d be so profoundly touched and scared by breast cancer.
20. I’ll round this out with an even 20 by saying, I think my dog is better than yours. Heheh. Just joking. I don’t have a 20th thing to add to this list. Maybe I should make this a monthly feature that way I can limit my outright bitchiness to one day a month. Nah. We all know I’d never make it even one month. ;)

Kid Stuff

Yesterday I had to go to the youngest child’s parent/teacher conference. When you have a special needs kid, you tend to dread these things. Not because she’s a behavior problem, but because I get tired of hearing what they plan on doing for her but seeing very little results. It’s frustrating and frightening. This school seems to have resources and personnel that her old school didn’t so I will remain open-minded and see how things go.

Today, I have to go to the oldest child’s first band concert. Well, the first one at this school anyway. She had another one at her old school in Vermont. I’m excited to see her play. When she practices at home, she’s pretty near flawless. Well, at least as far as I can tell, lol. I’m not an expert but I know the songs and I don’t hear any mistakes. She struggled with a speech and language delay the first ten years of her life so it makes me misty to see her excel at something for a change. She plays the flute in case you were wondering.

I have to leave in five minutes so I’m off. Have a great weekend everyone.

Something Nice and Less Whiny

I saw Thursday Thoughts while surfing the blogosphere today and thought it would be a nice alternative to Booking Through Thursday when I choose not to do that meme.

From Thursday Thoughts:

Why did got you begin on your blogging adventure?  Tell the who, what, when, where and why!  How many blogs do you maintain?  How often do you write on your blog and how much time do you spending reading other blogs?  Do you feel a compulsion to share your blogging experience with the people in your life?  Have you made real connections via your blogging?  And, last, but NEVER least…

ARE YOU ADDICTED?

Why did got you begin on your blogging adventure?  Tell the who, what, when, where and why! 

I began my blogging adventure back in 2003. I think it was October or thereabouts. We were still living in California at the time. Ahhh. Those were the days. Anyway, we knew that we were going on recruiting duty and while we didn’t know where, we knew it would be a big move. Our families tend to be worriers and nag us about this sort of thing so I figured that rather than fielding calls about where we were going, I’d set up a blog that I could update and not have to speak directly to anybody. It turned out to be a really great way to keep everyone up to date with our move, where we were going, and what it was like when we got there. Honestly, if I hadn’t had my blog those three loooong years in Vermont, I truly think I would have ended up in a mental hospital. No joke. Now, 5 years later, I don’t think ANYone in our family still reads my blog and it has evolved into whatever it is today.

How many blogs do you maintain?

This is the only blog that I maintain with any regularity. I have a blog that’s private that I put pictures of my kids on but haven’t updated it in forever. Also, there are WordPress and OnSugar versions of this very blog that I was experimenting with. I have no idea what I plan to do with them at this point.

How often do you write on your blog and how much time do you spend reading other blogs? 

I update 4.7 times a week on average according to Google Reader, heheh. I dunno. I try to update Monday through Friday and take the weekends off but sometimes I’m inspired to update multiple times a day (like today) and on the weekends and sometimes I don’t feel like writing at all. I try very hard not to let myself feel obligated to update because I’ve seen really good bloggers give up blogging for that very reason. As for how much time I spend reading other people’s blogs, well, I would estimate that it’s A LOT. It’s one of my favorite pastimes and these days, I read blogs more than I do books and that’s saying something.

Do you feel a compulsion to share your blogging experience with the people in your life?

Hmm. Well, I’m not shy about the fact that I blog but I don’t know how much I talk about it outside of the online community. When I do talk about blogging with real live people, I tend to become enthusiastic and I probably come off as insane.

Have you made real connections via your blogging?

I’m not sure how to answer this part. Some of the people that read my blog I know in real life because I either went to high school with them or they were friends and neighbors at some point. Also, there are some bloggers that I feel that if we were neighbors we’d be friends. But I just don’t know how much I believe that “real” connections can be made with people you’ve never met and will probably never meet. It makes me feel a bit stalker-ish to think I have real connections with people I “follow” online. Define “real connection”.

Am I addicted? I suppose I would say yes to an extent. I would be sad if I never blogged or read blogs again. Would I have withdrawal if I quit cold turkey? Maybe. I would definitely feel like I was forgetting to do something. I would also miss reading my regular blog haunts. You do feel like you get to know people when you read their blogs every day. I asked my hubby this question and he answered, “YES!!” without hesitation, lol. Oh well. I could be addicted to much worse things in life.

Feels Like a Monday

This is me being an unhappy camper. I was having a fantastic day yesterday until a certain bill arrived in the mail. It’s the sewer bill for the Vermont house. It comes to us but our renters are supposed to pay it according to their lease. I should also be more specific and say the bill is a “Collectors Delinquent Notice”. Turns out that the sewer bill hasn’t been paid in five months. I know it’s hard to believe that a mother with a good job could be so freaking irresponsible and STUPID. Wanna see for yourselves?

Can you figure out the total amount due? Don’t worry. I’ll tell ya. It’s $698.43. How in the WORLD can people be so freaking…I don’t even have a word for it. What’s worse is that I’m a complete and total idiot where this whole situation is concerned. I’m too freaking nice. Wanna pay your rent late? SURE go right ahead and stick it up my butt. Wanna burn the house to the ground? SURE, just send my some nice photos. I like a good fire. Wth.

I told the Mister that I am going to send her an e-mail because I’m done being Mrs. Nice Guy and he told me to be firm and professional. I don’t believe I’m in the right frame of mind to be professional and my firmness might smash her face into the ground. If I were to call, it would get ugly. She’s been renting from us for 21 months and out of those 21 months, I think maybe THREE of them didn’t give me high blood pressure. I’m having a hard time seeing why I have to be nice.

Maybe I should just stop paying the mortgage. We could join the ranks of those who have had their house foreclosed on this year. We certainly wouldn’t be lacking for company.

I need an objective person to write her for me, lol.

Stealing

I nabbed this off the blogosphere somewhere.

Here's the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions…
Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. You’re also supposed to “tag” others to do it but I figure you all can decide for yourselves if you’re going to play or not. If you do, leave me a comment so that I can read your response.

 

The nearest book to me is my textbook “The Norton Anthology:  English Literature”. I don’t think this book could be considered “cool” by any means, heheh.

From page 56:

She, bereft

and blameless, they

foredoomed, cut down

and spear-gored. She,

the woman in shock,

waylaid by grief,

Hoc’s daughter--

how could she not

lament her fate

when morning came

and the light broke

on her murdered dears?

And so farewell

delight on earth,

war carried away

Finn’s troop of thanes

all but a few.

There ya go. That was kind of a pain to type up, lol. For an added bonus, can anyone tell me what piece of literature this selection is from? It’s not much to go on but two names are mentioned and there’s another context clue that should be a pretty good hint.