Replying Back and Other Stuff

I listen to, read, and/or watch other people's political, religious, or general opinions on topics and try my best just to let it skim over my consciousness. Even when I agree with something. I can tell when I'm at my limit when I have to repeatedly stop myself from replying and thus, take a break from social media, watching the news, or even answering my phone. That being said, I have a few things of my own that I'd like to share. I'm tired of being quiet and letting other people's opinions stomp over my own.

1. Cats are indoor pets unless they're feral. You shorten the life of your pet by letting it be an indoor/outdoor pet. You risk having it being attacked by another cat, dog, or other wildlife. You risk having it being hit by a car. You risk having it being stolen or injured by other humans. You risk unforeseen injury and illness. Declawing cats is animal cruelty and the epitome of making an uninformed decision. If you disagree, you don't understand cats shouldn't have one.
2. Adopt don't shop. I admit, that I've changed my stance on this one. Both Bailey and Hannah (our Boxer girls) were bought from breeders. Both of them died from various cancers, which indicate that they were bred by irresponsible breeders and bought by irresponsible owners, and I mean my husband and myself here. There are 1000s of homeless pets in animal shelters, rescues, and foster homes looking for their forever home. Even purebred pets. I totally believe that responsible, knowledgeable breeders have their place, but for 99% of pet shoppers, a breeder is unnecessary. AND NEVER BUY A DOG FROM A PETSTORE! NEVER!!
3. So many people choose to only present one side of a story. They choose to focus on the negative or what is wrong rather than discuss both what's wrong and what's right. This is true of the following:  Blackfish, Sea World, and zoos, Planned Parenthood, law enforcement, the military, gun control. I could go on. If you're going to spout off at the mouth about anything you should at least present a balanced, well-researched, opinion rather than resort to extremes and name calling. 
4. Family. Family is not blood or legal relationships. Family is based on actions. We need a new word for it so that I can refer to the people to whom I am related by blood by a separate name. Very few of my relations support me, help me, or even know me on any real level. If you do, you know who you are. Just because you married someone and now have 20 kids who I have never even met, this does not make them my family and I have very little interest in them. You're on your 4th marriage to an individual that I barely know. This doesn't make them my family just because they have the legal title of "uncle" or "aunt". The opposite is also true:  Just because you got divorced doesn't automatically mean that I no longer consider your ex my family. I probably sound heartless or whatever, but it's the truth of how I feel. I have 1st cousins I've never met. I wouldn't know them if I passed them on the street. Why should I consider them "family"? I'm really interested in hearing other opinions here.
5. Respect is earned. Being an adult, being a grandparent, being a teacher doesn't automatically entitle you to someone's respect. If you want to be respected, act like a responsible, caring, contributing citizen. 
6. My kids are my kids. I have absolutely no regard for your opinion as to how my husband and I have raised them. Which, by the way, we did on our own, away from people to whom we are related, and with very little support from anyone except for our neighbors who became our friends. Yes, this was a result of our choice to be a military family, but it makes it no less true.
7. Humans were not meant to be vegetarians. If this were so, we would have evolved without teeth designed for ripping and chewing meat and the digestive system to process meat. Stop being all superior because you've chosen to go against nature. And stop trying to make your cat into a vegetarian. Cats were not born with the digestive system to process fruits and vegetables. They are strictly carnivores. Deal with it.
8. As omnivores and creatures ingenious to Earth, humans are a natural part of the planet's ecosystem. It's not as if we're an invasive species from another planet. Geez.
9. If you hunt animals, you should use every part of the animal. Trophy hunting has no place in my world. I think trophy hunting is disgusting and, frankly, a coward's hobby. Luring an animal out with food and then shooting it with a crossbow or gun. Yeah. That means you've got some real balls. 
10. Stop complaining about the weather where you live. I'm so freaking sick to death of listening to people complain about cold winters when they live in the north. Conversely, I'm tired of listening to my fellow Floridians complain about our hot, humid summer. YOU LIVE IN FREAKING FLORIDA!!! WHAT THE HOLY EFF DO YOU EXPECT?!?!?! If you hate it so much MOVE! At the very least, shut up about it.
11. Do you know how many naturalized Americans that we know that abhor illegal aliens? These naturalized citizens worked hard and overcame personal obstacles and bureaucratic red tape to become legal citizens and then sit and watch their illegal counterparts receive American benefits for crossing our boarders illegally. No. I don't support illegal aliens in the United States.
12. There is a difference between "stepping up" and "being a man" and being an idiot and allowing yourself to be taken advantage of. Your "family" that "supports" your decision is doing you a disservice. Everyone really needs to stop kidding themselves here. 
13. If you've never had a driver's license, you really need to stuff it about other people's driving.
14. When it comes to food and picky eating, you're not doing yourself any favors when you won't try something just because of its color and how it looks. You're also not playing it very smart when you travel to places with unique cuisines and then eat a hamburger. Unless you traveled to Texas. (I edited this one so it sounds nicer than it actually was when it was in my head.)
15. Stop putting your drama on Facebook.
16. Stop getting all your information from Facebook. 
17. Stop having McOpinions and actually do some research from varied sources, not just ones that support your beliefs. 
18. I play MMOs, I read books (romances, literature, urban fantasy, YA, historical fiction, high fantasy, science fiction, classics, and more), I listen to Alt Nation on XM, I watch scifi shows, feel good movies, and old sitcoms on Netflix, and I watch booktube, gaming vids, and makeup vids on YouTube. I'm a huge nerd/geek/introvert. I use the Oxford comma. Despite what you may think because of what you're reading here, I'm a nice person. I care about people and I'm always willing to lend an ear. However, I won't blow smoke up your ass if I think you're being dumb. Don't ask me for my opinion if you don't want to hear the truth.
19. We have three cats, one dog, one guinea pig, and a saltwater fish tank. I love all of my pets more than you. But I love my kids and my husband most of all.
20. Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone that came down to Florida last year when our house flooded and we lost 75% of everything we owned to help us out. We had to sort through our entire house of stuff and decide what could be saved, what needed to be cleaned, what needed to be moved to storage, and what needed to be thrown away and replaced. We then had to load up these respective collections. They either had to be set aside for professional cleaners, dragged out to the curb for Waste Management, or moved into storage. We moved everything we owned from inside our flooded home to our garage and then to a storage unit. Then, when we were finally able to move back in after weeks of essentially being homeless, we have to move everything back into the house. This was a lot of physical labor moving a four bedroom house...twice and it cost us a lot of money outside of what the insurance paid to the point where we're still getting caught up financially and our garage is still a mess. The help and support was...something else and we hope to have the opportunity to reciprocate in kind in the future.

I'm Right. That's All.

While we were in Ohio, something occurred to me. Over the entire course of the trip, we stayed in three different hotels. You know what all three of them had in common? The most available sheet of toilet paper in all the bathrooms was folded into a neat little triangle. Do you know what this means? The correct way to put toilet paper onto the holder is with the sheets rolling out from above not below. If you have your toilet paper with the roll coming out from below, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!! You can't fold a sheet into a nifty triangle if the toilet paper is coming from the underneath.

I. Have. Solved. This. Debate.

You man now continue on with your life, all the richer for this most important, life-altering revelation.

You're welcome.

August Challenge, Day 4: An Embarrassing Moment

 I should probably come up with an original moment and not one I've already blogged about, right? I mean, I could just re-blog about all the times I've fallen on my ass. In public. Those were my last three embarrassing moments. Really, they were humiliating. Oh ok. How's this?

A while back, we went out to dinner at some sort of sit-down-type place. I don't remember where it was. Anyway, the Youngest child lets out a belch that was so loud that the surrounding tables looked over at the Mister thinking it was him. It was embarrassing but at the same time, we were all cracking up laughing. We're such a dignified family.



If you'd like to participate in this blogging challenge, please visit Natalie Grueninger's blog for prompts.

August Challenge, Day 2: Five Things About Me Most People Don't Know

I've done memes with this question so many times that it's a challenge, in and of itself, coming up with new things. I'm not that mysterious.

1. I want a tabby point Siamese cat.
2. You know that question that James Lipton always asks celebrities on his show, "What career other than your own would you like to pursue?" My answer would be forensic anthropologist. That was my favorite elective during my undergrad. 
3. I can burp just as good as any man. (My husband helped me come up with that one.)
4. I use Scrivener to attempt writing and I actually have three different projects that I'm currently working on.
5. I just joined Lip Factory Inc's monthly beauty box subscription service. I am sooooo excited about getting my first box this month. If you want to sign up, I'd appreciate the referral because I earn points for referrals. My referral #385105.

Boy, that was hard. Took me forever to come up with five things.


If you'd like to participate in this blogging challenge, please visit Natalie Grueninger's blog for prompts.

August Challenge, Day 1: The Story of My Life

Two blog posts in one day. No, the world isn’t coming to an end. Had I seen this challenge before five minutes ago, I would’ve only posted for the prompt instead of my earlier book review. Oh wells. This is from author Natalie Grueninger. I’ve only recently heard of her and her blog. One of her focuses is the Tudors and she’s written a book about them. I happen to be an obsessed anglophile, in particular, the Tudor family so I was excited to discover Natalie’s blog.

Anyway, she has proposed a daily blogging challenge. Here are the prompts if you’re interested in joining in. Today’s prompt is “the story of your life in 250 words”. Here goes…

 I was born in Ohio in 1977. My parents divorced when I was three. I lived with both my mom and then my dad at different phases of my life while growing up. I have a brother who is six years my senior and a step-adopted sister who is four years my junior.

When I was 17, I met my future husband. We had been together for seven months before I turned up pregnant at 18. We got married after being together for over a year and just before our first daughter was born. He joined the Marines in 1997 and we had our second daughter in 1999. We’ve lived in Florida, California, Vermont, North Carolina, California (again) and we just moved to Florida. I loved California and North Carolina but hated living in Vermont. Too cold.

My husband and I both just got our undergrads and are now pursuing our graduate degrees. I’ve come to terms with being a student for the rest of my life, lol. While you might think being a perpetual student and a military wife would be challenging, being the parent of two teenaged girls has been the biggest challenge of my life. I’m also beginning to think that finding a job is going to be in the top five of my life challenges.

The story of my life:  When my house is clean, nobody comes over. When it's a mess, people drop by unexpectedly.

Helloooo!! March 1st!!

This has been one of those weeks where I've felt like I was on a roller coaster. Exactly. First of all, it had many ups and downs and secondly, it seemed to last about as long as a roller coaster ride. The Oldest child has been at the controls for the most part.

Monday:  Nothing of interest happened that I can recall.

Tuesday:  I had to get the Oldest child out of school early for an appointment. I tried getting this appointment clear back in September. It's a really long story. Suffice it to say, people dropped balls which caused the delay. Finally, we get to the appointment on Tuesday to find out that this isn't even the place that we need. Ball droppers referred us to the wrong freaking place. Now, this place might be able to be somewhat helpful in the end, but considering that we're moving in June, it isn't helpful, in this moment, to have wasted the last five months.

Wednesday:  The Mister gets an email from the Oldest child's history teacher telling us that she's missing assignments. Again. ::sigh:: How helpful is it to find out, after the fact, that she's missing assignments? All students at the Oldest child's high school are given weekly planners at the beginning of the school year. These planners are very nice and probably cost the school a good amount of money but they give them out for free. And they don't make the students actually use them. If they are used, assignments aren't signed off by the respective teachers. I suppose that there just isn't enough time in the day for teachers to do that for a couple thousand students. The school also has Parent Connect which is web portal where parents can log on and see their student's grades, assignments, and attendance. Again, we can only find out after the fact if assignments are missing using Parent Connect. But wait! There's more! Teachers also have their own websites where they can upload, well, whatever they want. One, ONE of her teachers uses their website to post upcoming assignments. One out of eight. How very helpful.

This e-mail arrives after I've already had an incredibly crappy day. By the time I learn of this e-mail, I am ready to explode. I want to slam doors and throw things. I literally had to make myself put down the glass from which I was drinking because I kept picturing myself throwing it against a wall. I hate cleaning up broken glass and I inevitably step on a missed shard and get it stuck in my foot.

After dinner, the Mister and I decided to get out of the house and leave the miscreants home to do chores and their homework in the relative safety of not being in my company. We went to Verizon to get my new phone. Staples to get school supplies. To Macy's to buy the Mister some of his favorite Calvin Klein boxers. To Godiva's to buy me a box of their dessert truffles. To Petsmart to buy the cat food. By the time we got home and I had treated myself to a strawberry creme dessert truffle, I was felling better. 

Thursday:  The Mister wakes me up before he goes to work to ask me, "Would you rather be mad now or later?" Geez. So I ask him what's up and he tells me that Bailey has eaten my entire box of Godiva chocolate. Well, all except for the truffle I ate the night before and the duplicate strawberry creme truffle that I guess wasn't to her taste. I was livid. That was a freaking $30 box of chocolate. Luckily, the dessert variety box doesn't have a lot of dark chocolate and it wasn't enough to be toxic to her. I gave her a stern talking to when I got up for the day and she hid upstairs for the entire rest of the day. She knew she'd screwed up royal. Then she apologized to me after dinner and we're friends again.

Friday:  It is such an unbelievable gorgeous day today in San Diego. Truly, you should be jealous. It's 81 degrees with a gentle breeze and a clear, blue sky. I have my doors and windows open to let in the day. I was also in the mood to cook and made myself huevos rancheros for breakfast. Then the Mister called while I was eating to say he was coming home to change his uniform so I made him some too. I've never made them before and I improvised my own version and they were YUMMY! So good. The Mister said he wanted them again for dinner they were so good but I've had my allotment of eggs. I was going to post a pic but they kinda look like slop on a plate. I need some cilantro for garnishment or something. I also need to modify my recipe because I used monterey jack cheese and it doesn't melt nicely at all. Still, it tasted just fine.

I also was semi-productive and cleaned the interior of my car. Windex, dust, clean, and vacuum. My windshield was so scummy that I could barely see out of it in the mornings with the sun shining in. I don't smoke. I don't touch my windshield. Why does the inside of it get so dirty? Oh. And I paid all of our bills for the entire month of March today. Yuppers!!

The weekend:  We don't have anything planned because the Oldest child is dog sitting for the neighbors until Monday morning. Next weekend however...

Friday Update

I usually do Five Question Friday on Friday. Lately, I haven't liked the questions so I haven't participated. This also means that my blog hasn't been getting updated because I have less than nothing to say. I've been using 5QF as a handy writing prompt. I was holding out hope that this week's questions would be appealing to me but they're not. No offense.

Summer has gotten off to a slow start. We haven't done anything. The girls keep having sleep over after sleep over to the point where I told them no more until next week at the earliest. The other night, they each had a friend over so I had four girls, three of them teens, in my house. I didn't get ANY sleep that night. I needed a break. When they're not having sleep overs, they're hanging at the pool. I have to say, I'm very thrilled that we have a neighborhood pool within walking distance. There are actually two that they go to even though they have to kinda, sorta, cheat to get into the other one.  Oh wells.

I'm mostly ready for the Oldest Child's 16th birthday. I already have her big present and I just need to round it out with a few smaller things. She wants me to bake her a cake (isn't that sweet of her?) so that's easy peasy. She's not planning a big party. We had to browbeat her into the casual get together that she decided to have. She insisted that she didn't even care to celebrate it at all. She sounds just like me, lol. My 35th birthday is in eight days. I really don't want to talk about it.

I do have something sort of funny to share. Our neighbor across the street moved this week. Well, his family moved to Texas and he moved in with a friend until he retires at the end of this year. Anyway, they really didn't get along with their house neighbor (we live in duplexes). To express their dislike of this neighbor, they tp'd their car using Vaseline to hold the toilet paper in place. LMAO! I love it. I'm really ambivalent towards this person seeing as how I don't share walls with them and they've never bothered me. I really wish that I didn't like them so that I could have gotten in on the action though. I haven't done that since the first time we lived here. Although...we do have a certain person on our street that we really wish the ground would swallow her up. Or maybe an earthquake could knock her house into the canyon. Or maybe a giant pterodactyl could come and pick her up and drop her into a volcano. Hmm. Maybe, if we manage to move before they do, I could get a little of my own back on the way out. That would be fun. But only if her husband was deployed because we actually like him. He's on his current deployment voluntarily because he wanted to get away from his own wife. See?? I'm not the only one that doesn't like her.

And on that lovely and positive note, I'm off.

Random Stuff

Five Question Friday is on a break today so I'm coming up with my own random stuff to post. I know. It's a novel idea.

First of all, have you ever considered how much cell phones are contributing to noise pollution? I'm not just talking about people's obnoxious ring tones or their incessant notification bings and buzzes or people talking on them loudly in restaurants. This morning, I'm behind this lady in a mom-mobile. We're in the left-hand lane and she starts drifting to the right, edging another car towards the curb. They blow their horn at her, she corrects, and we stop at a stoplight. I can tell by her body language that she's fooling around with her phone. Either that or she was really obsessed with how her palm looked. So the light turns green and she's still sitting there. Then I toot my horn at her. Geez lady! You're behind the wheel. DRIVE.

Secondly, I'm rereading the J.D. Robb's In Death series for the umpteenth time. I organized my bookshelves recently and they caught my eye. What can I say?

Thirdly, I cleaned out my refrigerator today. It was gross. There was some stuff in there that I couldn't even tell what it had been at one time. It really hasn't been that long since I cleaned it out, but the temperature control on our older-than-the-trees refrigerator is dinky. The ice thaws and refreezes into a solid block and the lunch meat in the fridge was frozen. Wth. But, it looks nice on the inside, aside from the rust that I couldn't clean out, and we seriously need to go grocery shopping. It's empty now.

Fourthly, I've been driving the Mister's car for two weeks now and I miss my car. I like driving his car, it's a Rav 4, because it's more convenient. I don't have to slow down at EVERY intersection so that I don't rip off my front bumper, it doesn't have the worst blind spot in the history of cars, it has tinted windows which is nice with all the sunshine, and it's roomier. But my car has a kick ass stereo and I MISS IT. My car is cute, sporty, and zippy. And it doesn't have a funky smell that comes out of the vents. And it doesn't have golf balls rolling around the back. And it's clean. On the inside it's clean. The outside, not so much. I want my car back.

Fifthly, Plantweed is done. It's still alive. It was actually a lily-type plant. It bloomed an orange flower which is how I know. But it looks like crap. The leaves are all chewed and turned brown on the edges from the damage. It's ugly. Maybe it'll come back next year and with it being inside, it won't get eaten by snails.

Home

Random Thoughts about My Home

Why is it that when I'm having a dream where I'm supposed to be in my home, it never looks like my actual house? I had a dream last night where I was "home" but it looked like a Fair Park house. Those of you from Marion, OH will know what I mean. But it didn't look like any house that I remember being in before in real life.

We still haven't put up our outside Christmas decorations and I've come to realize that I hate most of my indoor decorations. They're old and the epitome of tacky. For some reason, it doesn't feel like Christmas in my house this year.

As we were driving home from picking up the Youngest from school yesterday, we had to stop in the middle of our street for a 12 month old (give or take a month) to toddle across the street. No adults in sight. I'm not kidding. This is the second time this has happened since we've lived here. Different kids though. We waited to make sure that someone (I'm assuming it was the baby's sister who looked all of 7 or 8) to get the child in hand and out of the middle of the freaking street. If it happens again, I'm reporting them.

A house is not a home without a dog snoring in the sun.

NaBloPoMo Day 22: Three Things

1. I have ants in my bedroom window. I can't figure out what in the heck. I don't have any food in my room. The only thing edible would be some Tums. Maybe perfume and body lotion if ants are into that. They're coming in my window where the caulking between the ledge and the wall has some holes in it. I took care of the issue by squirting some lotion along the window sill where the holes are. So far, so good.

2. The french dip sandwiches from dinner yesterday. I didn't like them. The Mister and both the girls did, but I thought they were bland. I wasn't feeling 100% yesterday so maybe it was just me but I didn't like them enough that I won't bother trying that recipe again. If anyone else (Pam or Jennifer) tries them, PLEASE blog of FB about it so I can know what you think of the recipe.

3. I love living next to a canyon but the dust in my house is outrageous. I have to dust the walls and the ceilings. Literally. I went through three Swiffer dusters in my bedroom alone today. It's ridiculous and there isn't a thing that I can do about it so far as I know. The canyon isn't going anywhere.

NaBloPoMo Day 16: The Death of a Tree

Picture of the tree carcass that I took from my upstairs bedroom window

Landscapers came by today. There was a smallish tree on my neighbor's side of the fence. The root growth of the tree was causing the fence (it's a wooden privacy fence) to come apart and lean which was, in turn, causing large nails to hang out of the damaged part of the fence. So, the landscapers chopped it down today. It was no big loss. It was a rather ugly little tree-bush. But they didn't stop there.

Next, they went behind our chain link fence which borders the open canyon. There, they hacked down a very large, very leafy tree. We've seen any number of birds in this tree, numerous lizards, and we've even seen a hawk land in this tree. I don't know why they chopped it down. It wasn't dried out, it wasn't diseased as far as my untrained eye could see, and it provided lots of privacy and shade to our house and yard.

I'm going to miss that tree.

NaBloPoMo Day 12: Revelations

I learned something about myself the other night.

While the Mister was serving out his time as a recruiter in Vermont, he had a particularly nasty superior. This man played a major part in why those three years will always be a painful memory for us. He was devious and a liar to put it mildly. He enjoyed playing with people’s lives and making them miserable just because his rank gave him the power to do so.

I have always hoped that this guy would get his karmic just desserts. I’ve always wished that I would’ve had the chance to tell him what I thought of him face to face. Seems like I won’t get that chance as I have just learned that he’s dead.

Despite the very fact that I know with conviction that this person is the equivalent of the lowest slime that grows in the dark beneath a rock (I apologize to slime everywhere for the comparison), I wouldn’t have wished that he were dead. And he died of a particularly painful form of cancer to boot. I was surprised to feel…regret, I suppose, to hear of his death. He definitely had negative karma out there in the world coming to get him but this was shocking to hear. I hope he made some kind of reparation for all the wrongs he committed before he died though.

Looking Through the Window

The Children's Pool at La Jolla, CA

What have I been up to lately? I don't call anyone, I don't blog regularly, and I only post generalized snippets of my life via Twitter and/or Facebook. I feel very out of touch.

So, the Mister and I went to see the Foo Fighters at Viejas Arena last week. Cage the Elephant opened for them. It was the best concert I've ever been to. Granted, I haven't been to a lot of concerts, but the Foo definitely comes out on top and I can't imagine a better show. The concert was on a Monday and we didn't get home until after midnight. Getting up at 6:20 the next morning with the kids was rough, lol. Worth it though. I was tired, had an ear ache and a sore throat on Tuesday, but it was all worth it to see Uncle Dave and the boys.

The oldest child is currently enjoying the longest and most severe grounding of her life. I won't go into the details except to say that if she ever deserved to be whipped, this would have been the time. Other than that, she is finishing up the football season with the band on Friday. She has her first competition on Saturday. Despite her complaints, she has had fun being in the marching band this year. It still remains to be seen whether or not she'll stick with it next year.

The youngest is still the same. She gets her homework done as fast as possible and goes outside until it's dark enough to come in. On the weekends, she's out the door as fast as she can to come in at dark. She's so tanned and her hair is so sun bleached that she doesn't even look related to the rest of us. Saturday, she's going to her first party as a middle school kid. It's Halloween themed so I'm sure it'll be a good time.

The Mister got his associates degree certificate in the mail the other day. He actually could have gotten it a long time ago but kept putting off taking biology, his last requirement for the degree. Very soon he'll have his bachelor's in hand. Other than school and work and going to concerts with me ;), that's about all he's up to. No deployments on the horizon as of this writing. Things like this can change in an instant though.

As for me, I'm in transition. I feel like I've either hit the "finding myself phase" of early adulthood very late or I'm having a midlife crisis very early, lmao. My clients were regularly pissing me off (sorry to any of them reading this) so I started siphoning them off until I was down to zero. I was planning on getting a job outside of the house not realizing what life would be like once the kids were in high school and junior high respectively. Unless I want to work from 5 pm to 6 am, and I don't, finding a job outside the house will be really tough for me. Likewise, school has been put on hold indefinitely. I have run out of financial aid so until I figure out a way to pay for it out of pocket, school isn't likely right now. I have to say, I'm not that sorry about it. I was only going through the motions and doing the minimal amount of work necessary to maintain my GPA. I wasn't enjoying any of my classes or actually learning anything. My only regret is all the time and money I wasted going to school when I wasn't getting anything from the experience.

In the interim, I have started a historical research project that I find fascinating, engaging, and fulfilling. It's still in the early stages so I don't have anything to say about it yet.

I'm also loving living life in California. In the less than two years we've lived here, the Mister and I have been to two concerts, one symphony and our anniversary vacation to Paso Robles. As a family, we've been to Sea World twice, Seaport Village, Julian, Balboa Park, numerous baseball games, the book fair at UCLA, to the desert to visit Jennifer, and other outings around the San Diego area. The kids have been to the zoo, the wild animal park, Old Town as well as many others. Not to mention all the fabulous shopping we've done. That's more than we did the entire six years we lived away from San Diego. California suits us.

12 Things I Don't Understand

In no particular order. Just jotting (is that possible since I'm typing?) them down as they come to me.

1. Celebrating Bastille Day.
2. Toddlers in Tiaras. Show makes me sick.
3. People standing on the sidewalk watching their 1 1/2 - 2 year old baby running out into traffic. If I hadn't been going 10 mph I would have run her over. The mother literally did nothing to stop her and didn't even go after her. What's with that!?!?!
   
4. Bridezillas. I channel surfed past that show today and could only shake my head.
5. Not liking to read.
6. The difference between delegation and pure laziness. I'm being nice here. I do understand the difference and that most people are just effing lazy and too butthole-y to admit it.
   
7. Google+ (if you want an invite so you can try to understand it yourself, let me know.)
   
8. Bullies
9. How people continue to over-complicate every-effing-thing.
10. Why people have pets only to keep them outside. What's the point?
11. Tabloids...All forms of tabloid media.
    
12. Why we can't wear flip flops for all occasions, with all outfits, 365 days a year.

There are tons more things that I don't understand, but I'm so tired that this is all my brain will come up with at this time. If you feel you are able to explain one or more of these things to me, feel free to leave a comment.

After 15 Years, He Can Still Surprise Me

I chose this picture because it cracks me up every time I see it and is the opposite of this post.

The Mister and I were talking the other day. I don't really remember how it came up, but we were talking about people being uptight and he asked me if I thought I was uptight. I replied yes because I really think that I am. I tend to be obsessive and I think obsessiveness lends itself to being uptight or is a part of being uptight. The Mister was surprised and told me that he doesn't think that I am. That surprised me because I think I am very obviously uptight. I'll tell you why.

I have unbending beliefs and attitudes towards certain ideals, other people's attitudes and beliefs, and life in general. For instance, I am a believer of science and the things in our world that have been proven with physical evidence. If I can see a thing, I believe it exists and that it is true. I'll explain this further...I believe that ghosts (or whatever you want to call them) exist because I have had unexplainable things happen right in front of my eyes. On the flipside, I don't believe other people's ghost stories because I didn't see it for myself. I'm not saying that they're lying, just that I have to see it to believe it. I believe in the existence of prehistoric life because I have touched a mammoth tusk with my own two hands. What makes me uptight in relation to this topic? I don't understand how people can believe in something that they've never seen for themselves. I don't understand faith and I think those that have faith in the unproven are naive and looking for comfort and for explanations for the unexplainable. And you will never change my mind until I can see and touch evidence to prove my beliefs wrong.

Vices. I am completely uptight when it comes to drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. This makes me somewhat of a judgmental hypocrite since I occasionally enjoy a glass of wine or something stronger, but excessive drinking upsets me and I hate being around it. But who am I to say what is excessive for someone else, right? Still, I don't understand addiction and why someone opens themselves up to being controlled by a substance. Taking Excedrin for my migraines bugs me but I take them to function. No matter how bad my insomnia gets, I avoid taking OTC sleep aids. They scare me. I've always hated prescription drugs so there is no way I would take illegal drugs. And smoking. If you don't know where I stand when it comes to smoking, then you know me not at all.

Lies. I don't like being lied to. Who does? But I'm unforgiving about it. Don't effing lie to me. Not to spare my feelings. Not because a lie is easier. Not because the truth will land you in crap. I don't forget lies. If you think that I have, you'd be really, really wrong.

Parenting. I'm an uptight parent. I like to know where my kids are at all times. I like to know who their friends are. I always talk to the parents of my girls' friends before they are allowed to sleep over at someone's house I've never met previously. Even the oldest child. I don't let my kids bully other kids. In fact, I make my kids look out for other kids that are littler than they are. One of the conditions the Mister and I have for paying for the oldest child to have a cell phone is that her cell phone is open to on the spot inspections without warning. If she doesn't like it, well, I don't enjoy paying $300+ a month for our cell phone plan so that she can have a data plan. The same can be said for her Facebook and e-mail accounts. If she wants it to be completely private, get a job and pay for it by herself. My kids have chores. They have rules. They have a mom that is interested in their grades. I don't think I'm so uptight that I haven't cut the umbilical cord, but I do think they are somewhat tethered by apron strings. Oh wells.

I'm set in my ways and I am not open to other people's opinions. I think that makes me uptight. I am nothing if not honest and I can admit that about myself but I don't think being uptight makes me a bad person. Maybe an un-fun person but I can live with that.

Keep Reading

I have lots to say. I’m thinking bullet points would be the best approach to how I’m feeling today, heheh.

• The Mister and I got a Nook. I LOVE it. He loves his. We’re responsible for the sale of four more Nooks. :D I think I’ll have a post on our Nook to go over what I like and dislike about it later.
• I’m sick. I just have a cold but I feel like I’ve swallowed razor blades. My throat is so sore it hurts to breathe. I’ve given up on getting a good night’s sleep.
• I have taken both my dogs to the vet this week. They’re both very healthy thank goodness. The vet was impressed with Hannah’s lean, muscular physique. We always worry that she’s too skinny but the vet said he’d rather see a lean, muscular dog rather than a tubby dog. Which brings us to Bailey. She gained EIGHT pounds since her last vet visit in March. She weighs 69 pounds to Hannah’s 53 pounds. Bailey needs to pass a few of her excess pounds to Hannah. Then they’d be perfect.
• We had the handyman out on Monday. He took care of a few household projects that the Mister and I didn’t want to do. Now, aside from cleaning, the house is ready to turn over to the new people.
• I have Merry Maids coming today to give me an estimate on how much it will cost to clean our empty house. I’ve never hired professional cleaners before but I don’t want to do it so here we go. I really don’t know why I’m bothering with an estimate. I have no idea what a good price would be to clean a house.
• I also have an appointment to take the Mister’s car into the dealer for a regular maintenance checkup. This is the car we’ll be driving to California so we want to make sure all its fluids and filters are good to go. I was worried about being able to get it in with all the recalls (it’s a Toyota) but I had no problem at all making the appointment yesterday. And as a side note, if I were in the market today for a car, I’d still buy Toyota. Just saying.
• I have both the carpet cleaners scheduled and the pickup for the Scion scheduled. The only thing left on my “To Do” moving list is to get the girls into the dentist before we leave. I’m calling today for an appointment.
• Our movers will be here 3/5, 3/8, and 3/9. That, people, is a week from tomorrow. Yikes!!
• Classes are going good so far. Even with my sudden trip to Ohio, I’m still on track. I’m totally loving my forensic anthropology class. I have no opinion of my E-commerce class. We haven’t really done anything in that class yet.

Well, I think that’s it for now. I need to clean my house before Merry Maids gets here, lmao. I could really use a nap too. :/

Inauspicious Start to the Year

My first post of 2010. I really don’t have anything to say.

Christmas was good. New Years was fine. It’s cold. We’re moving in just over two months. The spring semester doesn’t start until 2/14 so I still have lots of free time on my hands which is nice. Very nice.

I’m reading, playing games, and getting ready to move. That’s it. That’s my life. It’s very boring but very busy.

I got into the bad habit of staying up very late (3-4 am) and sleeping in very late (11-12ish) while on Christmas break. I guess I was channeling my inner teenager, heheh. Monday, the kids’ first day back to school, was painful. I overslept through my alarm and fell asleep on the couch around 9 pm. I’m feeling better this morning though.

Now, after this very lousy blog update, I have to go and take the oldest to school. I need to find socks. Did I mention it’s very cold?

Random Floating Thoughts

I have all this stuff floating around in my head so I’m gonna write about it and get it all out.

The other night, the Mister and I were going to bed and we were locking up the house for the night. We turned  out all the lights in the living room and were walking to our bedroom in the dark. Weird thing about is that while I was walking in complete, pitch black dark, the Mister said he could see well enough from the light coming in the windows to make out shadows of where stuff was. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how very bad my night vision is. I knew it wasn’t 100% but I didn’t know it was that bad. I guess it’s no wonder why I hate driving at  night.

The oldest child had a dance performance at her school last night. She did really great!! I am, of course, the proud parent. I’m going to put up video on my other blog which is private. I’m not comfortable putting video of my kids and other people’s kids on the Internet for all to see. If you’d like to view the video, leave a comment and let me know. I will need your e-mail address to send you an invite.

Something else I just realized is that we will be moving, actually on the road moving, in just over three months. The movers will be here around the 1st of March. I’m not sleeping again and since I’m not worried about anything else, I can only guess that I’m worrying about moving. I’ve also had the worst indigestion. Yes, yes. I know I’ve moved before and will make it through this one, but moving cross country with such little time to get ready is, I think, a perfectly legitimate reason to be stressed out. I’ve also never moved when I was both working and going to school. I’m also concerned about where we will live in California. I think it’s the thought of having to move back into base housing after living like regular people for six years that has me worried the most.

Another realization…I’m getting burned out on social networking. Maybe it’s just a phase and I’ll get back into it.

I’m tired of hearing about Tiger Woods. Move on. Next subject.

Yesterday, it was in the 50’s, today it’s in the 70’s (as I type it’s 72 with a heat index of 77) and tomorrow’s highs will only be in the 50’s again. Totally weird weather.

I’m still rereading the In Death books. Not counting the novellas, I’m on book 20 of 28. The last book, Kindred in Death just came out last month and I haven’t read it yet. I’m excited to get to it. I annoy myself though. Having reread the series as many times as I have, I can pick out a lot of mistakes that Robb made in the story line. Why do I have to be so nitpicky?

Finals on Monday were a nightmare. I took 17th and 18th Century British Literature and Concepts in Marketing this semester. I enjoyed both classes and learned a lot. I don’t know why my exams kicked me this year. I don’t have my grades yet. I probably won’t be posting about them either, lol.

I feel much better now. Don’t forget to let me know if you want to see the dance video and click on through to see my new blog template if you haven’t already!

A Post of Randomness

Right now my life is consumed with getting ready for our vacation. It really leaves little else for me to talk about.

Yesterday, the odometer on my car rolled over on 17,000 miles. I was impressed that I even noticed, heheh.

I have a sty or something wrong with my eye. It’s red, swollen, itchy, and painful. I’m hoping it gets better soon.

The other day, Hannah plowed into me while she was playing. I have a bruise on my foot so big that it hurts to wear tennis shoes. I’ve been wearing sandals with outfits that they don’t go with because that’s all that I can wear that doesn’t hurt. I’m hoping it gets better soon too.

That’s all I can think of to say. HOWEVER!!! I have a big announcement that will be posted on FRIDAY! BIG!!! ANNOUNCEMENT!!! Be sure and visit me on Friday.

NaBloPoMo 2009, post 5 of 30.

I’ve Got Stuff to Say!

I’m excited. I have stuff that I want to say on my blog. Woot! It’s a lot and I don’t feel like dividing it up into multiple posts so hang on to your panties and keep up.

First of all, have I mentioned yet that we’ve rented our beach house and have November 7th circled on the calendar? Yup. We’re headed back to the Outer Banks again this year so that the Mister can run in the OBX Marathon. This is the second year we’re going and the closest thing we have to a tradition, lol. No word on whether or not anyone is coming with us though.

Also!!! The Mister found out today that U2, (You know, the music group??) was in our town last night and ate at the same BBQ place that we love to eat at. How cool is that? They weren't in town for a concert or anything (::snort:: Like U2 would come to my town for a concert.)

And you know how people are advertising to buy gold jewelry all over the place? Well, I did that today and it was great. Not because I made a lot of money but because I got rid of some things that had bad memories attached to them or jewelry that was broken or bent but that I couldn’t make myself throw away. Instead, I sold it to a jewelry store nearby and got enough money to pay for a new watch battery and to have my favorite ring repaired. Two things that I had put off doing for about three years. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but it was for some reason.

Another thing…I made chili for dinner tonight. It’s a cold weather dish and it’s not cold here yet but I was totally craving it so I made it anyway. It was GOOOOD!

The oldest child’s punihsment for breaking the garbage disposal has been completed. As a result, I have a spotless kitchen from top to bottom. I made her clean out the cabinets and put everything back in an organized manner. I made her wipe down the outside of all the cabinets, clean out the fridge, clean out the microwave, and mop the floor. It took her two days. Plus she was grounded to her room when she wasn’t cleaning. She’s been an angel for the past few days, heheheh.

Both the Mister’s Twitter account and mine were hacked. He had to make an all new account (caseyj7760) and I just had to change my password. Makes me wonder if anything else was hacked of which we are unaware.

I LOVE my marketing class. I’m learning a lot and it’s just fun.

I cleaned out my bedroom closet yesterday and decided to reorganize it and my dressers. 60 hangers later and it’s complete. It’s much better and I found clothes that I forgot that I had. How nifty is that?

If you’ve ever thought of joining www.bagborroworsteal.com I would really appreciate it if you would use me for a referral. Just so you know, I love my membership. My newest rental is a Fendi bag and it’s FABULOUS!!

NaBloPoMo is right around the corner and I have no idea how I’ll do it this year. Should I even try?

Ok. It’s time for bed. I have other stuff but I’ll get to it another time.