What the Heck Just Happened?

I just had an experience. So much for hoping today would suck less than yesterday.

I'm sitting here at my computer filling out one of those endless MySpace surveys when I hear a man's voice. At first I'm wondering, "Where is that coming from?" And then I realize someone is in my backyard so I throw on some clothes (I was still in my pj's) and go out to see what the heck. It's some strange old guy yelling at my kids and two of my neighbor's kids. I already know what it's about since these kids have been having issues with his kid that likes to hang at our house for the bus. I go out and tell this guy not to be disciplining my children in their backyard. I start out in a calm enough voice but then he starts yelling at me saying how these kids are mean to his kid and that they're "disreputable children". Direct quote there. Then I start in telling him that he's yelling at me in my own yard for things that other people's kids are doing and that if he doesn't like it to keep his kid out of my yard. Yeah. Fun times first thing in the damn morning. So much for that Southern hospitality thing. I don't have it in me to be polite to other people yelling at me and my kids in my own freaking yard. In the meantime, S gets on the GOSH FREAKING BUS CRYING BECAUSE THIS JACKASS IS YELLING AT HER FOR SOMETHING SHE DIDN'T EVEN DO VIOLATING HER BEING ABLE TO FEEL SAFE AT HER OWN FREAKING HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! What is wrong with people?

Ok. So I think I'm a bit angry. I don't think we're going to be friends with this particular neighbor.

***UPDATE***

I got a knock on my door about half an hour ago (8:30'ish) from my neighbor. He came down to apologize and to explain himself. My faith in humanity has been restored and I'm no longer angry at him. Turns out, I have a whole other problem on my hands that I have to figure out how to deal with it. So goes life.

Weirdness

Check this out: Click Me

What's weird? I've been on that bridge a couple of times. And C has gephyrophobia and things like this don't help it any, lol.

On another note, my last day of class is Thursday and my exams are Friday. Sheesh!!! I'm starting to get pre-exam anxiety. I found out yesterday that my English exams is going to be 6 essay questions. I guess it's a good thing I have 3 hours to take that one. Something else that's weird is that I'm required to use both of my books for that exam because I have to cite sources from them. I've had open book/open note exams before but I've never actually been required to use them.

And one last thing...Hannah got me up at 4:45 this morning. I don't do 4:45 am.

Good Saturday Morning

Just a quick post to say, "HI!!!!!!!!!!" We're getting ready to head out to the beach. My nails are painted, the bags are packed, and the car is loaded. Can you tell that I love, love, love the beach?

On another subject, Hannah slept peacefully in her crate for the first time last night. Usually when we put her in there it sounds like something's in there with her attacking. Good news for us!

Okay. Time to run. C-ya!

Lurkers vs. Stalkers

Is there a difference between the two? IMO, yes. Lurking is reading a blog or a message board without malicious intent. Stalking is following and watching someone who is unaware and doesn't want to be observed in a harassing manner and for self-serving reasons. I really think that I should know since I have experienced both.

To my sister-in-law: I don't consider you a stalker in the least. I'm glad you come and read my blog even if you don't comment. If you'll notice, I hardly ever get comments from anyone, lol. And then there have been times when I've gotten comments from people that I had just wished would shut up and go away. Figure out for yourself whether I considered them lurkers or stalkers, lmao.

And now it's Friday. The weeks seem to go by so incredibly fast. Good thing? Bad thing? I dunno. We're headed to the beach again tomorrow. I can't wait. I plan on bringing my iPod, my Elizabeth book, a cool drink, the sunblock and soaking up the rays. I hope everyone else has a good weekend with lots of sunshine.

Good Reads

I recently ran across this site that I really like. You can make an online catalogue of the books you've read, are currently reading, and are going to read. Plus, you can add people as friends and see their library as well which makes it easy to find new authors and books that you might like to check out for yourself. You can see my Good Reads widgit down on the right.

You can click on my Good Reads widgit down on the right ===> which will take you to their website and you can also view my library and add me as a friend.

How Goes It?

It goes fine in my corner of the world. I would like to give a most heartfelt thank you to Jennifer S. and Dana for their feedback yesterday. I integrated all of your suggestions into my project. You both were a big help. Now with that project done, I only have one more big one due before my finals.

We've had absolutely gorgeous weather this week. I cannot wait to get back to the beach this weekend. C and I bought two different kinds of sunblock last night, lol. He's still sunburned even though it's been 5 days. I'm nicely tanned if I do say so myself. I guess I still have a little of the SoCal girl left in me after all. I used to just go from pale to burned to pale to burned, etc.

I'm bored with this. Until next time.

I Need Help

I have my final project for my computer class due this week and I need some feedback. What I'm doing is designing a portable GPS unit for a vehicle. The part I need help with is knowing what features a user would need/want on their unit. For instance, our GPS has a feature where it stores the cities that you have gotten directions for in the history. However, if you want to delete 1 or 2 of them you can't. You either keep them all or delete them all. I would make a unit that gives you the option of deleting select cities instead of having to delete your entire history. Get what I'm going for here? What would you want on your GPS if you were to go out and buy one today? Or what would you change/keep the same about the one you have now? So, I would really appreciate some input. For the next couple days I'm allowing comments from anybody, anonymous or not, so please leave me some ideas. If you're rather shy, you can shoot me an email at: gpsproject2007@gmail.com

And THEN....

My dogs have been bugging me today. Our neighbors are having their roof re-shingled and the roofers are making quite a bit of noise. As a result, Hannah doesn't want to go outside. She's a wimpy little puppy and noises scare her, lol. She's had several accidents indoors today and on a normal day, she doesn't have any. It's frustrating to say the least. Then, both of the dogs were playing together and managed to knock over a full can of soda all over the floor and my new rug. This doesn't make me a happy camper.

On another note, my semester is wrapping up. Busy, I am. I have my last major English paper due and my final project for my computer class due. I'll be taking my exams on May 4th. Every semester, I always have mixed feelings about it coming to an end. On the one hand, I'm glad to be getting a break. On the other, I never quite know what to do with myself during my time off.

Anywho, I've been getting quite a few clicks on the map thing I posted yesterday. So, in case anyone wants to make one of their own here's the link: Map

Where Have You Been?

I've posted this map before but it was way back when and before we moved to N.E. So, here's where I've been:

P.S.

I updated the picture blog with additional pictures from yesterday's trip to the beach. If you need/want/lost the link leave a comment or send me an E-mail and I'll get it to you.

Fun Times

We had an awesome weekend. S's fever only lasted a couple hours on Friday and after that she was fine. So, Friday we didn't do much but Saturday we did our commissary shopping and then we did some beach shopping. We bought a couple beach chairs and some sand toys for the kids. Sunday, we hit the beach and we hit it hard. You couldn't have asked for better weather. It was it the high 70's with a good breeze making it perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. The girls built a few sand castles. M built two pits in which she floated her boat, heheh. C and I lounged in the sun. Other than the killer sunburns C and I now sport, it was a perfect, perfect day. Had we not spent the last three years in Vermont, the sunburns would never have happened. Note to self: You are no longer living in the Great White North. Break out the sunblock.

We're hoping to go back next weekend.

The beach.

M's floating her boat.

The aftermath. What's sad is that it looks worse in person.

Jam Packed Day

C had the day off of work so we took advantage by running errands. First, we started out at the oil change place. Then we headed off to the vet's office for Hannah's first check up. She weighs 9 pounds and is the picture of health. You know how dogs have a third eyelid? Well, they do. What's weird is that Hannah's are two different colors: One is black and the other is white. It's no big deal but it creates the illusion that one eye is smaller than the other. While we were there, everybody made a huge fuss over her. They gave us a coupon for a free bag of food at the doggie spa next door and everyone there fawned over her too. She really does have an irresistibly cute face.

Next, we got a call from the girls' school nurse saying the S was in her office with a sore throat but no fever. We went and picked her up and now she not only has the sore throat but a fever too. She's out relaxing on the couch. I'm hoping her fever doesn't spike too high.

We all got home and everybody conked out for an afternoon nap. Hannah's still zonked in the middle of the floor. She had a very busy morning.

Now, we just got done cutting up strawberries for strawberry shortcake. The Harris Teeter had 2 qt containers of them on sale for 75 cents. What a deal, right? Can't beat that with a stick.

Ok. So this is my third attempt at a blog entry for today. The first two I backspaced over. I'm treading delicately because I'm tired of being bombarded with the outside world. How much sadness are you supposed to view on the news in one day? I'm trying not to bring it here.

One good thing to talk about is that I found a friend on Myspace yesterday (which, btw, I added a link to my page in my links section.) that I hadn't talked to in about 10 months. So I guess Myspace isn't all bad, lol. I'm seriously missing all my friends right now. Long distance hugs to all.

See? Depressing.

Brain Fart

I neglected my blog yesterday. I didn't even think about the fact that I hadn't posted anything until I was laying in bed last night around midnight. I wasn't about to get up and remedy the situation though. I'm not that blog obsessed.

You ever know somebody that you just don't like and then they get sick and you feel bad for not liking them? I had that happen yesterday. I feel bad that this person is in the hospital but it doesn't make me like them any better.

C had a gadget whore moment yesterday. He bought these shoes that you can insert a pedometer into and then it transmits to your iPod nano your steps and how many calories you burn and stuff. I'm not even going to say how much the dumb things cost but they were on sale at the Exchange and he got the pedometer thing for free. Still, he tried to convince me that he bought the shoes because he liked how they looked and not because of the iPod thing. Yeah, right. And I was born yesterday, lol.

Puppy Ownership

It was brought to my attention that I never said in my other post whether or not the puppy was a boy or a girl. For the record, she's a girl. We also decided on a name: Hannah after Muhammad Ali's daughter Hana. Get it? He's a boxer, the puppy's a boxer, lol. Anyway, the last few days since bringing her home have been interesting. Getting any sort of decent sleep is a thing of the past. She just turned 7 weeks today and she's not sleeping through the night yet. She got us up at 1:30am, 3:00 am, 5 am, and for good at 7 am. We're also crate training her which isn't something we've done before. Bailey was 4 months old when we got her and already crate trained. She's so gosh darn cute though that you can't get mad at her even at 3 in the morning, lol. Having Hannah has made us realize what an excellent dog Bailey is. When they play together, Bailey is careful not to be too rough. She only uses her muzzle and her neck to push Hannah around. And she'll crouch down on the floor to let the puppy bite at her ears, neck, and head. Bailey also shares all her toys nicely except for her rope. She doesn't like it when Hannah plays with it but it's funny to watch because the rope is bigger than Hannah, lol. It's pretty neat to watch them interact together.

Because of our recent addition, I have absolutely nothing else to talk about. I'm turning in my English assignment late today because of Hannah, lol. That's how much of a presence she is. Very little else gets done between taking her outside constantly because she's a pee machine, watching that she doesn't mess on the floor, making sure she eats on time, trying to get her to sleep quietly in her crate, and playing with her when she's awake. It's like bringing a newborn baby home. I'm freaking exhausted. I look like I'm coming down with the flu or something, lol.

I'm off. Hannah's napping right now so I have to get some work done.

Here's My Surprise

Say hello to the newest addition to our family. We haven't picked out a name yet. We're tossing around quite a few different ideas. Bailey was leery of the new puppy at first but once she realized that the puppy would play with her, she came around pretty fast. The only thing is that the puppy keeps trying to nurse off of Bailey, lol. Aren't they the cutest??

I am so deeply disturbed right now that I don't know whether I want to cry or yell, scream, and break stuff. Or all of the above.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WITH KIDS THESE DAYS?!?!? AND WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PARENTS?!?

How is it that 9, 10, and 11, year olds still in elementary school meet at the freaking monkey bars to have fights? How is it that these same kids are getting suspended for fighting and bullying? What happened to kids that play tag and dolls and crap? Have people given up on raising kids that aren't going to end up in gangs, in jail, and on the FBI's freaking most wanted list? I just don't understand it and it's upsetting. And it's freaking scary. Scary. These kids are, if they all don't end up dead or in jail, going to be in positions of authority one day. Future freaking leaders of America. At this rate, the only thing they're going to lead us into is anarchy. Parents need to wake the freak up and take an interest in what their kids are up to. There's this one girl that I know of who is 13 years old. She was recently suspended from school for being involved in a plan with several other girls to beat up another girl. She didn't understand why she was in trouble, however, because, in her words, she wasn't going to do anything to the girl, she was just going to bring the knife. True freaking story. Is the girl to blame? Yes, to a point, but ultimately her parents should have their heads examined. How did they raise this child? M has a scrape on her forehead that she got today from one of the neighborhood boys who threw a rock and hit her in the head with it. BUT, he wasn't aiming at her, he was aiming at another girl and he apologized to M so I guess that makes it okay. Yeah, right.

The world sucks and the people in it suck even more.

Guess What?

I've got some exciting news!!! I'm going to leave y'all hanging though in case this deal falls through but it's a doozy. I'm trying, very unsuccessfully, not to get my hopes up on this. I'll know for sure what's what tomorrow afternoon so I'll have a special Saturday edition tomorrow.

Also, and of equal importance, today is the 12th anniversary of when C and I started dating. Awww. He's gone on duty until tomorrow morning, but I got up with him for work this morning (after only 4 hours of sleep, ugh) so at least I got to see him for a few minutes on this, our special day.

Be sure and check back tomorrow afternoon.

Did You Hear?

Kurt Vonnegut died. Here's the story in case you didn't know. Kurt Vonnegut

C has duty again this weekend which blows. But what can ya do? At least it'll give me time to get that play read.

The breeze blowing in from my windows right now smells citrus-y. It's very nice.

Ever Had a Day

Where your mind is going a mile a minute to the point where you can't really do anything productive? I'm having one of those days.

Who's already tired of the whole Imus thing?

The Weekend

Our weekend was pretty nice. Friday we picked up the Dyson from the shop. It's working better than ever now. Saturday we took the kids out to get their Easter presents. We have decided to forgo baskets and this year we got them each their own pet. M got a guinea pig and S got a beta fish. Both animals have made nice additions to our family. I had no idea that guinea pigs have as much personality as they do and that they make noises. I've had hamsters, lizards, frogs, fish, cats, birds, rats, rabbits, and dogs but never a guinea pig so I didn't know anything about them. Sunday we stayed home, colored eggs, and that was about it. Easter is my least favorite holiday of them all. We're not religious so, imo, it's hypocritical to celebrate it but we do it for the kids anyway. Oh well.

Gas prices are completely outrageous. I'm just glad that we don't live in Cali with the 4Runner right now. I'd be walking everywhere. Supposedly we're supposed to be getting a break over the next few weeks. Yeah. I'll believe it when I see it.

I finished reading Oedipus yesterday. I really enjoyed it which was a surprise to me. I remember attempting to read Iliad or The Odyssey (I don't remember which) in high school and hating it. I was expecting a similar result from Oedipus and was pleasantly surprised when I ended up liking it. The Oedipus complex, however, is retarded. Oedipus didn't know he was sleeping with his mother and if he instinctually knew, why'd he gouge his own eyes out and insist that he be put to death??? This week I'm reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream. I admit that I'm totally intimidated by Shakespeare. We'll see how it goes. And my last bit of reading news is that I've given up on The War of the Roses. I simply don't have enough time to read it and it's due back in four days. I'll just go buy it at the end of the semester and finish it up then.

Yesterday, for my cheering up, C and I went to MJ's Raw Bar and Grille for lunch. It was great. I had the fish and scallops and C had the fish and shrimp. Truly excellent food and we'll be back.

I think that catches us up for now.

A Little Sad

We just got back from taking Bailey to the vet. She doesn't have a life threatening condition but what is wrong with her is potentially debilitating. So, I've spent some of today crying a little bit and C is taking me out for lunch to cheer me up. Not that he isn't sad too but he deals with it better than I do. Bailey's not just a dog.

Learn Your Job or Shut Up

We were in a pet store today perusing the animals. I happened to overhear a woman who was buying a rabbit (which could be a whole thread unto itself this time of year) asking the sales woman various questions about how to care for the rabbit. The sales woman's answers were 90% incorrect. I am by no means an expert, but I have had several different rabbits over my lifetime and have made it a point to learn how to properly care for them. This woman shouldn't have been giving out advice under the guise of being an "expert". I was irritated enough to say something to the new rabbit owner. I was very proud of myself in that I was respectful about it. I didn't tell her that all the information she was just given by that ignoramus was wrong, I just referred her to the House Rabbit Society's web page and told her that any information she would need could be found there. What I really wanted to do was to slap the other woman until she found herself another job. It is obvious to me that you don't get your information from watching old cartoons of Bugs Bunny.

And please, don't buy a rabbit just because it's Easter. That's a very wrong reason to buy one and it's also irresponsible.

Things that have been on my mind lately:

Bailey needs to go to the vet. She's been acting weird for a while now and it's starting to worry me. When she runs, she yips occasionally and I'm afraid that she might be getting hip problems. I'm really hoping I'm just being paranoid.

Finals are just around the corner and I am not even close to being prepared. I haven't kept up with the reading in my computer class because that book is quite possibly the most boring book ever written. I have to read 6 chapters by the end of today just to be caught up to where I should be.

C has a 96 for Easter weekend. This is going to be such a great thing for him. 96's (4 days off) and 72's (3 days off) didn't exist for the past three years.

A certain family situation back in Ohio. I don't want to elaborate here.

M seemed to age about 4 years over the last week. Parenthood is fast becoming terrifying territory. Babies are so much easier, lol.

It's Thursday and I don't have the slightest idea what we're doing for Easter. I haven't bought the kids anything yet. I'm such a slacker.

Squirrels are devious little animals. They may look cute and innocent, but they steal the birds' food.

I HAVE SO MUCH READING TO DO!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Yeah. So, I didn't update yesterday. I don't think I actually throttled back until about 5:30 last night when I got in the car to go to the library. I was busy cleaning my house for visitors that aren't coming. I'm also in the middle of reading two books and a play. I'm having a hard time getting through my "War of the Roses" book. It is seriously lagging in the middle. I think it's starting to pick up again though. Thing is, it's a library book which I've already renewed once and I would like to finish it before I have to renew it again. The other book I'm reading is "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. This book is for my book club. And the play that I'm reading is "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles. This is for my English class and on top of that, I'm also facilitating the discussion on my class presentation this week. I have about a month left in this semester so things are starting to get hectic. Oh yeah. And the kids are on Spring Break this week and M had a sleepover last night so peace at my house does not exist this week.

Household Tip of the Week:

Rust stains on your counter tops? Use a bit of toothpaste and a sponge to get them right out. Know where I got this tip? From watching an old episode of Home Improvement, lol. I was surprised when it actually worked.

Oh! I almost forgot. The number of people that outclicked on "Post Secret" the other day was funny. Considering the variety of secrets this week, I'm really curious to know which one everybody thinks I'm talking about. Just so ya know, it wasn't the masturbation one, lmao!!

Hello Me. It's Me Again

PostSecret has a secret this week that I totally get. I was so surprised to see it that I just had to say something.

P.S.
No, it's not my secret. If it was and I said so here, it wouldn't be much of a secret. Geez.

Yuck!

I just had to get a tick off of Bailey. It figures the one time she's ever had a tick and C's at work on duty. We use that Frontline flea and tick stuff too. She wasn't due for a dose until the first but I went ahead and gave it to her a day early. Wildlife sucks sometimes.

Other than that, I'm having an extremely quiet Saturday. You can read that to say, "I'm bored out of my freaking, ever-loving, mind!!!" So far, I've watched 3 movies and an episode of Six Degrees I recorded last night. To be mildly productive, I also vacuumed for the second time in as many days, took the trash out, and I started on my latest English paper that is due tomorrow, lol. I plan on giving the Georgetown v. OSU basketball game some of my time later on this evening and the Florida v. UCLA game after that. And then I'm going to watch a movie that we rented at Blockbuster last night. I can't for the life of me remember the title, but I know that I've been wanting to see it, lol.

Good times.

One Last Thing

I have a Dyson vacuum cleaner. It cost an arm and a leg but it was worth every penny. For about the last month, however, I've been having a problem getting it to work correctly. Thankfully, it's still under warranty and today C and I dropped it off in J'ville for a tune up. Get this: Dyson owners get a free loaner while their machine is in the shop. Too cool, right? So I now have a yellow Dyson for the week while my purple Animal Dyson is being fixed. I was wondering what I was going to do without my vacuum cleaner for a week and now I don't have to worry about it. For once, I'm impressed with a company's customer service.

Spring

I love spring. Spring means baseball, picnics, flowers blooming, trees budding, and that the beach is right around the corner. Since moving to N.C. I've found that Spring means something else as well: Pollen. Pollen freaking EVERYwhere. C said that when he's driving home from Havelock he can see a yellow haze sitting over New Bern, lol. In California it was ash, in Vermont it was salt, and here it's pollen. I really have no clue which is worse.

Remember my English paper on Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado? Well, I got an A so yippee for me. It's 20% of my grade so I was really sweating my grade.

C has duty this weekend. It's such a strange thing to consider because he hasn't stood duty in about 4 years. His is going to especially suck because it's a payday weekend so he's going to have Marines getting into stupid trouble, lol. So, I'm going to have movies and Mojitos if anyone's interested in stopping by. My door's open. ;)

Cont.

I called and talked to Patti. I had a very normal-type conversation with her. No accusations, no bitching, and no yelling. I just brought up my various issues like they were every day conversation. I figured that was the best way to go. I did call her out on the discrepancy in a billing issue that I have and insisted that she send me invoices and more detailed receipts than the one she already sent. Going from what I already have, she charged me twice for the same thing. Anyway, it's a mess and I went to bed last night with a headache for the first time since we moved here. Why can't people just do the job that they are paid to do competently?

Not Looking Forward to My Day (This is a Long One)

I had a very enlightening conversation with Jen, my renter, last night. And why do I have so many Jennifer's in my life, lol? She called me last night and we talked for over an hour. It's really too bad that she lives so far away because I really think we'd be friends if we were neighbors. That's all beside my point here though. I found out that my rental management company isn't exactly doing their job.

The story:

I interviewed a couple different rental management companies back in VT. This one seemed to be the best for the right amount of money. We pay them 6% of the rent a month in exchange for their handling collection of the rent, any issues that come up with the house, and a once a month drive by of the property to make sure the renters aren't tearing the place up. We also paid them a one time "lease up" fee that was equal to one month's rent. This fee should have covered their writing the lease, interviewing potential renters, running background, employment, and reference checks, and ads in the paper. Now, here's my problem...

1.) In the beginning, I gave them a copy of a lease that C and I had drawn up that included specific paragraphs that we wanted them to include in their lease but wasn't supposed to be used as the actual lease. Turns out, they used it anyway despite me specifically telling them not to because it also included language that I didn't want included in the lease. Plus, I had marked it up and highlighted a bunch of stuff which should have made it obvious that I didn't want it used as the actual lease. They also only had Jen sign a 6 month lease and it should have been a 12 month lease.

2.) When we moved out, we were given very little notice as to when the MC was going to let us move which didn't allow for a lot of prep time. As the movers cleared each room, I went around behind them cleaning. Considering the time I was able to give it, I got the house really clean including scrubbing out all the cabinets, cleaning all the bathrooms, and vacuuming and mopping all the rooms. When Patti, the management lady, took over the house to prepare for Jen to move in, she called and said that the house was "pretty dirty", something she brought up in several different conversations, which really offended me. A.) We're not dirty people. And B.) I know how to clean a house when moving out. It's not like I haven't done a dozen times before. This has been bothering me since January so I asked Jen about it last night and she said that other than the normal stuff you do when moving in, she thought the house was pretty clean. She also said, "They even had the carpets cleaned for us." Which brings me to my next point.

3.) Before Jen moved in, Patti called and asked me if we would be willing to pay to have the carpets professionally cleaned because Jen had requested we do so. We agreed even though it hadn't been that long since the carpets had been shampooed. And Jen also said that every time she vacuums, white powdery stuff comes out of the carpet. Since this never happened to me, this tells me the cleaners didn't clean the carpets right.

4.) I posted about how I had to have roofers out to the house to see if the snow needed to be cleaned off. Well, it didn't and I e-mailed Patti about it and also told her to give Jen the roofer's number in case of an emergency since he only lives 5 minutes away and said that Jen could call him 24/7 if need be. Found out last night that Jen didn't even know the roofer had been out at all. This was back on March 7.

5.) Back during the roof deal, I found out that Jen had only paid $2016 upon moving in which should have been $2850 to include first month's rent, deposit, and a non-refundable pet fee. They were supposed to have cleared that up this month (March) and gotten the rest of the money to me on April 1st. Jen told me last night that nobody called her about it. With it being so late in the game and the fact that it was Patti's responsibility, I don't even feel right making Jen pay the rest of the money. I know if I was in her position, I wouldn't want to pay it.

6.) Also, Jen said that she's called them about a couple different things and they never got back to her about any of it. And when then loaned her a roof rake for the snow, they only gave the 5 foot woman 2 hours to use it and when she wasn't able to clean the entire roof off in the amount of time while standing up to her waist in snow, Patti bitched about the little bit of snow she cleaned off. Geez!

I'm pissed. Since Jen's moved in, I've felt like Patti's been nickle and diming us for every little thing which is why I handled the roof deal myself, and with the carpet thing, turns out I was right. All the repairs and stuff like that, Patti keeps in-house because they keep a handyman on staff and I think it was her son's "business" that cleaned the carpets which, in turn, is supposed to save us money. Since Jen's moved in, Patti's taken over $800 of the rent for various "fees" for the house. I have receipts for all of it so it looks legit, but now I'm not so sure. Everyone warned us about renting out our house but it was for the renters tearing the house up or not paying their rent or whatever. My renters are wonderful and we've already opened negotiations for them to buy the house. They aren't the problem. We were supposed to be able to trust the management company for pete's freaking sake!!! So now I have to call Patti and figure out wtf is going on and I'm not sure how to approach it. If I bitch her out too much, the level of service might drop off even more and then what am I supposed to do? If I let her get away with it, then the house isn't being taken care of properly and we're wasting our money. It's not like I'm in a position to find another company and besides that, we signed a 12 month contract (hence why it would have made sense for Jen to sign a 12 month lease). I don't know what to do here. Good thing I have a couple hours to figure it out. Whatever.

To be continued...

Too Much TV

I think it's safe to say that I watch too much television. I have several shows that are on my "can't miss" list. Now that this season is starting to wind down, I'm feeling a panic come on, lol. I caught up on two weeks worth of Prison Break and next week's preview was for the season finale. I'm so sad! I love that show and it's fun looking at Wentworth Miller although he should change his first name, lol. But there is a silver lining since so many networks have their summer shows like The Closer for instance. I don't think I remember there being such a thing as a kid.

Also, I think someone stole my newspaper. Unless the kids hid it from me this morning or the delivery person forgot us, I didn't get a paper today. I like to broaden my horizons by reading the newspaper everyday.

And now that the telemarketing calls have finally stopped, we've started getting calls from bill collectors for a Bill Weist or something like that. They're persistent enough that they even leave voice mails. I completely, totally, and wholeheartedly hate having a land line. We never get off the wall calls on either of our cell phones. Only 8 more months before we can get new plans. I can hold out without killing someone.

Burn, Baby Burn

I hate it when people burn trash or yard clippings in their backyards. Hate. It. I love having my windows open in the spring and summer and people that burn in their yards take away from my enjoyment of that experience. I either have to endure the smoke and/or smell or shut my windows. Ever since 2003, I have a very low tolerance for the smell of smoke and every time I smell it, I run to my windows to check the sky to make sure the world isn't on fire again. I also feel that I have to keep an eye on their fires to make sure they don't get out of control. Our house in VT had a wood burning fireplace and we used it maybe 4 or 5 times the whole time we lived there. I'm probably being completely irrational but I can't help it.

The Big Comfy Couch

We had a full to bursting weekend. I'm going to open today's post with the funniest part: Friday night.

Friday night, C and I were watching tv in bed. We got to talking about how in the twelve years we've been together, he's never spent a night of it on the sofa in the dog house. He pointed out that the one night he did try to sleep on the couch was because he had a cold and his coughing was keeping me up. After only 10 or 15 minutes, I felt bad and went out and made him come back to bed. So, I started picking on him and he said that if I didn't stop, he was hitting the couch. Of course, I didn't stop so he got up and went out onto the couch after trying to take my pillows with him. After he left, I promptly situated myself smack dab in the middle of the bed so that when he gave up and came back, he'd see that I had no intention of fetching him off the couch that night. Then, we both fell asleep, lmao. He comes back to bed at 6 am bitching that he can't believe that I left him out on the couch all night. Yes. He blames me for his immaturity. And it turns out that all the deliberating we did on buying our sofa was for the good because he slept like a rock until he woke up Saturday morning. Men.

So, for the rest of the weekend...Saturday, we spent the afternoon in J'ville shopping. We bought the neatest set of dishes that I absolutely LOVE and a drink shaker thingy for making Mojitos. Well, you can make other drinks in it too, but we had Mojitos in mind when we picked it up.

We took the girls for a walk around the neighborhood when we got home. There are so many houses for sale right now. We started picking up the "take ones" from houses as we were walking to get an idea of what the houses are going for around here. What I don't get is that this one house that's at the apex of a hairpin curve in the road so that I'm sure they probably have had a few cars end up in their front yard has a tax value of about $90,000 but they're asking $150,000 for it. And it's small. I would not pay that much for that house in a million years. What the heck? Back in VT, we paid $15,000 less than the tax value of our house not $60,000 more. Anyway, I went totally off the subject there. Now we're on the lookout for a house. We can't move right now cuz we're in a lease, but I'm ready to not live in somebody else's house all the while paying an astronomical amount of money for the electric to live there. It's annoying. Sunday we spent most of the day driving around all different kinds of neighborhoods looking at houses and we also took the girls for another walk/bike ride around our neighborhood.

All in all, it was a great family-type weekend.

What I Did

First and foremost: A very Happy Birthday to my friend Jennifer S. Long distance ((((HUGS!!!!)))) And if you see this before I talk to you, I plan on calling in a bit. I tried calling earlier but you were still at work.

Also, Happy Birthday to C's sister. You already called today, so I'll talk to you sometime this week I'm sure.

Ok. Anyway, I didn't do much today and that's why I'm posting so late. I watched HBO's Elizabeth I this morning into the afternoon cuz it was FOUR hours long. It was great though. Worth every single minute. It was a brilliant movie. I think I'm gonna buy the DVD from HBO's store cuz I have seen it in stores anywhere. Fun factoid: Did you know, that after Elizabeth I died, it was discovered that she owned over 2,000 dresses? That's enough dresses to be able to wear a different one each day of the year for approx. 5.4 years!!! I have like, three dresses in my closet and I probably don't fit into a-one of them.

Did I sit on my ass all day? Well, no I didn't thank you very much. I took a walk and did some house cleaning. Aren't ya jealous? On my walk, the way that I go, there are no side streets that aren't cul-de-sacs. So, I pass this chick walking her baby; we pass walking toward each other. A little while later, I pass her again and we are still walking toward each other. How is that possible when there are no streets that she could have cut over on? It would be rough going pushing a stroller with a newborn through people's yards which is the only thing she could've done. Weird.

My freaking ears are sore from listening to my iPod so much. I wonder if it's like sore muscles and my ears will eventually adjust. Hmmm. I decided to check out some new podcasts today. I noticed that the same people that subscribe to The Dawn and Drew Show and Keith and the Girl also subscribe to this show called Soccergirl, Incorporated so I figured I might like it too. I listened to a bit of the last two shows and didn't like it one bit. It was about Smurf sex. A.)Hasn't that been covered by other people before? and B.) It's dumb. I deleted it. So much for that.

Still Lovin' It

I'm having too much fun with my new iPod. I downloaded the pilot episode of Raines (Man is Jeff Goldblum looking old) because it was free, lol, and watched it on my iPod last night. The video quality is pretty good and the show was ok.

My thanks goes out to Jacki for turning me on to Diggnation. While I am geekier for having watched their podcast, it was freaking funny. I watched the 3/17 episode and the ending where they were "accidentally" prank calling that girl was so funny.

Anyway, did I mention how my neighbors thought it would be nifty to take a jackhammer to their patio Tuesday afternoon and then begin the building of their deck at 6 something yesterday morning?? Yeah. Hammering before the sun was even up. That's what I like to wake up to in the morning.

And did I also mention how it's supposed to be in the 70's and 80's for at least the next 7 days?? Woot, woot!! Pleasant weather is much better for me than nasty weather. I'm one of those people that gets that S.A.D. condition in the winters. Maybe I should buy one of those light deals.

Wouldn't you figure that being able to talk on the phone for hours at a time like you did when you were a teenager would be something that you eventually grow out of? Well, not me. I managed to have a 2 hour long phone conversation with my very good friend today. I didn't even realize we had been on the phone that long until we hung up and I saw the call timer, lol.

One last iPod thing. Well, it's not just iPod, it's a music thing but I just downloaded the album...ANYway, if you haven't listened to Lily Allen you're missing out. If you're interested, check out her song Smile first. Pay attention the lyrics; she's mean and funny. She's British so it can be tricky. She's awesome though. I like the whole album and that's not something I say very often.

I'm off.

Amendment

I can't believe in my last post that I totally forgot about my last, and most notorious, experience with key wives. SHEESH!!! I think I went temporarily insane to have forgotten that. So, aside from the call tonight, I've had two prior experiences with key wives and the second time was a million times worse than the first and the first time I was trying to get C home on a Red Cross call cuz we were told his mom was dying. So you figure it out how bad the second encounter would've been.

To be fair, this woman sounded perfectly sane. There. Both sides of the coin.

That's enuff of that.

I Have the BEST Husband

EVER!! He surprised me tonight with a new iPod. It's a full sized one that plays videos. I was so excited. I had a Nano already but all it does is play audio files. Now I can play my Podcasts that are in video. Woohoo! Now C has my Nano since all he wanted it for was music anyway. He also gave me the sweetest card with it. Talk about turning my heart to mush.

Also, while I was typing this post I received a phone call from my key wife, hehehe. I don't particularly like key wives so I declined her offer of becoming one. Besides that, they wouldn't want me anyway. I like to speak my mind too often and they frown on that. Oh. If you don't know what a key wife is, they're Marine Corps wives that...well, I can't really say that I know what their official function is since the only one that ever contacted me before today was worthless. Sheesh. Almost five years later and I'm still bitter, lmao. I do know from personal experience that they stir up more drama than they do help. But whatever.

So, I'm off to play with my new toy which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!

Vernal Equinox

Yes. Today is the first day of Spring. Despite the fact that we spent part of the winter here in N.C., winter seemed especially long this time around. It's a gloomy, doomy day here today. Oh well. Excellent weather will here tomorrow.

I registered for my summer classes. I'm taking Creative Writing, Intro to Business Management (it's for my minor, ugh) and a Mythology class. I can't wait to start the writing and mythology class and I'm curious about the business management class. This class is sort of experimental. I'm not sure if I want it to be my minor or not. But, I have quite a few electives to kill, so I figured, why not.

Oh. And the blog thing I was talking about yesterday, turns out it was my computer. I ran two different spyware programs, my virus scanner, and I deleted all of my browser history and it took care of the problem. Vicious computer people suck. Well, most people suck but today, I'm singling out people who like to mess with other people's computers. You suck.

Blog Issues

I don't know about everyone else, but my blog page keeps redirecting me to another page after a few seconds. I'm trying to figure out if this is a bug with my blog or if I have some sort of spyware or virus on my computer. I'd appreciate a comment if this is happening to anyone else.

Second Life

Has anyone else heard of Second Life? It's pretty basically just a virtual world form of Yahoo messenger or AIM. I had to give it a try just to see what the hype was about. People are pretty into it from what I can tell. They spend actual money in exchange for Second Life currency based on real life exchange rates. You can look on their website and see that over $1.5 million in U.S. currency has been spent there in the last 24 hours. How crazy is that? They also have jobs, build houses, and have online meetings there as well. I have an avatar but I don't have a job, a house, or participate in any gatherings. I actually find it kinda boring. Sony is coming out with their own version for the PS3 called Home. Surprisingly enough, it's going to be a free download for the console. The Sims also tried something similar as well. I tried the free trial out but as much as I love the whole Sims world, I couldn't get into that either. Maybe I'm missing something?

Anyway, if you want to try it out too, it's a free download for the basic version which gives you no Second Life currency, lol. I would recommend that your computer have a pretty good processor and graphics card as their world lags quite a bit. I would like to hear opinions if anyone does decide to give it a whirl.

Musings and Observations

In an honest, truly equal marriage, should there be such a thing as "yours" and "mine"?

I've recently learned that saying a busybody, nosy person has "no life" isn't necessarily true.

Being a quiet person doesn't automatically make you a snob.

Read Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and 130.

Corporal punishment for a dog is not an effective training tool. All you're doing is teaching the dog fear.

The saying, "What doesn't kills us only makes us stronger" should be changed to "What doesn't kill us, didn't kill us" because not everybody learns from their mistakes.

There are some people that I know that should give themselves more credit for their accomplishments instead of giving their parents credit for them.

Mojitos are GOOOOOD!

Saying that what somebody does is their business and that it's not your place to judge doesn't automatically make you a good person when you're ignoring certain issues such as child or spousal abuse just to name two examples.

Children's birthday parties should not be a competition for the parents to exhibit their generosity.

What is with all the Shriners and Free Masons in North Carolina?

And last but certainly not least:

Mojitos are GOOOOOD!!

Saturday

I didn't want my last post for the weekend to be about porn so here I am today. One last thing before I change the subject though. Talk about drama, drama, drama, last night. The phone lines were burning up from California to Vermont to North Carolina and back again. This whole thing has definitely caused a scandal. Okay. Nuff about that.

We did our commissary shopping today. Fun, fun. We were watching this show this morning on the History Channel about distilleries and they showed how to make Mojitos so we picked the stuff up while we were out to make a batch. I've never tried one before and have always wanted to. What better day than St. Patrick's Day, right?

We ran into C's Gunny while we were at the commissary too. I hadn't met him yet and he and his family seemed really nice. Too bad he's retiring in June.

So that's my weekend edition post. I hope everyone has a fun weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Here's a pinch for those of you who didn't wear your green today.

I Just Gotta Say

This is pure, unadulterated gossip and I just don't care.

We found out today that one of the wives from...wellll, wherever, has an adult website and boy is it SLUTTY!! I only met this individual once about 2 years ago or so and seeing what she's doing on the side and knowing that I had her in my house makes me want to boil myself in some antiseptic and burn everything she touched. I knew that I didn't like her but I just didn't know why until today. Well, that and they beat their kids all the while spouting off about how "religious" they are. But DAYUM!! I'm not even going to post the link on my blog because it's just smut, but rest assured, it's NASTY!

HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!!!!

Boys Today

In our neighborhood, the kids that regularly play outside are my girls, ages 10 and 8, another girl age 10 and her brother age 8, and then 5 or 6 other boys all aged 12 or about to turn 12. I sat outside on the porch yesterday while they were all outside because my kids and the other girl were being harassed by the 12 year old boys. While observing their behavior and the blatant ill manners they were displaying in front of an adult, I couldn't help thinking that I was looking at the Future Inmates of America. Are all 12 year old boys monsters? They were calling my 10 year old and her friend very nasty names. I know that pulling hair and stuff like that used to be the way that young boys showed interest in girls, but has that evolved into name calling that would result in an adult being brought up on hate crime charges? And where in the world are these kids' parents?? It's gotten to the point where the neighbor girl gets on the bus at our house because one of those 12 year olds (I'm not sure who is who.) won't let her get on the bus at her own stop.

And furthermore, what the heck is up with boys' hair cuts these days or lack thereof? This long hair, nasty, unruliness is ugly. I hate long hair on boys. Having a Marine for a husband probably doesn't help but they look unkempt with long hair. CUT YOUR FREAKING HAIR!! And learn some respect. Geez. Kids these days... I know everyone says that girls are more trouble than boys but I don't think I'm equipped to raise boys. The universe knew what it was doing when it gave me two girls, lol.

I've had this window open for ten minutes now while I was surfing the net trying to figure out what to say. I'm in a quiet mood today. Not depressed or mad or anything; just quiet. Mostly, I'm just enjoying our weather and don't really want to be sitting inside. I've been getting a lot of use out of our back yard the last few days. With temps in the 80's, it seems like a shame to be wasting it on the couch. Especially since this is the last day of nice weather for a bit.

So, that's it for today. I'm gonna grab the dog and head outside.

Bookcase = Adult???

This was on an episode of a show that used to be on TV. Well, I guess it still is but it's in reruns now. Anyway, the woman on there broke up with her boyfriend because he had an empty bookcase in his apartment and didn't care to fill it up. According to her, if you're an adult your bookcase should be filled. This got me to thinking because I have 3 bookcases and 2 other shelves stuffed to capacity with books. Does this make me any more or less of an adult? Additionally, does the contents of the shelves matter? I have tons of books but I would say that maybe a quarter of them would actually be considered literature and not just leisure reading. So does the fact that my bookshelves contain Harry Potter and Nora Roberts' books make me immature?

Can you accurately judge a person by the cover of their books?

Ghosts

Just when you think the coast is clear, just when you decide to let your guard down, and just when you think things are looking up, shit happens. I'm being dramatic. It's not as big as all that but like I told C: Recruiting duty is like dog crap that you can't get off your shoe. The smell just won't go away.

The "extremely interesting" news we got yesterday was that C is on the outbound roster with orders to another base despite the fact that he's only been here for three weeks. Why? Because bastards with delusions of grandeur tried to mess C over. And mess is not the preferred word here. Is he actually going? No because he just happened to check into his current unit early and so the new orders won't go through. How much did he miss it by? Just over a week. And what would that have meant for us? Well, because it's less than 50 miles away, we wouldn't have been able to get out of our lease and even if we could, we would have had to pay for the move ourselves or else C would have had to commute about an hour one way. So the choices would be: Stay put so that our kids wouldn't have to change schools again and pay out the butt for gas. OR, move at our own expense, change the kids' schools again, and uproot our family for the for the fourth time in as many years. Thankfully, we don't have to make these choices. We missed having had to do so by a hair.

All's well that ends well, right? Sure. I'll just keep telling myself that.

A Failed Attempt

So I see nobody was brave enough to post a guess to the poem. It’s a pregnant lady people. “A riddle in nine syllables” = Nine months of pregnancy. “A melon strolling on two tendrils” Just picture it. Well, that was my attempt at bringing some culture to the picture and I obviously failed.

Anyway, we had an interesting weekend most of which I can’t even talk about so I’ll just hint around, lol.

We fed our gadget whore beast this weekend. That’s all I’m saying about that.

I bought Twilight Princess FINALLY. I preordered the dumb thing 2 years ago but because of the Wii, Nintendo pushed back the release date. And then we moved and so I had to call the EB Games in Vermont to get my money back and they actually sent it to me on a gift card. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually got my money back.

And let’s see…We went to the beach again. It was such a nice day too. It got up to about 70 on Saturday while we were there and it was lovely. Which beach was it? Well, I can’t say.

And after a giganto ordeal with the cable company, we finally have HDTV. I have to say, it’s worth the extra money. There is definitely a noticeable difference between regular tv and HDTV.

This is the last week of one of my classes. Woohoo! It was only a half semester class because it’s only one credit. And then next week, I’m on Spring Break. Woohoo! Again. I’m looking forward to my week off.

And today…Well, well, well. I just got some extremely interesting news from C a few minutes ago. Extremely interesting. It won’t be verified until tomorrow, however, so I’m not going to say what it is until we’re sure one way or the other. I want to say more but I just can’t. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the update. I’ll post as soon as I hear anything.

A Poem

I read this last night in my Lit book and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd post it for something a little more lighthearted than my other post for today.

Metaphors
by
Sylvia Plath

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Do you know the answer to the riddle?

I'm Disturbed

I saw a blurb last night about a news story and then I forgot to watch it, lol. Anyway, the headline was about how gangs are having their "members" enlist into the military in order to get weapons and munitions out onto the street and also to infiltrate overseas. Some of you might find this shocking and some of you might have heard this before and, in your cynical ways, figured it was just a matter of time. With the hubby just coming off of recruiting duty, this is something that never even crossed my mind. Of course, you don't see too many gangs in rural VT, lol. In retrospect, however, I can see how easy it would be for gangs to get their members into the military. This touches on the politics of recruiting duty which I am not ready to discuss, but believe me, it's not an impossible possibility. A recent stabbing in nearby Jacksonville, NC that was committed by two Marines suspected of having ties to gangs only reinforces this and the timing of that incident with the news reports is uncanny. In fact, this subject has been in the news all over the country:

News Story 1
News Story 2
News Story 3

And there are plenty more where those came from if you want to Google it.

It makes you wonder what the world is coming to and just who you can trust. I certainly wouldn't want my husband or any other respectable member of the military over in Iraq with some degenerate gang member guarding his back.

Ft. Macon

I was looking through my picture folder this afternoon and ran across these pics and realized that I never posted them like I said that I would. Oops.

The first one is, obviously, a cannon, lol.

The second one is a view of the inside of the fort taken from the inside.

The third is a view of the area surrounding the fort taken from the top, outside level.

The fourth is a view of the inside of the fort taken from the top level.

Just thought I'd share. We had a good time and it was educational for the kids.

Sweating the Small Stuff

I'm sitting here freaking out over my electric bill again. They'll be out to read the meter in the next 4 or 5 days. I checked it out myself today and we've already used 2320 kWh which amounts to about $260 and there's going to be a few more days added onto that. We sit around freezing our butts off a lot of the time since I have the thermostat set on 66 and it doesn't seem to be making a difference. I just have a really hard time believing that our energy bills (electric+heating oil) were more reasonable in VT than it is in NC (for just electric) where the temps have been in the 50's and 60's during the day for the most part. This is craziness. I have run out of ideas on how to conserve. We keep the lights off in rooms where we aren't in them, the water heater is set on the recommended 120 degrees, the thermostat is set on 66 (in VT I kept it on 72), we don't hang the fridge door open or any of the doors and windows for that matter, the duct work on the house was recently inspected, and the heater filters were recently changed too. What the heck else is there????

And on top of that expense, I called a roofer out to the house in VT to look at the snow situation there. He said that since Jan 1, they've gotten 99 inches of snow and that most people have 20 to 30 inches on their roofs. Added to that, it's supposed to rain this weekend which will make the snow denser and heavier. He said that most of the state is going to have to have the snow removed off of their roofs before Sunday. How freaking ridiculous is that?? Do I miss it there? Not on your freaking life!!

I feel a headache coming on.

Lotsa Stuff

Well, I got my paper finished and turned in. I'm really nervous about it since it's 20% of my grade. I'd appreciate good vibes if anyone has any to spare.

C and I tried to get our DVR swapped out for a HD DVR today but the cable company sucks. C took his lunch hour to do this and we show up at the office and they were closed for, wouldn't you guess it? Lunch. And they're closed on the weekends too, the butt munches. Have I ever mentioned how much people suck?

Meanwhile, our old cable company is getting bitchy cuz I haven't sent them back their cable box yet, heheh. Our movers were dummies and packed it even though I told them not to. Did you know those things cost $200? I didn't.

I spoke with our renters for the first time since they moved in today. They've been having an interesting winter, lol. First, they're not from VT so they're not used to the snow. They had to get a roof rake, which I had never even heard of let alone used, to clean the snow off of the roof. And then...They have MICE!! Sheesh! So, she asked for permission to get a cat which I readily agreed to since it'll save us the expense of having to pay for an exterminator. She also said that they are so interested in buying the house that they're already thinking of it as their own. How great is that? I've heard so many horror stories from people that rented out their houses that I just can't believe how lucky we got. Our renters are awesome.

Nocturnal Reflections

I feel like I'm turning into some nighttime animal. I have absolutely no energy in the mornings and would sleep until noon or later if I let myself. For the first few weeks after we moved, I was sleeping like a rock at night. I don't know if it was due to the relief that came with moving or if I was just physically exhausted from moving activities. I didn't get to sleep until 8 am this morning which is real conducive to getting anything done during the day. I have laundry sitting in the family room waiting to be sorted, my paper that's due tomorrow and is still only about half done, as well as half a dozen other chores that just need to be done. I'm so freaking tired I could sleep right now with my head on my desk. Instead, I'm gearing up my iPod for another walk. I'm trying not to give in to my compulsion to sleep during the day. Sometimes I wish I was one of those people who happily pop pills for any reason. I don't even like taking Tylenol.

Well, I'm off. Hopefully the fresh air will revive me.

Medieval Times

We had, yet another, quiet weekend. Our lives were in such an upheaval there for a while that I totally appreciate peace, quiet, and doing absolutely nothing. My biggest stress was rewriting my study group paper which took me about two hours but wth. Oh, and playing ring master to two ten year old girls who thought that staying up until 2 am is a good thing.

I ordered HDTV for us today. We've had an HD television for quite some time now but they didn't have HD service in Vermont. Once again, we're advancing into modern times, lol.

C sold his Bug over the weekend. He went back and forth over selling it for a couple months but in the end, he decided he was ready to let it go. He figures he'll just buy himself another one, lol.

I'm doing something that I hardly ever do and can't actually remember doing this for a long time. I stopped reading "Life of Pi" in the middle and started reading another book. I always finish books that I start before moving on to a new one. This time is different because we decided to check out the local library over the weekend and I ended up checking out two books by Alison Weir and a third about Elizabeth I and since they're library books, I figured I should read them first. I started out with Alison Weir's "The Princes in the Tower". So far, so good. I think medieval England is so fascinating. This new rash of reading was inspired when I watched "Elizabeth" on Friday. Cate Blanchett was made for that role. It's a 1998 movie so I was probably one of the last people to see it, but if you haven't, go rent it.

Ladidadidadida

I'm bored.

We did something sorta interesting tonight. M is having a sleep over so I figured we'd order pizza for dinner. Guess how? We ordered it off of the Internet. How nifty is that? It's straight out of the movie, "The Net". Ya know? With Sandra Bullock in it. C and I saw that at the theater. Hmm.

Anyway, I'm also working on trying to find an internship program for my degree. With the field of work I'm going into and where I live, I'm probably going to be looking a loooong time. I'm trying to be optimistic about it though. I've applied at 5 different places and plan on making additional phone calls on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed or whatever mojo you go by for me.

Crazy Night

Wow! We had our first taste of North Carolina storms over last night and into this morning. It was craziness. We had tropical storm force winds, thunder and lighting, and several times the rain was literally blowing sideways. Our trees are minus lots of bark, pine cones, and limbs. My trash cans ended up in my neighbor's yard. Luckily they have locking handles on them because they had trash bags inside. And through all that we didn't lose power, cable or phone service once. All of the lines here must be buried. Oh, and it's 72 degrees out and the temps were mild all night long hence the strong storms. Craziness I tell you! The really shocking part is that my kids slept through it all, thankfully. They haven't experienced too many storms in their lifetimes and they tend to frighten easily.

Because of the storms and my cold I got about 2 hours of sleep last night. I'm pretty tired and my voice is gone again. It's such a strange sensation when you first try to talk and nothing comes out, lol. I have two very important phone calls to make today so hopefully my voice will be back before the close of business.

Inventive Solutions

I forgot to mention earlier how I have resolved to deal with telemarketers. It's actually pretty funny.

First, when they call and ask me for, I tell them to hold on while I get "her" and make them wait a little bit. Then I pull up "Here to Stay" by Korn, turn the sound up real loud, hold the phone up to the speaker and hit play. They get treated to very loud, obnoxious Korn, lmao. It's therapeutic for me as well since it's a nice, loud, angry song and nothing pisses me off faster than telemarketers and stupid drivers.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

If your're a telemarketer, consider yourself warned.

Doors, Windows, and Eyes Wide Open

March 1st and I have my windows open to a lovely breeze. Hopefully, the lovely breeze doesn't turn into tornadoes this evening, heheh.

The welcome lady just left. I'm really glad she came so thanks to whoever put my name in for the visit. She brought all kinds of freebies, gift certificates, coupons, and information about New Bern. She also said that we were lucky to find a rental as nice as ours and that our rent is a steal. That's always nice to hear. Oh. And my voice came back about an hour before she got here so good for me.

I picked out my courses for the summer semester. I may not see the light of day for the whole summer. I have to take an upper level writing intensive course so I'm going to have to write 6,000 words/25 pages for just one class. And I'm taking a stupid, idiot, lamebrain math class that I shouldn't have to take but that's just my luck. I'm also taking some other English class that I can't remember right now. Fun for me, right?

C had to do these online preliminary course deals for his job last night. There were five in all and it took him 5 1/2 hours to just do three of them. But these courses will get him into this class that will make him big bucks should he ever decide to change careers. Can't ask for more than that. So anyway, I kept him company as best I could and now the couch is calling me home for a nap.

Yuckiness

I'd have to say that this is my first not awesome day I've had since we've moved. Cramps, scratchy throat, and nasty gunk coming out of the nose makes for a not so great day. I'm probably going to end up with laryngitis by this evening. And to top it off, I have the welcome committee, literally, coming to my house tomorrow afternoon so I have to get ready for them today. Hopefully, I'll have a voice to talk to them with, lol.

I do have some pretty great news however. C registered for classes yesterday!! Woohoo!! I'm so very excited for him. He's taken some classes before but while he was recruiting, he wasn't allowed to take even one so he had to put his education on hold for three years. It's going to be a lot of fun taking classes together even though our semesters are different.

I'm reading a new book too. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. It sounded interesting and is unlike books that I usually read so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm only about a chapter in so I haven't really formed an opinion yet. Here's a review and synopsis from Barnes and Noble if anyone is interested:

The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New WritersThough all of our volunteer readers weighed in with "two thumbs up," we knew this was a winner when our fiction buyer -- not given to hyperbole -- declared it "one of the best books I've ever read!" Yann Martel's Life of Pi deserves every word of that praise. Drawing parallels between zoology and theology, Martel's novel is by turns amusing, intellectually astute, and poignant. And his Kiplingesque adventure tale will cause readers to reexamine beliefs of all kinds.
Meet Pi Patel, a young man on the cusp of adulthood when fate steps in and hastens his lessons in maturity. En route with his family from their home in India to Canada, their cargo ship sinks, and Pi finds himself adrift in a lifeboat -- alone, save for a few surviving animals, some of the very same animals Pi's zookeeper father warned him would tear him to pieces if they got a chance. But Pi's seafaring journey is about much more than a struggle for survival. It becomes a test of everything he's learned -- about both man and beast, their creator, and the nature of truth itself.
With a brilliant combination of sensitivity and a precise economy of language, Martel develops a story some readers might find less than credible. But his capacity for the mysterious, and a true understanding of the depths of human resilience will compel even the most skeptical of readers to continue on the fantastic journey with Pi, and an unusual 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. (Summer 2002 Selection)

Sniffle Sniffle

Isn't spring lovely when you're coming down with a cold? These are the joys of having children.

So, about an hour after starting this post, I'm here to finish it. I just got home from taking a walk. Our block, if you can call it that, is exactly one mile from start to finish. Pretty lucky, eh? It's a GORGEOUS day. It's only 61 but the sun is blazing and I could've worn shorts and not been cold. I love my neighborhood. I know I've said that before, but while I was out walking, for about 40 minutes, I only saw maybe ten cars the whole time with the exception of one road cuz that's a main road. But anyway. That's so nice and peaceful. Of course, it's hard to be peaceful with Korn blaring over the iPod but you get my drift. I feel totally great. Scratchy throat and all.

Now I have about 90 minutes before the kiddies arrive home from school and I'm going to take my work to the deck and read some poetry. Fun, fun.

1 Month

We have officially been in NC 1 month as of today. It's been a great month. And it seems like it's been longer than one month which is a good thing.

We had a first happen yesterday. We did our commissary shopping (again, spending less than $100, heheh) and when we were checking out, we didn't get a bagger. This is the first time that has happened in the almost 10 years we've been shopping at commissaries. If you've never been, you wouldn't understand. Normally, there's a line of baggers vying for space at the checkout lines. They work on tips so if they don't bag, they don't get paid. They also walk out with you and put your groceries into your car. It was highly unusual to have to bag our own groceries. C said that there was one time that he started bagging his own stuff and a bagger came up and literally pushed him out of the way to do it for him. Have things changed so much while we were in VT?

Anyway, we had another laid back weekend. Now I'm trying to get my Poe paper finished up. I've written so many papers in the last few years that I don't even remember them all. This is the first one that I've had this much trouble with. Sure, there are ones that I don't like writing cuz they're boring or I'm just lazy, but this one won't flow and it's so frustrating. Normally, I can get a 5 page paper knocked off in 4 or 5 hours of solid work. And, btw, I get A's on them. :P This one, I've put in days on it and it's still only about half way there. Is this writer's block or what?

So, I've taken my break and I need to get back to work now.