It's all about me

yeah, about that....

2009-06-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't have my cry. Those things have to be done very carefully so not to draw unwanted attention :-) I was already feeling sick and yucky, so I wasn't about to make it worse. I will have to put it on the back burner and plan for another time. *sigh*

It is coming up to performance review time here at work. Blah. I hate this time. I hate it since the boss is always saying to build my own goals, etc. Well, I do that and work really hard on it, and then it always comes back to me to change, saying that they are not realistic or something like that. Damn. I work as an accountant, not a brain surgeon. I am not saying that I plan on flying to the moon by third quarter. I am saying that I will have the new filing system up and running for State income taxes. See what happens is that if I make my goals a bit harder and I actually meet or exceed them (which, come on, you know I will otherwise I wouldn't put htem on) they would be compelled to give me a promotion/raise, and sheesh, who would want that? Certainly not them! :-) I just think that it is a waste of time. There are better things I could be doing. Like working on my blog :-)

feeling melancholy

2009-06-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

It just happens sometimes. I think that it is very true that some women ( ok most) just really need a good cry. I am not talking about PMS mood swing crying either. Just an honest to goodness cry. About everything. About things that they wish they could change and can't. About the sad story that they heard on the radio or read in the paper. About long lost pets, or friends that they no longer keep in touch with. About missed opportunities. About feelings that they have hurt and words that they could take back. I think that I am due for one of those cries. I have them about 3 or four times a year, and usually in the shower where I don't have to worry about wiping my eyes or snot or whatever. If anyone asks why my eyes are red, then I just say that I got soap in them :-) I think that people just wouldn't understand if I said anything else. Some might, but I am sure the whole, "oh lets talk about it" would come up and honestly, after the cry, I really don't need to talk to anyone about it. I guess it is like the primal scream that they use in therapy or something. Anyway. I think I am due for one of those :-)

I babysat my cousin Olivia on Friday. I wish I could just take her home. She really is an amazing baby. She just mesmerizes anyone that comes near her. She has that certain something about her. Everyone loves her, and she just loves the attention as well. She has CDLS, but I think that she will be amazing within her abilities. Our families give her so much, I really don't think that she will ever have a choice in the matter LOL! She is amazing and will continue to amaze us as well as the doctors. I still don't think that it was coincidence that she was born on Christmas Day, weeks early. God has some plans for this little girl, and I have already seen the changes that she has brought to everyone, for the better. God does send his miracles, sometimes you just have to look right in front of you to see them. :-)

interesting

2009-05-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

For some reason I am extremely hungry this morning. Not ored I want to eat hungry, but down right feeling dizzy and stomach growling hungry. So, this is what I have had so far. Mind you this is a list that was compiled before 11:00 am.

**Half a piece of danish left over from Mother's Day.
**Travel mug full of coffee
**Banana
**100 calorie snack pack of cheese nips.
**The rest of a box of wheat thins, and a good handful size.
**Naked Juice-Green Machine..now let me just tell you that the bottle contains the juice from 2 3/4 apples, 1/2 a banana, 1/3 kiwi fruit, 1/3 mango, and then some random additions of Broccoli, spinach, blue green algae, garlic, barley grass, wheat grass, ginger and parsley.

I think that I should in no way be hungry. Stomach growling hungry. Head hurting hungry. I should be putting lunch off until like 2 oclock based on that intake, but I am considering going in the next few mins LOL

woot! on a roll!

2009-05-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, and I can fell the pain already. I have been getting this pain in my thumb/wrist area again. I had it about 2 months back or so, from I though pulling something while moving some boxes. Well, lucky me, it is back again. So I gathered up my courage, all two strands of it, and called the ortho doc for another cortisone shot. yea.me. I am a big baby when it comes to pain. I don't like it. I will do it if I know I have too, like in this case, but I am not a fan. I want my b/f to come with, but the appointment is for right when he starts work, so he won't be able to hold my 'good' hand through it. The last time I went and he gave me a shot, he did things to my wrist to 'test' the pain. Yeah. It didn't really matter that I TOLD him that it hurt, he had to manipulate my wrist to watch my reactions to see if I am REALLY in pain. He was satisfied that I was I guess, because then he gave me the cortisone shot. I about slapped the shit out of that man. I just wanted to pull that needle out of my wrist and jab it in his eye. Seriously. I am not kidding.. For some reason I thought that it wouldn't hurt since he spent about 15 seconds explaining to me that this spray he was going to use would numb the area. Hmm, maybe we needed to wait, oh, I don't know, maybe for than ONE SECOND for it to work? So anyway, he pulls the needle out finally and says to me, that should be feeling better in about 2-3 days. Well gosh darn it I hope so! Because it hurts more now! LOL!
So yeah, It did end up doing the trick, but I must be doing something that is triggering it again. Don't know what I could have done...So I signed myself up for another cortisone treatment....

on a good note, I have two of those coupons for KFC where you get two pieces of grilled chicken two sides and a biscuit FREE, no other purchase necessary....

Mom is coming!

2009-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yes! She is coming soon to visit me. I can't wait for her to see the condo. I know that she will like it. I think that I will call the office to see if the pool will be open by the time she comes. It will be Memorial Day weekend, so I would think that would be when they would hook it up. I also am excited for her to meet Jerry as well. And for her to meet Megan, my brothers g/f that just moved in with him. I am excited for him to have made that step. Lord knows its been overdue for him :-) But that is a whole nother post ;-)

So yeah, Mom is coming and I am gonna try and brainstorm some ideas. I know garage sales will be on the list - they always are. Trip to the thirft store in chicago as well, and visiting her sister too. Trying to think of something 'special' to do this trip. We always end up doing one 'new' thing, so I need to get crackin. She arrives May 21st

Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

I had one of the best thanksgivings I have had in a long time. My boyfriend was a huge part of it too. Turkey came out great, so did all the side dishes. The only thing that I didn't have was stuffing. I am just not a fan, so I was given the go ahead from said boyfriend not to make it. Although, he did say that maybe he would get it for Christmas. Hmm, maybe he wanted me to say, "oh, but you like it so I will make it for you" LOL!! I will give him some stuffing for Christmas :-)

I am counting down the days for Christmas too. I can't wait to have that week off. I will need it since they nature of my job, tax, I will be busy pretty much until April. *sigh* Oh well, I am sure that I will get some good overtime during that looooong spring.

Have you ever looked at something to eat thinking that it must be the most tastiest thing in the world, but once you eat it, you think, wow, that really isn't all that great. Case in point, I keep buying this pesto sauce thinking it just must be the bomb, but i am always disappointed in the end results. But i still keep buying it. Yeah, I know....

2008-08-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

Ok, yeah, I know. Don’t even say it. It is what it is. I haven’t posted, but I have been twittering so you still know ‘kinda’ what I have been up to.
A lot of work is mainly what I have been doing. I also have been looking for a new apartment. I found a real nice two-bedroom condo. It has all the little amenities that a good condo should too. A pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, area for soccer and or football, a dog park (yes!) walking trails that run along side of the Des Plains river (great for fishing) and even a sauna and clubhouse. I have never lived anywhere where any of those are offered, so I plan on doing them all at least once. Well, maybe not the football/soccer. I will watch though! :-) So that is September 1st….
Anyway, today I am headed to the state fair. I think that it will be fun. It is just about a perfect day-reading right at 72 degrees and the dew point is under 60. Almost perfect! The thing that would make it perfect is if I could go with my b/f. But oh well, there will be plenty of time to do all the things that I want to. I am just excited to know that I finally have someone that actually WANTS to go do all the things that I want to. No matter how silly and small it may be, if it makes me happy to do it, he wants to do it with me. He says that the important part is just the doing it with me part :-) Awwww

Anyway, I digress….

I am bringing my camera with me to the fair. I hope to have some real fun pics to post like I did that last time.

wow, seriously?

2008-02-08T11:19:00.000-08:00

It was November the last time I posted? Sorry about that. Holidays and what not must have gotten the best of me. That and looking for a new job-which I found! Yeah me!
I actually lucked out and found one that was in the same company, so I will be transferring from the bank reconciliatin department to the tax department. From fun to funner LOL!
It will be a great learning experience, and hopefully I will learn a bunch so that I can eventually move up that ladder. Well, that is if I find that I actually enjoy the taxes. :-) I like finding loopholes and deductions that normally people miss, so maybe I can use a little of that in my work. That reminds me. I need to get filing mine :-) I have to file in two states this time, so I hope that doesnt end up killing me. I will see...
I am so excited lately that Lost is back on. I have been patiently waiting, and it was just about to kill me. I take that back, the SNOW and the TRAFFIC I have been dealing with are going to kill me. I swear I almost had a nervous breakdown in my apartment parking lot on Wednesday night. I got stuck like 3 times, and then called management to come dig my van out. I left a message. I am such a bad ass. LOL!
I will post again soon...

Sorry babe,

2007-11-19T07:41:00.001-08:00

...You can't move here with me. WTF? Seriously? Can you kick people out for the same reason? What is to stop them from losing the weight, then gaining it back? Or will there be periodic checks on their weight? Gain the 10 pounds over Christmas, you better watch it, you may end up back in Britain! I totally get the whole draining of the funds from the health care system. I do, but with them both working there, wouldn't they be putting more into society than a 'possible' drain on health care? I mean, won't they be paying for it in some way by taxes? I don't know if New Zealand has that or not...Hmm

2007-11-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

Seriously, how many people are going to do this so that they can see if it works. Next thing too, is that people are going to say that thier 'sex' video leaked on the internet. Yeah, and then the city will be sued...Nice. I can see it all now.

Dog Story

2007-11-16T06:21:00.000-08:00

I belong to an Internet mail list for basset hounds. Every year they post this true story that shows true basset behavior. Man I love them dogs...

Re: Ally and Annie's Turkey Adventure ( a Drool classic from 2001)We invited several guests for Thanksgiving last year. I was putting the final touches on the table and had just pulled the turkey out of the oven.It was a gorgeous bird - in fact, the best job I've ever done, if I do say so myself! I placed the turkey on the table, was finishing last minute preparations when the doorbell rang. My hubby (football addict) was glued to the TV watching football. I got his attention, after repeated fake emergencies (house is on fire, etc.), leaving strict instructions with my husband to guard the bird with his life while I answered the door, just in case our little Annie got curious. Annie was behaving so well. She laid on the floor sleeping amid all the commotion and wonderful smells.I answered the door and greeted the guests and as we were approaching the dining room we heard the strangest noises. "THUD, MARF!" THUMP, MARF, BANG!"We entered the dining room to find my husband jumping up and down because his team scored a touchdown and Annie running up and down the hallway with the turkey on her head, wings a flappin' and stuffing a flyin'. The more she ran, the faster the turkey wings flapped. Her bark from beneath the turkey was a muffled "MARF! MARF!" She was running into the walls and doors trying to escape this big monster on her poor head. I doubled over with laughter,slid down the wall holding my sides and my hubby actually joined me, tearing himself away from his game. I wrestled Annie to the ground, removed that mean old turkey and all we could see were her beautiful brown eyes staring at us from beneath the stuffing which was caked on her face and coming out of her ears and onto the floor. I cleaned her up, still crying from laughter while Annie was trying to attack the turkey on the counter for trying to eat her. The guests were not amused. We dined at a local restaurant and Annie got to eat some healthy slices of turkey before I tossed it in the trash. I cleaned stuffing from her ears for weeks and still have turkey grease spots on the walls and doors. I hope this Thanksgiving is a little less traumatic for our little girl. Maybe we'll just go to a restaurant this year. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Karma?

2007-11-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

OK, why did this article feel it necessary to list the dog as female? LOL!!
Says that the dog got a bun. Hmm, I don't think that was all that the dog got. As for the astrologer that told him this was what he had to do, yeah, I think she is a pretty funny lady, and I think she knows it. "yeah, OK, this is what you need to do. You need to marry a dog. Yeah, that's it. Marry a dog." How did she keep from snickering? And the family picked it out? The best part is that they said it was a stray. Imagine the sister that you teased for years. "Yeah, that one mangy one right there peeing on the garbage can. Eww, it just ate its own poop. That is the ONE for him!!"
Its just great I tell ya, great.

Not your first time?

2007-11-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

Wait, I think that they missed something in this article. Like, the fact that this lady had experience in this? Not her first time? What, was she raised on a farm? Does she wrestle pigs as a hobby? Or is it that the town is just over run by pigs like that town in India was over run by monkeys. Why didn't they send for one of those pig callers that I hear about on the news, the ones that win the contests and stuff. Wouldn't that have been easier than chasing them all over town?

Just trying to figure this all out folks....

sloppy seconds

2007-11-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine being the second guy from this story? Talk about bad timing. Imagine finally getting up enough nerve to actually go through with it all, to only be told, sorry, you are to late, the other guy took all our money. Sounds like old Murphy had something to do with that one...

pardon?

2007-11-15T06:21:00.001-08:00

"HO, HO, HO!"
I'm sorry, what was that you said? You call me a "HO"?
yeah, that is what I thought. Merry Christmas to you too. Oh wait, that sounds a bit too much like "Merry Kissmyass".
You know what, I am just not going to say anything at all.

I never...

2007-11-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

...want to go here ever. Read this and you won't either. If you do, you are a sick bastard.

anxiety

2007-11-14T07:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I hate it. I have it and I hate it. But yet, I can't seem to shake it. The lawyer is sending out the letter to inform my ex that he has three options on the house situation.
1-buy me out. PLEASE
2-we both agree to sell. I am up for it, he isn't
3-we go to court and they decide when and what the house should be sold for.
Yeah, He isn't going to like it. I put myself there, and know that I would be pissed to no degree to get a certified letter saying anything like that. But, you know, I keep telling myself that I did all that I could to give him time to decide. He pretty much told me that he will when he is good and ready. Pfft. I don't think so buddy. I have been paying half the mortgage since June, and I haven't lived there. I pay it since I want to protect my investment. But since I am not reaping anything from it, I don't want it anymore. We have about $40 grand in equity, and I will DIE before I walk away from my share. I didn't own the house for 10 years to just walk from it. So, that is where things stand for today. I am anxious that he may try to call me or something, but really, what can I say that I haven't said already? I just hate (read despise) confrontation, and hope that it doesn't get ugly. Uglier, I should say.
Some people have asked me if I was still glad that I bought the house with him. YES. I am, and here is why. EQUITY. We did plan to get married folks, yes, that was the plan. Life happened, and to tell you the truth, thank god that I didn't. Lawyer said I might of had to pay alimony. HELLO MEXICO/CANADA!!! :-) (can you imagine????)
Anyway, I didn't want to walk in and pay half of someones mortgage for however long, and then possibly have to walk away from it with nothing. So, yes, I will hopefully stand to walk away from a 13 year relationship with anywhere from 10-25 grand in equity. Well, that is if we can sell it for that... :-)
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent everyone...

Monday

2007-11-04T19:20:00.001-08:00

Well, here I sit on Sunday night. Monday is going to be a big day for me, and for others.

Me first:
I am going to hire a lawyer tomorrow morning, to ensure that my house is sold. Well, at least to be placed on the market. I have been having some issues with that, with my ex. At least this will START the ball rolling. I wish I didn't have to go about it this way, but, I am being pushed into a corner...a financial one at that.

The other folks:
On the other side, some good things-someone very close to me is celebrating 5 years sobriety. How amazing is that? I give everyone credit who is fighting a daily battle to break themselves of whatever harmful addiction it may be. Kudos to everyone on your achievements!!!

Also, is it vain that I pull up my MySpace page to listen to the most amazing playlist ever compiled? :-)

This has always bothered me

2007-11-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

I saw this article about Big Brother. I know that I will not be some folks favorite about my opinions this subject, but I just want to understand more about it.
Why, if both parties drank enough to blitz themselves to the point of blacking out and puking, is the guy the one responsible? Did she not drink enough to make herself almost unconscious? I mean, why is she not taking any responsibility about it?
OK, I understand that things are different there or where ever, that crime rates are what they are. Lets just say for kicks that it was here. Same outcome would have happened, and I am sure that it has many many times. But what I want to know is why when the lady wakes up, it is the guys fault that things 'happened'? I could see if he was stone cold sober, but dammit, he was complete drunk to. I am sure that if he weren't drinking that it would be a completely different story. But I have to say this about it too, Did she or didn't she drink herself to the point of being almost unconscious? Should she have some reasonable expectation that she will be safe? Sure, but when you drink to excess as she did, you release any control you have over situations. That is your CHOICE.
I don't know. I know that some people will feel really strong about my opinions on this. I understand that. Like I said, this is just my opinion.
I am just wishing that people took more responsibility over their own actions, that's all. *sigh* What a way to start November, huh?

2007-10-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Saw this article today and just made me sad. Why do we have to go and make everything a big deal? Let the kids pray if they want to. If someone gets offended, oh well. Let there be Christmas. If someone gets offended, oh well. I get offended by the way some people dress, or how they look, or worse, how they smell. But I have leardned, and yes, it took awhile, that you are not going to make everyone happy. It just isnt going to happen. Do what makes you happy, and be done with it. As long as there is noone being hurt-and I mean mentally or physically, then who should really care?

random thoughts

2007-10-02T07:34:00.001-07:00

My mom is just finishing up a visit to my new apartment. It was nice to have her come over and look at everything, and give her “mom” opinions. I went to work on Friday, as it was only a half a day. I came back and my windows were cleaned and shiny. I knew she had to do something.

We went to a place called the Seven Mile Fair. If you are looking for a pack of socks or a lawnmower, then this is the place to be. The one cool thing that was there was a guy selling all kinds of bamboo plants for SUPER cheap. So yeah, I bought some. The other thing that was cool, was they were selling roasted corn. On the cob or in a cup. Now, I know that people have done that forever, cut the kernels off to eat them better, but I never saw it at the fair like that, into a cup. I thought it was very cool. A lot cleaner than on the cob, that is for sure.

We also went on Monday to a thrift store in Chicago. Mondays are half price, so I was able to get 5 pairs of jeans and two tops for a grand total of $25. The jeans were DKNY and Lucky jeans too. What a steal. I will definitely have to go back on another Monday.

So I hear that Britney has lost physical custody of her kids. I feel bad about that, but seriously, she needs some help. She knew what she had to do to keep them, and she just couldn’t do it. I hope that she finds her way soon. For her and for her kids sake.

My boss gave her notice last week. I had bid for that job last November. Went to two interviews on it as well. It was between me and her. So now, the job is posted again. I am going to go for it again, I just don’t know how I feel about it. I mean, I need the job for experience and for $, but mostly, I think that I earned it, and I am capable to do it well. Sure, it will be hard to come from the ranks into a position of authority, but I think I can find a middle ground. I will have to, you know? Well, the bidding for the job closes on the 11th. I will know more after that.

I have a wedding that I am going to on Saturday, of a friend who used to work here. I was beginning to sweat a dress to wear, but pulled an old black dress from the back of my closet. It fits well enough, so I am not going to even bother looking for something else. I think I will just need stockings. But…I have some cute ones coming along with a garter from Fredericks, LOL..I think those might do well. Heeheeeee
I will write more later….

The big move

2007-08-23T11:47:00.001-07:00

ok, so I have not posted in almost a month.
Some very interesting things have taken place, and I now find myself in yet another residence. This one is at least for a year. Well, that is what my lease says. I have a nice one bedroom with a great rent price, so I am not complaining. There is also central air..Woohoo!!! Which, at the moment, is cranked.
I bought some new furniture, as the other stuff is well, at the other residence. Nothing much has changed on that front. I hope it does soon though. I can't keep up a rent and a mortgage. Now I know why those men have heart attacks-the ones that have a loving home and then get a mistress and put her up in some digs. Yeah, that is what I am doing except minus the loving home and the mistress. Hmm, some how I think that I am getting screwed here. Figuratively. :-)
I should have a new computer any day now as well. Again, the other is at the other residence. I am trying to pick my battles. But pretty soon the pocket book is going to start picking them for me. So as soon as I get the new puter, I should be able to post more about the lonely single life. I know, you can't wait.
I just got done with my second Pilates class. I wonder if it will also be my last? Kidding, It actually feels good to be doing something healthy for myself. Hopefully it iwll be a start of many other good things to come.
Until later....but not too much later, I promise!

whatever, I have been busy

2007-08-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Deal with it.

ok, so here is something that I would totally love to follow up on come 9 months from now:
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6624865
I wonder how that would go over here at my work. How do you tell the boss that you might win some money, so you need to go home and do your significant other. Interesting.

Also, read about this too:
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_227094446.html
I guess that even with money, you can't take care of every animal you need too. You know what, I don't agree with what I just said. I don't think that they used the money like they should have. Hire some folks to take care of them all, damn! Again, it is the animals that suffer from our selfishness...

along that same note:
http://www.ajc.com/living/%63ontent/living/pets/stories/2007/08/15/pitbull0815.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
*sigh* I don't even know where to begin on this one. And people wonder why dogs attack. Does this explain it a bit better?

Oh.My

2007-07-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

This story is so frickin funny. I want jury duty again. When I had jury duty, it certainly wasn't for a case like that!!!! What? Could his lawyer not get him 'off'? Is he going to be doing 'hard' time?
Bwwahahahahahahah!!!!! I think I am going to be giggling about this one all day long.

Morning Rituals

2007-07-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

One of my morning rituals that I have when I get to work, is to check the Drudge report to see what is happening in the world. I find that those very first news stories usually have the most accurate info. And by that I mean that there hasn't been time for a 'spin' of any sort to be placed on it for whatever political reasoning there may be. So I find myself reading it this morning, and I come across this article.
I am seriously wondering if the fact that everyone was coming out of pubs had anything to do with what they claim to have seen?
But seriously, how many times are we going to hear about these sightings before we actually admit that, yes, there is a HUGE possibility that there are other life forms out there? I do think that the majority of these sighting are explainable to earthly terms, but I do also think that there are some very real things happening. There is so much that we don't know about outer space, and to think that there is nothing else out there like us is kinda silly, doncha think?
When I start to think about the whole scheme of everything, and all that is out there, just the mere size of it all, it really makes me think that my worries, concerns, etc, are so irrelevant. Like, should I really be worrying about updating my MySpace page? LOL

Oh Lindsay!

2007-07-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

Saw this on the drudge report first thing this morning.
I don't understand why these celebrities just don't have a driver. Shoot, pay me to drive your coked up drunk ass around. I will do it. Gladly. Just pay me before I start. I do not want to have to talk money with a drunk person.
Although, ask my brother about that, and he will say it is the best time to ask for money.
Pfft.
I digress. These celebs have one thing on common-too much was given to them. They lived in excess, no matter how much you hear the, "my parents kept me grounded". Whatever, its a load of crap. They were treated special all along, and that is not lost on the kids. Obviously.

disturbing...

2007-07-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

I read this article this morning, and thought it was very, very disturbing.
Now, I find it horrible that A) it is animal cruelty, B) teen kids, but I think what bothered me the most is that C) they were girls. Why does that bother me more than anything?

I also wanted to say that I am all for helping every animal in need, but seriously, I wonder if this kitten should have been put down. I mean, sure, the kitten is doing well now, but how much did it really suffer in the meanwhile?....

Just a thought...

what pisses me off

2007-07-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

What pisses me off...is when people ignore me.

I really frickin hate it.

Especially when I am on the phone with them. Just get off the damn phone if you are to busy to LISTEN. Seriously, what a way to make someone feel utterly and completely unimportant.

I don't ask for much, I think it is just a common courtesy, don't you think?

Madonna...

2007-07-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Do we really care about this? Seriously?

Rock of Ages!!!

2007-07-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

Rock of Ages...Yeah, now that is a title..and it pretty much sums it all up.

I went to Summerfest the other weekend and saw the Def leppard/Foreigner/Styx show. I was just so excited, I really couldn't contain myself the whole day. I had to go to work first off, and then I kept getting phone call after phone call with errands that I had to then run before I could leave for the show. It kinda sucked to tell you the truth, but I have an awesome friend that helped me out and ran some of them for me. I picked her up at her home, talked to her dog, Chubbs, and we were off!!..to the next errand, dammit. OK, now we are ready! oh, you are hungry? OK, lets stop at Mc Donald's then. OK, now we are off! Yes, I mean it this time!
We check into this hotel called the Hotel Metro, which is very, very cool. Normally wouldn't have stayed there, but the lesser priced hotels were already booked up. We get our 'party' on, if you know what I mean, and we head down to the cab waiting to take us to the concert. WOOHOOO!!!
OK, find our seats in the handicap section. *
At this point, I began getting the stares at me since I obviously didn't look handicapped. Inebriated, yes, handicapped? No. Oh well, the beer made it so I really didn't care. I paid for the tickets, and that's that.
Styx started off the show pretty good-it wasn't quite dark yet, so they were losing a bit of the dramatic edge, but whatever, they are Styx, I don't think that they cared. They are old ass men that are still playing and touring. What more could they want? They are still living their dream. I really only wanted to hear Come Sail Away, and yes, I heard it. Man, that song is awesome. LOL!!
Then Foreigner came on, and did their thing. I snapped a few shots of them too, but then my camera decided that it was going to stop working on me. Damn battery!!! If I had known that it was going to happen that way, I would have saved all my shots for Def Leppard! Anyhow, they sang Hot Blooded, Feels like the First Time, and even Head Games. Funny, though, they didn't sing the ever popular, Ive Been Waiting for a Girl Like You or I Want To Know What Love Is...At least I don't think that they did. I did go on a beer run/potty break at some point.
Anyway...
And then there was Joe Elliott..LOL!! Def Leppard took the stage and I got the chills. For so many years as a teen I watched them on MTV and dreamed of the time that I would see them live in concert. Now that I am 32, I found myself quite liqueured up and swaying in the handicap section of the arena grabbing my friend and saying, "look, its Def Leppard!", as if she didn't know what show we were at. *sigh* she is good to me. They played every song that I hoped that they would. Hysteria, Photograph, Love Bites, etc...they saved Rock of Ages for last though, which sent me off on a serious high note. I wish that I could go see them again. I had my chance too, as they were playing in Tinley Park either the next day or a few days later, but the ticket and hotel cost pretty much set me back so I couldn't.

~sigh, until next year!!~

* I find that I must explain myself on this one. I had originally intended to go with Russ, but since we are now no longer together, I kept ownership of the tickets, regardless if they were in the handicap section. He always stated that he needed them for his back problems. That is why I was in that section people!

So much in the last days

2007-07-05T11:46:00.001-07:00

So much has gone on in the last days, it will be hard for me to remember all of it...but I will do my best.

I went to Vegas for the first time. It was kinda scary since I was meeting up with friends that I hadn't seen in so long. But, you know, they are your friends for a reason-because they are cool. I was instantly at ease and ready for a good time once I met up with 'em at the airport.

I dropped off the bags and then got my drink on, lol

First thing I noticed, was the heat. The 115 degree heat to be exact. At one point in the trip, it was registering 121 on the car's dash. I so wanted to go get an egg and watch it cook on the sidewalk. I do have to admit, though, that even that hot, it was completely bearable. I get back to Chicago, and I was instantly crabby and irritable from the humidity. F*&king humidity.

I pretty much walked through every hotel, and was amazed at each one. The amount of $$ and design that went into each one is astounding. I was walking around completely wide eyed for the first 24. Friends were constantly having to turn around to make sure I was still with them since I kept staring at everything and slowing my pace. The 10 pound margaritas weren't helping my speed any either, lol.

The second thing I noticed was that you could totally walk around with your drink on the street. I kept having this instinct to hide it and I walked by uniformed personnel. By the second day, I was asking them to hold it for me.

I learned that the next time I go(and yes, I will go again) that I need to find some tennis shoes that have a bit of a heel to them. I have been wearing heels for so long now, that my calf muscles have been shortened. So walking as much as I did in my Keds pulled the hell out of them. My feet and calves hated me by the last night I was there. I did do my best to numb them with alcohol though....

I also learned that for next time, I need an afternoon flight, so that I can sleep off the night before in the hotel, not on the plane. :-)

I saw many things, like the gondolas at the Venetian, the lions at MGM Grand, and the volcano show by Treasure Island. Another cool thing was at New York New York hotel. After 9/11 many firemen from all over the country, as well as other countries, left signed fire department shirts draped by the Statue of Liberty. The hotel decided to make those items of heartfelt dedication part of the actual display. They are now cased in glass by the fountain....Very, very cool...

I saw the most amazing people walking around too. Even at the buffet, there were some great characters. Only in Vegas, I am sure..LOL

I attempted to go to the Hoover Dam, but ended up heading in the wrong direction. It was all good though, as I saw the old resorts and even a dust devil, which was really cool. Hoover dam will have to wait until next visit.

On the next visit, I also plan to take one night looking for UFO's by Area 51. I didn't know it was so close until the last night. I plan to pack a cooler and stay the night looking for my very own alien...

One of the coolest things that I did was to have my very first In and Out burger. I must admit, it was pretty damn good too. They make their fries fresh from potatoes too. They peel them and then use one of those big slicers, right into the grease..YUM!!

I went to the top of the Stratosphere the last night I was there. Talk about amazing! You could see for MILES...What was really cool was how you could see where the desert ended and the city began, it is almost kinda funny, how a few people took and said, lets build this in the middle of nowhere and make billions of dollars...There are three rides at the top of the building, and none of the three will ever see me on them either. I will find my fun in the alcohol, thank you.

So overall, I had one of the best times in my life. I love to travel, and this definitely kicked off the trend I hope to continue! Of course there is more to tell, and maybe I will remember and write about it again. You gotta know though, that what happens in Vegas....HAHA!

blah, blah, blah

2007-06-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted on here in about, what, 3 weeks? Yeah, sorry about that. I will list out some things that have been on my mind lately...

I want to know why I had smooth baby soft feet until I had my first pedicure. Now, I have rough heels that need attention all the time. What is up with that? Is it some kind of pedicure conspiracy? I am wondering if I need to get them done before Vegas too...Can't really afford that though...

I want to know why the prize in the cracker Jack box became so lame. I opened up one of those snack bags, and dug out the prize. It was this silly fold up thing that showed a picture of Thomas Edison. Wow. I was kinda looking for the fake tattoo to tell you the truth. Another thing I noticed was that there was literally only ONE peanut in the whole bag. ONE. I double checked the bag to make sure that it wasn't one without nuts for some reason. Nope, Bag says Carmel Coated Popcorn AND peanutS, Plural!! I think I need to call the 1-800 number and complain...

I am also impressed that the Bald Eagle is now off of the endangered species list. How cool is that. I bet the birds are tired of trying to mass produce! Poor things, Imagine their exhaustion!

Why is everyone killing their families? I know there have been times, even actual plots, let me tell you, but never in a million years, could I do these things. First of all, that one guy is a cop. I know that there are cops everywhere, thanking this man for giving them a bad rep now. She was pregnant with his child. He killed two people. Pay your child support and be done with it. She didn't get knocked up on purpose, how could you kill the child too?
Now, the other guy who shot his family, shot himself in the leg and them said his wife did it - I knew the moment He said he was shot in the leg. How frickin obvious is that??! And now you have this wrestler. He killed his wife and son. Here is the thing that got to me this morning at my desk.. The kid was autistic. How could you kill a child, let alone one with special needs. Heartless. That just broke my heart.

I took my dogs down to lake Michigan the other Saturday. Come to find out, you cant have dogs there. What? Seriously, not even a small part where it is dogs only? In an economy that is booming with everything dogs/cats, how can this even still be? So, I took them up about 10 miles to WI and went to the SAME lake Michigan. I tried to get them to pee in the water, but they wouldn't. Dumb bassets didn't like the water. Guess I won't be starting any petitions to have their own part of the beach anytime soon...

That is all I have at the moment...

Home again?

2007-06-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have moved back to my father's house. Yippee.
Well, I am 32 years old and living back in North Chicago. How in the world did that happen? I do know how it happened, actually. Just didn't see it transpiring until recently.
*sigh* But you know, I am very, very lucky to at least have a place that I can go to, with no expenses to be paid, other than my own bills. I do thank God for that, otherwise, I would be in a world of hurt. Yes, as my other post stated, I am blessed. Even if I do feel like I am 15 again...In more ways than one.

I don't think that it will be an easy thing, the next couple of months. Shoot, the next year. I have a house that needs to be cleaned up and sold, with somone in it that I know will fight me every step of the way. But, it WILL get done. I know it.
I am trying to clean up some credit issues along the way too. I need to get myself into an apartment, and get my dogs back with me. I miss them something awful. But again, it is something that will resolve itself. It HAS too.

I have some gret friends, and even ones I didn't even know I had. I know that they will get me through all of this. So will my family. It is just weird to be doing it while facing demons at my childhood home.
*sigh*
That is what the therapists make all thier money from, things like this...

Transitions

2007-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

How can something so scary feel so exciting at the same time?

I am in a big transition right now in my life. I am going to be starting over, but not completely. I still have a wonderful support system, and a very understanding boss. I have found out, truely, how much people actually care about me. And I think it is the most wonderful thing ever. I never thought people cared all that much, really, I didn't. But when tough times come, I swear, you really find out who your friends are. And I am really very, very blessed.

I feel so upside down, and completely out of my comfort zone. But it is still a good feeling. I have been in that place for way to long, and until I decided to leave it, I never really knew how 'dead' I felt. I fel so alive and happy, but PETRIFIED at the same time. LIFE is happening to me, and it feels great to have it again.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it was horrible or anything. That isnt it. I had just been denying myself so much, and forcing myself to believe I was happy. Now, I don't. I just AM HAPPY.

YEA!!!!

I haven't..

2007-05-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

posted much. I have a lot going on in my head. But some stuff I just can't share just yet.
I am very excited about spending some time with my mom. I am listening to people talk about American Idol from last night, and I could care less. :-) Normally I would at least put my two cents in, but this morning, I do not care a bit. I am thinking of vacation, and so I have no room for anything else.
I visited my Nani last night. She really isn't getting much better. I would like to think that she is, but she really isn't. Sometimes I think I see recognition in her eyes, and she will smile at me, but I think she is just being polite, like she thinks I am a worker there or something. That's fine. As long as she smiles.
I spoke a bit with my father afterwards. Just a few minutes. We actually had a really great conversation while I was feeding Nani. It was really nice. It isn't very often that he actually looks at me as if I am a 'real' person. I think he humors me for the most part. But last night, he actually listened to me and talked. OK, weird.
I went tanning afterward. Well, really I went to go get the Mystic Tan, you know where you get sprayed? It looks real good. As long as you don't look real hard at my hands or feet. You can only do so much, you know. Whatever, laugh, I don't care. I will not be getting skin cancer anytime soon! LOL I have to do this, as I burn waaaay to easily, and I like to have some color. I liked in Hawaii for over 4 years, and only had just a golden tan. Nothing dark or anything. And yes, I went to the beach all the time too. Used sunblock, and still burned several times. Sometimes I wish I had more Italian in me. Just sometimes...

snack

2007-05-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

In case you all wanted to know what I snack on lately, here it is:

Blue Diamond Almonds, Bold Variey, Wasabi and Soy Sauce...

It don't get much better than that...

Although it makes me want to go get sashimi in the worst way....

guilty?...Nope!

2007-05-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

OK, I went to lunch today with a co-worker. We went to the local Ruby Tuesday. Every one else, I think, decided to go at the same time. Not a single parking spot in sight. So what is a girl to do? Oh, I TOTALLY parked in the Expectant Mother parking spot up front.

Am I, you ask? Nope. But no one knows that! What are they going to do, a pelvic exam?

Seriously?

So do I feel bad? Not in the slightest.....

2007-05-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today is the anniversary of the death of two little girls. They died 2 years ago today, at the hand of one of the girl’s fathers.

I am talking about the death of Laura Hobbs and her friend, Krystal Tobias, of Zion IL

I never had the privilege of knowing either of them, but I know Laura’s grandparents, as well as her Aunt. She died a horrible death, being stabbed several times by someone that was to have loved her.

I went to the funeral with my father, and I am glad that I did. Even though he didn’t know her, he knows the value of a little girls life, any child’s life at that. I am glad that I was there to support him, but it seemed that we were supporting each other. He kept referring to what a waste it was, a senseless death. He was right. No child should have to go through that, nor should any of that child’s friend’s have to go to the funeral. No mother or father should lose a child like that, and a sister or brother shouldn’t mourn the loss of a sibling.

Do I wish death on anyone? No, I don’t. But I don’t know how someone like her father can live.

I don’t want to forget going to the funeral. I don’t want to forget the feeling of grief for this little girl and her friend, who so bravely went to her friend’s aid. So I keep her funeral note up at my desk-a reminder of a little girl’s life... lost… Noone should ever forget.

Ramblings

2007-05-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

I want to know why it is that in movies, when people brush their teeth, there in no toothpaste on the brush. They always seem to spit real nice too. Hmm, maybe its just me…

Watched a movie last night called The Lake House, with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Cute movie…nothing spectacular, but gives some meaning to the attraction of words, for sure. They basically fall in love over the letters that they write to each other. I think that letter writing is a lost art, but email I guess comes real close to it. As much as it can, at least. I think that blogging can come close too, if people can dump the day’s thoughts into it, and express what is in their heads. Anyway, in the movie, they refer to this book called Persuasion. I think I might get it. It is by Jane Austen so it is probably a pretty good read.

I extended my impending vacation by one more day, request granted this morning. I think that it will be good; I have had a lot on my mind lately, and need some time to just sit and think.

And those wondering, yes, my day is much better than yesterday, thank you for asking.
Whatever that feeling was, it passed. I ended up winning in solitaire too! Yea for me!
I just think it was a good idea to not attempt to mow the lawn on Sunday; I might have seriously hurt myself. Unfortunately, that means that I have to mow it today. That’s ok though, I need the exercise!!

I am also realizing more and more each day how small this world really is. The whole six-degrees of separation thing really is true. It seems that everyone knows someone who knows you or someone you are related too. I guess that it happens much more when you live in the same area that you grow up in. Sure, there is a comfort to it, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel smothered by it. I get that feeling that I just want to move to some other state. Like Alaska. LOL!!
I think that is a sign that I like to run from things.

I need to work on that…

That’s all for today…

Sunday morning

2007-05-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

I can kinda tell how a day is going to go the minute I wake up. Case in point, I woke up this morning feeling a bit like the world is working against me. I got up and tripped over my shoes. My dogs quickly took the warm spot on the bed when I got up to go to the bathroom. Then, I decide to go play some solitare, and I haven't won once yet. And I have been playing about an hour already. Yeah, things are going to be good today. I just know it. Maybe its because I haven't had my coffee yet....
Yeah, that's what it is...
I will let you know how the rest of the week goes, :-)

Stain

2007-05-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

on my shirt from lunch. Right in-between my boobs.
I hate having big boobs. They get in the way all the time.

AND, to make matters worse, I went to go in my desk drawer to get a shout wipe, and they are all gone. Now ask me how many I have used? None. Everyone else used them. They found out I had them, and kept asking for them for various reasons. Now I don't have any.

I hate being nice to people.

:-)

Instructions anyone?

2007-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am supposed to be working on my instructions for some of my accounts. I hate that stuff. So I figure while I am in Word working on that, I will be-bop back and forth between that and this.

I am very excited that my mom is coming to visit in a few weeks. We will be staying on Marine Drive (actually part of Lake Shore Drive, thank you very much!) at my Aunts house. She is in her late 70’s, but still so very cool. She was one of those ladies that went through a lot, and didn’t take any crap in her life. If she did, she threw it all back at everyone. She has a great story in her life, and I really wish I knew more of it. From being a child/teen during Hitler’s rule, to the war that followed, and the horrible aftermath. She went through a few husbands, and lived in several places. She has met and dated many interesting people, some very famous! Such an interesting life, she has had. Now, her life is around her rescued dogs, and how much she can spoil them in-between her trips to the casino. LOL! I always have so much fun with them.

So while my mom is here, we plan to do several things-you know, touristy stuff. Hit the museums, which I can’t wait to do. Visit the Chicago Botanical Society, which I have never been too. Take some fun ghost tours, maybe even one on the Chicago mobsters. We also plan to go to the restaurant, Fogo De Chao. I plan on starving myself before we go-gotta get your monies worth, you know!

Too bad my brother isn’t racing that weekend; otherwise I would have taken her to go see him race like last time. That was pretty fun, meeting all those cool bike people. I do get worried about him though, but I know that he is careful, as much as one can be!

The other thing that we will do is to do some Geocaching. I have been trying to introduce my mom to that for a while now. It really is a lot of fun. Kinda like a treasure hunt.

I will need to detox when I get back from there though. They both smoke, and I will need to purge my lungs of all the smoke! I feel my chest getting tight already!!! I wonder if I shouldn’t start smoking just for that time period? lol

starbucks

2007-05-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Coffee makes it all better...

*aaahhh*

sigh

2007-05-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

Its one of those days, I can feel it.

I wish people at work would stop talking to me. I don't care what color you painted your basement. I never saw it. Prob never will. So stop talking about it.

One of those days where its hard to smile.

It will pass, it always does.

Irritants, EVERYWHERE!!!

2007-04-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have been finding out that the littlest things really tick me off:
Like when the copier runs out of paper, no one seems to know how to fill it (yes, just like the toilet paper). Also, when the off chance that someone does notice that it is out of paper, they decide to only put in one third of what the copier will hold. That way, I have to get up and go load the dang thing after two papers are printed. It totally defeats the purpose. Seriously, one whole ream of paper fits. It is an industry standard for business printers. Lets get with the program here. Also, I am tired of people putting their boxes in, near, or by my desk, since they do not know how to send items offsite. I know how, and yes, I will show you too, if you promise to do it next time. But you won’t, since I have shown you several times before and yet I had to move ANOTHER box just this morning. It makes my whole area/bay look like crap and I am tired of spending an hour every Monday putting it into some format so I can work without tripping over all your crap. I have to deal with enough of that at home, I don’t need it here too, thank you.

Easter was nice.

I did notice, though, that the simple acts of conversation seem to lack on most people. I really don’t think that people are raised right, or have any sense of social situations. First of all, when you initiate a conversation with someone, you finish it. If a question is asked, you wait for them to answer. You don’t turn in the middle of their answer and decide to talk to someone else. I didn’t really want to talk to you in the first place, but I am polite, and I looked you in the eye and listened. I should have the same respect given back to me. Is everone ADD or something?Also, if you ask someone where he or she works, don’t look at him or her like it would be some huge feat of accomplishment for him or her to work where they do. Like they must have had ‘open call’ that day and never knew how to get rid of you after that. It is insulting and demeaning. Goes right along with the first irritant-You asked ME the question, give some respect.
Did I mention how nice it is to get together with extended family that you never see but a few times a year?

Oh yeah, the Easter Bunny never showed either.

Bastard

Graduation and book

2007-03-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Eric, my younger brother (for those that are confused, it is Sandy's son..), is graduating from The Marines on Friday. He is actualy a Marine right now, as he has finished the Crucible. That is that obsticle course thing that is three days long, with limited sleep (think 10 hours for three days) and only three meals during that time. After it is all done, the get a breakfast of steak and eggs. Can't tell you what I did that was so special the last time I had steak and eggs. Now I feel guilty. Ok, it passed.
I am proud of him, it is something that I don't think that I could ever do. I think that I had fleeting thoughts of it at one point, you know, for college money. But then it left as quickly as it came. Maybe I sell myself short. I am sure that we never know what we can accomplish if we actually put our minds and bodies to it. A big soldier yelling in my face I am sure would help as well. ;-)

I also got sone reading a book on Monday night. It is called Magical Thinking by Augustin Burrows. A compilation of short stories from his life. He was the guy who wrote the book Running with Scissors, which was then turned into a movie...I liked it. I recommended it to my mom, and in no uncertain terms did SHE like it. LOL Oh well.. I did.

ok, so it wasn't later the same day

2007-03-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

But I am here this morning. Traffic was horrible, but what else is new? A normal drive of about 35 minutes has morphed into an hour and 15 minutes during days of snow, or rain, fog, even sunshine for that matter. I didn't have my carpool with me this morning, so I was stuck with morning radio. Which sucks since mancow isn't on in my area anymore. At least not that I can find, anyway. I miss his morning rants, he was actually a pretty down to earth person, and spoke the truth without thinking of the 'cool factor; or what others thought of him. I liked that. I wish some station would pick him up. Anyway, since I didn't have any good conversation or good radio to listen too, I found myself getting very sleepy, almost falling asleep in traffic. Wonder if that ever happened to someone? LOL "HONK!!!" "wake your ass up man!!!" I could just see it. Pretty funny.
Our email system here at work has been pathetically slow all morning. It takes about 3 minutes to open an email. Which I really don't want to read in the first place, if you ask me. Same thing to send one. Takes forever. I guess I am very much part of the "NOW" generation. I cannot stand incompetence. In others. :-) Me? That is another story. Doesn't apply.
I watched the second episode of The Riches last night. I had DVR'd it from Monday night. Minnie Driver, the mom, gets into a fight with the Association lady and ends up pulling off her artificial arm, which she didn't know the lady had. Good TV Man, Good TV. Never saw that coming. I am telling you, watch this show!
Depending on how email goes today, You may see another post....

oo, twice in one month

2007-03-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

I know, I am on a roll, aren't I?

I just had to tell everyone about this new show on FX. It is called "The Riches". I mean, it can't get much better. Sex, violence, humor, thievery, and some good old family values mixed in for fun. It is about this 'Traveller' family. You know, they are the Irish Gypsies. They scam money, and then give it to the 'clan'. I saw a movie awhile back about this (still not the first I had heard of them, but I digress), I think that Mark Walhberg was in it. I may have to rent it again for kicks. Anyway, Minnie Driver is in this new show, as well as Eddie Izzard. Quite a nice mix, if you ask me. I like Eddie Izzard. Cool looking guy. I remember him from the Oceans 11 (and 12) movies.
Ok, That is all I have for right now...More later today

Has it been that long?

2007-03-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize.
But here I am, and I will give you my full attention..that it, until my boss or someone equally as superior walks by and I need to switch screens. :-)
I have been busy here at work-my old boss left, and we now have a new one in here. And guess what? Yes, I have been training her. Weird, isn't it? I even applied for the job, but I guess she has more skills. Could very well be true, but I hate training someone who will then judge me on my work..after I show her how it is to be done. But she has been pretty great. No complaints just yet. She is my age, but has three kids. I say "but". I don't mean to say it like it is a bad thing. :-) Just that it is different than me, who has no kids, only dogs. Whew. Glad I got that off my chest.
The only issue I have come across is that the other team memebers, well, ONE of the other co-workers, has an issue with me training her. Hey, I can't help it if I am the teachers pet. :-) I know, I am a brat. But hey, don't think that by talking in another language on the phone to your friend will mean that I don't know you are talking about ME! It is actually kinda funny-its all in this Indian language, then all of a sudden I hear my name. LOL...I freak her out by then saying "what? Oh, sorry, I thought you called me.." LOL

OK, enough bad mouthing...

It is supposed to be up to 72 degrees today. Which is really nice, except for the fact that I am here at work. I wish I had stayed home. But seriously, I don't know what I would have done if I stayed home. This is what I would like to do-sit outside and grill some steaks. The reality is that the grill is most likely out of gas, the yard is covered with mud from the dogs running in it and the snow all melting and the table is full of crap from the fall that never got put away. *sigh*
So what will actually happen tonight? I will go see my grandma at the nursing home with my Dad, then drive home and sit inside.
Maybe, If I have enough energy still, I will walk the dogs around the block. (yes, mom, I DO walk them!)

Being Crabby

2007-02-07T09:23:00.000-08:00

It really is hard sometimes to just be crabby. I am normally a happy person, so when I get in the bad moods, I feel really guilty about it. Even when I get so angry, I usually start to make jokes about the whole situation. Sometimes it is very inappropriate, but I can’t, for some reason, be just plain old angry or upset about something, without joking.
I am in a bad mood right now. No particular reason. Just am. I am a bit tired, a bit PMSy, but nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone just seems to be pissing me off today. But, they are all doing the same things that they always do, so not sure why today is any different.

I got a call today from an old friend. She left the company that I work for about two years ago. Lets say that that she was ‘let go’, but that is just code word for fired with severance. I think that management had their eye on her long before to be eliminated. Well, my friend just called me saying that she was in the neighborhood, and that if I were to call her back, she would stop by. Hmm, I think that I will pass. She, I think, could be a wonderful person, but is one of the types that can and IS very critical. And, given the mood I am in today, will pass on that offer. I will call her back later today…

I am afraid to send my taxes in. I was able to claim medical this year, and I am getting back, according to my calculation, 3,300 from Federal and State combined. I don’t think that is right, so I am afraid to send it in. I used Tax Cut (Yeah, I got people), so I am sure that it is right, but I am chicken nonetheless. But man, I want that money! I would love to take all of it and go on a cruise. Unfortunately, I owe some $$ around town, so It will more like half that once all is said and done, and I really need to pocket the rest in savings…Sigh…I hate being responsible. But, I was irresponsible years ago, and now I am paying for it…

Did I mention that it is freezing here? I am completely serious about this too. It was, on Monday, -15. Yes, that is MINUS 15. That is what it was without the wind chill factor. Today, at 11:20 AM, it has warmed up to 4. Woohoo!

Maybe that is what I am crabby about. That it is too cold. I will keep you all posted on what it is that is irritating me, once I find out myself. That, and the secret of life. Yes, I will find that out too.

Airlines gone mad

2007-01-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

Anyone hear about the kid that was kicked off the flight for not sitting in his seat?
Here is the story as I read it:
Kid is three, crying and screaming. Won’t sit in his seat. Parents are trying to calm kid down so that they can buckle him in. They had to buy the kid its own seat since it was over 2 years old. (I say ‘it’ as I do not recall if it was a boy or a girl.) The parents do this for 15 minutes while the plane waits. And waits. The parents ask if they can just hold the kid during take-off. Attendants say “No”. It is against federal Regulation. I don’t know about you, but I am in no hurry to piss someone off on an airplane. Anyway, they finally have to kick the kid and the parents off of the flight since the kid wouldn’t sit and they were already delayed.
So kicker of this whole thing is that the parents raised holy hell and received then, get this, their money back (airlines do that? They never reimburse crap!), AS WELL AS a seat on the next flight out. Ahem. Excuse me. I will insert a disclaimer right here: I do not have kids. But I was one, and I know what my parents would do to me if this same scenario had played out. I would have been spanked, threatened, and strapped in. Now lets go over the facts:
First they break airline regulations. Cost the dang bankrupt airlines even more money by being late, which in turn cost us tax payers more money, made how many people miss their connecting flight, and probably bumped three people on another flight so this poor little BRAT could scream and throw a tantrum. And they reward the parents and the kid for this? I was applauding the airlines for finally taking a stand on this crap of screaming kids until I get farther down in the article and I hear that it basically rewarded. Sigh.
Ok, just ranting.
My apologies to you parents who take offense to this, it is not my intention. My intention is to get parents to think about what they are encouraging in children by doing the above. Again, I do no have kids, but I am a sensible human, who is capable of knowing when I am acting selfishly, and when I am not. These parents were being selfish by the fact they were demanding apology/refund/ etc. Could they be mad at being kicked off? Maybe, but I certainly don’t see why they would be mad at the airlines for not bending to a three year old child’s temper.

Ebay experiences

2007-01-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have sold many an item on Ebay in the past years. Mostly it was just books and stuff. I have to admit; I ended up buying probably more than I sold. It really is addictive, that much, I know. I sold once, a coupon for Victoria Secret. It was something along the lines of, “spend $30 and get a free hairspray”, or something like that. It sold for over $9.00. Yes, I know, it doesn’t seem right, but that is what it sold for. I think I even made them pay for the .37 stamp.
Evil, pure evil.
I remember when I first started to sell things, I found that it was much easier than I had anticipated. Almost as easy to buy, but not quite. Since it was so easy, I started to look around the house for various items to sell. I mean everything. And anything. If I could have sold Russ, I might have. I then was looking around my desk at work. Hmm, what could I get for a stapler? Well, not enough considering I could be fired.
I then looked up all of the books I have in collection, and weighed the cost of listing against what they were selling for. I sold about 12 books or so, not including the schoolbooks I listed that I could not return to the campus bookstore. Funny, one I sold was a workbook for a payroll class. Pretty much useless unless you were taking the class. I had written all over in it too. I had written in all of the answers as the class progressed. So when I listed it on Ebay, it was listed as a used book, with writing in it. I then added that I received an ‘A’ in the class. Whoever bought it had to know that all the answers were in there. No, I do not feel bad about listing it like that, that I was basically encouraging a cheater. It is up to them to remember all the info for tests anyway. No guilty conscious here!
Well, anyhow, I still sell some stuff here and there, mostly these real cool finds that my mom sends me. She checks out the garage sales and sends me the items to sell. Once, she sent me some real crappy looking dollhouse furniture. Turns out that the stuff was actually pretty valuable. Also, my mom sent me a ugly plastic watch that looked like it was part digital and part wind up. Turns out it was a collectors and went for over $40. Don’t ever underestimate what you can or cannot sell. Just look it up under various descriptions before listing it. If it will only sell for a dollar, cost that against the listing fee. Worth it?
Also, if you are looking to purchase something, check on Ebay first. Many people place their unwanted gifts there instead of returning to a store. You can also find gift cards too. I began wearing Mary Kay make-up not to long ago, and found myself looking for a retired item. Low and behold, there are many, many folks (read: Mary Kay distributors in disguise, they aren't according to Mary Kay policy, allowed to sell in that format) that are selling the Mary Kay product. And for almost half of what it would cost you through a regular distributor. But I didn’t tell you that.
So check out all your avenues before buying anything. Use the money you save for something else, like buying sweet me a surprise…

2007-01-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

I was just speaking with a friend of mine earlier about reading. I love to read, and devour books as they come at me. I tend to not get anything done when a book is around, so I need to keep an eye on all that. I need to moderate exactly how much I should be reading. It is nice that I don’t have kids to get in the way of all my selfish me time, though :-) They are so demanding, lol.

Don’t go thinking that I have uninterrupted reading time, by any means. I have two selfish basset hounds that monopolize my time, and a boyfriend that states I spend no time at all with him. Even though I live with him. Go figure. Anyway, my friend and I were discussing how we *skim* over certain aspects of the book. You know, descriptions of things to really set the stage of what is going on, which way the wind is blowing, how green the trees are, what kind of material the clothes are made of, etc. I just want to get to the point of the story, not create a screenplay out of it in my head…Besides, I tend to not pay attention to that stuff in a movie either. I wonder if that is why I have such a bad time with my memory, that I am not looking at all those details somehow. I can remember certain parts of movies, books, but not who was in them, what the names are and so on. Maybe I should take the time and do that once, and see how it all turns out.

Ideas?

hello everyone!

2007-01-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, Dec 7 was the last time I posted? Sorry to all four of you.
I have been a bit busy around here. My boss left the company, and I was on my best behavior as I was bidding on the job. Unfortunatley, it didn't pan out, but I was able to talk to the bigwigs during the interview, and was able to 'shine' so to speak. Work in a corporate office anyone? Well, you have to constantly sell yourself to them whenever you can, because you are pretty much invisible otherwise. So, they want to train me for management, get me in some of the training classes HR offers, blah blah blah. Can I at least have the pay I would be getting now? No? Oh, ok, just thought I would ask. I will be asking them about footing the bill for me to go back to College though. They did already for the Accounting degree, maybe I will have the same luck with a business degree. Doesn't hurt to ask, right? Or does it?
Anyhow, Christmas has come and gone. My father did the Christmas shopping for us this year. Now, its not that he gets bad gift, by far. Its that they are so strange. Let me explain. I got an electric knife. Now, that is something that I needed. The one we have we end up moving back and forth like a regular knife which totally defeats the whole purpose. But here is the thing. HE didn't know I needed one. Nor my brother. Yes, he got one too. As well as a crock pot, 5 gallon. Yes, we all had matching kitchen appliances. Do I need them? Sure!!! Was it hilarious? yep, but I think you kinda had to be there too. it was nice though. My step brother Eric has joined the marines and he was leaving on December 27th, so It was nice to see him before he left. He is training at Parris Island in North Carolina. I bet he hates life right now, but I am sure it will be worth it when it is done and over with. I have been following his training from the website-it has this training matrix on it, where you click on the day and what they are doing on that day.
I then went to my Aunts house on the saturday after Christmas. She lives on Marine Drive, which is really Lake shore drive in Chicago. Real nice condo, needs some updating, but a million dollar view for sure. Well, I bring Russ and the dogs for this trip, and all three of them had a blast. Must have, since Russ forgot his wallet there and we had to drive 70 miles back there on New Years day to get it. *sigh*

December 1st

2006-12-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Some of you might have heard that last weekend my hometown received 17 inches of snow. Yes, I said SEVENTEEN.
Needless to say, I was silly enough to attempt to go to work in the middle of all of it. Hey-I have one vacation day left, and I will be damned if I am not going to take it the day after Christmas. Anyhow, It was nothing short of chaos the moment I stepped outside. The next Sunday, an people were still trying to shovel out, the paper asked people to write in on how their neighborhoods handled the snow…Lets just say that my response didn’t give anyone any warm fuzzies…here is the post:

Did your Neighborhood handle the snow? Well, mine surely did not.

I leave for work at 6:30 AM, and my carpooler came to pick me up. I get in, and now she is stuck. There are cars parked in front of my house that are NOT supposed to be there, since it’s a Snow Emergency. We try for 20 minutes to get her out, while I am pushing her car, shoveling under it, throwing salt, etc. During all this time, FOUR cars/trucks try to come down my street. All MEN. No one stopped to help us. They all just turned around. There we are, two women soaked to the bone, trying to get a car out of the middle of the street, and everyone looks the other way. Now, I know that for years everyone talked about women's lib, blah, blah, blah, but we were NOT sitting in the car crying as to say we couldn't do it. And yes, we did eventually get out. But where is the helping hand when you know someone is struggling? Didn't your Mothers raise you right - to help ANYONE?
And to my neighbors, we snow-blowed our shared driveway for years-YEARS, and the one time that we could not shovel or snow- blow, you do your own and not mine? Where is the help and concern? Where is the genuine kindness? I guess that it takes 17 inches of snow to see how people were raised, and how much concern they have-or don't have, in my neighborhood.

Yeah, I was ticked. I wonder if mine will get printed….Until next time…

Dec 7th

2006-12-07T13:21:00.001-08:00

Well, it is the annual Christmas list time. Funny, every year people ask me what I want for Christmas. So I give them a list. Then, I get teased endlessly that I make a Christmas list. Even funnier is the fact that my Christmas list hasn’t changed in about three years. I still haven’t received 95% of what is on there. Now, before you all jump the gun and state crazy things like “well I bet you have on the list things like a house and new car.” Nope. Although I think those kind of go without saying. Santa can bring me those gifts ANYTIME! I am shooting for more like a Bears jersey, a leather planner holder for my Franklin planner, remote car start (which, by the way, would have been very handy this morning. I think I got frostbite walking from my front door to the van.), things along that nature. So my next question is this-If you really don’t want to buy me the things on my Christmas wish list, why are you even asking me? Do you just want to tease me?

Another thing about Christmas is the traditional Advent Calendar. Of course, there are some that have toys, some which tell a part of the Christmas story, and my personal favorite, the ones that have chocolate! Strangely enough, I have found myself without one, and it is already December 7!

December 7th…you all do know that this is Pearl Harbor Day, right? I hope that everyone remembers the importance and the significance of this day. I had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor, and it really stayed with me. The feeling is something that I cannot really describe. I felt honored and humbled all at once. I hear now that the memorial needs to be updated to preserve it from sinking any farther into the ocean. If any of you ever have an opportunity to go there and see it, it is a MUST DO thing. I know that there is a Pearl Harbor memorial fund somewhere, and I am sure that a short Google search will find it. I know that a lot of focus has been on the Sept 11th memorial, and rightfully so, but we cannot forget our past.

I will post more again soon. But please, all two of you, don’t hold your breath waiting!

Marines

2006-11-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

I found out this morning that my step brother is going to go into the Marines after all. There was some debate about this for a few months on whether or not he really wanted to go. I think that he was confused to see if it was really his idea, or someone else's. Either way, he has decided to go. I believe that his day of actual registration or sign-up is January 2nd.
I know that he will do well with it, and will go far, especially if he makes a career out of it. I am proud of his decision and will support him 100%. Please, everyone, keep him in your prayers along with all the other service men and women that are in active duty-no matter where they are.

Because of that, I think I have come up with a great Christmas gift for the family-and no, I won't tell you until afterwards! One of the three of you that read this might tell!

People are already being rude in the stores. I know that people are rude, but man, it isn't even December yet! Chill out! This is a season and time for reflection and love, not hate and bah-humbug-ness!

I go to see my Nani tonight. I have a hard time with going, but I know that deep down in there somewhere, she does know. Hopefully. It is so hard to know that she was once this person so full of life (amoungst other things!!!), is now just a shell of her former self. I sometimes wonder if it is better than being concious of the world around you and the bodily pain she must feel. I hope that I never know. But this I do know-when I die, I will be in heaven, and hopefully she will be there too! LOL, ask some people she might be a bit south of heaven, hee-hee. But she is my Nani, and I love her regardless. I am good at forgiving. But you can see, I don't forget.
LOL

I hope that you all understand that I do not mean to make light of the fact that my Nani has Alzheimers. It is very serious, and robs families of loved ones. It is painful to watch and live through. But you have to know how to cope with things, and I do with humor. It would be a pretty scary world without it.

I found out as well that a friend of mine had a baby, and that another is pregnant. I applaud them both for being so curagous to being another life into this world. I wish them both nothing but wonderful things. Me? I am to scared of them things you call babies. So demanding. And they poop. My dogs poop, that enough for me to take care of, thank you very much.

Until next time

Completely random thoughts

2006-11-27T10:38:00.000-08:00

My computer died finally, and I was just able to reinstall everything, well mostly everything, just last night. I apologize to all of my fans, yes, all two of you, for being so lax on this thing.

I am having some difficulty in thinking of things to write. So I will just write some things that I have been thinking about today. My friend Melanie told me she came across some letters that I wrote to her back in the old high school days. I moved to Hawaii in the middle of my sophomore year, right before Christmas break. It was pretty hard, and I know I had to have sprained my arm with as many letters I wrote to her and so many others. I am pretty sure no one else but her, kept them.
I am sure it was fun to go back-it really is like another lifetime to think back. I try to think that I haven’t changed much, but then why do I feel like that was such a completely different life? I know, the more things change the more they stay the same. I don’t buy it.

So Black Friday came and went, and now it is Cyber Monday. Do you think that my work will allow me some extra minutes to shop online? Don’t think so either…. So we won’t tell them, right? It becomes more of a challenge than anything else. To see what deals you can get, not so much what thought you end up putting in the gift. The thrill of shopping and getting a better price than anyone else. It really is a disease, isn’t it?

My other thoughts? I want to know why it is that it takes me three weeks to lose 5 pounds, but then only three days to gain it back? I blame Bakes Square and their Carrot Cake. Man, that cream cheese frosting is the best ever….

That is all I can think of right now…Be back later

IM NINJA

2006-10-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

That is what my shirt says, so it must be true. It also says that you cant see me. Again, it must be true.

Wear a costume and get a half price breakfast. That is what my work promised us in order to get us to wear costumes. I guess ninjas arent part of that equation, since they said a T-shirt announcing my membership in such an elite club does not consitute a costume.

I think that they are just jealous. I risked alot stating that I am who I am. I must now find someone with mind control to erase the fact that they are now aware of my true identity

Daylight Savings

2006-10-30T07:13:00.000-08:00

Daylight Saving happened over the weekend, and we woke up this morning with lots of sunshine. My eyes are still recovering from staring into the sun on the way to work. I did wake up a bit better than usual. Can’t be from the extra hour, I am sure. But now that I am here at work I have an attitude a mile wide. Why am I so instantly crabby? It is one of those “I hate life” moments. Can’t put my finger on it, but I am sure it has something to do with not having money or something. That is the usual culprit. Maybe that and the fact that I am a bit slow here at work, so I actually have time to think and dwell on it. I need to get a part-time job, which will help on both ends. I will be busier and then have more money, albeit a tiny bit more.

toys nowadays

2006-10-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

just aren't the same as when we were younger. This for example, I had to go and use the swingset poles like everyone else. Not this generations kids!

I had a dream...

2006-10-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

the other night that I cut my own head off, and was then trying to put it back on. I also thought that it would be a good time to do a face lift. I mean, I already had it off, why not? I was looking all over for some thread to sew it back on, but couldn't find any. I also thought that a stapler would work just fine, but that it would be to obvious. I mean, if you are going to cut your head off and put it back on, you want to be as discreet as possible, right?

Anyone had ANY idea on what this dream is supposed to mean?

Anyone here a dog AND cat owner? Then read this..

2006-10-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

I read this post from a lady known as ERGeek. I am sure that if I paid more attention, I would actually know her name. Whatever. (ok, I looked, her name is SUSAN) She is a ER vet, and posted this 10/15/06 on her website. I actually know someone that did this exact same thing with her BUNNY, and yes, it did die. If you see previous posts of mine, yes, it is the same lady that killed her dog (check back a few motnhs but I know its there somewhere). Coincidence? I don't think so...But I digress....Check it out and become a more informed pet owner.

I wonder...

2006-10-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

how many people actually responded to the ad? The ad I am referring to is actually a billboard that a local florist has here in Kenosha. It reads every week"If your name is...Come in for a free rose" And every week the name changes. Well this past week the name was Jailyn. I know you don't want to put down a name like, say, Lisa, as half the population of Kenosha will go in and wipe out your rose stock. But seriously, who the heck is named Jailyn?

Dog vs Cat...

2006-10-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

I have been following this one comic for quite some time now. Its basis seems to be about a gaming magazine, but its characters are frickin hilarious. One of the characters is a cat names Scratch and a dog named Kirby. They are in real-life, the drawers pets. Anyhow, he posted a blog in regards to a conversation he had with his wife Angela in whether or not Cats love more than dogs. I found it quite funny:

I said to Angela, “Mike should get a dog. They’re better companions than cats. They love you more.”
To which Angela disagreed. “Cats are great companions. I wouldn’t say dogs love you more.” She insisted.
My assertion is that cats are bastards and only take their love from you because they’re selfish creatures. Dogs truly love you. And my evidence is news reports about the police finding people dead in their apartments.
If the dead person was a dog owner, they find the dog by the side of the corpse protecting it. If the dead person was a cat owner they find the cat eating the face off the corpse.
No dog will fake affection by licking your hand and then immediately turn on you, bite your hand, hiss and scratch at you. That just doesn’t happen. Not that I don’t love my cat. He’s awesome. But he doesn’t love me as much as Kirby does.

And to that I say, SO TRUE! I have had both, and yes, the relationship with a cat is a bit more one-sided. Although, if I think about it, the dog may just be waiting beside you until you decide to not be dead anymore and feed it a cookie. As smart as my dogs may be, they aren't as smart as a cat. :-)
And on that note...HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

LOST back on!!!

2006-10-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

I can hardly stand it.
Lost is back on tonight!

The only thing that I am afraid of, is that I have waited so long with so many questions, that it won't live up to my expectations. Have no fear, though, as I haven't been let down yet.

Also, freindly reminder that you all need to still be watching Flavor of Love. I am talking some quality TV folks. QUALITY....

Part 2

2006-09-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I survived the weekend. It was a close call, but I made it through. My friend the vodka bottle was never to far behind.
Nah, it was nice. I love my Mom and I love my Aunt Suzie as well. My aunt is such a strange bird, very eccentric. I love that about her. She doesn’t care about being ‘polite’, and she is so very blunt. I think that people are sometimes too polite today. Don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But, there is a real talent in order to pull it off without being a real asshole or bitch. My Aunt Suzie does have the talent. You smile at her and laugh. She is great. I hope that I can be as sharp as she is when I am her age. Oh yeah, she is 78.

I tried to Parallel Park when I was there, yes, Parallel Park. In Chicago, with a mini-van. NO, I don’t know how big, or small, it is. I ask my mom to get out and tell me how far away I am from the car behind me. This turns into 15 minutes of “turn the wheel this way’, and “no, I mean that way!” Mind you, I was doing all of this in front of a bus stop, which had several people laughing at her and me. One was this old man who was slapping his knee. I was so glad that I could provide humor to these folks. But part of me wanted to tell that old man that maybe if he wasn’t so old and blind he could do it for me. I know. See note about Vodka above. I eventually say screw it and pull all the way back out and start all over. I do it in the three turns. My mom applauds and says, “I knew we could do it!” Yeah, ok! Maybe it wasn’t how it happened, but this is how I tell my story gosh darn it!

Anyhow, more about the weekend. Well, Saturday I drove my mom to go see my brother race his motorcycle. We are both big chickens when it comes to that stuff, but we figured that if each other were there, we would be all right. It took just under 2 hours to get there, but it was a nice straight drive. He races with a team called #1Stunnas, and his nickname is Emjay. Get it? Slang for his initials, M.J. I know. I know. They raced at Blackhawk Farms in South Beloit. Pretty cool set up, lots of room for the racers to camp out and hang out, a real tight community…they all look out for each other and stuff. They even have a charity type fund for injured racers and their families, similar to those of fireman and policeman. You know what I mean. My father works there with them at track, as a crew guy-watching the corners and making sure everyone is safe, that kind of thing. Being that he was a fireman/paramedic, he is an asset…He also gets paid and gets a free lunch, LOL that is my family people; we look for the free lunch.

Sunday, the moms and me went to the Chicago Antique Market. Really cool stuff. I mean real cool stuff. I wanted to get a lot of things, but they were all such good quality that there really wasn’t anything in my price range. You know, under $10. I highly recommend it though. We were there about 4 hours or so. We also stopped by here for lunch. It was cool-grits are very filling though. Just in case anyone needed to know.

I also realized that I forget to add all kinds of links on the other post. I must have been in a hurry. Yes, I was. I was trying to get out of work!! So if you really want to see Oprah’s website, feel free to Google it like everyone else!!!

Oprah, take 2!

2006-09-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know I haven’t been on here lately, but get over it.

I went to Oprah again, but this time it was very, very cool. To start off, the night before, we were sent to an Oprah audience only screening of Forest Whittaker in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. This was really, really cool. I drove down to Chicago with my friend and we stopped at this place called Gale Street Inn. Cute place, good food. We told the waitress we had to get out of there pretty quick, and man, was she lickety-split with the service. I was thinking of calling the place to tell them what a great employee they had. People should do that stuff more often. I think it makes a difference in peoples lives and gives them a good edge with the boss.
Anyway, so we leave there and get to the Theater, also in Chicago. Would have been much nicer to go to Oprah's house and watch it at her place, but I would be too tempted to take something from her bathroom, I am sure. God knows this, so it did not happen.
We arrived there just in time and park in the theaters parking garage. This will play a part later-you will see. We get to the box office and stand in line marked OPRAH GUESTS. Shoot, I would have gone in that in that line anyway, wouldn’t you? Of course, we then get a coupon for a free small popcorn and soda. Nice touch Oprah!!!
Ok, so the movie plays, and it is a great movie-all of you four people who read this need to go see it. I said so. I think it opens LA and NY on September 27 and then nationwide on October 20 something. I don’t know the dates, nor do I care, I already saw it. HA!
Ok, now the real fun part. We go to leave said parking garage and I have no idea how I am supposed to pay to get out of there. As I was driving out, I notice this vending machine thing. Seems I have to pay that BEFORE I go to my car and leave. I jump out of the car and go pay it. Meanwhile all the other people who knew what they were doing started to drive around me, give me dirty looks, you name it. So sorry you uptight Chicago folk! See those plates? I am from Wisconsin. This means I REALLY DON’T CARE. I finally make it out of there and start driving to my Aunt’s condo on Lake Shore Drive. That went pretty smoothly.

We get up at the crack of dawn and we go to the taping. First they show this clip of Salma Hayek that was done before us. Not cool. I wanted to see her as well. The rest of the show was done live for the Chicago air time of 9:00.
Did I mention that I think Forest Whittaker is awesome? Well, he is. He has such a warm cuddly demeanor about him. You wouldn’t know that seeing him in the movie, but since I am now one of his close personal friends (I saw his movie, it qualifies) I can say it. I wanted to give him a big hug! Later, John Legend sand and then we went into Oprah after the show and he sang some more. He seems cool, wish I had known more of his songs before hand. Over all it was a great show.
Oh yeah! My mom had her birthday that day, so they gave her a Oprah hat and T-shirt. How cool is that?! And for all those that know me, you just KNOW I will end up with one of those items.
That is all for now. I will update the rest of my weekend as it unfolds. When my mom is in town, anything can happen…

OPRAH!!!

2006-09-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/452060p-380350c.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/nyregion/13oprah.html

Story of my Oprah taping...
Aires Tuesday, September 19 2006.

I will blog more once it is aired...and once I get over the fact that he was there pushing his book, but DIDNT GIVE US ONE.

Stingy.

a few things to touch on

2006-09-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ok first, I am going to OPRAH tomorrow. No, I will not be on the show. Well, maybe I will. I will explain on Wednesday when I am sure. This will be my second time there, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out...

Second, If you happen to need to use your cell phone, don't use it in the stall next to me while I am trying to pee. It is quite distracting. It also isn't very nice for the person you are talking with to hear me pee. I mean, how rude. Go out to your car, stand in the hallway, or just plain ole wait until you have gone potty to call them back. Sheesh...I think that a book of manners needs to be handed out with each phone.
Common sense doesn't happen to be taught anymore...

Bozo show

2006-09-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I stumbled upon an estate sale with Russ. When we went in, the first thing that caught my eye was this stuffed animal. It looked familiar. It was on the other side of the church basement, so I took my time in getting there. I actually forgot about the darn thing, as I starting looking through the TONS of glassware and flatware that this lady had looking for egg cups. My mom likes them and wants some, so I was searching. NO luck. So I finally get over to the stuffed animal. I almost died. It was an original CUDLEY DUDLEY. You know, from the Bozo show. He was a golden cocker spaniel that talked. He was awesome. He helped with the mail-he held it in his mouth. So this was a huge stuffed Cudley in HIS BOX nonetheless. His box had design on it like a car, and the wheels would punch out. But this box was in pristine condition. I guess Cudley was a give-a-way with a years subscription. The lady kept the gosh darn newspaper clipping showing it. I mean, I started to sweat, I wanted it so badly. The bad thing? Some guy was there doing the same thing I was. His wife is a big fan. I guess she grew up in Chicago. He spoke up first, and Cudley went home with him a few minutes later after a measly $100 was paid. Did I have $100? heck no. Is Cudley worth more than that? I would most definitely say he was. Do I feel robbed? Oh yes.
Are there people reading this and wondering what the heck I am talking about? I guarantee it.

geocaching

2006-08-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

So Russ and me have been doing this thing called Geocaching. It is really quite fun, especially If you like being outside and you like the idea of hunting for treasure. Put simply, someone hides something, post it on the Internet of where it is located only by its GPS locations, and then you go look for it. Sometimes if you are the very first person to find it, there is a prize of some sort inside. Otherwise, there may be some trinkets to trade and stuff of that nature. There is a log book to sign, stating who you are and when you found it. Some of the places have been really tough, and one took us 5 different tries before we were able to find it. Our names on there are, what else, GeoBassets. We registered (free! Yes! Free!! I am all about the free!) on Geocaching.com and were then able to find literally hundreds listed within a 20 miles radius from our house. It is so easy, and a lot of fun. It takes you all over the place-in parks, down roads, by signs, everywhere! I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of Kenosha, but as it turns out, I know nothing at all. Most of the geocaches that we have done have had a bit of a history lesson attached along with them. They are really very interesting and fun to do. We take the dogs along with us, so it gets all of us out of the house and outside. The dogs love it since then they get to go for a car ride all the time now. My carpoolers don’t especially like that since they shed all over the van though. Heehee. As I mentioned above, there are sometimes trade items inside the cache, so I thought that Russ and me needed something like that to start leaving in some of them. Of course it has to be dog or basset related, but it also needs to be somewhat inexpensive since they might be lost…Enter in Oriental Trading Company. I love that place, great cheapy stuff! We ordered some small bone shaped erasers of various colors. They were 2.95 a unit of 25. Not bad. Once we start really rolling on these things, I might actually make a cache of my own and place something really cool in it. One couple put a dining certificate in one that they hid on their 1st wedding anniversary. You have to be fast for those!!! I have yet to find one that hasn’t been around for at least a year. I will have to pay more attention I guess!
By the way, I have been having computer issues at home, so pictures will be delayed…

2006-08-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing little snippets here and there about that girl who was kidnapped when she was 10, and was recently found after 8 years. How amazing is that. She was able to escape. How incredible. I am really surprised there hasn’t been more to this, but I guess that since it happened in Europe, that us selfish Americans could care less. I care; I think that it would make a great Lifetime movie as well. But that is just me…anyhow, it has been so long, that they did DNA tests to see if indeed she was who she said she was. How amazing is that too. I heard that she is suffering from what they call Stockholm syndrome, which means that she has been sympathizing with her captor. After 8 years, I can see where that may happen. But again, she did escape, so she knows that this man wasn’t the best the world has to offer, but at the same time, she won’t tell of all the details of her treatment. The other amazing thing is that she weighs the same as from when she was kidnapped at age 10. She did mostly his cleaning, and for anything else, she won’t say. She also has not wanted to see her parents, but has talked to them on the phone. I think that is odd. But then again, I was not kidnapped and held hostage for 8 years. I don’t know, I just think it is amazing. (Yes, that is my word for the day)

I am bummed a bit today. I think that it is a mixture of PMS (yeah, I know) and the fact that I left my lunch in the van, and since I didn’t drive the carpool, which means it is sitting on the front seat of the van just as lonely as I am. Just thought I would share.

Have I ever told any of you that I love Pantene? “Don’t hate me because I am beautiful”
It really rocks. I can’t really say much about the styling products, but the shampoo and their conditioner are the best. It really rinses clean, and does not, repeat, does not dry out my hair. Again, just sharing.

And this whole mess about Mr. Karr? I knew that the guy seemed a bit shady, and the moment that I heard his ex wife (who cant stand him, by the way, so you know she is telling the truth) say that he was never without them on Christmas, I knew he was some sicko that just wanted to somehow be connected to this poor girl and her story. Sicko. Part of me did wish that he did it though, so that this whole thing can be put to rest. The only good thing that came from this was that Lifetime played the JonBenet movie again. Hadn’t seen it in a while…Yes, selfish, I know. But damn I love those movies…the best one I had seen? That would be hard…let’s do a top 10 in no particular order…

1. The JonBenet movie
2. The Texas Cheerleader murder plot
3. The one with Jennie Garth being the girl who shots her husband
4. BOTH of the Long Island Lolita movies
5. The one with Hillary Swank and the girl from blossom who are hazed in college
6. All the bulimia ones with Tracey Gold
7. The one where Tori Spelling gets stabbed by Kellie Martin from Life Goes on
8. The one where Kirsten Dunst gets knocked up at 16
9. The one where Tiffany Amber Thiessen where she is raped and the one where she is possessed by a ghost (actually I think there were two of those…?)
10. One of my favs, though, is the one, “I know my name is Steven”. That was one like the story above, where after forever and a day, the boy finally escapes his kidnapper and gets away*.

*Side note about that one. I know that you all know it was a true story. Here is where it gets a bit more interesting. “Steven” has a brother, Cary, who comes home from camping in Yellowstone during the movie. Here is the creepy part. Cary is the guy that ended up killing those three girls in Yellowstone about 7 years ago. Weird huh? Now go tell your friends and they will be impressed with your knowledge. Sure, they may think that you are creepy as hell for even coming up to them and saying, “hey, you know what…” But ultimately they will be impressed.
My friend Barb told me about that. She knows those kinds of things.

And yes, I know that I said I would have pictures up, but deal with it. See the note about PMS. Enough said. I make my own rules this week.

We are back

2006-08-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

So we are all now back from Basset Fest. Sam and Mandy had a great time, as did Russ and me. We always do! There were lots of adoptions the very first day, and I am sure that there were more on Sunday. That is what it is all about-the dogs finding their forever homes. So all in all, it was a success!!

I have to tell you all though, that true to my fashion, there was an incident. Of course, right? Well, here it is. We get there at the park and see that there is a picnic table that hasn’t been taken yet. Which is great as we could only find one of our folding chairs. SO we start to pile all of our stuff on it. Meanwhile, the dogs are running loose, as we took them off their leashes right at the gate. It is all fenced in, so no chance of escaping. Anyway, we get all of our stuff settled, and I look to see if I see Sam. Oh yes, I see him. I see him squatting on someones blanket pooping!! Yes! POOPING! They were not there, so I, at this moment, had a moral dilemma. Do I yell at him and go pick it up? Or do I act like it was someone elses dog and ignore him? I swear, it was a good minute before the guilts got to me and I went over with a bag and picked it up. But I did the right thing… Sam, on the other hand, did not.

Mandy of course, was an angel. Everyone loved her painted nails. She has nail polish just for her from OPI called Pawlish. I know, too cute, right? I ended up finding a red and pink collar there that had some hearts on it. I already had a red leash, so she was all set to go on Sunday. My girl needs to be coordinated, yes she does. I mean, someone in the family needs a decent wardrobe, right?

I have pictures at home that I will post tonight. Since I just know you are all dying to see all these dogs. I just know it.

I have been thinking

2006-08-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

about some things lately...I do that since it is free. Doesn't cost me anything to daydream. :-)
Anyway, I have been thinking that eventually I want to move back to Hawaii. For those of you who don't know me, I lived in Hawaii from 90-94. I went to three years of High School and then one year of college. My mom lived in Hawaii and I went to live with her when I was 15. I had a nice time there. Sure, it was my teen years and I had the normal bumps along the way, but overall, I thoroughly had a great experience. I know I can never reclaim those days, and honestly, I don't want to, but the feeling that I had there, the ambiance, the lifestyle, the beauty..That is what I miss. I think that people who grew up in very rural areas know what I am talking about-they miss the simplicity of things once they move away.
I hate the stress that we have here. Sure, I will have some stress living there-money problems are there no matter where you go. But one drive down to the beach, smelling the ocean air, listening to the tropical birds, smelling the aromatic flowers, instantly, you are transported to a different level of being. I truly have been to no other place where I saw such beauty. Mind you, I haven't been to so many places, but for where I have gone, it is the one place I would love to go back to. Maybe once I retire..Or win the lottery. Or heck, when I hit a midlife crisis, abandon my life and home and move there with $10 in my pocket. It's possible. The homeless have it made in Hawaii. The beaches have public showers and the squatters have a ton of rights. I know enough people there that could toss me a bone every now and then, and the homeless shelter has great food-I know as when I worked at a bakery downtown, I would drop off all kinds of day-old items. And I wasn't the only one. They ate better than most! Sure, it might only be once a week, but they ate good that one day!!! So who knows, my address might just change one day...

Rant...

2006-08-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the rant yesterday. But it really is frustrating. Please always research your pet. Always research where they are coming from. If you can't see thier location, don't buy from them. Research how many pets die from being 'shipped'. Sometimes it is worth it, sometimes, more often than not, it isn't. Remember that this is a living animal-one that hurts and feels pain just as we do.
(Just for the record, I am NOT a vegetarian, just someone who loves animals. Some are just meant to be on my plate. *wink*)
Someone once told me that the soul of a person can be determined as to how he treats his animals. I completely agree.
I will tell you of an old carpooler another day that the above line applies too. Another day...

Basset Fest

2006-08-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Every year, these low to the ground doggies and their crazy owners get together and picnic, raffle, auction, eat, pet, drool...You get the idea. Its an annual fundraiser for the Basset Buddies Basset Rescue, located here in WI. Now, many, many states also have this kind of rescue for bassets, as well as other breed rescues. Just about every breed has one. What does that tell you? That there are many people breeding dogs that shouldn't, and many homes that give up the dogs since they didn't know what they were getting into. I know. I am harsh. But when I find out that even a Labradoodle, the 'designer' cross of a Labrador and Poodle that everyone wants but knows diddly about, has its very own breed rescue. Come on people, it isn't even a recognized breed, and it has a breed specific rescue assigned to it. The sad thing is, is that the shelters are packed full of unwanted animals. These end up in the shelters for many different reasons, some valid(choke) some not so much. Kids do develop allergies, owners do die, but the reasons of too much to handle, getting old, doesn't get along with the new puppy, just don't cut it with me. Any yes, those are the standard reasons for owner relinquishes. Sometimes, the owners will come in with a sweet doggy, and say he is aggressive, as if to make it seem ok that they are dumping the dog. But what they don't know, is that shelters (not rescues, mind you) will most likely end up putting that dog to sleep. Here is why: The y must disclose reasons for relinquishes to potential adoptees. Noone will want that dog then. So then, the dog stays their allotted time, and then they are put down to make room. Sadly, they would be better off leaving the dog at the front door of the shelter and ditching.
Now rescues, they will tell you if the dog was relinquished for aggressiveness, but they will also foster the dog in a home to make their own evaluations, and more often than not, the dog doesn't have them. Sometimes yes, but most likely no.
Case in point. My Sam, he was first abandoned at a groomers front door-in the rain. :-( Luckily, the groomer knew of Guardian Angel Basset Rescue in IL (which also works in IN), and took Sam in. He went to a foster home for about a month or so, and then was adopted out. About a month and a half later, he was returned. They said he was aggressive. No problem, and back to the foster home he went. They evaluated him, and funny enough, no tendencies. They also saw remnants of what looked like stitches on his belly-hmm, never did find out from the previous owners what that was all about. Anyway, I ended up adopting him. Aggressive? NO. Not in the least. Does he growl? Yes. But he talks that way! Dogs do that. Sam, come get a cookie, he growls the whole way. Sam isn't getting attention? He sits in front of you and growls...TALKS! Sometimes, people don't stop to look at what actually is taking place.
I digress.
The WI chapter of Basset rescue, Basset Buddies, is having their annual fundraiser on Aug 26/27 in Muskego, WI. I will be there. Mandy and Sam will be there. And so will about 3-400 other basset hounds. It really is quite the site. :-) Oh yeah, wanna pledge me? Email me and I will tell you how.

they called it that, not me...

2006-08-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

"A Very Hairy Nite at the Fair". Consisted of Tesla, Slaughter and Skid Row. It was quite fun, I had a blast, and had a very sore throat this morning when I woke up.
First up was Slaughter. Mark Slaughter is still fronting the band, and sorry to say, I don't know if the others were orignal or not...Never paid attention to them. He did a great show-came into the crowd-literally. He was about one section from me, separated by what, maybe three rows?, and then turned to go the other way. Me and the girl in front of me looked at each other and said how stupid we were that we didnt just walk over there (we totally could have). I guess that is what happens when you are trying to play cool and all. You miss out. I completely had chills when they played "Fly to the Angles", but somehow, "Rock all Night" was not on the play list. Hmm.
Here are some pictures of how close we were to the stage, and some shots of Slaughter playing. Forgive the shakeyness, please, I am no pro.
Next up, was Skid Row. Now, I was very interested to see how this was going to turn out, as Sebastian Bach is not the lead singer of the band. I was thinking that it was going to be nothing more of a tribute band singing thier songs. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. The new singer (who I do not know the name of, sorry) sounded like Sebastian at all the key spots, but looked like Brett Michaels. A bit of 80's confusion? Well, it worked. They were tight, and sounded great-Started to lose my voice during this part of the concert. Went to take a sip of soda right when the started the intro to "I remember you" and proceeded to swallow the soda down the wrong tube. Great. The one song I wanted to sing to, and I couldn't even breathe. By the time the song ended, I could breathe somewhat ok-of course. Par for the course. Those that know me, know that something like that happens everytime I do something. Always.
Here are some photos from thier part of the show...

OK, now for Tesla. They started out with some Black Sabbath covers, and then went head first into thier own-man, were they frickin' awesome. It was cool to see that they pretty much sounded the same-I think they pretty much had all the original members. I think. At least they had the same lead. :-) By the time that they sang"Love Song" I was blown away. Mind you, I still had no voice, and everytime I cleared my throat I tasted diet soda, but I still sang my heart out. I caught video of the intro to the song..I will post that as soon as I can figure out how to do it. To keep you busy meanwhile, here are two more shots of Tesla below... Mind you, I was running out of room on the digital camera (I don't have a memory card), and the video took up all the remaining memory, so I only have two shots of them...

Enjoy!

State Fair

2006-08-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I went to the State Fair yesterday, and saw many, many different people...This is just a sampling....

That's right, Hulk Hogan called-he wants his clothes back. Then I realized about an hour later that they were selling similar pants inside the expo center. *sigh* Go Wisconsin, Go!

I also saw this:

Now this is the funny thing about that..There was this little kid there(you can see her to the far right up in the air)-I swear, she probobly wasn't more than 2, looked like she was just learned to walk. See I don't have kids, so I don't know when they are supposed to do these things..Anyway, some lady had this little girl, like I said, about 2 maybe less, on this thing that thows the kids around all over the place. So me and Russ are sitting on the side watching all this, and I just blurted out"Who in the hell would let thier little kid do that at so young?" Russ counters by saying that they are just going straight up and down. I say "no, that is just plain stupid, anything can happen, and then they will end up suing since they are stupid". On my behalf, I did have one beer by this time..Right after this conversation between me and Russ finishes, a lady -sitting RIGHT next to us-gets up and walks over to the very kid in question. Yes, it was the kids mother. We bolted. Insert foot.

We were there pretty much all day, and yes, did manage to see some animals between the child abuse and freak shows. see here...

I think that this was an old sheep. Or someone who never made it out of the fair from 200 years ago...Either way, fun to look at....

We also went to go see the Michael W Smith concert. They have all kinds of concerts at the fair. Tonight was his night. They have tickets that are for sale-you know, the real good seat, then they offer up some way up nosebleeds in the grandstand for free on a first come basis. Well, we have tickets to the Tesla/Skid Row (you know, Sebastian isn't the lead anymore? This will be interesting..)/Slaughter concert on the 12th, so we decided to go check out where we will be sitting ect... Here is a shot of the famed Milwaukee Mile that the concert stage is set up on. The other is of the stage..the seats that tilt off to the side is where I will be!!! Woo hoo! LOL

Yeah-I was a bit shakey on that photo..Christian Rock will do that to me....But you know, his music is awesome, and he is really talented-even if you aren't listening for the message, it is great, easy music to listen to.

That is all for now....

Lottery

2006-08-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, the big Powerball lottery ticket was sold here in WI. And yes, I live in WI.
But NO, I wasn't the winner, although I did donate $5 to the cause. So don't worry about writing me a letter telling me what a great friend I always was or how much you miss me and want to get in touch.
I have nothing.

But dont forget that Flavor of Love is on tonight. Key phrase of the show, "You best quit interrupting my prayers before Jesus directs me to whop your ass." Or something very close to it. Classic TV.

Reality TV

2006-08-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

I watched a show a few months back that I will admit to loving. It was the show, Flavor of Love. I know. Believe me, I know. It has Flavor Flav on it and the guy has to be in his 60s, isn’t he? Well, all these crazy women are on there trying to win his love. Or money. Whatever. He has this butler, and seems as if the butler cannot wait until Flav kicks the bucket, because he knows Flav is going to leave him all his money. Well, the show is on again. The winner from last season must not have worked out well. Maybe she told him to remove his gold grill. Who knows, but he is at it again. Check it out on VH1 on Sundays.

And speaking of reality TV, check out Dog the Bounty Hunter. I cannot decide if I like it because it is set in Hawaii, or if I actually like the content of the show itself. He has this wife, Beth, and man is she funny. She has these huge boobs, and I really think that they are real, which makes it even more fascinating. She dyes her hair almost white, and wears make-up really trashy. But man, I would never want to piss her off. You will have to see the show to know what I am talking about. Dog and his crew all go out and get these Ice heads, thieves and other criminals, and bring them in for bail violations. They lie to these people on the phones and trick them and stuff. It is really entertaining, although I am afraid that I might see an ex boyfriend on there. Yes, I had great taste. Back off.

So there are some picks for you to look for on TV before the real shows start this Fall. Like Survivor and American Idol.

2006-07-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Just saw this and thought that it might be something that all of you would like to check out and take a few minutes to do. It is a free post card of thanks to our troops...
Thanks!

This past weekend

2006-07-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to report except that it is getting hotter and hotter. Also, I have officially heard the phrase "It's not so much the heat than the humidity". I mean, I say that myself, but I cannot say it now with a straight face. I feel like I should be saying it while sitting out front a barbershop whittling away on a stick. It is such an old persons' saying. Even if it is true.

I have been watching the Bridezilla show. I just find it hilarious to watch these people spend all this money and hate literally every minute of it. I keep watching to see the one bride who finally says screw this and lets elope or not even get married at all. And now they have this new show Platinum weddings. Now mind you, if I have tons of money, sure, I would do the same thing...maybe. Who wants to give me that much so I can try? I just watched one last night and it was a repeat of last week. Funniest line was the bride saying to her bridesmaids "now don't be going and putting on your make-up like it is Halloween." I peed. That's the crap that I would say. I am amazed though, at how some of these women feel like all this pampering and money is owed to them. If you ever watched my super sweet sixteen on MTV, you will know what I mean. These girls act as if it is a birthright that everyone swoon around them and hand them money. They way that they talk to their parents and soon to be spouses, is absolutely ridiculous. I would have been slapped and all the money pulled out from under me. Simple as that. No respect for their parents. NONE. But I guess I love it. I am watching it and I am glued every Sunday night to the new episodes. The new one this week has this young girl with a foul mouth swearing at her family, her husbands' family, people on the road-basically treating everyone like crapola. I guess it is good she is getting married-guys, you won't have to worry about running into her and having to date her!

I also saw a discovery health show about this baby that was born in India that was born with two heads. I swear it freaked me out. It was a total live functioning head with a brain. The head was fully developed too. It never cried or spoke, but would respond to stimulus and stuff. They had never seen anything like it to that extent. It was a case of parasitic twins, where the egg is fertilized and then begins to split, but doesn't fully, but is then absorbed back.. Kind of like Siamese twins but they don't even make it that far. Something like that. I ended up flipping through the channels and didn't get back to it until the ending-they eventually separated the head from the baby, and of course, the head died. Now there is a sentence that I never thought I would ever type. Just thought I would share.

Anyway, it is so hot out, so I stayed inside and watched TV all weekend. I hate those days, and love them all at the same time. I feel like it is such a waste, but love the fact that I can be that indulgent to myself. My poor lawn is suffering though...ah well, it will get over it.

And on a lighter note:
My coworker just told me something that I found to be completely hilarious. Her sister lives in India, and called to tell her that she was attacked by a monkey and needs stitches in her legs. I guess they have monkeys that stalk them like the alligators do here in Florida. Don't ask me, but I thought it was funny. All I could think of was that her sister didn't want to share her banana and the monkey kicked her a%&.

I am so mean.

Ice tea, five things

2006-07-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ice tea.
Love the stuff. I get the Crystal Light kind, and then shake it up at work. Cheaper than soda, but still more expensive than the water from the faucet. Forgive me. Especially since they now have the single packets, makes it a lot easier. I used to bring just the tubs in, but I would always either put to much in (not like that is a problem) and then the next round would not be strong enough (now that is a problem). Oh, the troubles I deal with…Oh yeah, shook it up one time, LOL, and realized the cap was not on all the way. Now that was a fun thing to clean up at work.

Ick.

So my friend Trish tagged me to answer the following questions. I guess that is what we do here on blogs, we tag other bloggers with chores. I guess you have to work no matter where you try to escape, huh?

So, well, here it goes:

Name five things in your freezer:
1. People who know me will know this answer right off. I bought a half cow in February, so that answer will be, RED, AMERICAN, GOD FEARING BEEF. Lol, I smirked while typing that.
2. The occasional package of veggies, corn mostly
3. Fish parts for bait. We fish. Russ puts it in there. Don’t ask. Anything you could possibly say, I have already said to him.
4. Frosty Paws. You know, the ice cream for dogs. Yes, they are so spoiled.
5. Popsicles from Aldi for us. Hey, if the dogs are going to have some, so am I

Name five things in your closet:
Man, that is a loaded question. Oh, my actual closet? That I can answer….
1. Jackets-mine, Russ’, what I think is his moms coat and the coat my mom uses when she visits me (From when she lived in Florida, she never brought a coat).
2. Dog leashes. All kinds of lengths, colors and materials. And lord help you if you happen to make one of them jingle. You better be prepared for some mean looks or to take them for a walk.
3. Russ’ shoes. I make him keep them in that closet, not the bedroom. We have small closets and we only have room for mine in there. HAHA
4. Poop clean up bags for above mentioned walks
5. A bat. You know, for the burglars when they come in the front door. Again, I know. See comment about bait in freezer about speaking with Russ on his ideas.

Name five items in your car:
I have a van, so do I not have to answer these?
1. CD’s. They are in there somewhere, I know it. Just because I cannot find them, does not mean they aren’t there.
2. Sunglasses. Actually not, they are in my purse. I lied. Sue me.
3. Dog water bowl-man, they have really taken over, haven’t they?
4. Washer fluid bottle. Russ rigged it up in the back with rope so that it does not roll all over the place on me. Aww, sweet.
5. Box of Kleenex. Actually, that is used up, so it is just a box right now. **mental note to self to get new box**

Name five items in a backpack:
1. Don’t use one anymore, but the one I did use recently had doggie bandanas and poop pick up bags. Nice!

I am now supposed to tag five other people to do this as well, but I am still so new on this blog, I can not. :-)
But, if you happen to read this and think it is cool, do it yourself and email me. See, nice and painless…

2006-07-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

I get to go pick up my pictures from work today. I actually could have picked them up yesterday but I was out of the office, sick. Sounds better to say it that way instead of saying I sat on my ass all day at home on the couch instead of coming to work. Right?

I had this horrible head cold all weekend long. I hate feeling sick in the summer, It shouldn't happen at all. But I guess that is what happens when you don't get enough sleep and are around funky people. I was around plenty of them on Friday too. At work, at the hair salon, at the vet's office and then, of course, the funky people at Blockbuster. Serves me right. All that to get Basic Instinct 2. Didn't even watch it. Why would I want to look at someone almost twice my age that looks that much better than me? I beat myself up enough, thank you very much. Anyhow I didn't want to see it, Russ did. So he watched it. And said he liked it. Of course he did *wink*

Did I ever say that I wish I had more money? Because if I didn't I am telling you now. I wish I did. Not so much to buy this and that, but in order to do certain things. There are concerts I want to go see. There are plays I want to watch. There are places (and people) I want to visit. I want to have lunch with friends with out worrying if I will have money for gas. That's the kind of thing I wish I had money for. OK. Maybe the occasional new top or shoes. I am a girl after all. So yes, I wish I had more money. Just thought you all should know. (I do accept donations!)

My big highlight of the year is to go to the Wisconsin State Fair (sad isn't it?). We normally end up dropping about $100 which is relatively cheap. We don't play any of the games or do any of the rides. Mostly spend on buying food/drink and the occasional "as seen on TV" item. I have to have at least one thing. Well, that is coming up soon, and I am busy trying to save up some $$ for it. The other main expense we have is a trip with the dogs. This year we went to Michigan for three nights. It is always fun, and we had great weather, but even that cost over $400. So, those are our main expenditures. Not a whole lot, but with cash flow an issue, I really have to pick and choose what I spend money on. It gets hard, let me tell you. I know I am preaching to the choir, but sometimes I think people don't get it. *Sigh*

MySpace

2006-07-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Now that I have sent this blog out, people have asked me why I have MySpace as well as this. To put it simply, I was having waaay to many issues with MySpace and the blogging. at least 70% of the time, I couldn't even see the bulletins, let alone get into the blog pages. And, yes, I don't have millions of things to get done, but I really do have better things to do with my time. Or should be doing with it...

So I will still visit my MySpace, but I will actively post here.

Hmm.

2006-07-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Now what?

I spend all this time thinking about writing a blog, and then I get writers’ block? What is all that about anyway? All of a sudden I am thinking that, what if so and so reads this? Will they get mad? Will they not understand? I have not even made enough posts to count on one hand, and I am already planning on censoring myself.

Great.

When did it become difficult to drop your film off for developing? I swear, I went in to the little market place at my work that offers film developing from a local shop. I go in there and I was standing there for about 10 minutes while I tried to figure out their price listing and options. At least 5 different sizes, 3 different processing options, matte or not, CD or not, doubles or not, and on and on. And to make it more interesting, there are then deal combos stating that if you picked this and that, you could get another set free, or a CD for half the price or whatever. Ok, now this is all nice, but I don’t even know what is on this roll of film I am dropping off. That would matter to me if I spend the extra $ for a CD. That way I can share them with all of you :-) Well, I felt someone breathing down my neck waiting in line so I slapped a special sticker on the form that offered a deal of single 4x5 prints with a CD. We’ll see if that was a wise choice…(watch, I bet I only used 10 of the available 24 shots, and I just blew 8.99)

Why is it that on the days at work that I really want people to email me, they don’t, and when I am so busy that I can’t even go pee until the end of the day (now I know how my dogs feel when we leave them home alone all day), I hear from just about everyone in my address book?

And just why in the world am I wishing that the power would go out at work so that we will be sent home? Don’t I know how much more work that will cause so many people, not to mention the fact that the A/C will also be off? But then again, I feel like I am sitting in the North Pole and that any second now, some elves are going to come to my desk and ask me where the newest TPS report is. Maybe if the power went out, I could then take my enormous sweater off.

Before I forget, I want to thank my friend Trish for introducing me to her blog. If I didn’t see hers and love reading it all the time, I would not have started mine. :-) Thanks Trish!

I do need to get busy on customizing the page a bit, and placing some pictures, but geez, give me some time. I don’t even know what half this crazy computer language means. Be lucky that I am even posting(that’s right, you are the lucky ones here). Some things that you will probably see on here: My Dogs, Mandy and Sam. I hope that you all like Basset Hounds, because they will be the most posted about for sure. But if you don’t, I really don’t care. Look anyway. Maybe I will put some pictures up of the garden we are attempting in the back yard. So far it is doing good. I cannot take claim to it though. There are snakes that run rampant in our backyard (yes, we live in the city!) so I steer waaaay clear of it for the most part. You might hear me talk of Russ-that is my boyfriend. Man, that sounds so queer to say. We have been together since I was 19, and I am now, **cough** 31. Don’t ask about marriage. That will be another post for another day. I might post about my brother and his racing, my Dad and Sandy, my Mom and her flower shop and her neighbor’s goats, my crazy ass carpool friends, my Nani who is in a nursing home, and just other crap along the way-as I proved to you with my random thoughts above. Every now and then you just might find something interesting.

Maybe.