I am really tired

Tired! Tired! Tired!.. After 4 days off, back to work UGH! It was really the same stuff. At the moment, I am not feeling inspired but I do have some stories. My kids are such and endless source of entertainment in such an annoying way. Tonight, we were watching the local Public station. I am a huge fan of Broadway musicals and WTTW, our local PBS, was doing clips from the many years of the Tony awards. I made the mistake of a) sitting and b) enjoying myself. About five minutes later, the sounds of Cassie and Kristopher fighting downstairs, the the usual plod up the stairs from Cassie and she was crying about something. I only heard "blah blah blah Kris. Something something not fair." And a few minutes later,up the stairs came Mister innocent with a completely different accounting. Of course I wasn't in the room and didn't see who started what or who kicked who or who was annoying first. I was just annoyed that I can't watch anything, read anything, work on anything without the sounds of two kids fighting in the background. It's like the soundtrack of my life. WAR! GOOD GOD YA ALL! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?..ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! SAY IT AGAIN! So, me being the great mom that I am, went to the bathroom and closed the door and there I stayed. Everytime a kid said something, I turned the water on. I figured they would get bored and go away eventually. BUT CASSIE TRICKED ME!!! I opened the door after 10 minutes or so in an attempt to sneak back to my comfy chair, and the minute she heard the door open, SHE POUNCED! ARGH! That was my evening! So now, I am sitting here just enjoying the fact that the kids are in bed. Yes, I know I should go there myself but these moments to myself are so few and far between that is seems like such a waste not to take advantage of it.

Nite all!

We need a womans version!

World's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?"
The girl said,"NO!" And the guy lived happily ever after and went fishing, hunting and played golf a lot and drank beer and farted whenever he wanted.

The day after

I have to share this because it's so darn funny! Today at lunch, as we were eating our leftover turkey (Of course), the kitchen was cleaned up and we were relaxing. I had Kristopher take the garbage to the garage. When he got back, he saw us eating something and started griping he was still hungry. The kid is ALWAYS hungry.. You know he ate pretty much all day yesterday from dusk till dawn but I digress. I said if you really want something, go have one of those tangerines. Kris is a menace with the rinds though. They never hit the garbage and I've been sweeping them up all over the house so I was giving him a little static about being messy with the things and this time to make sure that ALL the rinds hit the garbage can and if he threw them in the garbage without a bag I'd be angry. I meant a GARBAGE bag because he had just taken the garbage to the garage and of course did not put in a new bag. The picture says it all.
On another note:
I hope everyone had a really nice Thanksgiving. The buzzword of ours was LAZY and we were! It was soooo nice. After Halloween, we were all trying to figure out if we were going to do a potluck or go out. What we decided on was to do neither. We did Thanksgiving ala Boston Market and it was DEFINITELY the best choice. 5 minutes it took me to order the whole thing..Turkey, stuffing, taters and gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls and pie. The cost was about what I would spend if I bought all the ingredients at the store and the time it took to prepare everything equaled the time it took me to go there and pick it up and warm it up. We didn't miss out on a thing and have plenty of leftovers. Clean up time equaled the time it took to throw all the Chinet plates in the garbage. But they were special holiday Chinet plates. Today..well I murphy oil soaped the wood furniture and cabinets, vacuumed up crushed pretzels in the carpet and straightened up the kitchen. A lot of people have a holiday tradition to go shopping today. My holiday tradition is to avoid the store at all costs from now until January. I think it's a good tradition! No circling the parking lot for an hour looking for a spot in BFI, no crowds, no screaming kids, no Salvation Army Santas, no people pushing me out of the way for the $20 dollar DVD player, no one stepping on my feet, no lines, no stroller traffic no getting up at 5am and waiting in a line outside the size of the Great Wall of China. NO THANK YOU! I have discovered the joy of online shopping and that is what I'll stick to. Yeah! Yeah!..I know the best sales at the store blah blah blah. What I save in stress and annoyance is something you just can't put a price on, not even for a $10 sweater at Old Navy. Click Click Click and send! VOILA...Christmas delivered UPS man, my brown shirted Santa Claus! Have a great "Black Friday!" I'm sitting at home in my jammies NYAH NYAH

I would just...

Like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I for one, have already started on Holiday Spirits! May you do the same and find something in your life to be really thankful for.

I am thankful right now..Thankful that it's Wednesday. I have a cold beer. I am done working for the night and EMILY IS WITH GRANDMA!!! Which means, I'm going to the movies to see Welcome Back Potter! er um..Harry Potter.

Wingardium Leviosa! and Happy Holiday to you all!
I am leaving you with a Thanksgiving recipe that has been in my family for many years. I shouldn't even be posting it but I feel like sharing

How to cook your Thanksgiving Turkey!


Step 1: Go buy a turkey
Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey
Step 3: Put turkey in the oven
Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey
Step 5: Set the degree at 350 ovens
Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink
Step 7: Turn oven the on
Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky
Step 9: Turk the bastey
Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get
Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer
Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey
Step 13: Bake the whiskey for 4 hours
Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick
Step 17: Turk the carvey
Step 18: Get yourself another wottle of biskey
Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey
Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

Can you say STRESSSSSSS?

Hello reader.. I know there's one of you out there.. AH YES! I see you in the back. "Helloooooo" *waves*
So, here it is, the week before Thanksgiving. Please remind me, and I know you will, to take this week OFF next year! As I am the official departmental backup, I am backing up not 1...not 2...but 3 people tomorrow. Today, I received over 100 emails that all started out the same... "I know that so and so is out and since your his/her backup, can you resolve this in an hour?" I had one hour of power training on Thursday to learn to do some reports but today, I had to find equipment I never heard of from vendors I didn't know existed.

I sat down to do these reports Friday and SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE! it didn't work for me and there was no one to ask. SOOO, my day was spent fighting with the reports and databases and they just didn't get done. I still don't know why 3 of them won't run for me. I did figure out why one of them wouldn't. You want to know why? BECAUSE I HAD A STUPID DASH IN THE WRONG &%#*) PLACE!!! AN ALL DAY DEBACLE OVER A &%)* DASH!!!! That report did go out this morning though and I am DAMN proud of myself. To top it off, Emily was a really big pain in the patutie. Has anyone tried to fight with Microsoft Access and a 19 month old at the same time? I wouldn't recommend it. When Emily doesn't like a food, the plate or bowl goes flying. My kitchen has been christened with a bowl of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, a hot dog and a plate full of chicken and mashed potatoes and I am almost the ex mother of a 19 month old girl. I put ME in time out three times today. Now if only someone would just send me to my room....

I am SO not sure this is a good idea

I bought Emily a toy piano today for Christmas. I keep thinking that decision will blow up in my face but the musical toys have been a HUGE hit with the little girl. Silently, I am absolutely LOVING the fact that my child likes music. Actually, all my children like music. Kristopher is quite a decent young trumpet player. Cass is very impressive on her clarinet for the short time she's been playing. Emily carries around a toy called "Mozart Magic Cube" and played with it so much, it only works sometimes. From a young age, I've tried to introduce the kids to different music knowing full well that eventually they'll fall into the Brittney Christina Carey pop music trap and all that manufactured, overly marketed, digitized music with stars with less than an ounce of talent because that is what is cool! It is happening with Cassie who is all about some boring group called "Simple Plan" YAWN! BUT, when her friends aren't around, I catch her listening to Broadway music, Norah Jones kind of Jazz, and Classic Rock. This is proof, I have done my job! I will continue on introducing them to as many different forms of music as I can but please...NO COUNTRY MUSIC!! El Yucko! They know Johnny Cash and that's all they need to know of the genre.
SOOO to make a short story long, a little 30 key Spinet piano will be arriving to introduce my youngest to the world of musicianship. You can see the piano here.

There really is no other news. I plan on spending my Saturday night cleaning out the fridge. Whoopeeeee!!! I'm just waiting for my youngest little terror to go to bed as absolutely NOTHING gets done when she's awake.

PS The purple crayon marks came off the TV screen fairly easily, thank goodness!

There are purple crayon marks on my TV screen. EMILY!!!!!!!!

The Ebay Song

The Ebay Song

HA HA!
Enjoy!

Cassie's latest tantrum!

The vet called today to remind me that I have yet to pick up my cat, CC's ashes. It's not that I didn't love my cat or don't miss the little guy. It's that my kitty has gone to kitty heaven and I've been comfortable with just the memories of what a little pain in the butt he was. Of course, after the vet called, there was some discussion as to where we were going to put the ashes. Kris wanted them in the LIVING ROOM! Argh..no. No ashes. That is just a disaster waiting to happen around here. I told him we would figure it out when we picked them up and they would probably be in his room somewhere. The ashes DO come in a decorative tin after all. Well, that caused Cassie's little head to spin around 360 degrees. "MOM! I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING OF CC's..IT'S NOT FAIR. I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" She then went to Kris's room and snagged CC's collar that Kris keeps on his desk. I told her to put it back. She stomped. She screamed. She cried. SHE WENT TO HER ROOM! Glory be for a little peace and quiet for all of about 5 minutes! I should add CC was more Kristophers buddy. For some reason, the little black buddy bonded with the boy more so than Cass or me and it was Kris who took CC's illness and death the hardest. It only seemed logical to me that he keep the cats ashes. But to Cassie, things were just UNFAIR. Kris has the collar! SHE should have the ashes. I am thinking of grinding up some prozac into the childs juice box. Anyhoo... Kristopher presented me with the following note from Cassie. I hope it amuses you as much as it amused me.

It was folded about 15 times and the outside fold said

"To my family. Give it to mom afterwards."

The body of the note said this:
Dear Everyone,
I miss CC.and the fact that I don't have anything of him is rude. In fact whose bed did he sleep on first. Who was his first buddy and whose ears did he kiss first. That's right! ME! I miss him. Each of you write back!
PS I should have signed up for rainbows.
Love,
Cassie

OK.. what is it with the note thing? For an hour or so, she asked if I was going to write her back. "No!" I said. "You're sitting right there. Why should I write you a note?"

At this point, Emily is so much easier! I am going to enjoy it everyday because one day, she'll go psycho on me too as all little girls do. It's easy to determine what she wants. She wants juice or a cookie. She wants to take a nap or sit on my lap. Cassie, OY! Try explaining anything to this child and she doesn't even know what she wants half the time. EVERYTHING is an issue and she has this tit for tat, eye for an eye sense of justice. TO her, fair is 50/50. The big picture gets lost. If Kris has the collar, she should have the ashes...period! If Kris has two pieces of chicken at dinner and she only has one, then she feels she is entitled to the leftovers. It's only fair right? Even though she eats like a bird and Kris is 12 and would eat the plate the food is served on if he could. Her black and white thinking scares me. There are no shades of gray and that will get her into trouble as she experiences more of life.

Peace and all that...!

A good idea??

A couple of days ago, I was listening to talk radio on WLS and the topic of discussion was a bakery in NY that many moms were protesting due to the fact that the owner put a handwritten sign on the door that stated that children should use their "indoor" voices when visiting the bakery. That caused quite an UPROAR with some moms who just don't want to waste time monitoring their childrens behavior in a public place. Perhaps the owner would have been more effective with a sign like this on his door. What do you think?

Thanks Bill in GA for sending that. I got quite a laugh!

Peace!

I'm bored. Thrill me!

What a totally, boring, non-eventful, absolutely nothing going on kinda day. AND,it was the kind of Fall day I don't like to boot, all rainy and cold and dreary. I had some trouble staying focused on my job and found myself off in space many times. One positive thing, Emmie went to daycare so it was a Doodlebop-less day which was nice! For those that aren't familiar with Playhouse Disney and the Doodlebops
this should say it all. SIDENOTE: Some girls think the dude with the orange hair is HOT! That fact gives me comfort. If a bunch of girls/women/teens can drool all over a guy with orange hair, there is hope for me. They are slightly less annoying than Barney. And, no one thought BARNEY was hot so that's another in the Doodles favor. Orange dude beats purple dinosaur hands down! Now we could say something about the purple teletubbie but I will not go in that direction. OK! I'm being silly..silly and bored.

I had a huge taste for baked chicken so I grabbed some drumsticks out of the fridge. I love chicken! It's a busy moms dream. There isn't anything you can do to it that will ruin it. Today, I basted it with butter seasoned with sage, poultry seasoning , salt, pepper and some Turkey seasoning I bought from Williams and Sonoma and baked it in a pan with some white wine, water and onions for about 45 minutes. It was REALLY good for a throw together meal that took me all of 15 minutes to prepare. I like to dabble a bit sometimes with dinner and find I really like to cook when I have the time but most days, it's whatever is in the freezer with whatever is on hand, mixed up, baked or broiled and that's what we call dinner. I have gotten some really good ideas on Epicurious They are a great source of recipes including the best ideas from Gourmet, Bon Appetite and from readers themselves. Always read the reviews as there are some great ideas from other cooks to make the dishes even better. I usually cook Christmas Eve dinner and I do enjoy planning it, reviewing recipes, shopping and cooking it.

I will leave you with a joke sent by my friend in GA. It cracked me up! I apologize if you've seen before.

Daily Wisdom:
WICOE

(Women In Charge Of Everything)


is proud to announce the opening of its


EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN!



ALL ARE WELCOME



OPEN TO MEN ONLY



Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty, each
course
will accept a maximum of eight participants

The course covers two days, and topics covered in this course
include:


DAY ONE

HOW TO FILL ICE CUBE TRAYS
Step by step guide with slide presentation

TOILET ROLLS- DO THEY GROW ON THE HOLDERS?
Roundtable discussion

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAUNDRY BASKET & FLOOR
Practicing with hamper (Pictures and graphics)

DISHES & SILVERWARE; DO THEY LEVITATE/FLY TO KITCHEN SINK OR
DISHWASHER BY THEMSELVES?
Debate among a panel of experts.

REMOTE CONTROL
Losing the remote control - Help line and support groups

LEARNING HOW TO FIND THINGS
Starting with looking in the right place instead of turning the

house upside down while screaming - Open forum


DAY TWO

EMPTY MILK CARTONS; DO THEY BELONG IN THE FRIDGE OR THE BIN?
Group discussion and role play

HEALTH WATCH; BRINGING HER FLOWERS IS NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR
HEALTH
PowerPoint presentation

REAL MEN ASK FOR DIRECTIONS WHEN LOST
Real life testimonial from the one man who did

IS IT GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SIT QUIETLY AS SHE PARALLEL
PARKS?
Driving simulation

LIVING WITH ADULTS; BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR MOTHER AND
YOUR
PARTNER
Online class and role playing

HOW TO BE THE IDEAL SHOPPING COMPANION
Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques

REMEMBERING IMPORTANT DATES & CALLING WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO BE
LATE
Bring your calendar or PDA to class

GETTING OVER IT; LEARNING HOW TO LIVE WITH BEING WRONG ALL THE
TIME
Individual counselors available

Coming up with new titles is getting difficult.

Here it is another Sunday. I'm taking a little break as I did about 5 loads of wash, cleaned the kitchen floor and spot cleaned the carpet to remove the new puke stains from one very active little toddler girl. It seemed like a good idea today as she is off with her grandparents visiting her other side of the family. All in all, it's been a very unexciting week and very uneventful. A few have asked what is going on with the court case. For those that don't know me or are unsure of the background, you can read the story here. I was served with court papers back in June, ME, can you believe that? B. possibly thought this was a way to really screw me. I don't know. Possibly perhaps he doesn't know either but at the time that he served the papers (which had Em's birthday and address WRONG by the way) it must have SEEMED like a good idea. However, we are all just laughing at his superior intellect. One of my friends asks me every time, "What does he want again?" To which I reply, "No one really knows." Other than a few status hearings, there wasn't much movement until just recently.
My attorney called the day before our last status hearing to let me know that there was a change in the location. Previously, the attorneys were going downtown which is 30 miles from here which is very strange considering there is a local circuit court not more than 5 miles from here. He also asked me if B. was indeed the father of my youngest. HUH? I said, Yes! I never denied that. My attorney said..OK just checking because B. had told his attorney that I was going to deny it in court. I honestly have no idea where this guy comes up with this stuff as in my response to his initial petition, I didn't deny anything. He asked me how long it's been since he's seen the child which was last August 04. He asked me if B. called and asked for visititation since the last time he's seen her. Well, no not really. He's called to tell me he was taking me to court like 3 times and ONE time he wanted to know if he and his parents could take her to see his grandmother and I did send her. My attorney told me that the judge was getting impatient with the slow movement of the case and I should, in a token of good faith, get things moving along a little. We were going to ask for temporary support which would remain in effect until the conclusion of the case and I, to be fair, should offer him visitation, supervised in his parents home for a few hours each week. GAK!! I reluctantly agreed. I may as well get used to it AND make it work in my favor somehow. You know what they say about lemons and lemonade. As of yet, I have not heard anything on this offer of mine. I received an email from B's mom asking for a copy of the birth certificate so that he can give it to his insurance company. I replied well, he's not on the Birth certificate as he didn't bother to show up for the birth or to the hospital which may mean the insurance co won't accept it. And if he wants anything from me, he can ask me himself. What a pussy! I'm all of 5'4. He's 6'4 and has 100 lbs on me. What am I going to do to him? Kick him in the shins to death? Bite his kneecaps? But, he did write me and I did answer him and I haven't heard anything about it since. We do have to go to a notary and do this together. Yay!
My attorney wrote up a proposed settlement which I am reviewing and making corrections. I will call the lawyer tomorrow and figure out a time to go in and modify the proposal and we will take it from there. That is the end of the update. In other news, my kids broke my vacuum cleaner. A word from the wise: DO NOT VACUUM WATER unless the vac is a wet/dry of course. Engine POOF! So, on the shopping list is now:
1 vacuum cleaner broken by who knows..Kris and Cass both deny it.
1 dryer which is still not drying correctly even after de-linting it.
1 washing machine - you all know the story.
1 charcoal grill broken by son who ran his bike into it
1 garage door which is trashed due to the same reason as above
1 gas grill which has been home to a bunch of hornets for 2 years now.
We are the entropy family! For those not familiar with the concept of entropy, it's the theory in Chemistry that matter tends to revert back to its most disorganized state. In other words, things fall apart and they are ALWAYS falling apart around here with a little help from my kids, the most destructive forces known to man! Beware hurricane Katrina! I introduce to you Hurricanes Kristopher, Cassandra and Emily. Please notify the Red Cross. A little assistance is needed here!

Take care everyone and here are words of wisdom for today. I had this on my desk at work for many years.

Accept Change with a Smile

Sooner or later a crisis will enter your life, and how you meet it determines your future happiness and success. Since the beginning of time, everyone has been called upon to meet such a crisis.

A closer look will show you that most "crisis situations" are opportunities to either advance or stay where you are. Indeed most changes in your life will take place out of either "inspiration" or "desperation."

Whatever comes your way, give it meaning and transform it into something of value. Your personal growth is the process of responding positively to change.

A precious stone cannot be polished without friction, nor humanity perfected without trials.

Author Unknown

I apologize for the downtime

Well, that was very odd.
This blog could not be viewed via IE for awhile there. I apologize for the downtime but the problem was my template. I usually use Firefox and was able to view everything and therefore did not notice. For some reason Microsoft Internet Explorer got picky about something and kabashed the whole thing.
Whoops. Darn computers!

And now some wisdom!
Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of
falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the
ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think >something
is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to
wait for the right man to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb
all the way to the top of the tree. Share this with other women who are
good apples, even those who have already been picked!
Now Men....
Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to
stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to
have dinner with.

And now a word from my sensitive side.

Please don't tell anyone I have one. As far as you are concerned, I am a BITCH! (Babe in Total Control of Herself)So, here it is, my sensitive side presents:

BEFORE I WAS A MOM

Before I was a Mom, I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed.

I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.
Before I was a Mom

I cleaned my house each day.

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on.

Pooped on. Spit on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.



Before I was a Mom

I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.



Before I was a Mom

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.



And before I was a Grandma (I'm not a grandma but it's part of the essay so bear with me)

I didn't know that all those "Mom" feelings more than doubled!

My cynical side sez:
Before I was a mom, I had trim hips and thighs.
Before I was a mom, I still didn't sleep all night because I was out.
Before I was a mom...ah forget it! SHHHH...I wouldn't trade them for anything but don't let them know that.

DAMN!

I would just like to reiterate my major loathing for spyware.
Yesterday, my son downloaded WINFIXER quite accidentally. This is so incredibly difficult to get rid of as it bundles with other advertising software and has many many components. Norton couldn't isolate it nor could any of my spyware blasters. I tried a manual removal in a DOS window but I CAN'T GET ACCESS TO THE FILE! I refuse to call GEEK SQUAD..I JUST REFUSE! Especially since I am, by all accounts, a geek myself. I will figure this out and open my own spyware removal business, make lots of money and retire.. HA HA. I think I need Joe's REFRIDGETOR ice cube trays of death to help me out.
If anyone has anything that works, please let me know. I have tried Microsoft Beta, Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-aware and Norton Antivirus. All have proved fruitless. NOW, it's personal! I'm aware of the geek forum and tech guy who all recommend downloading HiJack this and about 6 other applications, reboot in safe mode, change a bunch of crap, wave a wand, do a dance and restart the computer twice and Voila! It's all gone. Just too much technical stuff for my brain to handle. I must run for the present. I have a focus group tonight so I must go focus. Then, I will attack the spyware with impunity. It will be gone! OH YES! It will be gone!

EDITED TO ADD: The damn thing is still there BUT, in my defense, I didn't have time last night to work on it. All I did was download some online spyware deathray and we shall see.

A short joke that cracked me up

A husband was in big trouble when he forgot his
wedding anniversary. His wife told him "Tomorrow there
better be something in the driveway for me that goes zero to 200 in 2 seconds flat". The next morning the wife found a small package in the driveway. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Funeral arrangements for the husband have been set for Saturday.

What's the point?

Ahhh Sunday night, the pre-cursor to Monday morning and unfortunately it's another five days to next Saturday. I don't really have anything exciting planned. I just like the idea of not getting up early to work. But it's not like I get to sleep late. Miss Emmie is usually wide awake by 7:30 whether it's a weekend or not. I just like the idea of getting up and sitting on my butt in front of the computer with my cup of coffee (I LOVE COFFEE!) and relaxing!

What did I accomplish today? Nada! Well, I did wash the kitchen floor which was sticky with spilled beer and juice. It stayed clean for all of about 5 minutes before Emily decided her hot dog was a totally unacceptable lunch and dumped it on the floor and then Cass followed that up by being especially messy making her lunch too. Bathroom is clean, dusting done, vaccumming is done and 4 loads of laundry. What a day! What a life! Is it this mundane for everyone? I didn't feel left out of anything though. It's rainy and cold and it was perfect for lounging in jammies and watching movies on Lifetime and that's exactly what I did and I LIKED IT! I added a little google search bar to my blog just in case I bore my reader and she really needs to leave for somewhere in a super hurry! Give it a whirl! I think I got it to work right :)

The point of this post..? There isn't one. I just wanted an excuse to post a pic of the kids on Halloween! Enjoy!

Kinda fun

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html
Yankee Test-- I thought this was kinda interesting and since I had nothing better to do on a Saturday night, I discovered that I am indeed a Yank. Who woulda thunk?

A few things that piss me off

1) I hate spyware. I hate spyware. I hate spyware and did I mention I hate spyware? I have wasted more time trying to remove that crap from my computer that I want a credit at the end of my life for all that time wasted because some pimply faced teenager can't get a date and needs something to do with himself. Something downloaded onto my PC the other day that would not allow me to launch my browser. After 4 hours and 4 downloads of different spyware blasters, I finally found one that worked and it wasn't free :(.



2) I finally bought myself a dishwasher..YAY!!! Got a good deal at Sears believe it or not on a spiffy white Maytag. I finally got sick of putting my hand in a sink full of greasy, disgusting water that no one drained after they did the dishes. I HATE THAT! So, in the morning before I make my coffee, part of that ritual is to drain the sink just so I can empty the remaining cold coffee down and rinse out the pot. YUCK

3) I hate the F"N blue screen of death!!! Damn microsoft!

4) I hate it when the someone actually brings the full garbage bag to the garage but doesn't put a new bag in. GRRRRR...

5) Hello people!~ What is so difficult about replacing the toilet paper roll and why do we insist on leaving it on the sink so the paper gets all wet? HUH? Is it so difficult to put it on the toilet paper thingy??

6) WHY IS THERE A MILK CARTON IN THE FRIDGE WITH ENOUGH MILK IN IT TO FILL A THIMBLE?

7) Doesn't it seem like whatever lane you're in, the other one moves faster? And why is it that I always seem to get caught driving behind someone going about 20 miles under the speed limit about 1 mile before my exit?

8) Why doesn't anyone put the cap back on the toothpaste?

9) IF YOU MISS THE GARBAGE CAN WHILE PRETENDING TO BE MICHAEL JORDAN, PICK UP THE DAMN GARBAGE FROM THE FLOOR AND TRY AGAIN. DO NOT LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR!

This post will be edited as I find more little annoyances.

Another round

*Sigh* with the lice. I really hate them and once again, Cass has brought them home with her. The only difference is this time, she's the only one who has them though, I did have to treat everyones hair again last night. I honestly do not know what to do. I suspect that she is getting them from her very good friend and I hate to put my foot down and tell her she can't go over there anymore but on the other hand, all the lice treatments are so expensive. Shampoo, spray, combs, nit removal gel costs me $30 a pop to treat all of us. I don't want to embarrass this family either. They've been pretty good to Cass. Suggestions? Should I write Dear Abby? More laundry is going to the laundromat today, more vacumming will be done, and once again, the pillows are bagged for a few weeks. Well that's that and it has to be done. I just don't know how to stop her from bringing these critters home with her. Then of course, to add REAL insult to injury, Emmie pooped in her tub last night while I was given her a bath.

Halloween night went well. The kids brought back about 45lbs of candy. They were on a mission! Ironically, the dentist that lives in this area has a reputation of giving out the best candy. A little incentive for his business perhaps??? Things that make you go HMMMMMM? I made my usual two pots of chili, had plenty of cold beer and had Emily provide her usual entertainment. She was dressed as a little devil this year and she played her part so beautifully by having two HUGE hissy fits before we hit the neighborhood. I took her to a few houses but grandma and grandpa took her for the majority. She wanted to walk by herself and apparantly, after a few houses, she caught on that when you knock on a door, SOMEONE GIVES YOU CANDY!!! So, she knocked on every door herself. As soon as we upload pics, I'll post some.

In other news, there is no other news. I'm off work today and about to get my butt off this chair and do something useful. I have to take Kris downtown later and I'm finally buying that new dishwasher YAY! My two dishwashers (Kris and Cass) do a really bad job so, I'm trashing them for a new model.