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« July 2004 | Main | September 2004 »
I bought some CM bread machine mix in hawaiian sweet bread flavor.
It tastes like this brand.
Oh my gawd was that awesome.
So simple and very tasty although next time I need to make it with a light crust instead of medium.
I'm learning the machine still.
If you get lazy, try Krusteaz or CM. Very tasty.
I just finished watching The Passion of the Christ.
Now many of you know that I am an atheist and you probably think I'm going to rip this movie apart and laugh and make fun etc etc. Not entirely true.
I didn't laugh while watching it. I didn't cry either.
I honestly don't see why so many people were all emotional over this.
People were coming out of the theaters when this played, crying and saying that it was the most powerful movie they have ever seen.
Why?
If you grew up with religion in your life, this story that played out on the screen is one you have heard a million times growing up and every easter, your church probably does some sort of easter play about it. I know the church I grew up in did.
We did Christmas pageants and easter pageants and musicals etc etc.
This isn't a new story, it isn't even really a new telling of the story.
It's the same old story.
With a bigger budget.
I found it overly bloody. Like excessive.
Maybe it happened that way and maybe it didn't. We will never really know because the story of his crucifixion wasn't actually written down until some 50-60 years after the fact.
I wasn't impressed with it at all.
Not because I'm a non-believer but because I grew up with religion and have heard the story a million times and just found it to be overly bloody and truth be told, rather boring.
There was nothing magical or moving about it.
There was no moment of overwhelming need to believe.
I was simply not impressed.
For the amount of money spent making it and the amount of money and time spent hyping it, it should have been something great.
It was the same old story told the same old way and left me feeling blah.
I let the boys watch it and they quickly got bored and if it was meant to convert people and make them want to believe, it did a bad job.
Mark said when it was over, that it did nothing to prove that Jesus was the son of god and in fact, made a more compelling argument against that theory.
I need to stop talking to him so much about law and stuff. He's using big words back at me.
He said that all the times Jesus cried out for his father and nothing happened, it just proved that there was no god. His father never answered him and all his faith was for nothing.
Now believers would say that that is because Jesus was meant to die for us and save us from our sins and this is how it was meant to be but when trying to convert new people to the faith, that story sort of backfires.
I think if I were to ever show the boys a christian movie again, that I would have to go with Jesus Christ Superstar which actually did more for my beliefs way back when I went to church and didn't disbelieve as I do now.
That movie had a much more profound effect on me simply for the way it was told and the music which can do so much more to stir peoples emotions than a language which has been dead for thousands of years.
My advice, save your money and wait for your church to put on it's annual easter pageant.
I got in the mail today some majorly kickass coupons for them and I am offering them to one smoker.
They are coupons for $10 off a carton, $6 off a carton, $4 off a carton and $1 off a pack.
There is also a reply card to fill out for more coupons in the mail.
If you want these, email me.
came home, ate, read emails and then went and rented The Passion of the Christ and Kill Bill 2.
I had watched Kill Bill 2 over at my sisters house but kept getting interrupted so we are watching it again and I wanted to see Passion because I really want to know what all the hype is about.
I will let you know what I think about it after I watch it.
I'm pretty wiped out now and want to just kick back for a bit.
Don't forget to vote if you have elections in your area today.
*Quote/ Princess Diana (July 1, 1961-August 31, 1997)
The kids are getting ready to head off to school after a really lame attempt of faking sick.
Cough cough, my stomach.
So which is it?
I don't know, can you take my temperature.
98.2.
Go to school.
Today is local election day so if it's your local election day, get out there and vote.
It's your duty as an american to vote.
Make your voice heard.
You may think your one little voice doesn't matter but it does. One voice can totally change the course of history.
Later days.
*Update*
So who's a member of this group?
It's all in fun?
My sister and I rarely ever argue. When we do though, it's big, lasts for days and then we get over it.
But for the most part, we work really well together.
She has to work a lot of hours and she needs some things done around her house but she can't be there to meet the workers who need to do the work so I go hang out while they do their thing and she gets to stay at work so she can pay for the work that the workers are working on.
Follow that?
Sorry, med stoned so I'm all over the place typing but in my head, it's crystal fucking clear what I'm saying.
So anyway, I went over today and hung out while things are getting done and she gave me money to take a cab home.
She doesn't live far at all, maybe a few blocks but one walk there is enough to send me into muscle spasms for the rest of the night so it was cool that she left me some cash so I could get home.
Borrowed 2 movies and came home.
I'm probably going to do it again soon too.
mailed my stuff. Those of you who emailed me your home addys, your box tops are on the way. The one person who didn't send me the addy, well, you will have to wait until I save more.
You snooze, you lose and as any of my snail mail friends can attest to, I suck at snail mail so getting these out today was a miracle in itself.
Shell, I got your mail. Thank you.
Oh, I bought a new flashlight. Thrilling eh? Publix had those lantern style flashlights for like $5.50 so I bought one. The boys pretty much broke my other small hand held ones so this one will stay with me in a safe place till it's needed.
I am so boring today eh?
Really, I have nothing much to say today at all.
I have to go back up to my sisters house in about a half hour or so and do some stuff there.
Later days.
I have to get a few things and stuff and then come back home to make phone calls and wait for phone calls etc etc.
Hope you all have a good monday.
Later days.
Adventure Island yesterday and had a blast.
I stayed at her house and took care of a few things.
While they were there, Mark somehow managed to get elbowed in the eye by someone on one of the slides and now has a huge shiner. It even got cut a little.
He is ok but it looks awful.
So I told him to tell his friends that that's the best shot the other guy got in..lol
They played all day and came home and were dead tired.
Everyone here is asleep now but me and I just can't sleep yet.
Too many things that I need to do tomorrow making it difficult to fall asleep tonight.
Don't you hate that?
This is hurricane Frances which is right now a category 4 and heading toward the US.
We so don't need another major storm but as our weather people keep telling us, we aren't even at the peak of hurricane season.
I'm going to head to the store tomorrow and grab more canned crap and more bread etc etc and just be ready should this thing get closer to us.
This is just the projected path right now. Who knows where it could go.
The kids helped me clean the house and are now making action figure movies with my sisters camcorder.
Mark loves to make movies and direct and write scripts etc.
It's so funny how one day, he is a complete turd about doing his paid job and the next day, he's playing with his action figures and singing some operatic death song.
I'm not kidding either.
I caught him the other night.
I went in to tell him I was going outside for a few minutes and then it would be time for bed. Sebastian was already asleep and ex-roommate was coughing herself silly in her room.
I walked into his bedroom and was just about to tell him when I heard the singing. At first I thought it was the radio but then I realized it was him.
I turned to leave without laughing and getting caught and he turned around and caught me so he laughed all embarrassed and came charging at me.
We went outside and had a good laugh about it and he told me that he either wants to be a lawyer or a director like Tarantino.
Cool I said.
He has these great story lines and ideas and he writes them all down when I remind him too but for the most part, it's a huge elaborate storyline in his head with tea and singing and fighting and death and heroes and villains and just great stuff.
So they are in there today filming a great movie that will be sent off to grandparents and aunts and maybe a studio or two.
*note*
Googles bots should love all these words I used. It's not like I don't already get google search hits for moms and movies.
"The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held,
but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held
tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment
lead to their abandonment. This is the way opinions are held in science,
as opposed to the way in which they are held in theology."
[Bertrand Russell, "Unpopular Essays"]
I am so tired.
I really didn't do much at all but what I did do made me tired.
No takers on all those free box tops?
Okey dokey.
No worries, I just felt like offering them up.
Oh and Bob, no matter what terms you throw in here to spam me with, I will blacklist them all.
I will give you credit for being so persistent but I am just as persistent.
Apparently, the middle school is not interested in Box Tops for Education.
I have a huge bag full of box tops and campbell soup labels that I have been collecting since school let out last May. I'm debating what to do with them.
If you are a mom with kids younger than mine whose school still collects box tops, let me know in the comments. I'd be happy to divide my clippings every couple of months between 3 regular reading moms who wouldn't oppose giving out their snail mail address. Leave your name and interest in the clippings in the comments and I'll email you for your address.
Also, have you heard about Upromise? The way to save for college?
If not, go check it out and get started while your kids are still young. It takes the things you buy everyday and gives you a small percentage toward your kids future.
I found out about it so late but I still do it every time I shop and the money does add up. (especially with 2 boys eating me out of house and home)
You can get your family and friends to sign up under you as well and save even more.
*UPDATE* I have takers on the boxtops. Thank you.
I'll be posting later on from my sisters house. I have some stuff to do over there today.
Later days.
Sporty was talking about those new Old Navy commercials where the clothes have feel good molecules and the mowing the lawn is blowing the kids mind. Well, I wish we had clothes that did that because Mark is starting to need them.
He took on a lawn-mowing job that pays him $10 a cut and he enjoyed the money all summer and he still likes the money but man, is it a hassle to get him to go do it.
He argues, slams doors, stomps, pitches a fit and I told him if he wants to quit, then he needs to give the guy at least 2 weeks notice so he can hire someone else and he's all I don't want to quit and I'm all so go do it it's getting late.
And he starts complaining about how hard it is and I tell him well if you think I can or will pay for your Runescape membership, you're crazy.
He's all don't talk about the money and I'm all I will talk about the money cuz you sure do like having it and that is why you took this job so either go do it or tell the guy you quit. He pitched a fit for a few more minutes and then stomped off to mow the lawn.
If those Old Navy feel good molecule clothes exist and will make his mind blow to go give the lawn a haircut, then where do I buy him 20 pairs?
A few weeks before the hurricane, I got an email invite from Lightspeed surveys about bugs.
I did the survey and then they emailed me and wanted to know if I'd be interested in bug bombing the house for free.
So I said yes and they snail mailed me the 3 bug bombs and the day before the hurricane, I had my doc appointment so I knew I'd be gone all day and the kids were at school and ex-roommate went with me so it was the perfect time to do it.
3 cans set up in the house and I turned them on and we left. (The cats were safely tucked away)
Came home and gadzooks! There were a ton of dead roaches, ants, spiders, some strange white bug I have never seen before etc.
I filled out the questionnaire and sent it back and then answered a few questions online about it.
Well, Lightspeed gave me a $5.00 Amazon gift cert for doing it plus, I bombed for free.
I know some people who used to do Lightspeed surveys stopped doing them because they changed the way they pay (you have to earn the credits now rather than just get a flat fee for every survey) but this was well worth it for me.
Paid and free bug death bombs!
I haven't seen any roaches or ants in the house since then either.
I almost forgot what day it is so here are the Friday links a little late in the day.
Sleeveless in Southern Utah is a new blog to me.
The Piquant Lass is expecting a baby very soon.
Arcadian Expressions is back.
Flablog has a new look.
Squishybear is also due to have her baby in just 14 weeks.
Ozone Ferd gets another link for a link that he had which makes me want to really set up the emergency blogging system.
I think the cold we have made it's way all the way to Kirsi in Finland.
Witchymom
has a fabu new design.
Jenni also has some great new skins she did for EE.
And one self promo link.
Don't forget to join ClubMom and enter the contest to win a huge bundle of goodies and start earning Club Mom rewards today.
The Piquant Lass (above) has been a member for awhile and has already gotten some great rewards.
August 27, 2004 — A toy surprise found inside a bag of candy sold in Florida has stirred a lot of nerves, and controversy.
The toy is two towers with a jetliner in between that appears to be crashing into one of the buildings.
Anna Rodriguez bought a package of the candy for her grandson without realizing that the toy was inside.
To make matters worse, the toy also had a product number "9-0-1-1."
The company that distributes the candy bags, Lisy, was offended by the toy and has decided to recall 17-thousand of the bags.
Lisy says it bought the toys sight unseen from L & M Import/Export from Miami. Which, surprisingly, said it had no problem with the toy.
(Copyright 2004 by Action News. All Rights Reserved.)
Thoughts?
This is to remind you that people are still without power in parts of Florida. Namely where we went in Hardee county. They are looking at a few weeks longer and hoping for less. Please help if you can with recovery efforts.
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It was a sniffle fest in here last night. I had it in surround sound.
ex-roommate sneezing and hacking from her room. Mark sneezing, sniffling and hacking to the left and Sebastian sniffling to the right while watching that movie.
I thought I was going to go insane.
I mean it, if I get sick, I will hurt someone.
Nothing gets done when the mom is sick and you other moms can testify to that.
It's like they all forgot how to pick things up or wash a dish or something and they all kinda suck at picking things up and keeping it neat when I'm not sick.
The world basically stops turning when moms get ill.
Time to get Sebastian out the door. Mark will be home today and I need to give him some more Advil. He's running a touch of fever.
Later days.
watching Hidalgo.
It was a good movie.
Adventure, racing, romance, emotional. Had all the qualities that make a movie enjoyable.
I'm not saying it's for everyone but it's a movie you could watch with the family and not have to worry about when to fast forward or cover anyones eyes. Parts of it are a bit scary for young viewers like when a horse has to be put down. Kids hate seeing that stuff but older kids can handle it in my opinion.
Good acting by Omar Sharif and Viggo Mortensen and one of the best animal actors I have ever seen. That horse was great.
I loved the ending.
It was beautiful and cinematic.
I'll watch it again.
I'll let you know what I think of it later.
What are your thoughts on it if you've seen it?
P.S. I did finally get to the store. Sis came and got me and loaned me the movie.
Is anyone out there on webtv?
If so, would you mind telling me how shitty this looks in it?
I just did like one of those browser checks and my sidebar looks like it's overlapping but I dunno. I don't have webtv so I don't know if it really looks like hell or not.
My folks read here but if it looks like hell, how the hell are they reading it?
I get all site worry like when I add new things like I'm screwing up the sizes and stuff.
Am I making sense?
Gah.
I need to go to the store and get more advil or tylenol and some Nyquil for all these sickies but everyone here is sick and I am not allowed to go walking alone.
Yeah.
I'm a hazard to myself.
Actually, it's cuz of the meds. I am not allowed to drive or go walking alone on the robaxin cuz it makes you super fucking loopy stupid and at 4 pills a day, guess how loopy stupid kat is right now? ;)
I keep trying to reach my sis but am getting that horrid no signal message. What is the fucking point of having a cell phone if you can't have a fucking signal?
Grr.
The sneezing sniffling cold variety.
Sebastian had it and now ex-roommate and Mark came home sick with it too.
As sick as Mark is feeling, he helped Sebastian with his homework and is playing with him.
It's something to take note of because Mark loathes his brother most of the time now due to age, hormones and well, more hormones.
He has gotten about 5 inches taller in the last week I'd say.
They just grow up so quickly.
I still can't believe that he's 13.
I look back 13 years ago and can barely recall where I was living and what I was doing but I do know the best days back then were the days after I had him.
No mowing the lawn for him today. He needs his rest.
Lots of juice and some game playing from the couch.
I have 5 Gmail invites up for grabs. First come first serve.
Tell me in the comments.
Join ClubMom today (it's free!), and get ready to experience the many benefits of membership...including ClubMom's Share Your Luck Sweepstakes! You could win $600 in products from homebasics brands, plus 10,000 ClubMom Points to turn into rewards from the ClubMom catalog! Just fill in this quick form (so we can contact you if you win!), click "submit", then proceed to the sweepstakes to enter for your chance to win.
No purchase necessary. Begins July 15, 2004 and ends September 19, 2004. Open to legal U.S. residents, 18 years or older. Void where prohibited.
By joining Club Mom (for free I might add) you will be helping me earn a small commission as well as getting yourself entered into the contest above. You don't have to sign up for any of the newsletters, (I think I checked the one for coupons and freebies and stuff like that but unchecked all the others) and you can get entered to win.
Club Mom is a cool site for new moms, older moms and pretty much every mom. I was a member for about 4 years and then I lost my frigging password and because I used a different email addy, the password recovery was a waste of time. So I joined again. I found it to be a great site with lots of fun stuff, lots of sweepstakes and contests and they have a new feature where you can earn points (like credit card miles) when you shop at places and buy things you are already using.
They have a recipe finder, message boards, and lost of polls and quizzes to earn more points.
What can you do with the points you're asking? Well, I'll tell you.
Magazine subscriptions, Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards, various store gift cards, check out the 'catalog' to see what they have to offer.
Heck, even if you don't want to earn points or get emails about freebies and coupons, just go join and un-check all the boxes anyway.
Each new member nets me a small piece of change and I would appreciate it. But hey, you could win something by joining so why not!
Use referral number 4962.
Thanks.
I admit, geeky little things get me excited sometimes. I found Post-it® Software Notes for your desktop tonight and I love them!
I forget things that I need to do when I'm sitting here so this is like super easy and no paper or pens or real post its cluttering the desk.
Yay.
ex-roommate and I got everything done that we needed to and then came home to a massive thunderstorm that had the power flickering for about 45 minutes.
What fun.
So it was cold sandwiches and chips for dinner.
Sebastian gets to make up the test he missed tomorrow. Yay!
He had a great day at school. He is getting used to it more and more. It's very hard for him because he had the same teacher for 2 years. She taught 4th and 5th grade and got to keep all her students. So here he was, used to one teacher, all the same kids and fun in 1 classroom and then going into middle school with 6 teachers and 6 different classrooms and no fun..lol
He's getting it though.
Mark is doing great this year so far.
Doing all his work, making new friends who call here all the time. (Coley)
He does his chores with only the smallest of attitude now.
I did get some lip today but as soon as I reminded him that I wasn't yelling but talking and therefore he needed to stop raising his voice with me, he calmed right down.
Later days.
This is a line of trucks from electric companies from all over working on the downed power lines. I was so happy to see so many trucks from across the country working hard to restore power to the area.
It is going to be awhile before things get better down there so help out if you can by going to Strentghen the Good and donating something to help at the link they have up.
--------------------------------------------------
ex-roommate and I are headed out soon to take care of a few errands that she needs to do and I need to go so I can move a little and not get so stiff.
I have been sitting in the house and resting but my back just locks up after awhile.
The boys are off to school and I found out Sebastian missed a FCAT screener test yesterday by being sick.
That sucks. Hopefully they will let him make it up.
It's like to see where they are and where they need to be before the real FCATS later on.
Later days.
I am so bored so I decided to go play in Blogger with the new Blogger nav bar. You can just surf through blogspot blogs.
So anyway, here I am clicking next over and over again and a lot of theses sites have like those click yes to install some piece of crap shit thing on your pc and you have to click yes to proceed and you can't click next site until you keep clicking no and clicking no fast ya know what I mean?
Wow.
That was a long run on sentence but whatever.
I hope you figured out what I am talking about and if not, go hit a blogspot blog and run through the nav bar. You'll run into them too.
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A Sarasota man says he was unfairly fired for not returning to work after Hurricane Charley. He says he had to tend to his storm-stricken family in Charlotte County, and his boss said he'd taken enough time.
ABC 7 talked with Bruce Palmer-Smith's boss at the Badcock Furniture in Sarasota. Kent Williams didn't want to go on camera, but he did say he gave Bruce the weekend to clean up after Charley and he couldn't afford to give him any more time away from the business.
Bruce Palmer-Smith is loading up what's left.
Bruce Palmer-Smith: “Just trying to salvage what we can, get it all out…the house is about to collapse, so we're working every single day.”
But when the work around the house is finished, Bruce won't have a real job to head back to, because he's been at his home.
Bruce Palmer-Smith: “I told him this is why I can't work Monday…I need to be here and help…he told me, "if you don't come back to work, don't bother coming back at all."
Bruce says he was shocked when his boss at Badcock Furniture fired him.
Bruce Palmer-Smith: “Every time it rains, water comes pouring in.”
The couple is separated. Bruce hasn't lived in Harbour Heights with his wife and three kids for a while, but he says he still expected more compassion from his boss of two and a half years.
Bruce Palmer-Smith: “He knows the children…when he calls to ask for a key, he doesn't even ask, "is the family ok, is there anything I can do…nothing.”
When we talked with Bruce's boss, Kent Williams, this afternoon, he told said while he doesn't plan on giving Bruce his job back, he does understand the devastation Charley left behind. His mother lives in Polk County. She didn't have power or water for days after the storm. Williams says he would have liked to go check on her, but because Bruce was gone he had to stay in Sarasota and mind the store.
As we were heading in Arcadia central, there was this guy selling hurricane Charley t-shirts. It wouldn't be so bad to sell this stuff if the proceeds were going to help with relief efforts but I sincerely doubt it as he was selling water too.
-------------------------------
Sebastian stayed asleep until almost 10:30 but has been feeling much better since then.
He helped me move around some stuff like the N64 and their old tv to my room so I could lay in there and watch tv when my back is really bugging.
Getting ready to make dinner in a bit here.
The boys are cleaning their room and then they have regular chores to do after that.
Not much else here at all.
Later days.
He's just not doing so great. Fever, headache, stuffy in the head. It's a stay home day for him and his kitty is just all over him being a protective little mother to him like when his arm was broken, she never left his side.
---------------------------------------------------
There is a deadly batch of drugs on the street here in SRQ. A 17-year-old girl and four other young men dead after taking a cocktail of drugs.
Now detectives are trying to quickly find where those drugs came from before other lives are lost.
There were five deaths in less than a week. Young people who all knew each other and all had the same deadly mixture of drugs in their systems. All five people had methadone in their systems, and traces of cocaine, OxyContin, and several other drugs.
It's like the new trend to mix shit together and sell it to unwilling dope smokers.
How fucked up is that?
I mean, you can't even go smoke now unless you know and trust the source it comes from cuz some asshole is cutting shit together.
The five did know each other and probably all bought their stuff from the same person(s) but had no idea when the first couple died, that it was all tied into what they bought.
The next couple of kids did it and died and then another friend was found dead in a motel room.
*I'm not condoning drug use. I am a have been there done that. I do think pot should be legal. Ya know, quit wasting money catching pot smokers and growers and go after the really important shit like illegal guns and stuff. But mixing of shit is bad, really bad.
The road all the way to Arcadia and pretty much all the roads in Arcadia, had downed power lines, snapped poles and the lines in the road. It was kind of nerve wracking driving over them to get out to some of the farm houses.
----------------------------
I am posting the pictures I took down in Arcadia with my posts whether they have anything to do with what I'm writing about or not.
I just want to show them to you.
I have a cheap Aiptek Pen Cam Trio that I got for $29.99 about a year and a half ago now. It works well for what I need. No zoom, no LCD screen, no memory card. Just 2 triple A batteries.
I don't want anyone thinking I was being rude posting that destroyed house and talking about how yummy my house smells. And all pictures are clickable for bigger.
I just want to share them with you.
This house lost it's roof and one of it's walls. The living room furniture now sits where once was a room.
-----------------------------
It's all banana yummy in here. Mmm.
I love making bread!
The kids are home and Mark is off to a friends house and Sebastian is just hanging out with me watching the tube.
It's been a really dull day around here.
I kind of like that after a long and tiring weekend and people constantly misunderstanding my pain grimace for anger.
Everyones always, Kat are ya mad at me? Did I do something wrong? And I'm all how many times do I have to tell you that I'm in pain and nothing is wrong but if you ask me one more freaking time I'm gonna get pissed and shove this 2x4 up your hind end.
I don't actually say that but man I want to sometimes. That makes me angry. People like expect me to be all talkative and perky and let me tell ya, I don't do perky. Never have.
I just like to be left alone most of the time. I like my peace and quiet and I don't like to be bothered unless it's really necessary.
Anyway, I'm trying to have a good day, making bread, hanging out, gonna take a shower after I turn the oven off. It's hot in here man.
Later days.
This is a restaurant that lost all it's windows and it's roof. The table cloths are still strangely in place.
--------------------------------
Just thought I'd say hey.
It's another boring Monday around here.
Trying to fix ex-roommates electronics but without all the right remotes, it's a pain in the ass. Not her fault, shit gets lost when you move and Greyhound who shipped her stuff actually broke and opened several of her boxes. Bastages.
The kids went off to school after telling me about the fish stick twins.
What? I said.
They smell like fish.
I told them to be nice and if I ever catch them saying that to those 2 girls, I'll kick their teeth in.
Some parents, need to do a better job of teaching hygiene to their kids. These girls smell bad and now have a nickname and Travis stinks to high heaven.
Hello parents??
Didn't you ever hear of teaching your kid to take a shower and wash with soap and water everyday? Or how about brushing your teeth and putting on deodorant?
Gawd. I feel bad for some of these kids.
I mean, middle school is hell enough without smelling bad. Do you have any idea what it's like for the smelly kids? They can have all the right clothes and the right sneakers and even some stupid bling (I hate that word. It's called jewelry you fucknuts) but if they smell bad, it's pure fucking hell. It's a nightmare everyday of school. They are teased mercilessly and if they get a nickname like Fish stick, it sticks until high school is over. That's a long time to be teased.
My back is still fried but I am going to make banana bread later on for my new neighbors. They have a daughter who goes to school with my boys and she just moved here and there are no girls on my street at all so she wants to hang with the boys. I'm going to make some bread to take over. It's nice to have nice neighbors unlike the fuckers that I currently have on both sides of me.
This house was the only house destroyed on a street we drove down. What makes a storm choose one house over another.
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Strentghen the Good has chosen it's first micro-charity, Gulf Coast Community foundation of Venice, to help out Charleys victims.
You can donate online by several ways. The Gulf Coast site using your credit card and don't forget to use the pull down menu for Charley, or you can mail it in, address is on the site, or you can pay pal it to Strengthen the Good. Instructions are in the post.
Thank you.
This is a huge church near the center of town. It had many missing windows, part of it's roof was missing and the cross on top of the bell-tower was close to falling off.
The bell still rings though.
-------------------------------------
"God doesn't follow the linear projections of computer models," (Jeb) Bush told reporters here outside the emergency management center, whose roof caved in during the hurricane. "This is God's way of telling us that He's almighty and we're mortal."
*Nod to the fabulous Mark Lane for pointing out that gem of wisdom.
but I have a splitting headache and my back is just freaking killing me.
I will upload the pictures I did take later tonight or tomorrow.
I will say though that it's not pretty down there.
I guess you would have to see it for yourself to understand what it is like down there.
It's really fucking hot. I mean really fucking hot and they have no air and no water and no lights and the mosquitoes are fucking everywhere and I can just see a major health crisis very soon if they don't get the lights back on soon.
People have to leave all their doors open for what ever breeze may come by and there wasn't a single fucking one.
People lined up for hours for food and water and 6 houses on one street perfectly ok, meaning fixable, and one on that same street just leveled to the ground.
I feel guilty taking the pictures I did. I felt like a tourist snapping my little camera.
Some people didn't even speak english but they smiled just to have the water and the ice cold sodas and beer my sister packed.
I'm feeling overwhelmed emotionally. I can't even really explain it to you. I just feel like guilty for driving around in the air conditioned car and knowing that I was going to come home to lights and AC and a hot meal.
People were guarding their homes and scared and tired and hot and sweaty and you could see the toll this was taking on them in their eyes.
Downed power lines everywhere. Tons of trucks from out of state trying to fix the downed lines.
I saw Ohio and Michigan and Louisiana.
I saw the national guard trying to keep order in a very chaotic situation.
I saw little old ladies sweaty and dirty and waiting in that heat for whatever they could get.
It's a little too much.
I implore you, if you can help in any way, send it. It is going to be a long time before life gets back to even some what normal down there.
A judge sentenced Shawn Small, 27, of Biddeford, to a year and nine months in jail Thursday after he pled guilty to a lesser charge in the death of 11-month-old Chason Treadwell in 2002. Small, who had been dating Treadwell’s mother at the time, had been charged with shaking the infant to death but pled guilty instead to a misdemeanor charge of assault shortly before his trial was to start.
This is not justice at all. My cousins baby is dead and this asswipe gets a fucking year???!!??
Oh and Biddeford Journal Tribune, not only do you need a spellchecker, but you need a fact checker too. The baby was 11 months, not 11 years old. Click for bigger.
to get some supplies and deliver them down south and east of us.
Considering all the red tape which has held up truck loads of stuff, I'm glad we're going.
Pet food, personal supplies, canned food and baby formula and diapers. That's our goal.
How can I do this some of you may be wondering cuz you know my financial status, the government paid us double in food stamps because of the hurricane. They paid us all because it was easier to just pay everyone rather than have to figure out who got hit by the storm and who didn't.
So I'm taking that extra amount and using it the way it was intended. For the hurricane.
I even called the office twice when I noticed the double amount. Thought it was a mistake and didn't want to get in trouble for it if I just spent it. They said they gave it to everyone because of the hurricane.
These people need it.
Looking for away to help? Go to wwsb.com, click the button on the right that says local donation information and just take your pick.
They need everything from hay for horses to duct tape and tarps and saws.
P.S. Site notes* A post was placed back in draft mode and comments were closed on a very dull entry that turned into a playground for 12 year olds with ReeAAllY BaDD WaYYss of TyPPinGG ShiTT and I was getting very fucking annoyed.
Blogad special this site only
Right now, if you buy 1 month of blogads between 8/20/04-9/3/04, I will run your ad for another month free.
Click the Blogad in the sidebar if you're interested.
*This has been a shameless self promotion post*
Charlotte Co. Donation Stations
The Charlotte County Sports Complex in Port Charlotte (formerly Ranger's
Stadium) is the main distribution center for supplies being run the the
Florida Jaycees. The complex is located on State Road 776, 4 ? miles west of
US 41.
Donations of baby formula & diapers and women's personal hygiene products
are urgently needed to assist the residents of Charlotte County who have
been displaced from their homes due to Hurricane Charley. Other items
needed: camping supplies, cleaning supplies, batteries, am/fm radios,
flashlights. The station will be accepting donations seven days a week from
7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Here are some blogs that I feel deserve a little attention on a Friday. Fridays in blogworld are weird. Some people post, some people take the day to sleep in or whatever. I honestly couldn't tell you what happens but Fridays are dull as shit in the blogsphere.
So I am going to point you to some new ones to me, some old favorites and some that I just think deserve a day in the sun.
Want a link here next Friday? Send me an email with the subject friday link to mysinglemomlifeATgmail.com and next Friday, you could be one of 10 to have a link.
Let's un-dull these Fridays.
WWSB is reporting that the state Department of Health reports several formula companies have made large donations to feeding stations in Southwest Florida.
But then channel 8, TBO, says that Hardee county still needs formula.
Just passing it along.
Just keep helping.
They say it could take months to get this area back on it's feet.
I guess if you are worried about your blog jumping the shark, you should probably just quit.
I have such a wide range of topics that I talk about because it's stuff that I really talk about.
I couldn't ever just be a political blogger or a weather blogger or something like that. I just blog whatever the hell I'm thinking about.
If readership goes up, yay. If readership goes down, it's cool.
Blogs go through phases of being really interesting and not so interesting and to some of you, the hurricane is so yesterdays news, but to us who live very close, it's all any of us are talking about.
I'm still posting all my other stuff, my kids, school stuff, medical stuff, my life but this is what is the hot topic right now around here.
So in closing, I guess I don't care if my blog jumps the shark.
I'm just living my life and blogging about it.
Happy to have you here if you're following along and if you leave for greener blogs, enjoy the journey.
If this was you and it was almost us, you'd want people to help you out.
I want you to imagine for a minute that you are a mom to a baby or two and I know I get a lot of mommies reading here so pay attention, and you may have other kids and you're still child bearing age.
The hurricane has ripped your home apart. All your stuff, your babies crib, playpen, stroller, diapers, clothes, formula, your clothes, your feminine products, your kids toys, your everything, is gone. All gone.
The volunteers are bringing water and ice and immediate food but what about diapers and formula? What about your period that you know shows up at the worst possible time and you have nothing?
Try to imagine this please. Just think if this was you.
Now, I want you to spread the word about what these people need.
Quit playing in photoshop or some silly web game and copy that letter below and email major corporations.
We can't do this alone. We need as many people sending email after email asking for help. Email your stores in your area about sending help here.
Post about it in your blogs and spread the word.
I was going through the list of FLA blogs that I had made and couldn't believe how many blogs are out there in just my state that I didn't know about. If I post a message asking for help and you see it, then you post a message asking for help, how many people will see it and post a message too?
We don't know but that's what we need. We need to spread it across the country and ask for help.
It's fucking hot here people. It's like 95 degrees with a heat index of like 103.
We, and I mean every single person sitting reading this blog, is in their comfy home with AC and food and shelter and running water and lights and toys and everything we need.
These people could be without for a very long time.
Think about that. We are on 1 week and looking at many more.
Just post the message. Email stores and corporations and ask for help.
A couple thousand people or more emailing asking them for help is pretty hard to ignore.
Thank you.
I just got and email from Robyn about the need for baby formula in the areas affected by Charley and we need your help. Please read the following and then help us out by sending the pre-written email off to big stores that she mentioned.
Thank you.
From Robyn:
I was watching ABC Action News today and they put out the call for liquid
formula. I had actually mentioned that to Todd the other day that I
couldn't believe I hadn't seen it on donation list requests yet -- because I
bought two boxes with eight 6 oz. bottles for our "hurricane kit" (our son
drinks six 6 oz. bottles a day) -- and they're $13.49 each at TRU and BRU,
and $17.99 at Walgreens. In a hurricane, you could only really use the
individual ready-to-feed bottles and cans with the lack of water to make the
powdered formula, and the inability to refrigerate the larger quart sizes
that we normally buy. So basically I spent $27 on what is less than a 3-day
supply for him. And these people have been without power a week now!
I typed up the following letter (since modified to remove all formula
company references) and I've already sent it to Enfamil, Similac, Nestle
Good Start, and Bright Beginnings. Wasn't sure if you'd want to make the
text available for your site -- but if people have the time and want to help
me out on my mission, they could also start contacting companies with
formula supplies on hand like Publix, Wal Mart, Target, Walgreens, etc.
----------------------------------------------------
Our local Tampa Bay ABC News affiliate, together with the Red Cross, is
putting out word that relief workers desperately need individual serving
liquid baby formula bottles and cans for the victims of Hurricane Charley.
I thought I would contact a corporation I trust the most and beg for your
immediate response to the need at hand.
It would be wonderful if your company could donate several cases of
ready-to-feed bottles and cans to the relief efforts. The victims are still
without electricity, and have a very limited bottled water supply, making it
near-impossible to refrigerate larger ready-to-feed containers and make
bottles with the powdered versions of formula.
Just two "eight-pack" boxes of nursettes or cans will last less than three
days for a six-month old and run well over $25, and these families are going
on a week now without power and no end in sight...
If you are interested in helping out WFTS ABC Action News and the Red Cross
with this donation drive, the contact information is as follows:
http://www.tampabaylive.com
WFTS ABC Action News
4045 N. Himes Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33607
Toll-free number: 1-877-833-2828
Main switchboard: 1-813-354-2828
Thank you so much for your time and consideration in this matter! It's why
I trust and purchase from companies like [insert company name here].
Sincerely,
[insert your name here]
Check out the amazing aerial photos taken by MJ of 93.3 WFLZ at this link: MJ/The Schnitt Show.
Nod to Strentghen the Good.
Send whatever help you can to any of the organizations listed in the extended entry.
You can make donations to the victims of Hurricane Charley right here at ABC 7. The Salvation Army says the donations needed include duct tape, work gloves, plastic silverware, paper products, extra duty garbage bags, tarps, feminine hygiene products, water, diapers, canned goods, bread. They also need 4 giant freezers to deliver ice. The Salvation Army also needs volunteers. You can call 941-954-4673 for more information. We will be taking donations here at the station until 8 pm tonight. To make a monetary donation, send a check payable to Salvation Army to P.O. Box 270848, Tampa, FL 33688, or go to the Web site www.salvationarmy.org and click on "donate now." Specify Hurricane Charley on checks mailed or in the comments section of websites. Make sure it gets to the people who need it and not the national pools if you donate to the Red Cross.
Harvest United Methodist Church will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday through Sunday to accept supplies for people affected by Hurricane Charley. Needed are canned meats, water, juice, soft drinks, peanut butter, baby food, diapers, baby wipes, rice and canned black beans.
The Democratic Club of Venice, 212 U.S. 41 Bypass S., Venice, is collecting nonperishable food and paper goods for distribution. For more information, call 492-5965.
The Ed Chiles restaurant group is collecting bottled water, canned food and checks written to the American Red Cross for victims of Hurricane Charley. No clothing can be accepted. For more information, call 779-2222.
The Mobile Home Depot in Venice is accepting donations of nonperishable items, especially baby items, food, paper products and cleaning products. For more information, call Carol Guzman at 493-7500.
PAL Sailor Circus is accepting donations of children's clothing, diapers, formula, personal items, mosquito repellent and nonperishable food from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 2075 Bahia Vista St. For more information, call 316-8108.
Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice is accepting donations by credit card on its Web site: www.gulfcoastcf.org .The donations are 100 percent tax deductible, and all will go to relief. For more information, call Erica Bacacio at 486-4608.
Publix is accepting monetary donations for hurricane victims. Customers can specify any amount, which will be added to the amount of their purchase. The money will go to the United Way.
The Manatee County Wal-Mart at 2911 53rd Ave. E., in Bradenton is collecting relief items. Wanted are water, nonperishable food, batteries, flashlights, first aid kits, toiletries, diapers and coolers. No clothing is being accepted at this time.
The Olde Englewood Village Association is collecting nonperishable food for Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda residents. Drop it off at the Grass Roots Gallery, 411 W. Dearborn St., Englewood. For more information, call 473-8782.
Operation Feed and Clothe, with Semi Trucks of Gold Coast Eagle, is accepting water, canned food, bedding, towels, light clothing, charcoal, diapers and other items. Drop them off at 4858 S. Tamiami Trail in The Landings Shopping Center till Tuesday at 6 p.m.
You know.
You feel blah and absolutely nothing comes into your head when you sit down to type.
It's not writers block.
It's blah.
There's a million things you could say but you feel so blah that you don't even care to type it all out because you just go fuck it all today and curl up with a blanket.
I curled up with a sheet.
It's hot.
I have things I should be doing and things I could be doing but fuck it all.
I don't feel like it.
I am blah today.
This was sent out by the school board.
"Just so you know, the Red Cross has told us that to ensure that the money
stays local, please make donations to the "Charlotte Chapter of the Red
Cross." Otherwise, the money goes into a large national pool, and might
not be spent here. That's just FYI.
Thanks-- and don't forget Arcadia."
So make donations to local florida chapters and not just the red cross site.
Thanks.
Sebastian came home with his backpack filled with textbooks and all that stuff I had to get him.
I weighed it.
27 pounds.
He only weighs 70.
That is excessive weight to me. What do you think?
I lifted it and nearly fell over.
There are no lockers at middle school for safety concerns.
Lockers = places to hide guns apparently but then I come back with install metal detectors and the school gets mad but we are talking about 27 pounds carried on his back all day everyday and that is bad for their backs and cruel.
I'd like to see the teachers carry that around all day. They'd be screaming for lockers.
Time to write off a few emails I guess.
His poor little shoulders were all red and he was tired and stressed out and it's only week 2 of school.
You can check my Links
page to see it. Blogrolling goes down sometimes so I placed the code on that page rather than have my main blog go down or load really slow in those moments.
If you know of any florida blogs, post them here.
I'm just trying to see how many of us there are and also be able to check up on them in times of hurricanes etc. The best news I have found in the hurricane has come from fellow bloggers and not the mainstream media.
Thanks.
I think I'm going to cut those new pills in half.
Yeah that's what I'm gonna do.
See, it does me no good to be pain free if I'm passed the fuck out all day.
I need to be able to accomplish at least dishes dammit.
I took my meds on schedule this morning and then proceeded to pass out until 12:50.
That's not good.
The new med is a weee bit strong so I am out of it for most of the day feeling like a drunk. So until my brain defogs this morning, I give you Jaws in 30 seconds with bunnies.
Bunny theater is great.
Enjoy.
Saturday, my sister, myself and ex-roommate and the 2 boys are going to go to the store and buy tons of food and take it out to Arcadia.
Arcadia is one of the hardest hit areas but because they only have a population of 7,000, the work crews aren't heading out there as fast as the big cities.
We will be taking diapers, pre-mixed formula, personal hygiene products, and canned goods and water.
We decided that we couldn't just sit here with all of our stuff, safe and sound knowing that it was meant for us and it hit them.
Please consider volunteering if you live in the area. They need help cleaning up, making sandwiches, handing out water, talking to people.
Call 941-954-4673 to find out more about volunteering and help out.
I know that there are quite a few FLA bloggers out there but I only know a handful of them and I'd like to make an updated list of local people.
Rather than attempt to follow links from other peoples blogs, I'm asking for you to help me out.
Please post your blog if you are a FLA blog and also the urls of FLA blogs that you know.
I'd rather end up with duplicates in the comments than not have everyone in the final list.
So please leave them in the comments.
HTML is allowed if you know how to write it and if not, just paste them in there and I'll link them in my final Fla blogroll.
Thanks.
The outpouring of offers of help is greatly appreciated and I am glad that people are leaving comments here on how they can help but please, if you have a refrigerator/freezer, please consider donating it's time to help rather than renting it. The areas that are hit are hit hard and money is SUPER TIGHT. Please be kind and generous with your supplies.
Sure, you could make money and have some profit but these are your fellow human beings in a dire situation with very limited financial resources.
Thank you.
Crap am I tired.
I had a little trouble falling asleep last night so I went outside for a little bit and then ex-roommate came home with one of her friends and the 3 of us sat in the driveway talking until like 2am.
Shit. The time just zipped by I swear.
So that gave me 3 1/2 hours to sleep before I had to get the boys up.
Not good.
I was like dead waking them up. Thank the stars Mark just hears my alarm and gets up and takes care of his stuff.
Had the funniest talk with him last night but I can't share cuz he'll kill me but I will say that boys need something for pms too.
Like teen girls get midol or something right to help with cramps and bloat and bad moods.
Well, some scientist needs to invent a multi-vitamin for boys with mood enhancers, hair growth serum and just a touch of birth control thrown in there just for the hell of it.
The way some of these teen girls are dressing and behaving in regards to sex, I'd rather slip my son some birth control every morning in his corn flakes or Flintstones vitamins just to be on the safe side.
The hair growth serum so that the ones who haven't developed pit hair yet don't get made fun of in the locker room and the mood enhancers because boys can get just as fucking cranky and nasty as girls let me tell ya.
I have been shot the look of death more times than I thought my sweet baby boy was capable of. Doors have been slammed and fights broken out every 30 seconds between brothers.
And it's usually all over nothing or something as non-threatening as do your cats litter box.
I never said scrub the house from the rafters to the cement slab the house sits on. Oh no. I said scoop the poop of your big fat stubby fatty cat and you'd think that was like the end of the world. Doors slammed. Feet were stomped. Looks given.
So, any scientists reading this blog, if you haven't already thought of this and I can't for the life of me figure out why the hell you haven't, please invent a multi-vitamin for boys that has the things I mentioned or maybe slip it in some soda as an 'additive'.
WWSB has an updated list of desperately needed supplies for the hurricane victims.
The Salvation Army says the donations needed include duct tape, work gloves, plastic silverware, paper products, extra duty garbage bags, tarps, feminine hygiene products, water, diapers, canned goods, bread. They also need 4 giant freezers to deliver ice.
The Salvation Army also needs volunteers. You can call 941-954-4673 for more information.
You can drop off items right at the TV station if you live in the SRQ area and the SA will take them down to the people who need them.
The address to drop off is:
ABC 7
1477 10th Street
Sarasota, FL 34236
I wanna die now.
My docs office (the one in the ghetto) called this morning to tell me the doc wants me to take a different muscle relaxer and that the pharmacy out there, has it filled already and I need to come get it.
Ugh. So off I go.
2 buses later, I arrive only to find the pharmacy people on lunch break.
For an hour.
So I'm like totally starving and the little store on the corner was making something that smelled so good.
I asked the plump short black woman with graying hair what she's cooking because it smells fabulous.
She laughed at me and said fried chicken.
For $3.45 I had 10 of the hugest fried chicken wings I have ever had in my whole life.
And were they good?
Oh honey, I think I may take trips to the docs more often. Shit that was fucking fantastic.
Mmmm, mmff. Yum.
Got my new pills and headed back home on my 2 buses and several hours later trip and went to the store cuz I know i forgot stuff yesterday and got home at 4:30 sweaty, tired and feeling like I was hit by a truck.
I'm going to take my new meds and get something to snack on and rest.
Kat, why are you such a cynical bitter bitch? Why do you hate people so much?
I'll tell you why.
I have been burned far too many times to give a shit anymore.
And it's so hard, conflicting for me if you will, because when I needed help, you all came through for me and kept me going until things were sorted out and I could do it on my own again. I am so grateful for that help, I still get teary when I think what would have happened had you all not been there for me.
I opened up my home yesterday to a young man, a total stranger to me, who had been kicked out of his home.
I offered my couch, my food, my phone, my help to find a place to live.
ex-roommate called to ask if I needed anything when she came home from work and I said a newspaper so we could see the full classified section. The one online only prints about 50 out of the full listings of places to rent and I had already gone through those and printed out ones that were #1 affordable, and #2, in semi-decent neighborhoods. I didn't want this nice kid moving to the ghetto.
I made tons of phone calls while he was at work. I gave him lists and numbers when he got here, offered my food, my shower, which he took me up on by the way, talked about a game plan, talked rent prices, talked about how tough this is to go through but here's what I had done to help him out.
He had his 18 year old girlfriend with him and she insisted that they go get something to eat.
Fine, cool. I figured they would go to the store and get sandwich stuff ya know? Try to save money being homeless and all.
As ex-roommate was walking home from work at 8pm, she saw them and said hello and asked where they were going.
Applebees.
Um. Aren't you homeless? Aren't you with no place to live and should be trying to save every fricking penny you have so that when you find a place by the friday deadline I gave you, you can afford to move in there?
So we sat and waited for the kid who I had not given a key to, to come back.
10pm.
11pm.
12 midnight at which point I put all his stuff outside with a note that read:
This is not how you treat people who were trying to help you. You don't go out to eat and then stay out all night spending money when you are homeless and should be saving it. You should have gone to the store and bought stuff for sandwiches instead of wasting money. I opened my home to you, a complete stranger to me, made phone calls, looked through want ads for an apartment for you and you stayed out all night. I am sorry, but this is not how you treat people. My family and I are tired of waiting and have gone to bed.
1am still not here and at that point, I really said fuck you and went to bed.
I got up at 7am and went outside where I placed his suitcase, his carry on bag and his publix bag with his toiletries in it, the note and the whole classifieds section.
Everything was gone but the classifieds.
He never even took them.
I am usually a good judge a character. I can usually spot an asshole a million miles away.
This one tricked me.
This one had no feelings at all for a stranger who took them in and offered help and shelter and food and hot showers. I wanted nothing from him. I wanted no money, nothing. I wanted to help.
I got burned and feel used and I wonder what time he finally did come back to find the door locked.
This isn't a fucking hotel and it isn't his families home. This was a stranger and he should have had some respect for that kindness.
I questioned whether I did the right thing by setting it all outside and locking the door but I find it completely careless and fancy free that he was out spending money on a big dinner when he was homeless.
Maybe I'm just a bitch but I don't fucking care right at the moment.
To make me wait all night before I could lock up my home was rude and inconsiderate and to waste money when he should have been saving every penny to find a new home by friday just chapped my ass.
I'm sure it will be a very hard lesson for him to learn, having no where to go at whatever time he showed up here in the middle of early morning hours. I'm sure that was a hard thing to face. But you don't treat people like that.
You don't treat them like a hotel when they were trying to help you find a place to go and live and shit.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fuck you.
Underlying agendas seem obvious to you, but your particular slant on things is not shared by others. Facial expressions speak volumes, and those looks you're giving might as well be speeches. Cultivate a neutral countenance and try to keep out of everyone's business. It's always harder to look within, but if you don't do it, who will? You are in touch with yourself enough to know it's time to take your health more seriously. Choose one way to lighten your load and commit to it.
Oh honey, I should have read this hours ago.
I did lighten my load considerably about 33 minutes ago.
I have teamed up with Strengthen The Good to help spread the word not only on the Florida hurricane situation, but future situations where someone or whole communities may be in need of help.
Please go to the site and help out the hurricane victims if you can, even a single dollar. Send it to one of the many organizations listed or if you live in the FLA area, consider dropping off needed supplies at one of the locations listed here.
Thank you to everyone who is helping out.
ALIEN vs. PREDATOR and said it was really good. They liked it a lot and I told them I didn't want to know how it ends or who wins cuz I want to be surprised when I watch it on video at some point.
Minnesota was here and is way stressed out. Rents are very high in our area but cheaper rents are out in the ghetto area. Sure it's only like $300 a month but you gotta put up with a lot of shit living out there.
We're gonna make phone calls and stuff tomorrow to see what kind of rooms for rent there are around here.
That's about all from here. Haven't really had a chance to catch up on hurricane news at all today.
going to adopt Minnesota?
Well, I did.
We went to the store this morning and he had been thrown out of his dads house this morning with all his stuff. He took his suitcases to work with him and had nowhere to go and it being Sunday, no homeless shelters are open and stuff. So we brought his stuff home with us and when he's done working, he's going to come crash here for a few days.
I can't see letting some nice kid have to crash on the street tonight.
Maybe I'll snap a pic of him if he'll let me.
It's a shame and really fucking shitty the way some families treat their own flesh and blood.
Mark turned 13 this morning at an ungodly hour. When he goes off to college my plan is to wake him up by phone at that hour. Today I let him sleep.
His plans for today include going to see Alien vs. Predator with his brother and his best friend Mikey and his big /best friend George. Having some wings and weenies of the nuclear variety and then coming home to eat the LOTR cake that it took me 6 different Publixs' to convince to make cuz they no longer 'offer' that cake.
My mom and dad already called to sing to him. I love it when they do that. Just when you think no one remembers your birthday, they call and start singing.
I had already given him his presents of a video game that he wanted and a Green Arrow action figure I found for a steal at the comic book store.
It's hard to believe that he was once this small and even smaller.
I swear he grew another 4 inches this week. He's almost as tall as me now.
He's such a great kid.
He's kind, caring, helpful, compassionate, smart, witty, snarky. I just love him to pieces.
Happy birthday to the kid who laughs with me, helps me, talks with me about anything. Throws fits when he thinks I'm gonna get mad and then it turns out to be something I can fix with a simple phone call to his best friends mom about his birthday plans and Charley trying to ruin it. When you're a kid going through emotional changes, it's all about you and I don't fault him for that. He really thought his birthday was gonna get ruined by the hurricane but even if it had hit us, he would have still had his birthday. We would have just done something different.
He's a wonderful kid.
Happy birthday Mark.
It's been great so far watching you grow up.
Apparently, there is another storm on the way too. I think they named this one Earl. To read the story you must sign in. onecattykat@yahoo.com password-earl21.
yeah, I'm nice like that sometimes.
Over at TBO.com, they have a whole page (linked) with information on how you can help out if you live locally in Florida. They have a list of items sorely needed and drop off locations to make it easy to drop off what you may have.
Here is a list of numbers and places to call if you want to help or need help.
WHO TO CALL:
Offer Help:
Salvation Army (money, supplies, volunteers): 1-800-725-2769
Red Cross (Port Charlotte): 941-629-4345
Red Cross (Hillsborough): 877-251-0921
Red Cross (Polk): 863-294-5941
Red Cross (toll-free): 1-800-741-1444
Metropolitan Ministries: 813-209-1000
Need Help:
DeSoto County EOC: 863-993-4831
Highlands County EOC: 239-477-1900
Charlotte County EOC: 941-505-4620
Polk County EOC: 941-534-0350
Lee County EOC: 239-477-1900
Orlando EOC: 321-235-5437
Hillsborough County EOC: 813-272-6900
Pasco County EOC: 727-847-8137
Pinellas County EOC: 727-464-3800
FEMA for Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Lee: 1-800-621-FEMA
Florida Highway Patrol (road problems): 813-632-6859
Florida Power and Light (outages): 1-800-4-OUTAGE
Insurance Companies and Adjusters: 1-800-22-STORM
Price Gouging: 1-800-646-0444
TECO: 813-223-0800 (local); 800-223-0800 (toll-free)
Progress Energy: 1-800-228-8485 (toll-free)
Here's a little bit of hurricane news to chew on sent to me by fellow Floridian blogger Robyn that I missed catching.
John Winter said on
Channel 8 this morning that he and the National Weather Service had a phone
conference at 8 a.m. yesterday morning, starting to notice that Charley
might go ashore where it did instead, but they didn't report it because it
would have been (QUOTE) "irresponsible" by possibly making Tampa Bay
residents think they were in the clear if it didn't go ahead and make that
final turn. I can imagine the Punta Gorda, etc., residents are so happy NOT
to have had the extra 6-8 hours warning that they might be in MASSIVE
danger. Irresponsible my ass -- I think it's irresponsible they got about 2
hours warning in the end because the news station wanted the "4 million
people" story! Tampa Bay residents had already been ordered to be out by 6
a.m. -- two hours before that phone conference.
Nice huh?
is reporting that (unconfirmed numbers) that a possible death toll in 3 mobile home parks in Punta Gorda has reached 60 people.
They will keep us updated as to the exact numbers and get us that information as time goes on.
with picture galleries (bottom of page) go to TBO.com I know that the Command Post is denouncing the story of the deaths at the mobile home park, the stacks of bodies have not been confirmed but you can read about it here. There was significant loss of life there. And local tv stations are still reporting it as police guarding the bodies. There is no online link for that story but local tv is still stating that story.
Those of you in it's path now, please prepare yourselves.
Like I didn't take enough yesterday right?
Here is my freezer full of ice in case the power went out we'd be able to keep it and the fridge cool for a few hours.
And here is the junk food and water filling the fridge because you can't really eat normal food during a hurricane.
And here is all the ice I made in tupperware containers and stuff that is now sitting outside thawing in the 89° temps today.
Still looking for online links to some of the news that happened south of me.
There is a mobile home park where authorities are guarding bodies while they wait for the fire department and morgue workers to come.
It's very sad how none of them were warned properly and actually told they would be safe where they lived and here I am with all this stuff that was never even used and has to be thawed out.
**UPDATE** I just talked to Solonor by phone. The emergency blogging system does work!!
He and his family lost power last night around 10pm and still don't have it back yet. He said there is very little yard debris. A few trees here and there and fence came down so all his neighbors could see all the junk in his back yard. (heh) But he said he and his family are all fine and not to worry. He will post as soon as the power comes back on and not to worry. They are good.
this morning and it's full of apologies from local news.
They are apologizing for being so over dramatic and over encouraging people to go to the shelters.
In Acadia, (still looking for an online link for this one) people went to the shelter. Lot of them.
The roof came down on top of them during the brunt of the storm. Not sure how many dead there yet.
They are estimating that about 1 million (not confirmed yet this morning) are without power.
There are mobile home parks in places like Ft. Meyers and Port Charlotte where they didn't have enough time to get out where lots of people are injured and homeless.
It was catastrophic damage in other parts of this state directly south of me.
I know many of you thought I was making light of the situation compared to what you were seeing on tv but as I said, what they were calling Sarasota was actually the cities to the south of us.
Such horrible misinformation problems yesterday.
Relatives and friends up north looking at the footage on CNN and other major news channels thought we were in severe peril and people who have relatives in the hard hit towns and cities that weren't even warned, now face the dreadful news late last night and this morning.
We here in SRQ were warned for 5 full days. That storm was coming at us and so the people to the south, the EOCs in those towns and cities, were not warned early enough.
You can't predict these things with any amount of accuracy. This is nature and nature goes and does what it wants.
The whole western seaboard should have been warned and all the cities to the east of the seaboard should have been warned.
They always so say go east, beyond I-75, and that is where it slammed.
They sent people to shelters in the east and the south of us.
There is catastrophic damage in those areas.
The news anchors here are just yapping and yapping about how sorry they are and how lucky we all are and yes, I do feel lucky but damn, why the hell weren't those cities prepared for anything at all?
I don't understand.
like CNN and MSNBC that Sarasota got hit hard but I am here to tell you that we didn't. Or at least where I live in SRQ did not get anything at all.
We had rain and some wind and that one tree fell down. We never lost power or even got a flicker from it.
The problem with the satellite images they were showing you and calling it Sarasota, is that the areas that got hit, Ft. Meyers and Port Charlotte, are right below SRQ.
When you look at a map of Florida, you see the major cities like Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Sarasota is what you see so when they talk about these storms, they say Sarasota but it was really Port Charlotte that got nailed and Ft. Meyers, which only got a 6 hour warning that it was coming, were hit horribly bad and they are without power and probably will be for about a week.
There were some downed trees in SRQ but nothing major at all so we are perfectly safe here and now we have all this water and ice and canned stuff.
This has been an interesting day to say the least.
This is actually the sky over SRQ right now.
Ended the same way we began.
It was boring at our house so we took a walk up the street to see the downed tree.
This is Sebastian getting all rained on.
This is my backyard.
Playing in the puddles. Woo hoo!!
Talked ex-roommate into leaving the house to see the tree. She was a bit nervous. First hurricane and all.
This is the tree.
Exciting eh? I am bored to death and I am getting a headache.
I am trapped in the house with bored antsy people.
Feel my pain please.
I just took these and we have some wind but not much. It's mostly rain but not heavy at all.
I guess we'll have no use for that emergency blogging system after all.
All pictures are clickable for bigger.
It's starting to get a bit windier and more rainy.
Sebastian hanging in the rain.
Here's Mark just hanging checking it all out too.
Even if we lose power, which more than likely we will, I'm going to keep taking pictures and post them later.
It's about 1 hour away from making landfall so it won't be long now.
Just want to say hello to all you coming here from Metafilter.
We are going to stay online as long as FPL (florida power and light) holds out for us.
P.S. Stay safe blog daddy from those tornadoes. Find your safe room and get in there.
It may get really nasty here. 
I'm still good.
The news makes it sound really really horrible and I hate that.
We only have slight rain here and some minor wind.
It is nothing as of right now.
I'm gonna head back outside to check it out.
Later days.
It's begun raining here, not hard though. More like a drizzle. No wind yet. The sky hasn't changed all too much either.
I really hate how the news make people panic.
Like panicking is gonna make it stop.
I have also, and please don't get mad, had people say they are praying for us.
While I do appreciate the sentiment that you care, praying isn't going to stop nature.
Charley is going to come no matter what you do.
You could get out there and do the happy sun for florida dance to the gods of your choosing and it ain't gonna do jack shit to stop it.
You just have to take this as it comes. Make sure you have an emergency bag packed that contains your id, papers, toothbrush, deodorant, medications if you take them, and anything else that you may need should you have to leave.
But once this hits, it's really too late to go anywhere. The safest place is in your home in the room with interior walls.
ex-roommate's room is that room and she has been prepping it should the windows in the living room blow out, we can all hang there.
We have made tons of ice in tupperware containers and we will stick some of them in the fridge when the power shuts off to save the ketchup. (heh)
Our fridge basically has water, soda, snacks and condiments right now so we won't lose too much.
Cooked all the frozen food I had last night (it was just chicken) so I won't lose much in there either.
Please don't worry too much. We are all prepared with emergency evac bags and water etc.
Hang tight florida people.
to test the emergency blogging system and got her voice mail so I left the following message:
This is a test of the emergency blogging system. If this were an actual emergency, this message would be followed by screams of panic, high wind noises, rain, thunder and lightning and death..
I'm just having fun.
So far, still good.
One report, which hasn't been confirmed, is that they may upgrade to a category 4.
This has NOT been confirmed.
Will do my very best to stay online and posting or Jenni will take over the reigns when the power goes out.
I had to go tell my neighbors to the right to pick their shit up. They weren't going to.
Bastages.
All the barrier islands have officially been closed. If you have left, there is no going back and if you chose to stay, that's it, that's where you'll be.
The sky has now gone from bright and happy to grey and flat if you can understand that.
I'm going to go take some more pictures soon for your viewing pleasure.
Later days.
that a hurricane is coming.
It is absolutely gorgeous outside. It's bright and sunny, hot as always, beautiful.
The boys and I just did another sweep of the yard to pick up more rocks and clothespins etc.
I really wish my neighbors to the right, would pick their shit up cuz if that recycle bin comes through one of my windows, there will be hell to pay when the storm dies down.
I took the following 2 shots just 2 minutes ago.
The first image is looking northeast from my house. Beautiful no?
This second one is south/southwest. It's just a little grey.
There is nothing major happening as of yet.
As far as the mandatory evacuation, it is mainly directed at people who live in low lying areas, mobile homes and the medically needy such as patients on oxygen or a monitor of some kind.
Yes, we could go to a shelter with the gazillion other people who are there but there are reasons I don't.
#1. No pets. I have cats who are members of my family. I wouldn't leave one of my kids alone in this house during a storm, I am not leaving Kali, Nova or Christine. They are helpless and defenseless against shit like this.
#2. There are a gazillion people at the shelters already fighting over floor space, crying, panicking, smelling badly and tons of misbehaving screaming kids with parents who won't discipline them because well, there are a gazillion people who would be watching them so they just let them run wild.
#3. If I'm going to die in a hurricane, I would rather do it in my own home.
I know this is nothing to sneeze at people. Believe me, they keep telling us just how severe this could get and that Sarasota hasn't seen anything like this in many years, but I simply cannot deal with a lot of people in one crowded gymnasium crying, panicking, pooping, screaming, worrying, freaking out and driving each other up the wall.
If it gets super duper fucking nasty, I will leave but we are gonna stay as long as possible.
Will keep updating as we go and as you can see Jenni is ready to take over when the lights go down and I will make calls to her with updates as long as the phone lines hold out.
Later gators.
Hmm.
I wonder if we'll see any gators float by like we did a few years ago.
*keeping camera handy*
It's Marks birthday Sunday. He turns the big 13 and he is so frigging pissed teh hurricane is gonna ruin his birthday. Not much we can do but watch and see.
Since I can't sleep well tonight, here's a quick summary of the current conditions near Sarasota: It's raining. There you go.
I'll talk to Kat later this morning and post for her if she's without power. I'm assuming she will be, since Charley's expected to strengthen before he hits the coast later today. She may get lucky and the outer bands might stay reasonably tame, delaying the outages.
No one seems to know where Charley will make landfall, but it's going to be near Tampa Bay, whatever it is. Official updates are available here.
Stay safe, y'all.....
-- Jenni
Just "chatted" with Kat via my blog, so she's cool -- I'm just making sure I remembered the login schtuff. Charley's still on track to hit Sarasota head-on tomorrow.....you can keep up with the news here if you're interested. The Weather Channel people are currently waiting for the interesting stuff to happen (i.e. pink flamingos embedded in houses), so their TV coverage isn't the tops at the moment.
I would like to point out that, ahem, Sarasota's under a mandatory evac. Ahem.
That is all. ;) Seriously, Kat is fine or I wouldn't start posting sarcastic shit. Really. (I'm concerned, but don't tell her that....I'm glad we're calling each other.)
-- Jenni
We were actually able to get some more water, 4 more cans of spaghettios, 3 cans of tuna, crackers, film, soda, chips, pretzels, ice cream, easy cheese, um, I forgot what else.
It is crazy fucking hot here.
Like the sauna before the storm. It's nuts I tell ya.
If in the event that I lose power, I have given out my number to the way cool Jenni and she can let ya all know how we're doing.
I feel like an idiot though.
I have known Jenni for quite some time now and have never called her.
It shouldn't have taken a hurricane for me to do that.
I am Kats lack of thought.
I'm making shake n' bake chicken for dinner tonight cuz it could very well be the last hot meal we eat till Sunday and um, some chips cuz I completely brainfarted on the side dish.
So, until later, double check to make sure all your pink flamingos have been taken off the lawn.
If one of them comes through my window, I'm coming after you.
P.S. Solly, laugh now if you must but you're gonna get hit too aren't ya funny boy?
We are prepping the house right now.
Just got back from docs and need to do dishes and laundry right now in case we lose power for a number of days, we all have clean undies...lol
Don't worry about us ok?
We are good.
There are several shelters very close by should the need arise but I am going to hold out as long as possible.
It is not due to start hitting us until about midnight.
I will post as long as we have power.
No post, no power but don't worry. I will post again when we can.
We have yahtzee and monopoly and cards and candles.
Pretty much all set here, just doing a few more general pick ups and stuff like that.
Will post again later on after we make our way to the store for an attempt at canned food. (yeah right)
Take it easy all.
The hurricane shifted overnight and it is now headed straight at Sarasota/Manatee Counties.
It has been upgraded to a category 3 by the time it makes landfall sometime tomorrow.
This means winds of 110 miles per hour.
Some people are a bit concerned and I thank you for that but I want to assure you all that we will be fine.
This house was built a gazillion years ago out of huge cement blocks. It is not the housing of today made with plywood and 2x4s. (heh)
We have water, candles, canned food, batteries, board games, smokes, soda.
We will be fine.
There really isn't much you can do with one of these except ride it out. Panicking is stupid. It accomplishes nothing.
I will not beat people up for loaves of bread or the last gallon of water at the store. If they think they need it that bad, have at it.
We have what we need.
The animals will be secured in the back bathroom which is the safest part of the house and ex-roommate and I will clean up the patio furniture when we get back from the doctors.
We may lose power.
This could suck cuz then I couldn't blog the hurricane but if that happens, I will just take notes and pictures and blog it when we come back...lol
So you all hang tight.
It won't be that bad and I have yet to see a storm that made me want to leave Florida.
I had a very long, very boring day with a few humorous moments.
I have just a few pictures to share. but I'm too tired to upload them right now.
There was a woman who was so uppity and so uptight and so racist, you could smell the fear in her words to her daughter that if anyone even so much as spoke to her, she was to scream as loud as she could.
There was a guy who looked like Tony Pierces little brother. I mean that in the way that he looked like him and was easy going and as talkative as Tony blogs. He was cool and saw the humor and the racism in that lady.
Not humorous as in it was funny that she was racist but humorous in the way that she was acting like she was better than everyone else and she was above us all and she couldn't believe that she needed some sort of welfare or child support collection help. Like she wasn't supposed to be there.
Oh, but she was there and it was humorous to watch her act like bitch.
Then I rode the bus home with a kid on his cellphone and he talked on that thing for 22 straight city blocks.
I wanted to grab his phone and beat him with it because it was stupid shit he was talking and wow, was he dull and if that's all he could talk about, I felt bad for the person on the other end of the phone and maybe by beating him with his cellphone, I would have somehow spared that person that hour long snoozefest.
I also sat next to a woman with an obvious mental disorder of some kind.
How do I know?
She clapped twice every 2 minutes without fail for the entire hour long bus ride home.
I got off before her.
Clap clap.
I have been hit with a massive amount of nasty, sick, twisted referrer spam and so I have been dealing with it and the .htaccess file rewrite rules.
Tons of fun let me tell ya.
I need to get dressed soon to go to my appointment. I need to leave at 1 and all that.
Blech.
I just feel blech today ya know that feeling?
There are 2 tropical storms headed our way this weekend.
Bonnie is in the gulf and Charley, who is expected to reach hurricane category 2 by Friday, are both headed to Florida.
Bonnie is headed north of us but Charley, well, he's headed straight at us.
Woo hoo!
I love hurricane season.
A 2 is not enough to inflict any real damage. Some signs will get knocked down, maybe some power outages but it's nothing to worry about.
We'll get our water and canned goods anyway. I have candles all ready.
I like sitting in the driveway and watching it all.
The skies are absolutely amazing during a hurricane.
I have my appointment this afternoon, not this morning like I thought. Good, I can get some more sleep. I slept like shit last night and woke up at exactly 5:29, 1 minute before the alarm was supposed to go off.
Who needs an alarm clock when your body does shit like that.
I had a massive migraine for most of the day which prevented me from doing much of anything at all.
Got new insurance stuff so dealt with that.
Have an appointment downtown tomorrow so maybe you'll get pictures.
Have a docs appointment thursday so I know you'll get pictures on that day.
New docs is in the ghetto.
Yup, you read that right. The ghetto.
I am so excited I can't even tell you.
Supposed to be really great doc from what I have been told it's just in a shitty part of the city.
ex-roommate will be going with me for support and so I'm not all alone.
Hey, I'm not afraid to admit I get scared in that part of town, you would too if you could see it.
Sarasota may have the whitest, cleanest beaches in the world, a paradise, but it also has it's high crime areas as well.
The bus gets damn near close to the docs so it shouldn't be too bad.
That's all for now.
Later days.
I signed up for Free Bumper Stickers! and they came in the mail yesterday. They are free for bloggers up to $2.00.
I got this one
and this one and they must have upped their prices on the stickers cuz I was able to toss in this button too.
But it's not too late to get yours so go sign up.
I don't have cable so I miss all the news shows and stuff and I have known about O'Reilly for sometime but are people listening to this asshole? Found this link, O'Reilly lied about Outfoxed, from Tony, and could not believe what I was reading and you know something, it's not even the shut up stuff that bugged me.
O'Reilly is telling gay kids that they will never be accepted and to just shut up, just stay in the closet.
Maybe I'm reading it all wrong and maybe I just don't understand the guy but from where I sit and what I read, it sounds like he was just telling gay people to just shut up because they will never be accepted and they will come under attack, and if they think they will, as he puts it, they will live in Oz.
Everyones like he's always telling people to shut up and sure that's bad enough but he's obviously a homophobe in this case.
It's not just shut up, it's shut up about your sex life or people are going to attack you. He then goes on to tell kids in America to just shut up about their sexual orientation because this kind of stuff (attacks) will happen and they will never be accepted.
I had to read it 3 times to make sure I got that right.
You will never be accepted.
Gah, this guy is scary.
with family.
I made a post on Sunday like I always do and I call it my sunday sermon.
I asked people to share their views with me on what they believe and it was not nor is it still, a way for me to argue or debate with anyone. I thanked everyone for their views or opinions and I tried to keep it civil.
Well, my dad commented. I know it says mom but it was my dad and I think I hurt his feelings a little bit and I want to clear it up if I can without making a bigger mess of things ok? ok.
My dad wrote: Kat, Thanks for the opportunity to tell you how I feel about God and the Bible.I believe God Is.....Almighty,without beginning or end....merciful....loving....full of grace....all powerful....all knowing....in control....appoints kings and presidents....has provided a way of salvation.
I believe that the bible is God's plan given to me as instructions on how to live my life. I do not pretend to understand it all but there is one thing that I am sure of that it is God's desire for me to follow Him and this is the only place that I can find fulfillment.
And I wrote back to him: Thanks Mom for your views and I don't want to argue or debate but I cannot believe that a thing up in the sky is responsible for presidents and kings because if that is true, right now, that thing up in the sky wants to destroy us all because he appointed very evil men to rule the world.
I find fulfillment in the little things like my kids being happy at the first day of school and a thank you from them when dinner is eaten. I find my happiness and joy in the here and the now, the solid and the sure, the seen and the felt of my everyday that I am here.
So he emails me back and says: kat, please understand that it was me who made that comment. i am glad
that the boys had such a good day and it brought some happiness i love
you DAD
Now, I hope I didn't make it sound like a life believing in god is not right nor fulfilling because I know from countless talks with people that it is very fulfilling to them and it is their everything. I was just saying that I find my joy in the here and the now.
I know that my dad has always believed and growing up I believed too and since an event when I was 11, I lost any belief that I may have had and I know dad, I can't let that go and no, I never will let that go. I was told lies in place of answers and I can't let it go.
I was just asking people what they believed because I found the persons blog post and the other peoples safe than sorry attitude laughable and I was just curious.
I am sorry if I offended you dad in any way. It was not my intention, I was just talking with you.
Their first day of school went well and Sebastian was happier than a clam in mud.
He loves school and learning and he is just so happy. I was happy to hear that. I was a bit worried because he's a bit on the small side but he made it and no one picked on him. *phew*
Mark did great, loves being and eighth grader.
Yay for first day survival.
I'm cleaning the house and it's actually staying clean!
I love back to school.
Just need to do the bathroom and I will feel like I can live in here again without wanting to beat people with sticks.
It's amazing how dirty people are in general.
I am anxious to see how first day of school went for the boys. I'm sure it was fine for Mark, being the big eighth grader now but Sebastian is low man on the totem pole sixth grader.
I hope it all went well.
Ok, back to cleaning.
Well earlier than we have been getting up all summer but man am I excited for school today.
Everyone is up each others butts and driving me insane.
School is a good thing for many reasons.
The boys are eating breakfast and getting ready and then it will be quiet here.
Yay!
I may actually have time to blog and stuff now.
I have phone calls to make around 9ish and a routine will be nice to get back into.
Really.
Then my throat started hurting and I felt fevery.
So I'm sick all of a sudden.
Could be the rain/sun repeat that has been non-stop for days now.
*wah* my throat hurts.
I read at a blog yesterday about someones beliefs or lack there of in God and then how they explained that it wasn't so much a disbelief in God but a disbelief in the bible.
So I got to thinking about that and then came to the conclusion that you can't have it both ways.
I know you think you can. Your mind tells you that the stories in the bible are pure poppycock and full of lies and myths but you want to believe that God exists.
Well, God only exists in the bible.
If the bible had never been written, the story of God would just be a myth, a legend, handed down from person to person or then again, maybe not.
Imagine that.
So here you sit in total disbelief of the bible, not falling for the parting of the seas and the burning bushes and the talking snakes and all the wonderfully scary stories of the bible but yet you will still believe in God whose only 'proof' of existence falls in it's pages.
Fascinating.
And I know people who only believe in God because they say it's better to be safe than sorry.
Ha!
That is so funny.
'I don't really know if there's a hell but just to be safe, I'm gonna say I believe because in the end, I don't wanna burn. Just in case.'
So if you're up to it, tell me what you believe without writing an essay. I mean you can if you want to but maybe you can just do it in a paragraph.
Like, I believe in both God and the bible because...
Or I don't believe in the bible but I do believe in God because...
Or I don't believe in either because...
I'm just very curious as to how many more people believe in God but not in the pages where that god was created.
Bob is a comment spammer.
Bob has about a gazillion different ips and a gazillion yahoo addies.
Bob is a dink.
Bob just hit my site approximately 20 times in the last hour.
I have blacklisted Bobs shit but he keeps coming back with more.
So I just spammed the hell out of who ever actually owns the sites he's promoting by fwding all the comments that Bob left and were emailed to me.
I know I shouldn't have but ya know what?
Fuck Bob and the sites he's promoting.
You can choose a new skin here.
This skin has a little surprise in the header graphic and the colors are dark but not too dark. I took all the colors from the main image itself. There are also little pictures from the film in the sidebar.
One of them is kinda gross so you have been warned.
If you hate it, like it, think it's so-so, you can tell me. I promise my feelings won't get hurt.
I'm still learning how to do all this stuff and I just goof off for the most part and just do stuff that I like.
I am feeling a bit better. Got tons of rest last night and have no plans to do anything at all and I'm keeping it that way. If people need to go places, they can go alone. I can't do anymore.
Finally updated the calendar in the sidebar. Took me long enough. The calendar is courtesy of Keanuvision.
May make a new skin for this later on and dump an old one.
Halloween is coming (2 1/2 months but it's my fave holiday) and I am a huge fan of the independent film(s) Ginger Snaps. I found some great stuff that I want to work with and make a skin out of. If you haven't ever seen those movies and like bloody and werewolves, check out Ginger Snaps and Ginger Snaps 2 unleashed. The prequel, part 3, is coming out this September.
That's it for now.
Oh, the pictures of Sebastian are ones I have just been taking here and there. He lets me take pictures of him, Mark doesn't.
I don't want anyone thinking I'm playing favorites. Mark is becoming angsty teen boy.
My back is just majorly sucky today and for the last few days. It's just hurting more than I want to deal with.
Maybe if someone could come rip off my left leg right at the hip, it would feel better. At least nothing would be getting pinched.
Bleh.
Nothing much else is going on here.
The kids are getting haircuts with sis and ex-roommate is out with a friend and I feel old.
It's just a phase. It will pass.
I'll be back to my normal self when the pain subsides some.
It really sucks when the majority of your time is dealing with pain. You have no idea. And I hate bitching about it too but it truly is all consuming and I know bitching does nothing for it but it's all I got....lol
I haven't replied to comments. I haven't answered emails.
I did the dishes though.
I had time alone and it was nice and then ex-roommate came home and we watched Elephant. It's powerful See it.
We are going to head out when she wakes up and go to her bank and I'm gonna see if I can find Minnesota.
Minnesota, not his real name, moved here from, can you guess? That's right, Minnesota.
He was going to go back and go to college but when I saw him 2 days ago I asked him when he was going and he said that wasn't going back.
I asked him why and he said that his dad was getting re-married and his mom told him not to come back.
The look in his eyes was heartbreak and I felt horrible for the guy.
Don't come back.
How hard it must be to hear that when that is all you were looking forward to doing. Going home to family and they tell you don't come back.
He knows no one here so I have decided to allow him to know us.
Taking in stray kids... and he is just a kid. Just about college age but he seems like a nice enough kid and I'm not really gonna take him in (don't worry mom) but if he'll let me, become his friend and then maybe it won't be so lonely around here for him.
I knew he was cool the first time I heard him speak and he did that Minnesota accent and I did it back and instead of getting mad like most people would do thinking you're making fun of them, he came back with a 'you betcha' full on accent and I nearly died.
He's polite and sweet and no one deserves to feel unwanted.
I can't imagine treating my kids like that even years from now no matter what they may do with their lives. Even if I were to ever re-marry (don't hold your breath) I could never ever tell my boys to not come back to me. If they need me, I will always be here open armed and waiting.
So hopefully he's working today and if not, I'll just have to catch him another day.
Now Roxy is a small woman. She stands maybe 5 foot 3. She is way cool though.
The school was in complete chaos and this not only pissed me off but it pissed off Roxy the spitfire.
They had one of those 2 sided rolling chalkboards set up in the cafeteria and on it was the class lists.
Picture it please.
800 students + about 1,000 parents all trying to get a look at the one rolling chalkboard.
If that wasn't bad enough, the lists on the rolling chalkboard were wrong.
Mark is in Ms. Chesters class, that much is correct but it said building 3 room 103.
Building 3 room 103 belonged to the 6th graders so we hunt for her. We find her in building 3 room 117.
Now picture 800 students and 1,000 parents all armed with the wrong class info.
Very fun times indeed.
Not.
Roxy tore some teacher person a new asshole not only over the lack of organization but because of the dress code.
She pretty much told them she didn't give a shit about it and if they gave Mikey detention, she wasn't going to give a crap because having to wear a belt and tuck in your shirt is not going to stop gang violence. You want to stop shootings, install a frigging metal detector.
At least I know I won't be alone in arguing over the dress code this year.
Offensive, gang, drug, alcohol, tobacco, or items promoting excessive violence/anarchy, skulls and crossbones and pink are not acceptable.
I so want to test the offensive part.
I mean, what is offensive?
I know a shirt that says Fuck you is not appropriate for school but what if I send him to school in a shirt that just says HEATHEN. Is that offensive? Is it promoting anarchy? What if I send him to school in a shirt with a picture from the movie LOTR which is his favorite, and it has Aragorn with a bow and arrow.
Is that offensive or promoting violence because it has a weapon on it?
I'd like to join the PTO or at least go be a pain in the ass at a few meetings.
Who will make the decision as to what is ok and what is not ok?
The whole list is insanely stupid. They said no sunglasses.
Hey, we live in fucking FLORIDA you idiots.
Do you really think they are gonna cut each other up with their sunglasses? Give them just a little credit please and allow them to protect their eyes. The sun here will blind you and fry your eyeballs.
School hasn't even officially begun and I can already tell it's going to be a really fun year.
Not.
of my morning and then I came home and crashed for awhile because I am headed to a forced open house for school.
I will explain it all later and maybe some pictures too.
I will say though that I may ask someone, anyone at the school, exactly what offensive is when it comes to shirts and who will be deciding if it's offensive or not.
Will it be solely up to an individual teacher, will it be a group decision or what?
I mean, the first word on the no shirt list is offensive and then it goes into gang colors and then, get this, no skulls and cross bones.
I guess it's wrong to like pirates this year.
They were also told no pink.
When are schools going to realize that it's not the clothing that makes kids violent or causes school violence. It's the way they treat each other.
I mean you could make every single kid wear pink tutus and if some kid is a dink and a bully, then that's just the way he is. It's not because he's wearing a pink tutu. They all would be.
It's about respecting each other on a human level.
Clothing has little to do with it in my opinion.
Discuss.
Have to go pay a bill.
I hate going downtown but at least it's more interesting that the other bill place.
Just 5 more days till the boys go back. They are starting to really drive each other bonkers.
Elephant that I downloaded because the video store only had one copy of it and it was 9 days late being returned.
50 frigging copies of Agent Cody Banks but only 1 of this film. I don't get it.
For those of you unfamiliar with the film, here is the description from Amazon;
Description
Winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Gus Van Sant's (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) Elephant takes us inside an American high school on one, single ordinary day that very rapidly turns tragic. Elephant demonstrates that high school life is a complex landscape where the vitality and beauty of young lives can shift from light to darkness with surreal speed. It's an ordinary high school day. Except that it's not.
I knew the movie was about a school shooting before I watched it. The previews for it give that much of it away, what I wasn't expecting was to be nervous.
I was nervous watching it. Heart racing, panicking because I knew what was coming but wasn't sure when because the movie does a back and forth thing to introduce you to just a bunch of kids from all walks of life, the popular, the unpopular, the geeks, the jocks, the barfoholics etc.
I felt for them and part of me was like, see that's what you get you dink and another part of me was wanting to beg for mercy for some of the others.
I felt for the shooters for being so desperate and confused and alone.
I felt bad and scared and nervous.
It didn't explain school shootings at all it just put you there in the halls mingling with the kids, seeing as they see and remembering your own school whether good or bad or bullied or not, you recognized every kid from your own school years.
I don't know if I'd watch this with teens, I don't know if I'd even tell anyone to see it yet I am telling you to see it in a round about way.
It moved me and made me think and feel and most of the time, the stuff I watch is all fluff or blood and gore. This wasn't bloody, it wasn't graphic, it just was.
Check out the size of this bug that we found dead outside the house this morning.
I don't even know what the hell it is.
It looks like a fly but it's huge!!!
Do not ever try to wash bed pillows along with a big comforter again.
You almost just killed your washing machine which you can't afford to replace and if you hadn't noticed the smell, you could have burnt down your house that you don't own and can't afford to pay for either.
Wash the fucking pillows separately next time blondie.
Ok so the show premiered last night on A&E. How many of you watched it and what do you think? I am getting a lot of searches for Victorias bra size.
I'm gonna be honest with ya.
I don't know but I am guessing that it's huge.
I am also getting a lot of comments on the Gotti boys. You can find quizzes and other stuff relating to them here at their own site, Hotti Gotti.
I am not going to get into which boy is cuter etc because well, they are only slightly older than my own boys and to start talking about them in a who's cuter sense is well, just plain creepy for me cuz I'm too old to be crushing on teen boys.
But please feel free to discuss them here and the show and things you liked, didn't like etc.
Go ahead, tell me which Gotti you think is cutest. I won't mind.
Please go over and wish Tina a happy birthday.
I'm a little slow and late on it today, but send her happy wishes ok?
Thanks.
Marks birthday is next week but I went ahead and gave him the present he asked for early.
He asked for Dynasty Warriors 4 XL and he loves it.
He first started playing Dynasty Warriors as a demo game we had and then he started playing them all and this is the one he wanted.
You can load saved game data from DW4 into the XL so you can change their hair, armour etc.
Some of the features are:
‡ Expansion and "remix" of popular fighting game
‡ New Xtreme gameplay mode pits you against random skirmishes for as long as it takes
‡ New Legends mode with 42 stages
‡ Arena Challenge permits one-on-one duels
‡ For 1 or 2 players
I don't do detailed reviews because I don't play these games.
I play horror games and puzzle type stuff. Wars and battles and stuff is for them.
It's a good game all in all though. They have been playing for days on end and still are no where near beating it.
Hours of fun they tell me.
I just got back from the store and thought I'd check in on free samples so here ya go.
Balance Bar®
There really aren't that many out there today.
Did those of you who signed up for the free Garnier ever get yours?
No?
You can keep trying everyday until they run out.
I have things I have to do today too. Not too much. I do need to go get a money order to pay a bill with and go buy some food.
Tomorrow I need to go out and head downtown.
Not looking fwd to it.
The weather here is all rainy, it's officially storm season and so it rains during the times of the day when you need to get up and go somewhere.
Like now.
Not much else is happening here.
Later days.
Especially the useless knowledge part and the grammar part.
I hate it when people can't spell correctly.
I swear a lot but nothing irks me more than people who speak in street slang or are constantly misspelling shit.
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
I see this commercial today for this show, Dance 360
coming to UPN this fall and I immediately start retching.
WTF???
A hip hop dance contest on tv?
You got served my kids start teasing and laughing.
That's just great. I can't believe this shit honestly.
Kel Mitchell is funny. I used to love him on Nick with the whole good burger thing but is this all his agent could drum up for work for him?
They couldn't land him on SNL or a movie?
Gah.
The only way I see this house watching this is if there is absolutely nothing else on at all and we can't decide on a movie.
And then it will be for laughs
I think I may go insane.
I am starting to need a break from the noise and needs of everyone who lives here.
It's not that I hate them or am mad at any of them, but it just seems that the minute I sit down to read a few blogs or post to my own, someone needs something.
A bug may be in the bathroom, the house is too dark to fall asleep, break up fights, spell words correctly, be something to someone right at that moment.
I love my family, I love each person who lives here but I think this is the 'thing' that most moms complain about and start feeling resentful over.
It's the non-ability to be alone for any length of time.
When I take a shower, I can count on someone coming in there and taking a leak, a crap, washing their hands or just asking a million questions.
If I go outside to sit for a few, someone follows all the time.
If I sit here, someone needs something.
I have this thing about privacy at the computer.
If someone is on it, no one else can sit anywhere near it and no one should ask the person on the puter any questions at all.
I do really good at this rule.
I don't bug anybody when they are on reading emails or looking at whatever. I just sit somewhere else and watch tv or go lay down in my room. I am a good provider of personal space and quiet time.
But the minute I sit down to read my emails or blog or read blogs or whatever, someone has to ask something, need something, start chatting about something.
People wonder why I am getting so snippy.
It's cuz you all won't leave me the fuck alone for 10 minutes!
I do not need constant stimulation people. I can sit quietly for hours.
I love them. I really do love them but I really need my space, my quiet time. My time to blog and read blogs.
It has nothing to do with me being a bitch, it keeps me from being a bitch.
So there ya have it, the reason I haven't replied to any of your emails or been around to visit you.
I simply haven't had the time and quiet that I need to do it.
I really wish my family would understand that if they give me my time alone, that I am much more willing to to do what ever it is they want me to do.
Back to school that is but not school shopping.
Holy crap that sucked.
$200 later and we have everything they needed except for the bazillion boxes of kleenex they wanted each student to bring in.
I just don't ever buy the kleenex.
Don't start on me either about germs etc cuz ya know I don't give a shit.
The way I see it, I already bought 2/20 pound reams of computer paper for the teachers use, red pens for the teachers use, dry erase markers for the teachers use, I am not buying them kleenex too.
They can just deal with the loss of it by crying into the inferior toilet paper that is in the bathrooms.
They have their shoes, clothes and trapper keepers.
They have their geometric compasses and scientific calculators and highlighters and markers and colored pencils and erasers and folders and dividers and everything else that was on that damn list.
All Marks stuff was a guesstimate and if the teachers decide 2 days before school starts to print out a supply list for Marks class and it differs from what I bought him, they can fucking go buy it themselves.
1 week until school starts and those teachers haven't even turned in a list to the office never-mind actually getting it to the parents who need it.
You watch, they'll hand it out on meet the teacher night this coming thursday, the 5th, and school starts on the 9th.
I am tired, hungry and came oh so close to hitting snotty teen girls with rubber rulers for constantly bumping into me with their carts as I was shopping because I was in the way of the ultra cute pink backpacks with fur trim.
I am ready to beat people with sticks.
Must finish cooking dinner now and then collapse in front of some mindless television.
Later days.
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
