Ugh bleargh.
I'm having a day here.
Feeling sick, in pain, be back when I can.
Rugs Online area rug retailer featuring thousands of products!
Contact me to get your product reviewed!
Kat on Facebook (You must be signed in to Facebook to see my profile)
« April 2007 | Main | June 2007 »
I'm having a day here.
Feeling sick, in pain, be back when I can.
This weeks topic is:
Introduce us to your current favorite band. Doesn't matter what genre, or how old they are or how long they've been around. If you dig 'em, we want to know about 'em!
Well this is totally a no brainer, TOOL!
A more updated site is Toolshed, you can get a ton of info about them and the tour, lyrics etc, from there.
Anyway, the members are, Maynard, Adam, Danny and Justin, and they have a very unique sound, thought provoking lyrics, absolutely incredible.
For a sample of their music, here is one of their songs. This is one of my fave songs off the new cd, 10,000 days (wings for Marie pt.2). Gone. Hope you enjoyed it. :)
Please right click and save as.
Lyrics are in the extended entry,
Listen to the tales and romanticize,
How we'd follow the path of the hero.
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun.
How we rise to the height of our halo.
Listen to the tales as we all rationalize
Our way into the arms of the savior,
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations;
None of us have actually been there.
Not like you.
Ignorant siblings in the congregation
Gather around spewing sympathy,
Spare me.
None of them can even hold a candle up to you.
Blinded by choice, these hypocrites won't see.
But, enough about the collective Judas.
Who could deny you were the one who
Illuminated your little piece of the divine?
And this little light of mine, a gift you passed on to me;
I'm gonna let it shine to guide you safely on your way,
Your way home ...
Oh, what are they going to do when the lights go down
Without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they going to do when the rivers overrun
Other than tremble incessantly?
High is the way, but all eyes are upon the ground.
You were the light and the way they'll only read about.
I only pray, Heaven knows when to lift you out.
Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough;
You're going home.
You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fists at the gates saying:
"I've come home now!
Fetch me the spirit, the son, and the father.
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.
It's time now!
My time now!
Give me my, give me my wings!"
You are the light and way that they will only read about.
Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance,
(With the) burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one.
Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescents.
Difficult to see you in this light.
Please forgive this bold suggestion, but
Should you see your Maker's face tonight,
Look Him in the eye, look Him in the eye, and tell Him:
"I never lived a lie, never took a life, but surely saved one.
Hallelujah, it's time for you to bring me home."
My back is totally fried, it was well worth it, but owie.
The seats were hard plastic, the floors, concrete, big huge stairs.
Up and down the sidewalks back and forth to the car.
I'm toast.
I will get around to emails at some point, but I'm having trouble at the moment doing much of anything.
I'd do it again though. *hahaha*
We got there and tried to get in, but damn the man, no chained wallets, (Tina) so we had to walk all the way back to the car, put that back, and come back.
They let me in with my bag even though it said no bags, no cell phones, no cameras, no camera phones, I said I had to have my cell, I have kids at home. They said ok.
Literally everyone there had cell cams. *wink*
The opening band sucked! They are called Melt Banana, from Tokyo Japan.
All I understood was, "We are so happy to be opening for THE TOOL, and Konichiwa."
Maynard loves to give unknown bands some publicity, but this band definitely does not belong at a TOOL show, no way.
TOOL was amazing! And I'm not just saying that because I love them, but because they were. Crystal clear words and music, no feedback, you could understand every single word Maynard sang.
The audience was pumped, they sang along, everyone was in unison, singing everything, completely into it, moved and swayed along with very little moshing. It was like watching an ocean wave.
Perfection.
They had an incredible stage and light show. My camera phone does NOT do this justice at all, but I am so glad I took a ton of pics anyway.
I was kind of scared to take pics. They said if they saw a flash and caught us, they would confiscate our camera/phones, and not give them back.
Ack!
So here's just one pic for now, I'll upload the rest of them later after my phone charges. The battery is so dead man...*laughs*
It looks like I was really far away, but I wasn't. I could see every member of the band perfectly. Maynard was wearing jeans, a grey long sleeved shirt, looked to be one of his Caduceus wine shirts, or possibly one from his new Puscifer band, and his cowboy hat, and shades.
He took his hat off and had his mowhawk. I love that! It's all fluffy. *ha!*
This is the set list for the show in correct order. Every time a song played, I took a pic and labeled it with the song name so I'd have an accurate set list.
Jambi
Stinkfist
Forty-six & 2
The Pot
Schism(ext)
Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned
Right in Two
Intension (intro) for Wings for Marie Pt.1
Wings for Marie Pt. 2 (10,000 days)
Lateralus (ext)
Vicarious
Highlights of Maynard's vocals were,
1) OVERWHELMED AS ONE WOULD BE WHEN PLACED IN MY POSITION....(Stoned)
2) The ending of Lateralus...
3) Holee, Fuckin, Sheeaat from Rosetta Stoned. He sang most of this song through a small megaphone to give it that wah trippy effect.
Simply incredible show, I would so get tickets to go see them again if I could.
Absolutely amazing night. If they are coming near you and you want to see one of the best shows ever, get tix to see them, because it will be a show you will never forget.
Do you have any rules for your commentators, when they leave a comment?
Are there certain things you don't allow?
I have some basic rules in my comments, like stay on topic, trollish and rude comments won't be posted etc, but I have an unspoken rule that really annoyed someone yesterday.
They posted two extra urls in the comment field linking to other sites, other articles they wanted to promote.
They said I censored them when they wrote back to me.
I didn't censor, I edited the extra urls out.
I know several people who do this for a few different reasons.
One, is the do follow that many of us have implemented in our comments. It helps follow the url of your site that you leave in the url field of the box.
Other people just believe that extra urls are not necessary to leave.
I'm one of those, it's just not needed.
I have edited out many extra urls. People take the comment field to promote their books, their podcasts, their own sites, especially if they own more than one site, and the url field will only allow one site to be plugged in.
This person did not agree with what I posted yesterday about memorial day, so they left links to two sites they wanted to promote.
They said, "there are more opinions than just yours".
Yes, there are, and feel free to post those opinions on your site.
Many of us have differing opinions on the war, and we post those opinions on our sites.
It was then said, "Your troops are fighting for your right to do that........"
Yes, I guess you could say they are, so why be so upset with me, and tell me I'm censoring you, when you basically just agreed with me that I have the right to run my site as I see fit?
I love comments, I love the interaction with my readers, but I don't have to allow anything to appear which I do not want to.
Rude comments, trolls, harassing type comments, spam, I have the right to edit it all out, or simply blacklist it.
So do you have comment rules, written or unwritten?
I was checking in on a local forum this morning, they actually have two forums, one for just chat stuff, the other for car and bike stuff. Sometimes the car stuff slips over on to the chat forum. This one guy was in the for sale forums, spamming it to death with his request for work. The forum has a classifieds section where you can sell stuff, buy, or work wanted or even job offers.
He posted a bunch of times that he does car detailing and has his own automotive detailing supplies, that you would just be paying him for the work. He says he does good work. People were giving him a hard time, mainly because he posted it so many times, but it's kinda funny to watch people get all crazy talking back to sellers and sometimes even the spam posters who create accounts.
Brookside Middle was supposed to send all the summer school registration info to the high school, so Sebastian could take his summer LMS classes.
They didn't send in over 100 students papers, so they got sent home.
He can't take the class this summer.
I called the high school and they said that he can take it during the year, or next summer. As long as he takes it before he's supposed to graduate when he's a senior, he'll be good.
It kinda sucks.
I wanted them both to be going to school together every day. It would help to keep Mark motivated if he had someone to go with.
He is taking his classes, but he's totally not happy Sebastian gets the summer off now.
I got my business cards I ordered. I actually got them like 3 weeks ago, but forgot to blog it. They are too cool. Now, I want to order some matching imprinted pens to go with them.
I know, I'm such a dork, but I love the idea of being able to hand out a card and a pen to someone when they ask for contact info.
I did find a place that could do red pens with black lettering on them, for pretty cheap.
Now I just have to do the order.
*SQUEAL!*
OMGD!!!
I'm so stoked, I can barely contain myself. I'm cleaning the house cuz Tina and Norman will be here, the boys are baby sitting, we're going.
This is gonna be so awesome!
I gotta write down the directions to the sundome, do the dishes, make dinner for every one.
I totally wish I could sneak a cam in like the people who took these pics I've been using, but I always tend to get caught. Hahaha.
I'll just use my cell, they'll be crappy, far away pics, but at least I'll have some.
Gotta make sure I charge my cell. *adds that to the list of today's to-dos.*
Ack! Weeeee! OMGD! Yay!
Photo credit to the t.d.n.: live flickr group.
The boys are in bed, much to their disgust. They have to be at summer school by 7:30, so they had to go early tonight.
They only mildly argued today. I'm greatful for that.
I had a headache most of the day, my back was still is twitchy.
My neighbor is playing stupid. Nothing annoys me more than someone playing dumb and thinking I am stupid.
I haven't spoken to her in a few days, I'm quite upset about some shit that went down on Thursday, and so I just haven't bothered.
She knows I'm angry, so she hasn't called for anything for a few days.
Today, she calls, she knows I'm pissed, but gives me the "You ok? You sound upset" crap.
I tell her she knows why I'm angry, she says she doesn't. I told her I'm not stupid, I know she's been waiting for me to calm down before she calls again.
She then starts getting all teary over the phone, wants to pay Sebastian for the work he did in her house about a week and a half ago.
See, she can't clean her house, her husband refuses to, her son is faking illness so he doesn't have to, and the house looks like a category 5 blew through it, so Sebastian and I cleaned it. (This was before the talk to cut off help)
I said she didn't have to, I already paid him for it.
"Oh please, please let me pay him."
Fine, whatever, pay him, I don't care.
Sebastian goes over to get the money, and her and the boy, and the hubby, are all kissin' his ass, wanting to know why I'm so pissed.
I had told her why I was pissed, she knows damn well why I'm pissed.
They are just trying to figure out if I'm pissed enough to call CPS again is what this ass kissing shit is about.
But ya know, fuck CPS. Every damn time they have been here, they have walked away. Fuck that shit.
I'm burning the pics of the bruises, writing a statement, and taking it to the fucking DA.
I've had enough of this fucking shit.
The husband is a dope smoking, coke snorting, abusive rotten fuck. She enables him to keep on doing the shit, and I know she smokes that shit as well, hell, the boy knows they smoke it. He comes over here smelling like the damn shit.
I cannot take any more of this fucking shit.
Then about an hour after that, she sends the boy over here to see if Sebastian wants to go play down in the preserve. Sebastian goes, comes back about an hour later laughing.
He says all the boy did was ask Sebastian questions about how mad I am, that his mom is worried I'm gonna do something.
Sebastian told him that mom is so pissed, she ain't talking man, she's super pissed at your mom and I don't know why.
The boy goes home, then I hear the yelling through the walls.
Yeah, they are panicking that shit is gonna hit the fan.
I swear to you people, CPS has been called about them no less than 7 times since November, and each time they walk away. Obviously, it's time to go above CPS.
Why am I pissed?
I gave her one last chance to take the offer. I said this is it, it's yes or no. No maybe, no we're gonna try counseling, it's yes or no.
She said she has to try counseling. I said when, after he buys more coke and screams for hours on end at you and the kid again? Or after he kills one of you?
She said she couldn't take it.
I said I'm done, this is it, my hands are washed of this entire fucking mess.
I have done nothing but offer you sincere, and real help, time and again, and you are choosing to stay.
I can't stay.
I cannot stay in this mess, it's too fucking much shit.
I want nothing more to do with this crap other than get the boy the help he needs. He needs to be removed, and get lots and lots of counseling.
He's going to end up like his POS sperm donor.
Are you a work at home mom? Want to join a new weekly question meme that is just for work at home moms?
Then check out WAHM, and join up!
Do you work on holidays?
Yup I do.
I was working today for a few hours off and on, dealing with site issues and stuff, then life got in the way again.
Neighbor drama.
Oy.
I need to find a better way to have our network cables.
Currently, they run behind the love seat, and across the floor, to get to the boys pc in the other room. But behind the love seat, oooh man, what a mess.
I have like 6 cables back there, all jumbled up, and then they run across the floor in a black cable tube that is held down to the floor.
It looks terrible. I need a white cable tube that I can run across the ceiling.
That would make it look better.
I'm taking the day to chill out and rest, so my back can handle the hard concrete floors and steps of the USF Sundome tomorrow night.
OMGD! It's almost time!
I will finally get to see them play live.
Photo credit to the t.d.n.: live flickr group.
In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces."It could be a bloody - it could be a very difficult August," he said last week.
By the end of Saturday at least 100 American troops had died in the first 26 days of May, an average of 3.85 deaths a day. At that pace, 119 troops will have died by the end of the month, the most since 137 soldiers were killed in November 2004, when U.S. troops were fighting insurgents in Fallujah.As of Saturday, May 26, 2007, at least 3,451 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,817 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military.
Today the boys and I went and hung out with Mindy and Chris, and the kids, Jeff and Katie.
We went to the mall first while we waited for Jeff to get done working, picked up a few applications for Mark so he can work too, then headed back to their house to have dinner and hang out.
Awesome steaks Chris!
The boys played GoW, and tortured each other, we sat outside and talked immigration, and all the silly crap the kids do.
Oh, I picked up Sebastian a pair of Vans on sale for $39 at the Rack Room. Good sale price for those.
He blew out yet another pair of sneakers, so he needed new ones.
Came home about 45 minutes ago, cuz my back started locking up. I hate it when that happens, but if I don't stretch it out and get it to unlock, it hurts like a mofo. So I came home and laid down until it snapped all the way down.
The first time it started popping like that, I thought I broke a pedicule screw or two off.
But the docs assure me it's normal. They said that when sitting or standing for a long time, the spine and screws get used to being in that straight position, when I lay down and relax, it's a different position for the spine to be in, a relaxed state instead of a hold state, so the bones and screws adjust to it, and 'pop' out of the locked hold.
Tomorrow after Mark gets home from hanging with his Big George, we're going to head back over for bbq and more game playing and stuff.
Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour tonight. The heat makes me tired.
Time to check in with all of you.
Later days!
Attempting I say, because every time I get ready to hop in the shower, the boys start arguing over whose turn it is to play the xbox.
I had to set time limits like you would with a couple of 7 year olds.
"Ok Mark, you get to play for an hour, and then he gets to play for an hour."
Geez, you would think at these ages they would be better at sharing their toys, but nooo, they still fight over stuff like a couple of toddlers with a bucket of blocks.
I better be able to get in that shower soon is all I have to say, or the xbox is coming unplugged.
Spare golf cart parts that is.
Around here, and several other towns, golf carts are a form of transportation for seniors.
I remember when Shell and I came down here years ago before I moved here, to visit with her gram and my sis. When we stayed with her gram for a few days, all the people in her town drove golf carts every where.
When I first saw this sign, 
I thought it was a joke. Golf cart crossing? What?
But they had specially designed roads just for golf carts, their own street lights, parking spaces etc.
It was totally amusing.
They even had golf cart parades where people turned their carts into mini parade floats and drove up and down the strip, waving at people.
I have a bunch of pics of it somewhere.
I was just reminded of this because I was looking at one of the forums I belong to, and someone was searching for golf cart parts.
It totally made me giggle.
I'm on the hunt for new sunglasses. I went to get mine and clean them because I'll actually be going outside during daylight hours tomorrow, and found the frames broken on my fave pair.
Ugh.
So I am looking around on line to find an affordable, my style pair. I love most of the styles at Wiley X even though I don't own a bike.
I like the Romer II's a lot. Don't know if I'll be getting them, but I like them.
One of these days, I'm going to have the money to move the hell outta this hood man.
About 4 or 5 months ago, we had some new neighbors move in to the duplex to my right.
They live on the far right half of the plex, and are nothing but trouble.
They get into arguments with people all the time.
They have 3 pitbulls, 2 large males, and 1 female pup.
This is why they get into fights.
The dogs are constantly getting out of the house, and off of their chains.
And this new family is not exactly nice.
They um, "sell things."
One night about a month ago, I get a knock at the door, it's the patriarch of the family, a black man who speaks very poor English, smells like he bathes in beer and dog crap, and wants to introduce himself to me, as well as offer his "services."
He's got 'bars' and oxys, and weed, and pretty much anything any one looking for a high could want, he's got a way to get it within an hour he tells me.
He's like the Avon man of getting high.
"Ding Dong! Your dealer's here!"
I say no thanks, I don't do that shit, but nice to meet you, this is a good place to live, it's quiet, I tell him.
I also ask him if he could make sure his dogs stay on his property because I have kids, and one of his dogs chains is very long, and it's been under my bedroom window barking at my kitten a few times at night.
He says sure no problem, and goes about his way to visit my plex neighbors, the ones with all the problems. The abusive fucktard dad of that family, welcomes him in.
He loves the green stuff among other things, and enjoys "skiing the white slopes" from time to time.
Well right now, this new family is yelling at my plex neighbor behind me, Dave.
Dave is an awesome guy, he's quiet, stays to himself, very friendly and helpful.
One of the new families pits got loose again, and Dave brought the dog back to them.
Apparently, they didn't appreciate Dave touching their dog.
The drunken, smelly drug supplier, just went out back to Dave's with a steel bat screaming at the top of his lungs that no one is "gonna ds'respect him like dat!"
Dave is a rational man, and is talking to the guy, calming him down, he didn't mean no disrespect, he just was bringing the dog back before someone called animal control.
No dogs in our county are allowed to be off of their chains or out of their owners site and reach at any time.
Dave was bringing it back before animal control came and took it.
The screaming has subsided for now, but I swear, they take a bat to Dave's body, I'll be on the phone with 911 stat.
I imagine half the neighborhood would end up outside trying to help Dave. He's the kind of neighbor you want to have. Minds his own business, quiet, yet you ever need a cup of sugar, he's your go to guy.
I really dislike my new neighbors.
Sebastian and his Big came back here to drop off his hair and change his clothes. They had gone swimming, and are now headed out to go bowling.
The place that cut his hair put it in a baggie and gave us a form and a pre-marked envelope, so we can mail it to Locks of Love ourselves.
This is the most recent pic of Sebastian that I could find.
I don't take nearly enough pics of my kids because our cameras don't work that great.
But his hair was actually much longer than this, this morning when he left. Picture it down to his chest area.
This is him now. It's super short!
He really looks a lot younger now.
And this is how much they cut off, 11 inches!!!
I have talked about the state of Florida's new direct deposit card for child support a bunch of times before.
I didn't want this card in the beginning, but after talking to them in the entry I linked, I just went ahead and said fine, send the damn card.
No way was I going to give them access to my financial information without my consent.
The card showed up today, and I activated it.
What's totally funny is, I also got a paper child support check too...hahahaha
This state is so totally messed up.
Sebastian went off with his Big today, and called me just now to tell me his hair got cut.
They had made an agreement that he would do it.
Well, Sebastian's hair was really, really long, it was 11 inches when they measured it just now.
So he decided to donate his hair to the Locks of Love.
That is so awesome!
His hair is beautiful, it's in great shape, this perfect shade of blond, some kid is now going to have a wig made with his hair.
I just think that's the coolest thing.
He of course feels slightly naked now, but he will get used to it, and needs to be proud of himself. He did a very good thing.
"List". Memory helper, "J@z"
Laundry
Dishes
House
Comments issue
Netflix!
PPP Direct charges
CS paperwork!! Must do!!
Test camera thingy
Fan boxes
Double AA batts for remote
Check ear
Tv clutter
Post office
It's about 4am on Saturday, I'm up. I guess it's to be expected though.
I went to bed last night around 4am, slept till 11, so here I am wide awake.
It's ok though, I've found things to occupy myself.
I am eating a steak and cheese right now. Yeah I know, so late to be eating this, but I was hungry.
I just threw some roast beef and a few slices of cheese on a sub roll, and nuked it under a damp-ish paper towel.
The paper towel helps keep the bread from getting hard in the microwave.
It's tasty.
I'm so excited, 3 days till TOOL.
I am hearing awesome reviews of this tour, people are just raving about them.
They are awesome anyway, but to hear over and over, they put on an incredible live show, is just getting me more excited than I already am.
I can't wait!
Photo credit to the t.d.n.: live flickr group.
I love doing market research. I work for several different companies doing research on products, tv shows, and stuff like that.
Sometimes the questions I get asked about things are totally boring, but most times it's a lot of fun to do them.
Some places pay me, some places let me keep the products, and some pay and let me keep the stuff.
I like those the best.
The biggest pay/keeper I have done was a kitchen mixer.
They sent me the mixer, has me try it for two weeks, then they sent me a questionnaire to fill out about every single tiny detail of it, from how it looked, ease of use, to the color, the way the brans name was written, the colors of the buttons, how the manual was to read, how fast I was able to learn it's functions etc.
They then paid me $100 after completing the form.
And I got to keep the mixer.
It's been a very slow day here, the boys and I have been ever so quiet.
I slept in till 11ish, Sebastian till noon, Mark till almost 4:30pm.
Sure I could have woken him up, but why?
He's on school summer break, sleeping in is like one of the joys of summer break.
I'm sure my mom would have woken me up if I ever tried to sleep that late.
Heck, I don't even remember being allowed to sleep past 9am.
She kept us busy in the summers.
There really isn't much for the boys to do here unless they went hanging out with the local thug life, and getting into trouble.
Nah, they can sleep all day if it means they stay out of problems.
________________
I was thinking about why people push blame onto others for their own doings.
A simple conversation today turned into a blow out, and people could not accept their own actions as having caused that.
"See, this is why."
What is why?
Why a simple, carefree conversation, turned to shit in two seconds? Or because you finally see that by blaming others, and harping on it, only causes more of it?
I get so tired of the excuse, I don't come here anymore because of this, this and this.
Well, you're here aren't you? And this is all you have to say? Again?
Thanks for the input, we all know how you feel.
If you drop it, maybe people can move on.
But nope, someone always has to say that crap.
Blah.
I guess I'm over the 'it's every bodies fault but mine' people
_____________
I know, I'm so badly bitchy.
And yes, I know, this isn't going to make people happy or love me.
I don't care about making people see sunshine and rainbows.
I'm a logical thinker, it annoys people.
________________
When you sleep late, it always amazes me how quickly night falls.
It's almost 8pm, and the day is almost over, yet for me, my mind is just starting to pick up and focus.
I'll be back later with more.
I'm currently debating brownie making.
Brownies with huge chunks of fudge.
Yum.
Later days.
One of the other books I bought for my sis and the girls was Humanism, What's That?: A Book for Curious Kids
"A conversation between Mrs. Green, a science teacher, and her students forms the basis of this thoughtful work. Starting with the historic concept of separation of church and state, the curious youngsters' insistent questions lead to a conversation of philosophic issues: When a fellow student is injured on her way to class, they wonder why they aren't allowed to pray for her in class. Why do some people believe in God while others don't? What gives life meaning? In the course of what becomes a parent-approved after-school discussion, Mrs. Green presents a humanist point of view, emphasizing science's explanation of life and freedom of thought."
--------
I love this book!
It helps to answer the questions kids may have about non-belief in a way kids can understand.
This book is designed to teach your kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
It gives them the tools to look at things using logic and reason to find the answers, not just a here, this is what I believe and so you need to believe it too way of looking at the world.
Another great book for free thought and humanist parents.
______________
And on this topic, the Creation Museum opens this Memorial day weekend in Kentucky.
" Next week, the religious right will take a bold new step in its campaign against science education in America. The creationist organization, Answers in Genesis, will open its $27 million "Creation Museum" in northern Kentucky. The Disney-like museum is dedicated to promoting the falsehood that science supports the notion of men and women cavorting with dinosaurs on a 6,000-year-old Earth.
From denying the facts of evolution to lying about the known age of the universe, the "museum" represents an assault on our children's basic understanding of fundamental scientific principles."
You can sign the petition to voice your opposition to the religious right's campaign of ignorance.
MT now has scheduled posts.
meaning I can write something now and pick a date and time for it to self publish.
That's kinda cool.
Often times, I have a post in my head to write, but it doesn't fit with the rest of what I've written for the day, or just doesn't seem right at that moment.
With scheduled posts, I can just pick when I want it to post, and it will be done.
Nifty.
I figured out tags. I think. It's basically categories. So, if I wanted to tag this post site stuff, it should post the tag in the entry, and that would lead to my other entries labeled, or tagged the same way. Let's try it. If it doesn't work, I'll keep looking into it a bit more till I figure it out.
I just watched Marie Antoinette, the one with Kirsten Dunst.
I can't remember who told me that it was good and I would like it, but oh man, whoever you are, you obviously don't know me well.
It sucked.
It was boring. Her husband was a faggy wimp, the modern music dispersed here and there, what the hell?
I'll post a more thorough review of it's suckiness tomorrow.
___________________
Right now I'm tired and my back is aching. I think it's going to rain.
I am also still annoyed with people.
I sent an email to someone, who has yet to respond. That annoys me because it's of the utmost importance.
I sent another email to some spammer guy named Chris, who sent back a reply, confused on why I, and others, are so upset. Apparently, I needed to spell it all out for him.
I did. I hope he chokes on the truth.
I hate it when people lie. I'm sure his next response will be all no no, it's so and so's idea/fault.
It should be interesting to see how it's handled after that point by both parties.
_______________
I'm still having neighbor issues.
I'm not quite sure what she's thinking at this point.
She called me late this afternoon, to come see how well the house was cleaned by her and her son.
What is it to me?
What do I have to do with that?
I told her I was busy working, which I was, plus I had a headache, which I did.
Maybe she's thinking, that if they keep the house clean now, that I will help them again.
I won't. I'm so over this situation.
I'm horribly disappointed that help was offered and refused, that the situation remains the same, that the child is getting worse and worse. Not just physically, but mentally.
He behaves like his father, treats her like crap, yells at her etc.
What did she tell him to get him to help with the house?
That if we clean it nice, Kat will buy us milk again?
I just don't know, and I just am empty of care at this point.
____________________
I realized that the dog crap smell I kept smelling for the last few days, was the result of me having the AC vent on the wrong sector. I had it pulling in air from outside, when it should have been circulating air inside.
The neighbors to my right, the side with the AC, have 3 pits, and they let them crap all over their side of the property line.
The AC was sucking in that oh so odoriferous smell for a few days, making me ask the boys every few minutes, who has the shit on their shoes?
Poor kids.
They kept checking shoes to please me, when all along it was my doing.
When the AC was whistling, I changed the vent sector in hopes it would stop whistling, but never set it back.
_____________
I'm really quite tired this evening.
I hope I'll be able to get some sleep.
Later days.
Any breastfeeding moms out there? Do you have a drink every now and then but worry you are passing alcohol onto the baby?
Then check out Milkscreen.
Milkscreen is a simple two minute test that tells you if your breast milk is safe for your baby or not.
Here's how it works:
1. Saturate the reactive pad with breast milk.
2. Wait two minutes.
3. Read the results - a color change indicates a positive result (alcohol in your breast milk).
---------------
This is pretty interesting to me. I didn't breast feed, couldn't due to the RH factor, but knew moms who did drink and feed.
I think this is kinda cool, but I can also seeing some alchy moms using this as their ticket to get hammered and then just wait for a clear result on the test strips.
Thoughts?
I need to go through my drawer of school supplies, and see how many pens and pencils, highlighters, colored pencils, etc, that I still have brand new, so I don't have to buy them again in the fall.
I have a drawer in my desk that I use solely for school supplies.
Whenever I find a good deal on supplies, I buy them and toss them in the drawer.
Then come supply list shopping time, I just have to go through the drawer first, check them off the list, and then go get the rest of the stuff.
I just realized, I am officially the mom of two high school students now.
Sebastian begins his freshman year this fall, and Mark begins his junior year.
Holy crap.
It's one of those moments where you sit back, take a deep breath, and try to figure out where the years disappeared to.
I still recall new baby smell, and first teeth, first potty experiences, first words, and first every things.
All the silly shows watched because they loved them, stuffed sleeping buddies and blankets.
First grade, first school pictures.
Now they are young adults with minds of their own, and able to do so much by themselves.
The years have just flown by, and if time keeps going like this, they will be grown and on their own soon.
Everyone says it goes by quickly.
I didn't know how true that was.
so the boys headed to the store to grab something easy for dinner.
They must have apologized a hundred times for being so loud today, they were just having fun.
I understand that, they were having fun.
Between them laughing and screaming and being totally silly, and the noises from the video games, I thought my head was going to explode.
Know that feeling?
It hurts.
So who knows what they will pick out to eat. I said something I can nuke or throw in the oven as is. No prep involved please.
Let's hope they come back with something tasty.
Holy hell.
I swear, more and more each day, I hate the lies people tell, and the lies people fall for.
Sounds great, you're awesome, yay.
Not.
Please go blow smoke up someone else' ass thanks.
___________________
Mikey went home, I have a raging headache, I forgot to thaw out dinner, so I guess it's grilled cheese tonight.
I hate grilled cheese, but at least it will be food.
Later days.
How can 3 teenage boys sound like 20?
They are seriously making me nuts.
But lunch is now ready, so maybe eating will help the headache go away.
Maybe I can get them to go away.
Apparently me saying I cannot help you anymore, has fallen on deaf ears.
I got a call this morning asking for stuff. I said no.
It was met with tears.
Sorry, I just can't.
No more.
_____________
Mikey slept over last night, they are all being loud and goofy.
It sounds like there are 20 teenage boys in here.
I'm getting a headache.
_____________
I installed a new button over there. ----->
I am going to try it for a week or two, not sure how I feel about it.
It's a button for any potential advertisers who come here and read my blog, to purchase a blog post (review, buzz, opinion) about their site, right here on mine.
I do paid posts, I've never hidden that fact, I also have worked privately with advertisers and have had success with it.
Usually advertisers who read my blog and want to have an ad here, contact me through email, and we work out the details together.
But I will give this button a try, see how and if it works.
If it doesn't, I'll take it down and put my own contact form back up.
_______________
I'm hungry.
I haven't eaten anything again yet.
I think that's why I'm partially annoyed.
Low blood sugar.
Later days.
Holy crap, I have been up all night again.
It feels like only a few minutes ago, I posted that last entry.
I have just been so busy and on a roll, I couldn't stop.
Too bad I never got to those emails.
heh.
I have been busy all night. Even while I watched LOST, I was busy working on my site, and a message forum, attempting to learn all the ins and outs of a new feature again.
I'm not so sure I like it, I may give it a go, if I can get it to work, but so far, it just sits there and does nothing, so I deleted it again.
No point in having a non-working feature on my blog right?
____________
Then after that, I ended up talking to a couple of guys from another forum, while Mark played GoW.
I know these guys in real life, and they were being super silly tonight.
They wanted to know why I don't play the game.
Well first, I suck at shooter games, and second, the boys are always on it and anytime I have tried to play it, they yell at me I'm doing it wrong.
I play it during the day when they are at school, but now that school is out, looks like I won't be playing it again for awhile. Hahaha
Then they got all super silly on me, asking how come I don't come out and play anymore, how sexy my voice is over the mic.
"Oh Kat, wow, I never knew how hot your voice was. Damn, you gotta talk to me when you come out again. Damn girl. Ho-o-o-ot." Hahaah!
Silly boys.
Moldy and Gordon crack me up all the time!
They keep bugging Mark to get me on the mic. I keep telling them I have work to do, I gotta go, but they keep pestering.
These are grown up men, not teenagers, but they totally act like like it.
_________________
I have something like 30 emails to reply to. I'm working on it.
I always make a point of answering all emails in one sitting every single night. That didn't happen tonight. Er, last night. Just too much going on.
I'm going to work on all of those now, and then maybe head to bed.
I'm not really tired, but I should attempt sleeping every now and then.
What the hell was up with that season finale?
I get it, they are not meant to leave the island. I thought all those flashbacks, were in the past, but it's the future? After they got rescued?
What. the. hell.
I'm more confused on this show now more than I was before.
It's still one of my fave shows, but I seriously don't get where they were going with that ending.
I just filled out a survey for NBC.com's viewer panel, been a member for awhile, and at the end of it, they asked if I'd be willing to do another survey in June by phone.
I said sure why not.
They are going to pay me in gift certs to the NBC store.
Pretty cool!
There's a few items on their store site that I have looked at and wanted before.
I mean, who wouldn't want a Dwight Schrute bobblehead?
It seems like every one is going on cruises, or making plans to take a cruise.
A girl on a forum keeps talking about this awesome deal she got on her and her boyfriends cruise. I guess they got it super cheap. 7 days, 6 nights, lots of ports and things to do, extras included.
I still have my fear of big boats and water, but it does sound like a lot of fun. She posted all the stuff they will be doing, and can opt in to do while on the cruise.
It's a lot.
To me, it sounds like too much to do.
I like relaxing vacations, not busy, busy, busy, non-stop ones.
I don't like coming home from vacation and have to take another 3 days to rest from the vacation. Hahaha
There's a site that will tell you if the places you link to are bad, like spam sites, or porn type stuff.
It's called bad neighborhood link checker.
It scanned my whole blog and found what it thinks, are 3 bad links.
http://www.nbc.com/Passions/
http://www.nbc.com/Passions/news/dtv.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/17/eveningnews/main28 21916.shtml
Why were those 3 bad links?
Because they each contain advertisements for something else.
The NBC links contain an ad for another NBC show, poker after dark.
And the CBS link, actually could not be found. It's a dead link now.
I just think it's interesting that that's all it found on my site. I know I've linked to some "sketchy" places, and thought for sure it would have found those.
Nope.
Give it a try on your blog and see what comes up.
I need a volunteer to help me test something. Just one blog will do.
I will need you to post a blog entry linking to me, it can say anything you want like, that Kat bitch sure is crazy yo, and in an email, I'll explain why and stuff.
You will be totally allowed to delete the post after.
This isn't about getting a link from you to me, I am testing something.
Any takers?
EDIT*
Not working. Thanks for helping Anna!
Ack! Where did the time go today?
I still haven't eaten anything either. I just realized I've been up since about 9am, and haven't eaten anything.
I've been busy with emails and more site stuff. Still learning some things.
I have no idea how to use the new tags feature still.
Haha
I really need to spend time on the MT forums trying to figure all these things out. I'm sure they'd be useful if I could only figure them out.
____________
The boys have just been playing games all day.
They got the highest rank in GoW that you can get.
I guess that's a good thing?
I have no idea.
They are being quiet though, so I'm not going to complain.
_____________
Shahiro the kitten, has developed a new habit.
Stealing.
I have a collection of Disney toys from Happy Meals on some shelves in my room.
I noticed a few days ago that one of the little stuffed toys was out here in the living room, so I picked it up and put it back.
Th next morning, same thing.
Then she did it again today.
I think she likes that particular one so I might just let her keep it.
She sleeps with it.
It's a little stuffed Timon from the Lion King.
As long as she doesn't eat it or claw it up, I guess she can keep sleeping with it.
It's kinda cute.
I need to get a picture of her sleeping with it. It's so cute! She actually cuddles up tight with it.
Pets are beloved members of the family. When they pass away, we mourn their loss. I know I've loved all my pets as if they were my children. I found the HAL Woodworking website, where they hand craft the most unique pet urns. They offer exquisite wooden urns of various sizes, with a laser engraved picture or even a hand painted picture on it. I cannot think of a more deserved resting place for a member of the family.
Sponsored by Make Money Blogging.
Back when I ordered from Estee Lauder in April, they had a hook up with BizRate.
If we filled out a customer survey right after purchase, and one after we received our products, we could sign up for a magazine subscription for just $2.00 a year.
I took that offer too.
And I started getting my mags yesterday.
Not too bad, did the surveys between April 5th and April 10th, and started getting my mags yesterday.
I only ordered Cosmo, but got the June issue yesterday, and today came May's issue.
I keep looking for places for Jenn to stay when she comes down with her family, and I found more decently priced Florida rental vacation homes!
*squee*
She's gonna get so mad at me, I keep sending her emails with a single link and the subject line, rentals.
No Hi Jenn, how are ya, just hey, rentals. Hhahaha
Luckily she knows how I am, that I hate long drawn out emails, and that it would be cool for her to come down and visit.
If I find more, she'll be getting those links too.
Hahahaha
I absolutely love my web hosting company, ICDsoft.com.
They have always been there to help me with every support issue I've had, the plans are super reasonably priced, I love them.
Remember the other day I told you I needed to upgrade my MT because I was causing a drain on the server?
Well I have been in contact with one of the supervisors since then, Zafir, about the problem.
I went through log files, referrer stats etc, trying to locate any problems, and correct them.
Zafir went above and beyond helping me find and fix any errors. He did a detailed look at my account, explained a bunch of things to me about my sites stats.
I knew I was getting a lot of traffic, but had no idea just how much traffic, and it's all legit too. *phew*
I thought I was in hot linker hell for awhile there.
Zafir just upgraded my account to the business plan for free. That gives me 2000 MB of storage per month, as well as 40GB of bandwitdh per month. I don't have to pay any more fees until February 2008, when I would be renewing again next.
And the renewal fee at that time, isn't much more than I am paying right now.
Seriously, ICDsoft.com absolutely rocks. If you need new hosting, give them a look.
I have been nothing but impressed with them since I started with them 4 years ago.
A car insurance quote that is.
The school said if Mark completes all his courses this summer, he would be finished with them before his birthday, and the day he can go get his license, they would approve him.
Here, you have to pass your classes in order to get a license, so if he passes, he can go take his tests.
If he passes those, we'll be getting him a car.
Sharks can have virgin births.
"The joint Northern Ireland-U.S. research, being published Wednesday in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, analyzed the DNA of a shark born in 2001 in the Henry Doorly Zoo - in a tank with three potential mothers, none of whom had contact with a male hammerhead for at least three years.
Analysis of the baby shark's DNA found no trace of any contribution from a male partner. Shark experts said this was the first confirmed case in a shark of parthenogenesis, which derived from the Greek means "virgin birth."
Asexual reproduction is common in some insect species, rarer in reptiles and fish, and has never been documented in mammals. The list of animals documented as capable of the feat has grown in line with the numbers being raised in captivity - but until now, sharks were not considered a likely candidate."
"Before the study, many shark experts had presumed that the Nebraska birth involved a female shark's well-documented ability to store sperm for a lengthy period of time. Doing this for six months is common, while three years would be exceptional, they agreed.
The lack of any paternal DNA in the shark ruled out this possibility."
Evolution in progress.
Now I think it's time to try and sleep.
I hope tomorrow is better.
Later days.
let me know.
I am testing a few of the plugins and features of MT 3.35.
I like them even though I have no idea how to use half the stuff, I am learning slowly.
I keep looking at Tuscany Villas for a vacation.
I have never been outside the US, and very limited places in the US.
I could easily say I want to see Hawaii or some place like that, but the more I look to places to go outside the US, the more I want to see Italy and specifically, Tuscany.
It just looks so beautiful and peaceful. I need peaceful for a vacation.
Every time I do go someplace, it's quick and hurried, hectic.
I want to just lay on a lounge chair over looking some rolling hills under the sun, breathing in lots of fresh air, be away from civilization and stuff.
Where would you go for a vacation outside the US? What kind of vacation do you want to go on?
Before I go to start making our very late dinner, (I've had an interesting afternoon with a very angry Christian who said evolution was a nasty fairy tale, a neighbor talking trash about another neighbor, and I fired myself all up and wrote a scathing email to someone) I want to tell you about the genes.
See, on great grams side of the family, there are several very tall male members.
Uncle Howard, cousin Howard, (who is referred to as little Howard. Ha!) and uncle Stephen and uncle Aurthur.
Each of these men are well over 6'2", with little Howard coming in at close to 7feet.
Mark went to give me a hug today before they went to the store to buy themselves some sodas, and when he hugged me, we were both a bit shocked.
I swear to you, just last week, he was my exact height, 5'8".
Today he is definitely taller than me by at least 3 inches.
No freaking lie.
I almost shit myself.
I told him he better not be like little Howard, or he'd be off earning paychecks just to keep up with his growing height.
I'm actually quite worried about this.
I cannot keep up with how fast they are growing now, what if this is his big growth spurt, and he grows like the jolly green giant?
Ack!
Please take my Blog Reader Project survey.
This is a basic survey about your blog reading habits.
Thanks!
Are you a work at home mom? Want to join a new weekly question meme that is just for work at home moms?
Then check out WAHM, and join up!
This weeks QOTW is:
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like it quiet. I don't like huge parties, just give me a card and a simple present, and I'm totally happy.
The following is a paid review.
I used to do some yoga before my surgery, years ago, I actually liked it. It would help stretch out all the muscles in my back and legs that were tightened up from my scoliosis.
After awhile, it became near impossible to do, and now I have no idea if I can do it again. I have asked my physical therapy people before if it was going to be possible, and they told me that I needed to wait a bit longer for my back to heal a bit more, then I could start off slowly.
Yoga is very good for you, and Gaiam has a lot of great yoga tools to help you do the moves with ease and comfort, from mats, bricks and straps, to exercise balls.
They also sell books and DVDs to help teach you the proper methods so you don't injure yourself while doing the moves.
Yoga is also excellent for kids. It helps improve their flexibility and balance, and also helps calm active kids.
Learning to hold the poses and breathe, is calming and restorative, great for kids and adults alike.
You can also pick up eastern yoga practice books and DVDs, on T'ai Chi, Budokon and Qigong.
Hahahahah!
Man, I am so gonna miss Passions when it ends.
That line was just uttered by a cop, at least I think he's a cop, maybe a security guard. He's outside a building, and Ethan and Theresa are trapped inside and it's on fire.
They told the guy to wait there until the half woman/half man blackmailer comes out.
I think it's Gwen to be honest, she kind of flipped her lid after Ethan left her for good.
This show is absolutely crazy, it makes me laugh every single day. I cannot believe that they are taking this off the air. It's the bestest, funniest, soap evar!
The only way people are going to be able to keep watching the show, is if they have or get DirectTv. That is so not fair man.
who are looking for a school loan consolidation right now.
Many of them have just graduated and are facing the bills to come with worry.
I know there are many places to go for this kind of help, and if people just do a little research, they can find the best one for them.
I know this girl who is freaking out, like all she talks about is how she's going to pay off her student loans.
I keep telling her to calm down, so do others. People have even told her where to go for help with it, but we can't get her calmed down long enough to listen. Hahahaha
I just want to say thanks again to Erika, for her help today with my MT upgrade.
My web host, Icdsoft.com, sent me an email this morning alerting me that my installation was causing a drain on the server. The scripts for my MT were loading very slowly.
I kinda knew that, it was taking about 40 seconds to get a new post to publish, and same thing with approving comments.
I did need to upgrade. I had been using version 3.17 for oh, about 2 years. They had upgraded all the way to version 3.35.
I would have done it myself, but the last time I tried to do an upgrade, I nearly wiped out my whole blog. I almost deleted my installation which would have wiped out every thing. 4 years of posts and pictures. Luckily, I stopped and exited my control panel pronto before I did any major damage.
I really like the new version. It's got a few things I have no idea how to use yet, but I'll figure them out at some point. Like the new tags feature. I have no clue how to make that work. But it's cool!
So y'all go on over and check her out. She's got a really pretty blog and is just too sweet.
Do you ever talk in your sleep? Has anyone ever told you that you do?
I didn't think I did, but the boys have told me they've heard me talking in my sleep a few times when I do finally sleep.
They say that it's like I'm talking to someone, like a conversation going on.
That's kinda weird.
So I asked them what exactly they have heard me say.
They said it's me talking to my mom or dad, or my sister, about just general stuff like how the kids are doing and stuff.
It's still weird though.
Do you talk in your sleep? What kinds of things have people told you that you say?
Sure, you've found the best quality engagement rings, but that's only half of it. I know that the engagement ring might seem like the most important part, but finding the wedding bands that you'll wear every day is just as, if not more, important.
Thanks to Danforth Diamond, you can find both in the same place, and you can be sure that they'll both be the high quality that we've all come to expect from Danforth Diamond. Their selection of palladium, yellow, and white gold wedding rings are the perfect compliment to the diamond ring you already bought, and I think you'll be happy with the results.
Blog post sponsored by Make Money Blogging.
The upgrade is almost complete, just one more little thing that needs to be done.
During the upgrade, the nofollow plugin was installed again.
This will be removed once the upgrade is done.
The nofollow plugin is an automatic part of all new versions of MT.
Rather than touch anything that may mess up what Erika is doing, I'm leaving it alone until she is finished. Once she is done, I promise to remove the nofollow.
It should be done later tonight or by morning.
I really do like the new look of the MT login page though, and how it all looks.
There's a few new items that I need to figure out, but it should be pretty easy.
The site may go down for maintenance this afternoon for a bit.
I am upgrading my MT install.
Actually, the fabulous Erika is.
I had been going out of my mind trying to find help cuz installations scare me to death.
The last time I tried, I nearly killed my whole blog.
This entry will remain up top for a bit. Newer entries are below this one.
The books I ordered for my sister and the girls arrived today, and I am blown away by this one, Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story
It is amazing! The pictures, the story, everything.
It starts out so simple, yet so perfect for teaching kids about evolution.
All of us are part of an old, old family.
The roots of our family tree reach way back to the beginning of life on earth.We've changed a lot since then.
When we began, we didn't look like people.
We didn't have two eyes to blink or ten toes to wiggle.
We were just tiny round cells in the deep, dark sea.
In the back of the book, there are questions kids have asked, and a time line.
It's so awesome!
If you have little kids who you want to raise learning evolution right from the start, get this book! It's only $11.56, but it's beautiful, the artwork is so gorgeous, and the story is perfect! It's written specifically for kids. It says ages 4-8, but I know the girls who are 3 and 2, love books and will love having this book read, looking at the pictures. I can even see older kids looking at it.
Sebastian checked it out, and loved it.
This book could serve as the starting point to discussions about our planet, and evolution.
I was so excited when I opened it, I called sis raving about it.
She can't wait to be able to come by and pick up all of them.
I use it inside as a side table, but I recently learned that it's teak and can be used outside. I never even thought of having teak outdoor furniture around here, but it would be nice.
If I had a fenced in yard where the local teen felons couldn't get to my stuff, I'd have nice things in it all the time.
I can't even leave our lawnmower gas can out there right now. They stole one before. I have to lock up our mower, the gas can, and hedge shears, in our outdoor closet with a padlock.
I need to upgrade this version, it's 3.17, to 3.3
Is anyone out there able to help?
I need this done ASAP, and I can pay.
My old MT helper person is no longer on line, so I need some help please.
Thanks.
One of the hopes of the scoliosis study I have been involved with, and supplied a DNA sample for, is to find the genetic markers that cause scoliosis, and possibly a cure or vaccine.
I think it would be absolutely amazing if they could pinpoint the exact genetic markers, and find a way to prevent scoliosis through a vaccine.
Wouldn't that just be incredible?!
It's too late for me of course, and I'm sure many, many years away, but it would be so great if a way was created to stop scoliosis from progressing through some sort of vaccine.
Imagine parents being told their child has scoliosis, but there's a way to stop it from ever getting worse.
No more back braces or surgeries for kids and adults. No more debilitating pain.
I would love to see the day they come up with it. I hope I'm alive then to see it happen.
The ending of Desperate Housewives.
Wow. Just wow.
I always knew Edie was wacky, but not that wacky.
Did you all see that?! Damn!
_____________
Yay for Susan and Mike!
That was a beautiful wedding. Just perfect and romantic.
_____________
Bree, Bree, Bree. I had almost forgotten about Danielle's "predicament", but as soon as I saw Bree, I was like oh yeah.
Interesting.
I wonder how long they'll be able to keep that one a secret.
______________
Poor Lynn. She has to deal with her mother whom she hates, but her mom is one tough cookie who's going to be there to help Lynn get through Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
I really hated the way the mom threw all that stuff back in her face though.
Family. There when you really need them to be your rock, but the most angry and vicious people you will ever contend with in all your life if you anger them.
I know his birthday isn't until the 1st, but I surprised him about a half hour ago with his present.
I went to xbox live, and bought a whole bunch of Microsoft points, 2400 points to be exact, then walked over to him while he was playing GoW, and whispered happy birthday.
He said "Mom, it's not my birthday yet."
I pointed to the xbox and said check your points.
He had this confused look on his face, and went to the marketplace and saw his points.
"You mean I can download the Shivering Isles expansion pack now?!"
Yup, go for it buddy.
You would have thought I just handed him the holy grail.
This expansion pack is for the game Oblivion, a totally awesome game where you have quests and all kinds of stuff to do. The graphics are simply amazing.
"Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion (the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It's up to you to find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel."
Shivering Isles expands on the game bringing all new territories to discover and new adventures.
"Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the god’s madness – the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?
The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides – Mania and Dementia –filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You’ll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you."
It's downloading now, it's going to take awhile. It's almost 1,000 megabytes of game.
He's so freaking stoked.
I really love it when something so simple is all they ask for for their birthdays, but it makes them completely happy.
Too bad he's gonna have to shut off the xbox at 9pm so I can watch the season finales of Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters.
You all know that I was interviewed by ABC about cyberstalking.
ABC has refused to tell my TRUE story about this. I sent them an email asking them to revise the article they wrote, because that is not what, or all that I said.
The reporter in charge said she would get back to me.
She hasn't.
I said several times in my interview that we needed tougher cyberstalking laws.
What did they use?
"I think it will take a blogger being killed before law enforcement will take action," Cooper said.
This is wrong.
If I had known ABC was going to screw me after promising me that my story would be told, and then only portraying me the way they wanted, I wouldn't have done it. I would have told them to go jump in a freaking lake and drown.
This isn't the first time ABC has deleted people's comments, or altered stories.
There's a bit of a controversy with ABC and Ron Paul who's running for president.
This is kind of old hat with ABC now.
But it's wrong.
I want ABC to revise the story. I want them to add on the other things I said. They asked me specifically what I wanted done about cyberstaliking. I said I want ISP's involved, I want web hosts to be able to take action on hate speech, part of many web hosting companies ToS, yet they don't uphold their own rules. I want tougher cyberstalking laws where police can actually take action, have the jurisdiction to do something about threats sent over the world wide web.
It is completely wrong of ABC to be censoring people's comments. It was wrong of them to lie to me.
It was wrong of them to tell me they were going to revise the story and then not actually do it.
ABC can kiss my ass.
Chili cheese nachos with sour cream.
Yum.
I LOVE the way this guy thinks and speaks.
This is Pat Condell, a religious comedian of sorts.
"Too lazy and stupid to think for yourself? Welcome to Jesus country.
A writer and comedian with a new stand-up show FAITH HOPE & SANITY - A few jokes about RELIGION before it kills us all."
Photo credit to the t.d.n.: live flickr group.
The boys are still tired from last night, so they are just doing quiet game playing and laying around.
I have a really bad migraine, so I'm gonna go lay down for a bit myself.
Later days.
I was chatting with an old friend from back home last night on AIM, and they were talking about possibly coming down here in November. They want to take their kids to Disney and those places. They weren't having much luck with finding good rates at hotels that time of year.
So I told her to check out an Orlando vacation rental. I gave her that link, I've read about them and blogged about them before. I hear good things. I have no use for them myself being just a few hours away, but fall through winter, and early spring, prices here go up on hotels and restaurants. It's 'season', and in season, all the tourists come here, so places ca totally up the prices and get away with it.
She said she'll check them out and let me know.
Man, I haven't seen her in like 10 years now, it would be cool to see her, meet her hubby and kids. Last time I saw Jen, she wasn't married, no kids.
A new birth control pill says it can stop periods. Forever.
"Women looking for a simple way to avoid their menstrual period could soon have access the first birth control pill designed to let women suppress monthly bleeding indefinitely.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expect to announce approval Tuesday for Lybrel, a drug from Wyeth which would be the first pill to be taken continuously."
"Still, some women raise concerns about whether blocking periods is safe or natural. Baltimore health psychologist Paula S. Derry wrote in an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal two weeks ago that “menstrual suppression itself is unnatural,” and that there’s not enough data to determine if it is safe long-term."
"Most doctors say there’s no medical reason women need monthly bleeding and that it triggers health problems from anemia to epilepsy in many women. They note women have been tinkering with nature since the advent of birth control pills and now endure as many as 450 periods, compared with 50 or so in the days when women spent most of their fertile years pregnant or breast-feeding."
"In testing of Lybrel, 59 percent of women ended up with no bleeding after six months, but 18 percent of women dropped out of studies because of spotting and breakthrough bleeding."
"Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Little Silver, N.J., has long advocated menstrual suppression.
She has seen a big increase in the last year in patients asking about it, but has one concern that leads her to encourage younger women to take a break every 12 weeks. About 1 percent of oral contraceptive users become pregnant each year, and young women taking continuous pills who have never been pregnant may not recognize the symptoms, she said.
“They may not know it in time to do something about it,” Wiser-Estin said."
So ladies, if you could never have your cycles again, would you do it?
There are risks, like you could still be in that 1 percent who end up pregnant, but you may not get any symptoms of pregnancy due to the pill, or you could get breakthrough spotting when not expected.
Would any of you take those chances to permanently keep aunt flow away?
The boys got home about 20 minutes ago, they had a killer time watching arena football tonight.
Arena football is basically kill the guy with the ball.
The boys hate regular sports, but kill the guy, is a lot of fun.
Jimi and the boys had a kick ass time, and I'm just so thrilled this is all working out so well.
______________
I haven't done a whole lot around here tonight, just goofed off online, made a video.
Yes, I took the blasphemy challenge.
It sucks not having a camera with sound. I had been wanting to make that video for awhile, but I wanted to do it with sound. Then I said fuck it, and just wrote out what I needed to say.
I did it for two reasons.
I am an atheist. I have no belief in any of that stuff, have no fear of eternal punishment.
*"...all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mark 3:28-29)*
Plus, they are giving away a way cool DVD, The God Who Wasn't There
I have been wanting this movie for awhile, just never got around to buying it for myself.
I hope I was in the 1,000 people who made a video. Or else I'll just have to buy it at some point.
At least I'm being honest about why I did it.
I want that DVD, and I have no fear of eternal punishment.
Simple.
_____________
Contest entries are closed, they closed at midnight.
Had a decent response, maybe next time I'll just give away a gift certificate to Amazon or something. I'll do a poll and see what kind of prize people would want to win.
I like contests. I enter almost every single one I find and hope I win. Hahahaha
In the morning, Sebastian will draw the names out. He's kinda excited, he was asking to do it now when they came home.
Nope, not till morning buddy, those be the rules.
______________
I have a ton of emails to answer now cuz I totally slacked off all night playing around on line.
Later days.
If you are interested in my contest,
you have just 4 more hours to enter.
Have more than 1 blog?
Want more chances to win?
Then enter twice!
Just get me your entries by midnight tonight, eastern standard time.
Go to the contest link above and follow the directions.
I found a bucket, it's kinda big, so I need more entries to fill it up.
Go on, enter!
The boys have left for the game, they don't plan on being back till well after midnight.
I have the whole house to myself!
W00t!
So I made myself some chicken cordon bleu with extra cheese sauce cuz I loves me some cheese.
Looks good huh?
I have some work to do, and stuff around the house, then I may just decide to be utterly lazy for the night.
Later days.
Nellie tagged me for the 5 fave places to eat locally meme.
The complete rules:
1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country you’re in.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.
_____________________
I live in Sarasota Florida.
Man, I hope take out counts hahaaha
1. Oriental Buffet on Bee Ridge and Cattleman. Best oriental food for good prices. They have won an award for this title, Best Chinese restaurant, 7 years in a row now. It is totally awesome!
2. China One on Bee Ridge. We get take out from here several times a month. (Oriental Buffet does not deliver)
The prices are great, the food is awesome, and they are super speedy on delivery.
3. Mattisons Grill on First and Lemon. Amazing food! It's an outdoor place open year round, fair prices. They have a live band every weekend, food and drink specials, and the service is outstanding.
4. Flemmings Steak house and wine bar on Siesta Drive.
Incredible steaks, good wine. Fair prices.
5. We get pizza a lot, either Pizza Hut or Dominos depending on their specials.
I'm tagging Belle, Christine, Mindy, Latte'girl and Shell.
The boys are thrilled. I'm not. Now comes the whining of being bored. The I don't have anything to do. The moping. The brotherly fighting.
*sigh*
Tonight, they are headed to a football game with Jimi, so that should keep them happy for a few hours.
They both start summer school on the 29th for 1 month. That covers the boredom for at least half a day for a whole month.
Hopefully, Mark can find a job so he'll be occupied.
I need to find lots of things for them to do, but summer camps don't take teens, and I'm not about to just let them roam the hood.
No way.
___________
Today is the last day to enter the contest.
You have until midnight to do that.
___________
If you would be so kind to read this discussion and leave your thoughts, that would be great.
I love hearing other parents take on this scenario, and how they discipline their own kids.
Later days!
Do you ground them?
Take away their toys/game consoles/computers/fun things?
Do you spank them?
Scenario:
A mom and dad are in a store, their 2 year old daughter is not in a carriage, just left to stand with her parents.
The candy at the checkout aisle as we all know, is at eye level to children.
The 2 year old repeatedly reaches for it, and the mother repeatedly keeps saying no.
The 2 year old reaches for it again, and the mother yanks the two year old by the arm, gets down to her face, and yells at her, "If you touch that candy again, I'm going to whip you!" and proceeds to swat the 2 year olds bottom, loud enough to make a 'whap' noise.
Other customers in line notice this, hear the noise, and proceed to tell the mother that it is wrong to hit her child.
The mother screams back at the other parents, that it is none of their business if she spanks her daughter, and that she never does it in public.
While this is going on, the 2 year old reaches for the candy again, and the mother sees, and swats her daughter again, causing the other parents to get upset again.
One parent makes the statement, 'so you know it's wrong to hit your child in public because you obviously say you never do it in public, yet you have now done it twice.'
The mother gets very upset, grabs her daughter by the arm and leaves the store leaving her husband to finish checking out. The other parents notice she is practically dragging the child out of the store.
Do you ever say anything?
Is it none of your business?
Do you stay out of it, or would you have said something as well?
As a parent how do you discipline your kids?
What ways do you punish your kids for misbehaving?
I have a post in mind for after I'm done eating.
It's a pretty serious parenting topic, so I hope people will come and respond to it.
It involves disciplining your kids.
I'll just leave you with that for now to think about, and when I come back, I'll write up a scenario, and you I'd love to hear from parents.
There will be no judging of parenting styles, just an open and honest discussion on discipline.
Comments are closed on this post, because I want replies on the new one when it's posted.
Thanks.
Latte'girl tagged me for this meme, she didn't even link me. *sniffle*
7 weird things about me.
1. I am an unconventional mom. I listen to metal, wear all black, allow free speech.
2. I have a serious milk phobia.
3. I hate spiders for a damn good reason.
4. I could eat pizza or Chinese food for breakfast/lunch/dinner, every single day and never get tired of it.
5. I laugh during horror movies.
6. I hate to eat most types of fish. I will eat lobster, haddock, and shrimp, but nothing else.
7. I can name that tune in 3 notes. No lie. I am awesome when it comes to music.
Don't forget the contest.
You can enter all day today, tomorrow, and tomorrow night. Submissions end at midnight Friday.
There was an oopsie. Someone entered but my spam filter caught it and deleted it.
It was sent within the last 10 minutes, so please, if you are that person, reply to this post and comment.
I don't want anyone who entered to not actually be entered.
Thanks.
Do any of you know about Susan Stanton? Susan used to be Steve, and because she changed her gender from man to woman, she lost her job as Largo City manager.
Susan is now running for Sarasota City manager.
This is Susan.
There are some people who are coming out in support of Susan here on the suncoast, but not many.
Early unofficial polls look like this;
"Would you support Sarasota City Commissioners if they decide to hire Susan Stanton as city manager?"
326 (31%) - Yes
722 (69%) - No
Maybe it's the way they are wording the polls.
I think it should be, would you vote for the person who can do the best job?
My question makes more logical sense huh?
Sarasota prides itself on bing a progressive community, we have a large gay and lesbian community here, they are supported.
But transgender?
I can just hear all the senior citizens now, trans what? What's that mean? is that gay? Or is that lesbian? Which one is he or she?
They do not like things that they knew nothing about when they were growing up.
There have always been gays and lesbians, they were more in the closet back then, but most people knew who in their town was or wasn't.
But transgender wasn't heard of, it was just not talked about or done. They didn't have the medical ability to do this back then, so this is completely foreign to Sarasota's senior population, and because it's so foreign, they will not vote for Susan. If Susan gets hired, they will make a fuss until she's fired.
All I want to know is, can Susan do the job?
I don't care what someone looks like as long as they can do the job.
They could show up to work wearing a pink tutu and a hawaiian shirt with scuba fins on their feet, as long as they can do the job, I don't care what they look like. I don't even care who they are.
Just do the job.
I just don't care if it's a man or a woman, or someone in the process of becoming who they are meant to be, as long as they can do the job.
I want to see our local news stations and websites do better polls.
Do you think Susan Stanton can do the job?
Is Susan Stanton qualified for this job?
The answer is yes.
I have been noticing some pop up comment form boxes on some sites, were really small, it caused this weird scrolling thing, in some cases, I couldn't even see the scroll bar.
I am using Firefox, so this only applies to FF pop up boxes.
Well this was bothering me, so I went on a hunt for the fix, and here it is.
When doing this fix, remove the quotes when copying/pasting the info.
In the address bar, type in "about:config". Then there is a filter at the top of the page. There, paste/type "dom.disable_window_open_feature.resizable". You should only get one result. Double-click that result to change the value to "True".
Ta-da! Too easy. Now I can finally see all of the pop up comment boxes again.
Yayness!
Over the last few hours, my lower back started acting up. It's all tight and inflamed.
It sux0rs the big one.
I would have my heating pad behind my back, but I loaned it to someone who has yet to return it to me.
hrmph.
So instead, I put my rice sock in the microwave, and have that behind me right at the lower spine.
It's not helping much.
I wish I could take some Advil. Advil relieves inflammation, but due to what it's made out of, I can't take it. It thins the blood too much, and thin blood does not help the bones fuse.
If it stays like this, I'll be in the shower with scalding hot water aimed at my lower back with my nifty removable shower head.
____________
A young man from Tampa was run down by an SUV late Saturday night.
"Sheriff's deputies arrested a 21-year-old Tampa man early Sunday after they say he intentionally struck another man with his sport utility vehicle.
Jamie Walter Perdue Jr., of 6232 Savannah Breeze Court, hit a man standing on a raised median on Racetrack Road just north of Hillsborough Avenue with a 1999 GMC Yukon, authorities said. Perdue believed the man had attacked one of his friends earlier in the parking lot outside KD's Pub, 13949 W. Hillsborough Ave., his arrest report said.
The unidentified victim was listed in critical condition at St. Joseph's Hospital, police said.
Perdue is charged with aggravated battery with a motor vehicle. He was released from the Orient Road Jail on Sunday after posting $7, 500 bail."
The unidentified man is named Chris. While I have never met him personally, I'm sure I've spoken to him, or been in threaded conversations on our local message forums.
He is still in critical condition, but did make it through surgery today. He had to have part of his intestines removed, and is in an induced coma until his body is stronger.
We are all thinking about him and some people are praying for him, so if you could, just keep him in your thoughts that he makes it through this.
He has a lot of injuries, and his blood pressure and heart rate keep dropping to dangerous levels.
The terrible tragedy of all of this is, that we all know the guy who struck him too. He is also a member of our forums.
There will be two blood drives held for him at Quaker Steak and Lube on 49th street, Saturday the 19th, is from 7pm-10pm, and Thursday is unknown times right now.
QSL is located at 10400 49th Street (At US 19)
Clearwater, Fl 33762
If you can make it out there or in the area, readers from the west coast of Florida, please stop by and donate. Chris is O neg, and has no insurance. He has needed some blood already, and if they have to do surgery again, he will need more.
I was planning on donating, but I need to call my doc and see if I can, or just call the blood place and ask. I'm not sure with the meds I take, if I can donate or not. Plus, with my as yet to be identified stomach issue, I don't know if I can or even if I should. I'll find out.
The problem with O neg blood is, we are universal donors, but can only take O neg blood. Only 7% of the US population is O neg, so you can see why when I had my surgery, I had to self donate.
There is never enough O neg on standby because of it's universal ability.
So anyway, keep Chris in your thoughts. He totally didn't deserve to be run over so violently.
Ha! Quarter past 6, and I have to go start dinner now.
The boys were all "Mom, you said you were going to stretch, not nap."
Dudes, I know, I'm sorry buds.
I must have just been completely wiped out.
I'm off to start dinner and as it cooks, and between stirs, I will get to those emails.
Promise!
Edited to add at 6:24pm.
The common sense directions on part of the package,
"REMOVE SAUCE FROM POUCH BEFORE COOKING."
Noooooo! I was just gonna throw the whole sauce package in there, plastic and all. *eyeroll*
You can find out about the contest and how to enter here.
I'm off to finish some chores and stretch for a bit, maybe even a walk.
When I get back, I will reply to emails and confirm blogger's entries for the contest that I have gotten so far.
Later days!
P.S.
Please think good thoughts for Kate and her family, and all the other residents who are being affected by the fires in New Jersey.
Kate has just been told they have to evacuate. It's mandatory.
My thoughts are with you Kate. I hope the fires can be contained or put out before there's any major losses of homes.
It's getting close to the time of year when prices for vacations in Florida get really cheap. Summer is the time to come here and go to the theme parks if you can handle the heat. I really love the idea of Disney vacation home rentals.
It makes your vacation more comfortable.
Hotel rooms good if you are just one or two people, but throw a couple kids in the mix, and hotel rooms can feel cramped and tight.
I often tell my friends when they come here, to just stay with us because hotels are not personal, the beds have been slept on by a million people, the soaps are itty bitty, and it's just cramped.
But if the can get a good deal on a home or condo, they'd probably enjoy their vacation a lot better. You feel at home, like you can just kick back and chill.
I was really hoping the conference this summer was still on. It would have been cool to rent a home and share it with a few friends for that weekend.
Despite all the teenage angst, arguments, sibling fights, and snotty looks, I realize how very lucky I am to have to the sons I have.
I just got myself all teary.
hahaha
But shh, don't tell the boys that I think they totally rock.
It will go to their heads, and they'll start asking for more stuff.
I'll just say my usual love yous, and hugs, and that kind of stuff.
If they know I'm a giant mush ball, they'll totally try and take advantage of it.
Jerry Falwell died at age 73 yesterday.
He was the face of the religious right.
Some people say that the religious right simply means republican, but it means right, that they think they are right, and every one else is wrong.
He believed when he said that "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
He blamed everyone but God.
See, the people who attacked us on 9/11, they believe that their God is right, Allah commanded them to do that.
Religion caused the attacks.
He supported racial segregation.
He thought a children's television show, was influencing children to be gay.
He seemed to have a lot of problems with gays.
He sued a couple porn magazines, and lost.
He accused Bill Clinton of orchestrating the deaths of several reporters and personal confidants who had gotten too close to his illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video and president of Citizens for Honest Government.
He lied, he made it all up.
Matrisciana admitted that it was "Jerry's idea to do that ... He thought that would be dramatic."
He was a liar.
I wonder how that lying thing is doing for him now, cuz ya know, lying is a sin, the ten commandments say so.
Do you think he repented yesterday morning right before his ticker stopped?
He was completely against public education, calling it a breeding ground for atheism, secularism, and humanism, which he claimed to be in contradiction with Christian morality.
Just take a look at his Christian morality.
Let's take a look at some things Falwell said over the years.
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. (*snicker*)
I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed. (Ok! God can save and forgive him, but then WE have to kill him. Got it!)
AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals. (Um, yeah)
Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them. (Ha ha! What?!)
I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status. (That's right all you women, you are minorities to god. Sucks huh?)
Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan. (Well I bet that will come as a shock to millions who hang on Billy's every word)
His legacy is one of hate and divisiveness.
He did more damage to the people of this country than he ever did good.
He made it ok for Christians to hate anyone who was not like them. He made it his mission to make his fellow believers hate homosexuals, women, and anyone else who wasn't a Christian.
I feel sad for those who loved him and lost him, his family, but this world is much better off without this man.
I am part of a weekly chat meeting for bloggers, and then kind of a whenever business meeting type chat, almost every month. I think it would be totally cool to make those chats into live video conferencing.
I remember when they said by the year 2000, we'd all have video phones, we'd be able to see the person on the other end of the line.
What ever happened to that?
I'd love to do that kind of thing.
Are you a work at home mom? Want to join a new weekly question meme that is just for work at home moms?
Then check out WAHM, and join up!
This weeks QOTW is:
"What time to you get up in the morning? Are you a morning person or a night owl?"
I have the worst insomnia ever, so sleep is a luxury when it does happen.
I get up with the boys at 5:45am, and piddle around the house, or go lay back down and attempt to sleep.
I would say I'm a combo of both because of the insomnia. I can stay up all night long, like last night, I was awake till 4am, and then sleep till the boys get up, and be wide awake and ready for the day.
You'd think with all this awake time, I'd get more work done.
ha!
I am having a contest. It is to win either a book or a DVD, both brand new.
The book is The Book of Fate
The DVD is Casino Royale (2-Disc Full Screen Edition)
This is how this is going to work.
If you want to be entered in the contest, simply write a quick post about the contest on your blog. Link to this contest entry, and 1 link to my main page. (http://www.mysinglemomlife.com/blog)
Then send me the link to your post in an email, (mysinglemomlifeATgmail.com subject line = contest) along with your first name.
Totally easy.
Your name and url will be written on a piece of paper, folded up, tossed into a hat or bucket, or whatever we can find laying around, and on Saturday morning, yes, this Saturday morning, Sebastian will pull out two names.
I can video this, no sound on the camera, but it will be a video taped drawing and the video will be uploaded.
The first name drawn will have their choice, and the 2nd name drawn will get the one that is left.
So you have 3 days to write your post and enter.
Totally easy.
I will then ship the items to the respective winners on Monday morning.
This contest is open to bloggers in the USA and Canada only.
Just wanted to send all my lovely readers a big kiss.
I figured I'd throw in a little dance too.
Enjoy!
Click for bigger.
This is the sight that greeted me when I entered Publix today.
By a show of hands, how many of you find this tacky and offensive?
It's a soldier on top of a pile of Budweiser.
I saw it and my jaw dropped.
This is totally the norm with Publix though.
On the fourth of July, they make an American Flag out cases of Bud.
But this?
This just says to me, "Drink up! They are fighting and dying for your right to get shitfaced today!"
This kind of tacky advertising kills me.
I know it's the work of Budweiser doing these displays, but Publix prides itself on being a family friendly store, they have a rack of religious books in the deli, they have very strict rules for their employees appearances, employees are written up if they get caught using any bad language.
So to see these kinds of displays, pisses me off.
Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country.
It is not a day to use their image in a beer display.
I know many people take the long Memorial Day weekend, and spend it partying, barbecuing, and drinking, but it is not a day to use the image of our soldiers to promote getting shitfaced in my opinion.
As I was leaving, I told the manager at the service desk how tacky and offensive I find the newest Bud display.
She said Budweiser is responsible for the displays.
I said, "I know that, but this is your store, don't you have any say in what goes on the displays at all?
Our men and women in the service, should not be used to help sell more brewskies. It's not right."
She said she would pass it on to her regional manager and upper bosses.
I bet she won't. I bet anything that display will stand until after Memorial day.
A huge t-storm is headed our way, and rather than get caught in it at Sweetbay, Sebastian and I ran to Publix and grabbed a buttload of food, and came home right in time.
It just started raining.
Mark is out with his Big George, so at least I only had one kid asking for stuff.
I did have to get chips and stuff for end of the year parties though.
Hey, if it makes them all happy, and they won't ask to stay home on Friday, it's all good.
The coupon at Sweetbay doesn't expire till June, so I'm sure I will use it before then.
I am having a new contest starting tomorrow.
I have two great prizes to give away, a really great book, and a really great DVD.
All anyone who wants to enter has to do is, write a post on their blog linking to my contest entry, and 1 (one) link to my home page.
Just a quickie post telling others about the contest, so that they can enter too.
The contest will be open to bloggers from the USA and Canada only. (shipping costs to other countries are too much for me, sorry y'all)
I'll post up all the specifics sometime after midnight tonight with full instructions, (it's easy) and it will remain open until Friday, and the winners will be drawn on Saturday morning.
The first name drawn will get their choice of the book or movie, and the second place will get the other one.
Yes, I will post what the prizes are in the post.
So be on the look out for that after midnight tonight!
This kid is so damn cute! LOL
I'm all about the money saving, you know that.
I just got todays mail, and in it was a sale flier for Sweetbay, formerly known as Kash n' Karry, the unfriendly store, the badly designed store, the store that smells weird.
Not only are they having the most awesomest sale, but there was also a separate card stock paper coupon coupon that came in the mail.
For $10 off any purchase of $40.
I spend way over $40 buying groceries.
So, the combined awesome sale prices + the extra $10 off, ack! I may end going there because I have this compulsion to save money no matter what!
I hate their employees. They are so unfriendly, they never smile, or say hello, they just all look like this is the suckiest job they have ever had. They are not helpful either. You ask where something is in their poorly designed store, and they look at you like you have 5 heads and they simply can't be bothered.
Then, there's the whole weird smell thing going on in there.
It's like a combination of old, wet rotting carpet, and dead animals.
It's faint, you can barely smell it, but I always do. The kids say they can't smell it, but I know other people can. My neighbor says she smells it whenever we have gone there together, it just smells like the place is dirty.
I know the food is good, I would never buy anything that looked or smelled bad, (Yes, I actually smell packages of meat at the grocery store) but the smell definitely exists.
So, save money even though I hate the store, or spend a little more to be greeted and helped by happy employees in a clean smelling store?
I have all the household stuff to take care of today, plus grocery shopping, and I'm dead tired. I am not sleeping. I think I got about 15 minutes last night. I just could not sleep.
Maybe I need to get one of those sound machines, and see if having some sort of noise will help me fall asleep.
I need to sleep.
I really don't want to go grocery shopping either.
It's just not on my list of fave things to do today. I'd rather sort socks than have to go shopping.
I need to take a shower and get busy on this stuff though. I want to try and do it before the boys come home. It's like taking a couple of 4 year olds with me with the way they always ask for stuff.
Go read my entry, and then check out the link.
This is bad ass!
I am once again not sleeping well, I am so used to this now it's kinda crazy.
But anyway, the teens are in bed, this is the last week of school for them. They are totally psyched, I'm not.
It means a whole summer of being bored.
They will both have summer classes, and hopefully Mark will be having a job.
My friend Mindy's son works at one of the malls, and is picking up an application for Mark.
Jeff and Mark get along great, so working together will be good for both of them. Out of the house, away from their siblings, maybe will mean less fighting and boredom.
I can hope right?
Mindy and I have also started planning a girls night out. We will leave all the kids with her hubby, go have dinner, catch a movie, maybe do some window shopping or something.
We spend all of our time with families, we need time to just be girls.
I'm totally looking forward to it, and working on a reply email Mindy, I swear it! *laughs*
Not too much else happening here.
Oh wait! Sebastian graduated from 8th grade next Monday night. I have to see if sis can go, or else I'll miss it. It's at night, and I have no way to get back and forth at night, so hopefully she can.
It's a big step for him. Moving on up to high school in the fall.
And! It's also going just awesome with his Big Jimi. They are going to an arena football game this Friday night in Tampa.
It's just working out so awesome, I couldn't be happier for Sebastian to have a cool Big to hang out with.
Later days!
And a backache.
I should have known this was coming, it's raining out right now. It's been t-storming for about an hour or so.
My back started aching around noon, and now I know why.
Built in weather predictors. Who needs weathermen?
I laid it all out, what I will and won't do anymore, no more food/household supply help, but I will always be here to listen and try to help her get away from it all.
She said that the husband has agreed to family counseling, and if it doesn't work, then she will leave.
I know in my gut, that nothing is going to change and I told her that.
I told her that I can't do this anymore, that it's far too hard on me and my family emotionally and financially, to keep doing this, and she has to decide what is best for her son. If she can't leave for herself, she needs to leave for her son.
She said her son loves his father, which he does, he loves him in the hopes that his father will love him back. All he wants is his father to love him and be good to him, he's always trying to please that man, but all he ever gets in return is negativity.
She sat there crying and thanking me for being a good friend, and for all the help I give to her because it helps her and her son. I told her that by giving her the things she needs like toilet paper and milk and bread, that it enables him to keep on not providing for his family. He knows that she will ask me for it, so he doesn't have to do it, he likes knowing she has to beg and ask others for help.
He makes her sell her medications to pay bills and give him money.
That's just sick. He forces her to do that, and then when she's suffering from lack of her very necessary medications, he yells at her to stop crying.
I told her I have to draw a line so that he will hopefully be forced to provide those basic needs, but I know he won't.
I've watched this situation escalate since the day they moved in, it has only gotten worse. I told her how much I worry about her and her son, how much my kids worry. They are helpless to do anything at all except remain this kids friend and try to just give him fun whenever he is here.
So many of you said that you would have never gotten involved in the first place.
I don't think you can honestly say that without actually being in this situation.
These are not neighbors 3 or 5 houses away, they share my duplex. I hear the verbal abuse through the walls.
Could any of you really ignore that?
Would any of you really not open the door to a crying child who came to you for safety? Would you really not try and comfort that child, feed him because he's hungry, and try anything at all to help him?
No it's not my job, but the people whose job it is, Florida Department of Children and Families, have failed this family repeatedly.
And no, I'm not taking on the weight of the world and trying to do their job, but I cannot ignore domestic and child abuse.
I. Can't.
It'd be so easy for some people to ignore it, to turn away and not help anyone else in need. We are a society of me first. Everyone is out for themselves and not wanting to get involved.
But can we really ignore the hurt of others?
This child doesn't deserve what he lives with day in and day out. I may not be able to convince her to take the offer, but I cannot ignore this child.
Thanks for listening.
They keep knocking stuff down in their rough housing. The 3 of them get to playing, and chase each other all over the house. They have knocked down the blinds in my front windows like 5 times this morning!
The kitten tries to climb up them, then Nova and Kali go running after her and slam into the blinds, and then boom! The blinds come down, the 3 cats go into hiding, and I have to get out the screwdriver and screws to put them back up.
Grrr.
I am getting some comments, and a few emails from people on the entry below.
Yes, I know by helping her, I am enabling her and HIM, to keep this cycle of crap going.
I understand that, but there is a child involved who doesn't deserve to be without basic things like toilet paper because his father's a cock sucker.
Someone mentioned food banks and pantry's, department of children and families for food help and stuff.
They cannot get any kind of financial help.
Why?
Because her husband makes too much money to qualify for help.
He is not withholding items because he doesn't have the money to pay for them. It's because he won't.
There's a huge difference between affording, and withholding to control people.
He makes very good money, this is about control, not finances.
I do know that I need to sit down with her and tell her I can't help her any more, that real help has been offered and she needs to take it, or I can't help her anymore.
I do have to tell her that by giving her these things, I am enabling him to keep on doing what he does.
I know this. But I also have an innocent child who lives in that house and is verbally and emotionally abused all the time.
I have to think about him and what my actions, stopping the help, will do to him.
The situation could get much worse for him and his mother, but I know I have to say no more.
Department of children and families has been to that house several times. Each time they walk away not doing anything.
The father is a master manipulator, he knows what to say, how to say it. He blames the kid, he says the kid is lying about stuff. He says his wife is lying about the stuff.
I have even spoken with DHS myself, told them all that I know, told them the conditions of that house, and they still walk away.
Department of children and families is completely over worked in Florida. Getting them to pay attention to repeated calls for help, falls on deaf ears for some reason.
Believe me, many people have called them about this family.
A few of our neighbors have called, teachers have called. They come over, talk to them for a few minutes and leave.
Many of us have tried many times to get that family help, and DHS isn't doing their job.
What do we do when the people who are supposed to help, don't?
So no, she can't go get food stamps, she can't go to food banks, because all of those places require proof of income and the husband makes too much money.
The problem is, he won't spend it because money is power to him.
Holding back needs is power to him, it keeps the wife and son in his control because they have to rely on him for these things.
I thank you all for what you said, but the answers are not as easy as people think they are.
I've tried all of these things. I've gone with her and helped her apply on line for food stamps and even medicaid for her son, and it gets turned down because he makes too much money.
I've gone with her to food banks, same thing, too much income.
This is about power, not the money.
I really thank all of you for your advice and opinions, but it's not quite so easy as just saying no. There could be repercussions on the mother and son, that I don't even want to think about.
I am going to talk with her tomorrow while he's at work, talk to her again about the offer of real help, tell her I can't do it anymore, and hope that nothing goes bad.
No one really has any idea how much this sucks being the one who this woman and child confide in, and knowing what they live with, and not being able to convince them to leave.
I have to try and convince her to take the offer and go.
This whole thing sucks.
Every now and then I have to remind myself that I'm a nice person, because I think really bad thoughts.
I hate being used. Hate it.
I think most people hate the feeling of being used.
You all know by now about the family next door, and the really crappy situation that the mom and son are in.
I cannot control other people's choices. I have to remind myself of that too.
A way out was given, and not accepted.
As hard as it is for me to accept that, I have to. It's not my life, I cannot control it.
But I am tired of the abuses that take place.
The verbal and psychological abuses that take place inside that home.
I am also tired of the small abuses that happen.
I was tempted to say minor, but there is nothing minor about the many forms abuse comes in.
Some of the things this man does to control his family, is to give an exact dollar figure with an exact list of groceries, and if she comes home missing an item, or doesn't have the exact change the receipt says she should have, because she dropped a penny or a dime, there is hell to pay.
One of the most insane things he does, is to horde the toilet paper.
He allows one roll of it to be in the house, and he keeps the rest of it in his car and takes it to work.
I am always being asked for toilet paper because they ran out, and he won't give them anymore.
This "control" covers many other necessities as well.
Like feminine hygiene products. He very rarely gives her money to take care of her needs. I have given maxi-pads to her when I had them, but I don't get many cycles myself due to my own back and health issues, so many times I've had to tell her I didn't have any.
It covers band-aids, antiseptic ointments, dish soap, laundry soap, shampoo, body bar soap, turning off the water from outside the house, so they can't bathe or shower.
It includes cooking supplies like pans, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, milk, bread etc.
If they run out of milk from the weekly $100 purchases he let her make, too freaking bad for her and her son, but there had better be milk when he gets home.
I am constantly being asked for items, and I know the situation, I know what she goes through, but I am tired.
I am tired of helping.
I feel horrible about these thoughts, I can't even tell you how being angry and tired over the constant helping, makes me feel.
I shouldn't feel this way ya know?
People helped me when I was down and out, I said I would pay it forward, and I have, multiple times over now in gas for her car, food, toilet paper, soap, just general supplies.
I don't know what I am supposed to do anymore.
I feel like I have given and given, found her help. That offer to help her run away? That is a huge thing. I put myself out there because of frustration, told someone the situation, and that amazing offer came.
That amazing offer has been turned down.
Part of me wants to start saying no to requests, but the kid, I feel for this kid.
Does he not deserve to be able to wipe his ass?
Is it his fault that the father is such a mother fucking prick, and hides the toilet paper in his vehicle?
No.
But what am I supposed to do anymore?
In the last 3 days, I have given her gas money, rolls of toilet paper, antiseptic ointment, a gallon of milk, two loaves of bread, and countless hours of emotional support.
I am not bitching about the emotional support, I don't mind trying to help her.
I am just very frustrated that the emotional help I am giving to her is not being taken.
It upsets me greatly.
I can't keep helping her with 'stuff'. It creates a situation of constantly being the one to hold up her family, when I still struggle to pay my own bills and my own household needs.
Something has to change with this whole situation.
If you were me, what would you do?
Would you start saying no to these constant requests for things?
Would you go over there and yell at that man and tell him to take care of his own family?
Calls have been made, don't even think they haven't. The proper authorities have been there numerous times and nothing ever freaking comes of it.
I'm lost right now.
I know I can't keep supplying things. I can't afford it.
But what am I supposed to do?
I opened my card this morning, the one I was told not to open until today, and both boys had signed it, but Mark wrote me a message.
Dear Mom,
You've always loved me and helped me, and I know for these past two years I've been harder for you.
I hope you know I'm really sorry and how much I love you for always trying to help me even when I say I hate you.
I love you mom,
Mark
*sniffle*
Seriously, is that not the most honest, heartfelt thing for a kid to say?
When he wakes up, I'm going to cover him in slobbery kisses and big mushy hugs.
Happy mothers day to all moms every where.
Ok, I really want to win this one contest.
What is the prize?
One lucky winner will receive the HP Printing Mailbox & 3 months Presto.com service!
What does this thing do?
Do you have a family member or friend who is off line and doesn’t have a computer or email at home?
Do you have a grandparent to whom you would love to send emails and photos, but they don’t have a
computer or internet access? If so, then check out Presto – a cool new service that delivers emails, photos and other content to people who don’t use a computer.
This thing would be so kick ass!
I would totally send it to great gram if I won it.
Gram has no computer, wouldn't know how to use it if she had one. I could send her emails, pictures etc, with this thing.
This would be totally rocking.
Man, I hope I win it.
Gram would be able to get emails and pics from all her grandkids who live far away, it would be a breeze for every one to stay in touch with her.
You can check it out here.
Then enter this contest!
Beth is having a contest to give away a years worth of free hosting and a domain name to one lucky winner.
In order to enter the contest I request one thing: Submit a short, 50-100 word paragraph telling me why you deserve the free hosting/domain registration. If it’s for paid posts/reviews, because you otherwise couldn’t afford it.. anything. I will then set up a page on this blog and allow other readers read the posts, which will be numbered and add a poll widget to the sidebar. Your name nor your blog will be known to anyone but me- this way the voting is a little more fair and people aren’t just voting for their friends. The statement with the most votes wins and I will announce the winner in a post, along with a link to your current blog, as well as a link to your new blog once everything is set. The submission deadline will be one week from tonight at 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
We watched Alpha Dog tonight, you can read my quickie review here.
It was really good, and JT surprised me as an actor.
___________
We had a bit of excitement here when we first started watching the movie, that's why it has taken me so long to get back here and write a review and stuff.
What happened?
Well, a few of my neighbors got in a knock down, nose breaking fight right out on the front lawn.
It was crazy!
The guy with the busted nose was carted off by ambulance for probably a good 5-8 stitches in his nose.
That thing was just gushing everywhere!
One neighbor was trying to break it up, and two of them were just taking swings at each other around him. Beer bottles flying at heads, wives screaming, kids crying, pure fucking crazy.
We had about 4 cops and oddly, 5 medics.
I don't know if they thought every one was injured or what, but we certainly didn't require that many medics.
It was all over a gold necklace that one guy thought the other guy stole and some money.
The necklace ended up being found in the grass after having been ripped off during the fight.
I ended up finding the necklace in the grass, the guy it belonged to, Mr. Bloody broken nose, tried to hug me for finding it.
I'm all dude, it's cool, you are covered in blood, go get stitches man.
He was crying, thanking me. I guess his grandma gave it to him or something.
I feel bad for the kid.
Yes, that kid.
It is always something going on in that poor child's life.
I don't even know what to do anymore ya know?
His dad got wasted and got in a fight over money and jewelry, busted some other guys nose up, almost went to jail, his mom is crying, he's crying, my boys were trying to hold him back inside our house.
That poor kid was wanting to get out there and help his dad fight off the other guy.
He just kept screaming, "My dad! Kat! That's my dad!"
I felt so bad for him, but I couldn't let him go outside and get swung at by a bunch of fucking drunken idiots.
How much more is this poor kid going to have to deal with before help comes?
How many times do people have to make calls, have to offer help, before it actually fucking happens?
Once upon a time, this was a nice, quiet neighborhood.
Now, it's something almost every single weekend.
And it's always something that involves that kid.
We have the movie Alpha Dog to check out tonight.
Yes I know it stars Justin Timberlake, but I hear it's a decent movie.
Last night we watched the unrated version of the remake of the Hills Have Eyes.
Nice and bloody. Hahahaha
If Alpha Dog is any good, I'll let you know.
___________
It's just been a very quiet day here, nothing much going on, the boys are being good and hardly fighting.
My lacerated hand looks worse today. The bloody scabs forming over the slices, are a very deep red. It looks like I got attacked by Krueger, and these are my defensive wounds. Hahahaha
I really can't bandage them because they cuts are right on the knuckles, I'd have to wrap gauze around my hand to cover them up. I may do that later. Put some Staphaseptic on them, cover them up and hope they don't scar too badly.
They hurt too man.
Rotten little kitty cat.
If you could see her, you'd be all no way could a cat that small do as much damage as she did.
She's wicked tiny, weighs like 2 pounds, still kitten sized.
2 pound ball of terror is what she is when she gets mad.
Ok, I'll be back later on to let you know how the movie was.
Later days.
I would love to get the boys some new kids bedding, but at their ages, I think scooby and cartoons, are no longer cool when friends come over. Know what I mean?
They still watch cartoons, play video games, still love Star Wars, but at 13 and 15, what kind of bedding do they like? They don't have an opinion, as long as they have a blanket and pillows, they seem to be content. But I would like them to have nice matching sets, that's the girl in me thinking matching is good, sloppy is bad, but what kinds of bedding do teens actually want?
I've updated this entry to include all of the debate between Rational Responders and Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.
I've watched all of the debate, it is in parts, so it's fairly easy to watch one video, go do something else and come back to it again later.
Kirk and Ray were completely unprepared for this debate.
They had promised to bring evidence of gods existence, to actually debate, and they ended up invoking scripture, the ten commandments, and then failing at their own reason for a god.
They said that if we look at a painting, there must be a painter. If we look at a building, there must be a builder.
If we look at creation, there must be a creator.
But when asked who created the creator, they said that god is eternal and infinite, lives outside the realm of time.
If god is infinite and eternal, why can't the universe be infinite and eternal?
They had absolutely no response to the first law of thermodynamics or Occam's razor. They just sat there asking each other if the other had anything to say on it. Dumbfounded.
I was hoping they would have brought up the banana, that would have been fun. They do say it proves the existence of god, yet didn't bring it to the debate.
Hrm. Did they realize that the modern banana has actually been farmed and domesticated over thousands of years from it's original state, and know that bringing that up would make them look like uneducated idiots?
I really think there are better people who could have debated the Christian viewpoint so much better than these two.
Anyway, the whole debate is up for anyone interested in watching.
Sebastian decided that Shahiro was stinky and needed a bath.
I volunteered, I've given many cats a bath over the years, no big deal.
She nearly ripped my hand to ribbons!
She even somehow, managed to get my right boob!
I now have band-aids on both hands and my boob, but at least the cat doesn't smell anymore!!
You may have noticed in my sidebar, an ad for the new movie Waitress starring Keri Russell.
It's getting really good reviews, and I'd love to go see it but I doubt the boys would be up for a romantic life comedy, or chick flick as they call it.
The movie is having a bittersweet success.
The writer and director, Adrienne Shelly, was murdered last year before the film debuted at Sundance.
Her killer, an illegal immigrant looking for money and angry at her because she asked him to keep the noise down on the construction work he was doing in the apartment below hers, hung her in her shower making it look like a suicide.
What happened to Shelly is just so sad, she never got to see how well her movie would be received.
Shelly not only wrote, directed, designed sets and costumes, she also co-starred in the movie and even gave her own real life daughter a role in the movie.
It's now a sort of sad goodbye to a film maker who wanted to prove that women, moms, could make great movies.
Donations can be made to the Adrienne Shelly Foundation for up and coming women film makers.
It really has been just that, unmotivated.
I haven't felt like doing much of anything due to kid squabbles.
My mind has been stressed out and focused on Mark and his education, that I haven't done much of anything at all.
*shrug*
Sebastian is gone out with Jimi for a few hours, Mark is reading a book, and I'm still bored, stressed, tired, not tired, antsy, annoyed, withdrawn, and a whole bunch of other things.
I do have some work I can do, I'm greatful for the steady work every single week.
It helps ease my financial stress a wee bit.
I'll probably get started on those assignments later on this evening.
Time to catch up on emails and stuff.
Later days.
--Everybody has secrets. Everybody else knows them.
--Be kind to strangers. They are likely to be your family.
--No former spouse ever really dies.
--Never talk to yourself -- some scheming bitch will overhear and use it against you.
--If you marry for money again and again, it won’t buy you happiness -- but you will have a great wardrobe.
--Don’t reject a man because he’s evil -- he could develop into a (smoldering, enigmatic, and/or brooding) romantic hero.
--You’d be robbing yourself of the full courtroom experience if you were not threatened with contempt at least once.
--Okay, the church burned down, the cake exploded, and your father was arrested for embezzlement while walking you down the aisle . . . Stop crying like this is the only wedding you’re ever going to have.
I received You Know Your Life Is a Soap Opera If...
Thank you so much for the laughs!
This book is hysterical, it had me cracking up all the way through.
Being a long time soap fan since I was a little girl watching Days of our lives with my Aunt Kathy, All My Children with my mom, and The Young and the Restless with my grandmother, this book captures every true, crazy plot line that has ever happened on any soap.
"A coma is no excuse for bad hair and makeup", isn't that so true in soaps? You never see a female character in the hospital after an accident, in a coma, or after giving birth, looking like crap. Her hair is always perfect, makeup flawless, and diamonds dripping from her ears.
I'd say this book is perfect for soap fans, it will keep them laughing and recalling all the moments from their fave shows, and nodding their heads at the craziness of it all.
I'm going to try and sort out these jumbled up thoughts in my head, so bear with me if it doesn't make much sense.
School lets out in something like 10 days, both boys will have summer classes. Sebastian to take his health and a PE early, so he gets his electives, and Mark will have some of the new view courses.
He said he's really going to try, he hates the thought of letting me down.
You wouldn't believe that would come out of his mouth after some of the arguments we've had this week where he's mumbled the words every parent hears from their kids at least once, "I hate you", and given me the glare of death, multiple times.
He's so frustrated with school, he really just wants to drop out. I said something to him that I'm sure other parents reading this will think I'm totally crazy for saying.
I told him if he didn't/couldn't finish school for his own sake, do it to spite someone that thinks he can't do it.
There's that small pleasing feeling when you get to say 'ha ha, I did what you said I couldn't.'
I told him I'm not giving up on him, that I will stand beside him through all the problems he's having with school, as long as he talks to me about it. I can't help him if he doesn't tell me what's going on.
He's been staying off the video games, not even asking if he can play, after a huge battle we got into the other night about them.
I was so angry at him for saying he wanted to quit school, I yelled at him, that if he put half as much energy into his school work as he does at killing aliens or zombies, he'd be a straight A student.
He yelled back, said it wasn't the same thing, stormed out of the house, and threw the basketball around for about 20 minutes. When he came back in, he wouldn't even look at me.
That damn mothers curse.
"I hope you have one who behaves as badly as you did."
Thanks for that, it's truly going wonderful around here.
/sarcasm
Mother's day is Sunday.
Mark bought me a card while at the store today, he and Sebastian both signed it, wrote stuff in it, and then Mark set it on my shelf here at my desk with explicit instructions that I am not allowed to open it till Sunday.
They also pooled some of their money they earned for doing extra cleaning chores this week, and bought me a piece of Tiramisu with instructions to eat it tonight.
I ate a small slice of it, probably why I'm wired right now.
___________________
I'm really frustrated with my earnings lately.
See, I cannot just be paid to write about any old thing. I won't write about mortgages, I don't have one, I hate writing about credit and payday loans, stuff like that.
I've already compromised myself and my blog enough just doing paid postings, I won't go down one more level and outright lie about things I would never talk about.
This has drastically cut down my earnings because there are just far too many 'jobs' like that right now.
I look at the list over and over again all day, and just can't find a single one I'd actually care to write.
And then I go and read other blogs, and they have taken those jobs regardless of it actually fitting in with what their blog is about, they do write things just for money.
And then I feel stupid for not taking it. I get this moment where I say to myself, well if they did it, why shouldn't I?
But then I snap right back and say to myself, no, that's not who you are. You don't need the money that bad.
But the sad thing is, I do need the money that bad, but I still won't take them.
______________
When Google updated, I lost a PR point. I stupidly took someone else' advice about a site function and implemented it.
10 years of blogging and slowly moving up and maintaining my PR, and one stupid move and I lost a point.
And really this shouldn't bother me because the only people that care about PR, is the paid posting companies. Bloggers generally don't give a crap, content is important, not rankings.
I got all caught up in it trying to please ranking tools, that I forgot about what this blog really is, my place to just be me.
It will not happen again that's for sure. That site function has been removed, and I need to get back on to the focus of why I have this blog.
It's my life with my kids, my daily struggles raising teens alone, my health, my family and friends, the things I am interested in.
Every now and then, I think we all lose our focus and get caught up in stupid things. I tend to do this quite a bit.
I hate people for the most part, yet this inner girl is always trying to please them.
My greatest fault is forgetting to please myself first.
but a whole lot to say?
That's how I feel today.
I feel like I have a ton of stuff I want to talk about, but I just don't feel like putting it all down.
I've probably started about 10 different entries today, and scrapped them all.
I just don't feel like getting into anything today.
I'm kind of annoyed, sort of pissed off, sort of just saying fuck it all who cares, and mostly just blah.
I actually just typed out this big thing, and then deleted it all.
See?
Lots to say but don't feel like putting it all down.
Blah.
The boys and I went grocery shopping.
They behaved like 4 year olds as usual.
Mom, can I have this? Can I have that? Can we get this?! Oh please!?!
hahaha
Kids never really get over the asking for stuff in the store thing do they?
As usual, I also spent more than I wanted to, but that's ok, the stuff was needed.
While waiting in line at the deli, Sebastian starts looking over the "god rack". This is the rack of books customers are forced to look at because the little number ticket machine, is on top of it.
See?
Click for bigger.
While we were looking at it, one of the employees asked me where I've been and if she could help me.
She's a manager in the deli, so I took that moment to express my disgust over the books, and ask why only the Christian faith is represented on it.
She said a company provides the ticket machines attached to the racks with the books. It's like some sort of deal. Publix doesn't have to pay for the machines and ticket replacement as long as they allow the books to be on it.
I told her it wasn't really a nice thing to do, because Sarasota is a very diverse community of people and religions.
She said it bothers a lot of customers, but Publix made a contract so they have to use the racks.
I told her when the contract runs out, they should ditch it because if a lot of customers are complaining, it would just be a good idea to stop offending so many of them.
She said she'd pass it on to the general manager.
Uh huh. I'll believe that when the rack is gone.
So anyway, we're home now, groceries are scanned and put away, boredom is setting back in.
Maybe I'll play with my Sims later if it stays so quiet on line today.
Later days.
What were you doing?
20 years ago (May 1987)
Age? 17.
Were you in school? Yes, junior year of high school.
Where did you work? Shaw's.
Where did you live? OOB, Maine
What were your regular haunts? Friends, the arcades, various places.
Did you wear glasses? Nope. Contacts.
Who was your best friend? Jenny D.
How many tattoos did you have? None.
How many piercings did you have? Just my ears.
What did you drive? I walked everywhere.
Had you been to a real party yet? Um yeah.
Heart broken yet? Of course.
Status on the market? Nothing serious.
Ten years ago (May 1997)
Age? 27.
Were you in school? No.
Where did you work? I was packing to move to Florida.
Where did you live? Biddeford, Maine.
What were your regular haunts? Home with the kids, Shell's house, Robyn's house.
Did you wear glasses? No. Contacts.
Who was your best friend? Shell.
How many tattoos did you have? 3.
How many piercings did you have? 5.
What did you drive? I didn't.
Had you been to a real party yet? *snicker*
Heart broken yet? Oh fuck yes.
Five Years Ago (May 2002)
Age? 32.
Were you in school? No.
Where did you work? I had just stopped working in December '01 due to my back.
Where did you live? Sarasota, Florida.
What were your regular haunts? Home, on line, a few clubs around town.
Did you wear glasses? No. Contacts.
Who were your best friends? Shell, ex-roomie.
How many tattoos did you have? 3
How many piercings did you have? 9
What did you drive? Still don't.
Had you been to a real party yet? hahahahahaha
Heart broken yet? Yes.
Status on the market? Happily single.
As of today (May 2007)
Age? 37
Are you in school? Nope.
Where do you work? Self employed, subcontractor.
Where do you live? Sarasota, Florida
What are your regular haunts? Home, a few places in Tampa.
Do you wear glasses? No. Contacts.
Who is your best friend? Shell and various friends on line.
Do you talk to your old friends? Occasionally.
Do you have a crush? Nope.
How many tattoos do you have? 3
How many piercings do you have? 7. I lost two during my surgery. They closed.
What do you drive? Nope.
Have you been to a real party yet? I still attend parties, but I make point of not getting trashed. There's nothing "special" about drunk people.
Heart broken yet? Been a really long time.
Status on the market? Still happily single!
Besides ones of the pet variety, any dependents? My boys, Mark is 15, Sebastian is 13.
I have nothing to talk about, no cool sites to link to, nada.
I decided to go for a walk, and still got nothing.
Hrmph.
New Nair Pretty, Kiwi Hair Remover Spray.
Obviously any woman could use it, but why is it just being marketed to teen girls?
I'd so much rather use a spray on hair remover, than to get all that goopy lotion stuff all over my hands.
The lotion turns your rings and bracelets nasty colors if you forget to take them off before applying the stuff.
It kind of annoys me that they market products that all women can use, to just a certain age segment. Nair is not the only company that does it, there's a few feminine hygiene product companies that do the same thing.
One tampon site, is obviously for women, and the other is aimed towards teen girls.
But both sites are talking about the exact same tampons.
Does anyone else just find it totally stupid that companies do that?
Seeing TOOL!!!!
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Look at Maynard!
He has a mohawk again!
I can't freaking wait!!!!
Click for bigger
It's true, I'm getting older. I have noticed tiny little lines around my eyes when I smile. I need something for that, and I keep hearing good things about skinceuticals.
The products are made with pharmaceutical grade active ingredients, and made into serums and lotions, that reconstruct the skins surface and appearance.
It's not so bad, I don't have a really wrinkly eye area like some other women in their late 30's that I know. I guess it's a benny of being fat..hahahaha
I promised the boys pizza and wings tonight, so we ordered pizza hut meat lovers and a bunch of wings.
One slice of meat lovers, and I feel like I'm gonna explode.
___________
Mark came home today and gave me a paper signed by the guidance office, singing him up for the new view program. It allows kids who hate school, to get their high school credits in half the time.
I think it even involves tech school, which is right down the road from us.
He said he did it because he understands that an education is important, and that dropping out is NOT an option I will ever give him, so he's going to take the alternate route and see how it goes for him.
I applaud his efforts and hope he actually goes through with this.
I told him last night that he has to get his diploma, he has no choice, I will not accept dropping out or failing out. I don't care how he does it, but he has to do it.
He feels bad that he hates school, said high school is not going how he planned it would in his head, but that he will at least give this program a try.
Why do some kids do so well until high school, and then suddenly they fail out, hate it, and want to drop out?
And no, he's not doing drugs or drinking. He's home every single day, and I don't allow him to hang out with the kids he knows who have admitted to drinking and stuff.
I just don't get this.
I don't think we'll be needing to get that car insurance quote any time soon for Mark.
He frustrates me so much lately. I can't figure out where I went wrong with him and school. He has lost all interest in it. He hates it, is always asking if he can stay home, isn't doing his work.
If he doesn't pass, he can't get his license, that's Sarasota county policy, and I'm glad they have it. But to be honest, it doesn't even phase Mark anymore.
He's not being bullied, he just really hates school these days.
It's been one argument after another, almost daily, concerning his education.
I don't know what happened with him.
The youtube video I posted on this entry, is definitely cut. It was taken with a hand held camera by the Rational Responders.
ABC is at some point today, going to post the entire video of the debate.
I'm really surprised that Kirk and Ray agreed to it in the first place, and even more surprised they didn't whip out a banana, the atheists nightmare according to them, and argue that point.
When the full video is posted, I will edit my original post to include it, because it's only fair that the entire debate be shown.
While I am a supporter of RR, I believe that RR should have posted the whole video themselves unedited. They should not have put any graphics or anything in it, but let the debate stand on it's own. If the debate went so well, and had the audience applauding for RR as the winner, there should have been no reason at all to do any editing.
Another new medicine.
Are you jealous of my body being all fux0red up yet?
I now take daily, 13 different medications every 4-6 hours.
And they still do not have an answer for me on what is causing my stomach to get all wacky.
They are still waiting on one last test result from a specialist I saw last Friday.
By the time they figure this stuff out, they are going to have to give me more pharmaceuticals to get me off the pharmaceuticals they gave me.
I have the best damn sense of humor about all of this. Really, I do.
Most people would be getting seriously pissed off at the constant office visits with multiple doctors for various things, the lists of medications I have to carry in my purse to show all the various doctors, so that those doctors don't prescribe something that screws up what the other doctors have prescribed. *phew*
I'm the run on sentence queen! W00t!
Hahaha!
_________
While I was at the pharmacy waiting on my pain meds and the new belly meds, I wandered around Walgreen's and grabbed some things we needed.
Paper plates because doing dishes by hand sucks the bag, more cat food, Tylenol for the headaches Mark gets from his allergies, something to eat, (hot pockets rule when totally starving!) and they had a kick ass sale on box fans.
I grabbed two box fans that were on sale for $9.99 each, and then they came with a mail-in rebate for $5.00 each.
Wooza!
Two 20 inch box fans for $4.99 each
Yeah baby.
I should have grabbed like 4 of them for that price, and just made this house like a wind tunnel for the summer.
Hahahah!
But we did need the fans. In Sebastian's room, the ceiling fan is broken and I had a guy who was going to come install a new one for me, but he never showed, so Sebastian really needs air flowage in there.
And one for my room, because it has no ceiling fan at all.
This house only has the one window unit AC, so fans are a necessity in the rest of the house.
Mark's room has an awesome ceiling fan. That room is always cool because of that fan, and the fact that I have room darkening curtains on all the windows in there.
It's a reformed sun room, (reformed, hahah) so it has a ton of huge windows. It gets the direct sun from noon until it sets, around 8:30pm in the summer time. It was hot as hell in there until I installed those curtains and the ceiling fan.
And my room, is the farthest back in the house, so no air from the AC gets back there at all. I installed the same room darkening curtains, and keep it pitch black. The room stays cool mostly, but definitely needs air flow. The one box fan in there will keep it cool all summer.
There's nothing grosser than being all sweaty while you sleep.
I hate the doctors.
I hate doctors.
But I'm going. I'm hoping they have some sort of answers for this. It's been too long, and too many tests later, for them to not have answers for me.
Later days.
Last night, Rational Responders were on Nightline with Martin Bashir as host, debating my two favorite banana lovers, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.
Kirk and Ray promised to debate using scientific evidence to prove the existence of a creator, to not invoke the bible.
Kirk and Ray failed miserably against logical, rational arguments for the existence of a god.
Freaking awesome!
You can watch the debate, if you want to even call it that, here on youtube.
Here is the link to the article on ABC.
The entire debate will air tonight on ABC's Nightline.
Parts 1 through 5 are now online. You can watch them here.
Mark and I are fighting again.
About school again.
There are times I honestly don't even know what to say to him anymore.
Ugh.
Yesterday, I told you about a new movie called Bug.
This new movie is about some sort of bug looking for it's queen, and while doing a bit of digging around the movie site, I came across the forums and some postings by a woman with the screen name Sabrina, who claims she has a disease called Morgellons.
"Morgellons disease" is a controversial medical condition, described as a multiple-symptom syndrome, characterized by skin lesions, a sensation that insects are crawling on or under the skin, fibers and granules coming out of the skin, and fatigue. Reported mental symptoms may include short-term memory loss and impaired thinking, described as "brain fog". The cause is unknown, and no diagnostic criteria have been established.
I've been finding all kinds of information about this disease since last night when I found those postings on the Bug movie forum.
The most fascinating tidbit I found, and the most improbable of all the theories, is nanotechnology.
That these "insects" are actually nanocytes that were invented by the Germans in 1954, as a way to control people.
It's really fascinating. Of course, being the bug hater I am, the kind of person that reads the word 'itch', and I start to scratch, it's been a rather crawly feeling kind of day.
I can completely understand why doctors say this is delusional parasitosis. Just reading all the different sites, watching videos on youtube, I have been itching all day.
They say Morgellons is contagious.
It sure is contagious.
Contagious paranoia.
If you are in Sarasota and need to take I-75 north to get home, think again.
I-75 northbound from Fruitville Road north to University Parkway, is closed due to a brush fire which is spreading and jumping.
Many homes are in danger in that area.
Local news and police are urging people to find another way to get home if you have to travel north or near Fruitville road.
It's not whistling now.
I called a few local ac places, most of them wouldn't answer a simple question without a service call. Bastidges.
But one place answered me.
It's a clog they said.
"Go outside and see if you can see anything in it. Clean it all out, filters, everything."
So I cleaned all the filters out again, and then went outside.
I found a very dried out, leathery, sucked dry lizard, stuck in the grates.
Ewwww.
I grabbed a little sick and scraped it off the grate.
No more whistling.
My sister is fortunate enough to be raising the girls in an age when there are books for atheists.
Parenting books, evolution story books, humanist books.
I really wish there had been books when my boys were little. There were so many questions the boys had almost daily because of things kids at school said, things teachers said, things people in the grocery store said.
It was difficult trying to raise them to have morals without having the fear so many other kids are raised with. The fear of eternal punishment if you "sin".
I know someone will chime in and say well kids aren't raised in fear with religion, but they are.
Simple bible stories create the fear whether parents realize it or not.
Jonah and the whale? I had the cutest little storybook when I was a kid about Jonah. It was beautiful. This little girl was learning the story of Jonah, and "God" was talking to her about it.
We all know how that story goes, but to me, a little kid, no matter how cute the story was told, no matter how pretty the pictures, a whale swallowed Jonah.
Whole.
Because he disobeyed.
I grew up in Maine, and every summer my mom would pack up a ton of kids from our own home and half the neighborhood, and take us all to the beach.
After learning the story of Jonah, do you really think I wanted to be anywhere near that water?
And yes I know, it was because he sinned, but I was a kid and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the best kid. I did bad stuff, my mom will tell y'all I did bad stuff.
I disobeyed many times, didn't finish my plate after being told to, didn't clean my room, had bad and angry thoughts. I was terrified a whale was gonna come and get me.
Just asking for forgiveness at night before bed, did nothing to kill my fears of that whale.
And don't even get me started on people being turned into piles of salt.
When I decided that my kids would not be raised that way, would not be taught the stories from the bible in order to learn morals and compassion for others, I had nothing to help me.
It was all up to me to teach them lessons about how to be good people.
It was rough.
Kids in their classes would tell them they were going to hell because they didn't believe in God. They were picked on, made fun of, teachers couldn't understand why I was so upset that they didn't intervene when the teasing happened.
I actually had one teacher tell me, "Well then maybe you should take your kids to church so they fit in."
Ugh.
Sis is lucky. There are so many great books to teach kids about evolution, humanism, how to raise them morally without any religion at all.
The girls are still quite young, but I found a few books I'm getting for them tomorrow for sis to read to them. Books that can answer the questions they will have as they grow up.
Here's a few of the titles I'm picking up for her.
Humanism, What's That?: A Book for Curious Kids
I want to go and stay at some cute little bed and breakfast kind of place, just me, and just relax.
I am planning a trip for November, but that's so far from a relaxing vacation, I must be nuts to even consider it.
So I was thinking of maybe taking a weekend about a month before that, to just go be by myself and take walks alone, sleep in, have someone else do all the cooking, cleaning, and every thing else.
Where am I planning on going in November?
Vegas.
Yes, I know, me who hates large crowds of people, is planning a trip to Vegas.
I am so going to need a weekend by myself just to prep my mind for that trip.
My AC unit is whistling. It's driving me batty folks.
I cannot figure it out.
Maybe one of you can help.
It's a box unit.
Nothing on it has changed. I mean, no settings have been changed, no buttons pushed, no clogged filter, no temperature settings have been changed at all.
It started whistling sometime over night I'm guessing.
I have googled the term "my home ac is whistling" and I keep getting car ac units whistling in my search results.
If my house is a car, I've been missing out on going places for 9 years now. *squint*
Help?
I saw this on a Christian blog, and to my surprise, they thought this was actually a good idea.
What is this?
It's Bible Fight!
You have your choice of characters to fight against the computer. You can be Jesus, Eve, Mary, Moses, Noah, and Satan. And if you win a few tourneys, you can even be God. Oooooooh.
Yes that's right, you can play as Jesus and kick the fucking shit out of Moses.
So I showed the teens the game and of course, they decided to play as Satan and kick the crap out of all the goody bible characters, but here's the funny.
You can play as a good bible character, and kick the crap out of another good bible character.
I played it. I chose to play as Jesus, and the computer picked Eve.
Uh, does anyone else just think this is so totally wrong?
I know how that just sounded, an atheist said a video game where Jesus or any other good character, can kick the fucking shit out of another good bible character, is wrong.
Maybe it's because I have actually read the bible, and even though it says an eye for an eye, in Matthew, Chapter 5, Jesus says:
38 You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;
40 and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well;
41 and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
42 Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
So basically, don't fight. Let there be love.
I admit as an atheist, it totally cracks me up, but why oh why, would a Christian blogger think that game is a good thing?
Is it because it would be played by kids and introduce them to the characters from the bible? Or maybe it's a way to get already Christian kids who play video games, interested in the bible more?
Who knows.
But I found it slightly blasphemous, and I don't even believe in the bible as the word of God! *laughs*
Wow.
I think I just find it crazy that a Christian blogger would think that game is ok.
But as for this house, it totally cracked us up.
I am a bad mommy.
I have a milk phobia. I don't even know why I have a milk phobia, but I do.
I cannot drink or use any milk that I know has been opened and safely in the fridge, for 3 days. 2 days or less, no problem.
3?
One of the kids has to test it for me.
Like just now, I am making hamburger helper for the boys for dinner, the box called for 1 cup of milk.
It's practically a brand new gallon, expires on the 12th, but I simply could not pour that cup of milk into the pan, until I got one of the boys to taste it and make sure it was still good.
Sebastian laughs at me every time I make one of them test it.
Sebastian: "Mom, it's fine. You just bought it. Look at the date, it's gooood mom."
Me: "Ok, it's good, now taste it."
Sebastian: "You are sooo weird mom, *tastes milk* It's good. Told ya."
Me: "Ok, thanks." *pours cup of milk in pan and stirs*
Is it totally whacked that I make my kids do this every single time?
Is this a bad mommy move? *laughs*
What do y'all think of guys getting a hair transplant?
I know this guy who is seriously considering it. He's only 25, lost his early to genetics.
Gotta feel bad for him. Twenty five years old, already going bald. Women want nothing at all to do with him because he looks so much older than he really is. It effects his self confidence, his job performance, every thing. He wears a baseball hat any place he can get away with wearing one. He won't go out to eat at any place fancy because they make men take off their hats.
I personally think he should do it because I know that he will feel better about himself, and they have come a long way since the whole plugs deal that you could tell were plugs.
He's a handsome guy, I just know that with hair, he'd be more confident and outgoing, and happier.
Women, are you turned off if you know a guy has had a hair transplant?
What do you think of it?
Michelle Incanno says she won't drink Starbucks anymore, because of a quote on her paper cup by another customer.
Printed on the cup was: "Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."It is attributed to Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario, and was included on the cup as part of an effort by the company to collect different viewpoints and spur discussion.
"As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that. I don't think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee," said Incanno, a married mother of three who is Catholic.
But Incanno said her Starbucks days are over."I wouldn't feel right going back," she said.
I've never been on a cruise, I really don't like open water at all. Bad experience with water when I was a kid, but I would love to do a crewed yacht charters kinda thing at some point in my life.
I won't do a huge cruise ship, I just can't do it. Titanic, Poseidon adventure etc., I can't bring myself to get on a huge boat like those. But a smaller boat, maybe a yacht, I think I could handle.
Everyone always tells me that I simply must do a cruise sometime. No thanks. You can have them. I'm not into a huge cruise ship of people getting sick because the staff doesn't wash their hands before they set up all that buffet food,, the possible, yet unlikely event that it tips over, sinks, or whatever, but a smaller boat, might be enjoyable to me. I'd need to start off small, then maybe go on a really big one. With a room right next to a life boat. hahahaha
Are you a work at home mom? Want to join a new weekly question meme that is just for work at home moms?
Then check out WAHM, and join up!
This weeks QOTW is:
"What is your “Breakfast of Champions”? (What do you normally eat for breakfast to get you going in the morning?)"
I don't eat anything for breakfast. I have a can of diet soda, and usually eat sometime around 11am or so.
I was helping my neighbor out this morning with her blog and some other things, and her office chair is so low and wobbly.
She says it hurts to sit there for long.
She loves my high back office chair, and wants to get one similar to it. Maybe she'll be able to find one like it at a discount office supplies store.
My chair was about $120, so many they will have a better deal. She really could use a new one. It killed me to sit in hers.
Ouch!
I am doing better. I guess the meds for the stomach thing are working better than I thought they were. It really felt like this was going to be a bad one, but it feels like the belly meds are kicking the whatever it is I have, ass.
The fabulous J.E. sent me a sweet and tasty surprise today.
Check it out. Brandy and orange flavored KitKat bars from Japan.
They are so yummy! Thank you so much J.E.!
I have a lot to catch up on around here, (my blog and emails) so I need to get cracking on it.
I'm tired, I'm in pain, and I'm sick again.
I'm seriously unhappy right now, and not in a good happy place at all.
This needs to go away.
I can't get sick like that again.
I'm on the verge, I can feel it coming.
I know this feeling so well now.
I know that by tomorrow morning, I'll be crying and hurting so bad I will just be like crazy out of my mind.
I'll be back when I can.
Later days.
General Tso's and a side of spareribs.
Mmmm tasty.
I'm hungry and by myself, so I don't have to cook.
Should I get pizza or chinese?
I'm like seriously starving so hurry up and tell me what to get.
Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it’s all about your first born!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
NO
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
yes.
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
fuck.
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
No.
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
20
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
I kept barfing up stomach bile.
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
My then husband.
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
Yes.
9. DUE DATE?
August 15, 1991.
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
Yes, it sucked.
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
McDonald's cheeseburgers.
12. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Everyone.
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILDS SEX?
Boy.
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No.
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
About 30.
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
yes
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew.
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
He kept wanting to come out early.
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Portland, Maine.
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
Something like 17 hours.
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
My mom.
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
It was a teaching hospital. I had like 13 damn obgyn interns shove their damn hands up in there to see how far I dilated. Ugh.
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Fuckin' a yes!
27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH??
8lbs. 6oz.
28. DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS??
Nope, he was perfectly healthy.
29. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
After his dad, Mark Allen Cooper. Jr.
30. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
He's 15, will be 16 in August. Time certainly has flown by.
You will notice quite a few ads over in the sidebar. These ads help keep this site up and running as well as help pay some bills for living.
Please take a moment to check them all out.
There's BabyDagny.com, The movie The Waitress, starring Kerri Russell, (looks totally cute, watched the preview) Regalo Boutique, Geeky Speaky, Great Green Baby, hot products from Biz Rate, and Crazy Mom Deals at One Deal Every Day.
You can find out more about each of them by clicking on their respective ads.
Thank you sponsors!
Not to stay long, but at least I get to see them.
It's been about 2 months since I've seen them last.
They get bigger and bigger every time I see them.
The boys have to babysit tonight for sis, so some plans got canceled, but that's ok, I wasn't really feeling all that great anyway.
My back is whacked and my stomach is screaming. Ugh.
But my beautiful nieces are coming by to say hi and then take my boys outta here for the night.
Susan got new glasses and she loves them. She has Disney princess frames and she's all excited.
I talked to her on the phone last night, she just talked about them, and then wanted to talk to Sebastian. He wasn't home though. He was out with his Big Jimi swimming and eating pizza.
That is going so well! Yay!
Mark's Big is in Orlando this weekend, so when he gets back, he'll see Mark.
As for pics of people being posted here, that will still happen.
My family is ultra supportive of me and my blog. I had a hard time breaking the news to all of them about their pics being stolen and placed on the nutcases forum with bad things written about them. But my family said keep doing it, they know about it and are ok with it.
I really thought my sis was going to be upset about the girls pics he stole. She wasn't. She was actually the reason I decided to go through with the interview. She encouraged me to do it and keep on blogging.
So yay!
It's an awesome feeling knowing so many people are behind me. I can't even tell you.
So anyway, I might have some new pics of my girls to post soon. They are so damn cute! I can't wait to see them!
A few days ago, I posted about the perverted pop tarts package I found. I actually had two of the same package in my 4 package box.
Kellogg's wrote back.
The Pop-Tart(R) Characters are part of our "Crazy Good" advertising campaign. These were used on the foil packages to carry through the promotion. We now realize when seen in an isolated situation on our wrappers, the intent of the fun message is lost. We are in the process of removing these graphics from our packaging. We apologize for any concern these characters caused.We regret the illustration on our package concerns you. Our packages are designed to illustrate taste appeal and we feel the print content gives consumers worthwhile information concerning our products and promotions. Therefore, your concern is important to us, and we have forwarded your comments to the appropriate company officials.
I get up because I hear talking, I walk into the living room, and Mark is still up playing video games at 5:50am
I was like what the hell are you doing?!
Oh, is it late? he says.
Um, yeah, it's morning.
Oops, sorry, he says.
He shuts it off and goes to bed.
He completely lost track of time.
Ugh.
I'm heading back to bed.
It's too early for this.
Later days.
Hey!
Don't forget tomorrow is free comic book day! You can go here, enter your zip, and find what stores near you are participating.
We have a few here who do this every year and the kids totally love it.
It's kind of nice here, because one of the stores that does it, is right down town where they have the farmers market every Saturday morning.
I don't know if we'll be making it down there this year, the boys have an obligation, and my back is whacked, but I'm hoping we can go down for an hour or so.
It has been a hellaciously long day.
My back is not letting up.
I did nothing to bring this on. I have not been over doing anything, as a matter of fact, I've been exceptionally lazy. *laughs*
I really hate the effect some of the meds have on me. I feel like I'm in a fog. I try not to take certain ones unless I absolutely have to because of this feeling. I don't like it at all.
But at least I can sit now, it may be letting up a little. I hope.
Anyway, I'm here, I'm alright mom. I'm just completely worn out from fighting this all day.
Later days.
I was checking my Amazon stats just now, and came across this.
Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion 27 ordered.
That is awesome! I am so glad there are so many of you out there who decided to pick up the book!
When I posted about book stores and magazines refusing to sell or write ad copy for the book, I had no idea so many of you would respond by purchasing it.
Incredible.
27 may not seem like a large number of orders, but that's just my link to Amazon.
There were many other bloggers who carried the story, posted links to where it could be bought, I'm sure there are a lot more orders for it.
It sends a message that there are parents out there who want to raise their kids without religion, that we are interested in atheist and agnostic titles despite what people like Don Feder think.
We want to walk into book stores and pick up atheist books. We want to read them. We want to see ad copy in magazines for these titles.
So thank you, thank you so much for buying it, and sending the message that we do want more secular titles in the mainstream media.
I'm having a horrendous back day so far, so it's going to be short and to the point posts until this goes away.
I'm just really tight and pinched up, hurting.
Later days.
Let's say, you've been blogging under your sites name, we'll use me for an example here, My Single Mom Life, for 10 years. You've owned the domain since late 2002.
What if you were planning on turning your blog into a book of the same name, and discovered that there is a book out there, not even released to the mass public yet, with your name.
What can you do?
Is the name yours?
Can you still publish your book under the name?
I was eating a pop tart this morning, and noticed the packaging.
Um.
Click for bigger.
I know it's hard to read because of the shiny foil packaging, but there's a mouth at penis level, the boy character is saying directly to the mouth, "let me do the talking."
Did pop tarts intend for the mouth to be at penis level on the boy character?
I admit it made me laugh, but who are pop tarts marketed at?
Kids.
This is just really kind of perverted in my opinion.
But still, kind of funny.
A few weeks ago before things got all crazy busy for me, I received a full size bottle of Skin MD shielding lotion to try. I love it when I get sent great products to try out!
Shielding lotion is designed for helping your skins natural protective abilities, work better.
On a daily basis, our skin is bombarded by chemicals from soaps, shampoos, things in the air, cleaning products etc.
I got the bottle and have been using it every day. I generally don't use lotions because I hate the greasy feeling. I hate picking up a pen and having it slide out of my hand.
Skin MD is NOT greasy at all! It rapidly absorbs into your skin, but leaves your skin super soft.
And a major bonus, there is NO scent. This is perfect for me because I have scent allergies, and some lotions I have tried with added scents, actually make my skin itch more.
But here's something I didn't expect. I had read some of the customer reviews on the information pamphlets that were sent to me, and one of the customers said it relieved itchy skin.
You all know by now about my back surgery, and that a lot of the nerves in my back are not healed yet, don't feel right. I can't feel simple touches, but something like an itch is excruciating. I can't scratch the itches, because the nerves in my back can't feel me scratching. It's totally weird I know.
So anyway, after reading that review, I asked Sebastian to rub the Skin MD all over my back, focusing mostly on the area between my shoulder blades where the incision scar is, and to the sides of the scar, because that's where it itches the most all the time. My back is always itchy in those spots.
In about 10 minutes, the itching was completely gone and remained gone until my next shower.
The Skin MD did not rub off on my shirt, or rub off on my night shirt while sleeping. It didn't sweat off in the heat. It stayed put and working until I took my shower the next day and actually washed it off.
Amazing.
It's been 1 year and 3 months since my surgery and I've had an itchy back the whole time. This product works. It really works.
Every morning I have one of the boys rub it on the spots on my back, and I'm itch free again until the next shower!
There were many other reviews in the pamphlets from people with Eczema and Psoriasis, and how incredibly awesome the Skin MD worked for them.
Shell? Are you reading this?! You have to try this!!!
This is truly a great product. If you have dry itchy skin from any kind of medical condition, or just want softer, healthier skin, get your hands on some Skin MD, you will not be disappointed at all.
One of the home remedies for this, is to take 2 aspirin, crush them up, add a few drops of water making it into a paste, and rub it on. The acetylsalicylic acid works on the hair follicle, and skin, allowing it to come through without the painful red bump and/or infection. There is now a lotion, tend skin, that contains the same ingredient as aspirin, but as a lotion so you can apply it after shaving, waxing, or laser hair removal, which is the usual reasons you get ingrown hairs.
That's pretty cool. I have done the aspirin trick, it really works. Lotion would be much easier though.
I sit here, going through blog feeds, reading message boards, checking emails, looking at stuff.
I spend a lot of that time thinking about all the various bits of things people write about
Why did so and so write that? Why do I write what I write?
Just weird thoughts.
I have been doing a lot of thinking about how people on line think it's ok to say something to someone because it's a computer screen, I doubt they'd speak to someone like that in person.
The other day, I was spoken to quite rudely by a man who owns a business that I sometimes do work for.
I immediately replied with my answer, and that it was not ok for him to speak to me like that.
I started getting private messages and emails from other people who saw the exchange, telling me how rude he was. That they too thought that was not ok to do.
No apology has been said, and it won't be.
Would he speak to me this way in person? I highly doubt it.
Would I say back to him in person what I did?
You betcha.
People are so damn phony on line, they would never have the courage to speak to someone else in the manner in which they type away on these boxes.
Since that exchange, there have been several other blogs that I comment on, who have said things like, 'when I saw how he spoke to Kat, I wanted to reach through the screen and slap him.'
I said at my age, I will never allow anyone to speak to me like that, ever, not ever by someone like him.
I got called the Norma Rae of blogging for standing up to him, plus my battle against cyber stalking, which is so not over. There's an army of bloggers sending emails to a lot of important people about that.
I'm actually drafting an email to someone whom I hope will do a much harder hitting piece than what GMA did.
But back to the rudeness that prompted this post.
I've never been a follower. The band can be marching down Main street, and I'll be headed up 7th Avenue.
I am not buying the hype. I'm not playing along kissing asses as I go.
There's nothing more disgusting than ass kissing.
It may very well be the fastest way to the top, it may get people all the attention they desire, but it's gross.
Day in, day out, I watch people kiss ass even after being completely fucked over.
There's a small handful of people who speak up and call bullshit, but most? *kissy kissy slurp*
You just got fucked. Where is your anger, your outrage?
Of course you can make the new plans work, we all can, but doesn't it matter to you at all that you just got fucked?
Is it not registering with you, that he insulted the crap out of you by saying he spent more money than you did?
Hello? It's not the fucking money. It's the time, the plans we all spent making, the effort we all put in.
Maybe some of you can take it lying down and smile after being totally screwed, but I watched him insult you and you took it.
No amount of money is ever worth being insulted for.
Maybe it's stuff like this, my ability to say exactly what I think regardless of what the outcome may be, (I could very well be banned from potential earnings) that I got another Thinking Blogger Award.
Thank you Sassy, I appreciate it.
In the Beginning of Lost, I had a feeling it was going to turn out to be some sort of religious show, and now it looks as though it is.
Supposedly, the plane they were on crashed in the middle of the pacific ocean, not an island. Supposedly, they were all found dead.
Tonight it was mentioned that if "we're all dead and this ain't heaven, it's mighty hot here doncha think?"
Dammit.
I so did not want this to be religious themed show. I did not want this to be a whole live your life morally or this is where you're gonna end up kind of show.
Buggers.
Are you a work at home mom? Want to join a new weekly question meme that is just for work at home moms?
Then check out WAHM, and join up!
This weeks QOTW is:
What kind of workspace to you have? Where is it located? Is it clean or messy?
My desk where my pc is, is actually very clean. I have it perfectly organized.
But my work table for my jewelry biz, is a complete mess all the time.
I really need a whole other room, with a table just for that, so the table out here can just be piled high with crap all the time.
Kidding!
It would turn back into a dining table so we could eat together.
I worked mostly as a customer service rep or cashier. Back then, we didn't have automatic check readers. All of our accounts receivable conversion, the processing of people's checks, was done manually.
We wrote down the license numbers on the checks, we verified the address and phone number, and circled the amount in it's number form, and verified that the written word for the amount, matched and was accurate, and then had a manager initial the checks. Then we just typed in the amount on the register, and entered check, and placed it in our cash tills.
I was never so happy in all the years I worked as a cashier, to see when that system got automated. It was such a time waster before.
For the sake of this entry, I'm keeping their real names out of it, but if you're a long time reader, you know who I'm talking about.
A woman I know lives in an abusive household. Her husband is a real prick of a man to both her and their son.
He is verbally, emotionally, and sometimes physically abusive.
She is a disabled woman, has no way at all to care for her and her son if they leave. She has a multitude of health problems, makes what's wrong with me seem like a day at the beach.
She simply cannot just pick up and run away.
But she wants to. She's been putting away change she finds, selling things of hers, to try and save the money to get out.
Her husband is such a fucking dickwad, he wouldn't pay for medical insurance for their own son who is very sick. Flat out refused.
She sold a whole bunch of her things to pay for the Florida healthy kids insurance so she could get him to a doctor.
Her husband found out she did that, and is demanding she sell more of her things, and give him the equivalent of what the insurance cost. $120.
If she does not do this, there will be physical hell to pay.
She's out right now, trying to sell these things before he gets home tonight. He said he would be at the bar, as usual, and when he gets back, there had better be $120 for him.
This man is an abusive fucking drunk with a coke and pot problem.
Having him arrested is not the answer, so don't say that. If he gets arrested, they will be evicted and have all their utilities shut off, no food etc, because as much as it pains me to say, he is the breadwinner right now.
But he piddles away his paychecks on booze and drugs. He hands her exactly $100 per week for groceries, inspects the receipt when she gets back. If there is even a penny missing from the change, she's in serious trouble.
This woman confides in me, talks to me, I'm all she has. None of her family lives here, she has no friends, no church, (he won't let her go to one) no one at all.
I do what I can to help her. I've bought things from her when she had to hurry and raise money so he didn't get mad at her for not somehow, without a job, getting the electric bill paid.
I've been secretly teaching her how to blog so she can try and make money from paid blogging, so she can have her own money on paypal, save it, and run away.
An offer was presented to me by someone I have confided in on this issue. I needed to talk about it because it is overwhelming sometimes hearing what goes on with her and her son, what they endure on a daily basis. I've been there, done that, didn't even get a t-shirt.
This offer is for plane tickets and a little bit of start up money, and a ride to the airport, to go home to her family in another state.
I have not told her this offer yet, she's not home, and I only got the offer about an hour ago.
I am going to tell it to her, but it has to be a yes or no right away.
Abused women stay because they are, first, afraid their abuser will track them down and hurt them or worse, and second, because they have no way out.
A lot of abused women stay even after this kind of offer, because they have this twisted sense of duty, afraid to be tracked down anyway kind of thinking going on, but this is a legit offer from one of the sweetest, kindest, most amazing women I have ever met.
If my friend takes this offer, all arrangements will be made for her, she will be driven to the airport, given the tickets and a small bit of start up money, to just go.
This is an incredible offer, but I have this sinking, sick in the pit of my stomach feeling, she won't take it. I just know she won't.
I want her to get home so I can tell her before he gets home, tell her it's all going to be ok, that she will have what she needs to go, but I just really fear she won't take it.
The other day when we ordered chinese food I had to sign the receipt. The guy handed me his pen, it was one of the restaurants imprinted pens, with their logo on it.
I signed the receipt, handed him the slip, said thanks and closed the door.
A few minutes later, he knocked on the door wanting his pen back.
Dang it. It was cool too.
It had their name, some Chinese symbols, and a cool dragon on it.
Last night, I changed a few templates on here. Nothing that anyone would even notice.
Unless of course you were searching for do follow comments.
I didn't mean to remove the do follow.
It was a total accident that happened when I switched the templates out.
The good news is, that the main pop up comment box, is once again following.
The bad news is, that the individual archive pages are not following.
Yet.
I now have to change that template again, but I deleted my saved copy of the text file that did follow after I had gotten the template to work.
Now I have to go get a whole new individual archive template, swap out all my design codes and stuff into it, and rebuild the site.
Again.
I have rebuilt 6 times today and it's still not right.
I swear, I could shoot myself for ever touching it in the first place.
But more good news, at least I'm finally getting a handle on how all this damn MT template stuff works hahahahahah!
EDIT*
Fixed it all.
This weeks topic is:
"What do you wish you were taught growing up?"
My parents were great parents, they taught us every thing they thought we should know for that time.
It was a different time when I grew up though. Kids played outside all day long until the sun went down, there was no internet to play on or get in trouble on.
"Stranger Danger", while it was happening, it wasn't as prevalent as it is now.
You know, I honestly don't know what I should have been taught.
I do know that the time I'm raising my kids in is totally different, that I have taught, and still have to teach them very different things than what my folks taught me.
I have to teach them net safety, and had to warn them about strangers far more than my folks had to teach me.
I have had to talk to them about drugs and alcohol a lot more, sex is a huge topic. Not just to abstain till they really love someone, or are married, to use condoms, but the health risks involved, pregnancy, AIDS. AIDS had really only just begun being heard about. I think we're on the 25th year of when AIDS first started happening. People still weren't entirely sure how you got it, how it spread etc. Now we know.
When I was growing up, my family paid cash. You didn't buy what you couldn't afford.
I think if any of us back then had known about identity theft and credit scores, we would have guarded our personal information a bit more.
It just wasn't an issue 19 years ago when I was 18.
If people were stealing your identity, it certainly wasn't being talked about on the news.
If credit scores were that important, it wasn't being talked about either.
So trying to figure out what I should have been taught, is kind of difficult.
The times have changed drastically.
Thinking about various things that bother me, but because I don't like upsetting people, I don't say anything.
I hate having my time wasted. That's like number one on my list of things to never do to me. Don't waste my time.
If I'm busy, I tell people as politely as possible, that I'm busy and need to go.
I get interrupted more times during the day than I should. And at night.
My phone rings at least once an hour, the same 2-3 people, needing something from me.
I talk nicely, I tell them I have to go, I have things to do, I'll get in touch later.
But within an hour, they are right back on my phone line, taking up more of my time with things I just don't have the time to help them with.
I call these people, the super needy.
They have to have attention from whoever they can get it from, and for some reason, it's me.
I've had a really long couple of days. I'm very, very tired, I just want to go to bed ya know?
I just want to sleep and then get up in the morning and take care of my business, my stuff that I need to do but haven't been able to do, because I've been interrupted time and again, and I'm about to blow.
I' hoping that by venting here, that when I wake up in the morning, I won't be half as stressed out and irritated as I am right now.
I have things I have to do.
I have work to complete.
I have my own housework that needs to be done.
I have my own phone calls to handle that I can't be tying up my line to chat.
I'm gonna goof for a few minutes, then go to bed.
Later days.
Charlotte over at Army Mom, has awarded me with a thinking bloggers award.
She gave me the award because in her own words, "Kat has been through hell in her life. She’s had surgeries for severe scoliosis and is a single mom of 2 boys. I admire her for how she deals with the rotten stuff life throws at her."
Thank you Charlotte!
Now the rules for this one,
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’
And the awardees:
Belle, because she is so damn organized with her crazy hectic life and schedule, she still finds time to cook and freeze an entire weeks worth of meals in a single afternoon.
Latte' Girl, because she is witty, and strong, and keeps on going.
Shell, because she is stronger than she knows, been through hell in her life, and is doing awesome thee days. I'm so proud of her.
Christine, because she has talent in making things I wish I had, creativity, wit, and is just an awesome friend.
Lisa, because she says what's on her mind. I admire bloggers who say what they think.
I made shrimp and lobster tails for dinner in my fave cookware.
We had a side of rice pilaf and some salad as well.
U just felt like splurging a little bit. I haven't had a lobster since moving here, they are far too expensive here.
When I went grocery shopping, I was picking up the shrimp, and was bemoaning the prices of the lobster tails at $13.99 each.
The clerk asked if that was too much, I said yes, he asked if $6.00 was better, I said yes.
He took one of the tails, a huge one, and wrapped it up and put $5.99 on it.
It was so yummy.
You are completely let down by people?
I had one of those days today.
See, it's bullshit to tell people one thing, then turn around and do something completely different.
Two instances of this today!
I was completely let down by GMA.
Totally.
They only used the sound bites of us talking about the threats, to make us appear scared. They used nothing of any part of the 2.5 hour long interview I did, except the threat parts.
They wanted the scared angle shown.
Sorry to disappoint ya, but I ain't skeered people.
If I learned anything* at all from my hard working parents, it's to be a fighter, and fight for what's right.
The second instance is complete letdown on something I was seriously looking forward to doing.
The sudden change in plans, joke, link bait, or not, is not amusing in the slightest.
See, some of us are working hard, struggling to get by, day in and day out.
We bust our asses to make things work. Save every penny, pick 'em up off sidewalks, cuz they add up, just to make things work.
I'm not amused at all.
If it's a joke or link bait, screw that crap.
Am I supposed to just laugh it off, and go 'oh man, ya got me!, so funny!'
Not.
But it's clearly not.
So will I be attending after working so hard to get this amount of money saved? I have no idea.
I had plans to meet one of my dearest friends, and it kinda ticks me off.
*I actually learned a lot from them, but fighting for, and doing what's right, is at the top of that list.
I need a nap, but just wanted to check in.
Kinda busy and stuff, but I'm super tired.
Be back later on.
Thank you all so much for your support on cyber stalking.
I appreciate the diggs and blog posts.
If we all stick together and let these idiots know we're not putting up with their shit, and fight together for tougher internet stalking laws, we can make this happen.
We can take back our blogs and stop hiding from them. Stop self censoring.
Once when we all first started, we felt free and had so much fun writing on our blogs.
Then we slowly heard about bloggers being harassed, and started censoring ourselves a bit.
Then we heard about more, and we censored ourselves more.
Then people were so scared, they took their blogs off line.
Last night, a friend of mine, a fellow blogger I just met this year, have so much in common with her from being single moms (she recently remarried) of two boys, to the same twisted humor, and just over all got along great with each other, took her blog down because of a cyber creeps.
The same creeps as me.
The picture he stole from her blog and what he wrote about her, combined with what he's been doing to me for 5 years and others, freaked her out and she took it down.
I don't really blame her.
In the beginning of this mess, I freaked out too, took my blog down for a few days, brought it back password protected, un-privatized it, had no comments for a long time, and finally, have moderated comments.
This is my blog and I will not be taking it down because of this.
I've been blogging for 10 years and one wacko isn't taking away my site from me.
This blog is a part of my life, my history, my friendships, way to stay in touch with family and friends back home.
While the pictures of my kids and family and friends that he stole from my site and posts horrible things about, bothers me a lot, it's not going to stop me.
I'm still going to post my life, my kids, my pictures.
If he takes them and makes more horrible additions to his twisted and disturbed site, I'll take screen shots of those if I come across them.
I'm not gonna go looking for them because that's what he wants and loves, the attention.
One of the things I love the most about blogging is the solidarity we have when one of us is down and needs the support.
It's been an overwhelming show of support in my comments, in emails, and other bloggers taking my story to their own blogs.
But what bothers me, is some of the big named bloggers are willing to go to the media, but are taking their blogs down, or going to go anonymous.
No! We can't do that.
We have to stand together on this or nothing will ever change.
It upset me so much to read my friends email last night where she was taking her blog down. I begged her to put it back up, but she still hasn't responded.
I really hope she will put it back, there are a ton of us standing together on this, going to find a way to end cyber stalking somehow.
We're working on it.
We should be cautious, not post anything on our blogs we don't want someone to know, but there is no way we should be hiding or running away.
They win if we do that, and I for one, am not going any where.
And so it does.
Here I am as usual, having insomnia again for the gazillionth time.
This is part of life, I'm used to this now.
I'm getting a lot of things taken care of, I finally folded the laundry and stuff.
I just need to wash tonights dinner dishes at some time in the morning before I go out to run a few errands.
In my own busy news last night, I forgot to post about Bobby, the boy next door.
Bobby is sick. He's been sick, and his dad pisses me the fuck off.
I hate that man for the way he treats his family.
He refused for the last 4 months, to get medical insurance to go be treated for whatever is wrong with him.
This boy went from being happy, active, and with a huge appetite, to tired all the time, pale, never hungry, and always in pain.
His father, and I use that term loosely, is responsible for this boy being so sick now.
Last night, Bobby collapsed on their living room floor and turned white, then blue. He was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
The whole time we were waiting for the medics to come, he kept asking if Bobby was faking it.
This child is not faking it.
My own sons noticed something was seriously wrong with him about 2 months ago.
He stopped riding bikes with them, playing outdoors, not eating as much. He could barely eat half a slice of pizza, his fave food, and his father wants to know if he's faking it.
He hates paying for anything that isn't for him. Not even medical care for his child.
He is a controlling, abusive bastard.
I know I've talked about him (father) before and nothing ever gets done about him.
His poor mom is so worried about her son, and on the religious side, thinks god is punishing her and going to take her son away from her because her husband is a fucking prick.
I help her out as much as I can, but there's not much I can do really. I've tried.
I'm hoping that today there is better news about Bobby's health, that his doctors find out what's wrong.
He's in a dysfunctional family, but that's not his fault, and he shouldn't be denied medical care because his dad is fucking douchebag.
I really hate that man.
I have spent a great deal of time tonight listening to TOOL, I am so happy I was able to get concert tickets to go see them on May 29th.
The show is going to be awesome! I'm so damn excited! Weee!
I have waited years to see them, just 28 more days to go now and then I will get to see my fave band play.
Agnosticmom.com
Parenting beyond belief
Atheism