My Single Mom Life

Yesterday, Mark* donated blood during a blood drive at school.
It was his first time donating blood, so he was really excited and nervous about doing it.
He said it wasn't bad, didn't hurt, although the pin prick to the finger to test his iron levels and get his blood type, didn't feel quite so good.
He had a much older nurse, and she just "sorta jabbed it and then squeezed the crap outta the middle finger", he said.
They had a hard time getting his vein to pop up, so they had to tighten the tourniquet and make him squeeze the ball a bit longer than usual, but they eventually got their pint of blood.
Then they gave him 2 16oz Gatorade's, a Rice Krispie square, a chocolate chip cookie, and a bag of hot fries.
They also gave him a t-shirt and his blood type card.
He's O negative and RH positive.

I knew he was RH positive because I'm RH negative, and he's my first born, so I had to get a shot in my ass to prevent RH disease at 28 weeks and 34 weeks, and another shot right after he was born, like immediately after he popped out.
So there I am on the birthing table, legs spread, getting my episiotomy stitched up by the doctor, and a nurse is jamming a needle into my ass.
The epidural had long worn off, so this was not a pleasant experience.

All of the students who had donated blood, were allowed to be dismissed early, so a lot of the seniors signed and lined up to donate. haha
He got home before I left for my appointment with the cardiac doc, and he was looking a bit pale, so I took him with me.
But now that the blood bank knows that he's O negative, he'll be getting phone calls every few months asking him to donate like I do.
And even though he's a match for my blood type, he can't ever donate to me if I ever end up needing blood during one of my surgeries because he's RH positive, it's non-compatible.
Oh well, I'll just have to self donate again if they tell me I need to.
1 pint a week for 4 weeks, it's rough I tell ya.
Your body just recovers from losing that much blood, and you gotta do it again.
They gave me this huge list of foods to eat to boost my iron and protein back up, I swear, I never ate so much peanut butter and broccoli in my life.
Not at the same time of course, that would be gross.
_______________________

I also wanted to say thanks to Joy for sending the cat water dispenser for my kitties.
It is so perfect for us.
With 4 cats, we were constantly having to wash the water bowl and fill it, sometimes twice every day, and it was this huge mixing bowl that I no longer used, but man, those cats can drink.
So this water dispenser is perfect, it allows just the right amount of water into the bowl, and it keeps the rest of the water free of hair and any other gunk that used to get in the big water bowl.

So thank you very much Joy, it is most appreciated!

And yes, that is cat food on the floor.
Carmine likes to scoop the food out of the bowl with his paw, and then eat them off of the floor.
Weirdo kitty.

*
Mark gave his permission for this to be posted.

Posted by Kat at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I totally understand how other people see that post, I knew there would be people who did not agree with the post, or that I'm so open with my sons and tell them all of the things that I do.
I made a joke in the post about hoping that my sons don't find that post, but for the last 7+ years now, I haven't posted anything about them without their express permission.

On the walk to the barber shop where they were laughing about it, I said I am so blogging this, and they both said go ahead.
I asked them twice more if it was really ok to blog it, and they again said "go ahead, it's funny, post it up mom", so I did.
They both read the post today and laughed, so I am really ok with other people feeling the way they do, but if my teenage sons tell me that I can post something, that I have their permission, then I do.

Every single post that I write about them, is done with their permission.
I write up the posts, save them in draft, and wait till they come home, read them to them, and they give me the yay or nay.
Hasn't anyone noticed how late in the day, or the next day, that things get posted?
I'm not angry or upset by anything that anyone thinks about the post, I knew there would be people who didn't like it, thought it to be humiliating, whatever, but again, it's all done with their (my sons) permission.
Every post about them is either approved or disapproved by them, and I respect their decisions.

As for teaching them about trimming things up, my oldest son came to me, told me he was having an issue, said that his brother was too.
I asked him what the issue was, and he told me.
He then called his brother into the living room and asked him if he wanted to talk to mom about it, he said yes, so we talked about it.
I also remembered a post on the local area forums where the male members had started a thread about that very subject, my sons and I sat here and read the thread, read what the guys had to say about it and the advice some of the guys gave the other guys about how to deal with it, and the clippers were what they advised.
My sons asked if we had any clippers and if we did, could I explain how to use them so they didn't get cut.
I didn't have any clippers so we went out and bought 2 sets, 1 for each because sharing clippers for such an area is gross.
I posted this information in the extended entry of that post.
And as for the words I used to speak of their private areas, that is what they call it, every single term I used in the post and in the extended entry, are words that my sons have used to describe it, so I posted them.
If those words offend anyone, don't read them.
I'm not going to apologize for speaking the truth about living with, raising, and having very honest discussions with 2 teenagers who are almost adults now.
These aren't little kids, these are 1 who is almost 18, and the other is set to turn 16 in 1 month, I'm not having these talks with 10 year olds, I'm having these talks with 2 very mature young adults.
I'm not crossing the line of parent and friend, I'm being the parents, both mom and dad, having to do what dads would and should do, and because I am, my sons don't do drugs, they don't drink, and neither of them has had any kind of sex.

I'm extremely lucky that I have an incredible relationship with my sons, they come to me about everything, they are open and honest with me, and I in return with them.
There aren't too many parents out there who have such open relationships with their kids, most of them don't even have a clue what their kids are doing and who they are doing it with.
Because of how open and honest I've always been with them, I know everything that goes on in their lives.

Back when my youngest son, Sebastian, was in the 6th grade and rode the bus to and from school, he saw a lot of behavior that would make the parents of those kids have heart attacks.
I mean, here's some kids in middle school between the ages of 11/12 and 14/15, who are riding the bus to and from middle school, and having sex in the back seats, girls giving blow jobs to boys.
My son came home and told me that a girl gave one boy a bj, and then another, and then another.
On the bus, a moving bus, with an adult driver who either ignored it or pretended to not see it.
And then she asked him if he wanted 1 too.
My son declined her offer because of the talks we've had.
Maybe the parents of those boys and that girl should have had some talks too.

My oldest son sat next to a girl all year this year, who told of her sexual exploits on a daily basis, in class, and the things that she allowed the boys and men to do to her.
She didn't have a steady boyfriend, she was basically passed around by the men in her life and used sexually, but she said that they all loved her, they told her they loved her, so she saw absolutely nothing wrong with them inserting beer bottles in her vagina and anus.
Yes, a call was made to the school guidance counselor about seeing if anyone can help that girl who is so obviously being sexually abused.

The world is a much different place than it was when I was growing up, teens just weren't so openly doing and discussing these things with other kids on the bus, in school, and in class, but it's a whole new ballgame folks, totally new.

Kids are having all kinds of sex at school, in empty classrooms, in bathrooms, in the closed off hallways where repairs are being done, and they don't care who sees it or who knows about it.
But I'll tell ya, their parents must not know, if they did, they'd be doing something about it.
At least I would hope they would be doing something about it.

It's a frightening world out there now, I almost don't want to ask my sons how their day at school was because of what they come home and tell me.
I get sick to my stomach over hearing about what goes on, how sexually aggressive some of these kids are, and I feel nauseous when I hear about oral sex taking place in the bathrooms, right in the stalls, but it's happening, if you think it's not happening at your kid's school, I got a surprise for ya.
And this isn't happening at a bad school in a bad neighborhood that's just full of poor kids and the stereotypical kids that might be doing these things, nope, the school my sons go to is one of the better high schools in the city.
It's the school where most of the wealthy people from the city have their kids go, this is not the high school in the ghetto, and it's not the massive high school downtown where they have metal detectors installed and a cop in every hallway.
This is a 5-star rated high school in a very nice neighborhood, it's the school that gets most of the funding, the football team is in the top 3 of the state, the band is the number 1 band in the state who have won a ton of awards, this school has money, and so do the majority of it's students.
And there's exactly 1 school cop.
These things are happening, the students are having sex and oral sex at school, all over the school, and most of the teens (my sons) friends have either had sex or oral sex.
Most of their friends drink and do drugs or have tried them.
One of their friends caught gonorrhea from the girl who has offered oral sex to Sebastian twice.
One of their friends lives with his grandparents because his father is long gone from his life, his mother is a junkie in jail for the next 3 years, and this kid comes and goes as he pleases, smokes pot, and is verbally abusive to his grandparents on a daily basis.
Mark's best friend since first grade switched schools at the beginning of this year, he goes to the school in the ghetto because they have a massive tv/movie department, and the school administrators promised him and his parents that he'd get the best education in this department and move on to the tech college where he'd be ahead of the other students.
In November, he dropped out of that department, started failing all of his classes, started drinking and smoking pot, has been caught having sex at school, and punched his father in the face after an argument over grades, moved out, and then dropped out of high school in February.
At age 17.
My sons get up at 5:45am every morning, shower, go to school, and come home.
They argue with each other non-stop, but they are home every night, they don't want to go hang out with any of their friends or other kids from school, they don't want to go to any of the parties because of the things they have heard happen at these parties, they don't drink, they don't do any drugs, they don't smoke, and neither of them have had any type of sex.
Mark's Big, George, is always asking him if he has a girlfriend or a girl he likes, and Mark always tells him no because most of the girls at school are sluts.
Sebastian has no interest in any of them either, for the same reason.

So people may totally disagree with how I'm parenting my sons, they think I've crossed the line, that I tell them too much, and that's fine with me, everyone has a right to their opinions.
I was told that the post was, let me quote it so I get it right, the post was "TMI personal information about your sons personal anatomy to be shared with the Internet. If any of their friends and god forbid girls got a hold of this information they would be humiliated. They would learn that not only do your boys have hairy sweaty balls, their "mommy" is telling them how to deal with it, oh and how to trim their hair ball area as well."

The humiliation? I asked my sons if I could post about it, they said yes.
I typed up the post, put it in draft, read the whole thing to them later and asked if it was ok to post, did they want it changed, did they want anything deleted, they both said "no, it's good, post it."
The friends? They and their friends talk about this same stuff and many other subjects that would make most parent's ears bleed, or they'd die from the shock of hearing what their kids are really doing in school.
The girls? Did you read what I wrote about the girls at their school? Neither of the teens want anything to do with any of the girls because of how sexually aggressive and sexually disgusting they are.
The pubic hair and sweaty balls? They came to me and asked for my help. I helped them because I'm the parent, that's what I'm supposed to do.
I'm not angry or upset about what other people have to say about the post or any other post that I've written or will write.
I didn't take anything anyone said as mean spirited, not at all, I actually laughed because everyone just thinks I'm writing all of these personal stories unbeknown to my sons, when half of the posts I write about them, they're the ones who told me to write them up, and the other half are only posted if I have their permission.

I'm really not going to apologize, and this post is not an apology, it's an explanation, making it very clear how the posts get to be posted here, and if the posts here offend you, if any of the words offend you, make you feel squeamish or uncomfortable, that's on you.
I have nothing to do with how you feel, but I'm glad that you're feeling something.

Posted by Kat at 4:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I am a single parent, a mom, (just sayin' in case the name of this blog isn't clear enough) so that means that there isn't a dad in the teens lives to have certain conversations with, to teach them certain things.

Potty training was easy.
When I was teaching them to poop in the potty, I gave rewards at the end of the week if they did not have any accidents and used the potty for every single poop.
I didn't give lame rewards like a piece of candy, or a sticker on a chart, or something like that, nope, I would take them to the store and let them pick a new action figure. (they were cheap then, $3-$5 per full size action figure)
They were both fully poop potty trained in about 1 month.
They were both heavily into Batman and the Power Rangers, so getting them to poop was as easy as singing the theme song.

They've got a power and a force that you've never seen before
They've got the ability to morph and to even up the score
No one will ever take them down
The power lies on their side
Go, go, Power Rangers
Go, go, Power Rangers
Go, go, Power Rangers
You, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

They know the fate of the world is lying in their hands
They know to only use their weapons for defense
No one will ever take them down
The power lies on their side

Go, go, Power Rangers
Go, go, Power Rangers
Go, go, Power Rangers
You, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

I've had to be the one to talk about where babies come from, sex, safe sex, oral sex, (that was one hell of a conversation!) explain puberty and all of the physical body changes that were going to happen to them.
You know, like hair growing in thicker and darker, and in places like their arm pits, chin, upper lip, the possibility of a unibrow and what we could do to take care of that, and hair also growing in really thick, really dark, and curly, in their private part areas.
I've had to tell them that hair would grow all around, and on their balls, that it would get really thick as they got older, and that eventually they would need to trim it down so as not to get it caught in any zippers, because that would be so painful they would want to die, and to also not look like a throwback to the caveman days.
They each have their own hair/beard trimming kits with the clippers and all of the attachments, and I've had to show them which comb to use with the clippers on their pubic hair so they wouldn't cut themselves, and so they get the best trim*.

I've had to have the pregnancy/std/unwanted pregnancy talks, and explain what a condom is, what it does, and yup, I've even showed them on a cucumber, (just like my sex ed teacher did in 6th grade!) how to put one on.
I've had to discuss childbirth and babies, baby care, and abortions, and the woman's right to choose, and child support, and how very important it is if the girl chooses to keep the baby, and that they would get jobs, pay support, buy diapers, and most importantly, spend time with their child because while the money pays for what the baby needs, being a father, a real dad, is the most important thing a real man can and will ever do for his kid(s).

And just yesterday, (Monday) I had to have the sweaty balls talk.
When both of the teens came home from school and started complaining that their balls were sweaty and sticking to their thighs, I knew it was time to teach them the "sweaty balls no more trick", they were obviously ready if they were complaining out loud instead of just grabbing at the crotch of their shorts and tugging while sort of shaking their leg and squatting up and down.

I took each of them into the bathroom 1 at a time, and handed them 1 baby wipe**, a folded up 2 square of toilet paper, and 1 each of the travel sized bottles of baby powder I bought a few weeks ago*** just for this special day.
I told them 1 by 1 what to do with this stuff, and then left them alone to do this themselves.
I told them to wash their dick and balls with the baby wipe, then take the folded up toilet paper and pat the entire area dry, and to then pour a small amount of baby powder in their hands, and gently pat it on the entire area.
I explained that this will not only prevent ball sweats, but it also will prevent the balls from sticking to their thighs, it will prevent chafing, and it will also leave their entire ball area feeling cool and cleaner during the super hot summer months.

They were of course, super embarrassed to even be having this conversation, but to be having it with a woman, their mother, was really embarrassing.
But about 20-30 minutes after doing it when we were all walking up the street to the barber shop to get Mark his hairs cut, they both started giggling.
I asked what was so funny, and Sebastian said, "I can't believe my mother knows how to prevent sweaty balls that stick to your thighs, and that you were prepared for it to happen, and it actually works!"
This caused the both of them to bust out laughing even harder, they both kept saying, "You were ready for it, like you were just waiting for us to tell you our balls were sweaty!" and laughing some more.

I admit that it was quite hysterical, but I did know that it was going to happen, I just didn't know if or when they would tell me about it.
I only know this trick because of past boyfriends who were open and honest with me about their hygiene practices and stuff, and because guys just share this kind of information with each other once their dad tells them about it.
The teens dad isn't in their lives to tell them this or anything that a father should say to his sons, he hasn't been around in any sort of quality father-like capacity for 15+ years now, so that leaves it up to me to do all of these things, have all of these talks with them no matter how awkward it may be for them to hear coming from their mom, and how awkward it can be for me to have to have these talks.

I'm just really glad that they take it well, they listen to me, and they ask questions if they want more information on a subject.
When they tell me that it really works and start laughing about it, or in the middle of cracking a joke, or relaying a story about a girl named Jessica who gives bjs' in the bathroom at school, and they slip in a quick and barely audible 'thank you', I know that I'm helping them get through all of these awkward and embarrassing to talk about things that I know would be so much easier to discuss with a dad, it lets me know that I'm doing it ok, that they appreciate it, that it's really helping them, and I can feel good about the job that I'm doing in both parental roles as mom and dad.

*
The pubic hair trimming talks and kits were not purchased and had until this year when they both admitted that they had a lot of hair down there, and it was starting to poke out of the pee flap on their boxer shorts.
I did not show them on their bodies or mine how to trim their man hairs.
I used a stuffed alien doll that had a human like body, and demonstrated exactly how to do it so they wouldn't cut their family jewels, junk, twigs and berries, third leg, their brain etc etc etc.

**
I always keep baby wipes in the house because I like to be really clean "down there", and because baby wipes are less expensive than the wipes made for adults, which sell for $2.89 for a 40 wipe count package, whereas baby wipes are just $3.99 for an 80-120 wipe count package depending on the brand.

***
We're heading into summer, it's already getting super hot, I knew the sweaty balls issue was coming.

Posted by Kat at 4:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The teens just got home, I asked how each of their day went, and Sebastian said his was good, he's hot, needs a drink, I asked Mark, he said good, he walked off to get a drink.

He came back in the room and I asked how it went with the principal, and he said the meeting was very brief.
She asked him if he wanted to be at school, he said yes, I want to get my diploma and graduate, she said "Good, then be here every day, your lunch PIN is working, I've made sure of it, now, who are the teachers who told you that you didn't have to be here?"
Mark told her who they were and what they said, and she thanked him, told him to have a great day, and congratulated him on passing the test and for also wanting to make sure that the right thing was done because so many other kids just took those teachers at what they said, and have decided to stay home, they never asked for more information or to make sure it was true, they just left and have not returned.

She also told him that she made calls to each of those students and explained the confusion, told them they did need to be there, and it was their choice now.
Sadly, a lot of them did not return to school.

Posted by Kat at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sitting here nervously waiting for Mark to get home from school.
He had to go to school this morning and meet with the principal, she wanted to talk to him about the teachers that were telling him that he was free to go home, that he was done and graduated.
She said that all of the teachers know that students who take the exit option, have to go to school every day, even after learning they passed it, if they want to graduate, and she wants to know who was telling him otherwise.

I know that he was very nervous about this meeting, so I'm really hoping that it went well.

Posted by Kat at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was once again awake all night last night after my friends left from our get-together dinner.
My insomnia is going through a very weird phase, I'll try to explain it later.
Anyway, I had been awake all night long, I knew that my sister would be bringing my niece Susan over around 2:30-3pm this afternoon for us to babysit until about 7pm, so I definitely needed some sleep.
I started to get extremely tired around 10:30am, and luckily, Mark's Big, George, called for him to go meet today, so I woke Mark up, and told him to wake me up when he was leaving with George around 12:30pm.
After my very quick 2 hour nap, I got up, ate something, and then just chilled until they got here.

Susan came in and brought me this absolutely adorable little flower pot with these gorgeous flowers in it.
She had a super big smile on her face, and said "I love you Aunty Kat", and gave me a huge hug.
I hadn't seen her in about a month and a half, 2 months, so we were both missing each other a lot.
Susan had been bugging my sister for weeks, she said, to "go see Aunty Kat", so today worked out perfectly as my sister had to work a few hours this afternoon.

The flowers are so pretty, I don't think the picture is really doing them justice, they are just so vibrant in person.
I had to move them off of the coffee table though, because the cats seem to think they are a snack.

Sometime around 5pm or so, I dozed off in my chair, 2 hours was simply not enough sleep, and so my body forced me to sleep.
I was only out for a little less than 30 minutes, but during that time, Susan spotted my gift boxes and wanted to play with them.
It's a set of 3 boxes, all of them matching colors, but different retro flower designs on each box.
Mark, not knowing that I had bought these really pretty and super sturdy gift boxes for a very particular reason, gave Susan the largest box.
He took out all of the packing stuff which was that crinkled, sorta shredded, colored paper that matched the boxes.
Then he took a black Sharpie and wrote on the cover of the box, "Susan's box of super awesome stuff."
I woke up to Susan standing next to me showing me her super cool new box, and I almost exploded.

I was going to use the boxes to send 3 friends some special gifts that I've found over the course of a few months, within the next couple of weeks.
It took me forever to find the most perfect gifts for each of them.
I had found and picked out the gifts that I feel truly represent these women and friends the best, and I had found the boxes on sale, they were the last of their particular kind, but they were still somewhat expensive because they aren't just gift boxes, they had divided sections and stuff inside to be used for keepsake boxes after the gifts are removed.
So imagine my shock to wake up and see one of my boxes now written on in Sharpie, and the beautiful green ribbon used to tie up the box, now all twisted and grimy from dirty little fingers and hands.

Susan ran back to the other room to play and add more of her toys to the box, and I asked Mark in a not so nice way, what the hell he was thinking giving her that box, why the hell did he write on it in Sharpie, and just a general OMG I want to kill you scream fest began.
I swear, I almost lost it, if I had had a kettlebell nearby, I probably would have flung it at his head.
Months of picking out gifts, finding just the most perfect gifts and the most perfect boxes to put them in, all gone in under 30 minutes.
And I know, not really gone, it's just a box, only a box, but they really were special boxes, they were the last of their kind, there were no other gift boxes that turned into keepsake boxes anywhere else in the store, and I just felt absolutely crushed.
It took me like an hour to calm down, but I did.
I watched Susan carry that box from room to room, hugging it against her chest, finding little things to put in it, and she was just so happy, so I let my anger go.
It's just a box, I'll try to find another one somewhere, maybe the store has gotten another supply of them in or something, and then I can send out the gifts for my friends.

I did apologize to Mark for yelling, and he apologized to me for doing it, he said that he had no idea the boxes were important, and he said Susan's eyes just lit up when she saw all of them and she fell in love with that one, so he didn't see the harm, it's just a box afterall.
And he's right, it is just a box.

Posted by Kat at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My friends Dustin and Stacey called at about 9:30pm, (our plans were for them to get here at 9-9:30pm) and said that they were running late.
They had a drunk friend crisis.
One of Stacey's friends, Amy, had just gotten broken up with in a very bad way, and Amy, the friend, had gone to a bar, started drinking, was super upset, and so they were trying to get her out of the bar before she did anything super stupid.
They also unexpectedly ended up with Dustin's 11 year old niece Mariah with them for the night, and they were calling to ask if it would it be ok if they brought them along.
I said of course!
I so very rarely get any company, so it would be nice to have a full house of all kinds and ages of people, plus, I always make enough spaghetti to feed a small army, and I had bought a large loaf of garlic bread, so I had plenty of food to go around.

When they got here, I felt like maybe there was some unknown to me announcement, or maybe a HUGE flashing red neon sign on my roof that says all are welcome, come on in! because I'm having a economy hotels promotions for dinner, entertainment, and lodging for the night, for one super low price! Welcome! Come in!
Not only did they bring Mariah and Amy, but they stopped by the babysitter's house, and picked up Amy's 10 year old son Adam.
They wanted to make Amy realize that she had a lot more good in her life, that all of the cruel things the ex-boyfriend had said to her, didn't matter in the big scheme of things.
She had a good job, a great son, and good, caring, and loving friends around her, and in her life.

I really didn't mind at all having the extra people, I enjoy meeting new people, and both Dustin and Stacey are good people, so I was assuming that they have good people in their life too.
I was right, Amy is a doll, a total sweetheart.
When she came into the kitchen where I was finishing up dinner after Sebastian had welcomed everyone in the house, she immediately offered to help me get everything done.
I told her that I was good to go, the spaghetti was totally done, I was mixing the sauce and pasta together, (I HATE pouring sauce over pasta. That may be the correct or fancy way, but mixing it in makes the noodles absorb the sauce, the meat and onions stick to it, and it just tastes so much better that way) and I was just about to stick the garlic bread in the NuWave.
Stacey and Dustin hadn't seen it use yet, and Amy had never even heard of it, so they watched with awe as I placed the garlic bread slices (I cut the loaf into thick slices) on the 4inch rack, and turned it on.
I finished mixing the spaghetti, getting all of the plates and forks ready, got the parmesan cheese out of the fridge, and we all just chatted away while they cooked.
They were done perfectly in just 4 minutes, and they were all like OMG! that thing rocks!
I think Stacey was most loving it because she is a cook too, loves to be in the kitchen cooking stuff up, so she asked me a bunch of questions while we plated up everyone's dinner.

Then we all went into the living room and made ourselves comfy while the movie started up, and they all raved about my spaghetti sauce, and kept asking me what I put in it because it was so flavorful.
Stacey kept trying to guess, "Oregano? basil? garlic? is that honey I taste? brown sugar? wait wait, I taste something else too, marjoram? Parsley? Thyme? Is there red pepper in this too? OMG Kat! I love this sauce, tell me what's in it!"
I said I couldn't tell her, it's a secret, and she said she'd figure it out before the night was over.
She didn't.
Oh, Adam is not a fan of horror movies, so he went into the other room with Mark and Sebastian to play video games.
He played Gears of War 2 on the xbox 360 with Sebastian, and Mark was on WoW of course.

The movie started, it was called Slaughter, it's one of the 8 Films to Die For, for 2009.
Faith thinks she is leaving her abusive relationship behind when she moves in with Lola on her family farm. Each night the girls go out, Lola comes home with a man. When Faith realizes these men never make it off the farm, she starts to believe Lola's family might be killing more than just animals in the slaughterhouse.
It was a fairly decent movie, lots of gore, the plot wasn't too bad, the acting was actually pretty good, (surprised on that one!) and the ending was a total surprise and shock, not a happy ending at all.
Wow, I was so not expecting that.

The movie ended a little bit past midnight, they needed to get the kids home, the very well behaved kids I might add, and so they packed up all of their stuff they brought with them, but they left me one of the movies to watch, and they'd either pick it up tomorrow night or on Tuesday when Dustin takes me to my doc appointment.
They left me The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations.
The third installment in the series. A young man with the power to time travel attempts to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death...but in doing so, is he causing the death of many more?
I've seen the first two, so I'll watch this one too.
The trailer for it didn't look half bad, it has gotten poor ratings, but I think a lot of people who watch the 8 Films to Die For series are expecting like, regular mainstream horror movies.
They are not, they are usually pretty cheesy, mostly bad acting, but awesome kill scenes with gross-you-out gore.
I enjoy them because of that, I love close up kill scenes with a ton of gore, and these movies provide that.

Anyway, it was a very fun night, everyone enjoyed themselves, got full up on food, good conversation, and laughs, so I would say it was a successful night, and I'm looking forward to the next get together which will be at their house next weekend.

Posted by Kat at 5:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saw this on another blog, I need to kill some time, so I'm doing the Saturday Six.

1. Do you find you don't have as much time on your hands as you used to?
It seems that I have far more time than I ever used to.

2. Are you a "Clock Watcher?"
I can be if I know that I have to be somewhere or something like that.

3. Do you think that Time Travel is actually possible?
I would like to think that at some point in our existence, that someone will figure it out and it will be possible. But I also think that if someone does figure it out, that our government will take it away from that brilliant scientist, call it a dangerous tool for the average citizen to use, and they will use it for things they want to change about the way things have happened in history.
Like, they'll go back and fix all of the bad things and screw ups they've made, which of course, will completely change the history of the entire world, and the result will be another country also developing or stealing the technology away from us, and then they will go back and change it all again so that they can rule the world.

4. If you're late, do you let people know you are running late?
Absolutely. I hate it when other people are late on me, so I always make a point of letting them know I will be late.

5. Do you spend more time on the Internet or away from it?
More. I am extremely bored most of the time, so I spend a great deal of the time surfing the net for cool and interesting things.
Stumble Upon is awesome for not only wasting time, but for finding some super cool stuff.

6. Do you think that as you get older the days, weeks, months etc go by quicker?
Yes I do. It feels like only yesterday I was the young mother of 2 tiny baby boys, and now they are huge grown up young men. Not only that, but I look back on my 1st spine fusion surgery in February 2006, and that I had to wear a turtle shell brace for 6 months, and then again in September 2008, I spent 5 months in a neck brace, and it honestly did not feel like that long, like half of a year, the time just flew by in a blink. I am absolutely amazed at how fast time goes by.

Posted by Kat at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have a ton of cleaning to do for tonight, all of the dishes, clean the kitchen and bathroom, vac the rugs, and then make a huge pot of spaghetti for dinner and a movie with Dustin and Stacey tonight.
We're going to eat my awesome spaghetti and then watch a bunch of movies from the 8 films to die for series.
Both Stacey and I are huge horror fans, and while some of the movies in this series are total cheese fests, they always have awesome gore and special effects, so it will be a lot of fun to eat and get grossed out. LoL

I better get cracking on the dishes, both sides are full up and some of them need some extra elbow grease.
Yuck.

Posted by Kat at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I ended up passing out last night from the killer and blinding migraine I had from the lack of sleep, plus the stress from it all.

Yesterday morning, a teacher called, asked why I sent Mark to school, she said that he was done, graduated, he would march with his class but does not need to be there at all.
They had shut off his lunch PIN the day before, they removed him from all of the class schedules, it appears like he really doesn't have to go.
One teacher is still insisting that he has to go, has to be there everyday if he wants to graduate, but the other says nope, he's off the schedule, keep him home.
I called and left a message for the principal to call me back, need to know what he hell is going on, keep him home or not.
She finally calls me back around 7pm, apologizes for the lateness, then tells me that he absolutely has to go to school, if he doesn't, he will not graduate at all, no cap and gown, no diploma, no GED either, it will all have been wasted.
I explained to her everything that the teachers have been saying, that he sits there and does nothing all day, that they have said with a wink and a nudge, for him to stay home, he's a distraction to the other students.
She says that he has to go, why those teachers are telling him that, she doesn't understand, she said they all know that he has to go and if he doesn't, that he won't graduate.

So at least now I know, he has to go, his lunch is reinstated, he still has nothing to do, but at least we know that if he goes every day, that he will graduate with his class.

Posted by Kat at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The principal did finally call me back, told me the real deal, and I will update it all in a little while.
Right now, I am battling a major migraine from not sleeping all night and day now, plus tons of stress over this whole issue.

Posted by Kat at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As most of you all know, Mark has passed his graduation test and will graduate on May 30th.
In order to march with his class in cap and gown, Mark has to go to school every single day, where he does absolutely nothing all day long.
There is no classwork for him to do, nothing educational at all, he's not allowed to help out in the office, run papers, print copies or anything, so he either sleeps at his desk or plays games on the computer all day long to pass the time.

Today he goes to lunch, gets his tray, goes all the way through the line getting his food, and goes to punch in his pin number to "pay" for his lunch, and the cafeteria lady tells him his pin number is no longer working, that his lunch has been canceled.
So he goes to the teacher and asks what's going on.
The teacher tells him that all of the students who took the test and will graduate, have had their lunches revoked, they will not be allowed to get any lunch for the rest of the year unless they pay cash for it.
The teens get free hot lunch because I am a disabled parent receiving SSDI, so they are allowed to have lunch every single day, it won't cost them anything because I don't have the money to afford lunch every day.

Mark's teacher then dismissed him at 11:30am because of the no lunch thing, along with several other students who also had their lunch pins turned off and were told that if they wanted to eat, they had to pay cash.
Mark came home, told me what was going on, and I called the school wanting to speak to the principal, Linda Nook.
I was told that she was unavailable, so I spoke to her secretary about the issue, and asked how they could just shut off the lunches for all of these students, explained that Mark receives free lunch, he cannot afford to pay, I cannot afford to pay, I am disabled receiving SSDI, the free hot lunch program is something we depend on, AND if the school is going to insist that Mark be there every single day for the rest of the year, the last day of school for students is May 29th, then he needs to have his lunch every day.

She said she would look into it and call me back.
About 45 minutes later, the secretary calls me back and tells me not to worry, Mark's lunch pin has been re-instated, he can eat lunch everyday, and then she hung up.

I am glad his pin was turned back on, but I still want to know what right the school has to just shut off the pins of students for the last month of school.
The only students they did this to are the ones who took the exit option and the early graduation test, about 50+ kids.
I'm pretty sure, that legally, they cannot deny any student lunch, that they cannot just shut off the pins of these students, especially if they receive free hot lunch.

When Sebastian came home, he told me that Mark's teacher had gotten yelled at by the principal, Linda Nook, because a parent called to complain about the pins being shut off, and to "Tell Mrs. Cooper, that her son's pin has been turned back on", and the teacher was very upset about the principal yelling at him about it.

See, the majority of other students they did this to, have decided, and with their parents permission, to just leave school at 11:30am every day because their lunches have been revoked.
But, if they leave school early every day, it doesn't count as a full day's attendance, and those students will not receive their diplomas, and not be allowed to march and graduate, they will be given a GED.

It is my opinion, since learning this information, that the school shut off the lunches of these students and are allowing them to go home early everyday, so that they will not be able to march with their class.
The principal, Linda Nook, does not want them to march with their class because they did the early exit option, they are not considered regular and "good" students, so she doesn't want them at the very public graduation at Robarts Arena.
She yelled at the early exit option teacher because Mark wants to be there everyday, wants to graduate.

Mark busted his ass to be able to graduate with his class, he took all of those tests, studied like crazy, worked super hard, he will not be denied the right to march with his class no matter what kind of stunts this principal tries to pull to make him just leave.
His lunch pin is working again, he will be there every single day, he WILL march with his class.
I will make sure of it.

Posted by Kat at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

The other day, I said that I was going to make my own video of how to cook with the NuWave Oven Pro, and post it here and on youtube, and maybe get NuWave's attention, so I can get the new pizza kit they have. (Hey, it could happen)
Tonight, I made a 5lb chicken in only 1 hour and 15 minutes, it was perfect, I put bbq sauce on it for the last 10 minutes of cooking time, and it came out incredible, tasted way better than those rotisserie chickens you can get at a deli, super yummy.
My video was so packed full of info too, I even got the names of the 3 ways that it cooks correct from memory, not having to read them this time, conduction, convection, and far infrared.
The last 2 times someone asked me how it cooks, I kept forgetting their actual names, and said conduction, infrared, and the circular heat cooking method.
haha
But I really did pack the 4 minute video with a ton of information, instructions, and even rattled off some of the foods I've made in it since getting it.

Anyway, I made videos every step of the way, I edited them in windows movie maker, it was a really kick ass video, and then I screwed up.
I wanted to name the video the same name as I had saved the first part of the videos I had made, and I wasn't thinking clearly, and I deleted all of the smaller video clips I had used to make the final video, and even deleted them from the recycle bin.
I tried 3 different programs to restore all of the clips, but nope, they were already being overwritten by my computer.
Sometimes, not all of the time, as soon as you delete a file, and also delete it from the recycle bin, your computer thinks that it's freed up space, so it starts overwriting the space on your hard drive.
I did find all of the video files, but they had already been destroyed and partially overwritten.
*sigh*
I'll just have to do again the next time I cook something in it, which will probably be tomorrow night.

With hurricane season coming up soon on June 1st, I've begun stockpiling our supply bins.
I start getting a ton of canned foods that can be eaten cold, plastic utensils, paper plates and bowls, batteries, water, snacks etc.
I think I may have gone a bit overboard last year though.
When I opened up the bins that I keep in my closet, I found some stuff that I left in there.
I have quite the surplus of toilet paper and baby wipes.
I have 10/4 packs of toilet paper, and 10 refill packages of baby wipes with 1 brand new container of wipes still wrapped in the plastic.
Well, at least I won't have to buy any of that stuff this year, now I just need to cross those items off of my shopping list so I don't buy even more of them.
I just need to find my list now.
Hrm.

Posted by Kat at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I keep seeing and hearing people talk about those Flip Video cameras, and how much people love them, everywhere!
I was watching The View yesterday, and Joy Behar was showing clips of her trip to Washington DC, the White House, and some of the other things she did on her trip, and the videos weren't bad at all, and she used one of these Flip Video cameras to do it.
You can watch some of those clips on their video page.

People everywhere, are talking about them, raving about them, and posting video clips like crazy because of those things, and Buy.com has refurbished ones on sale right now for just $79, the normal price is $179.00, so that's an awesome $100 off!

They do look pretty cool, and they have some great user ratings, mostly 4, 4.5 out of 5 stars, and customers are saying things like;
"Purchased a "reconditioned" flip ultra; it arrived in a sealed package and worked with no major problems."
and..
"I used the Flip 5 minutes after opening the box."

My friend Charlotte, actually bought 1 of these and posted a review on her blog about it.
I also have several other friends who have bought and love their Flip Video cameras too, so it's a cool and cheap camera if you are looking to get 1.

Posted by Kat at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My good friend Jenn is having a giveaway for a gorgeous (I know this personally!) diamond journey necklace from Gem Affair.com, on her blog.
She's calling it the pay it forward giveaway, and you can go enter at her site and read the rules on how to win a ladder diamond journey necklace.

This necklace is absolutely beautiful, I know firsthand, because I own this necklace.
I won it from Gem Affair back in January.
And Jenn was the winner of my birthday giveaway that I had here on my blog back on March 1st!

This is a picture of the diamond journey necklace that Jenn is giving away, I took a picture of mine and posted it to my blog on the day it arrived.
You can click to see it bigger.

The rules to enter Jenn's giveaway are really pretty simple, and I am posting them here so you can see what you have to do and decide if you want to enter.

1. Leave me a comment telling me one positive thing about your fabulous-self. It can be about friendship, the work place, parenting or just the first thing that comes to mind when you think about "you." This is a requirement.

2. Since we're going to try and keep paying it forward, we ask that you please have a blog as the winner will be asked to then hold a contest themselves (however they prefer) promoting the notion of paying it forward. This is a fun way to spread some positivity throughout the blogosphere, because way too often we get caught up in our busy lives and forget just how wonderful we all really are.

It's that simple!

I have known Jenn through blogging for quite a few years now, and I was really touched by what she said about me in her post.
Like I mentioned, I was having a moment today, a moment of self pity and some self loathing, so when I read her words, I immediately felt better, and so thankful to have such good friends.
I always find it a bit odd or weird, when people say they admire me, tell me how strong I am, and other things like that.
I don't feel strong all of the time, I'm not always positive, things are very hard for me most of the time, but I have to keep going, I don't really have a choice in that.
There are times, like today, when I just fall apart, when I feel like I simply can't go on another moment, and so when I come across the nice things people say about me on their blogs as I'm reading blog feeds or Twitter, I feel better and humbled at the same time.
I am truly greatful to all of the friends I have online and off, who care so much about me, it's a really good feeling to know that I am thought of and cared about, so I thank all of you who are in my life, and like Jenn, you all have changed my life in ways I can't even tell you.

Posted by Kat at 1:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eventually, I WILL get some sort of life insurance to help pay for my "final expenses", and if there's anything left, for my sons to have.
Yes, I know, a very morbid thought and post.
But it does have to be done eventually.
I am not going to live forever, none of us are, and I have even come close to death a couple of times during my spine fusion surgeries, so this is a "thing" I have to think about and find a way to take care of.

What I need is a really good life insurance lead for a company that has super low rates, and takes on high risk customers.
I'm asking for the impossible I think.
I don't want to pay a lot in premiums every month, preferably way less than $20, but for good coverage.
My health is not great, it's not even good, and I dare to say it couldn't even be classified as "fair."
I am in very poor health, I admit it, and it took me a wicked long time to come to grips with the facts of my health situation.

I have been a smoker since I was 17, so for 22 years, I am stone deaf in my left ear, I have bad eyesight and wear corrective lenses, my entire spine is fused from C1 to S1, (the tip top vertebrae to the very end of the spine at the sacrum. You can view a labeled spine chart here: View Chart) my next surgery will be extremely invasive and totally life changing.
Right now, I have very limited movement of my head.
I can turn left and right, but only a very tiny amount, and I can put my head down, but not up at all, and it is currently stuck in the down position.
My next surgery will be removing the titanium rods that are attached from C1 to T3, they will leave all of the pedicle screws in place because they will be using those again, and then they will attach a metal plate to my occipital bone, which is the skull itself, they will use some sort of screws to attach it, and then they will re-attach the titanium rods to my spine, tighten the pedicle screws, stitch me back up, and then attach a halo brace to my skull.

I suffer from random but debilitating migraines, I have had most of my toes broken, my nose was broken twice, I've fractured my left ankle twice, fractured 3 fingers on my right hand and 2 on my left.
I've had a Pneumothorax, (collapsed lung), a second degree sunburn that left scars on my legs, a vaginal/anal fistula from pushing too hard during labor and delivery of my oldest son Mark, I've had about a half dozen ovarian cysts, my heart has stopped twice and was restarted, I have high blood pressure and take medication for it, and I have the white cell count of a person dying from Leukemia, yet I don't have Leukemia or any other disease or ailment, so the high white cell count is of unknown origin.
I have rheumatoid arthritis, and have been on varying dosages and strengths of pain medications for the last 10+ years.

I've actually thought about either donating or selling my body to science or to something like the bodies exhibit, because of all of the things wrong with me.
This post would have probably been better suited to KatScan, but because I have no life insurance, my final expenses would fall on my son's shoulders and lives, it fits here as well.

Posted by Kat at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

something like you need immigration lawyers, or ask for directions in Spanish?

I keep seeing commercials, on CW44 mostly, for that computer program that teaches you different languages, and I've been thinking that maybe I'd like to get a copy of the Rosetta Stone program to learn how to speak Spanish.
I don't know about the rest of the country, my friend Shell has told me that there are a lot of Hispanics moving to and living in Maine now, but here in Florida and where I live in Sarasota, it is heavily populated with Hispanics, and they work in almost every type of place you get customer service.

Most of the places I go, like Publix, make sure that all of their employees speak clearly and in English, but sometimes it is still very hard for me to understand them if they have a heavy accent.
And sometimes I hear a couple of Hispanic employees speaking to each other while stocking the shelves, and I wonder what they are saying.
Yeah, I'm nosy like that.
And there were the times that a Hispanic employee, a woman, was working in the deli at Publix, and she was making the subs on 1 of the days we went there.
I usually let the teens get subs when we go and do the big grocery shopping for helping me get everything, bring it in, and help me put it all away, as like a treat, a thank you for all of the help.

Back-up.

On several of my shopping trips, she would be working in the deli cutting meats, doing customer service, and I would order like a pound of the Publix brand Sweet Ham, or Publix brand roast beef, whatever, and she would talk back to me in Spanish.
I guess she was asking me what I wanted, like she didn't understand me or something, so I would repeat it, "1 pound of Publix brand Sweet Ham, sliced sandwich cut please."
Again, she would say something in Spanish, raise her hands up, and sorta shake her head like she was confused and didn't understand me.
I would keep repeating myself, and she would keep doing the didn't understand me thing until another deli employee would move into the slicing area.
The teens would be over ordering their subs, probably about 5-7 feet from where I was, and they would be sorta giggling at me and whispering to me to not make a scene at the same time.
But like I said, as soon as another employee would get close, she would suddenly understand what I wanted, and she'd cut the meats I ordered.
This happened a whole bunch of times, on almost every single trip to the store, and when I would buy meat from the deli, for about 1 and a half months.
I go to Publix approximately 3 times per week, and buy lunch meats 2 out of the 3 trips.

Then 1 day, I had already gotten the meats I wanted, the deli manager had waited on me that day, and then I went over and ordered all of us subs for dinner.
The deli manager was now waiting on other customers, and the Hispanic woman must have just clocked in, and she came over to the sub station to wait on us.
Again, she acted like she didn't know what I was asking for, 3 whole subs, white rolls, Publix brand sweet ham, white American cheese, mayo, tomatoes, onions, pickles, salt, pepper, and sub sauce on all.
All 3 of the subs were going to be exactly the same, we've ordered the subs like this a gazillion times over the last 12 years that we've lived here, and this woman is standing there shaking her head at me, hands up, making a confused look on her face, and saying "No comprenda."

I had had enough of this game, it happened every time she was working the deli, and it appeared to only be with me, and she would immediately "get it" when another employee or the deli manager would get close enough to hear us and me repeating myself over and over.
The Hispanic woman walked off to go to the walk-in meat cooler, and I ran over to the deli manager and asked her if the woman speaks English, she told me that she did, and I quickly explained what had been happening
The deli manager got as close to the sub station as she could, but not so close that it would look obvious that she was trying to hear us.
The Hispanic woman came back with a tub of sliced tomatoes, a tub of sliced pickles, and a new jar of mayo, so it's obvious that she did understand me because those are some of the things asked for.
Then she just stood there looking at me, and so I repeated the order again, 3 whole subs, white rolls, Publix brand sweet ham, white American cheese, mayo, tomatoes, onions, pickles, salt, pepper, and sub sauce on all, and once again, she raised her hands up, shook her head side to side, and said "No comprenda."
So I repeated it, and again, she shook her head at me and said "no comprenda."

The manager came over, yelled the woman's name, and asked her what the hell she was doing.
The woman suddenly spoke perfect English, crystal clear, "I'm waiting on this customer, making her 3 subs, all the same."

The manager said "No, what are you doing speaking to her in Spanish and pretending that you don't understand her. No comprenda means that you don't understand what she's asking for, why are you doing that?!"

The woman stood there, turning red in the face, giggled and said, "I'm just having some fun."

The manager said, "Fun? You think pretending that you don't speak English, that you don't understand what the customer is saying, making her repeat herself over and over, is fun? You think that's fun?! Do you know what I think is fun?! Watching people stand in line at the unemployment office. You're fired!"

The woman asked if she was joking, the manager said no, get out of here, you're fired, leave, now, and the woman almost started crying, said she was just joking, turned to me and apologized, said she was just joking, and she didn't mean to upset me.
She must have said sorry to me a dozen times, and the manager just kept telling her she was fired, to leave now or she'd call security to get her out.

As the woman walked off crying, I felt sorta bad, but not really.
This had been happening every time I went there, and it was really frustrating, I felt like I should have been able to speak to her in Spanish, that it was my fault that she didn't understand what I needed.
I know it wasn't my fault, Publix has rules for employees about speaking in English and clearly, but I still felt like maybe I should have tried to speak her native language.

That was about 3 years ago, and since then, Publix has hired even more Hispanic employees, some of them have very thick accents, it's very difficult for me to understand some of them, and it's like this almost everywhere that I go and have to use a customer service employee.
Grocery stores, 7-Eleven, Wal-mart, Target, Subway, and almost every single fast food place like McDonald's and Taco Bell.
Even just walking up and down the aisles at the grocery store, sometimes a Hispanic person will ask me something, in Spanish, I have no idea what they want, and I say as nicely as I can that I don't speak Spanish, and they look frustrated and upset, they try to say whatever it is in English, but they can't seem to figure out the words needed.

I'm one of those people that believes wholeheartedly that if you move to a new country, that you need to learn the language of the country that you chose to live in, to not expect the people who live there, have lived there all of their lives, to learn your language.
Like, if I decided to move to France, or Germany, India, China, wherever, I would start studying the language of the country that I had made the decision to move to, and I would learn it as best as I could before moving there, and then keep on studying it and learning it until I became fluent in it, had an excellent grasp on the language, so that I could properly communicate with the people of that country, buy my groceries or items for my home, or a sandwich from a store or vendor.
I would never expect those people to learn mine, to make my life easier in their country, the place that I chose to live in.

But it is becoming harder and harder to communicate with employees almost everywhere I shop now, or have to call for customer service help, and the language most widely being spoken is Spanish.
I am really feeling the pressure to learn it just so that I can get customer service at a place I have shopped at for years.

Posted by Kat at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The teens and I had some company on Monday night, my friends Dustin and his girlfriend Stacey came over to hang out with us for awhile.

Dustin had taken me to my doctor's appointment and the pharmacy, and then he asked what we were doing tonight.
I told him nothing, the usual Monday night routine of dinner, maybe a movie or just some regular tv, and then bed for the teens at 11:30, and I'll probably stay awake all night again.
He asked if we'd like to have some company, if he and Stacey could come hang out for a few hours, he'd buy dinner, we could watch a movie, he could play some video games with the teens, and Stacey and I could hang out and get to know each other a bit better.

I only met Dustin about 5-6 months ago, and just met his girlfriend about 5-7 weeks ago.
Dustin and I talk to each other almost daily, he helps me get to my appointments and stuff, and as soon as Stacey and I met, we were like instant friends.
She is my age, she grew up in Maine like I did, in Portland and the Biddeford/Saco area, she moved here to Florida about 16 years ago, and I've been here for the last 12.
We both love horror movies, we've even worked at the same types of jobs our whole lives.
We're Jills of all trades I guess you could say, because whatever job was hiring, we took it to make ends meet and take care of our kids.
Yup, she's also a single mom, she only has 1 kid though, but it's still one of those camaraderie things.

Dustin dropped me off about 6pm, then he went and picked Stacey up from work, (her son is at his dad's until Thursday) they swung by the store, picked up some Mountain Dew for him and the teens, a gallon of water for Stacey, and some Diet Coke for me, and then they came in and we started our fun evening.
He ordered a super large pizza and a ton of Buffalo wings from Pizza Hut, and we picked a movie to watch while we ate.
Stacey and I both love the movie Stir of Echoes and hadn't seen it in awhile, and Dustin had never seen it, and after, he said he really liked it, so it was a good choice.
After dinner and the movie, Dustin and the teens went in the other room and played a few games, Resident Evil 5 and Gears of War 2, and talked about the upcoming game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, which we all want to play wicked way bad.

Stacey and I hung out here in the living room, talked about how much we have in common, which really is a lot, our lives practically mirror each other, it's kind of freaky.
We talked about our fave horror movies, our kids, our health, and then we watched a movie on my computer, "The Last House on the Left", the remake, because she hadn't seen the new one yet, but she has the old one, and we're going to have another movie watching night to watch the classic 1972 version too.

And we also planned our next get-together hang out night for all of us.
Sort of.
We didn't pick a night yet, but we decided on the menu at least, my awesome spaghetti and some of my killer garlic bread, and we picked the movie(s), The Burrowers and The Haunting of Molly Hartley.
She said it's good, that I'll like it even though it doesn't have the best user ratings and reviews, she liked it so I'll probably like it too because our tastes are so similar.
I'm going to talk to Dustin tomorrow afternoon when he takes me to my appointment with the cardiac doctor, about what night would be good for them.

It's really nice having some company, having some friends over to hang out and talk to.
Since my surgeries, I don't get out much, really can't go out and party and go to clubs and stuff anymore, so most of the friends I had, sorta left me.
They all go out and hang out, go to bars and clubs, go dancing, and those are all things that I currently can't do anymore, I haven't been able to do any of that stuff since September, so most of my friends just stopped coming around, stopped calling, and just sorta faded away.
That saying that says you find out who your real friends are when you either get arrested or are in bad health, is all too painfully true.
Your real friends stand by you, they come bail you out or are sitting right next to you in the cell, or they visit you in the hospital, come visit you at home, just come by or call to see how you are, they don't just fade away.
Both Dustin and Stacey are homebodies, they like quiet nights at home watching movies and eating a decent meal, and they don't mind one little bit that I can't go out and party because they aren't party people themselves.
They both thanked me about a gazillion times for having them over tonight, they thanked the teens for letting them be here too, for playing video games, and the pleasant conversation and funny jokes.

It's me who should thank them, and I did, repeatedly as they left.
I've been stuck in my house for so long, only going out to see a doctor or go grocery shopping, so it was really wicked nice to have company, conversation, and make some new friends who don't mind my situation, who help me get to places, and just enjoy spending time with me, I had a really good time and can't wait to do it again.

Posted by Kat at 4:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The NuWave Oven Pro people that is.
I used to be in sales, a long time ago, in another life it seems like now, I did sales, I did sales training of new associates, I hired and fired people, I knew my stuff.
Anyway, I could totally sell this product for them.
I absolutely love my NuWave Oven Pro, it is so awesome, it cooks every single meal that we generally eat aside from some skillet meals, and I could totally be a sales person for them showing people how to really use it, not like the infomercial people do, but how normal every day people can cook with it.

Ever since getting it, I have NOT used the regular oven, not even once.
I took a board and laid it on top of the stove burners and put the NuWave right there because I don't have a ton of counter space in my kitchen, and we have been cooking with it ever since getting it, and I have not even opened the regular oven door again.

On the weekends, there's not a whole lot on tv, so we watch a lot of the infomercials and laugh at them and the super bad acting, but every time the NuWave Oven Pro one comes on, we watch it even though we have it.
The infomercial is totally cheesy, really bad acting, and they never actually show you how to cook with it.
Sure they throw some food in it, tell you that it will take 15 minutes for a frozen steak and 2 sweet potato halves to be done, and then they walk away to show you some salmon, or the turkey that cooks in just 2 and a half hours.
But they don't show you how it really cooks, how really easy it is to use.
Honestly, I should make my own video with this bad boy one of these days because it is just an awesome cooking appliance, and you do have to read the instruction manual carefully, but so far, I have not burned a single thing in it, and I will be making a turkey in it very soon.
I think that "chef" who tested it for Fox, simply didn't follow the instructions, because I have cooked a 10lb chicken in it, it fit perfectly with room to spare, and it cooked it all of the way through to perfection.

Last night, I had totally forgotten about dinner, so at about 7pm, the teens started giving me the feed us or die stare, so I opened the freezer, took out a package of chicken legs, and grabbed a box of shaken 'n bake, and made dinner.
In 35 minutes.
The legs were frozen solid, it took a minute or 2 to snap them apart from each other, I ran each leg under some water so the coating would stick, and then laid them out on the cooking racks that I sprayed with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray.
I put the dome on, pressed the cooking power button once, pressed cooking time once, pushed the 3 and the 5, and then pushed start, and walked away.
After 35 minutes, it beeped, and I went to check on them thinking they might need a few more minutes, they were frozen after all, and this is what I saw when I looked through the dome.

They were completely done, well done, all of the fat and grease had drained off into the bottom pan, and I served them up with some rice a roni I had made in the skillet on the counter top.

They were perfect.
They were plump and juicy, and incredibly tasty.
I asked the teens how they were, and the most they could manage was a few grunts, some "mmms", and a couple of thumbs up.
After they finished eating, I asked again for a more verbal reply, and they told me the chicken was really fantastic, they loved it, that I needed to make them more often exactly the same way.

This afternoon, we were watching some cooking shows on PBS, like Every Day Food and a few other cooking shows, and one of them was about burgers, so the teens decided that we were going to have bacon/blue cheeseburgers for dinner tonight.
I didn't have any of the stuff to make them, so the teens went to Publix and picked up the Bubba Burgers, an onion, a package of ready cooked bacon, a tomato, some regular cheese, and also some lunch meats for later on in the week.
I already had a package of blue cheese from when I went shopping the other day.
I also had them pick up a pound of roast beef sliced sorta thin, so I could test out the NuWave's claim to making beef jerky in 1 hour.
My mom used to have a food dehydrator, and I would borrow it from time to time to make the teens some jerky and dehydrated apples, orange slices, banana chips etc.
It would take all night to make jerky and dried fruit.
The NuWave says it can make it in 1 hour, so I'm going to give it a try.
I had them grab a bottle of teriyaki sauce, I'll marinate the roast beef while the burgers cook, and after I clean up the NuWave from dinner, I'm going to make some jerky.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, the NuWave infomercial has been updated, they have added a special pan for cooking frozen pizzas, which I do admit is a bit odd to do with the NuWave right now, but that new pizza kit looks like it works, and it also has a cutting board and some other new utensils to go with it, that aren't available on the site yet.
I am going to write to them and share my experiences with it, maybe make that video, and maybe they'll send me the new pizza kit stuff.
Hey, it could happen!

Posted by Kat at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

That's my baby boy, Mark, at his first birthday party at my Mom and Dad's house blowing out his very 1st birthday candle on his very 1st birthday cake.
On May 30th, he will graduate from high school, and on August 15th, he will turn 18.
Wow.
Mark is my 1st born, I was 21 years old in August 1991, it was like the hottest summer on record in Maine that year, with temps in the high 90s all month long.
It was absolutely miserable for me.
I lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment building with windows facing east, so my apartment heated up all morning long and most of the afternoon, and I had no AC.
It was Maine, it really only gets hot there during July and August, but not so hot you truly needed AC all summer.
I was huge, 9 months pregnant, and sweating my ass off every single day just waiting for my 1st born to make his arrival.
I spent most of July and the beginning of August taking cold showers and then standing naked in front of the window fans just trying to cool off and feel better.
I went into labor, a very rough and long labor, and gave birth at 2:38am on August 15th.

He had a full head of dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and I instantly fell in love with that little baby.
I felt love like I had never felt before in my entire life, it felt like my heart was going to explode every single time I looked at him, held him, rocked him to sleep.
Here was this baby, my baby, he depended on me for everything he needed, and I was so scared that I was going to mess it up, mess him up.
When he was 9 months old, he got sick and was put on amoxicillin, and that's when we discovered he was deathly allergic to it.
He ended up getting pneumonia and almost dying.
I called my mother that morning, crying, absolutely frantic, "Mom! He's burning up, throwing up, help me please!" I screamed into the phone.
My mother drove over, picked us up, and we raced to the ER and they took my baby from my arms and started doing all kinds of tests and things to him.
There were so many wires and an itty bitty little oxygen mask, and doctors and nurses running around the room doing all kinds of things to him, and someone yelled that he wasn't breathing, and I couldn't handle it, my baby wasn't breathing, and I ran out of the room, my mother grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled at me to tell her what was happening.
I told her through screams and tears that he was dying, he wasn't breathing, mommy help me, and she ran into the room.
I collapsed on the floor in a pile of tears and panic in the hallway.
After what felt like hours, a doctor came out and told me that he was ok, he was going to be ok, but he was allergic to the amoxicillin and had an anaphylactic reaction to it, that that's what made him so sick and stop breathing, but he was going to be ok.
They got his fever to come down, they gave him something to get all of the amoxicillin out of his little body, and they were pumping him full of fluids, and I'd be able to take him home much later on that night.
From that day forward, I protected him like crazy.
I knew where he was and what he was doing every second of every single day, I didn't hire any babysitters to watch him for a very long time, I just stayed home and was his mother 24/7.
I made sure that when he started school, that on the forms where it asked for allergies, that amoxicillin was written in Sharpie and capitalized.
I wanted to make sure that if he ever got hurt or something at school, that no doctors or nurses would ever give that to him again, I never wanted to ever be that close to losing my baby ever again.

And here we are, all of these super fast years later, my baby boy is almost a grown man, he'll be attending college, taking pre-law and criminal justice, and later on, he will be applying for the police academy so he can become a police officer.
One of the riskiest jobs that I know of.
My heart nearly stops when I think of that.

Ever since he was a small kid, he wanted to be a cop or a lawyer, always something in the law field, and he also wanted to do some sort of art and/or writing on the side.
He would play with his Batman and other action figures, take old cardboard boxes and get the scissors, and use a whole roll of Scotch tape, my markers, his crayons, and he'd spend hours and hours making buildings, banks for the bad guys to rob, jails to lock them up in, hospitals to have Batman's injuries taken care of, and he'd play for hours and days.

I remember one morning when he and Sebastian were little, it was very early in the morning, and I woke up to pieces of dry cat food being shoved up my nose by Sebastian, and Mark was sitting on my chest yelling into his small plastic walkie talkie, "Backup! We need backup! Hostile witness! Hostile witness!" as he pointed a small plastic gun in my left eye, and trying to slap some small plastic handcuffs on my wrists.
I have no idea why Sebastian was shoving cat food up my nose, but as soon as he realized that my eyes were open, Sebastian tore off out of the room laughing like a maniac.
Mark stayed sitting on my chest still screaming into his walkie talkie that he needed backup.
Perhaps I let him watch too many repeats of Law & Order on some cable channel every afternoon.
He still loves to watch all of the cop/crime dramas with me.
It took me hours to blow out all of the dry cat food pieces from my nose.

I can't believe that my 1st baby is all grown up.
He stands over 6 feet tall, he's built like a linebacker, I pity the dumb criminal who tries to get one over on him because as kind and as loving as he is, he is very strong, he doesn't know his own strength at all.
He used to think getting body hair was disgusting, and I remember the day he noticed he was growing some armpit hairs, how he came running out of the bathroom with a huge grin on his face, arm raised above his head, yelling and screaming for me to see how he was becoming a man.
I oohed and ahhed at the 2 barely there single strands of hair growing in each armpit.
I laughed and smiled with him, and now, not only does he have pit hairs, he has hair everywhere, growing a small mustache and sprouting some chin hairs that I catch him rubbing every now and then.

My baby boy is growing up, grown up, and I sit here and marvel at it, yet completely lost over where the years went.
Did I miss anything?
Do I remember it all?
Will I forget any of it, or all of it?
I want to be here for every bit of it, I never want to miss another milestone in his life.
I'm going to talk to my surgeon about postponing my next surgery until June, after he graduates so I don't miss it.
I want to be there and see it without that awful halo brace and whatever else I end up with, I want to take pictures and video, I want to see him graduate, I want to help him fill out his college paperwork, I want to see him get accepted to the police academy, I want to be there to see it all, every single thing he does in his life.

I still have that same heart exploding feeling when I think of how much I love him, how he changed my entire life for the better.
I am a better person because of him, because of both of my sons, they changed me in ways I never thought possible.
I know what real love is, how deep it can go, how powerful and overwhelming it is because of that very 1st day I laid my eyes on him and held him in my arms.
He gets all embarrassed when I try to hug him now, but he lets me, he gives me these giant but gentle hugs, tells me he loves me, but he has no idea just how much I love him, how proud of him I am, and how much I want to see him succeed and be happy, have a good life.
It's just amazing that he's all grown up now, these years went by way too fast, and I really hope that I didn't miss anything, and I never want to forget any of it, it's been an incredible pleasure being his mother through all of the good, the bad, the fighting, the hard work, all of it, I wouldn't change a single thing even if I could.

Posted by Kat at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I've become like addicted to checking out Buy.com's weekly deals to see what they have on sale, and I am rarely ever disappointed with their great deals.

This week they have the same mp3 player that I have and love, the SanDisk Sansa Clip 1 gb mp3 player, for only $14.99.
It's normally $69.99, so that's a huge savings of $55.00!
It is a reconditioned one, but it's a really great mp3 player, so being reconditioned is not an issue in my opinion.
I absolutely love mine, I use it all of the time, every night when I'm laying there not sleeping due to insomnia, I listen to it off and on all day long, I just love it!

It plays mp3, wma, secure wma and audible audio file formats, and it also has an FM tuner with 40 preset channels, but it's really easy to set it to your radio stations, it has up to 15 hours of play time, and recharges using a usb cord and your computer.
You can also use it to record yourself notes with a built in microphone.
I haven't used that feature on mine yet, but I'll probably play around with it at some point.
It can hold 250 mp3s, and 500 wmas, that's a TON of music.
It has really good user ratings, and like I said, I absolutely love mine, it's so easy to use and has a very bright display, you can set it to shut off after so many minutes too, which makes it perfect if you use it to fall asleep like I do, it just shuts off.
Just don't roll over on it like I did one night and then not be able to figure out why it needed to be reset.
Oooops!
Anyway, it's a good deal on a good mp3 player, so if you need one or know someone who wants an mp3 player, you should check it out.
It's as good as those bigger name brand ones that cost a whole lot more.

Posted by Kat at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mark came home from school today with his test scores from his graduation test, and some info on his graduation.

Of the 5 test areas that students needed to pass with a minimum score of 410, Mark passed each well above that minimum.
Language arts/reading - 790
Language arts/writing - 620
Mathematics - 540
Science - 540
Social studies - 680
Yay Mark!

I was worried about getting him his cap and gown for graduation, the school makes you buy them, but the school has a scholarship program that I didn't know about until today, and so they will be providing him with his cap and gown due to our financial circumstances, and because Mark has overcome a lot of hurdles these last few years in order to be able to graduate with his class.

His freshman year was 2005-2006, he had been doing great until I went in for my first spine surgery in February 2006.
I spent 18 days in the hospital, and then when I came home, I didn't have a home nurse for the first week and a half, so I relied heavily on the teens and my sister to help me during that very difficult first week and a half.
Mark missed a lot of school during that whole time, and he started to fall behind.
He signed up for summer school and had almost completed it, just 4 days away from finishing, when he got to school just 3 minutes late one morning and the teacher would not open the door and let him in, which voided out his entire summer of classes and grades.
That put him very far behind, so his sophomore year, he was doing both sophomore and freshman classes.
It was too hard on him, he started falling way behind again.
He did summer school again, and managed to finally get his freshman courses done, but was now behind in his sophomore classes.
By the time his junior year came around, he was totally frustrated and had such a heavy course load, he gave up, he just quit working so hard and didn't want to even go to school anymore.
It was a battle every single morning to get him go, he said that it was just too much work, that he couldn't keep up with all of the classes for basically 2 years worth of classes being done in just one year.
In his senior year, they gave him 2 choices, go back to being a junior, graduate a year later but only if he could complete every single class with at least a C average, or take the exit option, which is all self motivated work on a computer, doing things called modules that allow the student to read several chapters, take a test, read, take a test, read, take a test and repeat, until every single class is done by taking tests.
Mark had 17 class credits to do this year, over 2,000 chapters to read, and over 400 tests to take in order to graduate on time with his class.

The teens hadn't even started school yet when I was given the news about the neck surgery.
I was scheduled to go in for it on September 8th, right at the beginning of his new school year.
It was not a good experience with that surgery, there were a lot of complications, I was put in a medically induced coma for 4 days after the surgery, Mark knew everything that had happened to me during the surgery, he was worried sick, he once again felt like giving up on everything because it was all just too much for him to deal with.
Trying to complete school and dealing with his mother, the only parent he has ever lived with, almost dying, he broke down a lot in the months that followed my surgery.
He's such a caring young man with a huge heart, and it was so much for him to deal with, but I just kept encouraging him, telling him that he could do it, that I knew he could do this, to not worry about me, just do his work and graduate so that he could fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.
He buckled down, he worked his ass off, sometimes doing as many as 20 tests per day, doing some of them at home on the school's website, just really busting his ass to get them all done so he could graduate.

He took his graduation test over 7 weeks ago, we have been waiting all of this time for the test results, and we finally got them back on Monday, he passed, he will march.
That's when I found out that the cap and gown would be about $100 or so, I had no idea where I would get that money because I just had to borrow money to replace the AC, and I have 4 doctors appointments plus prescriptions to pay for this coming week, and I'm trying to like crazy to do as much work as I can even when I'm feeling like total crap.
I was SO HAPPY when he came home today and told me about the scholarship program, that the school is going to give him his cap and gown so he can march with his class.
He has a senior night bbq and gown pick up on May 19th from 6-8pm, and graduation rehearsal on May 29th, and then he graduates May 30th at 9am at Robarts Arena.

I am so incredibly proud of him for all of his hard work, overcoming all of the obstacles that he faced, for not giving up when it really would have been much easier to just drop out, when some of his teachers even told him to his face to just drop out, that he would never be able to complete everything with passing grades, he did it, he really did it, and I am just so so proud of him for doing this.
When he walked through the door today, he had a huge smile on his face as he showed me the paperwork and told me about the scholarship, he really did it, and to see him that happy and proud of himself for doing it, it made me happy.

I will be taking a TON of pictures at graduation, maybe even a little video of him getting his diploma handed to him.
It's such a big deal because of all of his hard work, I want to make sure that the graduation is well documented so he can look back on those pictures and keep on smiling, keep on being proud of himself.

Posted by Kat at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I used to be one of those pet owners who wanted my cute little kitties to sleep in those adorable pet beds that you can buy.
I even bought one a few years ago because I was tired of always having cat hair on my bed sheets, but none of the cats would sleep on it.
They all checked it out, but refused to lay on it.
Nova, the fat no-tailed kitty, likes to sleep at the head of my bed up against the headboard, and she sheds like crazy all year long.
Kali also sheds like crazy, but she sleeps wherever she feels like it, moving from room to room and bed to bed all night long to sleep with a different person each time.
Shahiro is also a mover, she moves from bed to bed, room to room, to sleep with the person who is not tossing and turning.
She likes to sleep on people who don't move around, right on their chest, and when she hops up on you, you don't even feel it, she is so lightweight, you look down and realize there's a cat on top of you, you never even feel her get on.
Shahiro will be 4 this November, 4, and she is still as small as a kitten.
She is super duper tiny, so tiny that people who come here for the first time, think she is a kitten.
When I tell them how old she is, they think I'm lying.
Here she is on top of the teens computer tower, one of her favorite places to sleep because of how warm it is.

Carmine, the stray who adopted us as his family, sleeps all over the place.
On top of either of the teens dressers, on top of the washer, on the sofa and love seat in the same exact spot on either, the left hand corner, so he can rest his head on the arms.
He also absolutely loves this chair in Mark's room.
He is always sleeping in funny positions in this chair, all crumpled up, stretched out, on his back, and sometimes, he sleeps sitting up like this.

Right now, Carmine is asleep in that chair, Nova is asleep under the coffee table, Kali is asleep all stretched out on her back in front of the front door, and Shahiro is all curled up on the shelf above the dryer where I keep some extra blankets.

I love watching my cats, watching how they sleep, what they do, how they eat and play, they are interesting to say the least in how they interact with us and with each other.
I know, a cat post, I blogged about my cats.
I am having one of those days where I just don't have much to say, so I blogged about my cats.
*sigh*

Posted by Kat at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The plan for today was to get up early and go to CVS, get Sebastian's migraine meds, and then go grocery shopping at Sweetbay because it's right there, I didn't want to go all the way in one direction to get his meds, and then turn around and go all the way to Publix which is in the other direction, which would have wasted a lot of time today.

I let Mark stay home from school today to be my shopping helper, but he got up at the usual time, walked Sebastian all the way to the street the school is on*, and then he came home and we were gonna go.
Well when he got back, I was still wicked way tired, so I told him to go back to sleep for a few more hours and then we'd go.
I woke up at 10:30, and started making my list, woke Mark back up, and then I was going to start getting dressed to go.
Good thing I decided on getting a late start because the school called about Sebastian.
He ended up getting a wicked bad migraine and needed to come home, the nurse said he was completely pale and near tears sitting in the nurses office, so I told her to definitely send him home.

I waited for him to get home before I went shopping, and decided to have him go with me instead of Mark.
When he got here, I gave him the last pill in the bottle, and 2 Tylenol, and one of my diet sodas so he could get the caffeine to help with the migraine.
Then he and I headed out to CVS to get his meds and then shopping.
One of the things I like about CVS over Walgreen's is that they are super fast getting prescriptions ready, they said it would take 15-20 minutes, but they had it ready in 7 minutes.
I barley had time to go around and find the things I wanted to buy while there.

They had the Venus Embrace razors on sale for $7.99, I had a coupon for $2.00 off, (thanks Mom!) and buying them earned me $4.00 in CVS extra care bucks, which I am still learning how to use and what they are all about, but seeing as I have to get Sebastian's meds at CVS** every month, I figure I might as well learn all about the ECBs and start taking advantage of their program.
So the razors were on sale for $7.99, you earn the $4.00 in ECBs making them $3.99, and I had $2.00 off, so I really only paid $1.99 for them.
That's a really great deal, I think, I'm still really not sure how this whole ECB thing works, but I'll figure it out.
I also wanted to try the Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew eye roller thingy because I always have really big dark circles under my eyes, and they had it on sale for $12 with the card, and I had a $5.00 off coupon, so I only paid $7.00 for it.
I also bought a big package of Excedrin Migraine, they had it for $10.99, I had a $4.00 off coupon, and I want Sebastian to give these another try.
The Tylenol does work, but it can take up to an hour to an hour and a half for them to kick in, that's far too long when he's battling a big one, so I want to see if these will work better for him.
So after we picked up his meds and bought the stuff, I gave him one of his pills and 2 of the Excedrin right away, and by the time we were done shopping, his migraine was gone, so I think they do work a bit better than the Tylenol even though he was complaining last month that the Excedrin didn't really help.

After CVS, we went and did the shopping at Sweetbay.
I got almost everything on my list, they just don't have as much selection as Publix in my opinion, so probably this weekend I'll have to go to Publix to get the rest of the stuff I couldn't get there.
And while I was gone shopping, Mark snapped the handle off of the cold side of the bathroom faucet.
It's not his fault even though he doesn't know his own strength, this is an old house, and I swear these fixtures are the exact same ones that have been in here since the day this duplex was built in 1976.

So for now, it's duct taped until I can go buy and have someone help me install some new bathroom faucets.
*sigh*

Looks great huh? *LoL*
If it isn't one thing breaking and needing to be fixed or replaced, it's another.
That's just the kind of luck I have.
I was just telling someone this morning in an email, that if I believed in all that past lives and reincarnation stuff, I was probably a really horrible person in a past life and this life is my payback or punishment for it, because if something can go wrong in my life, it most certainly does.
I like hardly ever get a break from the chaos.
Oh well.

*
I have Mark walk with Sebastian because there are no sidewalks pretty much all the way to school until you reach the post office, and there are jerky drivers that early in the morning, plus obnoxious teen drivers who throw stuff at other kids who walk to school.
When Mark walks with him, those punk ass teens leave Sebastian alone.

**
The teen's prescription insurance can only be used at CVS, I have no idea why.

Posted by Kat at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Monday, Mark got a card in the mail from a relative, it had $50 in it, so he decided to order dinner for all of us.
He ordered from a place that makes a wide variety of food, so he got wings, and Sebastian and I ordered some burgers.
The burger was really great, but by Tuesday morning, I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach a thousand times.
My muscles hurt, they kept tensing up, and I kept on running to the bathroom.
Over and over all day and night Tuesday, and pretty much all day Wednesday too.
It totally ruined my plans for today.

I had planned on going and picking up Sebastian's meds and then doing the grocery shopping.
Nope, the sight of food made me feel ill, the smell of it made me run to the bathroom.
And then Mark calls me in the bathroom this afternoon and asks me how he can remove blackheads from his face.
He's standing there popping all his zits and trying to squeeze out a huge blackhead.
I flipped the toilet lid and just let my stomach drain itself of whatever was left in there, which shouldn't have been much considering how many times I've puked since Tuesday morning.

I'm finally starting to feel better.
My stomach still hurts, but at least the sickness has stopped.
I am pretty sure it was food poisoning as Sebastian said his stomach wasn't feeling all that great either.
He wasn't anywhere near as sick as I was, but he said he just didn't feel right either.
I am hoping that by the time the teens get home tomorrow afternoon, (Thursday) that I'm feeling much better, we really need to do the grocery shopping and get some more cat food and cat litter too.

Oh, we did watch a most gory and awesome movie called The Midnight Meat Train.
Vinnie Jones stars as the butcher, and he is absolutely terrifying!
Bradley Cooper is decent in his role as the photographer on the hunt for real and gritty images for an art gallery show, and the rest of the cast is likable and they do a good job with the script they were given, which really wasn't all that great.
But what the movie lacks in script, it more than makes up for in action and special effects.
This movie is NOT for the squeamish at all, the very violent scenes are up close, in your face, and disgusting.
I am a HUGE horror movie fan and even I cringed and had to cover my mouth a few times to hold back squeals of terror and disgust.
The Midnight Meat Train is probably one of the best adaptations of a Clive Barker story I have ever seen made into a movie.
So if you like horror, guts, gore, check it out, but don't say I didn't warn you about the up close shots of the killings.

Posted by Kat at 1:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Oh, the other awesome thing that happened today, was that the UPS guy showed up and brought me this box that weighed 10lbs!
I was not expecting that weight at all.
As he was walking to the door, he was carrying it with 1 hand, the box didn't look big at all, it actually wasn't big at all, but when he handed it to me, I was all whoah!
I have a weight lifting limit, still, because of my spine surgeries.
I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than 5lbs, basically I was told by my surgeon, if it weighs more than a gallon of milk, ask someone else to carry it, and I haven't lifted more than 5lbs since September, so when he handed it to me, it was quite a shock.
I am not sure who sent it either.
Well, I mean, I know it was a book publisher, I get a lot of books from publishers, but this is one that I have not dealt with before, so it was kind of a surprise, but a very nice surprise!

Anyway, the books (yes I said books, it was 2 of the exact same book) I received were The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Classic American Recipes.*
These are HUGE hardcover books just chocked full of tons of home-style family recipes!
There's everything in here according to the table of contents;
breakfasts
lunches
appetizers
salads
soups
fish and shellfish
poultry
meat
grilling
pasta and rice
veggies
breads and toppings
pies, cakes, and cookies
other deserts and sweets
drinks

I browsed through it a few times, and there are just so many recipes, all "grandma style", real old-fashioned cooking.
There's not too many people out there that still do everything from scratch, companies make things so much easier for us now, (ready made pie crusts, cake mixes in a box add eggs, water and oil) but if you're looking to learn to cook and bake from scratch, this is THE cookbook to have to learn how.
For example, say that you wanted to learn how to make biscuits from scratch, not from the pop-open refrigerated can from the doughboy, the recipe and full directions are there.
(** recipe below cut)
There are just so many recipes for so many great foods, cooking charts for meats, fish, poultry, veggies, you name a recipe grandma used to make, I'm gonna bet it's in there!
I can't wait to go through this whole book and actually make some of these.
I miss my grandma's and my mother's homemade food so much, they did everything from scratch, my mom still does, but us younger generations, companies just make everything for us, so all we have to do is add water and an egg or 2, and voila! dinner and desert in 30 minutes!
_________________________________

I am seriously going to need to find Mark a new bed very soon, or at the very least, go shopping for twin sized bed frames.
He has grown so much from the small 6 year old boy when we moved here in 1997, and he and Sebastian looked so tiny on their solid pine bunk beds.
My sister got the bunk beds at a yard sale, bought new mattresses, and that's what they've been sleeping on for the last 12 years.
Well, Mark is over 6 feet tall, he weighs about 170, and so that bed is just not the right size for him anymore.
The frame has started to crack under the weight, and his feet hang off from his height.
It's definitely time to get him a new bed or bed frame, and while I'm at it, I should probably just get 2 of them.
Sebastian is not far behind in the height and weight department.

___________________________________________
*I am not asking anyone to purchase anything from Amazon, I am just linking to the products that I talk about.
I receive a lot of books and/or other items from publishers and other companies, and Amazon is just the easiest place for me to link to.
And yes, I do use Amazon Associates to make a few bucks here and there, my id is in each link I make to any product, but I never, have never, asked anyone to purchase a single thing from them.
If you click on any of the Amazon links and make a purchase within 24 hours without clearing your cache, I will make a very small commission, and I do mean very small commission, but I am not asking you to click on the links or buy through my links.
I use the Amazon product pages to help me provide all of my readers with more product information.
___________________________________________

**
Baking powder biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons (1/3 cup) of butter or shortening
3/4 cup of milk

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Sift flour with baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

2. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives (used scissors-fashion), until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

3. Make a well in the center. Pour in 2/3 cup milk all at once. Stir quickly round the bowl with a fork. If mixture seems dry, add a little more milk to form dough just moist enough (but not wet) to leave side of bowl and form ball.

4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface to knead. Gently pick up dough from side away from you; fold over toward you; press out lightly with palm of hand. Give the dough a quarter turn. Repeat ten times.

5. Gently roll out dough, from center, to 3/4 inch thickness.

6. With floured 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut straight down into dough, being careful not to twist cutter.

7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Makes 8 (2 1/2 inch) biscuits.

Posted by Kat at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In order of awesomeness;

1. Mark's graduation test teacher lady called this morning around 11am to tell me that Mark had totally passed his test, so he WILL be graduating with his class, full cap and gown, the whole shebang!
W00t!
I am so so proud of him!
The only sucky hing is that if he wants to march with his class, is that he has to go to school every single day from now until the end of the year, even though he does nothing all day long but sleep, play on the computers or read books.
There's nothing for him to do education wise, he's done, he graduated early, so he gets to slack off all day long.
Which is fine, he decided that he wants to macrh, be in cap and gown, so he's going to sign the form to graduate with his class, and that way I'll have pictures of him graduating.

2. My friend Dustin and I went to Amscot and took care of the card switch over stuff.
I turned in my old card, got a new temporary card, a new direct deposit form to give to SSDI, (need to call them in the morning) and my new card will be here in 7-10 business days.
They let us choose our design this time from 4 designs, 1 being all black, so that's the one I chose.
Ha!

3. Dustin then took me to both Walmart and Home Depot to find the best deal on the right sized AC for the hole in the wall + the room size, finding it at Home Depot.
It wasn't too horrible of price, it came to $359.63, we brought it home and it perfectly fit the hole already in the wall, it was installed in less than 10minutes after taking out the busted piece of crap, and it is now getting all nice and chilly in here.
Ah, blessed AC!
The next thing I am going to do is to get 1 of those cages or fences, whatever they are called, and either get Dustin or someone else to do the fence installation around the AC so some punk doesn't bust my AC again.

It is so nice to be sitting here not sweating my ass off, you have no idea.
Today was so hot, it was just absolutely miserable.
I took about 5 showers just trying to cool myself off, but it was for nothing really.
5 minutes after stepping out, all sweaty again.
Blech!

So there we go, my totally awesome, eventful and great day!

Posted by Kat at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Maybe it all can get done tomorrow.
People busy, people not returning messages left, and other stuff.
It's all ok, and I'm working on trying to get everything done tomorrow.
I'm super tired, haven't slept at all, just going through the motions today I guess.
I'm gonna make dinner and then just lay down for the rest of the night, watch movies and stuff.
Later days.

Posted by Kat at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple of my friends came over tonight, Dustin and his girlfriend Stacey, and we all just hung out and talked for a few hours about all kinds of stuff.
Stacey is a total sweetheart, she came in and marched straight to my kitchen and did my dishes even though I told her like 6 times not to.
She said she wanted to help because Dustin told her what a totally crappy week I've had with the AC and the heat.
Dustin and I talk on the phone several times a week, he has been giving me rides to some of my doctor's appointments and stuff too.
Even though I told her not to do them, and she did them anyway, I really did appreciate her doing them.
The kitchen is just way too hot without the AC, and I tried to do the dishes, but just couldn't.
It was so hot in there, I gave up after just 3 bowls and 1 cup.

Then we sat around my computer and I showed her how to do some stuff.
She really wants to get better at the internet, so I helped her with her myspace page, showed her how to add some stuff to it, how to save pics and then host them so she could post them, and then we're going to slowly do some more stuff together so she can set up her own website.
She has some ideas for what she wants to do, and she brought over a whole bunch of pictures on her flash drive that she wants to have on her website when she gets it up and running.
She wants to start her own dance/exercise studio, teach women how to get in shape through dancing.
She's been a dancer for 17 years, and she's in incredible shape, dancing is all she does to stay in shape, so she wants to teach other women how to dance to get in shape, and how much more fun it is than regular old boring exercises like sit ups and crunches, lunges, and stuff.
I think it's a great idea, and there aren't any of these types of fitness places around here, so I think she's got a really good shot at making it work.
She already has her studio planned out and is meeting with the property owners about monthly rental costs in a few weeks.

Dustin went absolutely nuts when he saw the giant box of Tootsie Roll candies I have...LoL
I swear, no mater how old a guy is, they all act like little kids in a candy store when they see that much candy.
His eyes lit up, he asked how I got it all, I told him I won it, and he was like OMG! You so rock! hahaha

We're going to plan a night of movies and dinner for like next weekend or something, pick a good movie, plan a good meal, and just hang out together.
The teens like the both of them, they showed Dustin WoW, and he was amazed.
He said he had heard about the game from friends, but had never seen it, so he was all "Wow, this is so freaking cool!"
Both he and Stacey like to play video games too, so when they saw that the teens had Resident Evil 5, they said after dinner and the movie, they want to play that game even though it scares the crap outta Stacey, she loves to play it and be scared.
I'm the same way, I love to play it even though it totally creeps me out. hahaha

So anyway, that's how our night was, I have some stuff to catch up on, and even though it's late, I'm still going to try and get some of it done.
I'm wide awake again.
Might have something to do with the amount of sugar I ate today...hahaha

Posted by Kat at 1:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been watching my Amscot credit/debit card account like a hawk for a few months now, I kept seeing all these "test" charges showing up, $1 here, $1 there, for things like iTunes, Napster, and today, Snapfish.
I don't have an iTunes account, I don't have a Napster account either.
I do have a Snapfish account, but I haven't logged into it in over 8 months, until today that is, after I saw the above 2 charges.
I wanted to see if they had like a service charge for having the account that would explain those 2 charges, but no, they don't, AND I have never used my Amscot card at their site.

I called Amscot a few minutes ago to have this card canceled and get a new one, I was prepared to have to pay the $25 fee for closing this card and getting a new one, but the customer service agent told me that I didn't have to pay the fee because they were switching things up, and all I need to do is go in to my local branch to have it all taken care of.
When I go in, they will take this card, give me a new temporary card, transfer my balance over, and in about a week, I'll get my new card in the mail.
I will need to contact SSDI and switch over my direct deposit information because it's not just the card being swapped out, it's the whole account, they are changing everyone's accounts to the new system.
He said the new system will be a lot better, it will stop all these fraudulent charges right away, it will have text capability to check balances, less fees for transactions, a whole bunch of new features he said, so I need to get up there and take care of this.
I have a check from the Airborne class action suit to deposit anyway, so yeah, I need to try and get up there as soon as I can.

Posted by Kat at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The FedEx guy pulled up today and brought us that huge box of Tootsie Roll brand candies that I won from Lisa Reviews, and he asked if we ordered it.
Sebastian said "No, my mom won it!"
The guy told him he was a lucky kid and to not eat it all at once.
Sebastian couldn't wait for me to open the box so he could see everything inside of it, and of course, dig in...LoL
This is what was in the box;

Two Tootsie Roll banks, lots of Tootsie Pops, Andes Candies, Junior Mints, (which are in the freezer) Fluffy Stuff cotton candy, Frooties, several different kinds of Dubble Bubble, and a TON of all different kinds of the candy that Tootsie makes.
Sebastian was totally excited, and when Mark finally woke up, he was like "Wow, that's all ours?!"
So he was a bit excited to have a ton of candy too. hahaha

The mailman also brought the soaps I ordered last week (after paying off all of my bills from my income tax return) from my friend Lara's homemade soap and candle shop, The Sage Grove.
Lara had made a very specific scent of soap I had told her about, and so when I had the extra money, I bought 3 of the 4 remaining bars she had for sale on her site.
I thought it would have been really mean to buy all 4 bars and not leave at least 1 for someone else.
It is so wonderful!!!
I took a shower with it just a few minutes ago so I could cool off and also wash off the days nasty sweat, and OMGosh! It's amazing!
I love jasmine and pink grapefruit soap!
I used to buy it from another blogging friend who made it, but she hasn't made any in a long time for personal reasons, and so when I was telling Lara about it, she said she'd give it a try.
After she made it, she told me that it smelled "divine!"
Yes it does!
I absolutely love the smell of this soap, taking a shower with it today was awesome, it lathered up really nice, it smells so incredible, and the scent lingers on your skin for hours after showering with it, you don't need to wear any perfume or anything else, the scent is simply scrumptious on it's own.
I still would love a perfume or body lotion made from it some time, I think that would become like my 'signature scent' if I could get it in a perfume.
Lara also packed in the box for me, a bar of Vanilla Sugar soap, a bar of Oakmoss soap, and a bar of Citrus Sherbet soap.
ALL of them smell so so good!
If you love great smelling and homemade soaps, please go check out her shop, her soaps are just awesome, I'll have to try her candles some time when I get some money again some time.

Ok, I guess that's all for now, I need to go eat something for dinner now that it's a bit cooler.
I can't eat when it's so hot out, it makes me feel sick to my stomach, blech.

Posted by Kat at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sometime around 4am, the AC stopped cooling after only being on since about 1am when I finally closed the front door and the windows.
*sigh*

But all is not lost!
I have received several offers for help, and I have taken one of those offers, so I should be able to have the new AC bought and installed by tomorrow.
So thank you to those who offered to help, it really means a lot.
We just gotta get through the heat today and a little tomorrow, and then we'll be able to be cool again.

Posted by Kat at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know that's a totally crappy picture, but it's the best I could do because I can't raise my head to see what I'm even taking a picture of.
What you're looking at though is a puncture, someone punctured the AC's coolant line, intentionally.
It was done sometime between Monday night and this morning.
The AC may still cool the house off for a few days at the most, and then it will be totally dead.
When it is turned on, the freon just blows out that hole, the house does cool a little bit, but water leaks from the bottom, it sprays out of the top cooling vents, and soaks the carpet and floor, and the wall where the AC is.

I tried to call my landlord a bunch of times, but his voice mail says he is gone for the long holiday.
His kids are on spring breaks and it's Easter.
I can't reach him.

It totally figures that I'd get my income taxes back, pay off loans, pay off a bunch of bills, doctor bills, doctor appointments, prescriptions etc, and then something major breaks.
I did get paid from some paid blogging today but it is nowhere near enough to buy a new AC at all.
It's going to cost between $300-$400 to get a new one.
The heat wasn't too bad today, but it's going to get hotter.
This is the forecast for the week, and I'm dreading it.

I don't know who did this, who would do this, but someone intentionally poked the AC coolant line and has made it so all of the freon will escape if we turn it on.

Mindy's husband Chris stopped by this afternoon to look at it, and that's what he told me, that someone poked it with a screwdriver or some other object, it can't be repaired, no AC service centers repair them, I called all over today.
They all told me I'm better off just buying a new one, but with what?
It just figures, this is what my life is like, this is what always happens to me.
Things go good for a little while, and then BAM!
I called the pawn shop up the street to see if they'd buy any of my jewelry.
Nope, they only take gold and I'm a sterling silver kind of girl.
I just don't know what to do at this point.
I think I've spent most of the day crying off and on out of sheer frustration over this.
The heat is going to get to me really bad, my body can't handle the heat, and I have another surgery coming up soon, I'll be in that damn halo brace, and it's just really going to suck.
I don't know why someone did this, why would someone do this?!
I leave people alone, I don't bother, heck, I don't even talk to most of my neighbors, but still someone poked the damn thing and killed it.

The teens think it was either the punk ass teens who are always following them home tormenting them, or just other punk ass teens in the hood.
I don't know, all I know is I just have really shitty fucking luck and I don't know why or what to do right now.

Posted by Kat at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I'm not feeling well, I'm hot, my AC is totally fucking dead.
It's not draining, it wouldn't dry out, and so I called an AC place, explained what was happening, and they said it wasn't draining, to jam some shimmies under it to make it drain.
So I did, and now there's like freon blowing out the back of it outside or something.
I smell chemical when I go outside, some fine mist is blowing, the drain cap is icing over.
I just frigging bought this in October, my landlord doesn't have the money to replace it, I don't have the money to replace it, just fuck!!!

Posted by Kat at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the local forums I sometimes play on, a lot of the discussions lately have been about politics, news, unemployment, money, and what to do about all of it.
One of the hot topics today was the fact that unemployment benefits for a lot of people, are going to run out before the second half of the year.
They are rough estimating that about 700,000 people will lose their benefits before the second half of the year, and with more and more companies and businesses closing, the hopes of them finding a job are not good.
Just in March 2009, 663,000 jobs were lost.
That's more people going on unemployment, and those people will probably also run out of unemployment benefits before the end of the year as well.

So what are people supposed to do?
That's the questions everyone is asking?
One of the really smart guys on the forum, a guy whose posts I always read and try to take his words seriously, had a lot of advice for people today.
What to be doing right now, things to do to prepare for when the economy gets even worse, and it will, and how to possibly avoid being one of the millions out of work and with no income at all.
One of his suggestions was to get further education and training at accredited online colleges in fields that are needed right now, get an online degree, and it will be needed heavily when things start getting better again.
One of the fields he sees being needed in great demand are business and project managers, and so a Project Management certificate or project management degree, may be a really good idea for people to look into if they are already in any of the fields listed at this link.
If you're in any of those fields, get further education in those fields, you're going to need it to be able to compete with the millions of people looking at the same jobs that you are.
If you are fortunate enough to still have a job, you can further your education online at St. Joseph University, and get your certificate in any of the fields that you may be in and needing to make yourself "better" and more prepared for the demands of the job when the time comes.

Things are going to get better, but they are going to get a whole lot worse first.
It's time to really start preparing for the worst of it, and to also be prepared when the upswing begins so you can be ahead of the fighting for the best jobs.
There are a lot of people out of work, more going to lose their jobs, and when things start to get better, it's going to be a fight for jobs at any places that have any openings at all.
You are going to need to stand out, and have more to offer than the other guy.

Posted by Kat at 2:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On April 4th, I was entrant # 301 and #302, out of 607 entries, to win 16lbs of Tootsie Roll brand candies.
Today, Lisa told me I won.
I won!
This is the pic from her site, but when I get the box, I will take a pic of exactly what all was in the box that we get when it arrives.
Lisa said we should probably have it by the end of the week because she sent them my address as soon as I emailed it to her.

Tootsie sent Lisa her own big box of candy to try out, and she was thrilled to get it, and also to be able to have a contest to offer another lucky blog reader of hers the chance to win their own box.
I only did 2 of the things you can do to win, and I was totally surprised and shocked that my number got drawn when she pulled the winner today!

When I got her email telling me that I won, I screamed out "Yeusss!", and Sebastian came running to ask what was up.
When I told him that I won 16lbs of Tootsie Roll brand candies and showed him the pic, he spotted the Fluffy Stuff cotton candy right away, and started screaming himself...LoL
I love regular Tootsie rolls, the Caramel Apple Pops, I also really like the fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls called Frooties, and just like Lisa, I also love and remember the Tootsie Roll banks.
A big Tootsie Roll shaped bank filled with Tootsie Rolls, and when they are gone, you can use the can as a coin and dollar bank.
I loved getting those from my Grandfather as a kid, he would get me one of those every year for my birthday along with a new doll or something that I wanted.
I have such great childhood memories attached to Tootsie Rolls, they just always make me smile, so this is a really cool prize to win.
16lbs of candy is a lot, and Lisa asked me in an email just a few minutes ago, to make sure and let her know exactly how long it actually lasts in the house. hahahaha
I told her, "Mark is not a huge candy eater, but he does like Tootsie rolls and some of the others we saw in your pic, so he will eat some.
I'll probably set some aside, and only put out a small bowl of it to be eaten freely, and fill it back up slowly.
Sebastian will be going to the dentist over the summer, getting his teeth cleaned, getting any cavities filled etc, to start working on getting his braces finally, so I'll have to make him eat the stuff slowly, and to also brush his teeth more frequently.
But I'll hazard a guess that it will last until school starts in August."

How long would 16lbs of candy last in your house?

Posted by Kat at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The AC is still not dried out yet, so I have the windows and doors open again, luckily Florida is having a cold spell or this would really suck big time.
Someone said that if it's too hot, just open the windows.
Well they are open because we're having a cold spell, but in Florida, AC is a must, and it's even more of a must for me because some of the meds I take cause my body temperature to rise, so I'm hotter than the average person.
Even with the AC on, I still have to have a box fan right in front of me when sitting at my computer because if not, I'll just sit here and sweat to death.
I am really hoping that by the time this cold front has passed through, that the AC has dried out completely and not making the rattling noise anymore.
It's going to be totally sucky if it's not.

Posted by Kat at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mindy and her husband Chris came over and looked at the AC, and Chris thinks that it's water trapped inside and it needs to dry out.
The AC has been off since about 6pm or so, we have a couple of windows open, but I refuse to open more of them because I don't like sleeping (if I can even sleep at all tonight) with the windows open living on the ground floor.
Yup.
I'm totally paranoid that the one night I sleep with the windows open, that some jerk will come and try to break in, rob us, hurt us, all kinds of crazy paranoid thoughts about home invasions.

Anyway, Chris thinks that the rattling noise is the fan hitting the water that's built up inside, and it needs to totally dry out.
He also thinks that I'm going to need another new AC within the year, one that is actually meant for this size house, like the one that was in here when we moved in.
That AC lasted for the first 7 years we lived here, and from the look of it, it had probably been here since the house was built.
This duplex needs to have a much bigger AC unit, not sure of the correct size or BTUs, but the one that was here before, before it got struck by lightening, worked exceptionally well.
It was able to cool off the entire house, and it also had a heater in it for winter, which I only ever used twice because this is Florida, it doesn't really get cold enough in my opinion, to need to run the heat during the winter.
So he thinks we need to get one like that again, it will work much more efficiently, cool the whole house, not have to work so hard to cool the house off.
This AC does do a good job of cooling most of the house off, but it's a smaller AC than the right sized one, so it's always working hard to keep the house cool.
The condensation has built up in it big time, and so he thinks that is the cause of the rattling noise.
The fan hitting all of the built up water.

I tried to turn it on a few minutes ago, and the rattling started right back up.
Hopefully it will be all dried out by tomorrow morning, er, this morning, in case the weather forecast is wrong, and instead of being 67 degrees, it goes up to 77 or 87 degrees.
It would be totally freaking hot in here, like sweltering hot.
No AC in this house is like being in a sauna.
It's supposed to be between 47 and 54 degrees overnight tonight, so that's not too bad to try and sleep without it.

Posted by Kat at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The AC is STILL making the rattling noise, and it's blowing a fine mist of water spray from the cooling vents.
I can't get in there to look at it, can't raise my head up, and even if I could, I have absolutely no idea what the hell to do to make it stop.
I did Google it, and from every site I read, it sounds like I have something stuck in it, something stuck in the water drain, and so that's why it's rattling and spraying a fine mist.
The water can't drain, so it's blowing back out.
The rattling noise is whatever the hell is stuck in it.

I called my friend Mindy and asked her if her husband could come take a look at it.
Her husband Chris is the one who installed the new AC for me back in October, so it's still relatively new and shouldn't be broken or anywhere near to being broken so soon.
At least I hope not.
Man, that would really suck if I had to replace it again so soon.
They are going to come over after they take their son Jeff to work at 6pm, and hopefully it will be a super easy fix, something that won't take a lot of time or trouble.
I really would hate it if it turned out to be a really big and hard job like it was when we had to install this new one.

The other reason I hope it's a fast and easy fix is because of the noise.
It's never ending, it hasn't stopped, and it gets on my nerves and is making Sebastian's headaches just really horrible.
I am giving him his meds and Tylenol, trying to just keep off any full blown migraines from starting, but this noise is giving me a headache, I can only imagine how it sounds and feels to him right now.
I feel like I'm going crazy listening to it, so it's kinda good that he stays and plays in the other room.
If he was out here with this, he'd be hurting really bad right now.

Posted by Kat at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since about 2pm this afternoon, the AC has been making this weird clicking noise, like something is stuck in the fan or motor.
It's very loud, click click, click, clickclickclick, click, click, click.
All freaking afternoon.
*bang!*
I checked it out as best I can, I can't see anything, I also can't really open it up or see much because I can't raise my head up to look inside it, so I don't see anything.
But there's definitely something stuck in it, a lizard maybe, I don't know, but it's just stuck in there and making a wicked loud noise that is driving me up the freaking wall.

After being lazy for most of the day, I decided to tackle some of the dishes and then the laundry.
Most of the dishes are done, and the laundry is now in the drier.
I needed to do the laundry cuz I have an appointment with the heart doc in the morning, and need clean clothes and clean towels so I can take a shower and smell all clean and purty.

I still have some dishes to finish up, but I don't know if I feel like doing them anymore.
I was on a roll, and now I'm not.

Edited to add*
It's definitely something caught in the fan because I slowed the fan speed down, and the clicking drastically reduces in noise.
Hrm.

Posted by Kat at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am trying really hard to stick to not spending money on things I really don't need, trying to start saving for that 8 month emergency fund, but I can't help myself from looking at Buy.com's weekly sale items.

They don't really have anything that I truly want or need this week which is good, but I still saw some stuff that looked interesting.
If I was going to buy something this week, it would be the Cables To Go 7 Port Aluminum USB 2.0 Hub because I have so many things that need to be plugged into the usb slots, but I only have 3 slots on my pc.
It's normally $44.99, but they have it on sale for just $17.99, so it's a huge savings of $27.00 for something that probably every single computer user with gadgets needs to have.
It's really annoying having to unplug an item to plug in and charge another item, and if they all need charging, well, you can see the problem.
It always seems like all my stuff needs to be charged at the same time.

It's small enough that it won't take up a lot of room on your desk either, but it can have 7 different items plugged into it at one time so you never have to unplug 1 item to plug in and charge another.
It has some good reviews too, out of 5 stars, it rates a 4.5 from other customers, so if I was going to buy something this week, that would be what I would get.
But I'm really wanting to try and save my money right now.

Posted by Kat at 4:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've gotten a couple of strong comments both in the comments and by email on the post below.
Things like I'll miss them when they've grown up and gone from my home, that if I hate having them home so much, why don't I send them to their grandparents for vacations, or why don't I tell them to go play outside, go hang out with their friends all week, stuff like that.

It is NOT because I don't like having the teens around at all.
I LOVE the teens, they are my everything, but they are teenage boys, brothers, just 2 years difference in age, they both want their space and privacy, they want to do what they want when they want, they are still growing so they eat, a lot.
On weekends, they can easily eat a whole pound of lunch meat, a whole loaf of bread, all of whatever leftovers we had, drink a gallon of milk, and devour pretty much anything that isn't nailed down.
So home 24/7 for a whole week?
It gets a wee bit expensive to feed them.

They are brothers who both play video games, they both want to play the same video game, at the same time.
This causes bickering and arguing over whose turn it is and for how long.
They have a computer to play WoW on, surf the net, whatever, and an Xbox360 to play a crapload of our other video games on, but in typical sibling fashion, they both always seem to want to play the exact same game at the exact same time.
Let the arguing begin!
After 24-48 hours of listening to that, yeah, I don't like it, but it doesn't mean that I want to send them away for their vacations, I love them, I do enjoy the good and fun times we have together while on their vacations.
We hang out and watch movies, we get to talk about anything and everything, we sit and laugh over really silly stuff, and we play games together.

I'm sorry if the post below sounded like, or seemed like I hate having them around.
I really don't hate having them around, I adore them even with all of the fighting and bickering, even if they eat everything in sight, even if I have to remind them a thousand times to shut off lights, fans, computers and video games when they are not being used.

The teens are probably THE best thing I've ever done in my life.
They have grown up to be really awesome young men, (even if they do bicker like all siblings do) they are kind, caring, and generous.
Generous of their time and with their love.
They are compassionate, empathetic, and incredibly loving.
So no, I don't want to send them away, I was just mentally preparing myself for the week to come, what was in store for me because of the whole sibling bickering that goes on.
I never want them to go away, even when they get older, which isn't too much longer now, I never want to spend a day when I don't see them or hear their voices.
They are my everything.

Posted by Kat at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The teens are officially on spring break from now until Monday the 13th, the day they go back.
It's going to be a very long 9 days of them eating everything in sight, saying how bored they are, fighting and bickering, playing video games, fighting over video games, and so on.

I'm already tired just thinking about it.
I'll end up going food shopping at least 3 times during the 9 days due to excess food and milk consumption, I'll have to remind them repeatedly to shut off lights, fans, video games and computers, so they don't waste electricity and my money, and I'll probably break up at least a dozen arguments.

I feel a headache coming on.

Posted by Kat at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm not a big fan of her, but Suze Orman was on the Oprah show today, and she had a recession rescue plan for people, because things are really starting to get very, very bad for everyone.
She says to be greatful for what you have, not what you had.
That you need to really cut back on your expenses in order to survive this crisis.
Cable? Gone.
Cell phone? Cut those bills as much as possible.
Home phone? Ditch it if you can.
Eating out? Stop doing that, and so much more words of advice.
I really recommend you read the article I linked if you're starting to feel the crunch, or worrying about when it's going to hit you, and it will hit you.

Oprah had people on there today who had done everything right, had savings and retirement plans, kept their bills low, only used credit cards for emergencies, paid those cards off as soon as they got the bills, paid more on their mortgages, and paid all of their bills in full every single month.
Then the husband got laid off.
Then the wife.
Neither of them could find another job in their field or any job for that matter.
One of the husbands even tried to get jobs at all of the fast food places in town, and none of them would hire him, too over-qualified, plus, they couldn't afford to hire anyone else and were letting people go themselves.
Both the husband and wife had now been out of work for 1 full year, had gone through all of their savings, were having to dip into their retirement accounts, using their credit cards to keep the lights on and buy groceries, and now were in debt to their credit card holders.
And they had done everything right.

Those of us who live paycheck to paycheck, man, we're gonna be screwed when this gets worse, and Suze is convinced it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
She had been on the show in 2007, and told Oprah then that it was coming, start prepping, it's coming, and she was right.
Now she is saying "Things will get better, get worse. ... [In] the next two or three years, it will start to turn around," Suze says. "But I'm so sorry to say it will be, in my opinion, 2015 until every single person feels hopeful again."
That is a wicked long time friends, it's really time to get serious about this.
She says that we need to start living on half of what we bring home, that means really cutting out all of the extra stuff, cable, extra cell phones and cut those bills down, eating out, hair cuts, manicures/pedicures, going to the movies, cut all of your expenses down to half of what they are now, stash the other half, and don't use any of your credit cards, use cash for everything.

This is something I already do.
I don't have cable, I have a pre-paid cell phone that I only add money to it when I need it, I don't get hair cuts, I rarely ever get manicures, once every few months I'll get a pedicure because I can't take care of my feet myself, we rarely ever eat out, like maybe once a month, and I have cut down on all of my bills.
I am so strict with the teens about water and electricity usage, I make them take shorter showers, turn off all lights, computers and video games, fans, etc, when they leave rooms, there's no long distance on my home phone, only have it because I have dsl, but my expenses are super low.
I'm paying my monthly bills right now, and my water bill is $22.71, I got my electric bill down to $119.24, my phone bill is only $12.71 because I cut out all extras, my dsl bill is $28.95, I still can't pay that one online, but oh well.
We do have Netflix for entertainment, $14.99 per month, I pay for Xbox live which is $50.00 per year, and I also pay $14.99 per month for the teens to play WoW.
My total bill expenses are $217.75, that's not too bad at all.
Then I have all of the other stuff, cat food and litter, toiletries like toilet paper, shampoo/conditioner, soap, dish soap, laundry soap, etc etc.
I probably spend about $375.00 a month in bills and household expenses, plus my rent of course, I'll figure it all out to the penny using the monthly expense calculator from Suze Orman, which once you fill it all out honestly, it will give you advice on how much money you need to put away every single month in order to have at least an 8 month emergency fund for when things get really bad.
I plan on sitting down and doing this, getting all of my bills together, all of my income together, and figuring this out.
I don't want to be one of those people, one of those families, who are now living in tent cities because things have gotten so bad.
I really am worried about this stuff, I'm disabled, a single parent, I don't have a whole lot of income coming in, I wouldn't survive in a tent city with my health the way it is, I have to get a handle on my finances and really prepare myself for whatever is to come my way.
I don't like being a worry-wart, but things are bad out there people, and single moms have it even harder, we're doing this alone, we don't have a partner to get out there and try and find a job, that extra person's income to sock away for the emergency fund, it's just us, and it's frightening.

Posted by Kat at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is what was being handed out after school today at Riverview High school in Sarasota Florida.
They are allowed to do this, but they must stay on the sidewalks, public property, and not step onto school property at all.

The teens said that they were definitely on school property.
The school is doing a lot of construction and has built some sidewalks from the parking lot to the buildings, but these sidewalks are separate from the public sidewalk which runs the lentgh of Lords avenue in front of the school.
These people were on the school's sidewalks, the newly built sidewalks that go from the parking lot to the buildings.

They were yelling out to students to take one, Sebastian kept saying "No, no thank you, I'm an atheist, NO THANK YOU, NO", yet they continued to ask him to take one.
Mark took one to bring it home and show me what was happening.
I am NOT happy.

I called the school.
The secretary transferred me to the vice principal, I explained that they were on school property sidewalks, not the public sidewalks, and she asked me to hold 1 minute.
I was then transferred to the school police officer, who surprise (!) was not available, so I got a voice mailbox.

The school doesn't want to talk to me about this, they know those people should only be on public property, not school property, and they know that I know the laws regarding proselytizing at school.
As soon as the vice principal heard me say my name, people handing out bibles, and ON school property, she was all "uh, um, uh, hold please", because she knows that I am not going to let this drop.
I called back, demanded to speak to a person, not a machine, and they transferred me to the VP again.
I told her not to put me on hold again, she apologized, I said get them off school property, now, tell them to stay on the public sidewalks or I will come up there and film what they are doing the next time they are there, and take it to whoever it is that can make these people stop, and can also make you enforce the law to keep them off of school property.

I know that they have a right to do this, but NOT on the property, they cannot even step an inch onto the school property to hand out these bibles.
This kinda crap makes me so mad, it's just not ok with me that this is allowed at all.
Religion is a personal, private, family matter, and religion should never be pushed onto impressionable youths.
The students range in age from 14 to 19 at the high school, the only ones they can legally talk to are the 18 and 19 year olds, speaking to anyone under the legal age is not allowed, yet here they are, yelling at all of the students to take these bibles.

The teens said they have been doing this for the last few weeks, that is so not ok with me.

Posted by Kat at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Mindy and I took Sebastian to his appointment with the neuro for his migraines this afternoon.
He and I answered the doc's questions, and it was decided to remove him from one of the medicines, and increase the dosage on the other because it works better.
He won't be taking the Topamax any longer, but will increase the Propranolol to 3 times per day, with a 2 pill dose at night.
They seem to prevent the migraines from coming on better than the Topamax does, but if he still does get a migraine, to treat it with Tylenol or whichever OTC pain med works best for him.
The doc said that because he once again mentioned Excedrin Migraine, but it didn't work at all for Sebastian, so he told us to use what works best.

Before we even went in to see the doc, Sebastian was clutching his head, he usually gets migraines in the mid-afternoon or really early morning, so seeing as it was after 2pm, it was about right for one to come on.
The noise in the doc's waiting room didn't help matters.

I've had small kids, boys, I know how loud they can be when they play, but I don't know what has happened with this generation of mothers.
There were 3 young boys there, between ages 5-7, and all of them were running around, yelling, screaming, and making a total mess with the toys in the waiting area.
When I opened the door to enter, I had to step over toys that were right in front of the door with no one playing with them.
The mothers all just looked at me like it's perfectly ok to make other people step over your child's toy messes in front of a door at a doctor's office.
They had toys everywhere, yet they were only playing with a few of them.
Blocks here and there, trucks over there, more blocks over that way, just all over the place.
And they kept running around, jumping up and down, several times I had to pull my feet back because of their running around, I was afraid one of them was going to run across my foot, trip on it and land on it, or run by and kick me.

When it came time for them to leave, it was not the kids who picked up the toys, oh no, the mothers did.
All the mothers did while their children ran around making noises and messes, was sit there and gab with each other, they paid absolutely no attention to their kids at all.
They also gave their kids stickers and lollipops for "being good".

Excuse me?
That's being good?
Running around a doctor's office yelling and screaming, making messes with toys everywhere, not cleaning them up when finished, is considered being good?!
Sorry, but even at age 3, both of my sons picked up their toys when finished playing with them, and when in a public place like a doctor's office, they were only allowed to play with one toy at a time, when finished with it, put it away, and then they could play with something else.
They also knew not to run around, yell and scream.
They knew that when we were in public, they had to be on their best behavior, use manners, clean up their toys, and use indoor voices.

We were only in there about 5 minutes, before Sebastian had to leave and go wait in the hallway where it was quieter, and when it was his turn, I called him to come in.
One mother even totally lost control of her kid while we were in with the doc, and the kid came running down that hallway, yelling and screaming as he went.
What is wrong with today's mothers?
Don't they know that they have to teach their kids to behave when in public?
If they want their kids to act like that at home, fine, but when in public, your kid needs to be on their best behavior, indoor voices, no running, no making a mess, and teach them to clean it up.
This isn't your living room, it's a doctor's office.
Teach them to behave when in public, it's not ok to let your child run around in a waiting room, there are other people there besides you and your kid.

Posted by Kat at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

See that?
That is a $1 authorization charge on my credit card for Apple's iTunes. (scroll down to the $1 charge FAQ)
I DON'T HAVE AN iTUNES ACCOUNT!
I have never had an iTunes account, the teens don't have an iTunes account, they also use a totally different computer, no access to my credit cards, and no access to my computer's saved information, this is a fraudulent charge.

So, I try and contact Apple from the 866 number you see on the charge.
It's a recorded message that tells you to go to this support page for Apple iTunes.
As you can see, that page says support/itunes/store/creditcard/.
They don't have a live person you can contact for support, you have to use their chat window, and talk to people who type slower than molasses on a cold winter day.
It took 10 minutes for "Tremain" to finally type out the number to speak to someone in Apple's fraud department.

I called that number and got a recorded message saying that it could take several business days for someone to call me back regarding the fraudulent charge on my card.
Actually, not someone, just 1 someone, a man named Robert.
1 guy handles ALL of the fraud issues for credit cards and Apple iTunes.
1 guy.

So I called my credit/debit card holder, Amscot.
I asked what I should do, I explained everything, and the woman I spoke to said the only thing that we can do is to cancel that card.
I can't cancel it right now, my SSDI gets direct deposited to it at midnight tomorrow night, I have all of my rent and bills to pay, plus my doctor co-pays and prescriptions.
Then I asked how long it would take to get a new card sent to me after this card gets canceled.
7-10 business days.
I asked if they had like a rush delivery service, to get it overnight or much faster, she said yes, but it will cost me $26.00 to get a new card in 4 days.
The number on the card will change, but my checking account and routing number will not change, which is good, because I have money that gets direct deposited to it every other week and once a month.

A few months ago, this same thing happened but with some other online company, I think it was Best Buy and some promo they were doing, but a ton of credit card numbers had been stolen from compromised data from a grocery store.
I think that's what happened with this one too.
And guess which store I shopped at within the last month?
Sweetbay.
Sweetbay is the same store that my PayPal debit card got compromised at, I don't shop there all of the time, but about 1 month ago, I went and did some light shopping there because I was at the CVS picking up Sebastian's medicine for his migraines, and didn't feel like going all the way back to my Publix.

So now I have to get an all new card.
I'm tired of having to do this, and if I find out that it is because of Sweetbay not protecting their data again, or some Sweetbay employee stealing credit and debit card numbers, I'm going to be pissed.

Posted by Kat at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The teens are off to school, Sebastian has his note to get out early because he has his neuro appointment this afternoon, and poor Mark had insomnia again all night, yet had to go to school by law because we are still waiting on his graduation test results.
It is SO stupid that he has to go, sit there, and do absolutely nothing all day long.
It infuriates me.

Today is April 1st, April Fool's day, and the internet is officially useless today.
Youtube is showing all videos upside down, Google's Gmail is doing their usual stupid April Fool's Day jokes, people are linking to the usb pet rock, again, this year, and I'm sure there will be many more absolutely stupid jokes posted all over the internet by major sites, blogs, forums, and whoever just thinks they are oh so clever.
I can't stand it.
I absolutely hate stupid humor, I can't watch Will Ferrel movies because of all the stupid humor jokes and such.
Today on the internet, is going to suck for me and people like me who just hate the dumb jokes.
It is officially useless internet day.

Posted by Kat at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)