My Single Mom Life

There really hasn't been much going on around here, just lazy summer days and nights.
Like last night, we were all just sitting around playing our video games, Mark on WoW, Sebastian on the xbox playing GH, and I was out here playing Sims3, when we heard something hit our door.
It freaked all of us out wicked bad, so Mark goes and grabs a big knife from the kitchen, and he and I cautiously try to look out the front window.
We had no idea what hit the door, if someone threw something, if that someone was still out there, so we were a bit scared.

Mark peaks out the window, doesn't see anything, so we decide to open the door carefully.
We see one of our trashcans laying in front of the door, but we also notice that the winds are wild, just blowing in all directions, and we realize that it was the wind that blew the can up against our door, not a person.
We felt totally stupid, but better safe than sorry I suppose.

Within a few minutes of putting the trash can back and closing the house back up, the winds picked up even more, the rain, thunder, and lightening started, and we even got some small hail.
The power started flickering off and on too, so I shut down my computer for the night and went to bed on the couch in case the power went out fully, I wanted to be able to get up and light the candles and stuff.

This morning when I got up, I came over and hit the power button to start my computer back up, and it wouldn't start, I wasn't even getting the power on lights, nothing.
I thought 'oh crap, we must have had a power surge last night and it fried my computer'.
I had to pee wicked bad, so I went to the bathroom and when I came back out I tried to get it started again.
Still nothing, no lights, no beeps, nothing.
I was starting to freak out, what if it's dead I thought?
That would be a wicked bad thing, I work on my computer, so I need it to work.
I reached around the back and pulled out the power cord and plugged it back in, maybe just maybe, it was loose or something.
Yup, that's all it was, thank goodness, as soon as I plugged it back in and hit the power button, the lights came on and it booted back up.
I have no idea how the power cord got loose, but somehow it did.
I'll have to keep an eye on that, check to make sure it's in nice and secure every now and then, I almost had a panic attack at the thought of my computer being dead.

Posted by Kat at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sebastian and I went and got his hair cut at the corner barber shop this afternoon, he said it was just far too hot for long hair, so off it came.
We got his ears lowered, the barber knew exactly what we meant when we asked for that.
He looks much better, although I think his hair looks awesome when it's long.
It's a beautiful blond color, shiny, smooth, wish it was my hair.
He said that it feels much better, he'll grow it out again now for a year like he always does, and then we'll cut it off again next summer.

Then we went out to Publix to get some more food, the teens are eating a lot again, and we found the mouse that Carmine the kitty loves to play with, way up high on a store shelf.
I had to buy another one because he tore the last one of these Scratch Rattle and Roll Scratcher Mice to shreds.
He clawed and chewed at it non-stop until he got the 2 hidden bags of catnip out, and then proceeded to rip all of the stuffing out.
Every time I tried to throw it out, he sat at the garbage can and meowed until I got it back out, so now he has a new 1.
He's currently curled up in a ball laying right next to it with a paw on it, like he's hugging it.
When I put the new 1 on the floor and took the old 1 away, he looked at me like 'hey! wait just a minute, that's my mouse!', but then he saw the new 1, smelled it, realized there were 2 new bags of nip stuffed inside, and immediately began licking and chewing at the sisal back to get at it.
The other cats love the mouse too, but he really loves it.
He will chew on it and lick at it, until he gets the bags of nip, rips them open, eats his fill, and then he lets the other kitties chow down on some nip too.
One the last mouse, he also chewed the tail until he ripped through the fabric, bit through the plastic ball, and got whatever was inside of that out.
I have no idea what made the tail rattle, we never found the insides, just the demolished plastic ball that held whatever it was.
I think he may have eaten the tail ball contents.

Tonight while eating dinner, we watched Nothing But the Truth.
This was a most excellent film.
Reporter Rachel Armstrong gets a tip that a woman is a CIA operative, she writes a story, the paper she works at prints it.
The government now wants to know her source.
She refuses, and normally, this would be protected, the right to not reveal her source, but due to a 1982 law, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, if Rachel does not reveal her source, she faces jail time.
She chooses not to reveal her source which sets things in motion for her and the person whose identity she revealed.
It is only at the very end of the film that we learn who her source is, and wow, I was so not expecting that.
You should definitely add this 1 to your Netflix queue, it's really good.

Ok, I'm gonna goof off and play Sims for awhile.
Later days.

Posted by Kat at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After my MRI, we (Mindy wasn't feeling well, so her husband Chris and her son Jeff brought me. Thanks guys!) went to the satellite office for the school to pick up the diplomas like the school said to do.
They said that diplomas could be picked up between 10am and 2pm Monday through Friday.
So we get there and we find out that diplomas can now only be picked up on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7am to 11am.
Do you know much fun that's going to be?
The parents of some 900 students all trying to pick up diplomas on just 2 days in just 4 hours.
Ha ha ha! Oh man, that's going to be so much fun!
Not!
If they knew that the school was going to be closed due to construction, they should have set up the satellite office hours for more time.
4 hours is simply not enough time to do all of those students in just 2 days.
People have to work, they have schedules to keep, so standing in a long line is going to piss a lot of people off.
Good going RHS!
_________________________

I had posted about the graduation photography companies and the trouble I had not getting notified on time when they said, or being able to look at his pictures on their site because I didn't have the password they were supposed to email, and that they did not answer emails either, and Tim, one of the customer service guys, had Googled the company looking for public perception of the company, and found my blog.
He left a comment which turned into a series of emails between he and myself, and Tim really went above and beyond to rectify the situation and make me happy with their service.

Tim sent me a package of pictures, several different sizes, the different quality papers they use, and some of the nice picture folder frames they have too.
The pictures came by UPS while I was out this morning.
The pictures are really great quality even though it's the picture of him not looking at the camera.
There were 2 shots, 1 of him being handed his diploma and not looking, and the other of him by himself holding his diploma and looking.
I could have sworn I told Tim to send that one, but then again, their site was having issues the day I sent him the email responding to his offer of pictures, so maybe I sent him the wrong link to the picture that I wanted.
Not a big deal, I will order some of the correct pictures next month when I have more money, especially now that I know they are really good quality images.
Also, Bob Knight Photo and Grad Images, are now just 1 company, not 2, so parents in the future will only need to pre-register at 1 of the sites for their images.
Tim said that this graduation season was very chaotic, they had several Sarasota high school's graduations on the same day, over 3,000 students between the schools, and things ended up not going according to plan otherwise they would have definitely emailed within 24-48 hours like they said.
So even though things got really screwed up initially, Tim went above and beyond to make sure that their customers are happy with the pictures.
So thanks Tim, it's much appreciated.

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

Leaving in about 20 minutes to go get the MRI that Doc still wants me to have done, and then off to the high school to pick up Mark's diploma.
Sebastian needs to get a haircut, too, I'm trying to talk him into going now, we could drop him off when we head out, but as usual, the 2 of them are coming up with a million excuses as to why they should wait and go do it with me instead of on their own.
I don't know why, but they get super embarrassed having to do things like haircuts and stuff like that without me going with them.

Ok, gotta finish getting ready.
Later days!

Posted by Kat at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of sleep that is.
I had insomnia last night and then babysat my nieces for most of the day today, from 10:30am to 4pm, and I'm wiped out.
Sorta.
I took a quick 1 hour nap after we all ate lunch, I was passing out in my chair, but once I woke up, that was it, I'm back to being wide awake again.
I can't sleep again, but the teens?
They passed out right after the girls went home, that's how worn out they are from taking care of 2 little ones all day.

Susan and Skye are typical siblings, they fight over stuff, they instigate each other, they tattle on each other, and they love getting the other into trouble by instigating and then tattling.
I'm still not sure exactly what happened, but from watching how they were interacting most of the morning, I am pretty sure that Skye did something to set Susan off.
It's hot, everyone was hot and cranky, the intense heat makes you tired, (the temp was about 93 with a heat index of 110) and so Susan who gets upset easily anyway, kinds lost it for about 3 minutes.
She had a minor meltdown, and it really was minor compared to some of the others she's thrown, so I just kept trying to talk to her (she's 6) about why she was upset.
She did some screaming, threw some stuff which I made very clear to her that she is never allowed to do at my house, she shed a few tears, and then I asked her if she was done.
She said yes and we got back to playing and watching movies.
Minor.

Seeing as the teens are asleep and there's nothing at all worth watching on tv, I think I'm going to reboot and load up the Sims of Sunset Valley.
It's time to get their lives fully in gear, they are engaged, now it's time to get them married, make it all official, and then work on their careers and lifetime wishes a bit more.

Oh, gotta go pick up Mark's diploma tomorrow after my MRI.
Mindy has to get Jeff's, too, so she's taking me to my MRI, and then we'll go get their diplomas.
Later days!

Posted by Kat at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have wicked insomnia again, nothing new there, but I hate how it's always the worst insomnia on the nights before I have things to do.
Like today, I am babysitting my nieces all day, and here I am, going to be doing it on absolutely no sleep at all.
It's ok though, I'm kind of used to being dead tired and having to do stuff.
The girls will be fine though, I'm sure of it.
Kids always behave worse for their parents than they do for anyone else, so I'm sure they will be great for me, and then they go home and drive my sister crazy.

Seeing as how I couldn't sleep, I stayed up and did more with my Sims.
They live in Sunset Valley, so because I know that I'll be doing some Sims posts once their stories start going, I've added a new category for them.
I didn't get a whole lot done story-wise because the customization tools are just awesome.
I love how you can take any pattern and color from any piece of furniture, wallpaper, marble counter tops, whatever, and place it on a completely different item.
Your entire house can match perfectly because of this, so I have been messing around with the customization tool and making things match.
I found the most awesome re-color set from Parsimonious, it's called Gotharama, and so I took the patterns and colors of the chairs and coffee tables, and placed it on the dining chairs, the bar stools, the table and counter tops, because the down stairs is an open floor plan and I wanted it all to match.
The walls are a gray-violet color and the carpet is a gray color, and it looks amazing.
My Sims are so totally happy with their house, their mood icon, whenever they are downstairs, is at the highest it can be, and the message says "Kat and Tony love their exquisitely decorated home."
And speaking of home, I took a couple pictures of their house to show you.

The house came with that fence around it, but I'm going to remove it, I don't like it.
The house at night taken from the waterfall side of the property.

It's really quite amazing, the graphics are incredible, you can zoom all the way in and it doesn't get blurry or pixelated, it just looks fantastic.
I love this game because it gives me the chance to create, to decorate, to do interior design and I love doing that.
Sebastian used to get mad at me because I would spend hours and hours building and decorating a home, but now he understands why.
When your sims are totally happy in their surroundings, they are happy with every other part of their life too.
If the living room, for example, is flawless and beautiful, if they are in there flirting or being romantic in front of the fireplace, their happiness over the beautiful home helps them be happier in their relationship.
The good mood is contagious, they do everything else better if they are happy.

I guess I'm going to go back and play for awhile again.
My nieces are coming around 10:30, and if I try to sleep now, it will be impossible for me to wake up later.

Posted by Kat at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We remember.

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

I love how fast the turn-around is with Netflix, I send movies back and get my new ones within 24 hours.
I sent back Gran Torino which was pretty good, not what I was expecting, certainly not the "OMG! This movie is so freaking awesome!" that many other people were saying, but it was decent.
I also sent back Friday the 13th the 2009 remake, and it was actually pretty decent.
Lots of killings, some good gore, and finally, Jason moves at a decent clip.
I always hated that about these kinds of movies, our victims are running for their lives, seriously hauling ass, and here's our killer, walking at a snails pace.
Jason moves quickly, strikes quickly, and has some serious brutal strength in him, which makes his kills all the better,

I sent those back on Thursday, so today, we got the next 2 in my queue.
We got and watched Taking Chance which was excellent, wow, seriously excellent.
Kevin Bacon plays Lt. Col. Mike Strobl in the movie based on the true story of his voluntary escort of a fallen marine, PFC. Chance Phelps.
The movie is about him escorting the body of a fallen marine home to be delivered to his family for the funeral.
It is probably one of the most moving films I have seen in a long time.
The absolute care and attention to detail that our armed forces go through to get the bodies home, is amazing and beautiful.
They clean the bodies and personal affects meticulously, they dress the marines in their uniforms flawlessly, and the journey home is verified every step of the way, and honors are rendered at every single stop.
It was really a beautiful and touching movie, even the teens were touched by this one.
I may not support the war, but I always support the brave men and women who so freely give of themselves to serve, to protect my rights, and I found all of the rituals and things they do to bring the soldiers home the perfect way to show respect and gratitude toward these fine and brave people.
You should definitely add Taking Chance to your Netflix queue, or rent it at your fave video store soon, you will not be disappointed in this movie at all.

I also got Nothing But the Truth, we haven't watched it yet though, but every review I read said that it was really good.
I'll watch it tomorrow night after my nieces go home, it'll give me a chance to rest up, I'm sure they are going to tire me out big time. ha ha

I'm finally able to get going working on a storyline for my Sims.
I was so overwhelmed when I went into CAS (create-a-sim) to start designing my sims, there is just so much to do in there, every bit of your sim is customizable, you can make them look exactly how you want, there are so many controls, but anyway, I was so overwhelmed and I needed to give her a name, so I just named her Kat so I could spend the next several hours designing her, her clothes, and getting a house, and designing and decorating it.
But now that the house is done, (well mostly, I keep changing things I don't like as I go) I can start working on her life.
Her lifetime wish is to be a world famous chef, so she's cooking a lot, getting new recipes, working at a diner, (she's now a skill level 7 cook, and she got promoted to prep cook, yeuss!) and coming up with ways to cook all of the fish she's catching in the pond right behind her house at the base of the waterfall.
I really need to take some pics of her house and property, it's amazing.
She wakes up every morning to the most incredible sunrises and the view of the waterfall.
She is at total peace and criminally happy at home.
It actually says things like that, "Kat is having so much fun it's criminal!" when you hover over her mood meter.

She met Tony Stark when he came into the diner to eat, (another Simmer created Tony Stark from Iron Man, and uploaded him for download on the Sims3 site. I downloaded him because he looks good. I'm better at designing female sims rather than male sims) and he needed a place to live where he could have a room and a place for his telescope and science experiments, and because Kat lives way up in the mountains far away from everyone, she let hm move in as her roommate.
Over the course of the next few weeks, he started flirting with her, and they spent a lot of time together, so the natural course of things happened, and they fell in love.
Last night after Kat got home from work and went to sleep for awhile, she got back up and came downstairs for a little midnight snack.
Right there in the living room while still in her sleepwear, Tony got down on bended knee.
You can click for bigger.

Now her life is really getting started, she's happy, she has a great job, she's in love, all I have to do is keep her from getting knocked up because EA still has not created birth control methods for your sims.
If you're not careful, you could end up having a dozen kids, so their woo-hooing will be kept to a minimum if I can help it, and I'll keep my fingers crossed she doesn't end up pregnant.
She has a life goal man, getting pregnant would totally screw that up right now.

Posted by Kat at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It absolutely amazes me just how many people still are not ready for the DTV switch, they've had over 2 years to get ready for it.
There's an article in Business Week magazine about the millions left behind, and the many reasons *cough excuses cough* that they did not get ready.
The elderly I can understand, a lot of them don't even know how to set the clock on a VCR, so setting up a converter box and getting the right antenna is a bit more confusing for them, and the cable companies know that so they wasted no time in convincing the elderly that they had to get cable or they would not be able to watch their shows.

But other people?
People like the Ortez family mentioned in the article?
Sorry, but I have no sympathy for them.
They are both on unemployment and receiving some help benefits, and they watch Law & Order, so I know because I'm a fan of the show myself, that the DTV commercials aired a minimum of 5 times per broadcast of the show.

They (the Ortez family) thought they needed to pay for cable to get digital service. "We are on public assistance and we really can't afford to get cable," says Ortez. "I didn't know, until I saw last week in the newspaper, that I could get one of those boxes."

The couple was also confused by the delay in the transition. They thought the government decision to postpone meant they didn't need to take action. "We had heard that the whole thing got canceled back in January," says Ortez. "We didn't realize they were still going to do it until last week."

Ortez says he hopes not to be without TV for long. He's trying to get his hands on a converter box so that he and his wife can start watching shows again soon. "Being that we are unemployed and at home so much it keeps us entertained and up with current events," said Ortez. "TV is such a big part of our lives. It's always been there for us. Now we can't even watch TV, it's really crazy."

I knew about it (the switch) for 2.5 years because I was watching tv and saw the commercials, I signed up for the coupon, got it, tried it with my antenna, realized that I needed a better antenna, and bought one.
I bought a Philips MANT950 Amplified HDTV Indoor/Outdoor Urban/Suburban Antenna, and it works perfectly now that the switch is in full swing.
Up until the switch happened, some channels worked better than others, I didn't have some channels for a long time, but now I have all of the missing channels and then some.
And they are telling us to keep re-scanning our converter boxes because approximately 10 new channels are supposed to be added in the coming months.
I paid $65.99 for it on sale, it's normally $75.99, and it's currently out of stock at every online retailer I've checked because people are realizing they are needing a much more powerful antenna than their old rabbit ears, but if you need 1 of these, and I highly recommend it if you have a converter box and not getting great reception, you can sign up to be notified when Buy.com gets them back in stock and puts them on sale.
I had a Terk low profile antenna before the switch, but it just wouldn't work well through the concrete walls we have here, so I had to get a new antenna.

We tried hooking it up inside the house first, but again, it just would not pull the digital signals through the concrete, so my sister hooked it up outside, and now it works perfect.
We do get some sun spot issues in the afternoon, but we had that with the analog too.
Other than that, I am really pleased with digital tv.
It's a very clear and crisp quality image, and the sound is great too.
When friends come over, they think that we have cable because of how perfect the picture and sound are.
I get approximately 35 channels with the antenna and converter box, so really, why pay an arm and a leg for Comcast cable when it's this good?
The coupon was for $40, so I paid $9.99 + tax for the converter box, and the antenna was $65.99, so I paid less than $100 in total to be able to watch digital tv on 35 + channels, instead of paying Comcast anywhere from $9.99 per month (only for the 1st 6 months then it goes to $19.99 per month) for their lowest basic cable package, which is nothing but the local broadcast channels, up to $199.99 per month for their cable, internet, and phone premier package.
I pay $20 per month for phone, and $19.99 for DSL, and I'm still paying less than any of Comcast's bundle packages.
I never have to pay anything for my tv again, just phone and internet, so paying about $80.00 up front for the box and antenna is a much better deal than getting cable, and the biggie, I don't have to deal with their super crappy customer service either.

Posted by Kat at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

WFLA announced back in April that veteran news reporter Bill Ratliff would be retiring in June, next Friday will be his last day at WFLA channel 8 NBC.
Taking over as the only news desk reporter, will be the horribly annoying and goofy, Gayle Guyardo.
They used to have 2 reporters at the news desk every morning, Ratliff and Guyardo, but once he leaves, she will be at the desk for both the morning and noon news broadcasts by herself.
Weather reporter Jennifer Hill, and traffic reporter Alicia Roberts, will be doing both of these broadcasts with her, they will still be doing the weather and traffic, but Guyardo will be doing the news alone.
I won't be watching.

When we first moved here 12 years ago this month, channel 8 is the news station that we started watching and have been watching ever since.
For years now, I have been hoping that Gayle would be the reporter to leave when the rumors would start about a reporter leaving or being let go.
Nope, it's never her.
Back in March, they let go of sports anchor Dave Reynolds (and 52 other employees!) who was a very enjoyable sports anchor, and I don't even like sports!
In May 2008, they let go of weather reporter Mace Michaels, another reporter cut for economic reasons.
Michaels was only 9 months into a 3-year contract with WFLA when they decided to break the contract and cut him.
The station's news director was quoted as saying, "This is just about money; it's not about Mace."
At least there wasn't a non-compete clause in his contract, he was free to work for another station, and he's now doing the weather in Iowa for KGAN CBS 2.

But WFLA has this totally screwed up thinking when it comes to cutting the budget.
They know that they have to let people go in order to face these hard economic times, but they are also in a very competitive market for the morning news time slot.
There are quite a few really good morning news programs in the Tampa Bay area, so cutting the veteran news reporters, sports, and weather reporters, because they get paid more, may just be the stupidest thing they could have ever done.
The viewers like Bill Ratliff, we don't like Gayle Guyardo, and it's pretty evident from reading the few comments on the article about Ratliff retiring.
People said things like;
*Good luck Bill and thanks! I only wish it had been Gayle, Jennifer & Alicia!
*Will really miss Bill in the early a.m., doubt I will keep watching those silly women-too much fluff.
*I agree with MaryAnn from Pinellas -doubt I will keep watching those silly women PERIOD.
*Now that Bill is going, I'd like to see more of Alicia and less Gayle.
*Just to say that when you you let Bill walk out the door for last time, that's when I stop watching WFLA. the girls are to much. Gail is the one that need to go.
*I realize I don't know you personally but, geez, you will be missed. The women are too silly to put up with without you.
---------------
I cannot stand Gayle Guyardo, I really can't stand her.
At least she's somewhat more entertaining when she's 3 sheets to the wind shitfaced at the Gasparilla parade.
That's a youtube video of an audio recording of how drunk she was, live and on air.
She claims she had the flu and was on medication.
Oh sweetie, there's not a single rational human being on the planet who believes that line of bullshit.

Those comments that said the girls are silly, are correct, and Gayle is the silliest of all.
She's not a good reporter, she's always stumbling over her words, she giggles a lot during the news, she giggles during serious news stories.
She comes off as a bubbly airhead, and it's very distracting to try and pay attention to the news story when the reporter has this giant and stupid looking grin on her face, and she's laughing between every single story.
Then you put the 3 women together and oh my, it's like a group of young teenage girls having a sleepover, getting dressed in mommy's pearls, and pretending to be news reporters and then laughing at how silly they look and sound in the mirror.
It's just awful.
This morning, Gayle wasn't there, but Alicia and Jennifer kept up the silliness without her.
At the end of the broadcast, Alicia pulls out a couple of swim float tubes, and starts waving them around and in front of Bill Ratliff's face, and she and Hill are laughing like a couple of idiots.
They are always laughing, always giggling about something, and always saying some really stupid joke, it's annoying.
I watch the news to get the news, not to see a group of grown women who are supposed to deliver that news, act like teenagers and goofing off from 5-7am 5 days a week.

Yes, when Bill Ratliff is gone, I will be too.
I'll probably jump around and check out Fox 13's Good Day morning show, then ABC Action News's morning show, I'll give the Daily Buzz another try, and now that the DTV switch has gone through, I have a bunch of other station choices too, but nope, I will not be watching channel 8 WFLA anymore after Bill Ratliff leaves.
Gayle Guyardo makes me want to punch puppies.

I also wanted to say that Gayle must have some sort of ace in the hole, if you know what I mean, in order to not only keep her job, but be promoted to being the only reporter at the news desk for both the morning and noon broadcasts.
Media General has got to know that she is a terrible reporter, she fumbles her words, laughs way too much, makes inappropriate comments to her co-workers on air, and is really kind of just plain stupid.
And after what happened at Gasparilla last year, totally wasted on live television, so wasted that they had to cut to the parade way more than they usually do instead of showing Bill and Gayle in the booth because she was visibly drunk, slumping in her chair, hanging on Bill, and looking like she was going to pass out at any second.
Yes, Gasparilla is a good time, there are beer vendors everywhere along the parade route, people get drunk during the parade, but Bill and Gayle were on duty, they were working, they were being broadcast live during the entire parade, she should not have gotten drunk, heck, she should not have even had 1 single beer!

All of her bad behavior and shitty job as a reporter, makes a lot of people in the Tampa Bay area wonder who at Media General is protecting her job, and why.

Posted by Kat at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Another night of insomnia just passed, the sun is coming up, another blinding sunny and hot day.
A perfect day to stay inside and try to get some rest later on.
Just take a small nap, I should probably try for more than a few hours, but then I won't be able to try and sleep tonight.

But it was a good thing I was wide awake again, my friend Dustin called around 2am, his friend had called him, a bit too inebriated to drive home, so Dustin took a cab over to the bar to pick him and his car up because his friend didn't want to leave his car in the bar parking lot all night, and then Dustin was gonna drive home and bring his friend his car in the morning.
Problem!
The car is a 2007 Nissan Altima, it has that whole push button key fob power start stuff, so when Dustin drove his friend home and dropped him off, his friend took the key fob in the house.
The car will run without the key in the ignition, but the key fob/key has to be within 6 feet of the car or else it drops to idle and you end up only being able to drive a bit further before it stops.

Yup, you guessed it!
When he dropped his friend off at home, his friend had the key fob/key in his pocket, so Dustin was only able to drive about 2.5 miles before the car dropped to idle and he needed a place to go quickly.
His friend lives over here near us, so Dustin called and apologized like crazy for waking me if he did, but he knows I don't sleep hardly ever, so I told him if he can get the car here to come here, I'd turn the porch light on.
He was able to make it here, so I let him crash on the couch for the night, but we stayed up just talking about life and stuff all night.
He called his friend before he went to sleep and told him what was going on and that his friend would need to get here in the morning, and he did.
He must live super close by, because he called Dustin around 6:15, said he was on the way, and just 10 minutes later he was here, and he had walked.
Sebastian was awake all night with us, Mark had gone to sleep around 10pm or so, he said he was just really tired after that whole thunderstorm fright we had last night.

Around 5am, I made some cinnamon rolls for all of us in the NuWave Oven, it was my first time making them in it, but they came out perfect because I figured out how to cook them exactly the right way.
You use your two 8-inch round cake pans, spray some Pam onto both so the rolls don't stick, and in one of the pans, place all of the rolls top side down.
You know it's top side because they put all of the extra cinnamon on the top side.
Place the cake pan in the middle on top of your 4-inch rack, and put the power head dome on.
Press the cooking power button once for high power, (350 degrees), then press the cooking time button, then the # 4, then press start.
When the 4 minutes has ended, remove the dome, and then take your other 8-inch cake pan that you got ready, and place it open side on top, and then flip the pans over dumping the rolls from the bottom pan to the top pan, and now the tops of the cinnamon rolls are right side up.
Place this pan in the middle of the 4-inch cooking rack, put the power head dome on, press cooking power once for high power, then cooking time once, then the #4, and press start.

They came out soooo good!
They actually came out better than they normally do in the regular oven.
Dustin was really surprised just how well it cooks and now bakes, he's more amazed with it every time he sees it or tastes the food I cook with it.
A few of the times he's come over to just say hello, I've just gotten done making something, and I always offer my guests some of what we have, and he loves my cooking, and the NuWave is seriously making me an even better cook, and now I'm learning to bake in it.
I will have to check the recipe books to see if we can make brownies in it.

Ok, I am going to try and lay down, get a short nap in today, no longer than 3 hours.
Anything longer than that if I fall asleep, and I won't be able to fall asleep again for another full sleep cycle.
later days!

Can't stop sleeping awake - P.O.D.

Posted by Kat at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sebastian and I had decided to take a walk up to the corner store around 7:30pm last night, it had stopped raining, the sun was back out, so off we went.
When we reached the parking lot of the store, it started to rain again, and by the time we left just a few minutes later, it was coming down pretty hard.

We got about halfway down the street when it got much, much worse, the winds picked up, the rain was coming at us from all directions, and it was a mix of hot and cold rain.
Coming from the west, it was freezing cold, giant splashing rain drops, from the east, it was bath-water warm and small stinging size rain drops.

The whole time it was thundering and lightening, and the lightening just coming and coming, one after another, giant flashes, all of the soaking wet hairs on my arms were standing up, I could feel every bit of electricity in each strike inside my body.
It was absolutely crazy and I was absolutely terrified!

We were almost home, just one more block to go, the winds were still whipping, the rain was still coming down now in 55 gallon drum sized drops, and we see mark coming running toward us with no shoes on.
He's screaming something but we can't hear him through the wind and rain, he reaches us, yells at Sebastian to just run home, he'll take care of me, just go, go now he's yelling, so Sebastian started running home across the neighbors lawns.

Mark wrapped one arm around my waist and grabbed my hand with his other, and started leading me very rapidly down the street.
I asked him what the hell was going on, where did this weather come from, why was he out here, why did he tell Sebastian to run home, I was now totally confused and freaking out.

He said that lightening had been striking near our house over and over, so he came out and switched the tv to one of the 24 hour weather channels, and they said that very strong and severe thunderstorms were rapidly moving through the area, and to get indoors as hail was being reported.
He said he looked at the live radar map, the storm was heading straight for us, what Sebastian and I had just walked home through was nothing compared to what was coming in the next couple of minutes, so he decided to come get us and get us home as quickly as he could.

He told me all of this while he practically pushed and dragged me home, he was making me run as quickly as I could go which isn't very fast, but it's a lot faster than I normally can go, and just as we got in the house and grabbed some towels to start drying off, we heard the hail starting to pelt the windows and sides of the house.
I looked back out the window, and while they weren't huge hail pieces, about the size of a pea, there were a lot of them, it looked like it was snowing, and the wind and rain were blowing them in all directions.
We all got out of our wet clothes and I lit some candles just in case the power went out, it was flickering, our internet went in and out a couple of times, and the storm was over about 45 minutes later.

I am so glad that Mark came and got us, made us walk a lot faster to get here, or we would have gotten pelted with the hail.
We were walking fast, as fast as I can go on my own, but we figured that we were already wet, so running or trying to run home wouldn't change the amount of wet that we were.
It was very freaky though feeling all of that electricity in my back though, my soaked arm hairs were standing up, it felt very weird, but at least I wasn't getting struck by the lightening.
I am starting to think though, that the housing place across from our house has a lightening rod in the back of the property.
While sitting here watching the lightening out the front window from my chair, I could see it striking in that direction repeatedly.
I guess it's a good idea to have one when we have so many storms here during hurricane season, but it's kind of unnerving to have the lightening striking so close to us like that.
I've never seen it do this before though, the rod may be new to the property this year, there has been a ton of construction over there all winter long.

Posted by Kat at 1:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm a huge fan of the new Purex 3-in-1 laundry detergent/fabric softener/anti-static laundry sheets, they make doing laundry so super easy, and they smell incredible.
They work just as well as the liquid detergents in my opinion, and I like them so much, I picked up 2 of the refill packages when I went shopping last night.
I like that I can just grab a laundry sheet, toss it in the washer with the clothes, and then just toss the clothes and the sheet into the dryer.
I don't have to add any liquid fabric softener to the dispenser in the washing machine, I don't have to throw any fabric softener sheets into the dryer either, just 1 easy step for clean and great smelling clothes.

Now Purex 3-in-1 laundry detergent has teamed up with Kiva to create the Purex Changes Lives Program.
It is so simple to help change someone's life!
Kiva, Purex 3-in-1, and YOU, will help moms around the world who are struggling to provide for their families.
When you submit the bar code from the back of your 20-count starter kit or 24-count refill pack of Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, Purex will contribute $1 to the mom entrepreneur of your choice, allowing you to make a difference in the developing world and help empower a mom to lift her family out of poverty.
See?
Easy!
I bought the two 24 count refill kits yesterday, so that's $2 that will be contributed to the mom of my choice.

When you go to the site, you can choose how you want to help by sector, that means to see the moms by what they need to raise their family out of poverty.
The sectors are things like agriculture, clothing, food, retail, arts, housing, construction, and more.
After choosing a sector, you then click on the dots and read the mom's description of what she needs the loan for.
For example, they may need the supplies and cookware to make food items to sell, which will then be turned around to continue buying the ingredients to keep making food to sell, and enough money to support her family.
Or the mom may need the loan to buy fabric and a sewing machine to make sarongs to sell, which turns around and buys more fabric, thread, and other supplies, and supports her family.
Each dot represents a mom, her loan need, and the amount she needs to borrow.
I saw loans as small as $75, and loans as high as $525, but I didn't look at every single loan in every single category yet.

Right now, I have 2 refill packages, so that's $2 to loan to a mom, so I need to spend some time going through the loan requests, find one that just feels right to me, and then enter the bar codes from my packages, and the $2 will go to her loan request pool.
Once the mom receives the full amount of her loan request, Kiva helps fulfill her loan needs so that she can begin her business and support her family.

Purex is also offering coupons to help you help a mom.
If you go to the site now, even if you don't have a bar code right now but you found a mom you want to help, you can click on the "Haven't bought the product yet?" text link, fill out the form, and Purex will send you a coupon so that you can go buy Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets, and then go back to the site to enter your bar code to help that mom.
Just remember her sector and name, jot it down somewhere, and also spread the word so that more moms can get the loans they need to support their families.

I really love it when companies give back in a way that can make us all feel good, it's just a nice feeling to know that a few simple clicks after purchasing a product I use anyway, with a coupon they sent me, will help a struggling mom take control and support herself and her family to get out of poverty.
As soon as the Purex Insiders sent me the email, I got a huge smile on my face, I immediately felt good, this is something that I can easily do to help someone else.

Posted by Kat at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Summers are quite boring around here, we really don't do a whole heckuva lot, so there really hasn't been anything much to post about.
The teens sleep half or most of the day, and then are awake most of the night and play video games.
I don't sleep much anyway, so this sleeping pattern gives us our family time.
We sometimes end up putting a movie in the dvd player at midnight or later, and stay up late watching movies and talking, and then if I do fall asleep, I get to have some really nice quiet me time until they wake up after noon or later.
I really don't mind them sleeping during the day or so late, it's very boring around here and it's off season, there are no jobs for teenagers here during the summer months.
It's way too hot to go outside, the temps are in the low 90's, but the heat index is over 100, there is really nothing at all for teenagers to do around here, and I can't take them to the beach or anything, so they might as well stay up late having fun and then sleep half the day away.
_____________________

This morning, I went to my pain docs and got my meds refilled, told them about everything that was going on, they noted it all down, gave me my scripts and I left.
My friend Dustin had taken me, so from there we went to the pharmacy, got them filled, and then he brought me home.
Then around 3:30pm or so, Sebastian and I grabbed the list and headed out to do the grocery shopping at Publix.
They are having a great sale this week, a lot of buy 1 get 1's, so we stocked up on a lot of stuff.
They finally had some ground beef for less than $3.49 per pound, they had it at just $2.99 per pound, and I have several recipes that I need it for over the next few weeks. So I picked up 3 pounds, and Sebastian wants my awesome enchiladas tomorrow night, so yay for beef on sale! LoL
I had my coupon from the Purex Insiders for the Purex 3-in-1, and Publix finally got the refill packages in instead of only having just the starter kits, so I picked up 2 of the refill kits in the Spring Oasis scent.
It just smells really nice and I love cuddling up with my baby blanket* right after it comes out of the dryer. It's so soft and smells so good.

The Glade fabric and air odor eliminator was on sale for buy 1 get 1, and I had coupon for $1 off, so instead of paying $3.99 each, I got 2 for just $2.99. W00t!
They had so many things on buy 1 get 1, chips, cookies, brownie mixes, cereal, all kinds of stuff, and no, I didn't buy all of that junk food, but I could not refuse the buy 1 get 1 on Pillsbury chocolate extreme brownie mix!

I did really good on saving money this time, I had a lot of coupons and Publix was having a terrific sale, so my savings were awesome!
My total bill before coupons, specials, and in-store savings = $270.66
My total coupons, specials and in-store savings = $113.25
Total bill after coupons, specials and in-store savings = $157.41!!!
Woo hoo!
W00t!!
I LOVE saving that much money!

That was my totally thrilling and awesomely exciting, but money saving day. ha ha
I told ya our summers are really boring.
Ok, gotta go do some dishes, wash out my Rubbermaid containers because I need them to put all the new food in.
Later days!

Yes I still have and sleep with my baby blanket and I'm 39 years old.
What? ha ha

My grandmother made it for me when I was a baby. It has been with me all of these years, been slept with, cuddled, played with, cats have slept on it, babies and kids have puked on it, it's been washed and dried a million times, but aside from a few small holes in it, it is still totally together, and I still love having it with me.

Posted by Kat at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The teens are just absolutely disgusting with their toothpaste, that is why they have their tube, and I have my own tube that I keep in the medicine cabinet and they are not to touch it, ever.
They do not squeeze from the bottom, they squeeze from the middle, they let the toothpaste goop up the cap really bad and they don't clean it off, and no matter how often I clean it off, they just goop it up again.
It always looks like this;

and this;

I just found a cat hair in their tube.
Gag!

I was sitting here clicking through the tv channels, just looking for something to have on in the background to keep me company, and I saw a commercial for the most awesome product that would totally end the toothpaste cap gooping issue forever, AND! it would also make sure that the tube got totally used up, it squeezes from the bottom, it uses every last bit of the toothpaste up!!!
It's called the Touch N Brush, and I want it! LoL

You stick it on the wall or mirror with the suction cups, it sticks to just about any surface, insert the tube of toothpaste, slide on the cover, and that's it, it will dispense the correct amount of toothpaste every single time just by placing your toothbrush in and pushing forward, it dispenses the toothpaste out onto your brush.
No messy caps, and it uses up the entire tube, no more wasted toothpaste, which means no more wasted money.
It's not electric, it doesn't require any batteries either, it uses vacuum force to get the toothpaste out.
It's only $19.99 + $7.99 s/h of course, but you also get a free sonic 4x toothbrush, and you can order a limit of 3 per shipping address.

I really do want this thing.
If I have enough money left after paying for my doctors appointments and prescriptions and stuff this week, I am so buying one, and I'll hook it up and test it out and then do a review of it.
I just love all of this stuff. hahaha

Posted by Kat at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The reviews are still coming in on Amazon for the Sims 3, and people are still complaining that their computers are crashing or simply unable to play the game.

My daughter's computer is more than powerful enough, but she never got more than 10 minutes into the game without a hard crash (BSOD crash).

I knew before running the tests that my computer could handle it, but I ran both tests anyway and I updated my drivers even though I didn't really need to just because I knew that the graphics on this were going to be amazing, and they are.
Sebastian and I have even downloaded a few items including a really huge house that another Simmer designed, it's incredible, and I placed it up on the side of the mountain near the waterfall.
The house has a ton of windows all around, so my Sim can watch the sun rise and set and it is so so beautiful, not only that, but I had her go fishing at the base of the waterfall, and wow, what an incredible experience that was to just watch.
The graphics in this game are simply amazing, the waterfall is gorgeous, the water reflects the sunlight and the Sim, and the fish actually leap in and out of the water, and when your Sim is trying to catch the fish and they struggle, the water splashes about, it's just so good looking!
We haven't had a single issue with the game, no crashes, no glitches, no nothing.
The complaints these people are posting about are because they did not meet the minimum requirements, I can guarantee it.

Posted by Kat at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I figured that I needed to distract myself for a little while, to just stop thinking about everything for awhile because it's done nothing but send me further into depression, so I decided to go and see what Buy.com has on sale this week.
The mix of items is always unique, from computers to video games, to jewelry and all kinds of other stuff, they have a wide selection to choose from every week.

I found a heck of a deal on an HP Pavillion Notebook, it's just $569 down from $1,200, and free shipping.
I absolutely love that almost every single item they sell has free shipping.

Anyway, I saw the notebook and thought of Mark.
He's probably going to need a laptop for college, and while I don't have the money right now, I know that Buy.com is always putting laptops on sale, so I'm sure that when I do have the money, they will have a nice one that we can get for him.

This is a very powerful notebook, it has;
Microprocessor AMD Turion X2 RM-72 Dual-Core Mobile Processor
Microprocessor Cache 2.10 GHz
Memory 4096MB
Memory Max 8192MB
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics RS780M
Video Memory Up to 1918MB
Hard Drive 400GB (5400RPM)
Multimedia Drive SuperMulti 8X DVDR/RW with Double Layer Support
and so much more.
The customer reviews are excellent too, 5 out of 5 stars for a refurbished notebook, that says something about how good this notebook is in my opinion.

We're just waiting for the woman from SCTI to get in touch with us about his classes, she said that they don't start until the end of June or the beginning of July, so she will probably be calling in the next few weeks, and then we'll have to get him all set up with what he needs, he'll do the 2 classes at SCTI, and then go to MCC in the fall for their criminal justice courses.

Posted by Kat at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am dealing with a lot right now, a very big decision regarding the surgery has to be made, a decision that will affect the rest of my life.
The wrong decision will be a truly wrong decision.

I am dealing with a crap load of emotions that go with this too, all kinds of stuff, so I want to apologize if I may not be around for a few days, or if I don't answer any emails for a few days, I can barely think straight about what I'm doing for the next 5 minutes and so having to do all kinds of other stuff just isn't going to happen until a final decision is made and I fully accept and comes to terms with it.
Whichever I choose, it will have lifelong consequences for me physically and emotionally.

I'm really not in a good place right now.

Posted by Kat at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I went and did all of my pre-op testing stuff, had a new chest xray, blood work, urine test, ekg, and met with the anesthesiologist who talked to me about how we might have to do the intubation for the surgery.
Because my head is tilted down, I cannot be intubated normally.
Normally, they tilt the sleeping patients head all of the way back, and then insert the breathing tube.
Because my head can't go back, they would do what's called awake guided fiber optic intubation, where the patient is sedated, the mouth and throat are numbed up, but the patient is totally awake and they have to swallow the breathing tube.
Once it's down, they put you totally to sleep with the anesthesia.
I finished all of my testing, and then had to wait about 2 hours for my appointment with my surgeon.

I got there and they did more xrays, about 10 new ones so they could see my neck and shoulder area much better, and then he came in to talk to me.
He said that everything looks good, I've healed up nice, never gotten any infections, I would be in the halo brace for about 3 months, and then he told me about all of the risks.
A 5-10% risk of paralysis, a 5-10% chance of nerve damage, and then he said that he would like me to consider not doing the surgery.

He said that it's a very small risk, but if it happens, if during the correction, they over-correct me, my head would end up facing up, and if that happened, there would be no fixing it, ever.
He is removing 2 vertebrae, bringing my spine back together, you cannot un-do that kind of thing once it's done, so he would like me to consider not having the surgery.

The risk is very small, like a 5-10% chance, but if it happens, it cannot be undone, so I have a wicked lot to think about.
I have to decide if even that small a risk is worth it.
If it gets over corrected, it can't be undone, that is a tremendous amount to think about.
Plus, I have total trust in my surgeon, I know that he would not be telling me this if he didn't have his doubts that this surgery will work, so I have to trust him, I have to really think about what he is saying and go with that.

I have had an extremely emotional night since getting home, been going over this repeatedly, talked to my parents, still thinking it all over and I have some more time to think it over, but right now, I am thinking that I need to trust what he is saying.

Posted by Kat at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I am leaving here in about an hour for my full day of pre-op testing for my next spine fusion on June 29th.
I have a very long meeting and testing with the anesthesiologist for like 2 hours, then MRIs, xrays, blood and urine work ups, and whatever the hell else they want to do to me.
Then at 1pm, I meet with the surgeon to go over all of the details of the surgery and everything else.
I am wicked nervous, probably more than I've been for the previous 2 surgeries because of what happened last time, and because of the halo brace.
I've been doing some research and been in touch with a woman who had 1 for 3 months, and it wasn't a pleasant experience at all.
Sores from the brace, crashing into things, lack of balance, having to lay totally flat, clothes not fitting, scarring on the forehead from the screws, and having to cut my hair really super short, like pixie short because long hair is just not going to work with the brace at all, hell, hair can't even be washed for the time you are wearing the brace, and I'm scheduled to wear it for 3-6 months.

So yeah, a bit nervous, a bit emotional, terrified, a giant bag of emotions and all I want to do is drown them out, I'm exhausted from feeling this way.

Ok, I have to go take a shower now even though my body is still no where near ready to move yet, we have to leave here at 7am for the long car ride.
I will do my best to update everyone when I get home.
Later days

Posted by Kat at 5:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have been awake all night, still haven't slept, not even a wee little nap, and I posted at almost 4am how I was hoping that Fedex wouldn't take my Sims 3 to my local post office, that they would just deliver it straight me.
Well they didn't deliver it straight to me.
But!
They somehow got it from Orlando to my local post office, and my mailman knocked on my door at about 12:15pm, and handed me my mail and a box with my Sims 3 inside!!

It's here!
My Sims 3 are here!
And I LOVE the usb plumbob key chain that came with it!
I haven't looked at the special content that is on it yet, but the key chain itself is really pretty cool looking, I dig it.

I made a promise to Sebastian like 3 days ago, man I am a total sucker haha.
I told him that on the day came, that I would install the game on my computer, I would get all of my special downloads, the sports car, the extra town of Riverview, I'd register at the the Sims 3 site so I could get the $10 in store money to spend, and then I would very quickly watch the game opening, take a quick look at the town map, and then I would exit the game and then go install it on his computer and let him have the 1st play.

Go ahead, tell me that I am the worlds biggest sucker, I deserve it. hahaha
I have been waiting for this game since the day they announced it, I pre-ordered it way back in December, I have been counting down the days, stalking the Amazon, Fedex, and the USPS websites and going back and forth with Amazon's customer service about why my game wasn't shipped on game day, and here I am letting him have the 1st play.
I am the stupid that's what I am. hahaha

Posted by Kat at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Our Sims 3 is almost here!
It's almost here! *does the happy ass chair dance of great joy*
See?! You can click for bigger!
Our Sims 3 magically went from being only initiated to now having left Orlando, which means that it's almost here!
Hoo-ray!!

I can't wait to get into the game and get into CAS, (Create A Sim) and then I'll probably spend hours making my very first Sim.
You can customize every single detail of your Sim's appearance, hair and eye color, skin tone, weight, hair high and low-lights, make-up, you can add beauty marks, lash length, all kinds of things.
I am SO excited!
This is 1 of the female vampires that someone at EA or the EA creator's camp made using CAS, isn't she so cool looking?! You can click for bigger to see all of the details.

Not only can you customize every single detail of your Sim, but you can now customize all of your Sim's furniture, their wallpaper, their lamps, everything.
You can take a single pattern that you love, take plaid for instance, and you can put it on the walls, the lampshades, the couch, the chairs, the carpet, the curtains, everywhere that you want it. You can mix and match patterns, you can even build your own furniture and then make your own furniture patterns.
Below is the CAS trailer, it shows how to create the Sims, and the furniture, and the houses.
It is just so damn cool and I CANNOT wait to get my hands on the game and do this!

I really hope that the tracking is sorta wrong, and Fedex decides to not deliver it to the local post office, and just straight up delivers it to me.
If they do that, I *might* have it today instead of on Thursday the 11th.
I would so love to have it today.
It would kind of suck to get it tomorrow because I won't be home all day tomorrow.
I'll be at my surgeon's office and the hospital doing all of my pre-op testing and meeting with the anesthesiologist and stuff.
You watch, that's exactly what is going to happen.
That's the kind of luck that I have.

Posted by Kat at 3:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seeing as how I don't have my copy of the Sims 3 yet thanks to Amazon totally screwing up the shipping by using Fedex Smart Post, I am just reading what other people think of the game.
If you go to Amazon, there's a lot of people not liking the game at all.
They are complaining about how when you go in a building like the grocery store, you can't actually go in, but are given a menu to purchase food items.
Do they not realize what an absolute resource hog it would be to have every single building be open world available?
It would bog down your computer in 20 minutes if they did that!
Some people are complaining about how the Sims are all fat looking.
Well, go into CAS and edit them because I've been on the official Sims forums, and looking at people's avatars and the pictures that people are uploading, and obviously other people are taking some serious time to edit their Sims because not all of them are fat and cartoon-y looking at all.

One of the biggest issues that I've noticed is that a lot of people bought this game and their computers did not meet the minimum requirements to play it.
I checked and double checked on 2 different sites to see if my computer could play it, and my computer exceeds the requirements so I shouldn't have any of the problems with cycle redundancy and the crashing that others are experiencing.
It's amazing to me just how many people bought this game and then realized that their computers couldn't handle it, and then had to go out and buy all new graphics cards and memory cards, and some people even had to buy an all new power supply because their computers did not have enough wattage.
That tells you how old some of these computers were.
I've put the results of 1 of my tests in the extended entry so anyone interested can see how much the game requires.

But I really cannot wait to get the game and create a single Sim, a house, and then go exploring the open world.
I'm going to get my Sim a bike and take them everywhere, on every road, every path, as far as they can possibly go.
Because I bought the collector's edition, I get the world map, so I can see the entire world, and I'm going to go as far as I can into the mountains, to the ocean, to the far outer banks, to the hills, to the inner cities, to wherever I can, explore every single road and path and nook and cranny of the open Sim world, and then I'll sit down and play the game.
I'll create a family, a story line, I'll think of a story and play it out, fulfill their lifetime wants and needs and all of that stuff.

Amazon sent me another email this afternoon saying that they are looking into where exactly my game is and how sorry they are for the inconvenience, and they hope to have an answer within 48 hours.
Well within 48 hours, I am supposed to have the game according to their original shipment date.
It still says on my Amazon order page that I am supposed to have it on Tuesday the 9th, but according to the Fedex smart post page, the package has not even been picked up from the seller yet, shipping has only been initiated, and then Fedex is supposed to deliver it to my local post office.
Amazon said that this is supposed to be faster delivery service. (???)
How is it faster to have it shipped through 2 different delivery companies and neither of them even have it yet?

Publishers Minimum System

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz /
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Comparing your CPU Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.20GHz (running @3200MHz) with the requirement Intel Pentium 4 (running @2000MHz)
Your processor is significantly more powerful in raw performance
Display Card!: ATI Radeon 9500 128MB /
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 128MB
Comparing your display card ATI Radeon X1300/X1550 with the requirement ATI Radeon 9500
Your display card is significantly more powerful in raw performance
Your display card has all the required features
Memory required: 1024MB
You have 2048MB
Free Disk Space required: 7.5GB
You have 31.08GB
Operating System required : Windows XP (SP3) / Vista (SP1)
You have Microsoft Windows XP SP3

Posted by Kat at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Cooper clan didn't do anything at all on Saturday.
Not a damn thing.
I laid on the couch the entire day watching movies while the teens slept in late and then alternated between playing video games and watching movies with me.
I was so tired today, I don't know what was wrong with me, maybe I was still working off the effects of the medicine mix-up from the other day, but I could barely keep my eyes open.
I tried though, especially when Moulin Rouge! was on the CW.
That movie is just so bizarre that I love it.
All the weird imagery and the music, it's fabulous.
I can only imagine how good it would look on a HD LCD tv like this SyntaxBrillian that is on
sale at Buy.com this week for 54% off with free shipping.

That's a wicked good deal.
Eh, someday when things are better.
I have way, way too much going on right now to even think about buying a new tv set, but someday I will catch up with the times and get an HD LCD tv and start looking at tv the way the rest of you do. hahaha

What else did we watch?
Oh, we watched Gladiator, Red Dawn and The Road to El Dorado.

Mark went and spent the night at his friend Jeff's house, and so it was just Sebastian and I here at home all night.
We spent a lot of time talking about the Sims 3 which we still don't have because the shipping got screwed up even though I pre-ordered and paid for it way back in December.
Yeah, I am NOT happy about that at all.
Sebastian and I have been looking forward to this game for a very long time, it is one of the things that he and I do together, that we talk about and play together, and so not having it yet has really upset us both.
I wanted to have enough time to get it installed and learn how to play it, teach him how to play it before I have to go have my surgery so that nothing goes wrong with the game or the computer while I am away in the hospital.
They decided to ship it to FedEx, and then FedEx will ship it to my local USPS, but so far, the only thing that has been done is the shipping process has been initiated.
The game was released on June 2nd, and here it is, June 7th.
I am so not pleased with how they decided to ship this out, but because it's in the shipping process, I can't cancel it.
There's basically nothing I can do but wait.
I sent them an email asking about it, and they sent one back explaining how they shipped it and then said that if I don't have it by 6pm on June 16th, to email them.
Wow.
If that happens, I am going to be absolutely furious. .
And no, it is not Buy.com that I bought it from.
I have never had a bad shopping experience from Buy.com.
Ever.

Posted by Kat at 2:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Matthew is the younger son of the family my sister works for.
Jo, my sister, takes care of Greg, he has CP, and scoliosis, and he will be having spine fusion for his scoli next year my sister told me.
I feel terrible that Greg has to go through all of what he does, but I know that between his parents and my sister helping him, he will be ok.

Anyway, Mathew graduated from middle school this week and will be attending high school next year.
He is very excited to finally be going to high school, and his parents are super proud of him.
Like all of the local schools at graduation, each student is only allowed 5 tickets, and so Matthew had his parents, his grandparents, and my sister at his graduation.
She has been a part of his life just as much as she is a part of Greg's life after so many years of working and taking care of Greg doing physical therapy and taking him to all of his doctor' appointments and such.

Matthew will be attending soccer camp again this coming summer like he does every year, and like every year, he racks up a bunch of soccer trophies at the end of summer.
He is really good at soccer, and there have been a few summers that Sebastian has gone to soccer camp with him and the two of them have had fun together all summer.
I'm sure that they will spend some time with each other again this year hanging out at Matthew's house swimming in the pool, at camp, and playing WoW together.
They get along really well even though there is a small age difference, they like all of the same things, and Matthew is very intelligent for his age.
Sebastian also helps him learn how to play WoW, teaches him how to gank and stuff.
I don't know much about the game, it's all gibberish to me, but all of the kids and a lot of my friends, including my sister, love to play it.

So anyway, congrats to Matthew on graduating, and best wishes for him at camp this summer, and for his upcoming freshman year in high school.

Posted by Kat at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have insomnia again, so I have been browsing around the internet and I decided to just go through google images and look at stuff.
I googled all kinds of things, monsters, various kinds of surgical procedures, hairstyles, flowers, shoes, cars, and then I googled hotels and came across the Stratosphere hotel.
I really do not think that I could ever stay at this hotel.
Ever.

It is 113 stories high.
It is 1,149 feet high, and is the tallest building in the west!
I love roller coasters and thrill rides, but at the top of this hotel, they have rides, extreme rides.
There's the 866 foot high X-Scream teeter-totter, the Big Shot, and Insanity, the Ride.
At the top of the hotel.
Ack!
I really do love roller coasters and thrill rides, but I am not a fan of heights, really big heights, so a roller coaster or ride at the top of this hotel would absolutely make me puke, I just don't think I could do it.
I would try it, maybe.
haha
No really, if I could, I would go to Vegas, I would go all of the way up there, I would buy my ticket, I would get on, and then I would have to keep my eyes closed the entire time.
I know that if I opened them and realized that I was at almost 900 feet off the ground, that I would be in an absolute panic and that would make me puke.
Maybe. haha
No, I could probably do it, I'm sure that I could do it, I really do love roller coasters and fast speeds, and roller coasters go by so fast, that the ride would be over so quickly that I wouldn't even have time to realize how far off the ground I was.
I would definitely do it if I could.
Yeah, I would definitely do it.

Posted by Kat at 2:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Whenever I think of like Machu Picchu travel, I think of Pikachu from Pokemon, and then I think of the baby Pikachu Pokemon named Pichu.
I just also like saying it over and over really, really fast.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
It just sounds funny when you say it as fast as you can as many times as you can.
Say it, Machu Picchu.
Now say it as fast as you can as many times as you can without screwing it up, or until you screw it up.
Phoneticaly, it's maw-chew pee-chew.
Maw-chew pee-chew.
Hahaha

I just drove Sebastian totally crazy doing this.
I was making dinner, and I just kept saying it over and over really fast, then really slow, and then saying Pikachu, then Pichu, then Machu Picchu, then maw-chew pee-chew super super slow, and then he got super mad at me and told me to stop but I didn't.
Then I hear Mark from the other room yell, "MOM! OMG! STOP! FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! PLEASE JUST STOP!"
Hahahahaaa!

Maw-chew pee-chew
Machu Picchu
Maw-chew pee-chew

Posted by Kat at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been using an eye cream around my eyes for about 2 months now, and am very pleased with the results.
I have always had very dark circles underneath my eyes, and over the last few years, I've started getting the bags to go with those dark circles, and the wrinkles too.
I am 39 after all, it's definitely about time to start looking my age.

I had never used any face creams or lotions because while my face isn't oily, if I used anything, I would break out almost immediately.
One day while browsing CVS.com, I spotted an eye product on sale, and I had a coupon for an additional $5.00 off, so I went and picked it up when I went to pick up Sebastian's migraine medicine, and I've been using it every morning and night since buying it.
It is working.
My dark circles are definitely lightening.
My bags are gone.
My wrinkles are most definitely less noticeable too.
I am very pleased with it and it costs far less than the more expensive eye creams that are out there at department stores and online.
It cost me less than $12, and one tube has lasted me for the last 2 months, and it will probably last me another 2-3 months, there's quite a bit of product in the tube.
It's very easy to use, once in the morning, and once again right before bed, that's it, and it helps to erase bags, dark circles, and wrinkles.
The more you use it, the more it works.
I love it, and I am not having to put something on my entire face which would cause my face to break out.

Posted by Kat at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It makes me so happy that another state has now legalized gay marriage.
New Hampshire is now the sixth state in the country to legalize gay marriage, and that is just an awesome thing in my opinion.
I wish the rest of the states would follow suit.
I believe that all people have the right to love and marry whomever they choose, as long as they are happy, they should have the same rights as the rest of us.

There's even gay vacations that couples can take where they can go and have fun with other people where they will be respected, have fun, enjoy themselves, and not have to deal with people who may not agree with their life choice.
That's what gets me about all this.
In California and here in Florida, people who disagree with the right of all people to be able to marry, took it to a constitutional vote, to make it illegal for gay couples to marry.
That's just so wrong in my opinion.
I just don't see how it effects anyone else to let people get married, be happy.
It doesn't effect them, it won't effect them, but they imagine all of these wild scenarios, and they tell these crazy stories, and scare people into voting against the rights of others.
So it makes me very happy when I hear of states making it legal for gays to get married.
So way to go New Hampshire!
Who's next?!

Posted by Kat at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There were 2 photography companies at the graduation, Bob Knight Photo, and Grad Images.
Both companies had parents pre-register, and had the students pre-register at the dress rehearsal as well.
Both companies said that they would email everyone within 24-48 hours immediately after the graduation.

Neither Mark or myself, have received any emails from either company.
I have now emailed both companies 2 times, and tried to call both companies today, and I have not gotten any communication back from either at all.
I was placed on hold for over 15 minutes, and then told that all customer service reps were busy, and to try and call back at a later time.
Not even an automatic email confirmation saying that they got my emails.

I am seriously not impressed with either photography company at all.

Posted by Kat at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I bought my copy of the Sims 3, the collector's edition, back in December, and I should have it in my hands in a day or two.
But if you're a simmer and haven't bought your copy yet, Buy.com has the regular version on sale this week for just $44.95.

You can get the Sims 3 and play in a totally open world.
No more being stuck in your house or having to wait for loading screens while your Sims go from one place to another, you can now walk out the front door, go across the street and get into an argument with your neighbor for being messy.
You can totally customize every bit of the game from the Sims appearance, to their personalities, giving each of them up to 5 different personality traits that will make every Sim you create a totally unique individual.

I am totally looking forward to getting it, installing it, and giving that open world a try.
I also want to test how the Sims can die or be killed.
I know that's a bit sadistic, but when you create a Sim that turns out to be a total butthead, you have to get rid of them before they destroy your whole family or life plan.

I bought the collector's edition because it comes with a special down-loadable sports car, the official Prima guide book, some Sims 3 music, and a USB drive shaped like the plumbob.

I cannot wait for it to get here!
It's going to be so much fun!
W00t!

Posted by Kat at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was very fortunate to receive a really awesome product to try out, the new Chiquita Smoothies.
Included with the samples to try, were 2 of each flavor that they make, Peach Mango, Mixed Berry, Banana Colada, and Strawberry Banana, as well as a new Oster Fusion Blender, and an Oster Blend-N-Go Cup.

We tried the Mixed Berry on the first day, and it was most excellent, and then tonight Mark asked me to make the Strawberry Banana flavor, so I did.

They are really easy to make.
You pour the contents of the can into the blender, a half a cup of water, and 2 cups of ice, then blend.
That's it!
Please ignore my nasty back splash.
My kitchen counter area is where I cook and prepare everything, and the back splash seriously needs to be cleaned and painted again.

They even sent me some little sample size cups to pour them into.
The teens like those little cups, so when I make the smoothies, they ask for the little cups.

Chiquita Smoothies provide 100% of vitamin C, and 1/2 a cup of fruit per 8ounce serving.
They are in the frozen juice section of your grocer, and retail for about $2.69.
If you go to their site, Chiquita Smoothie, you can get recipes, play games, and register for a chance to win a tropical vacation for 4!

These are really super tasty too, the teens absolutely love them.

Posted by Kat at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today my second baby boy turned 16.
Sebastian has grown up so fast, they both have, but he's just as tall as Mark is, maybe an inch shorter, so he's about 6 feet tall.
Yikes!
He got Guitar Hero Metallica for his birthday, he's been playing it non-stop since buying it yesterday, and it is a wicked fun game, I even played it with him for awhile last night.

We just ordered pizza from his fave place for lunch, that should be here soon.
We're just going to take it easy for the day, chill, eat pizza, play video games, have some cake later on.

Posted by Kat at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've drawn the winner for the 20 piece Rubbermaid storage contest, and the winner is!

That comment number belongs to:

The winner is Chickie!
Congrats Chickie!!
If you can please email me your mailing address, I will send it to the Rubbermaid contact, and they will ship ot out to you immediately!

Posted by Kat at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)