My Single Mom Life

Do you know how many of these automatic RF switches I've bought over the years at $20 or more?
Man, too many.
And here Buy.com has them on sale for just $3.49 with free shipping as they do with like 99% of their items.
Unreal man.

We've had so many different games systems and VCRs, and DVD players, and when having 2 tv sets needing these switches, I've probably bought about 7 of them in the last 10 years.
We had a Sega Genesis, a Nintendo64, a Sega Dreamcast, a PS2, and now the Xbox360, so we've had to have these switches to be able to hook everything up to the tv but through the VCR or DVD player without having to constantly get up and manually switch the cable cords, but every time we switched out a game system or bought a new VCR or DVD player, something always ended up happening to the RF switch when hooking or unhooking it.
Something would always end up snapping off either end of it, or a cat would have chewed through it*, so I had to keep buying these switches in order to keep making sure that everything ran smoothly with no hassles, cuz let me tell ya, having to switch between a game system and a VCR so the teens could watch a VCR movie when they were little, was exhausting.
They'd go from playing Sonic the Hedgehog to wanting to watch the Little Mermaid, to wanting to play Star Wars Battlefront 2.

So needless to say, we went through a lot of these switches with each new game system that I bought them.
I have sworn, no, vowed, that the Xbox360 will the absolute last game system that I ever buy them.
If they want another system, they can get jobs and buy it themselves.

*Kali is my cord chewer.
I have tried everything to make her stop, but nothing has ever worked.
I haven't ever dared tried any stronger stuff like nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol because I didn't want to make her sick or kill her, I just wanted her to stop.
Some one of these days I'll have to take a picture of some of the cords she's chewed.

Posted by Kat at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was too hot to go anywhere today like I wanted to do, so it will all have to wait until tomorrow.
The temp was about 90degrees, but the heat index was way up there.
It's going to be like that all week too.
Temps in the 90's with a chance of rain every single day.
We are officially in the rainy season.

I wanted to go and do the grocery shopping today, get it all over with, but it was just way too hot to go out there.
Heck, it's hot just sitting in the house with the AC on and a box fan aimed right at me from less than 4 feet away.
I'll do everything that I wanted to do today, tomorrow after I get done taking Mark to the doctor's office.
Mark has an appointment at 1:30pm with the doctor to look at his back, it's been bothering him for quite a long time now, and I am horribly worried that some of what I have has passed onto him, so I'm taking him to get checked out.
After that, we'll go the pharmacy to get 2 of my scripts filled and if the doc gives him anything, and then we'll do the shopping.
We'll just do everything in one trip so we don't waste time or have to be out in the heat for too long.

Ok, time for dinner.
Later days!

Posted by Kat at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My list of 13 things to get done by Sunday night, yeah, not getting done.
Why?
Because the on and off heavy rain for the last several days has put the list on major hold that's why.

The toilet hasn't been able to be properly flushed in days, well until today that is, and then the bathroom sink pipes sprung a leak.
Yup, the bathroom sink pipes sprung a freaking leak.
I've got a temporary patch on it for now until my landlord can come over and install some new pipes or repair these ones.
I'm hoping that the temporary patch will hold for at least a few days.
So that's what I've been doing, plunging and fixing pipes.
So much fun I tell ya.
Not.

Posted by Kat at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I twittered earlier today about the rain sucking the life outta me, but for a couple of reasons.
First, the rain makes all of my joints ache and the titanium freeze up which causes me to be all stiff as a board, and second, because the septic system has been having issues all day.

It's been heavy raining off and on all day and night, and because the city has dug up all of the ditches to install new drainage pipes and a sidewalk that they haven't finished yet, the rain has nowhere to go except into my lawn, seeping into my lawn and putting a ton of pressure on the drain field for the septic system and tank.
In other words, our toilet refuses to flush properly.

I've been trying all day to get it to flush correctly, plunging it every few hours, keeping towels around the base of the toilet in case it overflows so that I don't have a huge flooding mess to clean up later.
I'm so glad that no one in the house is sick, no one has the flu, no one has a stomach bug, and no one has food poisoning which would cause the same type of bowel issues as phentermine side effects would.
Ya know, things like diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.
I'm thrilled that everyone's bowels are just fine and the toilet water that I'm plunging is just clean water.

I'm so wiped out, so tired, but I cannot sleep tonight.
I am wide awake, it's my body that is physically tired, my brain is wired, but I also need to stay awake so that no one flushes the toilet in the middle of the night and causing a huge flood in the house.
It would totally suck to have to wake up and start cleaning up gallons of water like we've had to do in the past.
I absolutely hate it when the toilets overflow because the septic system is under pressure, it totally sucks.
Cleaning up water for hours with towels, putting them through the spin cycle, then the dryer, then laying them down to sop up more water, so yeah, I have to stay awake tonight to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Posted by Kat at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't done a Thursday 13 in a good long while, so I thought I'd start doing them again, and I'm going to pick up right where I left off with the numbering.
The last time I did it was on January 26th, 2006
My Thursday 13 for today is a list of things that I would like to get accomplished around the house and other things, by no later than Sunday night.

1. Do all of the dishes, yes, all, this includes the silverware and the never ending (it seems) dirty cups on the counter that appear to be multiplying like rabbits.
2. Clean the entire kitchen, wash all of the cupboard doors down, counter tops, and the kitchen window sill.
3. Clean the bathroom, thoroughly.
4. Dust all of the pictures hanging in every room.
5. Dust and polish all of the side tables and coffee table, tv stand, tv, computer tower, my desk and all of the shelves.
6. Clean the AC filter and wipe down the AC.
7. Take out all trash and recyclables from kitchen and bathroom trash cans.
8. Clean the mirror and all the windows in the living room.
9. Wash down all of the interior doors, knobs, light switches, and front door, inside and out.
10. Put away all my clothes piled on my bed, and dust and polish my dresser, shelves, and bureau mirror.
11. Sweep and mop all the terrazzo flooring.
12. Dust, sweep, clean up the game room/Mark's bedroom.
13. Vacuum the living room and dining room carpeting.

If I can get all of this cleaning done by Sunday night, I will feel so much better.
This is all stuff I'm sure other people can complete in 1 day or in even just a few hours, but it takes me a long time because I usually end up in pain after just doing the dishes.
I'm not going to push myself so that I end up in too much pain and totally useless for a couple of days, so I'll just do it all nice and slow, but it will get done.
I want my house to be clean so that when I start digging through everything to get rid of stuff for my eventual yard sale, I won't have to deal with a huge mess everywhere.

thursday thirteen

T13 header by Samulli.

Posted by Kat at 3:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok, so yesterday didn't go quite so well.
Sebastian didn't have a good day at school, the students are being bombarded with a ton of new rules, the teachers are as well, so the teachers are frustrated and upset, and taking it out on their students.
If a student asks to go to the bathroom, before the teacher agrees to let them go, the entire class is subjected to a lecture about the new bathroom policy.
Students are given a maximum of 3 minutes to use the restroom, that's it.
If a security guard sees them go in, they start timing the students, if they go over 3 minutes, the student is taken to the office, and then the principal or vice principal decides if the student will be given detention.
Then the student is give a hall pass, and warned about the 3 minutes, and so the students are pretty much running to the bathroom, going as fast as they can, and getting back to class before the 3 minutes are up or a security guard catches them in the bathroom or hall.
Lunch is still also a problem.
There are hundreds of students trying to get lunch and eat it in just 20 minutes.
The lines are long, kids are pushing and rushing just trying to get and eat their lunches, and if the bell rings and the students aren't done yet, the security guards make them be done by taking their lunch trays and dumping them in the trash, and then rushing the students out of the cafeteria.
500+ students all trying to get their lunches at the same time is making the cafeteria workers stressed out, so they are yelling at the kids, each other, and the security guards.
It was just a super stressful day Sebastian said, and he brought the stress home with him.

He did ok for the first few hours that he was home, and then he slowly started blowing up.
He started arguing with Mark, then arguing with me, and then yelling at both Mark and I about all kinds of things.
A lot of what he was yelling about were the events of the last few months involving me and my depression, the accusations made, the promises that were made to him by other people and then those promises got broken, his hurt over those broken promises, hurt over things said to him, lies that were told, and etc etc etc.
I finally got him calmed down to the point where we were able to talk about it all without the yelling, and then he broke down.
He just started crying and couldn't stop, kept saying how sorry he was for ever making the phone call that started it all, then Mark started crying and saying how sorry he was for making that phone call, the blame themselves for everything that happened, and no matter how many times I tell them that it isn't their fault and I don't blame them, they still blame themselves.
After talking about it all for several hours, they both finally calmed down, accepted that I don't blame them, and then they both hugged me at the same time and told me how much they love me.
I so wish that the mistakes that I've made didn't affect them, that they wouldn't be blaming themselves for all of the stuff that happened, but it has and there's not much that I can do about it accept to just keep going, keep trying to pick up the broken pieces of hurt that's laying scattered all over the floor.

I called the teens doctor today about Mark's back pain, and the office was closed, they will be open tomorrow at 9am, but I left a message for them and then I'm still going to call them tomorrow morning around 10-11am if they don't call me back before then.
I'm super worried that I've passed onto him some of my back issues.
I know that a few of the issues that I have are genetic, they can be passed on to my children, so I'm really worried that I've given him one or more of the things that I have wrong with my back.
I want the doctor to check him out and order CT scans or an MRI to see if we can figure out why he's having so much pain in his lower back at least 4-5 times per week.
The pain is so bad he cries over it, so I know that it's very real pain that he's dealing with, and worries me, makes me afraid that I've given him these problems.
So last night, I was trying to help Sebastian with his emotional hurt, and also trying to help Mark with his physical hurt, and it all just made for a really rough day.

Posted by Kat at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The kind of day that starts off pretty good, and then descends into chaos by the time the day is over.
I'll have to post about it tomorrow because right now, I'm dead tired, been sitting here falling asleep at my desk after not sleeping for 2 days again.
Sebastian had another not so great day at school which set him off, and that pretty much caused our entire night to be total crap.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about it all tomrrow.

Posted by Kat at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sebastian went to his first day of school today, and things didn't go quite so well.
The school isn't totally finished being built, the bells aren't set to the new schedule, the cafeteria workers are still using the old lunch schedule so things at lunch didn't go right.
They also enrolled 1,600 new students this year, so yeah, total craziness.

During lunch because of the mix-up with the schedule, a lot of students didn't even get to the cafeteria at the right time, so they didn't get to eat lunch today, and Sebastian was one of those students.
He had just gotten his lunch tray along with about 15 other kids, when 2 security guards walked over to them, told them lunch was over, took their full of food lunch trays, and dumped them in the garbage, then slammed their trays into the kids hands and told them to put the trays away and get to their next class.

Sebastian was not happy when he came home.
Not at all.
He hadn't eaten so he was starving, he was hot and thirsty from the walk home in 90 degree temps, and he said all of the teachers were in a wicked bad mood because they now have rules for what they can and can't do in their classrooms, so they took their anger out on the students.
In order for a student to use the bathroom, they have to ask the teacher if they can go and they have to have a hall pass.
If a teacher does not see or ignores their raised hand, they can't go to the bathroom at all.
If they hold it and wait until the bell rings, security guards follow them into the bathroom and give them about 30 seconds to do their business and get out.
Sebastian's friend Steven told him that a security guard stood in the bathroom and was yelling out a countdown.
He said the guard started counting at 30 and was making his way down, and he told Steven that if he got to #1 and Steven was not done and heading out the door, that when he did finish, he would be escorted to the office and given detention.
For taking longer than 30 seconds to pee.

Here's where I have a huge problem and I plan on calling the school to find out if this first day of school rumor is true.
When the school is completely finished being built, should only be about 2 more weeks, the main entrance doors, and all other exit doors, will automatically lock at the second bell once all students are in the building and in first period class at 7:30am.
The doors will be locked from 7:30am until school ends at 2:15pm.
The only door that parents or any visitors will be able to enter will be the main entrance, and they will be buzzed in.

A teacher who is not ok with the school being locked, told her students this today during class.
She was going over all of the rules that the students have to follow, and all of the rules that teachers have to follow.
Teachers will no longer be able to have any drinks at the their desk, no coffee, no water bottles, no food or snacks like granola bars or anything.
They will also not be allowed to have any personal items at their desks or in the rooms, no pictures of their families on their desks, no little knickknacks like a porcelain apple that the teacher was given as a gift last year, nothing.

The building basically looks like a prison, the windows are all small and thin, you can barely see out of them, and now with it being in lock down (unsubstantiated rumor for now) all day once the construction is complete, it will be just like being in prison.
I plan on calling the school and speaking to the principal who already dislikes me, and I am going to ask her if the lock down rumor is true.
If it is true, I will be calling the fire department to ask if they can legally do that.
None of the doors will be able to be opened from the inside or out during school hours, and if there's a fire or other emergency, the students as well as teachers, will be trapped inside until the principal or security staff hits the door lock override button.
This could be a very dangerous thing if there's any kind of emergency like a fire and the students can't get out.
I understand the principal wanting to make sure that students don't get in or out when they aren't supposed to, and making sure that strangers can't just walk into the school and do whatever they want, but if there's any kind of emergency, the students could be in danger.
The whole lock down thing makes me very nervous, I really hope that teacher is wrong about it, but if it's true, I really don't think it's legal for safety reasons, ya know?

Anyway, that was his first day, not a good one, not a great way to start the new school year, I'm hopeful that it gets better and that they sort out the cafeteria schedule so that students can eat when they are supposed to, not come home starving every day.
But just to make sure that he gets to eat, we've packed him a lunch for tomorrow.
He has a lunch bag and in it, a small bag of chips, a can of Mountain Dew, a package of chocolate pop-tarts, and in the morning before he leaves, (so it doesn't get all soggy and yucky) a ham sandwich, and an ice pack to keep the soda and ham cold.
I'm going to make him a lunch everyday until he tells me that they have the schedule all figured out and fixed.

He came home with a ton of "mommy papers" for me to sign, and his supply lists for his classes.
Yay! No laptop needed. W00t!

Posted by Kat at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Sebastian got into most of the classes that he wanted to take this year, guitar, introduction to engineering, and digital design 2.
He has settled on wanting to work in computers when he grows up and goes to college, do programming, game design and programming, digital design, all of that stuff that goes hand in hand until you settle in doing just 1 of those as your career.

What I'm hoping that he won't need, is his own laptop.
What he told me last year when he signed up for these classes and did not get in, is that a lot of the students who did get in had their own laptops for the digital design, programming, and engineering classes.
As usual, we don't have the class supply lists yet, so he's going to school tomorrow with a Trapper Keeper, 4 spiral bound notebooks, 1 3-ring binder, 6 folders, and a lot of pencils.

If it turns out that he does end up needing his own laptop, all I can do is hope that I can find 1 really cheap and on sale like the ones that Buy.com has on sale again this week.
They always seem to have at least 2 laptops in their weekly deals every week, and at some very good prices.

Like this week, they have an HP 250GB notebook on sale for $499.99, refurbished, but at a pretty major $400 discount.
They usually cost about $1,000 bucks.
They also have a Samsung Netbook on sale for $329.99, so I'm like really, super duper hoping, that if it turns out that needs his own laptop, that I can find a decent 1 like these 2 on sale, or maybe even something a little bit cheaper.
But I'm really hoping that he doesn't need his own, I just cannot swing it right now.

Posted by Kat at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

A little while ago, I received a product called Gloveables.
They are household cleaning gloves that are fun and stylish, instead of boring and ugly.
They don't really make doing the housework more fun, but they do add a bit of color and some fashion while being totally functional.

I don't like wearing cleaning gloves to wash the dishes, my hands get all hot and sweaty inside of them, and I don't like that sweaty feeling on my hands, but I did find a great use for them.
Whenever I am making any kind of chicken dish where my hands have to touch the raw chicken, I put on the gloves, that way my hands never have to touch the chicken skin, it's gross, imo.
I especially like wearing them when making chicken legs with Shake n' Bake.
I put on the gloves, throw in the chicken legs, shake 'em up, and then when I reach in the bag to take out the now coated legs, I don't get that coating all over my hands and under my finger nails.

See?
No coating on my hands or under my nails.

After coating all of the chicken legs, I wash my hands/gloves off with antibacterial hand-soap, and let them dry, and then put them away in the drawer until the next time I need to make chicken.

The Gloveables are super cute, they come in all kinds of designs and patterns, but they also make matching aprons and tote bags too, and the prices are pretty reasonable, so if you still like to look fashionable while doing the cooking and cleaning, Gloveables would be perfect for you.

Posted by Kat at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've read on quite a few blogs lately, (5 in just the last 2 days) how they (the bloggers) aren't really sure if they are going to keep their blogs running anymore, that they don't even feel like blogging anymore, because they spend so much time on other sites like message forums and Facebook.
Personally I don't see the big thrill of Facebook, I guess that I just don't "get it".
I don't play any of the games, I don't install any of the applications, I very rarely reply to messages, I probably log in about once a week and see all of these people who've responded to my Twitter posts that are being cross posted automatically to Facebook, and most of my FB contacts also have Twitter, yet instead of replying to me on Twitter, they reply on FB because that's where they are all of the time.
They are on there playing games like Farmtown (I think that's what it's called) and Mafia Wars, all kinds of things, and they keep recruiting me to join their 'whatever game it is that they need people to join', and then I don't, and then they get upset.
I've been blogging since 1997, it's like a part of me now, I'm just so used to it being a part of my daily routine, and I'm always reading up on the latest free seo tools to use to increase readership, and joining all the various social networks so that I can link to my blog to get more readers, post about any contests that I'm running, alert people of other blogger's contests or great posts that I've read, and stuff like that.
I logged into FB just now, and I've got a Farmtown gifts request, and I don't even play the game or use the application, whatever it is, yet people keep sending this stuff to me all of the time.
I just don't get it.

What I like about FB is that it allows me to find and connect with old friends from a long time ago.
I found one of my best friends from high school on there just a few weeks ago, and it was amazing to catch up with him and see where his life took him.
That's what I use FB for, but I cannot sit there and play all of those games or install all of those apps and stuff.
It's just a total waste of time to me, it accomplishes nothing, in my opinion.
I understand boredom and playing video games, but none of the FB apps and games do anything for me, I get no thrill from them, I prefer to interact with people through their blogs, read up on their lives and goings on.

I'll be sad if the 5 people who said they may stop blogging to do FB all of the time actually do stop blogging, but eh, whatever makes them happy, I just hope they don't ask me to join their farm and stuff, I don't like to play those games at all, they bore me.

Posted by Kat at 4:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I was recently contacted by Dove to try out some of their new Dove body wash with NutriumMoisture, and they were delivered about a week and a half ago.
I received the 3 new body washes, Gentle Exfoliating, Deep Moisture, and Sensitive Skin, and I've given each 1 of them a try.

The new Dove body washes help you keep your skin's natural oils unlike other body washes and soaps which can wash it away, and instead of helping to keep your skin soft, they can actually dry it out.
Most regular body washes cause dry skin damage, yuck!
The new Dove body washes also rinse completely away, they don't leave any soapy residue behind.
They contain soybean oil, Lipids, and Glycerin, and all 3 of these help retain the skin's natural moisture, and they absorb quickly, help smooth and soften skin, and help restore hydration naturally.

They are also the #1 dermatologist recommended brand, so that let me know that I could trust these to not cause any breakouts or a rash, that they really would be good for my skin.
After giving all 3 of them a good try, I used each 1 of them for 2-3 days each during my daily showers, I've come to really like the Gentle Exfoliating 1 the best.
I have very dry skin on my elbows, knees, and feet, my heels being the worst areas, and the Gentle Exfoliating has definitely made a huge difference in not only appearance, but the texture of my heels.
They are very soft, not all dry and cracked like they were, so now I can keep wearing my flip flops without Sebastian making comments about my cracked heels.
He would always tell me to wear socks or something because of how cracked they were.
Yucky I know, but not a single 1 of the lotions that I was using were helping to stop them from being so dry and cracked.
Now they look great, feel great, and it's nice to know they don't look terrible anymore.
I really like all 3 of the body washes, but I love the exfoliating 1 the best and will be buying it when I run out of these full sized sample bottles that I received.
Thanks Dove!

Posted by Kat at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ooooh! I found a Dorcy LED Rechargeable Spotlight on sale for just $14.99!

During hurricane season, (June 1st to November 31st) the possibility of losing power happens every time there is a hurricane or even just a thunderstorm, so I am always well stocked on batteries, flashlights and candles, lighters, etc, so that when the power goes out we can see, so we don't have to sit here in the dark until the lights come back on.
Every summer I buy at least 1 new flashlight and at least 2 packages of batteries for it and the other flashlights that I already have.
But a spotlight?!
Oh man that would be awesome to have!
Those are so bright, you can see everything with one of those.
$14.99 is a great price for it too, they are usually $30-$40 for one of them, so saving about $15 is really awesome.
If we had a spotlight, that could be the main light source, and then each of us could have our own flashlight to take to our bedrooms at night, to go to the bathroom, and to go look outside to see if there's any damage to the house, or anything that we need to pick up so it doesn't get thrown through a window, ours or a neighbors'.
I might just have to pick that up when I get paid this week.
I can definitely use it.

Posted by Kat at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After not sleeping for 3 days in a row and having to walk to and from the high school on Friday, I laid down to take a nap around 1pm, stayed asleep until around 6:30pm, was awake long enough to make the teens dome dinner, and then I went back to sleep and didn't wake up again until 11am this morning.
Guess my body just really needed it.

Oh, we got out of the 3-hour long orientation and tour because by the time I got to the school, I was in like a wicked lot of pain, there was no way that I could stay there for the whole 3 hours and walk around the whole building, so they gave Sebastian his schedule and let us leave.

Reader Steve L., contacted me about the HP inkjet cartridges, he can use all 3 of them for his printers, so good deal. I will mail all 3 of them out to him on Monday morning.
I'm so glad that someone could use them, they were just sitting here taking up space not being used.

Today is just a nice and quiet day, not too much going on, so I'm probably just going to chill out, maybe play some Sims3 or something, don't know.
Later days.

Posted by Kat at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have 3 packages of HP injket cartridges to sell, they are the wrong sizes for my HP A524 photosmart printer.
I didn't get the digital camera/printer bundle, only the printer with model number A524, which takes a different cartridge, HP 110 Tri-Color Inkjet Cartridge, so I don't need these 3 cartridges that are the wrong sizes/product numbers.

I have 2 of the HP 45 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge (51645A), *brand new*, that sells for between $27.99-$41.99, depending on the retailer.
I will sell them for just $18 each, price includes shipping.
Packages still factory sealed.

I have 1 HP No. 78 Tri-Color Inkjet Print Cartridge (C6578DN), *brand new* that sells for between $28.99-$46.39, depending on the retailer.
I will also sell this one for just $18, price includes shipping.
This package is opened, I opened it because I did not know at the time what cartridge my photo printer took, but the ink has never been used, the 'pull strip' on the cartridge is still intact, only the box was opened to see if it would fit.
(I physically sized it)

If interested, leave a comment below with a valid email address, and I will contact you.
I will only ship within the US, cannot mail to Alaska or Hawaaii, sorry.
Thanks!

Posted by Kat at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sebastian goes back to school on Monday the 24th, and I won't have his supply list until this Friday the 21st, but I won't have the money to get any of the "special" supplies that are asked for or required by some of the teachers, until I get paid next week, or if I get some child support this week or next Monday or Tuesday.
That is an issue/gripe/thing that I have, but I'll save it for another post.

Anyway, like I said in the post below, I have all of the basics, pens, pencils, notebooks, folders, spiral bound notebooks, loose leaf paper, colored pencils, markers, graphing paper, erasers, etc etc, because I went and did all of the supply shopping last year, and so did a friend.
A friend of mine whose son was going to be a freshman, had gone to some store, I can't remember the name of it, and she bought her son all of the supplies he needed, but the store was having a wicked major sale on back-to-school supplies.
If you bought 1, you got 1 free.
On everything.
If you bought 1 notebook, you got 1 free.
If you bought 1- 12 count pack of pencils, you got 1- 12 count pack of pencils free.
Etc etc etc.
She got her son 1 of everything that he needed, and so she gave me, for the teens, all of the extra free supplies that she got.
I'm really glad that she did too, because now I already have all of that stuff so I won't need to buy anything except for the special teacher-required items, and with no tax-free school shopping this year, money is tight for everyone in the state.
Some stores are having really good sales because of the no tax-free shopping days and sales are down 8% this year and expected to drop another 4%, so stores are scrambling to get people in the door with their own back to school sales on supplies and clothing.
Sebastian doesn't need much, he has some new sneakers already, some new shirts, some new shorts, but I want to get him at least 2 more pairs of shorts, and like 3-4 more shirts, and he needs a new backpack.
He'll be starting school on Monday, so he'll have to use his old backpack until I get paid and can buy him a new one.
I found 1 on sale at Buy.com that I really like, and it's from a luggage maker, Samsonite, so it should hopefully, last him this year and next.
Kids are so rough on their backpacks, I don't get that.
I can buy and use the same exact purse every single day for years at a time, and not get it filthy or have it end up with holes in it, but a kid can take a brand new backpack and have it disgusting and full of holes in the first 5 months of school.
It's a Samsonite Urbanite Laptop Backpack, on sale for $29.99 down from $39.99 with free shipping, and I know it says it's a laptop bag, and even though he doesn't have a laptop, the fact that it's made for laptops and by Samsonite, tells me that it's a strong and sturdy bag and should last him a good long time.
I hope.

Posted by Kat at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tomorrow morning, Sebastian and I have to go up to the high school, be there by 8am, for his high school orientation and tour of the new building.
It will take 3 hours and it's mandatory.

This is a picture of the new building.

In the lower left of the picture, you can see the old buildings.
It was an open plan design, meaning that all of the hallways had openings directly to the outside, not just doors, but full and wide openings.
At the end of every school day, they had huge gates that came down and locked in place to prevent anyone from entering any of the buildings.
The new building is a closed building, they said they built it for security reasons, so that people can't just walk in or out of the school.

The orientation is mandatory, if a student does not go and listen to the principal talk for 1 hour, and then take a full tour of the building for the next 2 hours, with their parents also in attendance, they cannot have their class schedule.
That's really not right, making every student and at least 1 parent, have to walk around the entire building, look in every room, for 2 hours, or they can't have their class schedule.
It's going to be very difficult for me to do, but it has to be done, so I'll be going.
I was hoping that it was going to be only 1 level, not 2 like the old school was, but nope, 2 stories.

It takes me like 2 hours every morning to get up and get moving, un-stiffen, before I can start my day doing all that needs to be done, so I'm going to have to wake up at 5am, sit down and take my meds, wait for them to start working, and then take my shower around 6am, then wake up Sebastian, have him take a shower, and then leave the house by 7:15am so we can walk to the school to be there by 8am.
I'm going to have to take a diet coke with me and 2 extra pain pills in case I start hurting bad doing all of that walking to the school, walk around the building, and then walk home.
I'm going to be dead tired, sore, and wiped out when we get back home, but it has to be done, so I'm going to try and make the best of it.

While we're there, we need to go talk to the guidance counselor because Sebastian wants to see if he can get in to poly-tech, the technical high school, instead of staying at the regular high school.
He wants to do computer stuff, programming, game design, graphic design, and he can learn all of that at the poly-tech high school.
He is probably not going to be able to get into it for this school year, admissions are closed, but he will be able to get in for next year, so we need to talk to the guidance counselor about all of that, what he needs to do this year so he can pass the admissions testing for next year.
It's what he really wants to do, so I'm going to do everything that I can to help him get there.

I'm also hoping that tomorrow, after the orientation and tour, that they give us the back to school supply list so that when I get paid again, I can get him what he needs for school.
I have tons of notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, all of the basics, but if he needs anything special, I need to know so that I can work on getting it.

Posted by Kat at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ABC has a new show starting on Wednesday September 23rd at 9:30pm, and it's called Cougar Town.

Can a woman of a certain age be a mom, a successful career woman and still be on the prowl? Jules Cobb (Courteney Cox) is about to give it a try.

In a small Florida town, the center of high society is the Cougars high school football team... which is wildly appropriate since this town is the natural habitat for over-tanned, under-dressed divorcees prowling for younger men. Jules desperately doesn't want to be one of them, but with an ugly divorce behind her and 40 staring right back at her, she's longing for a little more action in her life. The available men her own age, like her silver fox of a neighbor, Grayson Ellis, only seem interested in dating barely legal hotties. Egged on by her very married and very irreverent best friend Ellie and her determined assistant Laurie, Jules reluctantly dips her toe back into the dating pool. To her surprise, she hits it off with a nice young guy named Matt -- emphasis on the young -- and discovers this gal still has the goods.

A cougar is an animal, a member of the big cat family, a wild animal that hunts, prowls, and kills it's prey.
How women over a certain age ended up with this nickname I'll never understand.
Older men who date younger women are called a nice and sweet name, sugar daddy.
According to Urban Dictionary, a site that lets society define words, sugar daddy means A man (usually older and well-off) who financially supports a younger woman (or man) in exchange for sex and companionship.
According to Urban Dictionary, a cougar is defined as: (see also hunt, prowl, corner, pounce). Noun. A 35+ year old female who is on the "hunt" for a much younger, energetic, willing-to-do-anything male. The cougar can frequently be seen in a padded bra, cleavage exposed, propped up against a swanky bar in San Francisco (or other cities) waiting, watching, calculating; gearing up to sink her claws into an innocent young and strapping buck who happens to cross her path. "Man is cougar's number one prey".

Why do older men who date younger women, get a cute nickname, but older women who date younger men, get the nickname of an animal who can rip your throat out and eat you?

I absolutely hate the term cougar.
I hate it so much that it caused a pretty serious argument between a friend and I, she calling me a cougar in a joking manner, but I took it as an insult, because to me, it is an insult.
The friend and I are actually no longer friends, that's how offended I was.
I do not think that it's ok to call women cougar, I don't care if society has accepted, even embraced the term, it's disgusting in my opinion.
There are a few shows that are about older women dating younger men now.
There's a show kind of like the bachelor/bachelorette, called The Cougar, where one woman, a 40 year old woman, she starts off with so many young men, and through a series of dates and adventures on the show, she widdles them down until she finds the one young man she wants to keep dating, or marry, whatever.
Season 1 has ended, and Stacey, the 40 year old mother of 4, chose a young man named Jimmy, age 23, and rumor has it that they are engaged and expecting a child.
And now we have Cougar Town, a comedy about a 40 year old single mom prowling for younger men after a divorce.

The cougar thing has even started happening on daytime soaps, with ABC (ABC has a theme going here now) and All My Children's Erica Kane starting a fling with much younger Ryan Lavery.
Erica's been married about a dozen or more times, Ryan has been married a few times, and now he's starting to pursue Erica, the mother of the last woman he slept with, her daughter Kendall Hart-Slater, who is the mother of Ryan's son Spike, which Erica is the grandmother of.
Erica and Ryan are RELATED to each other through marriage and childbirth, but ABC loves the cougar idea so much, they ignored the fact that they are related just so they could run the storyline.
Gross.
It's really gross.
If Erica and Ryan were not related at all, I wouldn't have an issue with their relationship, but they are related, she's the grandmother of his son, she is the mother of a woman who he was married to and had a child with, and had started seeing again right before he started pursuing Erica.
That's just all Jerry Springer episode right there.

The cougar thing has now become totally acceptable in society, and I don't have a problem with older women dating younger men, no, not at all, I just hate the term cougar.
It's a vicious animal that hunts, prowls, and kills its prey, why would any woman want to be called that?
What do I think they should be called?
I don't know, anything but a name that means something bad, cougar is an animal that kills it's prey, it hunts, prowls, stalks, why are older women being portrayed that way, yet older men are not?
Older men are always given cute nicknames, like if they are just older but not dating, they're an old bachelor, but an older woman who isn't dating?
An old maid.
See?

I'll probably give the show a chance, watch 2-3 episodes because it might actually be funny, it might show older women getting on with life after divorce positively, but if every other person is calling her a cougar, I'll change the channel.
I hate the term, I just think it's a nasty way to describe older women dating again.

Posted by Kat at 3:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've been down and out of it for so long now, depressed, off in my own world inside of my head, angry, upset, scared, and feeling incredibly alone, an isolation that was destroying me from the inside out.
My sons had to grow up too fast over these 3+ years, they had to take care of me and each other after the surgeries, and because of that plus my depression, they missed out on a lot, lost some of their childhoods, and for that, I will always be sorry.
Most of what happened in our lives was beyond any of our control, the surgeries had to be done, but when I started to get depressed, I tried to deal with it on my own and that was a mistake.
I knew deep down that I couldn't, but I didn't want to admit that I needed help, I thought it would pass, because in the past when I started feeling bad, it always did pass on it's own without help.
That was a mistake I made this time, and now that I asked for and got help, I see very clearly that it was a mistake.
Now that I am starting to come out of the depression and come back around to being my old self, I am seeing very clearly mistakes that I made and other things, and I am taking back control of my life.
Last night was an eye opener around here, I'm not going to talk about what happened, but it showed me just how out of control things were, and so now I'm taking back control, I'm going to take back my life and my home and family, and not allow things to get to the point that they had gotten to ever again.

I also need to get back on track with my work, because of everything that has been going on, I lost focus and drive, and I am not ok with that, I am not ok with how I've handled myself concerning work over the last 5+ months or so, so I'm taking that back too.
I almost feel like I need business plan consultants to help me get back on track, to help me schedule my time better, but I think I can do it on my own, I was doing it very well before the depression started, so I should be able to pick this up and do what needs to be done every single day again, get my organization back, schedule my time better again.
I feel really good today after having a massive breakthrough last night.
There are still some things that will not be fixed for a long time, I still have some anger to deal with, but I'm working on it and I know that in time things will be ok again, things will be back to how they were before I lost myself.
I found myself again last night, I missed being that person, and so did my sons.
My breakthrough last night lifted all of us back up, it was a huge sigh of relief being let out last night, and so yeah, I know that we are all going to be ok again.
I'm coming back around, and it feels really good to be back.

Posted by Kat at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Today was Mark's 18th birthday and I hadn't slept on Friday night, insomnia, again, so I was up and doing things in the very early morning hours.
Just doing some general clean up of the house, trying to get myself organized and ready for the day.
The teens had plans for dinner for Mark's birthday, so Mark insisted that we go grocery shopping before they leave for dinner so that I didn't have to carry, lift, and put it all away on my own, so I called and asked Mindy if she could help me out with a ride, she said yes, (thank you! Again!) and off Mark, Mindy and I went to do the shopping.
Sebastian decided to stay here this time (he usually does the shopping with me) and wait for my friend Jon to call/show up with their fixed computer.

Did I post about what happened to their computer?
It's one of the reasons we canceled/postponed our trip to Maine.
For several weeks, both of the teens had been complaining about some major lag when playing WoW, and even some lag when using the internet.
I did all the cleaning, deleting of stupid crap files, defragging, etc etc, and yet it still lagged.
I asked on the local forums what people thought could be causing the issue, and Jon replied that it was probably a blown video card, and if I wanted, he could get a brand new one, better than the one I had put in there a year ago, for way cheap and he'd install it for a wicked good and low price.
It was parts, labor, and a long drive from Orlando to Sarasota for less than the cost of the new video card had I gone and bought it myself.
I price checked video cards after his initial post on the forums about it being a blown card, and the same one he put in for me brand new, was priced at $199 and up at all of the tech stores in our area, so yeah, I got a helluva deal on the card and someone installing it for me.
He came here last Saturday, worked on it a bit, and then said he needed to take it home to fix it really good, so I said cool, he took it home, did the work, and brought it back early this evening.

When he got here, he must have wondered what was up, I looked a total mess.
I was sweating from running the vac on the rugs, doing some dishes, cooking Mark's hot wings for his birthday fave food like I do every year, and crying.
The birthday dinner plans that were made fell through.
Mark was upset but said he half expected it to happen, and Sebastian kind of lost it, so there was a lot of shouting, crying, and a lot of talking about all of the events of the last month.
It was not a good scene here, and then Jon knocked on the door while I was cleaning to try and de-stress myself while I bawled my eyes out some more.
I cannot fix what has happened, I can't make it better, and so I had to let the teens say what they needed to say, let their stress out, and Mark said something that made me feel better but horribly sad at the same time.
I'm not going to post it here, I'm just done trying to make it right when no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I show, it will never be enough, nothing will ever be the right thing or be good enough.
Every family has a black sheep, and I'm wearing the name tag.

After the computer was all hooked up and the teens were calmed down and ok, I finished making what I consider to be the best batch of super hot wings I think I've ever made for him.
1 bag of wing parts, 1 cookie sheet, 3 coats of cayenne pepper, twice baked, and then soaked in a 12 ounce bottle of the hottest sauce he picked out at the store today.
The wings were cooked so perfectly and the meat was falling off the bones, and Mark said it was the most awesome blend of hot and sweet I had ever cooked for him.
I got a thumbs up as he ate his wings and then went back for a bigger serving of seconds.
He eats his wings straight up, no ranch or blue cheese dipping sauce, just more hot sauce if he thinks he needs it, but this time he didn't add more sauce, he said they rocked as they were.
When he finished eating and I was cleaning up and putting the small amount of leftovers away, he gave me a hug and thanked me for the wings and for being a good mom to him all of these years even through some mistakes that I've made here and there along the way.
I know that it's gonna be ok around here.

After everything else was done and I finally sat down to chill out for the night, I realized that the furnace filters, I mean AC filter, was dirty again. It was so hot in here, you would have thought that I did have a furnace on with the heat cranked up to 99!
I know it was partly hot because I baked the wings in the regular oven, but as soon as the AC filter gets dirty, it stops pumping the cold air out as strong, and you notice the difference almost immediately, so I cleaned it out and it cooled off in here fairly quick.
I need to measure the washable filter that it comes with, and then I want to try and find a slightly thicker HEPA filter to put in it.
This house is so dusty, even more so with the sidewalk construction going on, that the filter gets wicked dirty wicked fast, and so I think getting a thicker, better filter might help cut down on the dusting issue a little bit.
I have to dust off the tv, tv stand, and coffee tables just about every other day, and I have to dust everything about every 4 days, that's how bad the dust gets in here.
Crazy dusty! ha ha

I just saw the clock.
It's finally not Saturday anymore.
Here's to hoping that Sunday is a better day for all of us ok?
I mean it, even if your day was rockin', I hope that today is even better.

Posted by Kat at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

18 years ago today, I gave birth to the boy that changed my life.

Before I had him and even while pregnant with him, I was thinking that my life wouldn't change.
I was a little over 3 months pregnant with him on my 21st birthday on March 1st 1991, I couldn't celebrate the big 21 the way most 21 year olds do with a drink, and yet I kept on thinking my life wasn't going to change.
It was a long and hot summer waiting for him come, one of the hottest summers in years in Maine.
I spent most of the end of July and the beginning of August standing in an ice cold shower or laying on the cold kitchen floor with 3 box fans all aimed at my swollen belly.
When he finally decided to come out after several false alarms, it was a long and painful delivery, but the moment he came out and they placed him in my arms, I fell in love and my life was forever changed.
I couldn't believe how one tiny little baby could make my heart swell and ache so much, I loved him with every part of my body, I just wanted to hold him and never let him go.
He was so stinking cute, big brown eyes, lots of soft brown hair, and a playfulness that was totally contagious.

He loved to play in the laundry basket like it was a car or a choo-choo train, cover his head with his blankie and play peek-a-boo with me until I played back, and then he would laugh and smile and I'd laugh and smile back.
If I gave him anything that could be made to be played like a guitar, like a broomstick or a fly swatter, he'd stand in front of the oven door glass so he could see himself playing rock n' roll.
He'd pretend it was a guitar and tell me to play music, and he'd rock out on his pretend guitar and bang his head while Metallica, or Pearl Jam, or whatever, was blasting out of the stereo.
He loved music like I love music, something was always playing on the stereo, and he'd play and sing along.

I remember his 1st day of school, he was so cute in his 1st day of kindergarten clothes with his little name tag on it, and an apple sticker that had his teacher's name on it, in case he got lost in the building, any teacher could help him get back to class.
I remember putting him on the bus and how scared he was.
He sat in a seat near a window looking at me, his big brown eyes just staring at me, I knew he was wondering why mommy wasn't on the bus with him, and when it started to pull away, he realized mommy wasn't going to school too, and he started to cry, and then so did I.
All of the other mommies standing at the bus stop were crying too because I was crying watching my baby boy cry.
Another little boy on the bus sitting with him held his hand and told him it was ok, but he kept looking back out of the window and staring straight into me.
My heart was so broken up, I never wanted to put him on the bus again, I never wanted to ever let him go again.
But the next day came and he was ok getting on the bus, and then so was I.
The past 18 years have just flown by, I am amazed at how fast they have gone and I wonder where they went, what did I miss, did I see it all, do I remember it all, will I forget it all?

He graduated from high school at the end of May, he refused to get a hair cut, he wanted his hair his way, not mommies way, he wanted to be himself, be the person he had become.
He's 18 today, no longer my little baby boy, he's all grown up now and soon I'm going to have to let him go.
He wants to take criminal justice classes in college, and then apply for the police academy so he can become a cop like he's wanted to be since he was 3 or 4 years old.
As far back as I can remember, he's wanted to be a cop, and he's going to do it.
He said he's not going to move out until he gets a job as a police officer, and he promises that he won't move too far away from me, but some one of these days, he's going to be on his own and I'm going to have to let him go.
I never want to let him go but I know that I have to, and my heart aches just thinking about the day he moves out on his own.
It's so hard to look at him some days, looking at the young man that he has become, wishing that I could have him be that small adorable boy for just a little bit longer.
At exactly this time 18 years ago, 2:15 am, I gave birth to the boy that changed my life.
I am a different person because of him, I am a better person because of him.
I admire the person he has become, and I know that the man he will eventually be will be a good and caring man, a strong man, he'll be fine on his own, I know that he will, but still, I never want to let him go.
I know that I'll be ok once I know that he's ok on his own, it will be like that 1st day of kindergarten except that I'll be the one staring out the window watching him go and crying.
Today is the 18th birthday of the young man that changed my life.

The title of this post are some of the lyrics from the song "I'm Eighteen", off of the album "Love It to Death" by Alice Cooper.

Posted by Kat at 2:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was supposed to draw the winner for the Smelly Washer product yesterday, but I was sick and hadn't slept in days.
I apologize to all of the entrants for that, I am really very sorry.
So without further ado, the winner chosen by random.org is.......

The comment was.....

And it belongs to Faith!

I will email Faith and she will have 48 hours to email me her mailing address.
If I do not get a reply from her after that time, I will choose another winner using random.org again.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and even if you didn't win, you can buy the product and get 10% off using the promo code "singlemom" (minus the quotes) in the box clearly marked promotion code.
The promo code is only good until August 31st, so make sure you use the code to get the discount if you want to buy the product at a better price.

Posted by Kat at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sorry I once again haven't posted for a few days, I'm beginning to make that a bad habit eh?
Things with the teens are good, they are happy, healthy, and bored to death over summer break. Thank the whatevers that Sebastian starts school again on the 24th, they are beginning to really grate on each others nerves.

We've spent the majority of this weekend watching tv and movies, just hanging out around the house.
I really just don't feel like doing much of anything, saying much of anything.
Life is just at a stand still for me I guess.
Brain block, emotion block, everything block.
Ever get that way?
I am just in a place, an unknown place to me, a place I don't like, I am not enjoying being in it, it's just an empty, lonely place.
I cannot explain it any better than that.

Posted by Kat at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When Sebastian wanted to play the Sims 3 last night, there were 2 new game updates that needed to be installed first, so I updated the game.
I should have ignored the updates because after the updates got finished installing, he logged in to play, and all of our saved games were completely gone.
Erased.
Deleted.
Poof.
Sebastian and I have been playing the game since the day we got it, we had a lot of stuff, our families were doing really well, and now it's all gone.
Dammit.
I'm not sure why it happened or if the files are even still on my computer somewhere, but I'm going to look for them, attempt to find them, and try like hell to restore them.
I hate it when this kind of stuff happens because after well over a month of playing, to lose everything like that just really freaking sucks pretty fucking bad.

I really hope the files are still there somewhere and that I can restore them, I hate having to start over especially since I got wicked far in the game.

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

So Verizon was here on July 21st to install the Fios internet, and when the guy was totally finished hooking it all up, he asked me if I knew my username and password to login to my Verizon account, ya know, so I could check on my bill, pay my bill, that kind of stuff.
I told him that I did know them, but that it was pointless because for oh, the entire length of time that I have lived here, it is now 10.5 years at this address and phone number, I have NEVER been able to access any part of my bill online, I have had billing issues with them not auto-billing every month like they are supposed to do, and I've never, ever, even gotten a paper bill.
Ever.
Seriously, if you do a search on my blog for Verizon, you will find post after post after post about me and the billing issues with Verizon.
The guy assured me that will never be an issue anymore, as a matter of fact, he swore to me that all of the billing issues were fixed.
He asked me what my browser of choice is, I told him Firefox, so he set my Internet Explorer home page to go directly to my Verizon account start page, but ya know, because it was a brand new Fios account, there wouldn't be any information available for at least 1 week, but after that, he told me to wait just 1 week, and then he swore that I would be able to view my bill, pay my bill, that all of the last 10.5 years of billing nightmares would be over.
Really?
Do you really believe that?
Yeah, me either.
You can make this biggie to see it.

It was installed on the 21st, today is the 5th, I waited a good and fair amount of time before I tried it, and see?
It says the EXACT same thing that it has said for the the last 10.5 years, "this tool is currently unavailable."
I have never, ever, ever, been able to see my bill for my internet services, ever.
I can access my phone bill no problem, but internet?
Nope, not once in 10.5 years.

Every single month I pick a day, usually between the 1st and the 7th day of the month, and I call the Verizon internet billing department, and I have to explain the entire thing, I cannot see or pay my bill online, I do not get a paper bill, never have, I don't know how much my bill is, I do not know when it is due, and no matter how many times we set up auto billing, it never auto bills, so please, dearest customer service person whom I am trying so desperately to NOT scream at, could you please tell me how much my bill is and allow me to make a payment over the phone using my debit card today?

The completely confused and frustrated customer service person takes a look at my account and sees that I have been making this same exact phone call every single month for the last 10.5 years, and they start apologizing like crazy, they tell me how much, and they let me make a payment, and then they transfer me over to the technical department who swears up and down, black and blue, on my boy scouts honor ma'am, this will be the very last time that you will ever have to do this, we will fix your Verizon internet account online so that you can see and pay your bill online, and set up auto billing.

They promised me that once I switched to Fios, it would be an all new account so there wouldn't be the same problems that I've had in the past.
As you can see, I'm still having the same, exact, problem.
It has never, ever, been fixed.
After all of these years, I don't even get mad anymore, this is just freaking comical now.
I'll call them in a few days, ask what day my monthly billing date will be, and then ask them if I'll be able to make payments over the phone.
There's really nothing that I can do about it, nothing.
I've given up trying to see my bill online or get a paper bill delivered, it's just never going to happen.
I've accepted it.
Om.

Posted by Kat at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was recently given the opportunity to try out a product called Smelly Washer.
You're probably thinking, smelly washer?!
Why would you want to make your washing machine smelly?
Or maybe you're not.

Smelly Washer is actually a really simple to use product that removes any bad smells from your washing machine like that moldy mildew smell, odor, or fungus, or any stinky washing machine smell that your top or front loading machine may have.
It's a washing machine cleaner that is so simple to use and they guarantee that it will remove the bad odors from your washing machine.

How does it work?
All you do to remove the bad smells from your washing machine is to add 1 level cap full of the Smelly Washer product to your washing machine in it's hottest setting and let it agitate for just 2 minutes.
Then, stop the washing machine and let it sit overnight.
In the morning, let it finish the cycle, that's it, the bad odors are gone.
If you add 1 teaspoon once per month in a "soak" cycle, it will keep your washing machine fresh all of the time.

You can even use it to remove any mildew or other bad smells from towels or clothes.
Throw your stinky towels in the washer, add 1 level cap full of Smelly Washer, let it agitate for 2 minutes, stop the machine and let them soak for 2 hours, then add your detergent and finish the cycle.
The bad smells will be gone from your towels and clothes.

I had a good week and a half to try this out and it really does work.
It's a hot Florida summer, so the teens are taking showers, throwing their wet towels in the laundry basket, and I'm finding them days later all moldy smelling.
OMG!!! P-U!!!!
Smelly Washer really did get rid of the bad smells, and I'm giving a bottle of it away to 1 lucky reader, and I'm also authorized to offer 10% off if anyone wants to order it.
If you decide to order, just use the promo code "singlemom" (minus the quotes of course) in the box clearly marked promotion code.
The promo code is only good until August 31st, so make sure you use it before you lose it!

Now, do you want to try and win a full size bottle of Smelly Washer?!?!?
Here's how!
Rules:
The giveaway is only open to United States excluding Alaska and Hawaii. (Sorry Alaska and Hawaii!) *sad*
This giveaway is open to all, not just bloggers, but rules must be followed.
Only 1 entry per person/family/household.
Only 1 person per IP address can enter the giveaway and complete the required entry and extra entries.
No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc.
I can check and verify IP addresses and email addresses. *wink*
If you are caught cheating, you will be banned from this giveaway and any future giveaways on my blogs.
This giveaway is only open to those ages 18+ only.
All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday August 12, 2009.
I will pick the winner randomly using random.org on Thursday August 13th, and email the winner and they will have 48 hours to claim their prize.
If I do not get a reply within 48 hours, I will pick a new winner using random.org again.