My Single Mom Life

I have permission from my friend Nik, who this is about, to post this.
I have blogged about Nik a few times on here, and before I left to come back home tonight, I asked her if it was OK for me to blog about this just in case some people may be wondering where I was and what I was doing all night long.
I know I don't lead a terribly exciting life, but I do get emails from friends every so often asking me why I haven't posted, asking if I am OK or not because I haven't posted.
So this will explain where I was all night long.

My friend Nik was on her way to pay her cell phone bill and get it turned back on, she was a little late making the payment so they shut her off, and so she was going to pay it in person and get it turned back on, and then run a few more errands before coming back home and then her and I were going to have a movie night up at her place.
She stopped at a Hess gas station in Bradenton to get some drinks for her and her eight year old daughter L. who went with her, and when they got back to the truck, her daughter got in on the driver side, slid over, Nik threw her keys and cell phone on the seat next to her daughter and was just about to throw her purse in and hop in the truck herself, when some guy hit her on the back of the head really hard, grabbed her purse, and took off.
Nik never saw him, she got hit in the head from behind, it dropped her to her knees she said, so she never even got a glimpse of the guy, and her poor little daughter L., was so scared and freaked out, all she can remember seeing was a black man in a white tank top and dark colored pants, she was just so scared because she saw her mommy get hit, heard her mommy scream and cry, and so that is all she saw, a black man in a white tank top and dark colored pants.
Nik called the cops from the store phone, she never even got to get to the cell phone place to turn her phone back on yet, the cops showed up did their thing, took her and her daughter's statements, asked other people if they saw anything, then the cops had to call Hess corporate to be able to review the video surveillance tapes of the parking lot to try and get a look at the guy, try to see how he escaped, either on foot, bike, or a car, and hopefully, if it was a car, get the make, model, and HOPEFULLY, a plate number to try and catch this jerk.
Nik had to go to the hospital in Bradenton to get checked out and luckily she didn't get her head split open, but she has one hell of a knot on the back of her head, and her poor little girl is absolutely terrified.
Nik is not allowed to go to sleep because of the possibility of a concussion, so I had to go up to her apartment up the street and stay with her to keep her awake until G., her daughter's father and her roommate, (they are not together as a couple but live together for the sake of their daughter, looonnnng story) came home from wherever he was so he could keep her awake for the rest of the night.
He came home around 1:45am and I stayed for a little bit to help Nik explain to him what had happened and why she has to be kept awake all night.
I also told him that I took L. to her grandparent's house, his parent's house, who so conveniently (thank goodness they do in situations like this!) live right across the street from their apartment building.
I told the grandparents what had happened, why poor little L. is so scared and upset, and so they hugged her tightly and are going to be taking care of her for the whole night, letting her sleep over their house, cuddling with her, and letting her know that everything will be OK in the way that only grandparents have that special way of somehow making the grand-kids really believe that everything really is going to be alright.
L. was just crying and sobbing, and she was holding onto my hand so tightly as she and I crossed the street to go to their house, and she kept saying that a really, really bad man had hit her mommy on the head and took her purse, he hurt her mommy bad, she kept repeating to me as we crossed the street and knocked on their door.
She just fell into her grandmother's arms when she opened the door.
Poor little thing. *wicked sad face*

So anyway, I just got back home a little bit ago.
But poor Nik.
She had just got her first SSI monthly check in the mail, yesterday, Friday, and she had just cashed it and was on her way to pay and get her cell phone turned back on, and then she was going to go pay her car insurance bill, and then come home and she, L. and I, were going to have a girl's movie night at her place.
But it was so wicked hot out, so she stopped for waters for her and L. at a Hess gas station.
The guy must have been in line behind her, or next to her, or something, saw the amount of money in her wallet, and just went for it, decided to take her whole purse, violently.
She said if he had spoken to her, if he had just asked for the money, or just threatened to hurt her for the money, that she would have just handed him all of the money as long as he didn't hurt her or her daughter, she would have just given it to him to avoid a violent confrontation in front of her daughter, she would do anything to protect her child.
He hit her so hard in the back of the head so she doesn't even know if he used his closed fist or if he had some sort of weapon in his hand, she just knows it hurt really super-wicked bad and dropped her to her knees.
She has a massive lump on the back of her head where she got hit, so she is really lucky that whatever he hit her with, didn't split her head wide open, the lump is that freaking huge.

Nik is so upset, and not just about the lump and the pain and the money, but because she had just cashed that check, it was her very first check after finally being approved for SSI and SSDI after almost 4 years of court hearings and doctors, and paperwork up the butt to finally get approved.
It was the very first check in what feels like a never ending battle to get approved, that first check is like a huge sigh of relief when it finally comes, it just takes all of the stress and worry off of your shoulders that you've been carrying around for all of the years that you have been fighting to get approved for your disability.
She just got a new set of MRIs and saw her doctor, he is talking major surgery, spine fusion surgery, and she is so scared, so she and I have been talking a lot about it, I've been there, done that, so I can help her get through it.
Anyway, it was just a monthly check, not the big retroactive check, that would have really sucked, but still, it was a lot of money to have taken that way, almost $500 just ripped from her violently in front of her daughter, and not to mention everything else in her purse.
Her license, her social security card, her food stamp card, medicaid card, her prescription insurance card, her bank and debit cards, freaking everything was in her purse, so not only did I have to help keep her awake all night long until G. came home, but we had to call as many places as we could that were still open for customer service calls and tell them to cancel all of the cards, give them the police report case number so the cards could all be marked as stolen.
Thank goodness all of them had the press the number option to report your card as lost or stolen, so we were able to report every single one of them as stolen, and I also had her call the three credit reporting agencies so they could put alerts on her credit reports just in case something happens and her SS card number doesn't get canceled immediately by the SSA.

The whole late afternoon and night were a freaking nightmare for her.
The attack happened around 3pm or so, maybe a little later, and she didn't get home from Bradenton and the hospital until around 8pm when she called me up crying really hard and begging me to come up to her apartment, she begged me for help, she didn't even know where or how to begin reporting things as stolen, and her head hurt really bad, she was just sobbing and begging me for help, so with the teens gone for the night to my sister's house, I immediately got myself dressed and walked straight up to her place.
I did every single thing that I could think of to report all of her cards as stolen, and a few of the places that we called gave us some other numbers to call for some of her other things that were stolen, so I think we got it all covered and taken care of, I hope.
Identity theft really sucks so I really hope that we got everything canceled ASAP.
What helped a lot was that I made her remember and write down a list of every single card that she could recall being in her wallet slot by slot, visualize the contents of the wallet, so that I could look up all of the telephone numbers for each one so that she could call them and explain, I kept track of each one as we called it, checking it off of the list, made sure she gave each one the police report number and everything that she needed to tell each place when she called.
I had written it all down for her so that she wouldn't be stumbling over her words not knowing exactly what to say.
It was so hard for her, she was in such wicked bad pain, I kept changing out her ice pack for her, getting her drinks of water, hugging her when she started to break down and cry again, and she was trying really hard not to cry when she was speaking to people on the phone, but her whole purse with everything in it was stolen so violently from her in front of her daughter, it was just such a horrible night for her.

I feel so so bad for her, but I did every single thing that I could think of to do to help her.
I really think just having a friend sitting there on her bed with her, hugging her when she needed it, letting her cry, telling her that things were going to be OK, letting her talk about her very frightening experience, helping to take care of her and her head injury, and making sure her daughter was in a safe place for the night, and just being a good, loving, and supportive friend, is what she really needed to help her get through a very traumatic afternoon and night.
Once G. found out what had happened and he knew that L. was in a safe place for the night, and also knew that his daughter didn't get physically injured, he also was extremely supportive of Nik.
They may no longer be married, they may sleep in separate bedrooms at the apartment, and they may really just be living together for the sake of their daughter, but I saw the look in his eyes as he was listening to Nik tell what happened.
There is still some love there, he still cares very deeply for her, he has never moved on, never gotten into any serious relationships after her, and even though they agreed to split the rent and bills, just live as roommates who happen to be the parents of L., he just pays everything and doesn't complain.
I really think that he takes care of his family because that is how he sees it, it's his family living in that apartment, and he loves both his daughter and Nik.
Really, the look in his eyes and also the way that he hugged her when she started to cry again, yeah, he still cares for her and loves her very, very much.

Posted by Kat at 2:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I posted to Twitter and Facebook last night but forgot to post about it here, ooops, sorry!
Some friends are moving, but they can't move into their new place until Monday, so they are staying with some friends but the friends said no pets, so I am babysitting their cat Maggie.
Maggie was pregnant, she was not not due for another week or so, but the stress of moving caused her to go into labor early and she gave birth to four tiny baby kitties yesterday!

This is a picture of Momma Maggie and her babies, click for biggie.

These are the tiny kitty babies on the second day of their lives!
To me, tiny kitty babies are more precious than diamonds. They are just so stinking cute!
I wanna pick them up and cuddle with the all!
Click for biggie size on this one too!

We are having so much fun with Maggie and her kittens, the teens just love them.
Mark loves the little orange one of course, it reminds him of his cat Simba that he had when he was younger and it was killed by the store owner that ran the store below our apartment.
That guy killed five cats that morning, jerk
I went in the other room and caught Mark laying on the bed just staring at the little kitty, he looked so sad, so I asked him what was wrong, he said that he missed Simba a lot and this little kitty looks just like him.
I gave him a hug and put the kitten in his hands, he smiled, said it was so tiny and cute, but it made him nervous to be holding such a small newborn, so I put it back in the box with Maggie and he went back to just laying there staring at the kittens and smiling.
Kittens make people smile, happy.
Mark may miss Simba, but seeing the tiny kittens makes him happy.

Posted by Kat at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It has been so hot out the last few days, I am totally ready for it to be winter again.
We have just been trying to stay as cool and a comfortable as is possible under these hot temps.
It has only been in the low 90's, but there has been a high heat and humidity index every single day making the 93 degree temperatures feel like 103 degrees.
You take one step outside, and you are immediately covered in sweat.
It is really rather gross and disgusting, take a shower, go out to get the mail, and need another shower.
Yuck.
The poor air conditioner has been struggling to keep the house at 78 degrees, we only have window units, an LG window air conditioner, and it is just working really hard to keep the house cool.

All of the appliances are working over time, so tomorrow I have a plan to clean the dust out of all of them.
I am going to clean the filter on the AC, and have Sebastian and Mark help me move the refrigerator so that I can vac behind it and vac out the refrigerator filters of all of the dust so that it can work more efficiently.
I am also going to clean the hose on the dryer, vac it out and clean the lint filter really good.
If you let dust stay in all of those filters, not only does it have the potential to cause a house fire, but it also causes the appliances to work harder which increases you electric bill.

Tonight we are just chilling out, relaxing and watching movies.
Right now, we are watching Clash of the Titans, and so far, it's not too bad.
It just started, and I know that it got some bad reviews, the story line and script is bad apparently, but the special effects go good ratings anyway.
Meh, it's something to watch, something to do that doesn't take up any energy and make you sweat, so we'll watch it.
Not too much else going on here, really just trying to take it easy and chill out as much as possible.

Posted by Kat at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Q:Electronics Flexible Tripod may not be on sale at Buy.com this week, but the price they have it at screams a buy me price!

It's normally $19.99, but they have it for just $8.99 with free shipping, and it's totally flexible which I love!
I imagine all of the pictures that I have taken over the years that have come out all blurry and obviously shaky because my hands were shaking while I was taking them.
Good pictures, or they would have been good pictures, of the kids at special moments in their lives that I can never get back.
All I have is the memories of those times and some really blurry pictures.

You can set this flexible tripod on a flat surface like a table, or you can wrap the flexible legs around the arm of a chair or a tree or tree branch like is pictured above, and still get a steady picture.
My hands shake something fierce sometimes, so getting a picture that isn't full of motion blurs can be kind of difficult for me to do sometimes.
Having a flexible tripod that folds up small and flat to carry in a handbag or camera bag with my camera, and can then be placed onto any kind of surface to get a totally motion blur free picture, would be awesome for me.
I could even hang it upside down from a shelf, table, or branch, set the timer, and get a perfect picture every single time!
There are times that I have to make videos, and because my hands shake, I get totally blurry videos, it's awful.
I watch my videos after I film them thinking that I did OK, and when I watch it back, it's all shaky and some parts are blurry.
I will remake a video two to three times hoping to not get any motion blur, and no matter how many times that I do it, my hands still shake, and I still get some motion blur.
I hate it, I could really use a tripod, and a flexible one like this would be perfect for me so that the shakes and blurs would never be in another picture or video.

It has a standard universal 1/4-20 screw for attaching any kind of camera, three reinforced nylon ball-and-socket segmented legs, rubber feet for a good grip on any kind of surface, and a quick-release for taking your camera off of it quickly.
If it stays at this price, when I get some extra "me" spending money, I am definitely going to pick one of these up so that I can take perfect motion blur free pictures and videos from now on.

EDIT**
Christine commented that she has one of these flexible tripods, she actually bought it at Buy.com, and she said that it is one of those things that once you have it, you wonder how you lived without it before you got it.

The more that I think about it, the more that I want one.
I know that the quality of my pictures would be so so much better if my hands were not all shaky all of the time, but they do shake something fierce, so a tripod is definitely the way to go for me.
If Buy.com keeps this tripod at this low price for a few more weeks, I may have to get one, I definitely want one, so I just hope that they do keep it at this awesomely low low price for a little while longer.
My pictures and videos will be all that much better if I can get this tripod.

Posted by Kat at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My horriblescope for today says:

Today may be a totally exciting day at work that is filled with surprises, yet you may not be amused with all the uncertainty. You have had plenty of unexpected twists and turns in your life and you're not looking for any more. Fortunately, your upbeat mood should enable you to make the best of nearly any difficult situation, so don't hold yourself back too much.

Yuh.
I have had plenty of twists and turns in my life, and I certainly do NOT want any more.
Do not want.

OK, so, a totally exciting work day that is filled with surprises, but I won't be amused by all of the uncertainty that may come up.
Got it.
Watch out for uncertainty, breathe deep when it happens.
And yes, I am in an "upbeat mood', I finally got some sleep, I feel good, happy, only a little bit of pain in my left hip, but that's from my arthritis that is all flared up due to Tropical Storm Bonnie that is on the way this weekend.

So, it will be an exciting day, some stuff is going to happen that I won't be thrilled about, but my good and happy mood will see me through whatever that stuff is, and I am not allowed to hold back.
Got it.

Posted by Kat at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just woke up after falling asleep in my chair for about five hours.
I fell asleep like that because of sheer exhaustion, insomnia for about the last six days, maybe a total of three hours of sleep over the last six days, plus a lot of stress, and a really horrible day yesterday after leaving my doctor's office.

I left my doc's office, I was in and out in 15 minutes, and went straight to the same pharmacy that I have been going to for the last two years.
As I was waiting to be waited on, I watched as five other people were told that their insurance no longer covered their medications because the price went up.
I listened as the pharmacist told these people that they couldn't pay cash for their scripts either because then they could go call their insurance and try to get reimbursed by saying the pharmacist was making them pay cash.
A lot of angry people left the pharmacy.
I handed in my scripts, waited, and then was told the same thing.
My insurance no longer covered it because the price went up, he was losing money.
I've heard this same kind of story before, been there, done that,

I called my insurance company to find out what to do, to verify it, that they no longer covered it.
My insurance company said they did cover it and they were going to call the pharmacist and find out what the problem is.
So my insurance called him to tell him it was covered, he lied to them and said he didn't have them in stock anyway.
My insurance company said they were looking up other pharmacies to see if they had my pain meds in stock, please hold.
I'm standing in the pharmacy waiting to hear, I needed to be in the AC because it was about 98 degrees with a high heat index and massive humidity, I felt like total crap, I had been sick for the last 4 days, no sleep, I needed to stand there and wait to find out what to do.

As I'm waiting on hold, the pharmacist said that if I really wanted my medications, even though they ARE covered by insurance, if I really wanted them, he was refusing to take my insurance, he told me that if I really wanted my pain medications that I needed to pay $879.90 for my medication, but he would not take my insurance which has a co-pay for me of just $2.50.
He was so totally trying to rip me off!!
This is exactly what that other pharmacy did, but they only extorted me for $20!!
I told him that was not the price of the medicine, that my insurance just told me how much they were for the cash price, and it came to $358.00, not $879.00.
He said the price went up, I either pay it or I don't get my medication.
I said no, that wasn't the price, I was not going to pay that, he was trying to extort me.
While he and I were talking, my insurance company called back, his assistant got him to the phone, the rep I was on hold with came back on the line and I told her what he told me, she relayed that info to the supervisor who was now talking to him, the supervisor told him that he legally cannot charge people whatever price he wants if he accepts insurances which he does.
He started yelling at the supervisor, screaming, said he was not going to fill it, he was losing money, he did not have to fill it if he chose not to, and that yes, he can charge whatever the hell prices he wants.
He then hung up on the supervisor and came around to the front where I was still waiting, glaring at me.
The death stare.
He started yelling at me like he just yelled at the supervisor.
Because I called the insurance company and he got caught in a lie saying my meds weren't covered by my insurance, my insurance company is now investigating him for fraud, so he told me to get the hell out of his pharmacy, I was "dismissed", he told me to get out and that I can never, ever, go back to his pharmacy ever again.

So then I had to go to 3 other pharmacies which didn't have them in stock, then I finally found one that had them, but the wait to get it filled was going to be about 45 minutes to an hour, so I had to sit there and wait for almost an hour after just spending almost two and a half hours dealing with a total jerk and extortionist of a pharmacist, and going to other pharmacies, in and out of the car a whole bunch of times in the heat, I just wasted time all afternoon and my doc appointment was only 15 minutes long, but I spent nearly three hours trying to get them filled!
I was tired, sweating to death, angry, upset, I just wanted to get my meds and go home.
I finally got them filled and came home where the teens had been waiting for hours and hours for me, they kept calling to make sure that I was ok because I'm usually only gone for a max of two hours on doctor day, and now I had been gone for almost three hours and they were worried about me.

Then later that night, Mark asked me to pop this huge zit he had on his forehead, he couldn't get it to pop, he wanted me to use my nails on it.
So I popped his massive, and I do mean MASSIVE zit on his forehead, holy crap that sucker was enormous!
After that, I dug through my medicine cabinet and make-up bin finding all of the 10 - acne products+ that I've bought for the teens over the last six months or so trying to help them clear up their skin, and I washed his face with a cleanser, then I applied a mask for five minutes, washed that off, then I applied a toner and told him to keep his hands off of his face for the rest of the night, if I saw him picking at his skin I was going to dig out some old mittens and tie them to his hands to keep him from picking at the rest of his pimples.
He laughed, but I was so not joking, I said, "Don't push me dude, I had a really bad day, I will so totally tie mittens on your hands to keep you from popping and picking at the rest of your pimples."
He looked at me wide-eyed, knew I was seriously in a bad mood, and swore to not pick at his face for the rest of the night, pinky-swear promised me.

I just can't believe that there are so many unscrupulous pharmacists out there trying to extort people, trying to force people to pay outrageous prices for their medications when they accept insurance but just don't want to wait for the reimbursement or whatever.
This is now the second time that I have had a pharmacist try to extort me, and the second time that my insurance company has had to investigate a pharmacy for fraud.
If my insurance goes back through the records and sees anything that looks suspicious, like price fixing and upping the prices or whatever, he is in so much trouble.
The rep that I was speaking to said that the supervisor was so not happy with him at all, that the supervisor called his actions "shady", said that he was a liar, he had said that he didn't have them in stock, then he said that he did if I wanted to pay $879.00 for them, the supervisor said that he was totally trying to be fraudulent, and so the supervisor was personally going to investigate him.
I hope they do, he was totally shady, totally trying to extort me, and now I wonder just how many other customers he's done it to and because they needed their medications, they just paid it.

Posted by Kat at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I started getting sick sometime on Saturday, and between that, my back hurting, and running low on my pain meds, it's been a hellacious 4 days.
I look absolutely awful, I look like I got hit by a truck.
I have huge bags under my eyes from not being able to sleep due to being sick plus the heat, so before I go to my doc appointment tomorrow afternoon, I need to dig through my make-up bin and find my eyeseryl eye cream.
It generally reduces the puffy bags and lightens up the dark circles a little bit so I don't look quite so crappy at my appointment.

Sebastian did make it home safe and sound, Mindy and I picked him up at the Tampa airport around 11:30am on Sunday.
I brought him a sub from Publix and a Coca-cola, some Swiss Rolls, and he was so happy to have it because neither of his flights served him anything.
Everything cost extra money, and even though he had $20, he didn't want to spend $5 on a single can of Coke.
Those prices are ridiculous, so yeah, he was very happy to have some yummy food to eat on the way home.

I'm very happy to have him home though.
I missed him like crazy, just sucks that I've been sick since he came home.

Posted by Kat at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sebastian will be home on Sunday!
Mindy and I will be picking him up at the airport when his plane lands around 11:30am, I'm so excited!!
I have missed him soooo much!
I can't wait to see him, I'm probably going to hug him so hard that I'll squeeze him too tight...LoL
I'm going to stop and get him a sub and a soda to eat on the way home because all that he's going to get on his flights with Delta is basically snack foods.
Some sort of breakfasty type food like a muffin and juice on his early morning flight, and a light snack like chips and a soda on his mid-morning flight, so he's going to be hungry when he lands, and it's about an hour ride home.

I'm going to try making coming home for him as pleasant as possible, he asked that I please wash all his blankets and pillow cases so they all smell nice and fresh when he sleeps in his bed for the first time Sunday night, so I'm going to do all of that tomorrow.
I'm also going to go shopping and get a lot of his favorite foods so he has yummy stuff to munch on when he comes home.
I'm just so excited that he's coming home, I really have missed him so incredibly much.

Posted by Kat at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mark and I just got done watching She's Out of My League starring Jay Baruchel who is mostly known for supporting roles in films like Knocked up and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and is currently starring in The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Nic Cage.
He stars as Kirk who meets Molly played by Alice Eve, and she's hot, like a 10 hot, and all of Kirk's friends and family, and Molly's friends and family, believe he's just a 5, maybe a 6, but that the two shouldn't be together.

This movie is incredibly funny, but it's not the standard dorky guy meets hot chick movie, it actually touches on envy, insecurity, social awkwardness and anxiety, and not believing that you're good enough for someone else.
The truth is, Kirk and Molly are perfect for each other, convincing everyone else is the hard part, and if the friends and family aren't convinced, they try to talk both Kirk and Molly out of a perfectly good, perfect for each other relationship.

Like I said, the movie is totally funny, we laughed almost the whole way through, and it was just a really good, fun, and funny, guy meets girl movie, you should definitely check it out.

Posted by Kat at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was lucky enough to be contacted by Kraft and sent a gift basket with some really great new products in it for the teens and I to try.
I am going to tell you what each item is and what we thought of it.

New KRAFT HOMESTYLE DELUXE Macaroni & Cheese Dinner: a delicious homemade taste complete with a crunchy breadcrumb topping.
This was really fantastic! The teens absolutely loved it, and they said it was almost like Ninny's homemade mac 'n cheese, so it got a thumbs up from them, and because it was so easy to make, it got a huge thumbs up from me.
It was rich, thick, creamy, and a crumb topping, you can bake it in the oven to get that real homemade taste, and it really does taste like you spent hours making it, or your grandmother did.

New KOOL-AID FUN FIZZ Drink Drops: a fun and delicious way to get kids to drink water with only 5 calories per serving.
These Kool-Aid fizzies were so easy and fun to make, and hey, it's Kool-Aid, you can't go wrong with it!

RITZ CRACKERFULS Filled Crackers: made with real cheese and 6 grams of whole grain per serving to help keep you satisfied.
These cheese and crackers were so awesome! The crackers were crisp, crunchy, and the cheese was smooth and tasted like real, fresh cheese, not like that crumbly processed cheese that you get in other cheese and crackers.
We all loved them, they were really great.
They come six in a box, so it was two packs per person, and if I hadn't been keeping an eye on it, Sebastian would have eaten them all!

New DIGIORNO Pizza & Breadsticks: fresh-baked taste with big juicy toppings plus cheesy breadsticks along with marinara sauce - all in one box.
We like Digiorno pizza anyway, but we all love breadsticks, and these were very tasty and easy to make, and the marinara sauce was quite good too!
We got the pepperoni pizza, and between the pizza and breadsticks, it was enough to fill us all up.

OSCAR MAYER Deli Fresh Shaved Meats: sliced, packed and sealed at the peak of freshness.
We got the honey ham, and oh, it was very, very good. This was another product that I had to keep my eye on because the teens just kept going back for more every time that I turned around, sandwiches, roll-ups, more sandwiches, more roll-ups..hahaha

New KRAFT 100 CALORIE PACKS CHEESE BITES: big cheese flavor in every bite-sized piece in these satisfying 100 calorie packs.
This is one product that I couldn't keep my hands off of.
I LOVE cheese, and these little packs were just the right size for a snack, or two, or three...LoL
I got the cheddar flavor and loved it, these were very, very good, cubes of fresh cheddar cheese, yummy!

Everything that we got was really very good, we enjoyed all of it, especially the pizza and breadstiscks, the Crackerfuls, and the Kool-Aid fun fizzies, ah heck, it was all really good, we really liked everything that we got.

I want to give a huge shout out of thanks to Kraft foods for sending me the gift basket, everything was thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated very much!
Thanks Kraft!

Posted by Kat at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have lost a lot of weight over this last year, I am doing really good in the weight loss department I must say.
My starting weight last year at this time was 196 pounds, yeah, I was really heavy.
But over the last year, I have lost a good amount of weight, I am now down to 158 pounds, a 38 pound loss over the course of a year is really pretty good, and I've managed to keep it all off too.
But the one thing that I hate and can't seem to get rid of, is my belly pudge.
Because I can't do sit-ups or crunches, I seem to be stuck with this pudgy belly, so I have been reading a lot of fat burner reviews to see if maybe a product like that would help me melt away some of the pudge.
I really can't stand it, every time I look in the mirror, I hate seeing my fat belly.
I so wish that I could do some sit-ups, crunches, side bends, something, anything that would help me lose my belly.

Has anyone had any success with a fat burner?
If so, did it help you lose any weight, help shape you up a bit better?
I would really love to get rid of this belly, it's the one body flaw that I have that I cannot stand.

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

I was laying on the couch this morning trying to rest which was an impossible feat.
I have barely slept at all in the last 3-4 days, so I was trying to get some sleep, but my phone get beeping with text messages from friends stressing out over stuff, and then the door happened.

I was laying here, almost asleep, I was totally dozing off, almost to la la land, when there came a pounding on the door so loud I thought someone was trying to actually come in the house.
Mark got up and answered the door, it was a process server here to subpoena the teens to court over the iced-tea mugging incident.
In August, either the 12th, 13th, 19th, or 20th, at 9:30am, the teens have to be in court to testify against the two teens who mugged them a month ago.
Four days, we don't know which day yet, so basically, they have to be in court on all four of those days just in case the court case gets heard on one of those days.
That's ridiculous!!

Posted by Kat at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I absolutely love the show True Blood on HBO, I'm actually watching a repeat of the latest episode from season 3 right now.
I have always loved vampires and vampire movies, books, tv shows, and this is one of the absolute best vampire shows that I've ever seen.
I never miss an episode.
I would like to own the first two seasons on DVD, and I could if I had the spare money because they are actually on sale at Buy.com right now.
Season 1 is on sale for $35.25 down from $50.00, and season 2 is on sale for $32.89 down from $50.00.

I would also like to get and read the Sookie Stackhouse books too.
I would like to get those because the show is different from the books, they take some liberties with the show, change it up quite a bit, they kind of have to because they don't know how many seasons they are going to run the show, plus, it's always good to change things up for the entertainment value.

I know with other "vampire" books and movies that are out right now, the fans pick teams, and I know that there are teams with True Blood too.
Team Bill and Team Eric.
I don't have a team, I like both of the lead vampires for different reasons.
I also like Lafayette a lot, he's Tara's cousin and a friend to Sookie, as well as now working for Eric and Pam.
Lafayette is just one of the coolest characters on the show, I just adore him.
Eric is the sheriff and Pam is like his assistant vampire at the club Fangtasia.
And now in season 3 of the show, there are werewolves.
Oh, unlike the other current vampire stories, Sookie Stackhouse is a strong woman, a strong female lead.
The other vampire stories, the lead female torn between the vampire and the werewolf, she's weak, she simply can't be without a man in her life, she goes from the vampire to the werewolf, when the vampire leaves her to protect her, she ends up sitting in her room pathetically for months.
No no no!
Sookie Stackhouse is a strong female lead, she can handle anything thrown at her even when Bill breaks her heart, she doesn't just sit down and mourn for months, she just gets up and keeps on going, trying to find him because she knows something's not right.
This show is simply amazing!
I know it's not for everyone, but if you're a vampire fan, then this show would be a good one to watch.

Posted by Kat at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am on another new med, a new blood pressure medicine, and it's really messing with me after just one dose.
My vision is all blurry so I'm very happy that I have spell checker right now, I can barely see anything, I have my text all zoomed in, and I can still barely see anything.
If this keeps up, I'm gonna tell the doc that I can't keep taking it.
It sucks not to be able to see.

Posted by Kat at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My friend Nik stopped over yesterday for a little bit and she kept staring at the tv.
I finally asked her what was up, and she asked me if it was a Sony VAIO tv.
I said "No, a Sony Vaio is a laptop."
She was like "Oh, it looks just like my tv, it even says the same thing at the bottom."
I laughed a little bit and said "So it says Vizio at the bottom?"
She looked at me all confused, so I explained it to her, a Vaio is a laptop, they don't make Sony Vaio tv sets, and if her tv looks just like our tv and even says the same thing at the bottom, then it's a Vizio LCD HDTV.
She kept asking me if I was sure, and I said "Yes, they really don't make a Vaio tv, I've seen your tv Nik, it's a Vizio just like ours.
She finally agreed that it was the same tv when I showed her the Sony Vaio laptops on the computer, I just Googled it and showed her, and that's when she finally got it.
She's not very technical. hahaha

Posted by Kat at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the last couple of weeks I have been in a total funk.
I have had absolutely no motivation to do anything at all, I have been mildly depressed and I hate to admit it, but I have to, talking about it helps, says my doctor.
I have been feeling this way ever since Sebastian told me that he had a decision to make about whether to live up in Maine for a year, or come back here and finish his education.
Every time that we talked on the phone, I have been totally supportive, telling him that no matter what he decided, I would stand behind his decision 100% even though it was ripping my heart out to even think about him not coming back home to stay.
I've done hardly anything at all, my house clearly showed what was going on with me mentally, it was a mess.
I haven't been sleeping, and I have barely eaten anything at all in weeks.
With me, the very best natural diet supplements is the thought of not having either or both of my sons with me for whatever reasons, be it an accident, going away to college, or moving away to live with the other side of the family for a year.
It was killing me inside, I ate probably once every two to three days, and you couldn't really call it eating, it was more like nibbling on a single slice of deli ham at one am or whatever.
I have been laying around on the couch most days just mindlessly watching the tv, or sitting here in my chair and mindlessly surfing the internet.
I had lost all motivation to do anything at all.
My home and work have both been suffering because of it, and I just couldn't shake it.

Then around 1:15-1:30pm this afternoon, my Mom called and then I called her right back because I have free long distance, and I talked to Sebastian for about 45 minutes.
Sebastian is spending the night with my parents to help them out around the house and go grocery shopping with my Mom in the morning because she has a hurt knee and a broken vertebrae, so she needs some help and he's great at grocery shopping, he always goes with me and he's really great at helping.
Sebastian said that he'd be home on the 18th, and I asked if he had made a decision yet because if he chose there, then we needed to hurry and try to get a child custody court date, transfer his school records etc.
He told me, "No Mom, I'm coming home on the 18th for good. I'm going to finish my school and then go to SCF for the required classes, and then try to go to Full Sail for my computer and digital art classes that I want to do for my career."

I was Soooooo happy to hear him say that!
To hear him make his education a priority, that makes me so so SO proud of him!
I feel sad that Great-Gram and Aunt Heather will be sad and miss him terribly, but his education is the #1 priority right now, when he finishes, he can go back if he chooses too.
Gah!!!! I miss him but I'm so happy that he's going to be coming home!
Yay!
Yeuuuusss!!

After I got off the phone with him, it's like my mojo came back!
Mark and I went and did the grocery shopping, and then tonight, I finally cleaned the floors like I have been saying I was going to for oh, about two weeks now.
I vacuumed the rug, and I mopped the totally sucky terrazzo flooring in the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom.
I hate the terrazzo flooring, it is so hard to get clean.
You can mop it repeatedly and it still looks filthy, it's just the way the floor is, it's this yucky stone type stuff, and nobody knows how to get it to look clean.
I've talked to people who clean for a living, and nobody knows how to get it to look good.
You can mop it over and over, your mop will wring totally clear, no more dirt is coming off of the floor or wringing out of the mop, the floor is clean, but you look at the just mopped floor, and it still looks totally gross.
Ugh.
Then I did almost all of the dishes, I have just the silverware and cups left to do, I folded all of the laundry in the drier, and I even cleaned the kitchen counters.

Hearing that my baby boy is coming home and he's going to stay home, totally brought me out of my funk.
I got my motivation back.
Sebastian is coming home on the 18th.
To stay.

Posted by Kat at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I know that I haven't posted in quite a few days, there just really isn't much of anything going on here.
Mark and I are just hanging out, each of us doing our own thing, it's been really kind of boring around here.
It rained all day yesterday which sucked, the both of us just laid around watching movies because the both of us have arthritis, so the rain just makes both of our backs hurt a lot, so we just laid around so as not to make it hurt even worse.
Mark was digging around in his keepsake box, where he keeps all of the things that are special to him like birthday cards, his collector edition Boba Fett, stuff like that, and that's when he found a gift card to AMC theaters, so he asked me to check the balance on it.
I called the 1-800 number, and it said that he has a balance of $19.50, so that's enough for him and I to go see a matinee and maybe get a small popcorn and a small drink.
There's a movie coming out that he wants to see, the new Predators movie that starts Friday.
We're planing on going to see it sometime next week in the afternoon.
Mark loves the Predator series, so I figure what the hell, we'll go see this new one together, it will give us something to do.
It actually looks pretty decent too.

Posted by Kat at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I need to get a few ink cartridges for my two printers so that I can print stuff out, like pictures, instead of having to use a service to do them, or ask my sister to do them.
Family members have been asking me for ages to send pictures of the teens, and I keep saying that I will, but then I forget, and then when I remember, I remember that I don't have any ink.

My HP Photosmart printer for printing pictures, takes a single cartridge, an HP 110 Triincolor Ink Cartridge, it goes for about $28.00, and I'd like to find it on sale, but the price varies at every single store and e-tailer, so every time I think I have enough money for it somewhere, I get there, and the price has been marked back up again.

My other regular printer for printing out letters and stuff, is a Lexmark, and it takes two cartridges.
A Lexmark #60 for the colors, and a Lexmark #50 for the black.
The #60 color runs about $45.00, and the #50 black runs about $37.00 regular price, so I definitely have to find those when they are on sale.

Why is ink so damn expensive?
And I've tried those refill kits, yeah, never doing that again.
And I'm never doing refurbished ink again either, that was a total waste of money because after printing out about 20 regular pages, just black text, it ran out of ink, so yeah, I was so not happy about that.
I hate having to use a photo printing service, but I do have some credits at one of them, so I am going to use those credits up until I can get some ink for my printers.
Hopefully that will be sometime soon.

Posted by Kat at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It has been very, very quiet around here, both on my blog and here at home.
I never realized just how much Sebastian and I interacted with each other until he was gone.
Mark and I are very much alike, we go and do our thing and we stay doing our thing, we only interact with each other at meal times and if we're watching a movie or going to the store or something.
Other than that, it's very quiet here.
I am out here at my desk mindlessly surfing the internet or playing with my Sims 3, and Mark is in the other room playing his video games.

I have been a complete wreck without him here, knowing what I know about what's going on up there and the decision that he has to make, and so I have been under a ton of stress.
What used to be my "hives of unknown origin", has now officially been labeled as "stress hives".
When I get stressed, I break out in hives all over every single inch of my body.
We know, the doctor and I, that the hives are from stress because I make a very strict point of not going near any of my triggers, and making sure that none of them come in to the house.
There are never, and never will be, any peaches or strawberries in the house.
Those are my food triggers, and I don't use any of my other triggers either, one of which is the Bounce dryer bar, and thanks to that experience, I am allergic to all fabric softener sheets, so I can only use the Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets, and I really hope that I never become allergic to those.
After doing some journal writing, writing out the dates that I broke out in hives and what I ate and did, what my mood was, what was going on in my life on those days, my doctor figured out that they are 100% stress related.
At least I know now so that I can attempt to keep my stress under control, but that's not really working right now, not with this situation.
So because of the massive amounts of stress that I have been under, I have been broken out in hives almost every single day, all day and all night long for the last 4 or 5 days.
The Benadryl is not working, but I'm taking it anyway in the hopes that it will eventually kick in and start working.
I also wasn't getting much sleep at all, so I had to pick up some sleep aids when Mark and I were at the store the other day, and so I have been getting about 5 hours of sleep per night now.
That's better than nothing, definitely better than not getting any sleep at all like what was happening, so I'm at least feeling a little better.

I don't know, I am just dealing with it all the very best that I can, just trying to be patient and at least I know that he will be home on July 18th.
That's when his return ticket is for, and I know that at least I will see him when he comes home that day, and then from there, I don't know what will be happening, but at least I will get to see him and hug him again.
I just miss him so very much, I know that I'll probably hug him and not let go until he tells me I'm squishing him or something. hahaha

Posted by Kat at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)