Another Day in Paradise

Tuesday has arrived.  Another too-short, busy busy day at work.  I have a customer coming for a visit on Friday, and there is a TON to do before she gets here, as well as my regular work.

Kevin's been working 10+ hours a day, but I hope that's coming to an end, now.  We get home, feed the kids, go through backpacks and do the homework thing, clean up the dinner mess, then plop ourselves down in front of the computers.  I feel lazy, but I'm a country girl living in a townhouse without so much as my own yard.  Dang, I need a house.  I see Jim's pictures of his yard and tractors, I spend weekends at mom's, soaking up the country air, and it makes me hurt for a place in the country.  Heck, a place in town would be great, if it had a nice yard.

We flushed our credit down the toilet a few years back, and it's slowly coming back.  I hope to keep edging that credit score upwards, and look into buying a house soon.  I want to mow a yard, I want to plant flowers, I want to build the kids a jungle gym...I want it ALL!

OK, enough whining.  I'm only 36...maybe I'll grow up some day, and until then, let's have a good time!

'cause it's my BIRTHDAY!

We had some friends come into town for the weekend, even though I had to work Saturday.  Last night we went to a local joint for dinner, and their shrimp alfredo was really good!  After that, we came back here to hang out, and I wound up staying awake talking until almost 3am!  ACK, I'm getting to old for that crap. 

After sleeping in, I got up and had 2 pieces of cardboard pizza (that's what we call those cheap-o frozen things) and 2 grapefruit for breakfast.  Yeah, it's weird, but it's what sounded good!  LOL  Then I went out to mom's to get the girls, and ate a burrito there!  Dang, I'm gonna spend my birthday getting fat.

I was happy to see that my brother has a journal, and I got lots of birthday wishes in email, message board posts, and journal comments.  I took a nap while watching the Nascar race, but didn't miss any of the wrecks.  I gained some respect for Dale, Jr. when we admitted fault for the crash that took him and Brian Vickers out of the race.  A lot of those drivers are arrogant hot-heads who wouldn't admit fault for anything.

Brett and the girls are downstairs making a batch of brownies for me.  I'd say I've got it pretty darn good!

a (stupid?) thought

Dang, there are times that I *HATE* the mood choices on AOL journals.  Anyway, I digest.

ROFL, that "digest" thing cracked me up!  It's sad to laugh at your own jokes.  :(

I have a dream, deep down inside.  It's a dream to take pictures.  No, I'm no photographer, by any means.  I don't want to do portraits, or landscapes, or animal pics.  There is a specific subject that interests me, and I think I could make a damn good book out of it.  The problem is:  I see the pictures in my mind, but there is no text, no words.  Maybe some of mom's poems for some...maybe a comment about how I feel for others...but there are some that I see, in my head, that need something.

Yeah, I'm not flat-out saying what my idea is, but the reason is simple:  I think it's such a *DAMN* good idea, that I am afraid someone will take it.  Yeah, it sounds egotistical, but it's where I am.  I plan to start this weekend.  More to come.

Happy Birthday? Or life as usual?

Well, I got my first Birthday card today.  One of my good friends at work handed me a card (in case she forgot before Sunday) and I started to open the envelope.  As I did, I related to her how my kids, as they pull cards from an envelope, open them and give them a slight shake, hoping that $$$ falls out.  It a cute thing, to see them checking for cash, without asking for cash.  As I told the story, I pulled the envelope out and gave a little shake.  5 Missouri Scratcher tickets (lottery tickets) fell out.  I was thrilled, and shocked.  I said, "well, there IS money in there!"  She laughed so hard.

Out of 5 tickets, I won $2.  That equals $2 more than I had when I got to work today.  I haven't cashed it in, yet, but will probably get 2 more tickets.  That's how I work things.  $10 or more gets traded for cash, under $10 gets traded for tickets.  It's my system...it hasn't worked yet, but it will someday! :)

Survivor was awesome tonight.  I really like having a weekly ritual, each Thursday.  It's a stupid show, but it's fun to look forward to it.  That's probably why I watch.  My day at work was SO hectic, couldn't get ahead, could barely tread water, but I knew that Thursday night was coming.  That's all it took to get me motivated to get through the day.  Yes, that's why I watch.

I have to work Saturday, but it's all good.  We have out-of-town guests coming to see me, and Sunday is all mine.  If the weather cooperates (and it's not looking promising,) I'll take a ride on the best Arabian horse in the world (ok, the only one I've had contact with.)  If it doesn't, I stay home and watch Nascar, being waited on hand-and-foot.  3-day birthday's rock.

In our house, if you have a job, and contribute to the household (read:  me or Kevin,) you get a 3-day birthday.  My wish is their command.  Whatever I want, whenever I want...it's mine.  I'm never too demanding, though, since Kevin's birthday is coming up in August!  It's fun though.  Breakfast in bed, late night ice cream, total control of the remote.  wow.  It's great.  The only rule is:  The three days must be consecutive, and one of them must be the actual birthday.  I will take Saturday-Monday.  That gets me Saturday night, a whole weekend day, and Monday, which will make Monday more liveable.

As a side note, since I'm thrilled with life tonight:  I love my husband.  I love my kids.  I love my mother.  I love my father.  I even love my brother!  I have a storybook life, and need to quit griping about the little crap.  I have it better than *SO* many people, and need to learn to appreciate that. 

Good weekend, ya'll!

Nothing much going on

If it seems I haven't been posting here much lately, it's because I haven't been posting here much lately.  Logical, huh? LOL

There isn't much going on, really.  Monica's allergies have kicked in full force, and it was so bad that she didn't want to spend the night at Grandma's house Saturday night.  I got her perscription filled on Monday, and she's already greatly improved.  Poor kid caughed day and night for 3 days.  Miserable little thing.

Work was frustrating today.  That's life.  As Drew Carey once said, "So, you're unhappy with your job?  Well, we have a club for that...it's called EVERYONE and we meet at the BAR!"  Yeah, everyone has job frustrations, but I still like my job and love what I do.  Sigh.

I will fly to Detroit April 1 for a convention.  I like these trips, but it is exhausting and you stand on your feet all day smiling and making nice with customers.  At least at work, I can put them on hold and curse momentarily!  It's ok, I can make nice for a couple of days, standing in a trade show booth.  It's a way to see a different area of the country and eat at nicer places than I would EVER go to, if I were paying.

April 15, Kevin and I are going to a chat meet in Chicago.  That will be fun, too.  There are a few people that I've been dying to meet in real life.  If we get to go alone, it'll be a short little vacation for the two of us.  If we don't have a sitter, we'll take the van and the whole gang, which will be OK, too.  A bit more expensive and a bit more hassel, but the girls will enjoy it, so what the hay?

Well, I have neopets to feed, and I see an early bedtime coming.  As soon as the girls go down, I'm snoozin'!

Back to, ummm, normal?

Well, I guess life is going to stay as normal as it ever was, around here.  Jonathan worked things out.  It seems I had parts of the story wrong (it wasn't Grandpa's temper, it was Grandpa's wife) and the job isn't lost, just doesn't pay very well.  Jonathan (proving nicely that he's growing up) decided to stick it out and look for another job, instead of packing up and leaving.  He may come up with Kevin's mom this weekend for a visit.  I'll be glad to see him.

You know you're friggin' sad when you have to borrow neopoints from a 7 year old to pay for hoochie coochie tablets to cure your neopet.

Survivor was tonight.  Mmmm, Pringles.  I love Thursday.

Aryan Nation is moving their headquarters to Kansas.  Dang, that's all we need.  Missouri is already the Meth headquarters of the country, now we have white supremecists (sp) nearby.  Great.  I hate haters.  I hope they all make meth and blow themselves up.

I get to go to work an hour late tomorrow.  That means that I can drop the girls off at "kiss-and-go" (the lane to drop kids off without parking.)  The girls love it when I get the rare chance to do this.  It's such a simple thing, but they get all tickled about it.  I'm glad that I can make them happy in such an easy way.

Natalie got her hair cut.  I really like it.  She had a bit of bed-head this morning during breakfast, but I took a pic anyway.  I forgot to change settings on my camera (since the last time I took pics outside, so it is very warm...natural light if you will...but if I didn't work at a lab, I wouldn't have been bothered.)

That's all I've got tonight.  Take care, and "here's to the weekend!"

What a weird few days

Yeah, it's been weird.  Very weird.

We had a great few hours at Mom's on Saturday.  I wanted to go for a ride with her, but she was cooking when I was ready, and she was ready when we needed to head home, so it didn't work out.  Yeah, we could've waited a bit, with no problems, but there was so much to do here at the house.  Anyway, Buddy (Brat?  Prince?) got his hooves trimmed yesterday, and will be good to go next chance I get.

Sunday, Monica had a birthday party to attend at the local roller skating rink.  Yeah, they still play Ghostbusters, YMCA, the Limbo, the Chicken Dance, and the Hokey Pokey (that's what it's all about, ya know.)  It hasn't changed in 20 years.  Throw in several giggling 9 year old girls, and you have a wild afternoon.  Natalie went to the grocery store with Kevin after I got home, and came home to say, "Dad spent $123, are we rich?"  No, honey, not anymore.  Walmart has it all, now.

Monday was a normal day, other than my neopet catching "hoochie coochie"...what the heck is THAT?  Sounds like VD!  Anyway, he's healed.

Today is the 1st of the month.  That means hell at work.  I ran the monthly statements this morning, and there was a problem with the updates that I run afterward.  It took over an hour on the phone with IT, and several hoops to jump through, but it got fixed.  Then, I found out that a customer filled out a form to have us charge his credit card, and put the wrong account number in.  That means:  We've been charging the credit card belonging to accoung "X" for the last 6 orders shipping to account "Y".  SHIT!  Lots of crediting and debiting later, that's fixed, too.  That's when Kevin called me.

It seems that Jonathan  (Kevin's 19 year old son) is practically homeless.  His plan to live with his grandpa isn't working out.  Lots of folks suspected that Grandpa's temper would come out, but after only a few days?  All signs point to no provocation, but who knows?  Jonathan would likely live on the streets before leaving his girlfriend behind, but can they come here?  Get on their feet until they find a place?  Can we help them get away from that town?  I have preached to Kevin for years that "you give your kids as many chances as they need," and now he's gonna call me on it.

I still believe that you give your kids all the chances they need...I mean, who else is gonna do it?  I also believe that Jonathan has turned things around in the past year.  He is holding a job, he's dropped his junkie friends, and he's a respectful guy to be around.  The reason for this change is his girlfriend.  She has encouraged him, supported him, and refuses to let him fall back into old ways.  It's a good thing, right?  The problem is, he won't leave her behind, and it's hard for us to say, "let her stay there!"  She has nobody there, and is the reason that Jonathan is growing up.  DAMN! 

No, I don't want to have Jonathan and his girlfriend using this as a crash pad.  Yes, I want Jonathan to continue the path that he's on.  No, I don't want my girls to think it's OK to live with your S.O.  Yes, I think they're together for the long haul, and will probably get married.  No, we don't have room for two more people to move in.  Yes, I will support Kevin with whatever decision he makes.  He has supported me through a lot, and I will do the same for him.

I love Jonathan, and I see the change in him since he started dating Samantha.  They are really pulling it together.  He is a different kid.  Does that make it easier?  Does that make more room in my house?  Does that explain what we'll tell the girls?  Does that help explain where they will work or how long it will last?  No...no it doesn't.  All I can do is support Kevin in the decision that he makes.  We will figure this mess out.

I know what my brain tells me, and I know what my heart tells me.  Right now, those two are arguing something fierce.  The final decision is Kevin's, not mine.  I will support him and make due.  I will continue to work and raise my kids.  I will make the best of whatever situation develops. If I'm going to give Brett unlimited chances, I have to be willing to do the same for Jonathan.  sheesh!  I'm tired.