Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Holiday Insanity

We are leaving in the morning for our 10+ hour drive to Colorado.

Oh goody. I might as well start knocking back shots right now.

As always, everything has been left up to me to take care of. And there is sooo much to do.

And traveling with a 2 year old and a 4 year old is not easy. Nor is it fun.

We had originally planned to leave this afternoon when I got off work early but I am having to work all day so we will leave in the morning.

I am so not even going to get the boys dressed. They can stay in their pajamas.

Things done:
I have their car bag packed. Hopefully, I packed enough stuff in there to keep them occupied for at least half the drive. If I remember correctly, this is what is in their travel bag:
  • 2 boxes of crayons and 2 coloring books (we all know that they won't share)
  • Monk Man's Leapster 2
  • Bobblehead's "Laptop"
  • a couple of Baby Einstein books I got in the mail Saturday
  • a few action figures (X-Men, G I Joes, Little Peoples)
  • the new V-Motion (because Monk Man won't let it go in their suitcase)
  • some picture books
  • and some of their cds

I also have a "secret" bag packed with juice boxes, suckers, Teddy Grahams and 2 candy bars.

Oh, and I found their beanies, mittens AND hoodies already.

And stuff I have to do still:

  • pack clothes
  • pack Bendaroos
  • pack some books and magazines for me
  • buy MIL some nacho cheese (her Walmart wont carry the good stuff)
  • find the phone chargers
  • find my sunglasses
  • pack bathroom stuff (makeup, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, tweezers, nail clippers, hair brushes)
  • find a blanket big enough yet small enough for the car
  • pack up the gifts

Plus, I guess we are doing some kind of cooking competition thing. MIL said that they got the idea from Top Chef. Ummm, we don't watch Top Chef so I have no idea. All I know is that I have to come up with something to cook. Riiiight. I think she forgot that I can't cook. Hubbs, BIL and step FIL are cooking the main dishes. MIL and I are cooking sides.

After days of stressing about this (because I can't even make Crescent Dogs without someone getting food poisoning) I have decided on either my Baked Mac & Cheese or Fancy Mashed Potatoes.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed that I get to leave work early (due to no business, that is another blog post) so I can make a dent in all the shit I still have to do. Even if I do get out of here early, I am sure I will still be awake at midnight trying to get everything done.

It is going to be a giant Red Bull kind of day.

But What If Santa Is A Dirtbag?

Monk Man gets a little worried about the craziest stuff sometimes.

We had just finished the first part of our 2 part Christmas eve tradition, the boys opening 1 pre-determined gift each.

Pajamas! Sometimes matching, sometimes not, sometimes festive, sometimes not. How fun, I know. But they are adorable!

So the boys are getting their pajamas on and their coats because we are off to complete our 2nd part of our Christmas eve tradition: Driving through town to look at all the houses that are decorated with lights.

All of a sudden, Monk Man freezes. He has gotten his pajamas all the way on except for an arm and gets this terrified look on his face.

Mom: Dude, finish getting dressed. It is time to go see lights.
Monk Man: Mom! What if Santa is a bad guy! What if he is a (gasp).....dirtbag?

Hubbs and I look at each other and bust out laughing. By the time we finally get our shit together enough to be able to breath again, Monk Man has forgotten about Dirtbag Santa.

Where he got that idea, I have no idea. So far, he hasn't brought it up again. I need to figure out what to say the next time he asks something similar. Because you know he is going to.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Work Music

The bosses are gone this afternoon and the shop manager has had MY kind of music on.

We are currently rocking out to Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails. Right before that, we were listening to Tool.

At work.

I am in Heaven!

New Tires

Sooo not a bargain.

My driver side rear tire has been going flat every couple of mornings for about 2 weeks now. I go out to start the car so it is warm for the boys and there is a flat tire. So I drag out the air compressor, let it charge up, air up the tire and put it all away again. All at the butt crack of dawn in the freezing cold. My neighbors are starting to really hate me.

It was getting to be a HUGE pain in the ass so I took it to the tire shop Friday. They said it was a valve stem. They fix it and I bring it home.

By Saturday morning the damn tire is flat again. So I make Hubbs air up the tire so we can run our errands. By 7 that night, the tire was flat. Again.

Yesterday, I took my car back to the tire shop. Obviously it wasn't the valve stem because it is worse than before. I tell them to fix my stupid flucking tire right and call me when it was done.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call. Apparently Friday when I said the driver side rear tire was flat they thought I meant the passenger side front tire was the one with the issue.

That sounds totally the same, right? Stupid shits replaced the valve stem on the passenger side front tire. And the valve stem wasn't even the problem. Uhhh, duh?

My tire keeps going flat because it is separating on the inside. Ok, so I need a new tire. They also casually asked if I knew that my front tires were a different size than the rear ones.

YES? I have been telling them for a year that my tires are rubbing on my struts. I can hear it every time I turn. Plus if I look in the wheel well, I can see where the rubber is being worn away on the inside.

I get that I am a chick and am inferior because I don't have a penis *snort* but I am NOT stupid. I was temped to ask him if he had forgotten that I work in a body shop. Dummy.

So really, I need 4 new tires but can get away with only getting 2 right now.

I had to sit down when they told me how much each tire cost. $250 each tire. I told them very nicely where they could shove those $250 tires. I can get them cheaper somewhere else and would never be using that tire shop again.

In order not to lose business the tire guy said he would give me 2 tires for $211. That was a little more reasonable but not even close to what I really wanted to spend which was nothing since it was their screw up in the first (and second) place.

Ugh, it killed me to write out that check. And I should have just picked up my car and not let that shop touch another thing on it. I know better than that! But it had to be done right then.

I only spent the money I had and didn't have to put it on a credit card. So a teeny yay for me.

BUT, if everything goes as planned........in a couple of weeks Hubbs and I will own half of a business. BIG yay for me! Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

Check back to read more about our big business venture. I have a post started already but it is all jumbled because I am still trying to process it all.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Our Dogs

Our crazy dogs are as bad as the kids!

I just got out of the shower (yes, I am aware it is already 10 a.m.) to find the kitchen trash can knocked over. Even better....there is a garbage trail from the trash can across the kitchen, down the hall and out the doggie door.

I don't even want to look outside and see the mess they created in the back yard.

Duke is hiding under my computer desk and Molly has buried herself under the stuffed animals in the boys closet. They KNOW they are busted.

Wet coffee grounds, egg shells, a rotten bag of salad mix and cardboard is going to be SO much fun to clean up.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

PS3

So our PS3 is broken. It suddenly stopped reading discs the other day.

Wonderful. The family gift from Santa is Guitar Hero for the damn PS3.

I know what the problem is. It is a faulty laser and I am one of about a hundred thousand people that have had this problem. Playstation wants (you might want to sit down for this) $160 to fix it. Plus they will probably keep it for 6 months too.

The lasers are selling for that much on Amazon and ebay so no luck doing it myself for cheaper.

Sonofabitch.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Very Excited

A few months ago I found out the my BFF (Bugs) had gotten engaged and she had mentioned that she would like me to help her plan it.

Well, she sent me a note on Facebook officially asking me to be her Wedding Planner.

I am soooo excited and kinda scared all at the same time. I got married in Vegas so I have no experience at all.

But who better to practice on than my BFF?!? Plus I am doing it for free, as my gift to her.

Time to start getting my ass in gear. For real this time.

I will (hopefully) keep our progress updated on the blog.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Holiday Ramble

After going a little overboard on Christmas presents this year and a VERY expensive hunting trip, I have accepted that money is back to being tight again.

So I have another year of making decorations instead of buying them. Last year, all I made was construction paper garland for the tree. The tree is prelit but I have no ornaments. Well, I DO have ornaments but they are glass and are in storage until the boys are a little older.

The boys begged me to put the tree up on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I caved. The tree went up and was plugged in. It looked sooooo bare. We found the 2 teeny trees that I had forgotten I had. Those got fluffed out and now flank the big tree. It was cute but still looked incomplete.

Last Sunday, the boys and I sat on the floor and made construction paper garland again. Cut, loop, staple. Repeat for hours. The garland got draped around the tree. The presents not from Santa got wrapped and put under the tree too. That still didn't look festive enough.

So last night, I decided I was going to make Salt Dough Ornaments. It turns out that I make ornaments as badly as I cook. Instead of rolling the dough to 1/4 inch thick, I rolled it out to more like 1/16 inch thick and they burned. BUT I have some super thick white paint that should cover up the ugly so we can paint them to look decent. Tonight, I plan on painting the ornaments white so they will be dry enough to decorate tomorrow night.

Salt Dough Ornament Recipe:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Mix flour and salt. Add water and mix. Take dough out of bowl and knead until smooth, like sugar cookie dough. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky. Heat oven to 300. After the dough is mixed, roll out to 1/4 inch (very important) on a well floured surface. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and poke a hole in the tops to thread ribbon through after baked and decorated. Place on foil lined cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm and dry. Let cool and decorate with paint, glitter, beads, ribbon, whatever. Let dry and hang on tree or use as gift labels.

Snow?

What a night it was!

The wind started blowing hard around 11:30 and blew ALL night. The power went off when it started to snow. Since no power means no heater, it got COLD!

Luckily, the kids have more blankets on their bed than they know what to do with and have decided to share the bottom bunk. I got up and piled all the blankets on them and tossed Molly (the little dog) in with them so they would stay warm.

I am SO happy I made them put on their warmer pajamas when they started to fight with me before bed instead of giving in and letting them sleep in their undies.

By the time I got back to bed, I was frozen. I made Hubbs move over to my side of the bed since his was already warm and cuddled up with Duke (the big dog).

The sun was up around 7ish and still no damn power. By 7:30 the power was back on. The heaters kicked back on so I decided I had better get up and get ready for work.

I was pissed when I remembered that my coffee machine is a Bunn. I got to the kitchen, stopped in front of the coffee machine and did the whole "Forehead slap-Doh!" thing. I have a love/hate relationship with it. It has to stay plugged in so that the water inside stays hot. If it gets unplugged or the power goes off, the water inside cools down very fast. As long as it stays hot, the coffee is made like it should be. If it isn't hot, all that comes out is cold yuck.

But there is coffee at work!

So that is where I am now. Sitting at work watching the snow melt.

It is going to be a sloooow day. School is cancelled because they don't think the power is going to stay on consistently. No mail because the wind blew the truck over on the highway last night. No parts delivery because the roads around us are closed.

I have been here an hour and 43 minutes. Not a damn thing has happened. Wait, the phone rang twice.

At least the internet is working and I have coffee. I will survive. Off to blog stalk!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I Feel Like Crap

Uuuuggghhhh.

My stomach is SO angry. I really hope I don't barf.

Plus I am a little dizzy, am having hot/cold flashes and I can hardly concentrate.

Bobblehead was sick on Saturday but was fine on Sunday. I am not sure if it was a bug or if I gave him food poisoning.

Why yes, I am the worlds worst cook! Thanks for noticing!

Hubbs is out in the woods chasing Elk for another 2 days so I have no other choice than to cook.

The boys had better be happy with a bowl of cold cereal for dinner tonight.

Dinner, a bath and then bed. I am sooo not messing around tonight.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Poor Blog

My poor blog has been neglected for almost a month.

I have been a wreck. Between stress at work, home and everywhere in between, the blog has been put at the bottom of my "To Do" lists.

I will try to get on tonight and update what has been going on. Don't worry, it isn't bad news really. I am just sweating the small stuff as usual.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Glade Candle Tins

If you are having a hard time finding the Glade candle tins at Target, try Wal-mart or Safeway.

Apparently no one in my area knows about how cheap this Glade is.

I don't have a Target near me so I don't know all the details about it but I know there is a gift card involved. Target seems to have the best deal.

There were blinky machines up that had coupons in them for "Buy any Glade Scented Oil Candles holder and get a refill pack FREE". I happened to snag my fair share of these at my Safeway.

I was at Safeway last night buying beer and walked down the candle/dog food aisle. The blinky machine was still up so I let Monk Man snag a few since he loves playing with the machine. I just happened to notice that the tins were in stock. Score! They were priced at $2.49 when you buy 3 or more. Bigger score! I grabbed 3 tins and 3 refills to do the deal. All the tins I grabbed had the $1.50 off coupon inside. Yay!

So here is the math
$2.49 Tin ($4.29 regular price)
$2.49 Tin
$2.49 Tin
$2.49 Refill ($3.99 regular price)
$2.49 Refill
$2.49 Refill
$1.36 Tax
=$16.30
-1.50 coupon
-1.50 coupon
-1.50 coupon
-2.49 free coupon
-2.49 free coupon
-2.49 free coupon
=4.33 out of pocket

It would be an even better deal if you can find a cashier that will give the full $3.99 off for the FREE coupon. That would give you an overage of $0.17 for every set of 3 refills (I think).

The blinkys don't expire until January and the tin coupons don't expire until March so I will be going back for more cheap candles as long as the price stays the same.

I am not sure what I am going to do with them all though. These are the only brand of candles we use so I am sure we will go through a lot of them. But I think that if I ever get my ass in gear and do this yard sale I keep thinking about, I will unload some there.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween Pics

The boys went weeks without deciding on what they wanted to dress up as so I made the decision for them.

I decided that they were going to be Lego's. And I made the costumes all by myself.

Here are pictures from Trick or Treating last night

Here is Bobblehead. He wasn't thrilled to be stuck in a box.
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Here is Monk Man. He was being shy. I wonder what happened to his sock?
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Please ignore my incredibly messy house. I have been slacking on housework but today is reserved for cleaning.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Spooky

I finally got around to reading the post secret secrets for this week. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this one:

postsecret

It gave me the chills.

See, MY birth mother was 15 or 16 when I was born. She was LDS (mormon) and was strongly encouraged to put me up for adoption since she was too young to get married or take care of a child on her own.

That is according to the stories that I have heard. Long story short, my birth mom and I just happened to have the same Seminary teacher in high school. His name is Gary. Gary and his wife were in the process of adopting and since this is such a small town word gets around pretty quickly. My adoptive mom (Nonnie) became very close friends with them and helped them out the best she could. Nonnie knew Gary had taught Seminary at one of the high schools in the city I was born in around the time I was born. She casually asked Gary if he had known my birth mom (obviously she used her name) either while he was teaching or involved with the LDS church. He knew her and remembered that she had been pregnant. Putting 2 and 2 together he figured it out.

Shortly after that, Gary and his wife got the baby they were waiting for and had to move. Their baby's birth mom apparently was mentally unstable and they were afraid that if she found them she would try to take him back or something.

I didn't know that the conversations about my birth mother even happened until after I had turned 18 and by then Gary and his family had been long gone to somewhere in Utah.

I would give just about anything to be able to talk to Gary about my birth mom. It would be one step closer to finding her. I really don't know if I want a relationship with her, that is something I go back and forth on because it scares the shit out of me. I just want her to know that she did make the right decision and that I have never been angry about it. I want to know what she and my birth father look like. I want to know if I have any siblings out there.

Most of all, I want my medical history. I hate having to explain to doctors and dentists and psychologists and insurance companies why I leave all the answers blank when the forms ask for the parents medical history. The look of pity most of them give me pisses me the hell off.

Back before Hubbs and I got married, he took me to the city my birth parents went to school in. He found the public library where the high school year books were stored and made arrangements for us to go in and be able to spend all day searching through the year books looking for either of my birth parent's pictures. We did find one picture that matched my birth father's name but the picture was of a black guy and I am so white I am clear. While it is technically possible, I don't think it was really him, but it would totally be okay if it was.

I have to go pick up Hubbs from FIL's house in a minute. Maybe I will post more about the whole adoption thing tomorrow, maybe some other day, or maybe not. I don't really get in the mood to post about it very often and I usually change my mind and delete it instead of publishing it.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Snow?

All the weather forecasts point towards snow tonight.

In October?

In Arizona?

Unreal.

I already feel like I am freezing to death. Weatherbug says that it is 63 degrees but it feels a hell of a lot colder than that. It is pretty nasty outside.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

President Obama and Swine Flu

President Barack Obama has signed a proclamation declaring swine flu a national emergency

Seriously???

I can't even imagine the pandemonium this will cause. What the hell is he thinking! And to compare it to a hurricane? Stupid. Talk about fear mongering.

National emergency or not, we will not be getting the vaccine. There are still wayyyy too many things that aren't know about the vaccine for me to feel comfortable with.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuesday Dinner: Breakfast Rice & Rasin Toast

This is a very easy and quick dinner or breakfast.

1 serving = ½ cup instant rice and ½ cup water
I can never remember that ratio for some reason.

Bring water to a boil. Add instant rice to boiling water. Cover pan and let sit 8 minutes or until water is absorbed. Serve with sugar and milk.

Monday Dinner: Monster Mash Hash

(I doubled this recipe. There was enough for dinner and lunch the next day)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (8oz) stewed tomatoes, cut up
1/4 cup Ketchup
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 can (7oz) whole kernel corn
8oz. pasta (I used egg noodles)
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

In large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add turkey, onion & garlic. Cook, stirring until turkey is browned.
To skillet add tomatoes, Ketchup, oregano, salt & pepper. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
To mixture in skillet, add corn & its liquid. Heat through.
Serve on pasta.

Sunday Dinner: Perfect Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/4 c warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornmeal
1 c pizza sauce
Assorted toppings
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Place 1/4 c warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir in sugar. Let stand 5-10 minutes or until bubbly. Add remaining water, oil and salt. Stir in flour until dough pulls away from side of bowl.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, 8-10 minutes. Coat large bowl with cooking spray; place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover loosely. Let rise in warm place until almost double in size, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 F. Punch down dough. Coat two 12 inch pizza pans with cooking spray; sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Divide dough in half. Roll dough to fit prepared pans; press dough against edge to form rim. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

Remove crust from oven and top with pizza sauce. Add the toppings and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes longer.

**Hint: The secret to rolling pizza dough is to let it rest for 10 minutes after it is about half the size needed. Then it will easily stretch the rest of the way

Friday Dinner~~Hillbilly Cheese Dip with Thursday and Saturday thrown in for good measure

1 lb hamburger
1 lg pkg of Velveeta (cubed)
2 c milk
2 small cans of green chilies (drained)
1/4 diced onion
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
1 can Rotell (or any canned) tomatoes (drained)
1 can refried beans
1 Bag Tortilla chips

In deep saucepan, cook hamburger and onion, drain, and set aside. In same saucepan, add milk and cubed Velveeta. Stir constantly (or else it will burn) until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add taco seasoning. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients except chips. Put saucepan back on heat and stir constantly until well mixed and semi-smooth.

Serve with Tortilla chips.

Thursday Dinner: It was Nonnie's birthday so we had Mexican Food at her house. Hubbs brought Mexican Rice. Nothing special, just the Rice-a-Roni kind.

Saturday Dinner: Sandwiches
We had fried PB&Js and Doritos. It was deliciously nasty.

Tuesday and Wednesday Dinner~~Breakfast

Tuesday Dinner~~Eggs, toast, bacon and hash browns. Yummy!

Wednesday Dinner~~Blue Berry Pancakes
2 boxes Jiffy Blueberry muffin mix
Just follow the directions on the box for the pancakes.

Special Syrup
1 can evaporated milk
1 evaporated milk can full of sugar
Add both ingredients to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Serve over pancakes.

Monday Dinner:Chicken Alfredo and Parmesean Bread

1 jar Alfredo Sauce
1 pkg Linguine Noodles
4 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 loaf french bread
margarine
Parmesan cheese

Dice chicken breasts and pan fry.
Cook noodles according to Al-Dente directions on package.
Heat Alfredo Sauce and add chicken. Stir until mixed well. Add noodles and serve.

Slice french bread in half longways. Slather on margarine and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake in oven at 400 until margarine is melted.

Saturday and Sunday Dinner~~Baked Potato Soup

Peel and dice 5 or 6 potatoes. Boil until soft. While the potatoes are cooking, chop an onion and put in crockpot. Drain potatoes, mash and put in crockpot. Add 2 cans evaporated milk (not condensed), 3 cups milk, salt, pepper, 1 tsp crushed garlic, and enough water to cover potatoes. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally. Add a pouch of potato topping (found in produce section at grocery store) and cook on low for another 10-20 minutes.

You can substitute potato flakes for fresh potatoes. I can’t imagine it would taste any different. But it would eliminate all the peeling, cutting, boiling and mashing. I might try it next time.

Sunday Dinner: We had leftovers.

Friday Dinner~~Cheese Crisps

Ingredients:
2 flour tortillas for each person
margarine
shredded cheese
Directions:
Heat oven to 400. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with Pam. Spread margarine over one side of tortilla and place on cookie sheet. Add a handful of cheese to one side. Fold tortilla over cheese. Repeat for 2nd tortilla.

Bake for 3 minutes or until cheese begins to melt. Flip tortilla over. Bake until tortilla starts to turn golden brown and cheese finishes melting. This takes another 4-7 minutes depending on the type of cheese used.

Use pizza cutter to cut cheese crisp and serve with dishes of refried beans, sour cream and salsa for dipping.

Thursday Dinner~~Pizza and Calzones

I resisted the urge to order Dominos and made pizzas and calzones instead. It was just cheese and pepperoni but really good. Pretty cheap too. I didn't have to go to the store for anything since everything was already in my pantry and freezer.
2 cans Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg of pepperoni
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
8 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
cornmeal
cooking spray
Preheat oven according to pizza dough directions on can. Lightly spray a rectangle cookie sheet with Pam and sprinkle a bit of cornmeal on it. Roll out pizza dough. For Calzones, cut dough down the middle, for pizzas leave intact. Spread 2+ Tbls spaghetti sauce over dough, leaving 1/2 inch unsauced all the way around for crust. Layer pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and then cheddar cheese on half of dough for Calzones, and over all the dough for pizza. For Calzones, fold bare half of dough over toppings, pinch and tuck under to seal on all 3 open sides. Cook for 11 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Meals

Whoah. Looks like I hit enter once too many times there.

I am working on getting our meals since last Wednesday all typed out. Each recipe is (hopefully) going to have its own post for easier reference.

Hooray

The internet here at work was down almost all day yesterday. I was SO bored. But I think I have finally gotten completely caught up.

Now to catch up on the blogging stuff.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Getting Caught Up

Who knew that taking a week off for vacation would leave me with so much stuff to catch up on when I got back?

I have been working all week to get caught up on last week. I finally got through all the stacks of last weeks junk on my desk yesterday.

Now I have this weeks junk to catch up on. Hopefully I can get it all done today.

If so, then I can catch up on my blog and everybody else's blogs.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Thread Memory is BACK!

Holy shitballs. Babycenter has thread memory again.

This is awesome news.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Dinners

I have really been slacking on the blogging since vacation started.

Whoops.

Catching up on dinners since Friday today. Lots of prices missing. I may come back to this post and add prices.

Friday Dinner
Fettuccine Alfredo
1 box of Fettuccine noodles (free when I bought sauce)
1 jar of Alfredo Sauce (2/$5 minus 2 $.50 coupons doubled)
1 loaf of garlic bread (2/$5 minus 2 $.50 coupons doubled)
Cook everything according to package/jar directions.
Everything was from the pantry and freezer. The sales were from a few months ago so I am completely going off memory on the prices.

Saturday Dinner
Green Chili & Tortillas
I have posted that recipe here before I think.

Sunday Dinner
Ham and Beans
1 lb sliced Honey Baked Ham (gift from FIL, $75-80 for huge ham)
2 cups dry beans (Hubbs family has something to do with a bean farm so free)
2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix (2/$1)

Soak beans in water over-night to soften. In the morning, drain beans, rinse and throw in crock pot. Add ham and enough water to cover. Cook on low all day. Bake cornbread according to package directions.

Monday Dinner
Hubbs and Monk Man had reheated ham and beans. Bobblehead and I had reheated green chili.

Tuesday Dinner
Mashed Potato Tacos
1 pkg corn tortillas
1 large potato each person plus 1 extra
shredded Cheddar cheese
Salsa or El Pato sauce
Boil a pan of water. Peel potatoes and dice. Add potatoes to water and return to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and cover. Cook potatoes until they slide off a fork when poked. Warm corn tortillas in hot vegetable oil. Set aside to cool. Drain potatoes and mash. Add 1 cup milk and cheese. Cover half of the corn tortilla with potato mixture. Fold tortilla over and fry in hot oil until crunchy. Serve with salsa or El Pato sauce.
The kids were full on 2 tacos each. Hubbs and I had 4 each.

Tonight's Dinner (Wednesday)
Huevos Rancheros
Left over green chili
left over beans (ham removed)
3 potatoes
1 pkg corn tortillas
eggs
vegetable oil
shredded cheddar cheese

Peel potatoes and dice. Fry until crunchy. Warm corn tortillas in hot oil and set aside. Reheat green chili. Re fry beans by putting in a skillet, heating and mashing with fork. Fry egg.
Huevos Rancheros layers: Tortilla, fried potatoes, refried beans, green chili, egg. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Career Stuff

Remember how I said I decided I wanted to be an Event Planner? I am actually following through with this idea.

Last week (before Hubbs went into Extreme Saving Mode) I was cruising eBay and came across the Knot's Ultimate Wedding Planner for $4.

Score!

That came in the mail yesterday. I leafed through it while I was waiting on the potatoes to turn into hashbrowns. But since I was trying to do 2 things at once, I didn't get too deep into it. I did notice some awesome checklists which is very appealing to my analness.

I am really excited to be able to sit down and really read it, hopefully tonight while sitting in the bathtub, sipping a Cosmopolitan.

Another sign that I just might actually pull it off? I have started talking about it face to face with some of my friends and famdamily. Now I have to at least try.

Low Cost Dinner

An Extreme Saving Mode post today.

In order to stay accountable in the whole "cooking from the pantry and stockpile" thing I talked about yesterday, I am going to have to blog about what I made for dinner and maybe how much it cost.

You all will keep me in check right? Spank me when I cave and get fast food or delivery, ok?

Last night I dug through the fridge to find dinner. Hubbs has already caved and offered to order a Dominos Pizza (one of my weaknesses). But I stood my ground and told him he was being a lazy ass.

We have so much in our fridge right now that it is almost impossible to find anything. Cleaning out the fridge is the first thing on my vacation to-do list.

So back to what I cooked for dinner. Bacon, eggs and browns. Breakfast for dinner doesn't happen very often at our house anymore so it was a nice treat.

I got the bacon on sale last week for 2/$6 and used 2 $1 coupons so was $2/lb. I used 1/2 lb last night. I got the eggs for free since they didn't get rang up at the register. I noticed it when I was looking over my receipt later that day and I did call Safeway but they told me not to worry about it. They should have been $.99 for 18 and used 6. And the potatoes were 5 lbs/$.99. I used 4 large potatoes so maybe 2 lbs. The bacon was pretty fatty so no other grease was needed.

1/2 lb bacon: $1.00
6 eggs: $.30
2 lbs potatoes: $.38
Total cost of dinner: $1.68 for 4 people.
The cost of the pizza Hubbs wanted to order: $14.00

Not too bad. I found a bunch of recipes yesterday that have ingredients I think I already have. Well, most of the ingredients. I think after I clean out the fridge tomorrow I am going to sit down with the Safeway ad and figure out what I need to add to the grocery list for Sunday.

Damn, I just realized that if it wasn't for Hubbs beer, I would have a teeny grocery bill. Maybe I will have to do a separate transaction for the beer and see how low I can get my bill.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Pantry Cooking

Hubbs has decided that we are going into "Extreme Saving" mode. He always freaks out a few days before payday. But usually he just rants about it for a few hours and forgets about it by the next day.

Not this time though.

This time he is actually following through with it. I was chosen to be in charge of the meal planning. Oh goody. I will probably have to cook it all too.

But instead of starting a fight about it, I actually started looking for recipes. I will post our meal plan in a few days, after I get it all worked out.

We will just have to take it like everything else, one day at a time.

We are going to have to focus our meals on what is already in the pantry and freezer. Luckily I have a pretty nice sized pantry of food stuff to work with.

Fun Fall Craft

I am soooo doing this craft with the boys next week. I think that the grandmas would appreciate it. Hooray for vacation and cheap Christmas presents.

From Martha Stewart: Leaf Print Tablecloth
Using leaves for craft projects is one way to capture the beauty of autumn. Fallen leaves can be used as stamps to decorate a tablecloth.

Collect leaves of various shapes and sizes, and use only the best specimens. You'll need fabric paints in fall colors, such as brown, dark green, and deep red. You can customize your own colors through blending the paints.

To make your tablecloth design, experiment by moving the leaves around on the fabric. You can create a border, but covering the entire tablecloth with leaf prints is also lovely.

Tools and Materials
Sponge brushes
Leaves of various sizes and shapes (make sure they are not brittle)
Fabric paint
Light-colored cotton or linen tablecloth, prewashed
Paper towel, parchment paper, or kraft paper
Brayer or rolling pin
Iron
Muslin or scrap fabric (optional)

Leaf Print Tablecloth How-To
1. Use a sponge brush to lightly coat the veined underside of your leaf with fabric paint.

2. Place the leaf, paint side down, onto the tablecloth. Cover the leaf with kraft paper, parchment paper, or a paper towel to prevent the paint from getting on the brayer or rolling pin.

3. Roll the brayer over the paper a few times, firmly pressing the painted leaf onto the fabric. Keep the paper as still as possible; if it shifts, the paint beneath the leaf will smudge. Lift up the paper and the leaf.

4. Repeat the process, using a different leaf and different piece of paper for each new print.

5. Before heat-setting the paint, wait 24 hours. With the pattern side down, press the cloth with an iron set at medium high. Protect your ironing board by covering it with a piece of muslin or scrap fabric first.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

1 And 2 Years Ago Today

For the first time in who knows how long, I can remember exactly what I was doing not 1 but 2 years ago today.

2 years ago today, I was eating Blueberry Betty and Geocashing in the middle of nowhere (not at the same time) to try and start contractions. Bobblehead wasn't quite as ready as I was though. MIL was running out of vacation time and was going to have to go home in 3 days if something didn't happen.

1 year ago today, we were in Iowa visiting Hubbs. We took the kids and MIL to the Steamboat Museum in the early afternoon and I think that was the same night Hubbs and Lonnie took me to my first titty bar.

And today? I am sitting at work watching the wind blow and drinking a humongous Red Bull. Strangely, MIL is with the family this year too.

My first paid vacation ever starts on Friday at 5:00 p.m. I am so excited to have a week that I can do whatever I want. Not have to worry about getting to work or getting the kids off to daycare. I can just do whatever, whenever. And still get paid for it.

I have a list of things I am going to do.

I am going to screen my calls and not answer the door. I am going to stay up late, get up like normal because of the boys but be able to take a nap if I want. I am going to get all my crap organized for a yard sale and get the State the rest of the information they need to hopefully get us on State health insurance. I am going to get my hair cut. I am going to take the boys around town and finally show them what makes our little town special to me.

Or I might not do any of it. But that is the best part of vacation. If nothing gets done, so be it! It doesn't matter.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Beef and Pasta Bake-Yum

We had this for dinner last night and everybody loved it!

Thanks go to Melissa on the Coupon Board for the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked pasta
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can tomato sauce
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 green onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Brown beef, garlic and onion. Drain. Add tomato sauce and seasoning. Simmer 15 minutes. Mix sour cream, cream cheese and green onion. Layer cooked pasta, tomato sauce. Spread cheese mixture over top. Sprinkle with cheddar. Bake uncovered about 35 minutes or until top starts to brown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a great recipe since it uses stuff that I normally have on hand. Next time I make it, I am going to change it a little. After the pasta is cooked, I am going to mix it with 4 beaten eggs before I layer the rest of the ingredients and bake. Personally, I prefer noodles that stick together (like my spaghetti pie recipe) as opposed to them swimming around on my plate.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Bad Mom?

Monk Man has been begging for 2 weeks to go to pre-school. I told him no because I had heard it was really expensive. Now in my mind, really expensive means thousands of $$. We just can't swing that.

Well, last night I found out that it is $75 a month. Now that is doable. Especially when our daycare cost would drop from $360/month to $180/month. Half the time=half the bill. We would be saving money.

This morning, I walked over to the school (which just happens to be across the street from my moms house and daycare) to see what I could find out.

I didn't get any good news. The pre-school runs on the same schedule as a normal school year. Period. The only way they could make an exception was if Monk Man was special needs, which he isn't.

The guy I talked to suggested trying Headstart. My sister's baby's daddy's girlfriend (no lie, this is Springer shit) works for Headstart. She is NOT a good person anymore and I refuse to expose Monk Man to her. See, she used to be a good person. She was actually my next door neighbor and I have known her for years. But then she cheated on her husband (who is still my neighbor) and they got divorced. That is when she turned into what she is now. Psycho bitch.

Anyway, now I feel like a bad mom for not getting Monk Man into pre-school earlier. Does it really make me a bad mom or is it just standard mommy guilt?

I really want to make things right so I need your help. I want to start doing pre-school things at home in the evenings.

1) Tell me, what the hell do kids do in pre-school?
2) Send me any links related to home schooling or preschool. Blogs, printable stuff, pictures, web sites, anything.
3) You can email me: mommycrisp at yahoo dot com, PMAN on babycenter or leave a link in your comment.

Twitter

Well, I drank the Kool-Aid and joined Twitter.

You can follow me if you want. But no pressure.

Before I give the link I feel like I have to give some kind of disclaimer or something. I try to avoid using F-bombs on here. I might not be so careful on Twitter. Just sayin. I will most likely be tweeting from my phone so I probably wont spell correctly or use capital letters either.

Ok, here is the link. http://twitter.com/mommycrisp

I promise I wont be pissed if you don't follow me if you promise not to be pissed if you follow me, I decide I don't like it and quit. Was that confusing enough for you?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cleaning Fool

I have been a cleaning fool for the past 2 weeks.

It is like that crazy nesting phase I got while I was pregnant.

I let the housework go completely in between camping trips and the disaster I fondly think of as my home was finally starting to get to me. Plus with the MIL planning on visiting next week, I was starting to go a little psycho.

Oh yes, I said next week. What happened to her being here while I am on vacation in 2 weeks? She just decided to change her plans last night. Ummmm, that is too bad MIL. I can NOT change my vacation time with this little of notice. So Hubbs can entertain her while I relax at work.

Anyway, back to cleaning talk.

I started with the office/playroom. I had gone through the boys toys a long time ago. The boys got to keep some, a lot went into the trash, some went to my mom for my nephew, but the majority went into the living room to be given to Step MIL for her CPS kids.

FIL came by to see our "new to us" truck yesterday so I put all the toys that were still sitting in my living room into the back of his Tahoe while he was playing with the boys.

Yay, I have my living room back again!

After FIL left, MIL called to tell us that she was changing her plans.

Huh? Dude! What the hell?

So I took my frustrations out on the bathroom.

You all already know that I am a stockpiler, right? Well, if you didn't, surprise! Please don't think I am like those hoarders you see on Intervention or some other TLC show. I (try to) only keep things we are going to use. Unless it is free, then I give it away to someone who can use it or it gets shelved until I have a yard sale.

What can I say, I love all things coupon! Especially if it smells good because with all these boys in my household, things can start to smell like ass, quickly.

My problem is, I can't keep things organized between stockpile shopping trips, which used to be every weekend. So my bathroom was stuffed full of stuff. I pulled everything out of the cabinets, out of the drawers and off the shelves. That all went in the hall. I grabbed a box and started filling it with the crap like body spray, body glitter, mousse, gel, hairspray, volumizer, gloss oil, sculpting wax, teeny tiny hair clippies, expensive shampoos and conditioners. All the junk that I was never going to use went into that box and set in the bedroom for the yard sale.

I just realized that I could have supplied a strip club for a year with all that stuff. Aaahhhh, the pre-children days.

After all the junk was gone, I organized all the stuff I was keeping.

It looks like a store in my bathroom. All the shampoos, conditioners, bubble bath, buddy bars, band-aids, body wash, and everything else body related are put away in their own rows. The kitchen cleaners, the bathroom cleaners, the Pine-Sol, carpet shampoo, mildew remover, oven cleaner, CLR, Magic Erasers and everything else cleaning related are put away in rows too!

I even got all of my smell good stuff under control. The Glade candles, the refills, the Air-wicks, their refills, the Plug-Ins, their refills, the Renew-zits, Febreeze and all that stuff are all organized in drawers.

My biggest accomplishment was getting space for bath towels. Bath towels are my Achilles Heel! I am really picky about towels. I can't dry off my body with something that might have touched somebody else's ass. I just can't do it.

So everybody gets a new towel, every time they bathe. And I only do laundry once a week. 4 people x 7 days x 1 or 2 bath/showers a day=a TON of bath towels. And washcloths, and hand towels.

Usually, after I do a load of laundry it all goes into the laundry pile until someone needs something to wear/dry off with. Whatever was needed gets removed from the laundry pile. Nothing ever gets put away. If I am feeling super motivated, the clean stuff might end up in their designated laundry basket. Kids clothes are supposed to go in one basket, Hubbs socks get their own basket, grown up pajamas, thongs, boxers and my socks go in another basket, and towels get the biggest basket.

Tonight I am going to not only sort all the towels, I am going to fold them and put them away in their new home, under the sink. For the first time in almost 7 years, I finally have the room to put the towels IN THE BATHROOM, where they belong.

That, in itself, will be one of my greatest accomplishments.

If I end up finished with the towels with enough time before the season premiere of House, I might start on the pantry.

The hall is pretty clean.

The kitchen is good, except for the floor needing to be mopped and the walls around the stove wiped down or repainted. I try to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. It makes my head hurt. Hubbs will have to deal with that room.

The living room is passable, except for the carpet smells like dirty feet. But the steam cleaner can be ran on Saturday or Sunday before nap time.

You would think with my anal retentiveness and my OCD issues, my house would be cleaner than it is.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Bunkbeds

My mom is getting the boys a bunk bed for their birthdays.

The first thing that popped into my head after hearing this news was the bunk bed scene from the banned-from-our-home-forever movie Step-Brothers. I had to laugh. I couldn't help myself.

If you haven't seen the movie, let explain it a little.

Imagine 2 adult, single men, around 40 years old or so, still living with their parents. These guys are about on the same mentality level as a kindergartner. Action figures, nose picking, a tree house fight, and cockandballs jokes pretty much make up the whole movie.

Ok so these guys have twin beds that they decide would make great bunk beds. A few nails, a bottle of Elmer's Glue and a roll of Scotch Tape later, they have this amazing (to them) bunk bed. Long story short, the bunk bed collapses. Lots of crying, screaming and "Oh my god I am going to die"ing later, their parents decide on no more power tool use is allowed after bedtime.

Don't worry, I don't think that the bunk bed for they boys is going to collapse. I actually think it is a good idea. I mean, it isn't a wow, how fun gift, but whatever. They are still little enough to think cardboard boxes and tissue paper ARE their presents.

The first few nights are going to be interesting. Right now, they both sleep in our room. Monk Man is on a day bed and Bobblehead is still in his pack-n-play. Yeah, almost 2 and still in the PNP. Shame on me. I can so imagine them both sliding across the kitchen floor in their socks and diaper/undies in the middle of the night playing air guitar (like that old Tom Cruise movie) while Hubbs and I are passed out.

Wait, I just realized that I will have a kid free bedroom. For the first time in almost 5 years. How awesome is that? Now if I could only convince Hubbs that sleeping on the couch is good for his hangover, I would be all set.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Another Great Customer

I just got off the phone with Crazy Old Man Ed. Ed claims that we put his headrests on backwards.

Yes, his headrests.

But wait! There is more!

He says his back seat is at a downward angle. To clarify, he slides off of it when he sits on it.

Umm, ok?

I asked him if he locks his car up when he gets out of it.

He doesn't. And he has been somewhere in California since my boss delivered his car to him, 2 weeks ago.

There are too many things wrong with the story for me to believe that our shop is responsible for any of it.

#1. I don't think it is possible to put the head rests on backwards. There are these grooves in the metal that hold them into the seat and make them adjustable. They are like a key, sort of. They only go in one way. I could be totally wrong, but I am pretty sure that they are idiot proof.

#2. The boss, the owner, the one who does the final inspection before the car is released to the customer, drove the car to this guy. I think he, of all people, would notice something like that.

#3. On this particular car, the part you put your ass on is attached to the car. With bolts. The part your back rests against is the part that moves. It folds down and you can see the trunk. Now, this is how I am seeing it in our estimating database. We all know how I can see one thing and my brain reads it some other way, so I am not going to say that I am 100% positive on this one.

#4. I can say, without a doubt, none of our guys would pull a stunt like that. They all value their jobs too much to do something that shitty. I don't think that it would even occur to them to do it at all.

#5. The car was parked on the street, unlocked. For two weeks! Hypothetically, say you CAN put in headrests the wrong way. There are tons of asshole teenagers running around town, unsupervised, in the middle of the night. My money is on some little punk or group of punks doing all that crap to his car. Again, hypothetically speaking.

#6. I forgot what my last point was going to be.

In any case, I told Ed to bring his car by and I will have my boss take a look at everything.

He said sure, as soon as OnStar unlocks the car. Because the one time he does lock the car, he leaves the keys in it.

Dumbass.

Nice Try Buddy

Nice Try Buddy

Click on the link. You know you want to. I promise it isn't nasty or anything.

It is a link to peopleofwalmart.com and I have been over there looking around since about 2 this afternoon.

Funniest shit I have seen/read in a long time.

I am a teeny bit afraid that I am going to find myself pictured on the site.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Spaghetti Sauce Recipes

I don't think I have ever posted my spaghetti sauce recipes on here so here you go.

Growing up I never had jarred spaghetti sauce. My grandpa had the greenest thumb ever and always grew enough tomatoes to can for the whole family to last us well over a year. So I am kinda a sauce snob.

Here is the "From Scratch" recipe:

1 quart jar of canned tomatoes
2 small cans of Hunts Tomato sauce
1 pkg of Lowry's or McCormick's dry spaghetti seasoning
2 cans of diced tomatoes

Add all the ingredients in a large sauce pan. Cover and let simmer all day and stir often.

Now that my grandpa isn't around and my tomatoes haven't done crap the last few years I have to deal with fixing Ragu, Prego or Bertolli jarred sauce.

Slightly different from the home made recipe, here is my "Fixing It" recipe:

1 jar of pre-made sauce (whatever is already in stockpile)
1 small can of Hunts tomato sauce
1 can Rotel or diced tomatoes with peppers
1/2 pkg of Lowry's or McCormicks dry spaghetti seasoning
If the kids are eating something else, I add half a can of El Pato sauce.

Add all the ingredients all at once in a large sauce pan. Cover and let simmer all day and stir often.

Any kind of pasta works well with either sauce. My family likes medium shells and linguine the best.

You can also add meat!

Hamburger: Brown a pound of hamburger with a can of diced green chili's. Drain. Add to sauce.

Spam: Dice a can of spam and fry in sauce pan. Don't drain, just add sauce ingredients.

Lil Smokies: Open package. Add to sauce.

Smoked Sausage: Slice and fry in sauce pan. Don't drain, just add sauce ingredients.

I Hope This Works

I found out last week that my MIL is going to drive down from Colorado to spend Bobblehead's birthday with us so I need to take my vacation time the 2nd week of October to keep her company. AND she is staying with us instead of the hotel she promised us she would stay at the last time she mentioned the visit.

Nice to find out on short notice. At least it isn't going to be a surprise visit this time.

Well, since I am going to be out of my mind because I have so much deep cleaning to do since she is staying with us I am not going to have time to plan Bobblehead's birthday party.

So she can plan it. And if my mom wants to pout about it, she can plan a separate party. And if FIL and Step-MIL want to act the same, they can plan a separate party too. Screw it. I am not dealing with the bitching this year.

No one can even seem to fake getting along with each other. They couldn't even be in the hospital together after Bobblehead was born. Their visits had to be almost scheduled so they wouldn't accidentally run into each other.

My plan will probably backfire on me somehow but I refuse to be stuck in the middle of all the bitching and dirty looks and talking behind backs.

I just want to sit back, chase kids around, get drunk and enjoy a party for a change.

Friday, September 11, 2009

I Have A Secret

When I refill the hand soap at work, I secretly use cheap ass Suave shampoo instead of the overpriced Bath & Body Works crap they used to use.

Nobody has noticed.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Just Whining Today

Ok so I didn't listen to the Presidents speech last night. To be honest, I didn't even realize there was a speech last night.

But I did read a transcript of the speech and this is what I have to say about it.

There are a LOT of details to be worked out still. I will not be comfortable making a yes or no decision without more information. I would like to see something written out down to the smallest detail. I don't care if it turns out to be 1000+ pages. I want to know exactly what would happen, step by step, in laymans terms.

BTW, feel free to skip this post, I just have a lot to whine about today it seems.

I think healthcare is WAY too expensive, for everyone involved except the insurance companies.

If your insurance is employer paid, it is very expensive for the employer, even with group rates. When I worked at the dealership I had to write checks for the premiums every month. It is outrageous. To get a semi-affordable group plan we had to go with a crappy insurance company and have even crappier coverage. Plus the more claims turned in and paid out, the higher the monthly premiums went. My job now doesn't offer health insurance because it is so much money.

COBRA is a joke. So you lose your job. After a while you insurance is gone too. The monthly rates for COBRA makes me sick to think about. No job, little or no money. It is that simple. I would rather put groceries on the table and keep the water running than pay for COBRA.

State sponsored insurance is no help either. Well, for some it is but not for us. My family makes too much on just above minimum wage and unemployment to qualify for any kind of state help.

And the suckiest of all, having to go without any kind of insurance. Right now, we have no insurance.

So what do we do? We just don't go to the doctor. I have to rely on hopes and prayers that no one gets hurt or sick. It really sucks and I lay awake at night over it. But what else can we do? I mean, if one of the boys (God forbid) gets sick or falls and breaks an arm, I will take them to the doctor and make payments for the rest of my life. But if Hubbs or I get sick, we just deal. No doctor, no pharmacy, just deal with it. But it is totally unfair to expect my kids to do the same. I would never even consider it. I would sell everything I own and then some to keep my kids okay.

I DO think that it is time for the government to step in and do SOMETHING. No one should have to die because they don't have insurance and can't afford to pay for a doctor. It is complete bullshit that those kind of things are happening in this country.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

There Must Be Something Wrong

I am in such a good mood today! Everybody else around me are in shitty moods but I am super awesome.

I haven't been this happy in a LONG time and I don't really know how to handle it.

I have to go to Wal-mart with Monk Man after work and am *gasp* actually looking forward to it. He grew out of his very cool Sponge Bob knock off crocs in the past week somehow (code for: momma washed and dried them) so he needs new shoes. Plus I have a ton of coupons for Pull Up wipes so I might as well get those while I am there. And Bobblehead has decided it is time to potty train so we need Pull Ups that fit his skinny ass, not the 4t-5t I have stockpiled.

I even woke up in a good mood and that NEVER happens. I am so not a morning person. I seem to be at my best if I stay up until around 11, 11:30 and then sleep until noonish but since I get to work a normal job it is more like stay up until 9, 9:30 and sleep until 5:30, 6.

The whole getting everyone ready for their day chaos went smoothly. Nobody fought their morning shower and the boys got dressed without argument. Nobody cried about not getting to kiss Hubbs bye bye first, drop offs were quiet and painless. It was amazing!

I didn't yell, scream or cuss at anyone today. I don't think I even rolled my eyes at anyone either.

I wonder, if I am this happy tomorrow and don't get to yell, scream or cuss at anyone, will I explode? I can't remember the last time I went an entire day without unleashing on someone.

What. The. Hell.

Tomorrow I am going to blog about the figurative bullet I found out I dodged last weekend. Hopefully blog about it because with me, you never really know for sure.

But today, I will leave you with something I promised to reveal sometime last week. Remember my post about deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up? I am ready to put it out there.

I want to be an Event Coordinator. Yeah, a wedding planner, party planner, whatever you want to call it.

I think it would be SOOOOO exciting. You all know how anal I am with all my lists and psycho I can get with my attention to details. Well, I think I would do awesome in this line of work. There are still some things to look into before I make a final decision but so far, it looks like something I would do well at.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Torture

Monday and Tuesday were hell. All 4 of us caught some kind of stomach bug and it was horrible.

Barfing, pooping, achy body, fever, chills, dizziness, and all that other nasty stuff that comes with a stomach bug.

Did I mention that we all share 1 bathroom?

By Monday night I was ready to check into a hotel, just so that I could spew without worrying about whether or not someone else would need it before I was done.

My little brother (the phlebotomist at the local hospital) said he wanted me to get us all tested for Swine Flu because we had the symptoms. He must have forgotten that our insurance went bye bye months ago and we are broke as hell. His job has made him a little paranoid. Thanks for the concern little bro but we will just ride it out (whatever "it" is) with lots of fluids, rest and vitamins.

We were fine Saturday and Sunday. We went to bed early on Friday so we could get an early start out to the picnic and get our camp set up.

Yeah, we ended up camping out there Saturday night. Hubbs never gives me all the information when he wants me to make a decision. And I guess I don't think to ask for more.

Anyway, the kids had fun playing with the 9 other kids that showed up. Sad. There are 200+ Elks Club members in town and out of those 200+, maybe 30 members don't have kids or grandkids. But I really can't blame them for not wanting to show up. There wasn't anything planned for them to do!

Not a damn thing except for a 10 foot high dirt pile with money hidden in it. I am not sure what happened this year. There was supposed to be a HUGE breakfast on Sunday morning, games all weekend and night time activities for the ones who got to stay up late on Saturday night.

The boys were so disappointed! We actually were headed out of the campground by noon on Sunday. We left our tent up and most of our stuff there since the Chili Cookoff starts Friday night. Not to worry, it is all safe. A few people we know were staying all week and would keep an eye on things.

We all laid down for a nap when we got home on Sunday because Hubbs and I stayed up way too late drinking after the kids all went to bed. When we got up, I felt kind of crappy but I just thought it was my hangover so I didn't think too much of it.

Bobblehead went to bed around 8, Monk Man and I went around 10 and Hubbs went around 2. Just like normal. When I woke up Monday morning, I felt okay until Monk Man walked down the hall crying that he had gotten sick in his blankets. I messaged my boss on Facebook (because we live on FarmTown) that I was staying home to take care of the sick Monk Man. As soon as Hubbs and Bobblehead got up I started feeling sick. And that was the end of me.

But we all seem to be doing okay today. My stomach is still a little angry but I felt good enough to get everybody off to daycare and myself off to work. I am keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow isn't a repeat of Monday.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Help Me Choose

Ugh, why do I have to make the decisions?

Here is the deal. Hubbs is an Elks Club member. The Elks picnic is this weekend and the big Chili Cookoff is next weekend.


Do we:
A. Go to the picnic on Saturday
B. Go camping for the weekend just the family
C. Stay home to do some much needed housework

Personally, I don't care where we go, as long as we go SOMEWHERE this weekend. Out of town is out of town. I don't think Hubbs wants to go to the picnic since he left the decision up to me. If he wanted to go, he would have decided that all on his own. And, the boys don't even know that it is an option, so if we do decide to go, it would be a surprise. And on top of it, we would have to leave the dogs home if we go to the picnic. If they see us loading up to go to the woods without them they are going to be so pissed.

BUT, the picnic is geared towards the kids with the games and contests and such. Plus they need interaction with other kids and out there, I have no choice but to let them run free with the other kids. It is only fair to let them go to the picnic since Hubbs and I have the Chili Cookoff.

BUT, the house is out of control. The floors need to be mopped, the carpets vacuumed, everything dusted, the office/toy room needs to be picked up and mopped, the grass needs to be mowed, the weeds needs to be pulled, the patio hosed off, a shed needs to be built, the garden needs some attention. I could go on but I am getting depressed by how much crap needs to be done.

Ugh, and then next weekend I get to do this all over again. Chili Cookoff, family camping or housework. I am not even sure I want to go to the Chili Cookoff this year either. I much prefer being with a small group rather than a huge group.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

This Is Neat

It's another one of those days.

But it's okay. I think I have figured out why things have been sooooo screwed up. It's my biorhythm. Or at least that sounds like a good excuse, if you believe in that kind of stuff.

What the hell is a biorhythm? This is what Wikipedia says:
A biorhythm (from Greek βιορυθμός - biorhuthmos) is a hypothetical cycle in physiological, emotional, or intellectual well-being or prowess. "Bio" pertains to life and "rhythm" pertains to the flow with regular movement. Biorhythms theory has no more predictive power than chance and has been labeled a pseudoscience by skeptics.

Just for shits and giggles, check out yours here: http://bio-chart.com/ So far, it has been pretty accurate for me. If your lines cross high, that's good. If they cross low, that's bad.

Or I could just be losing my mind and things really aren't as bad as I think they are.

Either way, they are both believable excuses.

If You Wear Crocs

Step 1. Go to http://www.crocs.com

Step 2. Search BOGO or click on the big BOGO flashing screen thing on the home page.

Step 3. Pick out 2 (or 4 or 6 or 8) pairs of crocs from the list. Add to your shopping cart.

Step 4. Go to your shopping cart.

Step 5. Enter Code slx8797 for 20% off.

Step 6. Get free ground shipping automatically.

Step 7. Checkout and wait for UPS to arrive in 7-14 business days.

Thanks go to Fannie from the Coupon Board!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Things That Suck

Today's post is about things that have sucked for me in the last few days.

1. Swine Flu Sucks
A customer came in Monday morning with her teenage daughter. We got a call Tuesday afternoon, right before we closed, that that teenage daughter got a positive on her Swine flu test. Gee. Thanks. At least she did manage to call and let us know that she exposed us, so that was nice, right?

2. Pink Eye Sucks
Yes, I think I am getting pink eye. Again. Yay. It feels like I have dirt up under my eyelid but I have flushed it out over and over. And it is already starting to swell up. The pink eye ointment that I have makes me see all blurry so once I put it in, I am useless. Can't drive, can't watch t.v., can't play on the internet.

3. Camping and My Period Sucks
We went camping last weekend and guess who showed up? Thankfully I brought supplies, just in case, even though Hubbs laughed and teased me about it. I managed to have a good time, even with my bathroom being a shrub. And it saved me from having to put out.

What the hell else can go wrong? Nevermind. Scratch that. My karma has been pretty bad so I won't even tempt it.

It is finally closing time, and that does not suck. Off to the gas station to buy beer for the lazy ass Hubbs.

I may have another post tomorrow, if I can see well enough to get to work. :)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Burts Bees Acne BzzAgent Campaign

Whoohoo! I got in on another campaign from BzzAgent.

Sunday, when we got home from camping, the Bzz Box was in the mailbox. There were 2 full sized bottles for me and a bunch of samples to pass around.

Instead of just giving a review of the product, like I normally do, I decided to keep a journal on how my skin reacts to the Burts Bees cleansers.

I have never used Burts Bees stuff, not even the chapstick, so I am really interested in how well it works.

My skin is crazy. Sometimes, things that I have used for years will give me a bad reaction and I will break out. I switch to a different soap and after a few days I am able to go back to using the stuff I am used to.

Aaaaaand I'm Back

Well, here I am. Still alive and still have plenty to bitch about.

We ended up not going to the funeral and I think it was for the best. My MIL said some things to Hubbs before we left the driveway that were pretty shitty and I am still pissed off at her.

I used to get along with my MIL really well. Even better than I got along with my own mother, but she is nuts so I have a good excuse. But in the past 2 years or so, my MIL has become down right mean. Sometimes I wonder if she even cares if what comes out of her mouth might hurt feelings. Mean, condescending, hateful, cranky, hypocritical, close minded, I could go on and on.

I dread having to spend my hard earned vacation time up there. I would rather go camping. Hell, I would rather stay home than make that long ass drive and be stuck there with her for a week.

On a better note, I think I have finally decided what I want to do when I grow up. For years, I have dreamed about owning my own business. I get those "wake me up in the middle of the night brilliant ideas" that turn out not to be quite so brilliant after the sleepy fog wears off. But I have thought about this one for a while and it seems like something I could pull off. And there aren't any other business of that type in town. In fact, I can't find that type of business within a 200 mile radius of here. But, I need to do a little more research before I tell anyone what it is that I have decided to do, just in case I chicken out.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

What A Day

Oh man, it has been one hell of a day. This is just a small portion of the shit that has made up my day.

~~First, my mom called me at work at 9:30 this morning to ask if I could bring her an Icee.

Sure mom, let me down to the gas station right this minute. It will be so super awesome trying to explain to the bosses what I was thinking.

She has been a housewife for forever and cant seem to wrap her head around working and the responsibilities that go with it. It is her dream for me to be a stay at home mom again. I couldn't handle it the first time with only 1 kid. I was too lazy and spent too much money.

To be honest, I think it would be awesome to be able to not have to work but as long as we are still living in this town, that won't ever happen. Hubbs and I do have a deal though. If we end up having to move out of town, I have already told him that I refuse to get a job. There really wouldn't be any alternative. I can't leave the boys with someone I don't know in a town that I don't know. Just can't do it. So the only other option is to be a stay at home mom.

~~After I got my mom handled, I got to deal with Hubbs. He is packing (his stuff, no one else) for our Colorado trip in the morning. Lets face it. Men are helpless. I have gotten text after text of "Where is my blue dress shirt" and "I can't find my dress shoes" and "What did you do with my khaki shorts with the belt", all damn day.

Uhhhh, I don't know where any of your crap is. I don't use any of it. I am lucky to keep track of my own and the kids' shit. If it was that important, you would know where it was.

~~I had a not so nice surprise when I checked our online banking stuff. Hubbs got the not so nice text of "WTF is this withdrawal of $400 from the savings?" Apparently, FIL is going to Alaska this morning and needed some money. WTF is right. FIL has known about his trip for MONTHS! I don't get it. What is so hard about setting aside $100 a month, especially when you make $100k a year being retired? Plus, how do you afford a trip to Alaska and have to BORROW money to eat on.

I probably wouldn't be so pissed about it if Hubbs had been working at his real job, at any time, in the past 9 or so months. I probably wouldn't be so pissed if I wasn't working my ass off at my job and then having to come home and work my ass off there too. Utter bullshit.

Hubbs is in for a surprise when I make him sit down and we have a "Come To Jesus" talk tonight about being a grown up. I am going to start introducing him as My First Husband to make my point crystal clear.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Well, At Least We Expected It

Hubbs got the call that his grandma died this morning.

He was in Colorado all last week visiting with her and we didn't expect her to last this long.

She has been ill for a long time. A few months ago she ended up in the hospital and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. They ran tests and did exams and finally decided that she was losing blood but didn't know where or why.

She had been receiving blood transfusions for the past couple of months but sometime around the end of July, the doctors said that they weren't going to give her any more transfusions and that she needed to get her affairs in order.

So we are going up to Colorado Wednesday morning. The viewing is Wednesday night, the funeral is Thursday and there is some family thing on Friday.

I have a feeling that things are going to get ugly. I was already told that kids will not be allowed at the funeral or the viewing. So that means I get to sit around MIL's house for hours with the boys. I am not too happy about not being allowed to be there to support Hubbs but I can see the point, to an extent. I wouldn't want to sit in a church filled with unhappy little kids. Not even my own, so it is better that they don't go.

The problem that I have is that no one even asked me if I wanted to be there. Nobody took MY feelings into consideration. I get that she wasn't MY grandma but I married her grandson almost 7 years ago and that is plenty of time for her to become like one of my grandmas. Somebody find me a damn babysitter because I want to be there. I know, it is such a bullshit thing to be pissed about and I feel like such an ass for even being pissed about it in the first place.

But I feel like I get left out of everything anymore. I am the one who always stays home with the kids. I really don't have any choice in the matter. Any matter. Everybody has just been expecting me to not argue or not question it. Hubbs never says he will stay home while I go out and do something. If I go do something, the whole damn family goes.

I am so sick of not having any say anymore. I get to decide what pan I want to use to make dinner in or what clothes I want to dress the kids in. That is the extent of my decision making anymore. I hate it.

Ugh. I really hope this is just my crazy ass hormones and I don't keep feeling like this.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We were driving to daycare the other morning and listening to the radio. We had regular, boring, local radio since Hubbs had to make an emergency trip in the HHR to Colorado on Tuesday. More on that later.

Anyway, the HHR is where the XM/Sirius (aka good) radio is. So we were listening to the local pop station and all of a sudden, Monk Man leans forward and shuts it off.

Me: Dude, how come you turned it off?
Monk Man: Momma, dis music sucks!
Me: Your dad is going to have a heart attack if he hears you say that. He wants you to like the music he likes.
Monk Man: But I don't wike it. It is horribubble. Yours is better.
Me: Shhhh. Just don't tell your daddy that. It will hurt his feelings. Here, I will turn it to Classic Rock and it will be fine.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Hubbs is a fan of pop and country music and I like metal/hard rock. Pop music (with a few exceptions) has the same effect on me as Kid Rock does, just pisses me off and I won't even get started on country. (No offence to anyone who does like that stuff) And Hubbs would rather listen to the kids screaming than sit through one Nine Inch Nails or Aerosmith or Queens of the Stone Age or pretty much any song even resembling something I would like.

But to have the kids on MY side of the music battle, that is the biggest victory I could ever have. That is 100% win. Yay!

And Lastly

Some camping pictures!

It took me all day to get this posted. Photobucket is being a bitch!


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That is me and Monk Man. It originally was in color but we were all so dirty that I changed it to black and white to hide it. It is a rare opportunity to get a picture with me in it, since I am always the one taking the pictures.

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Here is Monk Man and Bobblehead at dinner time.

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Here they are, chillin by the fire.

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This is Molly, my blue heeler/terrier mix. Monk Man calls her his sister.

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And here she is, on what we called "High Alert".

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And this is Duke, doing what he does best. Nothing.

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And these are the dirtiest little piggies ever! Please ignore the dirty kitchen floor.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Rest of the Trip

The rest of the trip was pretty boring.

We came back into town Saturday morning to pick up the rest of our stuff. I made the mistake of sending Hubbs to buy food and a couple of camp chairs while I loaded up the truck and the car again. He came home with a TON of extra stuff (including a new $45 ice chest and a $75 table to set the camp stove on) but we ended up using it all and could have used more.

We went for a drive down the canyon when we got back to camp because it was hot as hell. Hubbs put Monk Man on his lap and let him steer the truck. That was a little nerve wracking. So was when Hubbs let both the boys ride in the back of the truck with the dogs. Don't anyone worry, we were on a dirt road and never drove faster than 15 mph.

When we got back to camp, Hubbs managed to start a fire by himself and I got to cook hot dogs. Now I usually don't eat hot dogs. The only way I can manage to eat them is if they are burnt on the grill or in a fire. I don't eat them boiled or even pan fried. Barf. The kids got normal unburned hot dogs, Hubbs got some kind of fancy steak wrapped in bacon and I got my burned up hot dogs.

The boys got Smores for desert and they weren't as big of a hit as I expected. Well, Monk Man liked them but Bobblehead couldn't figure out how to eat them and got pissed off because he couldn't separate the chocolate from the marshmallow. Oh well. Maybe next time.

After dinner Bobblehead and I were left to clean up (he is such a good helper) while Hubbs and Monk Man went for a walk. The dogs hung around by the fire for a while but eventually took off down the trail to investigate a little.

After the sun went down, the kids started begging to go to bed. They were exhausted! They didn't mess around getting their pajamas on and Monk Man (my sleep fighter) even yelled at Bobblehead (loves to sleep) to let him go to sleep. The dogs even laid down in front of the tent door and didn't move for hours. Hubbs put wayyy too much wood in the fire and couldn't keep from putting in more wood so we sat up and drank. By the time the fire finally burned out, I was DRUNK. I know I went to bed, I just don't remember doing it. LoL That doesn't happen very often.

Ooooh and I felt it in the morning. Cowboy coffee just won't cut it when a hangover is involved. I couldn't wait to get home. I was going to start a pot of real coffee, put the boys in the bath, sit in front of the nice cool swamper and relax. Then maybe take a nap. Nope! Didn't happen that way. Hubbs' dad showed up at the camp site about an hour after we got up so we ended up not getting home until about 3. By then it was too late to take a nap so I just drank a Red Bull and chased it with a pot of coffee.

All of our camping shit is still sitting in my living room. I have no initiative to unpack it, just to re-pack it all up again in another few weekends to go again. So there it sits until I get sick of looking at it or the kids empty it and scatter it all over the house again.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Where Did I Leave Off

Oh yeah. We get to our camp site and it is darker than dark.


We opened up the doors and before WE could even get out, the dogs are climbing over each other and the seats to get the hell out of the car. Hubbs wanted to let the kids out to run around while we set up but I wanted to leave them in their car seats, out of harms way.


Unfortunately, Hubbs won the argument. And guess who got to chase after them? Bingo! Me. But it turned out to be in my favor. Hubbs had to set up the tent and I convinced the boys to help me unload all the boxes and bags from the HHR.


I would love to have been someone watching us set up camp. It must have been a hell of a show. The dogs were chasing each other, the kids were chasing the dogs, I was chasing the kids and trying to find kicked off shoes at the same time as I was trying to make camp comfortable and keep Duke from peeing on everybody and everything that wasn't nature.


Oh, and Hubbs got lucky enough to be the one to set up the tent. Alone. In the dark. With only the HHR's headlights to help him see. Ha! Next time he will let me leave the kids buckled in their car seats so I can help.


So everything gets unloaded and set up without too much drama. The boys decide they want marshmallows RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Hubbs took Monk Man to gather fire wood and Bobblehead stayed with me to find those damn marshmallows. The marshmallows are found and we have a pretty good sized stack of wood. Hubbs loads the fire pit full off wood and cardboard. He couldn't get anything to stay lit. I bet he went through 10 matches before he finally asked for some help. I sent him off to get some more wood and I get to work finding all the newspapers I had bought that morning and stashed under the seat so the coupons wouldn't get stomped on before I got them home. I am embarrassed to admit how many newspapers I found. It was like 10.


I grabbed the papers over to the fire pit where Bobblehead was sitting with his thumb in his mouth. Apparently he found a little plant that we used to call Boy Scout Toilet Paper, tore off a leaf and really liked the texture of it. Ok, so he is occupied. I yell for Monk Man to get his ass over to me so I could teach him and his daddy how to light a fire.


Hubbs walks up with an attitude like, how are YOU going to start a fire when I couldn't. Silly men. I got them started ripping up the paper and scrunching them into balls about the size of a grapefruit. I started making a tepee out of the sticks. When the paper was balled up and the tepee was up, I made them stuff the paper inside the tepee while I held it steady. When it was full of paper, I lit the paper on the bottom.


It worked like a charm. Minutes later we had a fire bright enough to be able to turn off the headlights. The boys got their marshmallows and I got to gloat a little.


Speaking of marshmallows....I found the greatest cooking sticks! 2 different kinds, single prongs and double prongs. The double ones extend and are great for cooking hot dogs on and the single ones are great for marshmallows.


After the boys are full of sugar, we turn them loose to run around. They had 1 stipulation, to stay within the light. If the campfire didn't reach it, they didn't get to go to it until the morning. They actually obeyed! While they were running around, Hubbs and I sat on an ice chest and snuggled. Snuggling is a very rare thing. Always has been. I have issues with being touched (long story) and he has issues with PDA.

The kids finally get tired and actually start begging to go to bed. They are SO excited to get to sleep somewhere new. They have a case of the giggles for about half an hour but eventually pass out. Hubbs and I stayed up way too long poking the fire, talking and stuffing ourselves silly with junk food that we had hid from the boys.

Sometime in the middle of the night, the dogs woke me up. They were growling at a forest creature and I could hear that forest creature munching away at the bag of dog food I must have forgotten to put away. I have no idea what that forest creature was because I was too scared to look out of the tent.

When the boys woke me up at the ass crack of dawn, we went on a little walk I wanted to see if I could find tracks or something and the boys just wanted to run around. Well, while we were walking around I found a trail of Reese's peanut butter cups leading away from our camp. Hubbs must have left his candy bag out and the forest creature found it after it found the dog food. I took one of the candies back to camp to show Hubbs because it had an enormous tooth print in it. He said he thought it had to have been a raccoon. I was convinced that it was a Yeti. LoL Yes, a Yeti in Arizona. I always have had an overactive imagination.

Well, whatever it was, it scared the shit out of me. And I learned my lesson about making sure EVERYTHING was put away. The last thing I need is to lay awake at night worrying that something is going to eat the dogs. The kids, not so worried about. They would just annoy the hell out of the forest creature until it brought them back.

This is turning in to a painfully long post so I will pick up where I left off sometime tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Finally

We finally got to go on our weekend camping trip.

It was so much fun. The kids were great, the dogs were great, everything was great.

But I have to tell you, camping is NOT a bargain. Well, for normal people, it probably is. For us, not so much.

As I posted before, this camping in a tent shit is totally new to me. Years ago we had a little trailer that we could hitch up to our little V-2 truck (seriously, the HHR has more balls) and we were set. I think if we would have kept the trailer instead of selling it, we would have actually ended up with more money.

We had to basically start from scratch. When we sold the trailer, I either gave away or threw away everything camping related. I kept a few things but over the years they ended up getting put in with our regular household stuff.

Friday, Hubbs called me at work and told me that he wanted to go to the bar that night and have some drinks with a few friends. I was pissed since there was NO way I was going to get the rest of the stuff packed and try to keep the kids under control, PLUS do the grocery shopping and pick up the last minute things. So I told him he was being an asshole and just to forget the whole camping idea. Then I guilt tripped him, telling him that we have been promising this to the boys for weeks now and he has managed to screw it up for them, again.

I know, it was a shitty thing to tell him. I have to be a bitch sometimes. But in my defence, I was PMSing and can't be held responsible for my actions.

He found a baby sitter for the boys (all by himself) and convinced me to go to the steak fry at the Elks Club. After we ate and he had a couple of drinks(and I was calmed down enough to listen to him), we decided to just throw what we needed for the night into the HHR and come back in the morning to pick up the truck and the rest of our crap.

We get home, pay the baby sitter and start rushing around like nobodies business. By this time it is already 7 p.m. We throw what I already had packed up into the HHR, throw in the kids and the dogs and head off to the grocery store to pick up dinner and breakfast stuff.

And alcohol of course. Lots and lots of alcohol.

We have to go back to the house and re-stuff the car. Eventually we had to put one of the back seats down, put both car seats next to each other (usually a bad idea since then the boys can actually reach one another and normally results in a bite mark or a bruise by the end of the car ride) and stuck the dogs on Hubb's lap.

When we finally get on the road, it is already around 9:15, 9:30ish. I wanted to forget about it but we were so far into it, it would not be worth it to wait. It is an hour drive during the day but since it was dark (and I was driving) it took closer to an hour and a half.

Hubbs talked the ENTIRE drive. I finally had to direct his conversation towards Monk Man since I was having a hard time focusing on the road. I try not to drive at night because I can't see that well in the dark anymore, plus there were all these shadows jumping around by the side of the road. I know it was the headlights and trees but I was so sure an elk or something was going to run out in front of us.

This post is getting crazy long so I will make you wait until tomorrow (or knowing me, the next day) for the rest of the story.

Friday, July 31, 2009

A Nice Suprise For Once

My boss just told me that I am getting a raise.

Even better, it is retroactive back to the beginning of this pay-period.

It really isn't much but it is better than not getting anything at all.

Yay!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

McDonalds

McDonalds can kiss my ass.


On Saturday night, I promised Monk Man that if he helped me vacuum, I would take him out for an icecream, plus give him a dollar.


Oh the horror, he is only 4! Well, that's what my mom said when I told her about my brilliant plan to teach him some responsibility. Whatever, mom.


So we get the chores done and everybody loads into the HHR. Even Hubbs. But only because he is shit faced drunk and is afraid of my wrath if he declines.


I pull into the drive thru and wait at the ordering box. And wait. And wait. FINALLY we get some one to take our order.


I order 1 McCafe drink, 2 vanilla cones, and a McFlurry. We pull up to the window to pay. And wait. And wait. And wait.


Meanwhile, the cars are lining up behind us. After being ignored for way too many minutes, I finally caught the attention of somebody and asked if anybody still worked there. Of course I got the blank stare. The manager came over and asked the drive-thru cashier what the hold up. She pointed to the computer screen, then over to us and then back at the screen again. And the manager walks away.

The boys are both getting restless so they are poking and pinching each other. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore so I looked over to Hubbs and said "Should we just go? We shouldn't have to wait 15 fukkin minutes for 3 fukkin icecreams and a sucky ass coffee".

Damn my bad luck because just as I was being shitty, the cashier decided at that exact minute to come to the window. Of course! I turned my head back to the window to see her standing there with her mouth open and I handed her the $$. Whoopsy.

Ugh. This foot in mouth shit seems to be a new pattern lately.