Happy Thanksgiving

It is that time of year again, when you sit down and try to think of all the things you are thankful for. Of course there are the usual……..Family…..in laws and outlaws and even those you hate to see coming…….Friends…..in real life and on the computer…….Health….yours, your family, your friends and your animals. Those you think of everyday.

There are the ones you think of at special times, like around the holidays……Being able to see my family…….both through eyesight and the fact that I live near my family and can go visit often….

Having the ability to hug my family……Even the stinky ones that you only see here and there.

Being able to argue with my kids……Because if I can argue with them, they are here, I have a voice and I have taught them to be strong willed.

But what about the things you never think of……

Being a tad overweight……Because really that means I always have food on the table.

The smell of a baby’s head……..As opposed to the other end.

Puppy Breath……And no it does not smell the same a a skunk’s spray, I don’t care what my husband says.

The smells of the holiday season……All of that great food, the mix of perfumes of favorite relatives, the tree and the candles.

So what am I thankful for this year? All of the above and so much more. I am so thankful for you, all five of my readers! Thank you for reading, commenting and keeping me going!

My wish for you is a safe and happy holiday season. Don’t eat too much turkey and goodies, don’t overdo it on the shopping and decorating. I shall see you on Monday if I survive it all. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Justmylife

It must be a southern thang…..

Yesterday I used a saying I have heard all of my life and was asked by Putz where I got it, that got me to thinking, where do all of these sayings come from and how many more can I come up with. Really I came up with fewer than I thought I would. Had I taken a few days to sit and listen to The Boy, his friends, MIL and Hubby I probably could come up with a million. But here is the list of that I was able to come up with, in no certain order, and an example of their use…….

One everyone has heard…..”Knock wood” As in, “We have enough money to pay all the bills this month, Knock on wood.” We all know you must knock on wood to keep the evil spirits from messing with our good news.

Another popular one, “Knee high to a grasshopper.” As in….”I haven’t seen you since you were knee high to a grasshopper!” That is one small kid or one huge grasshopper!

The one that started it all……”That don’t crank my tractor.” Or a little less popular….”That just doesn’t float my boat.” You get 2 examples here *WOOT*……”Skydiving just don’t crank my tractor.” and “Planning a dinner party doesn’t float my boat.”

How many have heard, “Snug as a bug in a rug.”? “I am curled up on the couch, bundled in my quilt, snug as a bug in a rug.” I don’t know about you, but if I see a bug in my rug I squish it! How snug is that bug now?

One I truly hate…..”Cute as a button” As in, “You are as cute as a button.” What the hell is so cute about a button? Honestly, I have looked at every button in my closet, none of them are particularly cute.

“Sweating like a pig” There are several versions of this….Sweating like a horse and Sweating like a black man at a Klan meeting. *That last one is mean and I hated to put it in, but you hear it a lot here in the south.* “It is so hot I am sweating like a pig!”, kinda goes with “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” I hate that one!

How about…….”He’s bleeding like a stuck pig!” I can only assume a stuck pig bleeds a lot, because it is always used when there is a lot of blood involved.

Just one more pig one…..”Slippery as a greased pig.” As in, ” He is as slippery as a greased pig!” I swear the southern people like their pigs! Or at least they like to talk about them. (If you can’t figure that one out, he or she is sneaky and hard to catch.)

I love this one….” They don’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of.” Now that is poor! This is one of my MIL’s favorites, she uses it a lot. Of course she is always talking bad about some one so this is how it usually goes…….”Look at her! She thinks she is shit on a stick, she doesn’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of, but she wants you to think she is made of money!” Oh, a bonus!!!! “Shit on a stick!” For some reason apparently that would be a good thing. Because shit on a stick, usually is used to talk about someone who thinks they are better than everyone else. Goes along with, “She thinks her shit don’t stink.” Again, I guess this is a good thing. Wow that was a threefer!

This has got to be a southern one……”Fat as a tick on a hound dog.”  Do you take this as a compliment? ”That baby is as fat as a tick on a hound dog.” I know it is just a way of pointing out a baby is healthy but EEEEWWWWW!

I have a few dog ones, again I am betting they are a southern thing…….

“Just because the dog is barking up the tree, doesn’t mean there is anything up there.” As in, “I don’t believe a word he is saying. Just because a dog is barking up a tree, doesn’t mean there is anything up there.” That goes right along with, ” He is a lying sack of shit!”  (I swear there isn’t anything worse than a lyin’ dog in the south. Or at least according to a few hunters I have talked to.)

“That dog don’t hunt” As in……..”So you are saying you were just sitting there and the gun went off and blew a hole in the wall? Boy, that dog don’t hunt!”

One of my favorites is “He’s not just out of the woods, but his knuckles are still dragging.” OK, this would have to be the ultimate redneck! A backwoods redneck!

And my all time favorite southern saying and I hate to admit it but I use it a lot. “Bless his/her heart.” It is almost like making it OK to talk bad about someone. “He is dumb as a brick, Bless his heart.” I swear it just makes it OK to trash someone! A good southern woman, worth her salt, would never talk ugly about someone without blessing their heart. “She has the fattest ass I have ever seen, Bless her heart.” See how that works. You really have to try this. I hope to take this all over the world. Of course, it really needs to be done with a southern accent for it to be cute. So now you know, if a southern person says something and then blesses your heart, they aren’t really being mean, they are just being southern.

OK, are these just a southern thang or are these everywhere? I know some are just southern, I mean pigs and dogs, who else would do that? (And yes, as a good southern girl, I intended to use that “a” in thang. Just think it with a thick southern twang!) OK, here is your challenge…….What is your favorite saying? What saying have you heard all of your life? And what saying do you use the most? Until next time…….

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!!

This is going to be a short week……

It is weekend update time. This weekend wasn’t very eventful, kinda boring really.

On Friday Little Miss went to Grandma’s to spend the night and that meant date night for hubby and I. As usual TV and computer. I had a few beers and I must say…..Never drunk shave!Not your legs or anything! Because you don’t know how much pressure you are applying and that could result in losing several layers of skin. And of course everything could feel nice and smooth to you at that moment, only to discover the following morning that you have many strips of completely unshaven areas. I only tell you this because I care! That is my public service message of the week.

Saturday was a fairly nice day or it would have been if Little Miss had allowed it. I received a call early on Saturday morning telling me how nice it would be if I came to Grandmas to visit for the day. I was completely shocked because usually I am told how I ruin her time over there, how I am not allowed to come over and visit, just pick her up when she is ready to come home. Have I mentioned the Little Crapper is acting up again? Well, she is and that means I had my husband drop me off over there. Everything went great for about an hour. My mom was on the phone with my brother and I played a game of Memory with Little Miss. I beat her, so she insisted we play one more game. She promptly whooped my ass. (I swear she cheats.) Once we were done with the game, she was ready to go home. When she was informed that one, I didn’t have a car  there and 2, I wasn’t ready to go home, things got ugly!

Have  I mentioned I have a brat for a daughter? For the next 5 hours, she pouted, she cried, she demanded that we leave, she stomped around and she insisted on interrupting every conversation that happened. I ignored her, I sent her to another room, I shushed her, I took her outside and explained to her, I had had ENOUGH and if she didn’t cool it, there would be hell to pay. She did settle when The Boy and his friend came up. She thought it was her way home. He came for a haircut and only a haircut. He refused to take her home because he wasn’t going to watch her if her father wasn’t at home to tend to her. She was pissed again.

Hubby came and got us after we had supper. She had constantly told me she wanted to go home and see her crabs in the new tank. I told her they spent all of their time hiding, but she didn’t believe me. When she got home, I told her that she needed to stare at the tank for a few hours. She looked for a couple of minutes and decided that they were in hiding and not much fun. I tried to tell her but she was sure i was just an idiot and didn’t know what I was talking about.

A picture of the new tank, it looked a bit better until during the night they did a little rearranging and digging. But they seem happy with it, it is bigger than the other tank.

Sunday I worked on my quilt. I mentioned that it was a little too short and I was going to add another row and once I finished my 4 squares and put them together, I discovered that I should have just added a square to each row and it would have worked out much better. I am going to just try adding the row and hope for the best. I don’t know. Again I was short on cut material, I always figure and count and figure again and then I cut it and every time I end up short and have to stop and cut more! I don’t know how I do that every time. I just hope I have enough muslin for the backing now that I have added another row. I should, I usually have a ton of left over material.

I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but I love Johnny Depp. I have been trying to catch Sweeny Todd on HBO all month. I usually find it after it has been on for an hour or it is coming on about an hour after I have gone to bed. I thought I had it Sunday night, but it was on during shower time and bed time. I will keep trying. I did manage to catch Alvin and the Chipmunks Sunday evening. I thought it would be good for Little Miss, I had no clue she had seen it 4 times and knew a good deal of the dialogue by heart. OH, well, I tried.

I am excited! I am a sucker for most all Christmas shows. And I was able to catch a couple Sunday. I am a Christmas nut and I will sit and watch just about any show that has a Christmas theme, no matter how stupid. Yesterday it was Christmas Redo……think Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. It was a cute movie. Predictable but cute. I wanted to watch Santa Baby but alas, Hubby is not a holiday movie type of guy and he came in and grunted something about me and holiday shows and the start of the time for holiday shows and ruining his TV viewing time. I just let it go.

My all time favorite holiday show is “Miracle on 34th Street”. Not the remakes, either of them, it has to be the original! My Christmas doesn’t go right until I am able to sit down and watch it and it HAS to be the original! I don’t care for either of the remakes. I am not big on “It’s a Wonderful Life”. That seems to be everyone’s favorite holiday show. I think I have picked up on a piece or two of it, but it just doesn’t crank my tractor. I have tried to watch it a few times but I never quite make it through. I try every year and I will try again this year. We always end up watching ”A Christmas Story” a few times every year. That is hubby’s favorite Christmas show. What is your must see Christmas show?

I guess I should go I have to get the house cleaned and the clothes washed today. Little Miss is in school today and tomorrow, she has a field trip tomorrow then she is out of school the rest of the week. It will be a short week of posting, I will post through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday hubby will be home and we I will be busy this weekend turning the house into a winter wonderland. OK, not a winter wonderland and not Santa’s workshop, but more of “Santa has puked a ton of holiday cheer through out my home”. So until next time…..

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!!

Random Bullchit

I am drawing a blank. I had 14 million post in my brain over the last week and I can’t seem to find one. I have poked around my brain and rattled it around but I just can’t find one of them. OK, I found one but I threw away the article I was going to base it on. No I wasn’t going to steal it, but rather elaborate on it. It was on the recent surge in racist acts and I had some emails and that article and I was going to tie it all together with a nice bow and then poof, I threw away the Sunday paper it was in and my MIL was suppose to bring me another one and like always because it would have been helpful, though she didn’t know it would be, she flat out didn’t do it. And without it I don’t have my source for the crime waves around the country. So dammit, I am just going to throw a lot of random shit in the pot and hope it turns out OK. I am not much of a Holly Homemaker or a Stephan King or anything like that so I wonder how this will go.

Little Miss came home with the new crab. He is the ugliest, scariest looking thing I have ever saw! I had read and been told by Little Miss that the males have one claw that is bigger than the other, I had no idea the damn claw would be as big as his body! And since he got here, he has lost a leg. Personally I think Ms. Rosie showed him who was the boss. When I dumpedplaced him gently in the tank, he seemed to go crazy and run all over the tank. He run over Rosie, I mean literally ran over her, he climbed all over the shells and knocked over the Mt. Dew lid. He lost it. Now he hides in the corner, behind a shell and if he ventures out of his corner and there is any movement in the living room, he scurries back to his corner. And if Rosie gets near him he runs. He is just a big scaredy crab. And he is bigger than she is, even though they are the same age. Little Miss has named him Max. Max and Rosie, she had fishes named Max and Ruby, I detest that cartoon.

We did find someone with an aquarium and they are being gracious enough to give it to Little Miss. I am told it is filthy and needs a good cleaning. It also comes with a big rock with a hole in it and the gravel and such. I don’t have a clue where I am going to put it. Right now the small one is here on the desk, but I decorate the desk for Christmas and I don’t want to work around it. I really just don’t have a clue where to go with it. I guess it will depend on how big it is.

I mentioned at some point that the school was selling chicken, I didn’t sell even one, guess if I had tried I might have but, I have had it with this school. Before the whole thing was over, they did a little revision. Instead of having to sell 6 boxes to get anything, they decided that if you sold 2 boxes you could get a prize, no mention of what the prize was. And for the movie and popcorn thing that you had to sell 6 boxes to go to, they decided that if you had 2 kids, they could sell 3 boxes each and if you have 3 kids you only had to sell 2 boxes per child. I think they had complaints *HAHAHAHAHAHAHA* But the one thing I never heard was what the hell the money was for. Had it been for a worthwhile cause, maybe I might would have tried to sell a couple of boxes, I doubt it, but they will never know.

The school sent out that holiday pictures are being made this week. I am telling you this has to be one of the most expensive schools in the state and it probably has the poorest population. OOPS, I “forgot” to send that in. Damn I hate that! Oh, well I guess if Little Miss has her picture made with Santa I will take her to the mall.

It’s that time of year again! Yes it is the time of year when you make your Christmas list and check it twice and think to yourself, “What the hell am I getting all  of these people?!” It gets harder every year. Little Miss points out everything, she wants it all, but I know she doesn’t really want any of it. The only thing she has mentioned has been a Wii. I thought this year it would be cheaper or at least be easier to find. But NO, it is still hard to find. They are not even sat out so you can see them, most stores have them in the back and you have to ask for it. WTH? If they are out, it is just the box, I understand that, keeps down on theft and all, but really.

The Boy has asked for nothing and he isn’t into anything. Last year he was into pool so we could get stuff for that but this year, nothing. OK, Beer Pong, but I just can’t see me telling my mother to buy him ping pong balls and throw away cups! And I don’t see me doing it either. So I don’t have a clue and he goes through cars and trucks like nobody’s business so I can’t even get something for his car. I don’t have a clue for him.

Easy E and the wife, they are into World of War, video games and Anime, but I still don’t have a clue. If they want something they get it. I don’t know anything about Anime and as far as video games I guess if it is violent I should grab it. The whole Resident Evil type games.

My parents are going to be hard to get for. Dad is into everything computer, but that shit is high and mom collects a lot of things but she has no place to put anything. She has had to get rid of a lot since the move.

My in laws, I will leave it up to hubby, because I don’t have a clue. He won’t help with my brother so I am not helping with his family. He does better for the Hellions anyway. I guess it is because he is so much of a kid himself.

My granddaddy, my God, he has everything and if he wants it he just buys it. And I can’t go with clothes for him. He wears 100% wool pants, designer shirts and all of his clothes are expensive. He is happy when he gets a pair of pants for a hundred bucks, he thinks that is a deal! Even his socks are like 15 bucks a pair.

I hate to get anyone clothes, that means I have to ask for sizes or have to guess and I am not good at guessing sizes! I am not a fan of gift certificates, I know the few I have gotten always end up being used for household things not for myself. Hell at the prices of groceries maybe a sack of groceries would be a good gift. heh!! I wouldn’t turn that down. heh!!

OK, that is all I have for now. I have been having a bit of tummy troubles and I really just want to lay down and let my stomach settle a little. So until next time…….

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!

Battle of the Sexes

My dear heart decided it was that time of year again. Time to complain about the amount of drawer and closet space I require. May I just say…….Women have MORE stuff!!!

He decided to complain about the fact that we have 3 chest of drawers in our room and he only has 3 drawers and he wants to claim that he only gets 1/3 of the closet. He gets no less than 3/4 of the long rod. OK, maybe not that much, but he only has jeans, a couple of pairs of casual pants and long and short sleeve button-up shirts, short sleeve pullover shirts with and without collars. And if you consider that over half of the coats are his, he has over 2/3 of the rod!

I have less than 1/4 of the long rod and a short rod at the end of the closet. And I have jeans, capris, casual pants, dress pants, long sleeve and short sleeve button-up shirts, long and short sleeve pullover shirts, sweaters, sweat pants and shirts, dresses and housecoats. Why don’t he just admit I have and need more stuff. Wait, he easily admits I have more but claims I don’t need it.

I admit I could trim my closet stuff. I could do without a few things, not many things could go but a few things. Women have different clothes for different occasions. Hubby wears jeans for everything. I on the other hand have jeans I only wear around the house and jeans I wear out, of course the same with the capris and I only wear them in spring and summer. I have a few dresses, I must keep them. I have a dress for winter occasions, fall occasions and spring and summer occasions. It’s all in the colors and sleeve lengths. I have shirts I wear out and shirts I only wear around the house.

Now the drawers, that is a different thing all together. For the record, one of the chest of drawers contains household items. Two drawers of sheets and a drawer that has Little Miss’ stuff from school and some craft things. And one drawer contains candles, Christmas gifts I have picked up here and there and mementos from over the years. So that leaves us with 2 chest of drawers. Yes, he has 3 drawers and I have 5 drawers. Again, women have more stuff! We have different things for different occasions.

So what is the differance between our drawers? He has a drawer for socks, underwear and pajama bottoms. I stack all of his socks in one part, he only has a few pairs of pajama pants so they don’t require a lot of space and as for underwear, most men have one type and they always wear them. It is either boxers or briefs. OK, occassionally men have a thong or two but really they wouldn’t take up much space. So he really only needs one drawer for all of it. I have 2 drawers for the same items.

For starters women have bras. There are several types of these. Let’s see….. The everyday, cover all of you bra, the nice, barely cover all of you bra, for romantic evenings bra, the strapless bra, and all of these have to be different colors for different clothes. You can not wear a black bra with a white shirt, just like you can’t wear a white bra with that thin black shirt. And occasionally you have that exercise bra. I don’t personally have one, that would make me feel like I had to actually exercise, but if you exercise, I hear you have to have them. Mine happen to be housed with my underwear. And all women have a lot of different types of these. We have to have a lot of different types, we can’t get away with wearing one type all the time. So what types do we HAVE  to have……

The everyday “I want to be comfortable and I don’t care” underwear, the monthly “I don’t want to mess up good underwear” underwear, the “I want to be comfortable, but look sexy” underwear, the “I will tolerate being less comfortable but sexy” underwear and finally the ” I am going to get lucky if it kills me” underwear. See so I have to have a full drawer just for the panties and bras.

And socks, they take up half a drawer easy. Why you ask. Well, there are the short socks that are wore with shorts and capris and long socks to wear with jeans, thick socks for the winter, thin socks for the summer, knee high hose for dress pants, pantyhose, and of course the house socks (pull-on slippers) just to name a few. And we must have different colors.

With my socks I house my jammies that I wear most. The T-shirts and pajama pants or shorts (depending on the time of the year), and gowns. I have a drawer for those the gowns that I can wear when others are here, the spare shorts or pajama pants, my silk pajama shirts and pants, the special occasion/the children are not home pajamas and the out of season jammies. So that is what, 1 1/2 drawers for jammies. 

He has a drawer for t-shirts, I have a drawer for t-shirts. He has a drawer for shorts, long johns and such. I have a drawer for shorts. So really it is the pajamas and underwear that take up so much space. He can get away with wearing underwear to bed, I on the other hand, might have to get up and go through the house for nightmares, sickness, and general wants or to unlock the door because someone forgot his keys again. And my walking through the house in just my underwear would be cause for more nightmares and the possibility of therapy in the future. So it is a must that I have all of my stuff.

The bathroom is another bone of contention around here. I try to tell him it is fairly divided here but he claims it is not. I, unlike a lot of women, don’t really wear makeup so I only have a small box that contains a couple of eye shadows, a blusher or two, eyeliner, mascara and a few lip sticks. It could be way worse, I used to have tons of make up but I got rid of it when it started smelling bad. I have a blow dryer, a curling iron and a few different types of hair brushes. I have body wash, a bar of face soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion and a razor. He has body wash, shampoo, shaving cream, a razor and 2 different beard/mustache trimmers. We have a few things we share. And I know he is using my conditioner, he just won’t admit to it. Oh and he has that hair trimmer thing that he will not use! He bought it and decided that it wouldn’t just trim his hair  it would scalp him, so he won’t use it.

Every year when it gets close to Christmas he starts his complaining. It always starts out with him mentioning that I need to get rid of stuff or I will not have a place to put new. That leads to him pointing out what I don’t need. Which leads to me pointing out that I do, in fact, need all of it. That leads to a bit of an argument about the difference between needs and wants. Which generally goes straight to whether or not he needs or wants to get lucky! And whether or not he will in the near future.

Why can’t men just leave well enough alone? He has drawers and closet space. If he requires more I could get rid of sheets and give him more room. heh!! So how unfair is it at your house? Until next time…..

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!

What the Hell was I thinking?

That, my friends, is a fiddler crab. Ugly little creature if I do say so myself. The 4th grade class is studying them. Why? I don’t know, but I hear frogs are also going to be studied this year. Anyway, when they are done studying them, of course they must find them a home. Cue, the future vet in the house! She mentioned a couple of weeks ago that they were getting crabs at school. A week ago she mentions that when they are done with them, these crabs would need a home. I, always the mother of the year award winner, said, “UH, HUH.” and thought nothing more of it. So on Monday night when she came in asking if she could get one of the crabs I said, “What crab? What are you talking about?” She went into a big explanation and my eyes glazed over. So she went to daddy. Who promptly said, “I don’t care, ask your mother.” Which is code for….Drive your mother stark raving mad. So for 2 hours I listened to how easy they are to take care of, how cute it is, how much fun they are to watch…..You know the hard sale.

So what is a mom to do? I know tell her NO in no uncertain terms. But, my thoughts were how long could it live, how hard could it be to tend to and how much could it eat. So I relented.

This is what I was expecting. Yes Mr. Krabs from Spongebob. You never see him eating and he is so cute in those clothes. So, though I had my doubts, I wrote this note……

I don’t care if Little Miss brings a crab home.

And I got a small bowl with a lid on it and poked a few holes in the lid and thought nothing of what the hell I would be putting it in once it got here. Really, Mr. Krabs lives peacefully with all the other creatures on Spongebob, OK with the exception of Plankton, but he is in the water 24-7, so I figure through him/her in with Skinny Minnie. I have a plan right.

Yesterday I decide, maybe, just maybe, I should find out what exactly a crab needs to survive. OH. MY. FREAKING. HELL! Somebody lied! Probably the damn teacher! Because I can only assume that if she can’t find them homes she is stuck with the ugly little creature! Did you know that a crab doesn’t live in the water? I didn’t. Did you know that a crab doesn’t live on land either? Well, I thought if not in water, then it must live on land. I was wrong! Did you know you can’t stick them in a box and forget about them? This is what I found out after visiting a hundred freaking sites!

That a lot of people lie to sell crabs! I say this because all of the sites I visited usually started with the words, “Fiddler crabs are easy to take care of if you know how to care for them.”

They require brackish water. I found out this is salt water, but not just table salt. Aquarium salt is what a few sites suggest, while other sites recommend against aquarium salt. The amount of salt varies from site to site too. Though I do love the one that suggest that you purchase a hydrometer so that you have the right amount. Do you see me doing that? Me either.

They should stay in a temperature range of 75-85 F (24-29 C). Many sites suggested a heating pad under the tank, but it should have a temperature control. Or a heater for the tank. I know my house isn’t that warm.

They need salt water, land and air. A 50-50 split is recommended. The sites kept referring to it as a beach. They should have rocks to climb and a place to hide. One site mentioned a teacup turned up on its side. Plants are not required but it does make it look better.

They need a bowl of fresh water also. WTH? This is getting ridiculous. And what do these little creatures eat? OH, all of these appetizing things……frozen blood worms, zoo plankton, shrimp pellets, frozen daphnia, bottom feeder pellets, or crab pellets. Yeah, I have all of these things laying around the house.

Most sites recommend a minimum of a 5 gallon tank to put your new “look but don’t touch” pet. And though they do fine all by themselves, it is suggested you have a small herd of them. 1 male to 2-3 females is a good mix. BUT they require 1 square foot for each crab.

What the hell have I gotten myself into? And pictures of said new addition has been a bit of a problem. It seems Rosey is a bit camera shy. This is the best I have been able to get.

She is being temporarily housed in a 1 gallon aquarium I had to borrow from Red. Much better than the lunch meat bowl she was in. Once I see if she is going to live and whether or not I actually like her, I will invest in a bigger aquarium. I am going to have Red and her husband look at the auction and the flea markets they are always at. I refuse to invest a large amount of money on this “free” pet.

The aquarium I am currently housing her in came complete with the rocks, hubby was kind enough to gather a bit of sand from his sand pile, the shells came from Little Miss’ trip to Florida and hubby parted with his Mt. Dew lid for a temporary fresh water bowl. The goldfish has been kind enough to allow me to feed her some of his/her food. It said something about shrimp on the ingredients list so it will have to do until I can do better. And really, they are scavengers and eat algae and mold, I am hoping she can find something in the sand to supplement her diet.

As much as I don’t want to admit this, she is kinda fun to watch. She breaks off small parts of the food and shovels it into her mouth. I have watched her give herself a bath, or at least that is what it looked like she was doing. And she enjoys sitting in her freshwater “bowl”. She may turn out to be a welcome addition to the brood, that as of now is undecided. Hubby has said that Little Miss can bring another one home if the teacher will allow it. Sure why not, he doesn’t have to tend to it. How much harder could 2 be? Of course, after I finally get her set up, she won’t be a lot of trouble either. Rumor has it, they can live up to a year and a half old. Rose was born 2 weeks ago in the class. Nothing dies around here. The goldfish, that should have died after 78 hours, is still going strong after 4 years!

Until next time……..

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!

When good deeds go bad….

When exactly does a good deed go bad? I mean if you break someones ribs doing the Heimlich and they survive it is still a good deed, right? But if you come up on a drowning person and try to perform CPR knowing you don’t have a clue and they die, is that still a good deed because you tried? I ask because my MIL has yet again pissed me off and I am being accused of being ungrateful. A bitch, if you will. Let me give you a little background on this wonderful *cough, bitch, cough* woman.

When hubby and I first got married, we bought a trailer from MIL’s new sister in law.  She had just married hubby’s uncle and had a trailer. She couldn’t continue making payments on it and so we took up payments. It had a lot of work that needed to be done to it. We spent a great deal of time and quite a bit of money on it. We were happy with it. One Friday evening, MIL came over informed us, her brother and SIL were getting a divorce and that she had given SIL the trailer back and it would be moved on Monday morning. We only had one payment left and it would be ours free and clear. Good deed, SIL would have been homeless as she had no place to go. Gone bad, she left her son, DIL and grandchild all but homeless! We had to move in with my parents and we were there for far too long!

One year she got me a Christmas present, very nice of her. This was after a couple of years of not getting gifts for anyone. She got me a gift and then moved on to get the rest of them something. Her exact words were, I found “Justmylife” the perfect gift so I decided to get a gift for everyone. Good deed, gifts for the family. Gone bad, my gift was a laundry basket full of cleaners! Even worse, Her exact words…..Well, I knew you needed them!

When hubby had back surgery I would give her the money to pay the light bill so I didn’t have to leave him alone. Good deed, she kept me from having to leave the house and be able to pay the light bill on the last possible day. Gone bad, she always told people she had to pay our light bill, neglecting to tell them I gave her the money for it.

That is just a few examples of her “good deeds”. See how they seem to go bad before it is all over? You know the old saying, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Just saying…….

So what is her “good deed” this time? Let me tell you all about it……..

I forgot to pay my water bill. I mean honestly forgot to pay it. Saturday it hit me like a ton of bricks, I needed to pay it or they would be out to cut my water. So I get on line and pay it, there is a notation on the site that your account will not be credited for 2-3 days. I read that, I decided I would call them Monday morning and give them my confirmation number. Easy Peasy, right? Wrong, I forgot to call them and give them my number. Oh, forgive me, you have never forgotten something. Anyway, the guy comes up and says he is going to save me the $35.00 reconnect fee and give me an hour to go and pay my bill. I told him I had already paid it and I would call them with my confirmation number and that I appreciated him reminding me to do that. (OK, to make this worse, the guy who came up, is the husband of one of my best friends in school.)

So I walk into the house and flip on the computer to get the confirmation number from my email. Before the computer turns on, my phone rings. Yes, it is my MIL. Good deed, she is offering to help me pay my water bill so it doesn’t get turned off. Gone bad, she has already called both of my SILs asking for money to help pay it! Here is the conversation…..

MIL- How much do we have to have to keep your water on? SIL1 says she has $20. to put toward it, SIL2 said she really couldn’t afford it, but she could pay $20, to keep your water on and FIL has $20. it is his gas money but you have to have water!

Me- I have already paid it.

MIL- You paid it already?

Me- Yes, I paid it on line and it just hasn’t got to them yet. I was going to call them and give them my confirmation number.

MIL- Well, don’t let them cut off your water, we can’t afford to pay your bills but you have to have water!

Me- We have water and I paid the bill!

MIL- Are you sure?

Me- Yes.

MIL- *click*

Me- Bitch!

So I call the water dept., and of course the woman was a bit rude. I was read the riot act about how I should call or better yet, if my payment is late I should just bring it to the office. I apologized, told her I had just forgotten it and so I wouldn’t forget again I paid it on line. She continued her rant about how I should have called and I just told her I intended to but I got busy and forgot. Anyway, she took my number and said that she would call the guy and tell him it had been paid.

I called my husband and told him I wanted to move! I swear you can’t fart over here without her knowing and telling everyone! I know I live right behind her and she is nosy. But she could have called me first and asked if I needed her help. I could have then told her it was all a misunderstanding and I was taking care of it! But NO, she has to call both SILs and tell them I haven’t paid my bill and they are fixing to cut off my water. And does she call them back and tell them I had actually paid my bill? Why would she do that? She wouldn’t even think of that because that would be the right thing to do! Just so you know my husband says we can’t move. DAMMIT!

So is my MIL done? Not quite yet. Last night my husband was at the corner store and saw his dad. His dad offered him money to pay the water bill. Hubby told him he didn’t need it, that I had paid the bill and it was just a mix up. (FIL doesn’t understand paying bills on the computer.) He asked if he was sure it was paid. Hubby told him it was. FIL then said that MIL had told him and both SILs that we had not paid the water bill in 4 (FOUR!!!!!) months and if we didn’t pay it they were going to cut off our water until we caught it up, and that could take months! WTF?????? If we had not paid the bill in 4 months, we would have been without water 3 and 1/2 months ago!!!!

Can anyone explain to me why the hell she does this! Why does she want us/me to look so bad? I know she blames me, as in I didn’t pay the bill even though hubby had given me the money. How does this make her look better? I guess she is going to take credit for paying the bill, you know the one I didn’t pay because, I am sure, I pissed away the money. I shouldn’t say that, I haven’t heard that, but I have in the past. Someone please explain her to me.

So is this a good deed gone bad? Or just a good deed and I am just an ungrateful bitch? When does a good deed go bad? Just wondering.

Until next time…..

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!!

The weekend is over

This week I am trying the weekend update a little different. Instead of by day I am trying by person. I have to change it up from time to time. So let us get started.

HUBBY

As you know Hubby had his birthday on Friday. He got several birthday calls first thing in the morning, then nothing. The kids even wished him a happy birthday without having to be reminded. I guess we see who ranks around here. His family had all sorts of plans in place for the big 4-0. I guess they got pissed at me for not doing all the home stuff and called it all off. No cake, no nothing. They wanted me to decorate the house with all this over the hill stuff, but I never got around to doing it. Well, he did make the comment that he did not want all of it. And if I did it to him, I fear what would happen next year when my big 4-0 hit!

He spent his day doing exactly what he wanted to do. He did body work on the Blazer. He loves doing that stuff. He spent all day doing it and then a good chunk of the night. He had The Boy and a few of his friends out there with him during the day. So he was entertained most of the day.

He had planned on going to 2 charity yard sales and some how we managed to miss both of them. I swear for someone who hates yard sales and such he sure has started looking for them. I think I have created a monster. Something about finding jeans that fit him for a dollar just thrills him. We did go and clean the office on Saturday, he got there and wanted to come home before we cleaned. Neither of us was in the mood to clean, but we did it.

He was hit with that second attack of the cold that won’t go away. So he went to bed early on Saturday night, but then couldn’t go to sleep and he ended up napping on the couch all night. He spent Sunday outside piddling around in the yard and cleaning up the Blazer.

Sunday afternoon, he just up and said he was going to the grocery store. No warning, no asking me to go. I hate to go so I just let him have at it. We now have a few groceries. That is so nice. He doesn’t look to see what we have, he just buys whatever. I am not going to fuss, I didn’t have to go, so all is well. I can use 17 pounds of potatoes before they go bad, I don’t know how, but I can do it. Fried, mashed, boiled, baked. We are going to have potatoes every night. Of course he also came in with 2 more packs of mac and cheese to add to the 4 boxes we already had, but that stuff won’t go bad. We have hamburger and hotdog buns, that was added to the 3 packs of each we already had. All are in the freezer and so they won’t go bad. He came in with meat, that we needed. He does better than I do. He seems to find deals.

He still felt pretty rough from that never ending cold so he went to bed early. He missed Desperate Housewives and that is so unlike him. He usually sits up for it. I think I am not suppose to mention that so….sssshhhhh. Don’t tell anyone.

Little Miss

Well, her life was ruined this weekend. She was bored and life couldn’t get any worse. That is right, she was stuck with us all weekend. Grandma had a busy weekend and she couldn’t go and spend the night with her. Saturday was the church craft bazaar and though she hadn’t volunteered to work, Granddaddy did and so Grandma was going to end up getting hit up to  help, so Little Miss couldn’t stay Friday night. And both grandparents had meetings at church on Sunday which meant they wouldn’t be coming home after church and that meant she couldn’t stay Saturday night. And her Aunt had to work so no staying over there. The Hellions are with their dad on the weekend so no going over there. And her friend was with her dad so no having company or going to her house. So she was all upset all weekend.

Sunday actually looked up because Hellion  #2 came over to mammaw’s.  So she had someone to play with. And she went to his house during the afternoon and rode horses and 4 wheelers so she was happier. She came home starved and bitching because supper wasn’t done when she walked through the door, but soon settled down when she found out there was oranges to be eaten. And all she had to do was wait until supper was done. She managed to con me into letting her stay up 30 minutes late, but she went to bed fairly easy.

The Boy

He hung out with his friends and dad during the day Friday. He did a little body work on his Accord. Yes, a different car. I swear this whole thing gives me a headache. Just try to follow this….

He traded the Mustang for a 4×4 Blazer. Got all titles and everything went well. He traded the 4×4 Blazer for a GMC truck. GMC truck guy owed $150 on the truck and was to pay it off on Friday and get title to The Boy. The Boy kept the Blazer title. Smart move on his part. So for the next 2 weeks The Boy can’t find GMC truck guy. Turns out he moved. Now it has moved into excuses. The Boy traded the GMC truck for a Accord. Accord guy agreed to hold on to the title for the Accord until The Boy could get the title for the GMC truck. I think GMC truck guy was behind on payments and the guy he bought the truck from was on the verge of repoing the truck and he traded it off and now he can’t get the title without paying it off. The Boy has offered to loan the GMC truck guy 100 bucks to help pay it off so he can get the title, but GMC truck guy says he can’t come up with the rest of it. The Boy offered to see if they could trade the Blazer title for the GMC truck title, but apparently that is not an option. I don’t see why not, it is an individual, not a company, I think that GMC truck guy is against it, even though he is blaming the other guy.

Accord guy wants his title, I understand that. But he also keeps changing the deal. It started as the Accord and a dirt bike for the truck. Then he didn’t want to trade off the dirt bike so The Boy said if he could keep his stereo system and Tach he would trade even. Accord guy said that would work. Now Accord guy says there was no deal on the stereo and Tach, it was an even trade. I think he should just trade the Accord for the GMC truck and take the GMC truck back and get his Blazer back and be done with it! Everybody gets their shit back and then let the pieces fall where they may. Once GMC truck guy gets the title, then they can try again. Whatever he does, it has all given me a headache. The Boy and his dad also traded the little Blazer and S-10 so I really have a headache!

So Friday. The Boy left for a quick errand and never came back! Well, he showed up Saturday morning. No word on what he did or where he was. He was in and out on Saturday all day and then one of those out times he just didn’t come home. My phone rang at 6am Sunday morning. Apparently he had his friend MS with him, and he was suppose to be home between 11 and 12 and his girlfriend was worried because he never came home. According to her, MS said he was going out to eat with The Boy and hubby, then they were going to watch the game and he would be home. She had been trying to call The Boy and he wasn’t answering his phone. He didn’t answer when I called either. I suggested another boy’s house, she had already talked to him and he hadn’t seen them either.

The Boy finally answered his phone at 10:30! He had dropped MS off and was on his way home. I got on to him about keeping MS out all night and the lie that was told. He said he never talked to the girlfriend and he didn’t know MS was suppose to be home. That is such CRAP! MS is living with this girl and they have a baby, of course, he has to be home!

His dad told him he wasn’t going to sleep all day. He promptly went to bed. We told him he could either move out or start living by some rules. He said nothing! He didn’t ask what the rules were, he didn’t say he was moving, he said nothing. Just like he wasn’t listening! I have had it with his crap! I don’t want him to move, but he goes all the time. He is gone every night during the week and we never know where he is or what he is doing or when he will be home. And on the weekend, he more or less flies in and takes a shower and he is off again. We never know where he is or what he is doing. Our best guess is he is laid up somewhere drinking. He had all but stopped drinking, but he has picked it up again. I don’t know what is going on, but I think he has a problem and he won’t listen to us. Even his dad has had it. Of course he doesn’t want him to move and he doesn’t say a whole lot. He did manage to stay home Sunday night, but he was in the bed by 8pm.

ME

My weekend was fairly quiet. Friday I hurt my knee. I won’t say how I did it, but I will say that I deserved it. It had to do with the dogs. I have a huge bruise and knot on my knee and it hurts like hell, but I shall survive. I sat around most of the night and watched TV. It was raining and I had planned on watching Ghost Whisperer, I had planned on watching it all week. I really wanted to see it. And because it was raining the satellite decided to get on my nerves by continually going off and searching for satellite! So I missed the last 10 minutes of it and I don’t have a clue as to what happened! Saturday, I didn’t really do anything. and Sunday I sat around most of the day.

I kinda took the weekend off I guess. I was having a bit of a relapse of my stupid cold and having a stomach issue and I just didn’t feel good.

Well, the house looks like a tornado run through it and I have a ton of cleaning and washing to do. Always a vicious cycle! I hate Mondays! So until next time……

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Today is my husband’s 40th birthday! The kids say he is officially old. I have to keep this short, he took the day off to insure that no black crows showed up in the yard and none of those over the hill decorations found their way into the house. MIL and both SILs wanted to go all out for him, but he did not want it. They also wanted a big surprise party. I would love to do something big for him, it has been one hell of a rough year for him, but he is not one for major attention. Hopefully all will go smoothly this year.

I will be back on Monday. We shall see if the in-laws go all out despite his desire to just get drunk at home with his wife. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HEART! I love you!!!!! Until next time……..

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!!!!

My story…….

The year was 1985 and I was 15 years old. I can still remember standing in the kitchen and my mom asking if there was any way I could be pregnant. Funny how that thought never crossed my mind. I knew it had been a couple of months since Auntie Flo had come for a visit and I had been puking every morning like clockwork for the last month, but I had never thought of that! I had to admit there was a chance. She never said a word. She never made me feel ashamed. She never yelled. She just sighed and called the insurance company.

That is when we found out that, at 15, I would have to have confirmation of pregnancy to go and see an OB/GYN. I just couldn’t bring myself to go to my family doctor, this is the man that delivered me, I couldn’t go to him and say I might be pregnant. So we found a nice little clinic. This little clinic happened to be in the same building that an abortion clinic was in. OH, how I wished I had known that little tidbit of information.

The day I went to get my test, there happened to be a protest going on there. Do you now how wonderful it feels to have a bunch of people call you a baby killer? Or to have dozens of pictures of aborted babies crammed in your face? Or what a thrill it is to have to look at “bloody” baby dolls hanging from trees? Oh, and the fun didn’t stop there, oh, no it doesn’t! The clinic I was going to just happened to be a pro-life clinic.

So as soon as they confirmed my pregnancy they whisked me off to another room to see a counselor. She, I am told, is there to tell me my options.She asked me if I was considering an abortion. I told her while I knew abortion was an option, it was not for me. She asked me if I thought child abuse was also an option, but just not for me. Then she started shoving pictures of aborted babies in to my hands. I can still see the picture of a bucket full of aborted babies, just as though it was still in my hands. I started to cry and told her I was keeping my baby and that I wanted my mother. I cried all the way home.

Mom carried me straight to my hubby (to be) and I told him I was pregnant. I was sure he would bolt. But he just looked at me, told me he loved me and asked when we were having our baby. I just felt like it was going to be OK. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I had to tell my dad. I couldn’t breath. This was the man who grounded me for a C on my report card, what the hell would he do when he found out I was pregnant?! I was tortured with that question for 2 weeks.

At the dinner table, one night, he just up and asked what was going on. He said he knew something was going on. I confessed that I was pregnant and braced for what I knew would be the mother of all bitch fits. He sat back in his chair, took a deep breath and said, ” I knew someone was pregnant and someone smoked. I thought you smoked and your brother got someone pregnant. So what are YOU going to do?” I didn’t have the guts to tell him it was me on both counts, one thing at a time. I told him I was keeping the baby. All he said was, “This is your  baby, not your mother’s or mine. You have to be sure, because it will be yours until the day you die. Have you been to the doctor?” Mom took over from here, I couldn’t talk or breath. I never expected him to be so calm.

My future in-laws did not take it as well. There was no way in hell they would have any part of their son/brother being a daddy. As far as they were concerned the baby did not exist, if they ignored it, it and me would go away, never to be heard from again.

The next months were uneventful as far as family went.  There were tears shed, for my lost youth, by family members, but all in all, it went smoothly. My dad’s friends took it harder. In their opinion if I could get pregnant, then their girls could. The fear of their own girls coming home pregnant made a lot of parents nervous and they tightened the reins on them.

Out in public was the hardest part. Complete strangers had comments for me. Hurtful, rude comments. I didn’t flaunt it, I didn’t even wear maternity clothes until my 7th month. I looked at baby clothes and such and oohed and aahh’d over them just as any other expectant mother would. I got used to the looks of disgust. But the comments cut a bit deeper. I felt like I couldn’t enjoy my pregnancy. I couldn’t be happy when I felt that first kick, when I finally developed my mommy lump, nothing.

There were many times when I thought adoption was something I should look into. I knew I was getting married and that it would be hard just getting started and having a baby. Maybe if I put this little bundle of joy up for adoption, it would have a better life. I could have more children, there was people out there who could not have children. I was being selfish, keeping a baby as young as I was and as broke as we would be. Then it would kick and I knew that there was no way I could give it up.

I held my head high and tried to ignore the stares and all of the comments. It was hard, but for this child I could do it. The worst part was my (future) MIL. She would not look at me, she would talk to me, but never look at me. She never asked how we were, never mentioned anything concerning the baby. She didn’t tell anyone she knew or that she was related to that she was going to be a grandma. She never acknowledged that there was a baby on the way. Of course the family knew, they could see me. But everyone knew not to mention it in front of her. My (future) FIL would talk to me and actually looked at me, but never mentioned anything about me being pregnant.

I didn’t have a baby shower, my parents didn’t think it would be right for my family or friends to get things for me since I wasn’t married. Kinda like letting them pay for my mistake. I missed not having one, I had been to so many, but I understood how they felt.

I woke up at 3am, on January 2, 1986, with the worst cramps I had ever had in my life. I thought if I could just go to the bathroom I would feel so much better. Finally at 4:30 I woke my mom up to tell her I was sick.  She started timing my cramps, I never thought about labor, I knew my due date had passed, but it never occurred to me that this was it. I called hubby (to be) and told him it was time, the doctor had been called and he said to get right there and we lived almost an hour away. He said he was out the door. So we waited and waited and waited. He finally showed up 30 minutes later! He had stopped and washed his hair. We finally got out the door and my dad had to stop for gas! He had to tell everyone he saw we were on the way to the hospital! I swear I just knew I was going to be able to tell this child how he was born on the side of the road because no one would get their ass in gear and get me to the hospital!

At the hospital I was treated like a spoiled teenager, none of the nurses wanted me. One nurse knew my grandmother and she said my grandma would not have allowed one of her grandkids to be raised as a spoiled brat and she took me. The doctor kept saying it would be a long time, first babies took their time. One hour later, my bouncing baby boy was born. One look and I knew he was a keeper! Hubby (to be) walked out of the room on clouds to announce he was a daddy of a beautiful little boy. 10 toes, 10 fingers, perfect in every way!

When he was 6 weeks old we carried him to a school dance. The girls ate him up, the boys thought it was crazy and the teachers, well, they did not approve. I was asked to leave, because I was just making it look like having a baby was easy. I told them it wasn’t and that I just wanted to show him off.

I thought once the baby was born my (future) MIL would come around. She didn’t! She refused to look in the direction of the baby, she never spoke of him or to him. Once the wedding date was set and it was just a month away she finally acknowledged him. She looked at him and said cute. To this day she acts as if there was never a time when she didn’t love him to death. She often wonders why she has no baby pictures of him. She says it is like he was 18 months old when he got here. I just let her go, no need to bring up all of the old pain, she inflicts enough new without bringing in the old.

I lost friends because of it. Some of the parents wouldn’t allow their kids to hang out with me. Almost like getting pregnant was contagious. I was treated different, but I was different. I was a mom and all it entailed. I got up 3 times a night to feed my baby, I did my homework while I had a baby crawling on me. I cleaned up puke, spilled formula, changed shitty diapers. They partied and ate fast food. My idea of fast food was a jar of baby food zapped in the microwave. Late night Taco Bell runs were replaced with late night bottles. With the exception of one night a week, if you saw me and hubby (to be) you saw Easy E. And on that one night a week, you wouldn’t be seeing us, it was the only time we had to be teenagers and be all by ourselves! And how did these two wild and crazy teens spend that time? Usually watching movies in peace and falling asleep in front of the TV.

It was hard. We all three grew up together, we were close. I may have been a teenage mother, but I went through everything any other mom went through with the extra burden of being young. I excluded some details but I hate to think of some of the awful things I was put through, mostly by complete strangers. It is a long one, but I hope you made it through. Until next time……

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND THANKS FOR VISITING!!!!