It's been awhile!

So it have been a few years since I last posted in this blog.  But, I have to say it feels good to be back.  At least for now, my third sentence into it, it does anyway!

A lot has changed for me since I was on here last.  I had a baby, married my long-time boyfriend, went through countless jobs, moved to a new town, made new friends, dumped some old ones...

My goal is to try and make this a regular routine for me.  I want to try and take more pictures of my family and post them on here so my far-away family can see more of what's going on.  I need to start putting on paper (well, you know what I mean!) some of the bizarro things that my kid says so my grandma can read them on here, but that also means I need to censor myself a little (which is something I should try to do a little more often anyway.).

I have always wanted to blog about the books I am reading to kind of help track myself of what I have read and what I thought about them, so I am going to try to be better at that.  

And lastly, I want to actually start doing some of the things I see on Pinterest and not just pinning them.  As I do them I can post about them on here.

I never really had a lot of followers on here, and the ones I did have I have cut from my life like you would a cancerous mole (because that's what they became to me).  I don't aspire to have a lot of followers this time around either.  Probably it will be boring and mundane shit about book I read and conversations I have with the bestie that I find hilarious, or things that my daughter says or does that I think are impossibly cute but no one else does.

Or I will just type stupid shit like I just did and totally waste Internet space...

The 3rd Shift Crazies!

I have not blogged once all summer!! I have been so busy that my blog has been the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, I had pretty well forgotten I had a blog until someone reminded me about it last night...

I have always said that the crazies got to Wal-Mart late at night and I tend to avoid the place altogether from the hours of 10PM to 8AM. Last night though I went with my sister to pick up an answering machine and a dog bed. We walked in and my sister saw someone she knew so she started talking to her. I waited patiently by our cart and noticed a girl that I used to know walk in. It's no secret that this girl and I had a bit of a falling out that didn't even involve either one of us but more her husband and my boyfriend. (Actually, just to clarify some stuff in case she is reading this, it was because of some pretty snarky stuff her husband did to my BF.) I ignored her. I have nothing to say to this girl. She showed her true colors back maybe a year or so ago so I washed my hands with the whole thing and she is nothing to me.

Kristin went about our business when all of a sudden this girl comes up to us and starts screaming at me in the middle of Wal-Mart about me making fun of her Autistic kid on my blog. At first I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I remembered...after all the shit went down between her hubby and my BF I did what I tend to do when something is bothering me, I blogged about it. And I let it all hang out.

I am not going to go into all of it now because the way she handled everything last night just makes me sick to my stomach. I talked to her like a civilized person until she started raising her voice and attracting quite a bit of attention and accusing me of something that I didn't do. So I just wanted to get on here and clear some things up for my own sanity because I can't seem to get it off my mind.

I did make some comments about her kids on my blog. I DID NOT make fun of any of them. Everything I said was true. What I DID DO was call her a BAD PARENT. I NEVER said I was better than her or any one else. I was venting. Maybe it was the wrong way to go about things, I can accept that, but I will not apologize and I will not take down any post I have ever written. I still maintain that she is a bad parent, and a bad person. Just by the way she handled things last night. I can accept the fact that something I did or said or wrote upset her and she felt the need to confront me about it. But why the hell wait a year and then make a scene in a grocery store? Seriously! And with your daughter standing right there. Way to be a upstanding parent!!

The thing that gets me is that she said that I was lucky I didn't use her kids' names in my blog because I would have been arrested. Okay. What a psychopath!!! And, for the record, I am not a kid person. Even when we were friendly I didn't know her kids' names because I didn't give a flying fuck!!! I still don't!!

ARGH!!! So here I am, taking to the blog once again to vent out my frustrations...which I have not had since I lost my job. And I am sure I am not handling this right, but trust me, there is a hell of a lot more I could say, and that I would love to say, but I am not going to bring myself down to that level.

I guess I am glad that I did get a chance to know this girl and her husband. I am not calling myself better than them in any way because Jake and I are on a completely different level than what they are with them being parents and us not. BUT, if we do ever have kids at least they have taught me what it is to be a bad parent and I know I will not follow their example. Then I will be better than them. And should I have a child born with any kind of handicap, they will never play in their shit because I will not ignore them.

So, just a reminder...stay away from Wal-Mart during the 3rd shift hours. Not only are the people who work there often times a little different, but even some of the customers are psycho bitches!!!

Angels (books) and Demons (movies)

Ever read a book that you absolutely loved that was later turned into a movie that you were dying to see, but when you eventually saw it you were sick over it?

If you are going to make a movie from a book, then I kinda think that in order for you to advertise that it is, for example, "Based on the bestselling novel by Dan Brown", then it should actually BE as close to the book as possible and not re-written for the movie!!!

If you haven't guessed it yet, I am a fan of the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I am a fan of all of Dan Brown's books, including The DaVinci Code. When it was made into a movie I couldn't wait to see it and once I did I was in a bad mood for a week and constantly telling Jake, who is not a reader, how the story really took place and how it was nothing like what the movie made it out to be. I had a feeling it would be the same with Angels and Demons but I wanted to go and see it anyway.

And if you hadn't guessed it yet, we went to see it Saturday night. We even skipped Cyclefest for it! (This is the first year since we have been back in Auburn that we were not out partying at Cricket's wishing we had our own Harley's.) The only thing I can saw that is truly pleasant (and totally surprising), is that I genuinely liked Tom Hanks in this one. He is one of my least favorite people on the planet and typically I ignore everything he does. (I don't know, maybe it was the fact that he didn't have a mullet in this movie like he did in DaVinci Code.) I spent the majority of the movie growing at the screen, rolling my eyes, and trying to explain to Jake why certain things were not making sense to him...even thought it was making sense and I was the one confusing him by trying to tell him what the book really meant!

I stormed out of the theater and into the truck huffing and puffing about how the book was an angel and the demons were the Hollywood yay-who's who ruined the real story while Jake huffed and puffed on a cigarette. Now I KNOW they can make a movie from a long and detailed story without ruining it, they did it with all the Harry Potter movies so far with the exception of # 3 and parts of # 5. If I were Dan Brown, I would be steamed!!!

Okay, rant over. That must have been bothering me bad enough to make me get out of bed at 3 AM and whine about it on here...

Bang! Bang!

Monday morning I went to work like every other Monday morning. I had my coffee, I started up my PC, I said good morning to the up-teen coworkers who walk past my desk, I began preparing all the documents for the sales meeting. This Monday morning my phone rang. It was the boss asking me to meet her and the other boss in the office. Not a good thing to hear first thing on a Monday morning.

I began racking my brain wondering what I had done to cause such a prime meeting time. Maybe they finally caught on to the fact that I screwed around the majority of my work days blog surfing and emailing my Aunt Amanda. Maybe they read some of the emails I had traded with another coworker who hates her job as much as I hated mine. I didn't care. Whatever. I was begging to get fired. I hated working there so much that it took over every thing I thought and did. I had become this grouchy, unhappy person because I wasn't able to just let the crap go that I had to deal with there.

Well, I was fired. But it wasn't for any of the screwing around that I had done, or anything that I had intentionally done to try to get myself into trouble over. I was fired for filling out a time sheet incorrectly. I had worked at this place for two years. I had been filling my time sheets out the exact same way the entire time. You know that feeling I have mentioned having about how I just knew they wanted to get rid of me? Apparently that was right.

The bosses told me that they cared for me on a personal level and wished me the best of luck, but professionally they had to do what was right for the company, which I totally understand. (Not the whole "caring about me on a personal level", because there was no hiding the fact that they did NOT like me.) The thing I don't understand is that there were people doing a hell of a lot worse things that went by basically unpunished. There was one guy, and this is my favorite example, who went to Wisconsin for a training class. He was supposed to be there for a whole week, but he took upon himself to decide that he had learned enough and he wanted to go home on Thursday night. He left, didn't tell anyone at work, didn't came to work that Friday, didn't change his time sheet. He got paid for the day and he just stayed home. Work would have never known had the hotel not called to tell them that they were going to reimburse them for the day that was not used. HE didn't get fired.

Now don't get me wrong, I honestly DO NOT care that I got fired. I had never been fired from anywhere before, and it is a little embarrassing, but I didn't care. They did me a favor really. But I am all about equality in the workplace, and what they did was far from equality. Jake was all about me calling a lawyer and suing them and blah, blah, blah. No, thank you!

I cannot put into words how sickeningly HAPPY I am to not have a job!! I know that sounds weird considering the state of the economy and how there are so many people out there that need jobs. I felt bad going to work everyday knowing how much I hated it and how badly I wanted to quit because I knew there were people out there that would do anything just to have my paycheck. I have wanted to quit for the longest time and Jake wouldn't let me. Well, now I guess he has no say in the matter.

That's not true. He has plenty to say. He and I sit down together every night after I clean up supper dishes and we decide different things that need to be done. Since I got home from my former job at 9:10 AM on Monday, I have gotten more things done than what I have in months of weekends! I have had our garage door repaired, hired a guy to do the painting by the stairs that I am too scared to do myself since it's so high, met with a guy about our water problem and ordered a water softener, I have read, cleaned, scoured, organized, YOU NAME IT!!!! And there is still so much more to do!!! We have decided that I am not going to go back to work until my unemployment runs out, in a YEAR!!! And by the time that rolls around, we may have decided to just prolong it even more...depending on what courses our lives choose to take.

For years I have longed for a part time job, or no job, or even just a day off during the week so that I can make appointments, go to appointments, run errands at places that are only opened at the same time that I had to be holed up in my windowless office!! I know this sounds crazy, but today I had to go to the post office and it was the highlight of my day!! Not only that, but my two BFFs, Jeannie and Brenda, neither one work and I now have the opportunity to spend time with them that I never had before in the past.

I have even considered sending the place of my former employment a thank you card for allowing me this liberation, but Jake told me that might be going just a little too far! :)

Something Loaned, again and again

Something Borrowed

by: Emily Giffin

Rachel has always been a good girl--until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend Darcy throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé Dex. Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for Dex. She prays for fate to intervene, but when she makes a choice she discovers that the lines between right and wrong are blurry, endings aren't always neat, and you have to risk all to win true happiness.

This book has been on my "TO READ" list for months, but I could never bring myself to read it for some reason. I was constantly being shoved down another few spaces whenever I was getting close to having to read it. I had convinced myself it was "chick lit" and something I was just not really interested in. Saturday I was at Target with Brenda when I noticed each of Emily Giffin's books on sale for $10. "What the hell?" I thought as I put Something Borrowed and Something Blue in my cart. Late Saturday night I started reading Something Borrowed and I barely stopped until it was finished. It took me less than 16 hours to devour this wonderful book. I began immediately on Something Blue, but my feelings for that one aren't quite as strong as they were before.

Something Borrowed is about a woman called Rachel that I could easily identify with. She is turning 30, hates her job, feels like there should be more to her life than what there is, and she has always been a people pleaser. I am not to the 30-year-bench mark yet, but I can certainly relate to the job hating and the feeling like there should be more at this point in time. Typically in a book or a movie where there is a couple of friends, one with a fiance who is sleeping with both of them, you would hate the guy and the girl he's not engaged to for even the thought of cheating. I was shocked to be rooting for Dex and Rachel the entire time! I would smile when they were together and I would cringe when he was with Darcy. Darcy was one of those characters you love to hate. Every girl has a Darcy as a friend, so once again I felt myself relating, (and sighing with relief that I finally let that friendship go after too many years).

I can't wait to read this book again. Something Borrowed is definitely something loaned as I have told all of my friends how they MUST read it and I have told them as much as I can about it without giving too much away. Every girl should read this book!

Just because it's one of those days...

Did you know they even have PB&J truffles made with wild mixed berry jelly?

*Heaven!*

You Speak My Language!

Here's a virtual high five to Tyler Connolly, the lead singer of Theory of a Deadman! Have you head his song "Hate My Life"? I am a magnet for bad days and that song is my anthem for all of them! I think he took a page from my diary when he wrote "I still hate my job, my boss is a dick! I don't get paid near enough to put up with all of his shit!" Like I said, it's my anthem!

These guys have quickly become my favorites to listen to. It's a rare occasion that I tune into Rush Limbaugh in the afternoons now that I have their cds! (I think Jake loves that since I stopped ranting about all the stuff I get amped about when I listen to him!)

Someone near and dear to my heart went to a concert of theirs in South Bend last week and brought me home this shirt:


I don't necessarily think the message applies to me, since it's pretty obvious when I am drunk and I never get stoned, and since I always leave the bar with the same person I showed up with...but I love it anyway! Derek told me they have ones that say "Dick Magnet" on them too...guess i'm glad that's not the one that was given to me!

"Cowboy Butts Drive Me Nuts"

It's RODEO season!! And you know what that means...
:-)

Not a girl, not yet a wino!

But almost! Jake and I were bored a few weeks ago and we decided to check out this winery not too far from where we live, Satek Winery in Fremont. It was fun to go and see the way they do things and to get to taste the wines. You can sample up to 10, they are currently offering 26 varieties. I have never seen their wines for sale at the grocery stores in Auburn, but I have seen them in the local liquor store. Anyway, while we were there Jake and I bought a few bottles of the 101 Lakes Red.

I have always been a fan of Oliver Winery's Soft Red, but Satek's 101 Lake Red was WAY BETTER (in my opinion. Oliver still makes a hell of a wine!)

So all you wino's out there, try a bottle. You will not be disappointed if you like sweet wines. If you a around Fremont, IN it's worth a stop into see the folks at Satek's.

Baskin Robbins Honors Barack Obama With A New Flavor

In honor of the 44th President of the United States , Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has issued a new flavor, " Barocky Road ."
Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes. The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The Nuts and Flakes are all bitter and hard to swallow.
The cost is $100 per scoop. When purchased, it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but then the Ice Cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you. Thus you are left with an empty wallet, no change, holding an empty cone, with no hope of getting any ice cream.
Aren't you feeling stimulated?

Tehehe! You know how i'm a sucker for any joke about Obama! =)

Hill is the second child of authors Stephen and Tabitha King. He grew up in Bangor, Maine. His younger brother Owen is also a writer. Hill has three sons.
Hill chose to use an abbreviated form of his given name (a reference to executed labor leader Joe Hill, for whom he was named) in 1997, out of a desire to succeed based solely on his own merits rather than as the son of Stephen King. After achieving a degree of independent success, Hill publicly confirmed his identity in 2007 after an article the previous year in Variety broke his cover (although online speculation about Hill's family background had been appearing since 2005).[1]
Middle-aged rock star Judas Coyne collects morbid curios, so he doesn't think twice about buying a suit advertised at an online auction site as haunted by its dead owner's ghost. Only after it arrives does Jude discover that the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of one of Coyne's discarded groupies, and that the old man's ghost is a malignant spirit determined to kill Judas in revenge for his stepdaughter's suicide. Judas and his girlfriend take to the road in an attempt to run from the ghost and to find a way to stop it.

The above information is from Wikipedia. If I would have read that "Joe Hill" is really "Joe King", I probably would not have read the book. I devoured it in 3 days. Loved it. BUT, parts of it were terrifying. In fact, there was a night that I didn't sleep well at all and I know it's because of what was going on in the book. While I don't know that I would read another one of his books, (Horror stories just aren't my things, and I hate reading about dogs getting shot or kicked.), it was very well written and while it was complex it was easy to follow. I finished it this afternoon when I was at lunch, and I have been recommending it to everyone that I know who likes to read and isn't easily freaked out by the ghosts of scary old men!

Corks for Charity

While I was digging around online looking for a place to buy my new favorite wine, I came across this website. How may wine drinkers out there have gobs of corks laying around with nothing to do with them? I know we do. I have a centerpiece on my dining room table filled with corks, a vase filled with them, shoe boxes filled. And you are sure to find a few in any given kitchen drawer! I did once see in a Pottery Barn catalog a bulletin board made of corks, so I have been saving some up so I can make one for myself rather than paying close to $100 for one! I figure, if you are going to spend $100 on corks, you might as well get the wine along with it!

Anyway, yesterday when I was looking to buy The Show I came across the above mentioned website. Here's what I found out about it...

A Nashville area foundation called Sports 4 All has come up with an ingenious way to raise money. They are asking for your used wine corks. They are gathering corks from local restaurants, individuals and retailers, sorting them, and then they sell them to artists all over the country and beyond. "There is an artist in California who has a large standing order we can't fill at the moment", Sara Koppelman, Program Manager told me recently. Sports 4 All raises money and solicits sporting equipment and provides equipment and recreational opportunities for disabled persons of all ages.
Sara and Sports 4 All President Kris Salisbury do most of the work at Sports 4 All, but all of the proceeds of their work goes into the foundation. They don't receive payment for their work. The two came together about 2 years ago when Koppelman was working at a Down's Syndrome camp and needed equipment. She met Kris and they began working together on the foundation that Salisbury, a Down's Syndrome parent had begun over 10 years ago. Sara and Kris share a love for wine, and it was over a glass that they had the bright idea now known as "Corks 4 Charity".
It has worked. Now they are putting the word out to do more of it. "The market is there", Sara told me. We have signed up local restaurants like J. Alexander's and Park Cafe, and put the word out to local tasting events and to our friends. On a bi-weekly basis, Sports 4 All makes a “cork run” (cork retrieval trip) and collects the corks which then get separated into groups of 100. The lots of 100 corks are then sold to artists for creative projects including: picture frame ornamentation, furniture design, dartboard backsplashes, wreaths, and many other artistic endeavors. When we get a bunch of corks, we get together for "cork therapy", when we sort them out, separating out the real corks from the synthetic ones. "We market on eBay, and when artists find out we have corks available, we become a supplier to them. "We can sell as many corks as we can gather."
"Corks 4 Charity creates a community of recycling and giving, providing unique corks to creative minds and artists, raising awareness of Sports 4 All Foundation, and offering a reliable funding source to fulfill Sports 4 All’s Mission: to improve the quality of life of individuals with disabilities by providing funding and equipment to enable full participation in sports and recreation activities. Corks 4 Charity is an easy was to give back to the community and recycle – simultaneously."

Should you have corks you wish to donate, or you have questions, you may contact:

Sports 4 All Foundation Kris Salisbury & Sara Koppelman 5827 Charlotte Pike Nashville, TN 615-354-6454 http://www.s4af.org

I'm a Karen!

YIKES!

Uncork this!

As many of you may already know, I LOVE wine. Jake and I were regular tasters with the Dekalb County Wine Society, (although I think they may have dis-banded?), and you have probably seen the pictures...

I picked up a bottle of this at World Market ages ago because I liked the cowboy on the bottle. I was hooked from the first taste. I never could find it again though, not even at that same store. UNTIL, they were going out of business and they had 1 bottle left. Of course I bought it!! I googled it and here's what I found...

Rebel Wine Co. – The Show Cabernet Sauvignon
Technically speaking, The Show 2005 Cab is 80% Cabernet, the vast majority from Monterey and Paso Robles with a smidgen from Napa, plus 8% Merlot from Monterey, 6% Cab Franc from Napa, 3% Petite Sirah from Dry Creek and 3% Petite Verdot from Napa. The 10,000 cases produced saw French and American oak prior to bottling.
Excellent value ($15). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13.9%.
Style: Lush, fruit forward, with some oak spice.
Tasting Notes: Appearance: Deep ruby with a purple tint, translucent. Aromas: Black cherry, blackcurrant, vanilla, sweet tobacco and hints of sage flowers. Spicy, moderately tart and medium-bodied, the mouth filling dried red to black fruit and spicy oak flavors lead to a bucking good finish.
Comment: The only watch out is the classy heavyweight bottle. You might think there is still some wine left in it and find yourself empty handed.
You can bet I will be asking our local Gay's Hops and Schnapps to start carrying this one!

Missy Come Home!

My darling Beagle, Missy Wylde has been missing for about a week. I have been devastated! This has happened before as she has a hunkering for getting off her chain when she's outside, but someone close by has always found her and called either us or the shelter. When I came home and found her gone I immediately called the shelter, the vet's office, and the police station. I have yet to get any calls back.

Yesterday when I was driving through Auburn, I glanced over and saw a woman driving a car with a big Irish Setter in the back seat and a long-legged Beagle with a hot pink collar in the front seat. I a 99.99% SURE this was my long-legged Beagle. She was wearing a hot pink collar with a purple name tag hanging from it. So was MY dog!

I doubt there's any chance the person driving that car will read this, but just in case I have to say: Please, PLEASE bring my dog back to me. She may bring joy to you and you may think that's worth keeping her, but also remember that she brought joy to me, and now she is gone.