Sunday, December 31, 2006
Last post o' the year
We're just waiting until it's time to go to Tokyohana restaurant and sushi and sake the night away! Just wanted to wish anyone who might be reading, a Happy New Year. I, myself, am extremely optimistic. 2007 has a great ring to it and I plan to accomplish much this year. I figure, as long as you keep learning and keep improving like we're supposed to, then you're a step ahead. Like Will Rogers said, "Live your life so that when you lose, you're ahead." Good one!
Thursday, December 28, 2006
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? Did you know.......?!?!?!?!
Librarians and teachers can get 10% off always at Half-Price Books, just for being librarians and teachers?!?!?!? How come no one told me this?!??!?! I could've been saving all that money all this time?????? CRIKEY!
As we all know, my hobby is saving $. To find this out today, ticks me off. I went to their website so I could verify the dates of the current 20% off sale they're having, b/c I want to buy the baby some more books and I also need a calendar, and see that link at the bottom. Unbelievable. Good thing I'm going to work at Job #2 tonight (they're closed on Sat. and I need to make up at least some of the hours I'll be missing out on). I'll grab my ID while I'm there and head to 1/2 P.B. tomorrow to get my hook-up! As the wrestler Faruk would say, "Damn!!!"
As we all know, my hobby is saving $. To find this out today, ticks me off. I went to their website so I could verify the dates of the current 20% off sale they're having, b/c I want to buy the baby some more books and I also need a calendar, and see that link at the bottom. Unbelievable. Good thing I'm going to work at Job #2 tonight (they're closed on Sat. and I need to make up at least some of the hours I'll be missing out on). I'll grab my ID while I'm there and head to 1/2 P.B. tomorrow to get my hook-up! As the wrestler Faruk would say, "Damn!!!"
X-mas pics
My uncle emailed me these today. He took extreme close-ups of everyone getting their gifts.
Me reaching for my gift.
Me, Daddy, and little brother.
Me reaching for my gift.
Me, Daddy, and little brother.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
I am tired of running with Mucus
I'm going through kleenex like it was kleenex!!! And I volunteered to work the last 2 hours at the desk today b/c I'm such a nice person. S'ok, I got my kleenex box and drink out here. And tonight, I'll be popping a Vicodin to help stop my cough. I totally forgot that Hydrocodone is a cough suppressant! Duh. I try to keep a stash on hand b/c you never know when it'll come in handy. Fortunately a couple years back my plastic surgeon gave me a prescrip. for 30 of them, and I only needed like 5 at the time, so I've been slowly rationing them out to myself over the years. The only thing they didn't work too well on was that Common Peroneal stun kick they gave me at the Academy. I was limping and in extreme pain for 3 days and the Vicodin barely helped. Yet another good example of doing the right thing! The Sgt. had kicked us himself, but he somehow missed my common peroneal. Everybody else was doubled over, in all kinds of pain, but I was still standing. I said to myself, "hmm, I don't think he got the right spot on me." And I spoke up and said so. The Sgt. was like, "You sure you want me to try it again?" and I said yes. Everybody looked at me like I was nuts. But I mean, it just wasn't right for me to be ok and everybody else to be suffering. Plus--I needed to learn how to do it properly, and what better way than experiencing it firsthand? So the Sgt. positioned himself next to me once more, gave me the blow, and man, oh man, did he get the spot now!!! I doubled over, in shock at how bad it hurt, unable to even speak or barely breathe for about a minute. In fact, here's a photo of the incident, taken by M. with his camera phone. Sears is holding me, Sgt. in red, and AC is watching protectively (he always liked me!)
While I was doubled over my nemesis in the class, that know-it-all jerk Maples, came over and actually tousled my ponytail and said admiringly, "That's my librarian!" So now I can't wait to deliver such a blow to some turd who deserves it. And I for sure know where the sweet spot is!
Looks like we might be going to sushi dinner on NY's eve w/M. and D. and their women. That'll be fun. Don't know yet if we'll join them for dancing afterwards; we'll see how we feel. I need to get well!
While I was doubled over my nemesis in the class, that know-it-all jerk Maples, came over and actually tousled my ponytail and said admiringly, "That's my librarian!" So now I can't wait to deliver such a blow to some turd who deserves it. And I for sure know where the sweet spot is!
Looks like we might be going to sushi dinner on NY's eve w/M. and D. and their women. That'll be fun. Don't know yet if we'll join them for dancing afterwards; we'll see how we feel. I need to get well!
I'm running with Mucus
Al`a the line from the legendary movie, History of the World, Part I, one of my family's all-time fave's. Yesterday was not too bad, although I worked the desk for 4 1/2 hours at Job #1. Then last night at Job #2 it was pretty sedate. But by the time I got home my throat was starting to hurt again, even with the Guafi-Dextrom and numerous cherry and lemon drops. Nighttime seems to be the worst. At around midnight I started that stupid dry cough again. Arrrgh! So I got here to work just a few minutes ago, just short of 2 hours late. I need my sleep, dammit. S saved the day (and night) by getting me yet another 3-pack of Puffs Plus w/Lotion, the best damn kleenex that money can buy! Even Consumer Reports says so, no kidding. Only the best for my nose.
In happy news, J. called me last night to say that she got the X-mas gift she was expecting: an engagement ring! And asked me to take part in her wedding (not bridesmaid--she knows how I feel about that most distasteful of "honor"'s). I agreed happily! After all, she was the program chick at my wedding. I told her to assign me to whatever. Looks like the wedding will be Labor Day weekend. Fun, fun, fun! I ordered her to make her Knot page immediately!
Bleh... I really do have a lot of stuff to do here at work, including: finishing auditing the records on my health website; attacking a stack professional reading; cleaning my office (hardy har har), and corresponding with my "penpals", the prisoners who send me letters wanting to know this and that about their health issues, illnesses, etc. I usually put them last on the priority list; they ain't goin' nowhere, ha ha!
In happy news, J. called me last night to say that she got the X-mas gift she was expecting: an engagement ring! And asked me to take part in her wedding (not bridesmaid--she knows how I feel about that most distasteful of "honor"'s). I agreed happily! After all, she was the program chick at my wedding. I told her to assign me to whatever. Looks like the wedding will be Labor Day weekend. Fun, fun, fun! I ordered her to make her Knot page immediately!
Bleh... I really do have a lot of stuff to do here at work, including: finishing auditing the records on my health website; attacking a stack professional reading; cleaning my office (hardy har har), and corresponding with my "penpals", the prisoners who send me letters wanting to know this and that about their health issues, illnesses, etc. I usually put them last on the priority list; they ain't goin' nowhere, ha ha!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
My pants are tight
Ok, time to get back into fighting shape. Even with the benefit of missing 4 holiday parties this year due to work and other conflicts, I still have done some good damage to my body! Ohhh, this past Sunday night, for example. M. came with us to drop the baby off. We will not see her again until January 7, sadly, but that's b/c I chose to give up New Year's with her since we had her for NY's last year.
Anyway, M. had told us that his girlfriend was having a dinner party at her house and that he would like for us to come. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure about S. On our way back to Houston from the Shitslands, M. and I talked S into going, so we headed down to Missouri City, which is where the girlfriend lives. M. also wanted us to come b/c his girlfriend's family members would be there, and he has a hard time understanding them when they talk. See, they are from Belize, but speak with a heavy Caribbean lilt, which is interesting, mon. Anyway, this was the 1st time I'd seen her new house since she bought it last year. Gorgeous! And the food was catered from an Italian restaurant. Man, oh man: Calimari. 3 kinds of shrimp dishes. Spaghetti w/huge meatballs. Chicken parmigiana. 3 kinds of salad. Several kinds of bread. Steak. Garlic mashed potatoes. We filled our plates and grazed! I. had seemingly all her sisters, brother, and their kids running around but there was so much food it was hard to tell if there was even a dent made in any of it! S drank a wonderfully tasty Guatemalan beer, and I had 2 glasses of Sangria. Later I ate a cupcake that was as big as my hand.
M. gave us the grand tour of the house. Lord, it was huge. Something like 5 bedrooms and numerous bathrooms. The closets were the size of small bedrooms. Humongous foyer that looked like a ballroom. Custom kitchen. Upstairs balcony. S said it was like MTV's Cribs. The backyard went on forever. What I didn't understand was why someone would buy a ridiculously huge house like that, when it's just her and her teenage son. Neither M. nor S could explain it to me. I guess just b/c she can. She's one of those scary-intelligent people, with an undergraduate degree from Rice University and a PhD and an MD. She treats cancer patients at MD Anderson, and her bonus check last year, according to M., just the bonus check, was $70,000. Those cancer patients will pay high bucks in order to keep on living!
BTW, M. gave us the sweetest X-mas present: Season 2 of Reno 911 on DVD! Yay! We gave him the collectible Harley-Davidson tank set. S got a good deal at work.
I actually didn't eat too much yesterday. I made 2 batches of my sausage balls, but only ate maybe 5 of them. And this year my aunt had ham for the meat, instead of turkey, and I generally don't eat ham, but I had a small slice along with the usual sides. Then I was done! No seconds! I did eat a couple of desserts, however. My aunt gave us, along with our individual gifts, a gift card to Walmart. Although we despise Walmart and refuse to give it our business, I will be happy to use the gift card to buy some ammo. A box of .45 for me, a box of .40 for S, and then we will have a great time at the shooting range soon! And man, do I need the practice.
Doing the right thing note: This a.m. a girl who works in another dept. whom I chat with occasionally, came up to me at the desk and presented a moral question to me. It seems she was getting a money order this weekend for $300, and gave the man at the convenience store $320. He gave her back $99 in change, instead of the $18 or so he was supposed to, along with the correct money order. She got the hell out of dodge. Her question to me was, that was ok for her to do, right, since it was HIS mistake, not hers? She said that another coworker of ours had told her she should have given it back. I said that if it were me, if I had noticed the error at the store, I would've given it back; however, if I had already gotten all the way home and noticed it later, I probably wouldn't have spent my time and gas going back (well, maybe I would've but I would've taken out $5 for gas). She said she noticed it at the store, but didn't say anything and left as quickly as possible. Then she said she had discussed it with her preacher, and he said to look at it as a gift, as a blessing. She said maybe the man was giving her a donation. Wow.
At the KFC last week, I pulled up to the window and my chicken pot pie was sitting right there, ready to go. I had my money, but no one was at the window to take it. I sat there for probably 2 minutes, waiting. Did I ponder briefly just taking the pot pie and leaving? Yeah, but not even remotely seriously--not just b/c that's stealing, but b/c it's just wrong. Anyway, I mostly thought about it b/c of how easy it would've been, and if it were another person besides me, another person might've done so. I sat there another minute or 2--fortunately, I was not in any hurry. Finally the guy came to the window and said I should've said something about how long I'd been waiting! OK, to whom? Anyway, then he offered me a free drink, which I accepted. I've had fast food workers give me too much money back, and I promptly pointed out their error and returned the money. It's WRONG to do otherwise. Why is that such a foreign concept to some people? I'm appalled at my coworker's preacher's advice. What kind of a corrupt person is he? Which just goes to show, yet again, some of the worst people in the world can be found lurking in churches and other holy places, hiding behind religion.
But the moral is, besides the benefit of doing the right thing (see my "What I've Learned" post below) and how we should all put out as much positivity as we can into the universe b/c we all have to live here and frankly, that's what should motivate us singlehandedly, there's also that little thing called Karma. God. Santa is watching. Whatever. It isn't worth it. See for yourself if you must!
Anyway, M. had told us that his girlfriend was having a dinner party at her house and that he would like for us to come. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure about S. On our way back to Houston from the Shitslands, M. and I talked S into going, so we headed down to Missouri City, which is where the girlfriend lives. M. also wanted us to come b/c his girlfriend's family members would be there, and he has a hard time understanding them when they talk. See, they are from Belize, but speak with a heavy Caribbean lilt, which is interesting, mon. Anyway, this was the 1st time I'd seen her new house since she bought it last year. Gorgeous! And the food was catered from an Italian restaurant. Man, oh man: Calimari. 3 kinds of shrimp dishes. Spaghetti w/huge meatballs. Chicken parmigiana. 3 kinds of salad. Several kinds of bread. Steak. Garlic mashed potatoes. We filled our plates and grazed! I. had seemingly all her sisters, brother, and their kids running around but there was so much food it was hard to tell if there was even a dent made in any of it! S drank a wonderfully tasty Guatemalan beer, and I had 2 glasses of Sangria. Later I ate a cupcake that was as big as my hand.
M. gave us the grand tour of the house. Lord, it was huge. Something like 5 bedrooms and numerous bathrooms. The closets were the size of small bedrooms. Humongous foyer that looked like a ballroom. Custom kitchen. Upstairs balcony. S said it was like MTV's Cribs. The backyard went on forever. What I didn't understand was why someone would buy a ridiculously huge house like that, when it's just her and her teenage son. Neither M. nor S could explain it to me. I guess just b/c she can. She's one of those scary-intelligent people, with an undergraduate degree from Rice University and a PhD and an MD. She treats cancer patients at MD Anderson, and her bonus check last year, according to M., just the bonus check, was $70,000. Those cancer patients will pay high bucks in order to keep on living!
BTW, M. gave us the sweetest X-mas present: Season 2 of Reno 911 on DVD! Yay! We gave him the collectible Harley-Davidson tank set. S got a good deal at work.
I actually didn't eat too much yesterday. I made 2 batches of my sausage balls, but only ate maybe 5 of them. And this year my aunt had ham for the meat, instead of turkey, and I generally don't eat ham, but I had a small slice along with the usual sides. Then I was done! No seconds! I did eat a couple of desserts, however. My aunt gave us, along with our individual gifts, a gift card to Walmart. Although we despise Walmart and refuse to give it our business, I will be happy to use the gift card to buy some ammo. A box of .45 for me, a box of .40 for S, and then we will have a great time at the shooting range soon! And man, do I need the practice.
Doing the right thing note: This a.m. a girl who works in another dept. whom I chat with occasionally, came up to me at the desk and presented a moral question to me. It seems she was getting a money order this weekend for $300, and gave the man at the convenience store $320. He gave her back $99 in change, instead of the $18 or so he was supposed to, along with the correct money order. She got the hell out of dodge. Her question to me was, that was ok for her to do, right, since it was HIS mistake, not hers? She said that another coworker of ours had told her she should have given it back. I said that if it were me, if I had noticed the error at the store, I would've given it back; however, if I had already gotten all the way home and noticed it later, I probably wouldn't have spent my time and gas going back (well, maybe I would've but I would've taken out $5 for gas). She said she noticed it at the store, but didn't say anything and left as quickly as possible. Then she said she had discussed it with her preacher, and he said to look at it as a gift, as a blessing. She said maybe the man was giving her a donation. Wow.
At the KFC last week, I pulled up to the window and my chicken pot pie was sitting right there, ready to go. I had my money, but no one was at the window to take it. I sat there for probably 2 minutes, waiting. Did I ponder briefly just taking the pot pie and leaving? Yeah, but not even remotely seriously--not just b/c that's stealing, but b/c it's just wrong. Anyway, I mostly thought about it b/c of how easy it would've been, and if it were another person besides me, another person might've done so. I sat there another minute or 2--fortunately, I was not in any hurry. Finally the guy came to the window and said I should've said something about how long I'd been waiting! OK, to whom? Anyway, then he offered me a free drink, which I accepted. I've had fast food workers give me too much money back, and I promptly pointed out their error and returned the money. It's WRONG to do otherwise. Why is that such a foreign concept to some people? I'm appalled at my coworker's preacher's advice. What kind of a corrupt person is he? Which just goes to show, yet again, some of the worst people in the world can be found lurking in churches and other holy places, hiding behind religion.
But the moral is, besides the benefit of doing the right thing (see my "What I've Learned" post below) and how we should all put out as much positivity as we can into the universe b/c we all have to live here and frankly, that's what should motivate us singlehandedly, there's also that little thing called Karma. God. Santa is watching. Whatever. It isn't worth it. See for yourself if you must!
Happy Kwaanza; James Brown RIP
What is the point of being here at work? There were 4 cars in the parking lot I use. In the front circle, which is always packed with cars, there were 0 there today. I was "supposed" to be here at 8am of course, and of course, that didn't happen. Besides, I'm the only one here today from my dept., so I took my administrative privilege and let myself come in close to 10 am. I'm still sick anyway, and had yet another rough sleep last night. This is getting way old, as it's been over a freakin' week now. Fortunately (I guess) yesterday in my pill stash I found a prescription bottle of something that looked suspiciously like something that might help me, and I phoned little brother--who will be starting pharmacy tech school next month!--and he verified that yes, I should be taking the pills I found, and be taking lots of them. It's a combo of guafinisen and dextrom, or a mucus thinner and a cough suppressant, so we'll see if it helps or not. Not sure yet, but my voice is finally getting somewhat back to normal, and this a.m. (WARNING: do not read the following if you are easily grossed out. This means you, P. in VA) I sneezed out the biggest, yellowest mucus plug I have seen in a long time. It was the size of a small lizard, no joke. No wonder I couldn't breathe all night.
So, Christmas. Well, we celebrated all weekend long, and Sunday was the day we opened our gifts with the baby. Poor DH had to go into work early so we were up early at 7:30 am. The baby and I spent all morning playing, and then we made pancakes, then played some more. Fortunately, DH split work early and got home around noon-ish, and he had some more gifts for the baby and a dozen rainbow roses for me. Nice! It's been awhile since I got flowers! Then the baby wanted to go to her room to watch one of her new movies, so while she was up there DH and I opened our gifts from each other. I got: the Little Mermaid DVD, the brand of gloves that the wrestler Rey Mysterio wears, the DVD of Season 1 of 21 Jump Street (funny!), a DVD of a movie about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy (the killer clown), an amusing bling-bling rhinestone pendant w/spinner (I'll wear it to wrestling in January), and a cute brown t-shirt with a pirate ship and skull and crossbones. DH got: the wrestler Carlito's brand of workout shorts, DVD of the Best of Phil Hartman on SNL, DVD of Zoolander, an electric nose-hair trimmer (per his request; every well-groomed man should have one!), the framed picture of me and the baby, and back in November I'd gotten him the subscription to the WWE magazine.
After lunch, we took the baby to see the new movie, Night at the Museum. Eh. It was cheesy and cute, in fact, too much so. When we got back to the house, the baby said, "I want to open more presents." Oooh, that made me mad! She'd opened something like 15 presents that morning!!! I know children are inherently selfish and greedy, but you better believe it's our job to curb that shit. I told her, "You got a lot of presents today already. Some kids don't get to open any presents at all." I was then tempted to make her give up one of her presents to charity--and I still might! My trusted website Parentcenter.com says 4 years old is a good age to start kids learning about giving to charity. I've been meaning to try and start with her, but haven't found the right opportunity. She needs to learn to appreciate what she has, and I need to find a productive way of teaching it to her.
So, Christmas. Well, we celebrated all weekend long, and Sunday was the day we opened our gifts with the baby. Poor DH had to go into work early so we were up early at 7:30 am. The baby and I spent all morning playing, and then we made pancakes, then played some more. Fortunately, DH split work early and got home around noon-ish, and he had some more gifts for the baby and a dozen rainbow roses for me. Nice! It's been awhile since I got flowers! Then the baby wanted to go to her room to watch one of her new movies, so while she was up there DH and I opened our gifts from each other. I got: the Little Mermaid DVD, the brand of gloves that the wrestler Rey Mysterio wears, the DVD of Season 1 of 21 Jump Street (funny!), a DVD of a movie about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy (the killer clown), an amusing bling-bling rhinestone pendant w/spinner (I'll wear it to wrestling in January), and a cute brown t-shirt with a pirate ship and skull and crossbones. DH got: the wrestler Carlito's brand of workout shorts, DVD of the Best of Phil Hartman on SNL, DVD of Zoolander, an electric nose-hair trimmer (per his request; every well-groomed man should have one!), the framed picture of me and the baby, and back in November I'd gotten him the subscription to the WWE magazine.
After lunch, we took the baby to see the new movie, Night at the Museum. Eh. It was cheesy and cute, in fact, too much so. When we got back to the house, the baby said, "I want to open more presents." Oooh, that made me mad! She'd opened something like 15 presents that morning!!! I know children are inherently selfish and greedy, but you better believe it's our job to curb that shit. I told her, "You got a lot of presents today already. Some kids don't get to open any presents at all." I was then tempted to make her give up one of her presents to charity--and I still might! My trusted website Parentcenter.com says 4 years old is a good age to start kids learning about giving to charity. I've been meaning to try and start with her, but haven't found the right opportunity. She needs to learn to appreciate what she has, and I need to find a productive way of teaching it to her.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
C is for Cookie
...That's good enough for me! Well, I just went out for a late, long lunch and after I ate (Chicken Pot Pie from KFC, and they gave me a free drink too while I was waiting) I wanted something sweet. But first I had to swing over to the 1/2 Price Books to seek a DVD that S wants for X-mas. I didn't find it, but I found something comparable, hope he likes it, and I found my X-mas present to myself. Yes, I always buy myself something for X-mas, and I honestly hadn't given it any thought at all this year until someone asked me about it last week. Well, I got it! The DVD of one of my all-time favorite movies, All That Jazz! I only own the VHS and it's time to upgrade, so I did, and for only $5 bucks, too. What a country. Then I got back to work, had a hunch that there might be some sweet things in the back, and found a huge platter of all kinds of cookies!!! Smelling out sweets has got to be some kind of talent that I have. Boy, it really is like Christmas!
(Plus I picked up my gifts from the Library: a travel mug w/Library logo on it, and a blue t-shirt, size medium, w/Library logo on it. We also got paid today, and Bob said, "I guess the holiday bonus is going to be on the next check?" Ha ha ha!)
So I love that movie for several reasons. I first saw it when I was very young, and was just enchanted by the dancing. Plus, I love showbiz and always have. The soundtrack is charming. There's also the father-daughter dynamic that always gets to me as well. Yes, the Joe Gideon character reminds me in too many ways of my own father. He's a womanizer, funny, brilliant, talented, adorable, selfish, and a total degenerate. (I'm speaking of both the character and my father.) The opening quote from the Flying Wallenda, "To be on the wire is life. The rest is waiting." has inspired my entire existence. And Jessica Lange as Death fascinated me too. S thinks I'm a total ghoul, and I am. At least I'm not a degenerate! (Anymore. )
(Plus I picked up my gifts from the Library: a travel mug w/Library logo on it, and a blue t-shirt, size medium, w/Library logo on it. We also got paid today, and Bob said, "I guess the holiday bonus is going to be on the next check?" Ha ha ha!)
So I love that movie for several reasons. I first saw it when I was very young, and was just enchanted by the dancing. Plus, I love showbiz and always have. The soundtrack is charming. There's also the father-daughter dynamic that always gets to me as well. Yes, the Joe Gideon character reminds me in too many ways of my own father. He's a womanizer, funny, brilliant, talented, adorable, selfish, and a total degenerate. (I'm speaking of both the character and my father.) The opening quote from the Flying Wallenda, "To be on the wire is life. The rest is waiting." has inspired my entire existence. And Jessica Lange as Death fascinated me too. S thinks I'm a total ghoul, and I am. At least I'm not a degenerate! (Anymore. )
Hey P. in VA, I'm mad at you
Why you post comments on J.'s blog and not mine??? I'm sorry I'm not moving to Botswana or anything fascinating like that, but I think there's plenty going on in my life to interest anyone!!! Just check out the thrilling post below about me drinking tea and eating soup!
:-P with raspberries to you!!!
:-P with raspberries to you!!!
Back amongst the living
I managed to make it into work today; however, I did not manage to make it here until 10am, 2 hours late now that we have these short holiday hours going on. Fortunately, we do not get penalized for taking sick hours that are under 4 hours, so no matter! I simply could not wake up at 6:30 freakin' a.m. because I could not get to sleep last night until after midnight, although I went to bed before 10! Here's why: I have been suffering a sore throat for the past 3 days and, as of Tuesday night, a sporadic dry cough. So yesterday I called in sick again and spent almost the whole day on the couch, drinking hot tea, eating soup, and chain-sucking cherry throat lozenges. When S got home he brought me a big box of yummy black orange tea, so I drank some more of that b/c I really felt I need to stay hydrated and lubricated in order to get completely well. So last night, although I tried to put myself to sleep early, I literally, without exaggeration, had to get up every 10-15 minutes to go void. (I'm trying to be clinical here.) After about an hour of this it became a very unfunny joke. I considered seriously going downstairs and eating something substantial, like some jelly toast, b/c when I have an empty stomach I have to void way more often. But I didn't b/c I'd already brushed my teeth, and flossed! Anyway, here's why S calls me "The Justifier." Since I was not able to get to sleep until after midnight, I could not wake up today at 6:30 am. Therefore, since this lack of sleep was directly related to my sickness, I needed to sleep in, especially in order not to compromise my immune system.
They're lucky I came in at all, but to be honest, I wanted to come in as this will be my only day to work this week since we're closed tomorrow. My mailbox was overflowing comically, and I really need to get some serious work done on my health website. Plus, I just saw my ex-boss, I guess she is still cleaning out her office. She gave me a gift bag today, filled with Play-Doh and a Play-Doh activity kit for the baby! This is great, especially since the baby left her play-doh out this weekend and when you do that it turns rock-hard, so we are need of new play-doh. Yay!
I'm so glad we have tomorrow off as I have a lot of errands I need to run. I thought about taking care of some of them yesterday but instead decided to concentrate on laying low and getting well. By early afternoon I was feeling well enough to dust, sweep, and mop the entire downstairs. I spent the rest of the time on the couch, finishing the Johnnie Cochran book and starting my new book (Devil's Knot, the true story of the West Memphis Three murders), and as luck would have it, they were showing an all-day marathon of Season 1 of Project Runway! (Cue me rolling my eyes at myself!) Man, that's such a guilty pleasure! That show has got it all! Talent, drama, backstabbing, fashion, my ex-neighbor, and Tim Gunn!
So X-mas for us starts tomorrow. R. is coming over for a seafood dinner and fun! We'll also watch the exciting new Monk. Me and DH can't get enough of that show. Saturday more fun with baby, Sunday we'll visit M. and his bad dog Lucy, and then Monday will be spent at my aunt's house. Whew!
They're lucky I came in at all, but to be honest, I wanted to come in as this will be my only day to work this week since we're closed tomorrow. My mailbox was overflowing comically, and I really need to get some serious work done on my health website. Plus, I just saw my ex-boss, I guess she is still cleaning out her office. She gave me a gift bag today, filled with Play-Doh and a Play-Doh activity kit for the baby! This is great, especially since the baby left her play-doh out this weekend and when you do that it turns rock-hard, so we are need of new play-doh. Yay!
I'm so glad we have tomorrow off as I have a lot of errands I need to run. I thought about taking care of some of them yesterday but instead decided to concentrate on laying low and getting well. By early afternoon I was feeling well enough to dust, sweep, and mop the entire downstairs. I spent the rest of the time on the couch, finishing the Johnnie Cochran book and starting my new book (Devil's Knot, the true story of the West Memphis Three murders), and as luck would have it, they were showing an all-day marathon of Season 1 of Project Runway! (Cue me rolling my eyes at myself!) Man, that's such a guilty pleasure! That show has got it all! Talent, drama, backstabbing, fashion, my ex-neighbor, and Tim Gunn!
So X-mas for us starts tomorrow. R. is coming over for a seafood dinner and fun! We'll also watch the exciting new Monk. Me and DH can't get enough of that show. Saturday more fun with baby, Sunday we'll visit M. and his bad dog Lucy, and then Monday will be spent at my aunt's house. Whew!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Sore throat time
Although I have a sore throat, I'm still sitting here at Job #2. I took a sick day today from Job #1 as I simply couldn't wake up this a.m. in order to be there by the ungodly hour of 8am (we have holiday hours for the next 2 weeks) and I have plenty of sick time stored up, like 180 hours. But I needed to be here at Job2 tonight, for 2 reasons: 1. If I don't show up, I don't get paid, and #2. I just couldn't imagine Job #2 being that taxing on me, as it usually isn't. The 25-minute drive down here is the worst of it.
My throat didn't start hurting until last night, although on Sunday night I started feeling scratchy inside my chest. I was on patrol with M. who theorized it was the fog that we'd been having for 3 days straight. Well, I guess not. But I don't really feel sick, just a little worn down and my throat is killing me. I don't get sore throats very much anymore, ever since I had that tonsillectomy in '98, so I'm plenty perturbed by this. I hope it either gets better soon or just morphs into a real illness so I can get it over with.
I'm also probably more worn down by the extremely busy past 2 days. On Sunday I picked up M. before noon for a day of patrol. Just getting the damn patrol car and getting started was an ordeal that took over an hour. We keep the patrol car for our district at one of the Sgt.'s house, and I couldn't believe how far out she lived! Technically in district, but still, I never go that far out. Then we had to pick up a radio at the substation, check in with the Sgt., etc. and we finally got going around 1-ish. Then I was hungry, and I get mean when I get hungry, so we had to deal with that, then we had to run all the way back to M.'s house for a radio holster... in short, we went on a grand total of 6 calls in 5 hours--but one of those calls was a looooooong way out, and no one else wanted to take it for that reason, so we did. I figure that's what Reserves are for, we'll do the jobs no one else wants to do if necessary.
M. and I had a few Reno 911 moments, of course. The biggest one was not knowing how to run radar on speeders. But M. made me feel better when he told me that's a separate class on how to learn that. We just couldn't figure it out! Dammit, I wanted to hassle some speeders and hand out some tickets. M. thinks I'm mean, but I had to get tickets back in the day, so now everyone else does, too! Why should I give breaks when no one did it for me???
Then M. and I went up north to Shitsville to pick up the baby. This time the whore showed up. I knew she would since surely by now she's gotten word of her upcoming hearing. I was glad for her to see me get out of the patrol car in uniform, to get my baby. The whore's trashy sister was there and the baby ran up to me, all happy, yelling my name. I couldn't help but say real nastily to the trashy sister as I scooped baby up in my arms, "See how happy she is to see me?" since the whore has lied that the baby is scared of me and S and cries when she has to come with us. The baby had fun riding in the back of the patrol car (we'd put the carseat in the trunk beforehand). She liked closing the window on the cage. M. said, "Man, every car should have one of those!" I agree!
We took the baby down to meet S at the sports bar so we could all settle in to have some food and watch the wrestling PPV. M. and I were in uniform, of course, so we got some strange looks from the entire place as we walked in, but the good news is they let us in for free and waived the $3 cover charge! After the PPV we put the carseat in S's car and M. and I went out for another 2 hours, but this time in his district since we were already there watching the PPV there and all. This time we did something like 8 calls in 2 hours. His district is not as rural as mine is, so there's less travel time generally between calls. We stopped patrolling at midnight, but again it was an ordeal to officially get going home, as we had to gas up the car, clean our trash out, return the radio, etc. etc. I got home about 2:30 am.
So yesterday I prayed the baby would let me sleep in a little, but of course she woke up at 8:20 am, good lord. I got her settled with some cereal and Thundercats, and that bought me another hour of sleep. But then around 9:30 there was no more stalling, and I had to get up. I put her little butt in the tub and just generally moved slow all morning. She helped me wrap our X-mas gift to S, which is a picture drawing made of the 2 of us at Chuck E. Cheese and I put it in a beautiful mother-of-pearl picture frame, which was actually an unused wedding gift. We were planning on meeting Tito J. at the 1st showing of Charlotte's Web. First we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look at some stuff, and I ended up buying her a little Rudolph that sings the song and his nose lights up (I had a coupon, and she promised to be a good girl, say "Please" and "Thank you" and eat all her food when we told her to and take a bath when we told her to). Then we went to the movie. Tito J. wasn't feeling well, so we were on our own. The movie was ok, but I prefer the original cartoon from when I was a kid. I know, I'm a tough critic.
Then, since we were wearing shorts b/c the weathercaster lied and said it was going to be 78 degrees, we had to head home to change into pants. We ended up hanging out there for awhile. Man, you could tell I was wiped out, b/c usually our days together are jam-packed with activity and no minute is wasted! I let her play upstairs while I made a sandwich, read my book (still Johnnie Cochran, I need to hurry and finish it) and surfed cable. Finally, at 4:30 she said she was ready to go to the zoo. We headed over there, but by the time we reached the Med. Ctr. she was already nodding off in the back. She said something rude to me, not meanly, but still rude and I had to scold her. She gets pissy when she's sleepy. I realized the zoo outing was a futile proposition, and just made a U-turn to head back home--she was totally asleep by then!
Poor S got home last night from work all tired and legs hurting. We just let the baby sleep. By then my throat was starting to hurt and I had raspy voice. Unfortunately, she woke up at 4am, wanting cereal and I let S deal with her. He needed his quality time with her anyway, ha! I slept way in today, not feeling well. Later I let S and the baby come pick me up after their trip to Target so we could eat at La Mad. Chicken friand, yummy.
So yeah, I'm glad I came after all to Job #2, as it has been deadly slow. Easy money, easy money. S called me and told me the baby dropoff was fine this evening; the other M. accompanied him again. I'll pick her up on Friday, and since I have the day off from work, it will be early, say 4-ish. Not sure yet when we'll actually do the X-mas thing with her, since we have to take her back on Sunday and I want her to have plenty of time to play with her toys. S and I got her lots of stuff this weekend. We got her like 10 things and spent no more than $40 total! I did all the wrapping on Sunday morning. I still want to get her this Barbie laptop thing from Target that is educational and only $15, but we'll see.
What's crazy is that of all the toys she has, and now with the new ones she's going to get, today and yesterday she had so much fun playing with the empty tube from the wrapping paper, and also cutting up tiny pieces of leftover wrapping paper! I'm sorry, but parents who buy their kids expensive toys are suckers!!!
My throat didn't start hurting until last night, although on Sunday night I started feeling scratchy inside my chest. I was on patrol with M. who theorized it was the fog that we'd been having for 3 days straight. Well, I guess not. But I don't really feel sick, just a little worn down and my throat is killing me. I don't get sore throats very much anymore, ever since I had that tonsillectomy in '98, so I'm plenty perturbed by this. I hope it either gets better soon or just morphs into a real illness so I can get it over with.
I'm also probably more worn down by the extremely busy past 2 days. On Sunday I picked up M. before noon for a day of patrol. Just getting the damn patrol car and getting started was an ordeal that took over an hour. We keep the patrol car for our district at one of the Sgt.'s house, and I couldn't believe how far out she lived! Technically in district, but still, I never go that far out. Then we had to pick up a radio at the substation, check in with the Sgt., etc. and we finally got going around 1-ish. Then I was hungry, and I get mean when I get hungry, so we had to deal with that, then we had to run all the way back to M.'s house for a radio holster... in short, we went on a grand total of 6 calls in 5 hours--but one of those calls was a looooooong way out, and no one else wanted to take it for that reason, so we did. I figure that's what Reserves are for, we'll do the jobs no one else wants to do if necessary.
M. and I had a few Reno 911 moments, of course. The biggest one was not knowing how to run radar on speeders. But M. made me feel better when he told me that's a separate class on how to learn that. We just couldn't figure it out! Dammit, I wanted to hassle some speeders and hand out some tickets. M. thinks I'm mean, but I had to get tickets back in the day, so now everyone else does, too! Why should I give breaks when no one did it for me???
Then M. and I went up north to Shitsville to pick up the baby. This time the whore showed up. I knew she would since surely by now she's gotten word of her upcoming hearing. I was glad for her to see me get out of the patrol car in uniform, to get my baby. The whore's trashy sister was there and the baby ran up to me, all happy, yelling my name. I couldn't help but say real nastily to the trashy sister as I scooped baby up in my arms, "See how happy she is to see me?" since the whore has lied that the baby is scared of me and S and cries when she has to come with us. The baby had fun riding in the back of the patrol car (we'd put the carseat in the trunk beforehand). She liked closing the window on the cage. M. said, "Man, every car should have one of those!" I agree!
We took the baby down to meet S at the sports bar so we could all settle in to have some food and watch the wrestling PPV. M. and I were in uniform, of course, so we got some strange looks from the entire place as we walked in, but the good news is they let us in for free and waived the $3 cover charge! After the PPV we put the carseat in S's car and M. and I went out for another 2 hours, but this time in his district since we were already there watching the PPV there and all. This time we did something like 8 calls in 2 hours. His district is not as rural as mine is, so there's less travel time generally between calls. We stopped patrolling at midnight, but again it was an ordeal to officially get going home, as we had to gas up the car, clean our trash out, return the radio, etc. etc. I got home about 2:30 am.
So yesterday I prayed the baby would let me sleep in a little, but of course she woke up at 8:20 am, good lord. I got her settled with some cereal and Thundercats, and that bought me another hour of sleep. But then around 9:30 there was no more stalling, and I had to get up. I put her little butt in the tub and just generally moved slow all morning. She helped me wrap our X-mas gift to S, which is a picture drawing made of the 2 of us at Chuck E. Cheese and I put it in a beautiful mother-of-pearl picture frame, which was actually an unused wedding gift. We were planning on meeting Tito J. at the 1st showing of Charlotte's Web. First we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look at some stuff, and I ended up buying her a little Rudolph that sings the song and his nose lights up (I had a coupon, and she promised to be a good girl, say "Please" and "Thank you" and eat all her food when we told her to and take a bath when we told her to). Then we went to the movie. Tito J. wasn't feeling well, so we were on our own. The movie was ok, but I prefer the original cartoon from when I was a kid. I know, I'm a tough critic.
Then, since we were wearing shorts b/c the weathercaster lied and said it was going to be 78 degrees, we had to head home to change into pants. We ended up hanging out there for awhile. Man, you could tell I was wiped out, b/c usually our days together are jam-packed with activity and no minute is wasted! I let her play upstairs while I made a sandwich, read my book (still Johnnie Cochran, I need to hurry and finish it) and surfed cable. Finally, at 4:30 she said she was ready to go to the zoo. We headed over there, but by the time we reached the Med. Ctr. she was already nodding off in the back. She said something rude to me, not meanly, but still rude and I had to scold her. She gets pissy when she's sleepy. I realized the zoo outing was a futile proposition, and just made a U-turn to head back home--she was totally asleep by then!
Poor S got home last night from work all tired and legs hurting. We just let the baby sleep. By then my throat was starting to hurt and I had raspy voice. Unfortunately, she woke up at 4am, wanting cereal and I let S deal with her. He needed his quality time with her anyway, ha! I slept way in today, not feeling well. Later I let S and the baby come pick me up after their trip to Target so we could eat at La Mad. Chicken friand, yummy.
So yeah, I'm glad I came after all to Job #2, as it has been deadly slow. Easy money, easy money. S called me and told me the baby dropoff was fine this evening; the other M. accompanied him again. I'll pick her up on Friday, and since I have the day off from work, it will be early, say 4-ish. Not sure yet when we'll actually do the X-mas thing with her, since we have to take her back on Sunday and I want her to have plenty of time to play with her toys. S and I got her lots of stuff this weekend. We got her like 10 things and spent no more than $40 total! I did all the wrapping on Sunday morning. I still want to get her this Barbie laptop thing from Target that is educational and only $15, but we'll see.
What's crazy is that of all the toys she has, and now with the new ones she's going to get, today and yesterday she had so much fun playing with the empty tube from the wrapping paper, and also cutting up tiny pieces of leftover wrapping paper! I'm sorry, but parents who buy their kids expensive toys are suckers!!!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Waaaahhh! (But at least I got cake)
This is so funny. I'm at Job #2 and Santa is here. I hear babies crying. That's hilarious! Why do so many babies object to Santa?
The other meaning of today's title is that yesterday was my excellent boss's last day at work. I am pretty down about it. They threw a cake/punch party for her and that was my only consolation that kept me from crying.
Another thing I had to do was eat a bunch of food at R.'s party last night. Great spread: all kinds of crackers, cheeses, sweets, BOOZE, even some sushi. The good food also kept my tears down.
I'm also bummed out that I tried to get the best seats possible for the wrestling event when they went on sale today at 10am, but failed. I came soooo close to getting seats on the floor!!! To make a long sad story short, this is why I boycotted that jive dive the Toyota Bullshit Center long ago. Their website kept timing me out and I lost the fucking floor seats because I couldn't remember my stupid login password from almost 3 years ago!!! Assholes!!! Regardless, after 3 tries I got 5 good tickets in a pretty good section. We will be sitting pretty close, it's just not the floor. The reason I ordered 5 tix is b/c I work with a lady here at Job2 who has a grandson that loves wrestling as much as we do. I've already met him and we've discussed the pros and cons of Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, etc. So I asked her this a.m. if she wanted to go in on some tix with us and she said heck yes! She is so excited and so am I, for the boy. I told her how sorry I was that I lost the floor seats but she doesn't care and says he won't either, that he will be too excited just being there, that he would've been happy even with the nosebleed seats. I probably need to get a little of that attitude. And so does DH!
So now I'm having fun creating a little document for him for X-mas, that has the seating chart and our seats circled, and a letter from Santa, blah blah. This is pretty fun, I just wish I could see his face when he opens this on X-mas day and realizes he's going to his first live wrestling event! His grandma and I both have to take that night off, since it's on a Tuesday and we both work here on Tuesday nights, but it'll be so worth it. I've already sent the email notifying them I won't be here that night!
The other meaning of today's title is that yesterday was my excellent boss's last day at work. I am pretty down about it. They threw a cake/punch party for her and that was my only consolation that kept me from crying.
Another thing I had to do was eat a bunch of food at R.'s party last night. Great spread: all kinds of crackers, cheeses, sweets, BOOZE, even some sushi. The good food also kept my tears down.
I'm also bummed out that I tried to get the best seats possible for the wrestling event when they went on sale today at 10am, but failed. I came soooo close to getting seats on the floor!!! To make a long sad story short, this is why I boycotted that jive dive the Toyota Bullshit Center long ago. Their website kept timing me out and I lost the fucking floor seats because I couldn't remember my stupid login password from almost 3 years ago!!! Assholes!!! Regardless, after 3 tries I got 5 good tickets in a pretty good section. We will be sitting pretty close, it's just not the floor. The reason I ordered 5 tix is b/c I work with a lady here at Job2 who has a grandson that loves wrestling as much as we do. I've already met him and we've discussed the pros and cons of Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, etc. So I asked her this a.m. if she wanted to go in on some tix with us and she said heck yes! She is so excited and so am I, for the boy. I told her how sorry I was that I lost the floor seats but she doesn't care and says he won't either, that he will be too excited just being there, that he would've been happy even with the nosebleed seats. I probably need to get a little of that attitude. And so does DH!
So now I'm having fun creating a little document for him for X-mas, that has the seating chart and our seats circled, and a letter from Santa, blah blah. This is pretty fun, I just wish I could see his face when he opens this on X-mas day and realizes he's going to his first live wrestling event! His grandma and I both have to take that night off, since it's on a Tuesday and we both work here on Tuesday nights, but it'll be so worth it. I've already sent the email notifying them I won't be here that night!
Friday, December 15, 2006
What I've Learned
I love Esquire magazine. It's not fair to call it a Gentleman's magazine, as I have read it cover-to-cover for years. I was reading the latest issue, and the "What I've Learned" columns, and began to think of my own "What I've Learned"'s. It was a fun activity to do this a.m. as I went through the motions of getting ready for the day. So I thought I'd write some of them down. I guess it's also a good end-of-year activity.
Someone might love you, and they might actually even say that they love you. But unless they show it, their so-called love doesn't mean shit.
Shooting is so much fun!
99.999% of the time, people don't change.
Don't escrow your taxes. Do you realize that your money could be sitting in your own account earning interest, instead of lying dead at the mortgage company?
If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true. (With special thanks to Judge Judy for this one.)
When I was in my mid-20's, I went through a period of depression. The music of Taj Mahal and the books of Dave Barry were the things that kept me from going over the edge. I've since met them both but didn't tell them this. Maybe I should have.
It's allright to cry! Crying gets the sad out of you!
There are very effective ways to tell when someone is lying to you. No, I won't reveal them here, you can research them yourself if you're so inclined.
When I was in elementary school, I discovered the biographies section of the school library. Since then I've always had a love affair with non-fiction. I firmly believe the real world is much more fascinating than anything anyone can make up, and I believe part of my success in life has been learning from others' mistakes instead of making my own.
Always, always, always spend good money on the following: your shoes, bag, hat.
While in New York, eat a pretzel at Central Park, and have bagels and hot chocolate for breakfast from any corner deli.
Damn, that R. Kelly can sing!
I'm sorry I cuss so much, but I can't help it. I hang out with cops. Plus, I like to cuss.
My mom's father, my grandfather, had 2 kids with my grandmother, then adopted 2 more. He walked 4 miles round-trip to work and never missed a day. I have heard people describe him as one of the most intelligent men they've ever met. Now he is 90 and has saved enough money in his life to not have to worry about it. He has influenced me more than just about anyone.
When you're young, make a list of things you want to do and places you want to go. Then start doing them.
I will always be proud of the way I got married and not spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a wedding. The wedding industry in America is like gambling in Vegas: the house always wins.
It's never as disgusting or annoying when it's your own kid doing it.
I was in a beauty pageant when I was 22. I just knew I would win--but instead I got 4th runner-up, and a big trophy. I'm not sure why I wanted to do this, except for the pure experience of it. I'm glad I got it out of my system.
Do the right thing, and do it just for sake of doing the right thing.
I've always gotten along much better with men than I have with women.
Those childless people who talk trash about children, and how annoying children are, and how annoying their friends who have children are, are usually the same people who tell endless stories about their pets.
Let your husband pop your zit. It will feel and look so much better in a few hours!
You don't have to like the same music that I like, but dammit, have some fucking respect and don't make fun of it. Some people take their music very seriously.
It really is true. If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.
Practice is magic.
What I've Learned
by Adela
by Adela
Someone might love you, and they might actually even say that they love you. But unless they show it, their so-called love doesn't mean shit.
Shooting is so much fun!
99.999% of the time, people don't change.
Don't escrow your taxes. Do you realize that your money could be sitting in your own account earning interest, instead of lying dead at the mortgage company?
If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true. (With special thanks to Judge Judy for this one.)
When I was in my mid-20's, I went through a period of depression. The music of Taj Mahal and the books of Dave Barry were the things that kept me from going over the edge. I've since met them both but didn't tell them this. Maybe I should have.
It's allright to cry! Crying gets the sad out of you!
There are very effective ways to tell when someone is lying to you. No, I won't reveal them here, you can research them yourself if you're so inclined.
When I was in elementary school, I discovered the biographies section of the school library. Since then I've always had a love affair with non-fiction. I firmly believe the real world is much more fascinating than anything anyone can make up, and I believe part of my success in life has been learning from others' mistakes instead of making my own.
Always, always, always spend good money on the following: your shoes, bag, hat.
While in New York, eat a pretzel at Central Park, and have bagels and hot chocolate for breakfast from any corner deli.
Damn, that R. Kelly can sing!
I'm sorry I cuss so much, but I can't help it. I hang out with cops. Plus, I like to cuss.
My mom's father, my grandfather, had 2 kids with my grandmother, then adopted 2 more. He walked 4 miles round-trip to work and never missed a day. I have heard people describe him as one of the most intelligent men they've ever met. Now he is 90 and has saved enough money in his life to not have to worry about it. He has influenced me more than just about anyone.
When you're young, make a list of things you want to do and places you want to go. Then start doing them.
I will always be proud of the way I got married and not spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a wedding. The wedding industry in America is like gambling in Vegas: the house always wins.
It's never as disgusting or annoying when it's your own kid doing it.
I was in a beauty pageant when I was 22. I just knew I would win--but instead I got 4th runner-up, and a big trophy. I'm not sure why I wanted to do this, except for the pure experience of it. I'm glad I got it out of my system.
Do the right thing, and do it just for sake of doing the right thing.
I've always gotten along much better with men than I have with women.
Those childless people who talk trash about children, and how annoying children are, and how annoying their friends who have children are, are usually the same people who tell endless stories about their pets.
Let your husband pop your zit. It will feel and look so much better in a few hours!
You don't have to like the same music that I like, but dammit, have some fucking respect and don't make fun of it. Some people take their music very seriously.
It really is true. If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.
Practice is magic.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Can I make it to the store tonight?
I really really want to stop by BB&Beyond and get at least one of S's gifts. They have 2 items I want to get him, they are both bathroom-type practical things that he needs and he will like, and of course, as always, I have a bunch of those 20% off coupons. I'm going to try and swing by there after I pick up Boston Market for us--again, with coupons. Last night found me sitting at home cutting out a million coupons. My mom cancelled her b-day visit from me at the last minute, telling me to come another time and bring my brother. The coupons were courtesy of her, as she always saves them for me from her Sunday paper.
I was driving S's car earlier this week when he had the baby, and I noticed he had a bunch of bags in the back. They were from various stores and looked suspiciously like X-mas gifts--and they were! No, of course I didn't snoop. I don't want to ruin my own fun and surprise on X-mas day!
I really hope they do away with these evening hours at work; that's one of the proposed changes that might occur come Jan. 2. I don't mind it too much, but there's really no reason to pay a librarian good money to sit here and answer 6 questions or less from 5-7 pm. Plus, I'd rather split earlier. Plus, it's only me and Bob that work evenings, which really is not fair at all. Plus, I'd rather split earlier. (It bears repeating.) I think at the very least they might decide to hire another evening p/t person like they already have for the other evenings. That's the latest rumor, anyway.
My Lt. had his 2nd baby today, a girl, Erin Maria Rose. I've actually been thinking of baby names recently, after seeing the article on the most popular baby names of the year. Boring, as always!!! I've always wanted to name my daughter, for example, Badness. It is an old southern name, or at least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. More cool names that I like: Peanut. Isis. Tsunami (that's my mom's contribution). Delicious (I know, ghetto). Rebel, but Robert Rodriguez beat me to it. Viola, for obvious reasons. Lucien, which I have always thought was a beautiful name for a boy. Anyway, S and I already have names picked out , both for boy/girl although he nixed my favorite Lucien, saying it was too close to Lucifer. Whatever! The names we have I' m happy with, though. I've always liked that scene in Arthur where he says, "How do you feel about naming a child Vladimir? Even if it's a girl?" I know what he means!!!
I was driving S's car earlier this week when he had the baby, and I noticed he had a bunch of bags in the back. They were from various stores and looked suspiciously like X-mas gifts--and they were! No, of course I didn't snoop. I don't want to ruin my own fun and surprise on X-mas day!
I really hope they do away with these evening hours at work; that's one of the proposed changes that might occur come Jan. 2. I don't mind it too much, but there's really no reason to pay a librarian good money to sit here and answer 6 questions or less from 5-7 pm. Plus, I'd rather split earlier. Plus, it's only me and Bob that work evenings, which really is not fair at all. Plus, I'd rather split earlier. (It bears repeating.) I think at the very least they might decide to hire another evening p/t person like they already have for the other evenings. That's the latest rumor, anyway.
My Lt. had his 2nd baby today, a girl, Erin Maria Rose. I've actually been thinking of baby names recently, after seeing the article on the most popular baby names of the year. Boring, as always!!! I've always wanted to name my daughter, for example, Badness. It is an old southern name, or at least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. More cool names that I like: Peanut. Isis. Tsunami (that's my mom's contribution). Delicious (I know, ghetto). Rebel, but Robert Rodriguez beat me to it. Viola, for obvious reasons. Lucien, which I have always thought was a beautiful name for a boy. Anyway, S and I already have names picked out , both for boy/girl although he nixed my favorite Lucien, saying it was too close to Lucifer. Whatever! The names we have I' m happy with, though. I've always liked that scene in Arthur where he says, "How do you feel about naming a child Vladimir? Even if it's a girl?" I know what he means!!!
Another wrestling event in our future?
Looks like it! Smackdown/ECW is coming to Houston in January. M. wants to go also and I'm waiting to hear from the other M. Unfortunately it's being held at that hellhole, the Toyota center, a place I'd vowed to never give any of my money ever again after seeing Prince there and the City towing my car. Bullshit! Cost me well over $200. Well, S wants to go and so I want to treat him.
Just got my 1st X-mas card of the season, here at work. I'm not going to be able to send any this year, probably. I wanted to send e-cards this year, but don't even have a good holiday photo to include. I'll think of something. I have not had a chance to do any X-mas shopping except for online, and I need to get a couple things for S and of course, hit Dollar General for the baby. It just seems like every night after work I have too many other errands to do. And tonight is my late night at work, and S called in sick (stomach prob.'s yet again) so I'll need to get home asap. Tomorrow night we have a party we are supposed to go to. I just realized that on Sat. after Job #2 I do not need to rush off to patrol so I think I will hit the Dollar Gen. by Job #2 and knock out most of baby's gifts. Then I need to find the time to wrap them. The holidays really can be such a pain in the ass. I'm so glad we celebrate them minimally in my house.
Just got my 1st X-mas card of the season, here at work. I'm not going to be able to send any this year, probably. I wanted to send e-cards this year, but don't even have a good holiday photo to include. I'll think of something. I have not had a chance to do any X-mas shopping except for online, and I need to get a couple things for S and of course, hit Dollar General for the baby. It just seems like every night after work I have too many other errands to do. And tonight is my late night at work, and S called in sick (stomach prob.'s yet again) so I'll need to get home asap. Tomorrow night we have a party we are supposed to go to. I just realized that on Sat. after Job #2 I do not need to rush off to patrol so I think I will hit the Dollar Gen. by Job #2 and knock out most of baby's gifts. Then I need to find the time to wrap them. The holidays really can be such a pain in the ass. I'm so glad we celebrate them minimally in my house.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Happy birthday Ma
In honor of my mom's b-day I will go see her tonight, bring her a brownie w/nuts, and attempt to fix her computer/Internet problem(s). I saw her last night when I got off work at Job #2 to bring her the Amy Tan book but she kicked me out b/c it was her bedtime.
I got the brownie at lunch today at Bohemeo's, a groovy new place owned by an old family friend of mine. The Hispanic Health Coalition board met there today and the president treated us to a yummy lunch. I had shrimp tacos. I also had something delicious called Sweet Potato Pie cake. The family friend asked me how my father was; I said I didn't know.
This a.m. we also had tacos for breakfast at our dept. meeting. It's like Christmas! And the boss gave us all gift cards to Pappas, oh yum. I'm taking DH out for some seafood soon! Change is definitely in the air at work come the new year. Not sure yet if it'll be for the better or not, but we'll see. I'm not optimistic, but then again, there's definitely some things I will not put up with. So there. What they gonna do?!?
I taught my 2-hour HTML class yesterday and got some nice evaluations. One of them said, "Great instructor!" Yes--I know! I find it so interesting that people still want to learn HTML. I guess it can help in some situations.
Last night DH called me right after dropping the baby off to report that it went peacefully. M. got out of the car and handed the baby over to Dickhead and the whore. I hated not being there, as this was the first time ever that I have not been able to be there for a pickup or a dropoff. But I had to work, as we all know.
I got the brownie at lunch today at Bohemeo's, a groovy new place owned by an old family friend of mine. The Hispanic Health Coalition board met there today and the president treated us to a yummy lunch. I had shrimp tacos. I also had something delicious called Sweet Potato Pie cake. The family friend asked me how my father was; I said I didn't know.
This a.m. we also had tacos for breakfast at our dept. meeting. It's like Christmas! And the boss gave us all gift cards to Pappas, oh yum. I'm taking DH out for some seafood soon! Change is definitely in the air at work come the new year. Not sure yet if it'll be for the better or not, but we'll see. I'm not optimistic, but then again, there's definitely some things I will not put up with. So there. What they gonna do?!?
I taught my 2-hour HTML class yesterday and got some nice evaluations. One of them said, "Great instructor!" Yes--I know! I find it so interesting that people still want to learn HTML. I guess it can help in some situations.
Last night DH called me right after dropping the baby off to report that it went peacefully. M. got out of the car and handed the baby over to Dickhead and the whore. I hated not being there, as this was the first time ever that I have not been able to be there for a pickup or a dropoff. But I had to work, as we all know.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Lunch with S
I had lunch today with the baby and the baby's daddy, and Tito J. joined us as well, since I'd sent DH and baby to storytime this a.m., which happened to be at Tito's library. So we all met for Chinese afterwards! I hadn't seen Tito J. in so long. Miss him! Hopefully we can hang out on Monday when he's off and I supposedly have baby again--we'll see what happens since we all know the whore is unreliable when it comes to court orders. Maybe some jail time will help her see the light, although I doubt it. I got word yesterday that our hearing on this isn't until Jan. 9. That kind of sucks b/c it's one of our makeup days with the baby, so I guess we'll have to take her to my mom's house while we're in court. So much for having a quality makeup day with her.
Last night was fun. I got home from work and made jambalaya, which we ate with chopsticks since the baby likes chopsticks. She and I played, put sprinkles on the little X-mas tree, ate the rest of the cupcakes from Sunday, and I had to read The Cat in the Hat to her 5 times in a row. Fortunately, I love that book myself, although I'm sure S had enough of overhearing it by about the 3rd time. I made baby read it to me 1 time, and she did pretty good even though she can't read, but she did remember key lines and words from just seeing the pictures. I'm also continuing to work on teaching her how to count to 10 in Spanish. We demonstrated for Tito today.
Now I'm a little sad b/c S and the baby dropped me off at work after lunch and I had to say goodbye to her. He'll drop her off tonight, and M. is going to accompany him. I just spoke to S and they went to the park and said they'll probably go to the zoo as well. I'm jealous!!! I gotta go to Job #2 tonight. Well, we're supposed to have her again on Sunday. The other M. and I are going to try to go on patrol that day, then just pick her up dressed in uniform in the patrol car. Dickhead and the whore WILL recognize, bitches!!! Then S got the bad news today that they are going to make him work next Monday, which sucks b/c that was supposed to be another daddy/baby day. So now I am going to have to take the day off from work. No, I'm not really that upset b/c I love to spend time with her, but it was definitely unplanned and now I'm scrambling to try to arrange it.
Last night was fun. I got home from work and made jambalaya, which we ate with chopsticks since the baby likes chopsticks. She and I played, put sprinkles on the little X-mas tree, ate the rest of the cupcakes from Sunday, and I had to read The Cat in the Hat to her 5 times in a row. Fortunately, I love that book myself, although I'm sure S had enough of overhearing it by about the 3rd time. I made baby read it to me 1 time, and she did pretty good even though she can't read, but she did remember key lines and words from just seeing the pictures. I'm also continuing to work on teaching her how to count to 10 in Spanish. We demonstrated for Tito today.
Now I'm a little sad b/c S and the baby dropped me off at work after lunch and I had to say goodbye to her. He'll drop her off tonight, and M. is going to accompany him. I just spoke to S and they went to the park and said they'll probably go to the zoo as well. I'm jealous!!! I gotta go to Job #2 tonight. Well, we're supposed to have her again on Sunday. The other M. and I are going to try to go on patrol that day, then just pick her up dressed in uniform in the patrol car. Dickhead and the whore WILL recognize, bitches!!! Then S got the bad news today that they are going to make him work next Monday, which sucks b/c that was supposed to be another daddy/baby day. So now I am going to have to take the day off from work. No, I'm not really that upset b/c I love to spend time with her, but it was definitely unplanned and now I'm scrambling to try to arrange it.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Stellar weekend!
More fun times w/baby.
So according to S they went to Petco this a.m. to see the pets, then were going to see Flushed Away. I'm glad they're having their time together--and lord knows they need it--but I do miss them and wish I were with them. I had called S something like 6 times by lunchtime to check in on them!
- Friday night we ran around S's job while waiting for him to get off work. I had a surreal moment when they needed someone to translate some instructions in Spanish to the janitor. One of S's coworkers said, "Steve's wife speaks Spanish!" and I thought, "Who's that?" then in the next split second realized, "Oh, that's me!" I think this was the first time I've heard anyone call me "Steve's wife"! Then me, S and baby ate at La Mad.
- Saturday we went to storytime, natch. Then it was on to the science museum to play in the snow. The place was lousy with kids, but the lines moved fairly quickly. My mom says they're always pretty organized there. The only bad thing was that when we got there about noon, the snow was already pretty packed and hard, and dirty around the edges. The snow event was from 10-4, so I feel sorry for the kids who got there later, say around 2 or 3! Still, we had fun and the baby made little snowballs and pretended to be a penguin, although I wore the wrong damn shoes (cowboy boots) and kept slippin' and slidin'! After that we went over to the other side of the museum to see Santa and have the baby's picture taken with him (free!). He also had the reindeers Rudolph and Comet there so we got to pet them. Then baby and I ate McDonald's inside, sitting on the floor of the museum, which lots of folks were doing and it was pretty fun for people-watching.
- Next, we hustled down to my Job #2 locale, just in time to see Superman Returns. They show movies on every 2nd Saturday, with free popcorn and drinks. We sat on the floor and cuddled and used my big leopard coat as a blanket. I thought the new Superman did a pretty good job, following Chris Reeve and all. I loved the little kid. I don't like Kate Bosworth though, too-skinny actresses annoy the hell out of me. Baby liked the movie and watched the whole thing even though it was like 2 1/2 hours long! I thought she might fall asleep but she didn't. Afterwards I showed her the library and she had to check out a few items from the children's area of course.
- Finally, we went to see my mom and grandfather. We gifted them with photo stickers of us, which we'd taken at the museum. I cannot resist those photo sticker machines, and always have to have my picture made on them, even if I'm by myself! Then baby fell asleep in the car on the way home--as she always does--and weirdly, fell asleep until Sunday a.m.! She does that sometimes, but it's rare and even rarer now that she's 4 1/2. So poor S did not get to spend any time with her when he got home from work, but at least I got to start my new book, Johnnie Cochran's autobio, A Lawyer's Life, procured from the storytime library.
- Sunday I finally got her to sit in my lap and read The Cat in The Hat. We had checked it out from the storytime library 2 weeks ago but never got around to reading it. I think she was entranced by it--I could tell b/c she didn't try to turn the pages too soon like she always does when I read to her! In the afternoon we went to L.'s house so we could eat L.'s homemade chili ala Frito Pie, and she could play with Rhett. She and I brought cupcakes. I will never understand why kids only want to eat the frosting and never the cake. The cake, mixed with even bites of frosting, is the best part!!! I swear, I'm going to gain weight if I keep eating her perfectly good leftovers.
- Last night we had a little crisis. We were having a good time hanging out, coloring, watching this fascinating documentary on National Geographic on animal babies in utero, and baby started screaming and crying that her leg hurt. I determined she didn't have a cramp or anything, and gave her some Nyquil, which has acetimenophen and everything in it, and applied hot compresses to her knee. S says she has growing pains, and that he had the same thing in his legs when he was a kid. She had this last year when she was 3, I remember. So I let S take over. I take after my mom, the ER nurse who was all business and miminal sympathy when it came to medical issues, whereas S cuddled her and cooed at her, which I just don't have in me to do. I just feel all that drama might make the malady interpreted as being worse than it really is sometimes. Plus I don't want to raise a sissy. Poll: Am I too harsh? yes/no why/why not?
So according to S they went to Petco this a.m. to see the pets, then were going to see Flushed Away. I'm glad they're having their time together--and lord knows they need it--but I do miss them and wish I were with them. I had called S something like 6 times by lunchtime to check in on them!
Friday, December 08, 2006
Update on hearing/fast reading
I called our lawyer's office and found out they needed the judge's signature on one of the motions, so on Monday (dare I hope?) we should have the hearing date. Counsel says it'll either be the 1st week of January or the 2nd, dammit.
It's so cold in my office I'm wearing my scarf and coat. I'm about to leave anyway to make that miserable drive up north to pick up the baby. Poor S has to work until 8 tonight, so we are just gonna go over to his work and wait for him, then we'll all go have dinner somewhere (cheap). She and I can wait in the back and read/draw/color until he's done, as we have done before when we've waited for him. I've also got her weasel and other toys/books in the car. I can't think of much worse things than a bored child. I think it's the root of a lot of the problems in this world!!!
I'm on p. 316 of the Amy Tan book, only 80 pages to go! Yes, I'm bragging--since I started the book on Tuesday night--but me, my mom, and li'l brother have always been fast readers. I remember one time when we went camping, I must've been about 10 or 11 or so. My mom was reading Lonesome Dove, one of my family's all-time favorite books, and which is about 1000 pages or so. She started it on the day of our trip and finished it before the trip was over, writing on the inside cover the dates of start and end. I always joked about that, saying she wrote, "Began 2:15 pm, Finished 7:45 pm."
It's so cold in my office I'm wearing my scarf and coat. I'm about to leave anyway to make that miserable drive up north to pick up the baby. Poor S has to work until 8 tonight, so we are just gonna go over to his work and wait for him, then we'll all go have dinner somewhere (cheap). She and I can wait in the back and read/draw/color until he's done, as we have done before when we've waited for him. I've also got her weasel and other toys/books in the car. I can't think of much worse things than a bored child. I think it's the root of a lot of the problems in this world!!!
I'm on p. 316 of the Amy Tan book, only 80 pages to go! Yes, I'm bragging--since I started the book on Tuesday night--but me, my mom, and li'l brother have always been fast readers. I remember one time when we went camping, I must've been about 10 or 11 or so. My mom was reading Lonesome Dove, one of my family's all-time favorite books, and which is about 1000 pages or so. She started it on the day of our trip and finished it before the trip was over, writing on the inside cover the dates of start and end. I always joked about that, saying she wrote, "Began 2:15 pm, Finished 7:45 pm."
Freak Allergic Reaction
So I had to go see the Dr. today. It appears I'm having a weird allergic reaction to this OTC medication I took, which was a generic brand, of course. This was for my infection that I had this week. Well, the Dr. advised me not to use that kind anymore. Oh, I promise, believe you me! I was sort of panicking this a.m. and S refused to inspect me too closely--he's kind of squeamish. Fortunately they were able to give me an appt. at 10:15; unfortunately this particular Dr. of mine is in freakin' Clear Lake, or Webster, same difference. And I got lost trying to make it back to the freeway. Anyway, she gave me a prescrip. and told me to try taking Benadryl, which I did when I got to work. I would rather have not come in today but it's really not that big of a deal, I just hope the Benadryl doesn't make me too sleepy.
I gotta go pick up the baby after work anyway, an over 2 hours round-trip drive. I'm re-thinking going to the Mayor's party tonight, b/c I was soooo cold this a.m. and it's going to be just as cold tonight. I love wearing my big huge furry leopard coat (that people always admire! :-)) but the cold makes me not want to do anything short of hibernating. We might make cookies tonight, or maybe we'll wait until tomorrow night.
Court case note: Still no word from counsel on our hearing date. I'm sure if she got one I would've gotten an email from her, but nothing. This sucks, waiting. I was talking to one of my relatives last night about all this and she responded with a cliche, "Good things come to those who wait." Should that console me, or just make me angrier? In the Amy Tan book, which I will be done with by tonight (it's a fast read) she says to always avoid cliches, both in writing and in life.
I gotta go pick up the baby after work anyway, an over 2 hours round-trip drive. I'm re-thinking going to the Mayor's party tonight, b/c I was soooo cold this a.m. and it's going to be just as cold tonight. I love wearing my big huge furry leopard coat (that people always admire! :-)) but the cold makes me not want to do anything short of hibernating. We might make cookies tonight, or maybe we'll wait until tomorrow night.
Court case note: Still no word from counsel on our hearing date. I'm sure if she got one I would've gotten an email from her, but nothing. This sucks, waiting. I was talking to one of my relatives last night about all this and she responded with a cliche, "Good things come to those who wait." Should that console me, or just make me angrier? In the Amy Tan book, which I will be done with by tonight (it's a fast read) she says to always avoid cliches, both in writing and in life.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Poll just because
I have 45 min. left at work and I just checked J.'s blog and this was on it:
Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be
1. Who was your best friend? I was a total loner, bewildered and intimidated by my genius prodigy classmates.
2.What sports did u play? I went to a fine arts high school, no sports allowed.
3. WHAT KIND OF CAR DID U DRIVE? Ha ha, that's funny. I didn't have my 1st car until I was in grad. school.
4. It's Friday night, where were you? At home, reading and watching tv.
5. Were you a party animal? no
6. Were you considered a flirt? No
7. Ever skip school? Yes, with my mother's permission.
8. Were you a nerd? We didn't really have "nerds" per se at this school.
10. Did you get suspended/expelled? Where's question #9? Anyway, no.
11. Can you sing the fight song? See question #2.
12. Who was your favorite teacher? Of all teachers to put down, I think I must put Mr. McMahon. He must've been the biggest influence on me since I even remember his name--and he taught me algebra, my most despised subject ever!!! But to this day my handwriting still mimics his, and I will always admire him. How could you not love a teacher who begins each class with a joke?
13. Favorite class? Orchestra of course
14. What was your school's full name? High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
15. School mascot? n/a
16. Did you go to Prom? No. Instead, I collected a scholarship from the rodeo that night.
17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? HELL YES! That school put me where I am today.
18. What do you remember most about graduation? Everyone being there, from my grandparents to my father.
19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? My senior recital. Everyone was there again, even my aunts and uncles and my boyfriend brought me flowers.
20. Where were you on senior skip day? We didn't do that at my school.
21. Did you have a job your senior year? No
22. Where did you go most often for lunch? Library
23. Have you gained weight since then? No, I've actually lost weight as an adult.
24. What did you do after graduation? went to college
25. When did you graduate? June 1990.
26. Who did you have a crush on? This cute piano player who eventually became my boyfriend.
27. Are you going to your ten year reunion? It already happened and it was lame. That was the last for me.
28. Who was your home room teacher? Don't remember.
29. Who will repost this after you? I'd love to see some of my blog visitors answers!
30. Who was President of your class? Don't know.
31. Who was your high school sweet heart? See #26.
32. How many people were in your graduating class? About 113.
33. Any girls pregnant before graduation? I doubt it.
Serenity prayer
I'm trying to remember to say it periodically. Thank God for my years in Al-Anon that made me familiar with it. There's lots of frustrating things going on right now that I can't do anything about, so I need to stop even thinking about them.
Before I had lunch I went to that cute local consignment shop as mentioned below, which is in the same shopping strip as the Chinese place, to buy the baby a few items of warm clothes since it's going to be in the 30's here this weekend. I found 2 pairs of pants, 1 sweater, and a cute pair of purple overalls. And yes, I got all items on sale, 40% off the marked price. Cool.
I have begun planning our weekend of fun. I would like to try to take the baby downtown tomorrow night, if we have time, to the Mayor's free Holiday party on the City Hall grounds. We pass right thru downtown on the way home anyway, and it would be fun to walk around and see the sights, provided I can find parking. Saturday we'll go to storytime as always, then I'm leaning towards going to the science museum for the kiddie party they're having with real snow! Then they're showing Superman Returns at Job #2 that afternoon with free popcorn and drinks, and I'd like to do that as well.
Sunday I think I want to go ahead and invest in a membership to the Children's Museum. The membership investment to the zoo has already paid for itself in spades! Plus, with it getting colder the chirren's museum is a great indoor-activity type thing. Finally, she and I both love the joint. I remember the 1st time we all went, me, DH and baby. This was summer of 2005, and DH said he didn't know who was more excited, me or baby! It's just that I had always wanted to go there, but I never knew any kids before that I could take, and I certainly wasn't about to waltz in there by myself and poke around like some kind of perv.
Oh, and today in funny news, check out this item. DH and I are both very excited about it, him especially b/c of his dream woman, Trish Stratus, (after Salma Hayek, that is), and me b/c it's going to be damn entertaining. However, I am a little bit upset b/c we reserve officers already don't get the respect we deserve sometimes and this will definitely not help. M. already wants me to write a letter to the editor of the local union paper for them making fun of us in this month's edition. I think I will; as some of you know I have great success getting letters to the editor published, I just need to find the time to start drafting it. I guess I could do that after I finish this blog entry since I still have an hour and 15 min. left of my evening desk shift here at Job #1.
In bizarre news, I got a "hi" email from one of my ex-boyfriends. This was a Puerto Rican asshole I dated while in grad school. He was a sax player, of course. He has 3 kids now and is still married to the same woman. Good for him. I guess I'll email him back, and send him pic's of my beautiful family--even though he doesn't deserve to hear from me. I just like showing off to my exes. I hope that's not bad karma--he sought me out!
Speaking of which, here's one of my fave's of me and baby, taken summer 2005 at the Aquarium.
- I faxed DH's signature on his affidavit first thing when I got to work this a.m. Lawyer said she'd have a hearing date for us after lunch. Now it's 5:15 p.m. and so far no word. This is maddening, but what else is new.
- DH and I had a slight argument about X-mas presents a little while ago. I wish we could buy the gifts we wanted for folks this year, but we are on a serious, scary, life-threatening budget. I maxed out 1 credit card this a.m. when I had to pay the amicus atty.'s retainer of $750. Our 2nd credit card is uncomfortably close to its limit, and the 3rd one has a high limit but that will be soon minimized once I pay another legal bill. Plus, I hate credit cards and resent having to even use them at all--but there's no other way we'd be able to pay for this court case.
- They started paving our parking lot this a.m. and we will not be able to park anywhere near our house for 48 hours. DH refuses to park his car on the street b/c he says it is too resistible a target for car thieves, so whoever gets home 1st has to scout out a park somewhere else behind the gates and grab it. I'm not sure yet where I will park my car.
Before I had lunch I went to that cute local consignment shop as mentioned below, which is in the same shopping strip as the Chinese place, to buy the baby a few items of warm clothes since it's going to be in the 30's here this weekend. I found 2 pairs of pants, 1 sweater, and a cute pair of purple overalls. And yes, I got all items on sale, 40% off the marked price. Cool.
I have begun planning our weekend of fun. I would like to try to take the baby downtown tomorrow night, if we have time, to the Mayor's free Holiday party on the City Hall grounds. We pass right thru downtown on the way home anyway, and it would be fun to walk around and see the sights, provided I can find parking. Saturday we'll go to storytime as always, then I'm leaning towards going to the science museum for the kiddie party they're having with real snow! Then they're showing Superman Returns at Job #2 that afternoon with free popcorn and drinks, and I'd like to do that as well.
Sunday I think I want to go ahead and invest in a membership to the Children's Museum. The membership investment to the zoo has already paid for itself in spades! Plus, with it getting colder the chirren's museum is a great indoor-activity type thing. Finally, she and I both love the joint. I remember the 1st time we all went, me, DH and baby. This was summer of 2005, and DH said he didn't know who was more excited, me or baby! It's just that I had always wanted to go there, but I never knew any kids before that I could take, and I certainly wasn't about to waltz in there by myself and poke around like some kind of perv.
Oh, and today in funny news, check out this item. DH and I are both very excited about it, him especially b/c of his dream woman, Trish Stratus, (after Salma Hayek, that is), and me b/c it's going to be damn entertaining. However, I am a little bit upset b/c we reserve officers already don't get the respect we deserve sometimes and this will definitely not help. M. already wants me to write a letter to the editor of the local union paper for them making fun of us in this month's edition. I think I will; as some of you know I have great success getting letters to the editor published, I just need to find the time to start drafting it. I guess I could do that after I finish this blog entry since I still have an hour and 15 min. left of my evening desk shift here at Job #1.
In bizarre news, I got a "hi" email from one of my ex-boyfriends. This was a Puerto Rican asshole I dated while in grad school. He was a sax player, of course. He has 3 kids now and is still married to the same woman. Good for him. I guess I'll email him back, and send him pic's of my beautiful family--even though he doesn't deserve to hear from me. I just like showing off to my exes. I hope that's not bad karma--he sought me out!
Speaking of which, here's one of my fave's of me and baby, taken summer 2005 at the Aquarium.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Bad news/good news
Got the motions emailed to me by counsel. S and I are a little upset, but maybe we don't have to be. Our atty. says she doesn't know if the whore will be sent to jail b/c she's never seen it done in that court--but that's just her cases. She's thinking it's a 50/50 chance the whore will be sent to jail. Regardless, we're asking for an emergency custody order that custody be reversed for 90 days anyway--which'll definitely help when we go to trial b/c then the baby will be living with us and hopefully the judge won't want to change that, especially when he hears of all the whore's sins/transgressions/unfitness which, I might add, we have tons of evidence backing. The motions also ask for lots more atty.'s fees and some other stuff too. Our atty. says she should have a hearing date sometime tomorrow. She's going to beg the court clerk to find something before the end of the month. God, I hope so.
I just went to pick up S's car. Our trusted mechanic did not charge us for the minor repairs, but says we do need a new gas door. Bummer, that's gonna be a tough one. Still, I thought that was so nice to not get charged and it definitely helps. Lord knows we take S's car to him enough as it is anyway!
In other good news, we are posting for my boss's position after all. So we will be getting someone, I hope, and hopefully someone good, i.e., not a micromanager. That's about my worse nightmare.
Lots of prayers to be said in our household this week.
I just went to pick up S's car. Our trusted mechanic did not charge us for the minor repairs, but says we do need a new gas door. Bummer, that's gonna be a tough one. Still, I thought that was so nice to not get charged and it definitely helps. Lord knows we take S's car to him enough as it is anyway!
In other good news, we are posting for my boss's position after all. So we will be getting someone, I hope, and hopefully someone good, i.e., not a micromanager. That's about my worse nightmare.
Lots of prayers to be said in our household this week.
Guitar Hero 2
S's best friend got him Guitar Hero 2 for X-mas and brought it over last night. S was so happy! When I got home from Job #2 last night he was upstairs in the baby's room playing it. (The baby's room serves double-duty as his gameroom.) I insisted that I could kick ass on the advanced stage, even without ever having played the game, due to my musical prowess. He took me up on my challenge and interrupted his easy stage game, to set me up. However, all the song choices were heavy-metal songs I did not know. I said, "I don't know all these boy songs! Hiddly-diddly, hiddly-diddly!" We finally settled on "You Really Got Me Now" which I guess is by Van Halen. I didn't do too well at first, but then immediately got the hang of it once I got the concept down. Still, I backtracked to the medium stage. Then I grew bored with it. That is pretty much my attitude with video games, that they really bore me and frankly, I'd much rather be reading my book. The only game I really liked was Jeopardy!, but S got sick of it after I kept winning. This a.m. S played a few more games before he had to go to work.
I am in a hurry to finish reading Amy Tan's autobiography The Opposite of Fate, which arrived for me via transfer last night at work. I've read it before, but it is so fascinating, and it's really for Ma, who I need to turn it over to next time I see her. I'm already on p. 87--only 310 more pages to go before Saturday! I can do it!
Last night S insisted on giving me one of my X-mas presents, and I was truly delighted. It was the soundtrack to School of Rock, the DVD of which was one of my b-day presents earlier this year. So this a.m. I decided to give him one of his X-mas presents early too, and I gave him the special edition DVD of Daddy Daycare (bought for $5.00 including shipping, from a vendor on amazon.com!), which we had rented last year and loved. The baby will probably like watching it, too.
This a.m. I listened to some of my new CD while driving S's car to our trusted mechanic for some small repair jobs. It got me wondering why Jack Black is so funny to me, and John Belushi was so funny to me, but I don't think Chris Farley was very funny. There's some kind of natural, organic quality that Black and Belushi have, whereas Farley just tried so hard and almost always overdid it. He does have his funny moments, but Black and Belushi just have a gift, and it seems to come so easy to them. I'm very critical when it comes to my comedians. I've read a lot of comedian biographies, and I remember one of them that I can't remember right now, where their father (whom they didn't get along with, natch) loved to watch comics on Ed Sullivan, or some such show, and criticized some of the comics by saying, "He's just an asshole with a couple of jokes" as opposed to the real comedians who made you think and made you really laugh.
From what I understand, my own father was a stand-up comedian for awhile in college. I can't imagine what that must've been like to see. My father is very funny to me, and does make me laugh often, but I wonder what he was like up onstage and what he joked about. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to asking him.
I am in a hurry to finish reading Amy Tan's autobiography The Opposite of Fate, which arrived for me via transfer last night at work. I've read it before, but it is so fascinating, and it's really for Ma, who I need to turn it over to next time I see her. I'm already on p. 87--only 310 more pages to go before Saturday! I can do it!
Last night S insisted on giving me one of my X-mas presents, and I was truly delighted. It was the soundtrack to School of Rock, the DVD of which was one of my b-day presents earlier this year. So this a.m. I decided to give him one of his X-mas presents early too, and I gave him the special edition DVD of Daddy Daycare (bought for $5.00 including shipping, from a vendor on amazon.com!), which we had rented last year and loved. The baby will probably like watching it, too.
This a.m. I listened to some of my new CD while driving S's car to our trusted mechanic for some small repair jobs. It got me wondering why Jack Black is so funny to me, and John Belushi was so funny to me, but I don't think Chris Farley was very funny. There's some kind of natural, organic quality that Black and Belushi have, whereas Farley just tried so hard and almost always overdid it. He does have his funny moments, but Black and Belushi just have a gift, and it seems to come so easy to them. I'm very critical when it comes to my comedians. I've read a lot of comedian biographies, and I remember one of them that I can't remember right now, where their father (whom they didn't get along with, natch) loved to watch comics on Ed Sullivan, or some such show, and criticized some of the comics by saying, "He's just an asshole with a couple of jokes" as opposed to the real comedians who made you think and made you really laugh.
From what I understand, my own father was a stand-up comedian for awhile in college. I can't imagine what that must've been like to see. My father is very funny to me, and does make me laugh often, but I wonder what he was like up onstage and what he joked about. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to asking him.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Update
I finally got a hold of our lawyer today, who informed me that she has not yet submitted the motion b/c she's writing up a big one to include all of the whore's transgressions, not just this past missed visitation. For example, the whore has not yet paid her half of the social study (the court-ordered investigator who comes to your house to inspect that it's clean, safe, etc.) even though WE paid our part and got the paperwork in by the 5-day deadline which was about 2 months ago; she never sent anything. Our lawyer is also asking for "huge sanctions" in her words, which I don't know what that means specifically yet but it's probably going to make the whore pay even more of our legal fees, or a fine, or something monetary. And we do have to have another hearing on this, so the judge can revoke the whore's probation and send her sorry ass to jail, so unfortunately I guess she won't be getting arrested at the Walmart. Our lawyer said we'll appear in front of the same judge as before, and he will not be happy with the whore. She also said he'll want to hear everything about the other night, how we were there but she wasn't. So I might need M. to come to court and testify since he was there with me.
That dumb lady did not show up today at our agreed meeting place so I could look at the girls' clothes she had for sale. This after I hustled my butt over there on my way to Job #2, where I am now. That's ok, there's a cool little consignment shop right near my work where I bought clothes for the baby before that I'll probably check out again soon. The baby's favorite shoes, her pink cowboy boots w/sparkly hearts, came from there. I think I paid all of $7 for them!
So our lawyer said just to go on as normal, pick the baby up this Friday, and we actually have her until Tuesday which is nice, and just wait to hear from her as to when the hearing will be. She'll email me a copy of the motion she is writing up so I hope to get that tomorrow. It's so hard to be patient in all of this. I've never prayed so much since this case started--for sanity!!!
Party note: Looks like I probably won't get to bring the family down here on Friday night for the party at Job #2. They said it starts at 6:30; since I'll be picking the baby up in the Motherfucking Woodlands around then, it won't be worth it to try to get all the way down here. Especially since librarians, for the most part, don't party into the wee hours, or even into the post-happy hour hours. Boo.
Christmas spending note: Current reports say that the average U.S. individual will spend over $800 on X-mas this year. I think S and I will spend just a little over $100. Maybe $150. It's great not having his worthless piece-of-shit family to have to worry about. He was out and about today, saying he had some shopping to do. I asked for whom; he listed some people we both know and I said that was not necessary, since we typically don't exchange gifts with each other. He's just so sweet and generous, but as I reminded him, we are on a SERIOUS budget this year due to our court costs. I made the sad decision to not even send out any cards this year, just to save those few dollars. Some of you know that I always send X-mas photo cards, but this year it's going to have to be a simple email. I have become the coupon queen, the credit card strategizer, the retail haggler, etc. It is not pretty, but I have no choice. It's been kind of weird to make this transition--after all, this is the same girl who thought nothing of flying to Australia, dropping $1000 on a shotgun, getting Lasik surgery (ok, only 1 eye, but still!), and just last year I bought a $200 bathing suit (ohhh, but you should see me in it!). Well, those freewheelin' free-spending days are long gone. I've traded them for stability, home-ownership, marriage and motherhood. And even though it's been so worth it, more worth it than I ever thought, I am honest enough with myself to say I am so glad I got those old days out of my system!!!
However--I have learned to enjoy squeezing the penny until Lincoln screams. It is very satisfying to save money w/coupons, knowing that the sucker standing in line next to you paid more for the exact same item. My mom always taught us to never pay full price for anything anyway, so this is just the next extension of that. And even though it was painful to do so, when I got my annual COLA raise this past September, I upped my retirement contribution percentage, although it hurt to not be able to use that extra money to go towards our immediate legal fees. But you can't beat the concept of compound interest! And at my age, I already feel behind as it is. Plus I'm coming out ahead anyway since it's all pre-tax. Any way you can find to pay less taxes, do it. That's what the rich do! I read money boards everyday, read personal finance books from the library, listen to money radio talk shows, etc. It really has become my new hobby. Go ahead--ask me anything about money, debt, etc.!
That dumb lady did not show up today at our agreed meeting place so I could look at the girls' clothes she had for sale. This after I hustled my butt over there on my way to Job #2, where I am now. That's ok, there's a cool little consignment shop right near my work where I bought clothes for the baby before that I'll probably check out again soon. The baby's favorite shoes, her pink cowboy boots w/sparkly hearts, came from there. I think I paid all of $7 for them!
So our lawyer said just to go on as normal, pick the baby up this Friday, and we actually have her until Tuesday which is nice, and just wait to hear from her as to when the hearing will be. She'll email me a copy of the motion she is writing up so I hope to get that tomorrow. It's so hard to be patient in all of this. I've never prayed so much since this case started--for sanity!!!
Party note: Looks like I probably won't get to bring the family down here on Friday night for the party at Job #2. They said it starts at 6:30; since I'll be picking the baby up in the Motherfucking Woodlands around then, it won't be worth it to try to get all the way down here. Especially since librarians, for the most part, don't party into the wee hours, or even into the post-happy hour hours. Boo.
Christmas spending note: Current reports say that the average U.S. individual will spend over $800 on X-mas this year. I think S and I will spend just a little over $100. Maybe $150. It's great not having his worthless piece-of-shit family to have to worry about. He was out and about today, saying he had some shopping to do. I asked for whom; he listed some people we both know and I said that was not necessary, since we typically don't exchange gifts with each other. He's just so sweet and generous, but as I reminded him, we are on a SERIOUS budget this year due to our court costs. I made the sad decision to not even send out any cards this year, just to save those few dollars. Some of you know that I always send X-mas photo cards, but this year it's going to have to be a simple email. I have become the coupon queen, the credit card strategizer, the retail haggler, etc. It is not pretty, but I have no choice. It's been kind of weird to make this transition--after all, this is the same girl who thought nothing of flying to Australia, dropping $1000 on a shotgun, getting Lasik surgery (ok, only 1 eye, but still!), and just last year I bought a $200 bathing suit (ohhh, but you should see me in it!). Well, those freewheelin' free-spending days are long gone. I've traded them for stability, home-ownership, marriage and motherhood. And even though it's been so worth it, more worth it than I ever thought, I am honest enough with myself to say I am so glad I got those old days out of my system!!!
However--I have learned to enjoy squeezing the penny until Lincoln screams. It is very satisfying to save money w/coupons, knowing that the sucker standing in line next to you paid more for the exact same item. My mom always taught us to never pay full price for anything anyway, so this is just the next extension of that. And even though it was painful to do so, when I got my annual COLA raise this past September, I upped my retirement contribution percentage, although it hurt to not be able to use that extra money to go towards our immediate legal fees. But you can't beat the concept of compound interest! And at my age, I already feel behind as it is. Plus I'm coming out ahead anyway since it's all pre-tax. Any way you can find to pay less taxes, do it. That's what the rich do! I read money boards everyday, read personal finance books from the library, listen to money radio talk shows, etc. It really has become my new hobby. Go ahead--ask me anything about money, debt, etc.!
Trying to stay busy and pass the time
...and fortunately, my esteemed Dr. P phoned in another weird search for me yesterday to keep me busy. There's a case involving a tragic train accident w/a child; so does chronic illness/pain in children lead to psychiatric disorders down the line? But not PTSD, ah hah... I'm finding some things, but the trick is getting to the "future" problems concept.
I really hope to hear from our lawyer today. This is my long day too, the 2 jobs day, so I'll be getting out of here early. I tried to be here early at 8 but I just cannot do it. I even took a Benadryl last night and conked out at around 10; this a.m. I couldn't get up until 7:15. I just could not. During the winter I really do need more sleep, at least 9 hours, in order to be happy. Plus when I get really stressed out I sleep more as well. On top of everything else, I have an infection right now that I am dealing with that is not making me happy. I might have to go to the Dr. later on this week, we'll see if I can clear it up myself first.
Ok, let me get back to Dr. P's search.
I really hope to hear from our lawyer today. This is my long day too, the 2 jobs day, so I'll be getting out of here early. I tried to be here early at 8 but I just cannot do it. I even took a Benadryl last night and conked out at around 10; this a.m. I couldn't get up until 7:15. I just could not. During the winter I really do need more sleep, at least 9 hours, in order to be happy. Plus when I get really stressed out I sleep more as well. On top of everything else, I have an infection right now that I am dealing with that is not making me happy. I might have to go to the Dr. later on this week, we'll see if I can clear it up myself first.
Ok, let me get back to Dr. P's search.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Frustrating
No news yet from our lawyer. I called and left a message; also S called the amicus and left him a message too. I hate all the sitting around and waiting that is prevalent in court cases. Justice is served so fucking slow--if it is at all--in this country. The only thing that's keeping my lid on is the thought and hope of that bitch getting arrested in front of everyone at the Walmart where she works! HA HA!
Seriously, if indeed the whore is going to jail like she needs to, and we do have the baby for an extended period of time, we need to plan. Child care, clothes, work, etc. I already made an appointment with this lady tomorrow who is selling some 4t and 5t girls' clothes so I can add to the baby's wardrobe. I don't believe in wasting money on new clothes for kids, especially in this case. I refuse to spend over $3/item, and I don't have to, in this age of Craigslist and the like. And kids don't care anyway!
Patrol note: Patrol on Sat. was fine, mostly uneventful. Besides me being crime-repellant, it was damn cold and as we cops all know, rain and extreme cold keep the criminals (along with everyone else) in. I only rode from 7-midnight b/c S called me home early--he was lonely, awwww! Well, he comes first, and that's that. I was tired and cold anyway.
Seriously, if indeed the whore is going to jail like she needs to, and we do have the baby for an extended period of time, we need to plan. Child care, clothes, work, etc. I already made an appointment with this lady tomorrow who is selling some 4t and 5t girls' clothes so I can add to the baby's wardrobe. I don't believe in wasting money on new clothes for kids, especially in this case. I refuse to spend over $3/item, and I don't have to, in this age of Craigslist and the like. And kids don't care anyway!
Patrol note: Patrol on Sat. was fine, mostly uneventful. Besides me being crime-repellant, it was damn cold and as we cops all know, rain and extreme cold keep the criminals (along with everyone else) in. I only rode from 7-midnight b/c S called me home early--he was lonely, awwww! Well, he comes first, and that's that. I was tired and cold anyway.
If there is any justice in this world she'll go to jail
So M. and I showed up last night, both of us armed, to the dark daycare parking lot at 6:30 (Praise the lord for M. b/c S had to work late and I was NOT about to go up there by myself!). The whore's street sign is in view of said parking lot. She never showed up w/the baby for our makeup visitation. At 6:45 I called my lawyer and left a message, then M. and I went to 2 local stores to get receipts to prove we were there in the vicinity. Actually, before we left, we drove down the whore's street to look at her house. Her vehicle was in the driveway, that junky-ass Chevy pickup was there, and the same little blue car that I had seen there before was also there. M. got out and got the plate # for the little blue car so I can run it next time I'm on patrol. The lights in the house were on. They were there.
After we met S at the sports bar and I'd calmed down a little, we were able to order food and settle in to watch the ECW PPV. Later on my lawyer called me and said she'd file the motion today (Monday) to send the whore to jail--no hearing necessary, since she'd violated the judge's order and he already sentenced her to jail and probation. I asked would we then have the baby for the 90 days the whore should be in jail and our lawyer said, "You should."
That whore needs to go to jail for 90 days and she needs to lose her fabulous Walmart job. The judge needs to reverse custody immediately based on her actions, and judges have done so before. Our lawyer will keep us posted. Please pray to the God of your choice for us.
After we met S at the sports bar and I'd calmed down a little, we were able to order food and settle in to watch the ECW PPV. Later on my lawyer called me and said she'd file the motion today (Monday) to send the whore to jail--no hearing necessary, since she'd violated the judge's order and he already sentenced her to jail and probation. I asked would we then have the baby for the 90 days the whore should be in jail and our lawyer said, "You should."
That whore needs to go to jail for 90 days and she needs to lose her fabulous Walmart job. The judge needs to reverse custody immediately based on her actions, and judges have done so before. Our lawyer will keep us posted. Please pray to the God of your choice for us.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
1 chocolate chip cookie and more milky ways later...
Dang, it's been hella busy here. Plus having to deal with some total douchbags today. I see what S means about dealing w/assholes. God forbid some jerk isn't able to get on a computer! I love patrons that come up to me and ask for a book made out of ink and paper. They're my favorite kind (patrons, I mean--and books too!).
Good news, going to ride tonight w/that cool young regular I rode with 2 weeks ago. Lt. is in Massachusetts. I'll ride until midnight, barring something crazy happens and I can't get away.
More good news, tomorrow M. is coming w/us to pick up the baby. Unfortunately, (but not really) immediately afterwards S is going to make us all go to the sports bar to watch the ECW PPV. Me and M. are not as enthusiastic about those as we are the WWE PPV's, however, it should still be entertaining!
***Unbelievable note*** I can't believe it. The douchebag just came up to me and apologized. This after creating such a ruckus and being so incredibly rude people were staring. Wow. I don't even know what to say.
Good news, going to ride tonight w/that cool young regular I rode with 2 weeks ago. Lt. is in Massachusetts. I'll ride until midnight, barring something crazy happens and I can't get away.
More good news, tomorrow M. is coming w/us to pick up the baby. Unfortunately, (but not really) immediately afterwards S is going to make us all go to the sports bar to watch the ECW PPV. Me and M. are not as enthusiastic about those as we are the WWE PPV's, however, it should still be entertaining!
***Unbelievable note*** I can't believe it. The douchebag just came up to me and apologized. This after creating such a ruckus and being so incredibly rude people were staring. Wow. I don't even know what to say.
Sittin' here at Job #2
I still don't know why they want me here at the ungodly early hour of 8 when we don't even open to the public until 10. All I do is shelve the reference books if there are any, print out visitor cards for the day, browse the collection for new changes, and then since all that takes a grand total of about 20 minutes, surf the 'net until 10. I guess if they want to pay me to sit around then that's their business. I would rather not have to be here so damn early, though.
I had an interesting discussion w/a coworker yesterday. We were comparing our condos. She lives about a mile from work, near the corner of Kirby and Holcombe. However, she said her monthly HOA fee is twice what ours is (ours is $356: covers water, gas, basic cable, outside maintenance, exterior insurance, trash pickup [My uncle's, who lived at the highrises downtown on Main, was a freakin' $900/month!]) and that her square footage is a lot smaller than ours (ours is 1536 sq. ft.). I live 8 miles from work. I bet she paid a LOT more for her condo than we did too! Bonus: our most recent electric bill was $68 damn dollars. Yes, $68, for a 1536 sq. ft. joint. This is b/c our HOA buys elec. in bulk. In the summer the bill was around $110. I know people who have homes at around 2,000 sq. ft and their elec. bills are at least $500. I wouldn't put up with it, man!!!
The chicken came out good last night. I thought it tasted kind of like barbeque chicken. DH liked it, so that's all that matters to me in my never-ending quest to find recipes that, 1. I can cook and, 2. He can eat.
Ok, it's 11am now and already I've had to speak Spanish 4 times now. I hate struggling though and trying to think of words that I don't know. I don't know how to say "type" (the verb) or "lost and found". I'll go have lunch soon at Ma and P.'s house and ask them. My mom was great in giving me terms to use out on patrol in the Marine Division, like "buoy" (palo blanco, or "white stick"!).
There are lots of treats in the back leftover from a workshop they had here yesterday: Cheetos, cookies (2 kinds), mini-Milky Ways. Just what I need. I've already eaten a sugar cookie and a Milky Way. I don't know what I'm going to do about the X-mas party they're going to have on the 8th. We can bring our family, and while I love to show off my beautiful DH and baby, I have to go pick her up in the Fucking Woodlands which means even if we do decide to go to the party, we won't make it down here until probably 8pm or after--which'll probably be too late, dammit. I really wouldn't mind coming to this party, unlike the one they're throwing at Job #1 which I'd just as soon boycott if I didn't want to get my free meal. However, I do have an excuse for ducking early out of that one: it's on a Tuesday from 3-6 and, oh, so sorry, I have to leave early at 4 to come to job #2!!!
Hopefully I'll go on patrol tonight. I was too lazy to make the necessary phone calls last night to arrange, but the Lt. knows I signed up to ride tonight anyway, so we'll see what happens.
Case note: I saw my lawyer yesterday. She gave me a copy of the whore's deposition--funny stuff! Great stories! Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive. This depo. cost me $643, plus $150 for the videographer. However we are not going to depo the lying old bag after all, since it's just going to be lies anyway, and our lawyer is going to use the certificate of non-appearance (when the bag was supposed to come to her depo. but refused to) as a weapon to get all the bag's testimony completely struck. Ha! Some possibly bad news though: the doddering old opposing counsel fool has not yet filed his request for the jury trial. It makes me worry we won't get to court as early as we'd hoped to, like in January. Our lawyer is going to talk to him and say, "Are you sure you want a jury trial with that client of yours???" DH and I want this court case decided yesterday. Our lawyer says if they drag this on and postpone, she's going to ask the court for sanctions which means the whore will have to pay for even more of our atty's fees. I just want this nightmare and the bullshit to end already. We need to get on with our lives.
I had an interesting discussion w/a coworker yesterday. We were comparing our condos. She lives about a mile from work, near the corner of Kirby and Holcombe. However, she said her monthly HOA fee is twice what ours is (ours is $356: covers water, gas, basic cable, outside maintenance, exterior insurance, trash pickup [My uncle's, who lived at the highrises downtown on Main, was a freakin' $900/month!]) and that her square footage is a lot smaller than ours (ours is 1536 sq. ft.). I live 8 miles from work. I bet she paid a LOT more for her condo than we did too! Bonus: our most recent electric bill was $68 damn dollars. Yes, $68, for a 1536 sq. ft. joint. This is b/c our HOA buys elec. in bulk. In the summer the bill was around $110. I know people who have homes at around 2,000 sq. ft and their elec. bills are at least $500. I wouldn't put up with it, man!!!
The chicken came out good last night. I thought it tasted kind of like barbeque chicken. DH liked it, so that's all that matters to me in my never-ending quest to find recipes that, 1. I can cook and, 2. He can eat.
Ok, it's 11am now and already I've had to speak Spanish 4 times now. I hate struggling though and trying to think of words that I don't know. I don't know how to say "type" (the verb) or "lost and found". I'll go have lunch soon at Ma and P.'s house and ask them. My mom was great in giving me terms to use out on patrol in the Marine Division, like "buoy" (palo blanco, or "white stick"!).
There are lots of treats in the back leftover from a workshop they had here yesterday: Cheetos, cookies (2 kinds), mini-Milky Ways. Just what I need. I've already eaten a sugar cookie and a Milky Way. I don't know what I'm going to do about the X-mas party they're going to have on the 8th. We can bring our family, and while I love to show off my beautiful DH and baby, I have to go pick her up in the Fucking Woodlands which means even if we do decide to go to the party, we won't make it down here until probably 8pm or after--which'll probably be too late, dammit. I really wouldn't mind coming to this party, unlike the one they're throwing at Job #1 which I'd just as soon boycott if I didn't want to get my free meal. However, I do have an excuse for ducking early out of that one: it's on a Tuesday from 3-6 and, oh, so sorry, I have to leave early at 4 to come to job #2!!!
Hopefully I'll go on patrol tonight. I was too lazy to make the necessary phone calls last night to arrange, but the Lt. knows I signed up to ride tonight anyway, so we'll see what happens.
Case note: I saw my lawyer yesterday. She gave me a copy of the whore's deposition--funny stuff! Great stories! Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive. This depo. cost me $643, plus $150 for the videographer. However we are not going to depo the lying old bag after all, since it's just going to be lies anyway, and our lawyer is going to use the certificate of non-appearance (when the bag was supposed to come to her depo. but refused to) as a weapon to get all the bag's testimony completely struck. Ha! Some possibly bad news though: the doddering old opposing counsel fool has not yet filed his request for the jury trial. It makes me worry we won't get to court as early as we'd hoped to, like in January. Our lawyer is going to talk to him and say, "Are you sure you want a jury trial with that client of yours???" DH and I want this court case decided yesterday. Our lawyer says if they drag this on and postpone, she's going to ask the court for sanctions which means the whore will have to pay for even more of our atty's fees. I just want this nightmare and the bullshit to end already. We need to get on with our lives.
Friday, December 01, 2006
People, in general, are given way too much credit
I was pissed b/c yesterday, M., who is my most annoying co-worker and who I dislike tremendously for several reasons, came to me and asked if I could do this search that was faxed in b/c she had to go to a luncheon. Now, my boss and I are the 2 who do the majority of the searches that come into this office. Seriously. Last year, according to our annual stat.'s, de boss woman did something like 70 seaches; I did something like 58; and the jerk M. did about 5 and the other librarian, B., did like 7. So the numbers speak for themselves, ok? Anyway, I was just finishing up another search for my dear Dr. P (i should say about to give up on it b/c it was a totally unreasonable request--he wanted legal material that we simply do not have here) and told her so. But I said could do it on Friday (today) if necessary. M. said she'd start it and then she and I could touch base later to see our progress.
Well, I deliberately waited until today to even look at it. There were actually 4 separate topics, therefore 4 separate searches (all re: child porn, bleccch). One search was to find the current laws on child porn. I found the TX statutes, b/c I use them all the time and as a cop have to know them anyway, and checked w/M. to see where she was on the search. She said she had started on that question but was going to have to refer them to the law library b/c we do not have access to legal resources. I said that I had found the TX laws but not the US laws but could find that too, and send it on. Which I did, at doj.gov. So obviously, I have even less respect for M. than I did before b/c she just seems lazy and incompetent to me in some ways. I do think she's a good enough librarian--I GUESS--but seems to do things pretty slowly. This is why I don't feel at all bad about getting in late at 9:30 and leaving early at 5:30. I do my work well and so much faster then everyone else around here!!!
Well, I deliberately waited until today to even look at it. There were actually 4 separate topics, therefore 4 separate searches (all re: child porn, bleccch). One search was to find the current laws on child porn. I found the TX statutes, b/c I use them all the time and as a cop have to know them anyway, and checked w/M. to see where she was on the search. She said she had started on that question but was going to have to refer them to the law library b/c we do not have access to legal resources. I said that I had found the TX laws but not the US laws but could find that too, and send it on. Which I did, at doj.gov. So obviously, I have even less respect for M. than I did before b/c she just seems lazy and incompetent to me in some ways. I do think she's a good enough librarian--I GUESS--but seems to do things pretty slowly. This is why I don't feel at all bad about getting in late at 9:30 and leaving early at 5:30. I do my work well and so much faster then everyone else around here!!!
You never saw someone so excited by a little chicken
So today we are giving the Crockpot another whirl. This time I put chicken breasts in there with: dry onion dip mix, a can of cranberry sauce, and a bottle of French dressing. This woman on the Internet swears by it! So we'll see what happens when I get home tonight...
I am excited for another reason too. My little bro has been accepted to Pharmacy Tech school!!! I hope that with this he can finally find a decent paying career that he enjoys! He will definitely have work, that's for sure.
Uh-oh, one of my friends is in big-time trouble w/S. I can't say I blame S for being pissed. What happened is that this friend agreed to come with us on Sunday eve. to pick up the baby. Unfortunately we have to pick her up at the stupid daycare that will be closed and in the dark parking lot. I wanted to bring a 3rd party as a witness in case Dickhead wants to talk shit or start anything. I don't think he will b/c he's a Big Fucking Pussy and also knows that I'm a cop, but still want someone else there just in case. Well this friend agreed to come, but then yesterday called me and said he didn't want to do it anymore b/c he thought it sounded too dangerous. I am upset too but I feel a little compassion for him b/c when he called me he sounded very sorry and very nervous about telling me. Still, I do think he's being a pussy and so does S. In fact, S said that the next time I talk to this friend, tell him that S says he's a big pussy and to never ask us for any favors! I don't think I'll be doing that, but I won't be talking to this friend for a long while--he must do penance, unfortunately. What I really think happened is that he told his girlfriend about it and she decided he wouldn't be doing it. Because this friend has always done everything I've ever asked him to do. And now he's being henpecked by a sugar momma. Oh well. We have a couple of Plan B people who might be able to help us out, so we'll see. I love taking M. with us b/c he's also armed like I am, but don't know yet if he's available.
In other news, L. wants to go to NY next year to hang out with the other Banddandy's on a social meeting they're planning. I don't know if I'll have the money, actually, I know for sure I won't have the money but she says we need to go anyway. I do agree with that. We do have to go. So now it's just a matter of figuring out how.
I am excited for another reason too. My little bro has been accepted to Pharmacy Tech school!!! I hope that with this he can finally find a decent paying career that he enjoys! He will definitely have work, that's for sure.
Uh-oh, one of my friends is in big-time trouble w/S. I can't say I blame S for being pissed. What happened is that this friend agreed to come with us on Sunday eve. to pick up the baby. Unfortunately we have to pick her up at the stupid daycare that will be closed and in the dark parking lot. I wanted to bring a 3rd party as a witness in case Dickhead wants to talk shit or start anything. I don't think he will b/c he's a Big Fucking Pussy and also knows that I'm a cop, but still want someone else there just in case. Well this friend agreed to come, but then yesterday called me and said he didn't want to do it anymore b/c he thought it sounded too dangerous. I am upset too but I feel a little compassion for him b/c when he called me he sounded very sorry and very nervous about telling me. Still, I do think he's being a pussy and so does S. In fact, S said that the next time I talk to this friend, tell him that S says he's a big pussy and to never ask us for any favors! I don't think I'll be doing that, but I won't be talking to this friend for a long while--he must do penance, unfortunately. What I really think happened is that he told his girlfriend about it and she decided he wouldn't be doing it. Because this friend has always done everything I've ever asked him to do. And now he's being henpecked by a sugar momma. Oh well. We have a couple of Plan B people who might be able to help us out, so we'll see. I love taking M. with us b/c he's also armed like I am, but don't know yet if he's available.
In other news, L. wants to go to NY next year to hang out with the other Banddandy's on a social meeting they're planning. I don't know if I'll have the money, actually, I know for sure I won't have the money but she says we need to go anyway. I do agree with that. We do have to go. So now it's just a matter of figuring out how.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
This cold weather? Not cool
I mean for crying out loud, we had the air on last night. It's supposed to be about 30 degrees plus rainy by 4pm today and it was in the 70's last night. I finally got out my new umbrella the Blood Center sent me as a gift for being a good citizen and donating a lot of blood. It has been riding around in the back of my car in the box they mailed it in and finally this a.m. I opened it (with my new knife!). Man, it's a big ol' umbrella! And very nice! Vented, rubber handle, carrying case w/strap--not too shabby. One good thing about the weather I'll say is that I have not been on the Kleenex like I typically am every 15 min. There's something going on outside that is agreeing w/my allergies.
Poor DH went home from work yesterday early b/c his back was hurting from working on his car the day before. So last night I eschewed all my after-work errands and picked up Boston Market for us, using a $2 off coupon since these days I'm the coupon queen. But I really, really needed some ice cream after we ate, and I have found The Best Ice Cream in the Whole World: White Chocolate Raspberry Ribbon or something like that. Oh lord, but it's good... and it's HEB brand!!! Normally I allow myself to only eat desserts on the weekend (disregard the carrot cake I had the other day, that was a much-needed exception!) and that is one way I keep to my fighting weight, but I absolutely had to have some last night. And instead of the usual 3-4 scoops, I had about 6. The upcoming holidays just might do me in as far as my clothes fitting well! For some reason last night I wasn't feeling completely well. I did not feel hot, but was sweating while about to leave work, and felt a little weak. Then in the car I knifed myself accidentally with my new knife. Fortunately we keep lots of bandaids in the car since baby likes to play with them. It was just my thumb knuckle but it would not stop bleeding no matter how much pressure I applied! It was my own stupid fault, and I had told myself that I probably shouldn't be driving while holding my open pocketknife, but did I listen?NO! It's just that I was trying to cut the Boston Market coupons so they'd be ready by the time I got there since I wasn't feeling too good. Strangely, I felt much better after the ice cream...
DH and I tried last night to watch Clerks II, and while I was enjoying it, I fell asleep maybe 1/2-way through. I can't believe I caught a Star Wars joke before DH did. The Jason Lee character tells Dante and Randal that all they do is argue about who shot first, Han or Guido? I cracked up but DH looked confused, and I had to explain that it was from the great bar scene in Star Wars!!! He said he never knew that was Guido's name and I said I did b/c it's a funny name.
I've got a lot of errands to run tonight after work: hopefully pick up the DVD from my brother of footage of us having fun w/baby (I have to deliver it to my lawyer tomorrow, along with some other stuff and $5,000 that I don't have), then go grocery shopping. In the freezing cold! Ugh.
Poor DH went home from work yesterday early b/c his back was hurting from working on his car the day before. So last night I eschewed all my after-work errands and picked up Boston Market for us, using a $2 off coupon since these days I'm the coupon queen. But I really, really needed some ice cream after we ate, and I have found The Best Ice Cream in the Whole World: White Chocolate Raspberry Ribbon or something like that. Oh lord, but it's good... and it's HEB brand!!! Normally I allow myself to only eat desserts on the weekend (disregard the carrot cake I had the other day, that was a much-needed exception!) and that is one way I keep to my fighting weight, but I absolutely had to have some last night. And instead of the usual 3-4 scoops, I had about 6. The upcoming holidays just might do me in as far as my clothes fitting well! For some reason last night I wasn't feeling completely well. I did not feel hot, but was sweating while about to leave work, and felt a little weak. Then in the car I knifed myself accidentally with my new knife. Fortunately we keep lots of bandaids in the car since baby likes to play with them. It was just my thumb knuckle but it would not stop bleeding no matter how much pressure I applied! It was my own stupid fault, and I had told myself that I probably shouldn't be driving while holding my open pocketknife, but did I listen?NO! It's just that I was trying to cut the Boston Market coupons so they'd be ready by the time I got there since I wasn't feeling too good. Strangely, I felt much better after the ice cream...
DH and I tried last night to watch Clerks II, and while I was enjoying it, I fell asleep maybe 1/2-way through. I can't believe I caught a Star Wars joke before DH did. The Jason Lee character tells Dante and Randal that all they do is argue about who shot first, Han or Guido? I cracked up but DH looked confused, and I had to explain that it was from the great bar scene in Star Wars!!! He said he never knew that was Guido's name and I said I did b/c it's a funny name.
I've got a lot of errands to run tonight after work: hopefully pick up the DVD from my brother of footage of us having fun w/baby (I have to deliver it to my lawyer tomorrow, along with some other stuff and $5,000 that I don't have), then go grocery shopping. In the freezing cold! Ugh.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Hard Ass
I remember M. saying that after he became a reserve deputy sheriff in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, his friends told him he became an asshole. I swore that would never happen to me (although my politics have definitely shifted away from the left in a lot of ways and I now vote for the wo/man, not the party anymore), so to all my friends and loved ones, please let me know if that happens to me! But I don't think I have too much to worry about, since I always had a zero-tolerance policy on certain things, such as certain kinds of people and certain kinds of behavior, way before I became a cop, thanks to having the father that I have. Still... last night made me wonder about this.
Now that I'm working p/t at the public library and now that I have cop-training, I've become a lot more bold about dealing w/misbehavior. When I worked f/t at the public library in 1996-2002, I let some problem patrons slide b/c I just didn't want to deal with them. Well, no more! This woman came up to me at the desk and started talking to me in Spanish. I usually can communicate about 85% of the time w/Spanish-speaking folks, but I just did not understand what she was trying to ask me--something about the computers. So she looked kind of annoyed (which already irked me, as if *I* was the one who should be speaking Spanish, and not the reality that *SHE* should be the one speaking English!!!!!!!) and called her teenage daughter over to translate. Turns out the daughter had to type a paper, so I directed them to the computer lab up front, where the computers have Word. They left.
A little while later, this man came up to us at the ref desk and said to my colleague that there seemed to be "some kind of conflict" in the back, that some kids were cussing out a woman, or something like that. I was actually already standing up heading somewhere else, so instead I took a detour and went to the teen section in the back to investigate. I had to ask the man specifically who was causing the trouble and where they were sitting; he pointed towards the teen computers, saying it was the girl in the white headband, who was surrounded by several teen boys. I went over to her and said sternly, "Have y'all been cussing?" She said no, it was the lady at the other computer--the one who couldn't speak English to me earlier--who had cussed them out. She was sitting at the computer across from them with her daughter (the teen computers have Word on them too) and from what I deduced, I believe they were all being disrespectful towards each other and probably both had cussed each other out. I told the lady in Spanish to not talk at or look at the other girl, and I told white-headband girl to do the same or I would throw them all out. Then I walked away--but as I was getting back to the desk, a different man walked by and said, "They're still back there doing it." I said, "After I left???" and he said yes. So now I'd had enough (this is that cop stuff kicking in, how pissed I get when people don't do what I tell them to do! Does this make me an asshole--or am I right?!?!?!?). The old me would've just sighed and hoped that they stopped soon, but the new me stomped right back there. Since this was the teen area, and since this woman should have been the adult and known better, I told her and her daughter they had to leave and go up front to the computer lab, also since that's where I told them to go in the 1st place! Fortunately (for them!!!) they didn't argue with me, simply gathered their things and left, me following them. The end.
So anyway, I hope I handled it the best way. I hope being a cop hasn't turned me into too much of an intolerant hard-ass, but my gut tells me I'm right and that there are, indeed, too many assholes walking around this earth that need to be taken down. I was talking to L. last night and told her that when she starts dating again, just to bring the prospects to me and I'll decide if they're good or if they're shit. I've always been able to decide within 2 min. or less if I like someone, and I swear I've only been wrong 1-2 times in my entire life.
Speaking of L, this hard-ass can't wait to go to the gun show w/her and buy her a gun! Then teach her how to shoot it! I'm so glad she's ready to do all this!
Now that I'm working p/t at the public library and now that I have cop-training, I've become a lot more bold about dealing w/misbehavior. When I worked f/t at the public library in 1996-2002, I let some problem patrons slide b/c I just didn't want to deal with them. Well, no more! This woman came up to me at the desk and started talking to me in Spanish. I usually can communicate about 85% of the time w/Spanish-speaking folks, but I just did not understand what she was trying to ask me--something about the computers. So she looked kind of annoyed (which already irked me, as if *I* was the one who should be speaking Spanish, and not the reality that *SHE* should be the one speaking English!!!!!!!) and called her teenage daughter over to translate. Turns out the daughter had to type a paper, so I directed them to the computer lab up front, where the computers have Word. They left.
A little while later, this man came up to us at the ref desk and said to my colleague that there seemed to be "some kind of conflict" in the back, that some kids were cussing out a woman, or something like that. I was actually already standing up heading somewhere else, so instead I took a detour and went to the teen section in the back to investigate. I had to ask the man specifically who was causing the trouble and where they were sitting; he pointed towards the teen computers, saying it was the girl in the white headband, who was surrounded by several teen boys. I went over to her and said sternly, "Have y'all been cussing?" She said no, it was the lady at the other computer--the one who couldn't speak English to me earlier--who had cussed them out. She was sitting at the computer across from them with her daughter (the teen computers have Word on them too) and from what I deduced, I believe they were all being disrespectful towards each other and probably both had cussed each other out. I told the lady in Spanish to not talk at or look at the other girl, and I told white-headband girl to do the same or I would throw them all out. Then I walked away--but as I was getting back to the desk, a different man walked by and said, "They're still back there doing it." I said, "After I left???" and he said yes. So now I'd had enough (this is that cop stuff kicking in, how pissed I get when people don't do what I tell them to do! Does this make me an asshole--or am I right?!?!?!?). The old me would've just sighed and hoped that they stopped soon, but the new me stomped right back there. Since this was the teen area, and since this woman should have been the adult and known better, I told her and her daughter they had to leave and go up front to the computer lab, also since that's where I told them to go in the 1st place! Fortunately (for them!!!) they didn't argue with me, simply gathered their things and left, me following them. The end.
So anyway, I hope I handled it the best way. I hope being a cop hasn't turned me into too much of an intolerant hard-ass, but my gut tells me I'm right and that there are, indeed, too many assholes walking around this earth that need to be taken down. I was talking to L. last night and told her that when she starts dating again, just to bring the prospects to me and I'll decide if they're good or if they're shit. I've always been able to decide within 2 min. or less if I like someone, and I swear I've only been wrong 1-2 times in my entire life.
Speaking of L, this hard-ass can't wait to go to the gun show w/her and buy her a gun! Then teach her how to shoot it! I'm so glad she's ready to do all this!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
My influence
I like to think I have left my stamp on the hearts of many. I found this today in an entry from J's blog, dated August 2005:
As Adela would say, in her fake Kentucky-Fried southern accent, "Times is hard".
How cool! Anyway, I have to confess: I stole that line, as well as the accent, from the excellent movie Crossroads. Go see it!
As Adela would say, in her fake Kentucky-Fried southern accent, "Times is hard".
How cool! Anyway, I have to confess: I stole that line, as well as the accent, from the excellent movie Crossroads. Go see it!
Free stuff; it's quiet; I just missed the shooting
Cool, it's like Christmas! I went to the hospital cafeteria and got the following for free: salad, carrot cake, and roll! The lady's cash register wasn't working so she just said, "Go, go, it's free." You never saw someone (i.e., me) shuffle away so fast in pumps! And I spoke to DH who got the new Superman rented free w/our Blockbuster coupon, so I'm looking forward to watching that later.
Now it's nice and quiet around here as I saw 3/5 of my dept. leave for lunch together. I'm gonna enjoy a long lunch and get back to work when they get back.
Yikes, I just missed a shooting this a.m. as I was leaving my neighborhood. Some gang kid got shot outside the high school near our house and on chron.com there's a picture of our street sign in the background of the main photo. I guess it's a good thing I seem to be crime repellent.
Now it's nice and quiet around here as I saw 3/5 of my dept. leave for lunch together. I'm gonna enjoy a long lunch and get back to work when they get back.
Yikes, I just missed a shooting this a.m. as I was leaving my neighborhood. Some gang kid got shot outside the high school near our house and on chron.com there's a picture of our street sign in the background of the main photo. I guess it's a good thing I seem to be crime repellent.
I love the smell of new knives in the morning
Yay! Last night at the sheriff's meeting I was presented with a new pocketknife! I was so tickled, especially since I had hinted to my Dear Husband that I needed a new knife for X-mas since I keep losing my other one. My old Lt. (Marine Div.) gave it to me in front of my new Lt. (Patrol) and he also gave me a nice certificate of appreciation in a nice folder. New Lt. looked at the knife and said that it was a nicer knife than he was given when he was on Marine! Hee hee. I kept playing with the knife all night, including at dinner afterwards at the Hard Rock where I usually go with M. and D.C. I was practicing my "quick flick." Of course, then I got knive envy when D.C. pulled his knife out--a Kershaw w/spring-loaded blade! Coincidentally, the other D.C. had advised me earlier that evening to invest in a Kershaw. I just might have to someday!
Then, true to my nature, this a.m. I was looking for the new knife and I don't know where it is. Typical! (However, pretty sure it's at home on the ottoman.)
Then, true to my nature, this a.m. I was looking for the new knife and I don't know where it is. Typical! (However, pretty sure it's at home on the ottoman.)
Monday, November 27, 2006
Long day today
Tonight is our last monthly meeting of the year for the sheriff's dept. since we don't meet in December. So I'll work until about 6ish, then head downtown early to find free street parking. After the meeting I usually go eat with M. and D.C. Tonight I get to sit in my new section, now that I've officially transferred from the Marine division. I told M. yesterday that I hope I don't have to stand up when they make the announcement in front of everybody! I still feel bad for leaving Marine. Oops! I forgot to bring my old uniforms to turn in! Maybe it won't be brought up... Tonight's topic is "Locating Human Remains"! Should be interesting! Crap, I also forgot to bring M.'s engraver and my handcuffs. S totally distracted me this a.m. I fell asleep downstairs on the couch last night; he joined me later but made me hot, so I moved to his recliner and curled up in a little ball. He says that I am totally hilarious when I sleep, making all kinds of whimpering noises and twitching. Then when I get too hot I throw blankets around and lord help anyone in my way. And I do get amazingly hot when I sleep, in terms of body temperature! Sometimes S will join me and when he slides in and connects, has to jerk away from the intense heat. He says I almost literally burn him. I usually give my standard reply when he complains about something regarding me: "You married it!"
I'm just glad S has a day off, both today and tomorrow. He worked so hard since Friday, which is why he and baby ended up not coming with me and R. to see El Vez on Saturday night. I debated still taking her with me anyway, but decided in the end it would be too crazy trying to keep an eye on a 4-year old by myself. She pouted and fussed at not being able to come with me, and was even acting snotty towards DH b/c she wanted to be with me, but of course she finally came around a little while after I left. She has really become attached to me, and even fussed about going to AutoRama w/S b/c she wanted me to come with them, which makes me feel so good, but bad for S. When baby and I were at the zoo on Sat. I told her that the next time she came to the zoo Daddy would be bringing her. She wanted to know if I would be coming too (which I won't b/c I'll be at work) and said she wanted me to come with them. It's so sweet, (and sooooo good for our court case), and I know in my heart it's b/c I pay so much attention to her and she just doesn't get that from anybody else in the world. I don't believe in just plopping her down in front of the tv (like I'm sure the whore does), and I get down on the floor w/her and play w/her, and make her tell me stories, and put her in my lap and read to her, and talk to her and listen to her, etc. etc. I'm trying to cultivate a growing brain and a tender young mind here, and these years are so valuable for that! And even despite, or hell, maybe even because of, my being a little strict with her in terms of discipline, I think that even helps our relationship. I think kids really do want guidelines and boundaries--b/c it shows that we care. And I'm not even that strict in a lot of ways, I mean I definitely am when it comes to things like manners, and her being too bossy, picking up her dirty clothes, not eating candy, and things like that. But I'm very, very lenient when it comes to something where she's being creative, or is learning a sensory experience or something educational like that. For example, when R. came over to baby-sit, and I let her and baby make the little foam shapes that you put in water and they turn into objects, cars, boats, etc. They were on the floor using a big bowl of water, and I told R. it was ok if she spilled water, since I considered this activity to be a learning, creative experience. And then at the zoo on Sat., I let her run amok at the water park. So many parents were telling their kids they couldn't play in the water park b/c they would get wet. I didn't get that--what's wrong with getting a little wet? So they walk around for an hour in damp clothes, what's the big deal? (However, I will bring a change of clothes next time, just so she doesn't have to stay wet all day!) I think if you're playing hard outside, you need to get dirty and/or wet. That's how you know you're doing it right! That goes for us grownups too, ha ha!
Anyway, soon S will have his quality time with her. We have her next from Sunday-Tuesday, and it's all him on Monday and Tuesday since those are his days off. So hopefully she'll get just as attached to him as she is to me. And she used to be that attached to him--it's just that he works so much now when we have her. I already got her on tape this past weekend saying she wants to stay with us every single day. I can't wait for the court to hear that.
I'm just glad S has a day off, both today and tomorrow. He worked so hard since Friday, which is why he and baby ended up not coming with me and R. to see El Vez on Saturday night. I debated still taking her with me anyway, but decided in the end it would be too crazy trying to keep an eye on a 4-year old by myself. She pouted and fussed at not being able to come with me, and was even acting snotty towards DH b/c she wanted to be with me, but of course she finally came around a little while after I left. She has really become attached to me, and even fussed about going to AutoRama w/S b/c she wanted me to come with them, which makes me feel so good, but bad for S. When baby and I were at the zoo on Sat. I told her that the next time she came to the zoo Daddy would be bringing her. She wanted to know if I would be coming too (which I won't b/c I'll be at work) and said she wanted me to come with them. It's so sweet, (and sooooo good for our court case), and I know in my heart it's b/c I pay so much attention to her and she just doesn't get that from anybody else in the world. I don't believe in just plopping her down in front of the tv (like I'm sure the whore does), and I get down on the floor w/her and play w/her, and make her tell me stories, and put her in my lap and read to her, and talk to her and listen to her, etc. etc. I'm trying to cultivate a growing brain and a tender young mind here, and these years are so valuable for that! And even despite, or hell, maybe even because of, my being a little strict with her in terms of discipline, I think that even helps our relationship. I think kids really do want guidelines and boundaries--b/c it shows that we care. And I'm not even that strict in a lot of ways, I mean I definitely am when it comes to things like manners, and her being too bossy, picking up her dirty clothes, not eating candy, and things like that. But I'm very, very lenient when it comes to something where she's being creative, or is learning a sensory experience or something educational like that. For example, when R. came over to baby-sit, and I let her and baby make the little foam shapes that you put in water and they turn into objects, cars, boats, etc. They were on the floor using a big bowl of water, and I told R. it was ok if she spilled water, since I considered this activity to be a learning, creative experience. And then at the zoo on Sat., I let her run amok at the water park. So many parents were telling their kids they couldn't play in the water park b/c they would get wet. I didn't get that--what's wrong with getting a little wet? So they walk around for an hour in damp clothes, what's the big deal? (However, I will bring a change of clothes next time, just so she doesn't have to stay wet all day!) I think if you're playing hard outside, you need to get dirty and/or wet. That's how you know you're doing it right! That goes for us grownups too, ha ha!
Anyway, soon S will have his quality time with her. We have her next from Sunday-Tuesday, and it's all him on Monday and Tuesday since those are his days off. So hopefully she'll get just as attached to him as she is to me. And she used to be that attached to him--it's just that he works so much now when we have her. I already got her on tape this past weekend saying she wants to stay with us every single day. I can't wait for the court to hear that.
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