Back to Square One

OK....I suck! I'm back up to the 162 where I started. I have to get serious about this. I got my WW at home kit yesterday and I'm going to start counting points. I'm sick of being fat and miserable. Besides that, my man went to Colorado to go hunting and got altitude sickness and came back 8 pounds lighter. I can't have him losing weight and me not losing. That, of course, is not the ideal weight loss plan, but the fact remains that the weight was lost. I'm not going to start til Monday, simply because there's no food in my house. I won't have time to go to the grocery store til the weekend. I intend to plan carefully and have everything ready to go by then. I'll get more than I think that I'll need. I'll package everything together in ziplock bags with the points clearly marked on the bag so I won't have to think about it. I'll make a big batch of soup to get me through in case I have an extra-hungry day. I'll pick up an economy bottle of beano so that all the vegetables that I love to eat won't kill the people around me. I'm still shooting for 150 by Halloween, it's just gonna be rough.

Here we go!!

Still Going...

I got on the scale this morning and was very pleasantly surprised. I've been so busy getting ready for an insurance audit at work that I haven't had time to walk or anything else for the last 2 days. I was very surprised to see that I'm down to 158...Go Me!!

As soon as the audit is over this morning, I'm going to have to play catch-up with the rest of everything. I have to take Boy to get fitted for pads and a helmet tomorrow. He's had a friend over the last 2 nights. He's excited about school starting and going to a new school. I hope he'll stay excited and get his work done in a timely manner this year. We have to go this weekend and get him a couple of pairs of pants to start school with. I'm afraid to get him too many. He's still growing and I'm afraid he'll drop a waist size when he starts working out for football.

Girl went yesterday and found where her classes are at college. I still can't believe that my baby is a college student. She's ready!!

I'm gonna go have an audit now!!

Below 160!!

OK, just barely, but hey...i grab for anything I can get. I got on the scale Monday morning and it said 159.5. That takes me out of the 160's. I'm pretty excited about that. It's quite motivating. I didn't get to walk at all yesterday....spent 11 hours reconciling one rock bill. I'm still off by .99 ton. Finally I just said "screw it" and told my boss I wasn't going to swim in the rock ticket river anymore. It was a long weekend...I'll have to post later. I have a ton of stuff to do.

Down A Pound!!

The temperature just came down a little yesterday. On Wednesday, I walked on the treadmill for an hour. It was just too dang hot to mow. Yesterday I mowed another quarter of the yard before it started raining and then went inside and got on the treadmill. I only walked for 15 minutes. I had so many other things to do. I figure that 15 minutes is more than 0 minutes, so I'll take it. I've been eating lots of veggies and guzzling water like nobody's business. When I got on the scale this morning, I was down to 161.0. It's only 1 pound, but that will motivate me to lose another pound. Hopefully it will snowball into someone who can fit into her shorts. I need to start really tracking what I eat. I think I'll use this forum to record my calories. I know that only a few people know about this blog, but it'll still make me feel accountable. I'll start that on Monday.

I got Boy registered for school. He's so excited. It's a VERY small school. The whole town is really big on football...even in junior high. When they saw him, they got very excited. When I took him for his physical, he measured 6' 2" and weighed 211. He's 13 and in junior high. If the coaches really work with him, he'll be able to go to college on a scholarship.

Girl went to her college orientation last night. I think she's excited. Tropical Storm Erin came on shore at Corpus yesterday. If she'd decided to go there, we'd be moving her this weekend. I'm glad she decided to go here.

I Have A Plan!!

OK...I have exactly 11 weeks to lose 12 pounds. that's completely do-able, right? I don't necessarily want to stop there, but that would put me at a nice round number. Oh hell, I'll just put it out there...I want to weigh 150 pounds by Halloween. No significant reason, I just thought that Halloween would be a good goal. You know, something to work towards. Then I'll set another mini-goal to reach by Thanksgiving. I'm REALLY watching what I eat and I need to expend (is that the right word?) more calories, also. I mowed about a quarter of the yard night before last. I'll do another quarter tonight and 20 minutes on the treadmill today. The temperature is supposed to be significantly cooler for the next few days, so I can finish up the yard. I have a huge yard and a teeny, tiny little walmart lawn mower. That shit will burn some calories. If any of my 2 readers would like to be diet/workout buddies, let me know. It's always easier when you have somebody riding your ass. I have a plan. I just need to keep motivated to stick to it.

I'm going to go register boy for school today. I hope a new and smaller school will give him the motivation he needs to keep up with his school work....but I'm not counting on it. Work has been crazy and it's been great living next door. I've all but given up on selling my house. I've resigned myself to being one of the statistics that they're talking about on the news with the huge percentage of home foreclosures. It'll jack up the rest of my life, but I can't see a way out.

I'm gonna go do something to burn some calories now!!

I Just Want Some Internet!!!

I've moved to what has proven to be a "rural" area. My DSL Internet, nor my cable TV would transfer to my new address. I thought about satellite Internet, but we have that at work. It's expensive and slow. I've been talking to Earthlink, who swears that they service my area and that I currently have DSL service, but my modem shows no DSL connection. I thought I could live with local TV. You know, like when we were kids and there was no cable. I thought wrong. I'm going nuts. It's horrible. So, in a couple of weeks, I'm going to splurge and have satellite installed. It's way more expensive than cable, but better than nothing. I'm trying to keep my spending down until all of the utilities between the new houses get straightened out. Then I should be in pretty good financial shape....except for the whole "they're going to foreclose on my house" thing.

To Answer Yesterday's Question....

I just don't think so. I bitch and moan...that's just what I do.

It's freakin raining AGAIN!! It's August, people. When the hell is it gonna stop raining. My entire back yard is standing in water. Yesterday, we had to empty out the flooded dog house. This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I work for a contractor...these guys can't work when it's pouring down rain. That stresses the boss, which is never good.

I got a promising call on the house that I have for sale last night. The lady sounded genuinely interested. Of course, she hasn't seen the POS yet, so that's likely to change. I REALLY need to sell that house. I don't know how long it will be before the mortgage company starts foreclosure, but I know that they eventually will. I'm working hard to get my finances in order. If the house sells, I can do that pretty quickly. If it doesn't sell, I can get everything but that in order.

I'm still fat. That's very irritating to me. I try to do good, but I just don't spend enough time up and off my ass to lose any measurable weight. I'm working on that, too. I've got a lot of shit that I'm working on right now. One of these days, maybe all of this will come together...or not.

Can I Be A Positive Person?

Does it seem like I'm always complaining? It does to me. I'm not trying to be a whiner....I'm just venting about what's going on in my life. I'm REALLY trying to be a more positive person...I just kinda suck at that!! Let's try some random, positive thoughts:
-I have the best kids in the world. Other teens are out getting into trouble and mine are genuinely good kids.
-I have a pretty good job. It's pretty dramatic and stupid sometimes, but it's really flexible and right next door to my house.
-I'm single. I have a "boyfriend" (is that what it's called at my age?...that sounds so "teen") who is really great and helps me a lot with household and truck related stuff.
-I've lost 5 pounds.
-I'm broke, but not destitute.
Yeah...that's about it. I do suck at this "positive" thing. I'll try to work on that.

I Hate Moving

I started moving 2 weeks ago and I'm still not done. It's never ending. I don't know where all of this stuff came from. I do know, however, that I've thrown away more than I've moved and my mom is headed to the old house now to gather up a bunch of stuff to donate to her favorite charity. The old house still looks like a bad episode of Sanford and Son. I've got a couple of guys that are supposed to go over and haul off all of the remaining junk this weekend. I've had 2 people back out of buying the house. It's not going to sell in the shape that it's in. I simply cannot make another payment, so I hope it sells soon. I don't think that this is the right time to be selling a house. I'd hate for it to go into foreclosure, but I can't make anymore payments...it's just too much. I've had fits getting the utilities turned on at the new house. The water company charged me a $200 deposit. I have an account in good standing with them, but they said that it's SOP with new accounts. You would think that they could just move the old account to the new house, but no...they won't. The phone company told me that my phone was on last Thursday, but they just got it working yesterday. They also told me that they could move my DSL to the new house, but they can't. The cable company was supposed to be out on Monday to hook up the cable. They called on Tuesday to let me know that they don't service my area. That was nice. Anyway, there's a small update. More later....maybe!

Geez...I Suck At This

So, I think we've pretty much established that I'm unable to keep up a blog on a daily basis. Things have just been terribly busy. I'm still fat...I'm a little more conscious about what I eat and try to be a little more active, but I'm still fat. I'm also still married. That should be taken care of next Wednesday...I hope. I am, however, fixing to move. I hate moving, but I think that this will be better for me and the kids. It'll be a ton cheaper per month and it's right next door to my office so it should save on gas, too. We're supposed to get the biggest bunch of it moved this weekend. Then I'll have to concentrate on cleaning my house to try to sell it. I just hope that there's somebody out there that is as desperate as I was when I bought it. It needs some work. I'll try to post more details after I get moved so my 2 readers can catch up.

I'm Sick of Being Fat!!

Really. I need to get off my fat ass and do something about it. I walked on the treadmill last night and like to have killed myself in 20 minutes. How freakin ridiculous is that!! 20 minutes!! I have a closet full of really cute clothes that flat won't go around me. I'm disgusted with myself.

Look at Me Post Again...

so soon. We have a new court date for the divorce. Husband has gone and gotten himself a lawyer. He keeps telling me that the lawyer "isn't really representing him" but is representing both of us. This is my 4th divorce. Does he thing I'm a fucking idiot. So, my appointment is at 9am on Monday with my lawyer. We were going to do this ourselves, not fight over anything and not have any child support involved. Since then he's really pissing Boy off...bad. I think that since he took it upon himself to go get a lawyer...and now I have to pay a lawyer (his brother has paid for his, but he's so fucking stupid that he thinks the lawyer is handling his case for free), I think maybe I'm gonna need some child support. Not the minimum wage child support that we could've put in the decree and then swapped checks, but the real deal. Lord knows that he doesn't make jack shit so it would only be like $100 per week, but in my world that's a lot of money. I dunno. I sure do hate to fight with him. It makes it hard on Boy.

In other news...I NEED IT TO STOP RAINING!!! I finally went and bought a lawn mower. I just got the yard ready to bale and it won't stop raining long enough for me to either rake it up or go back over it with the mower to even up the grass and mulch up the clippings.

I guess I'd better try to get some work done....more later!!

Um...Time to Play Catch Up

Wow...it's been a while, huh. I need to update for my 2 faithful readers. Let's see, the last time I posted was the day after my birthday. Since then, in a nutshell, Boy has made it through 7th grade, Girl graduated from high school and decided to stay here to go to college instead of moving 400 miles away, and I'm still not divorced. Let's give a bit more detail.

Boy: After struggling through the entire 7th grade with teachers who would just "forget" to put the grades in the grade book, he passed. I'm not putting the blame entirely on the teachers, Boy is lazy about homework. But they didn't help things any. He's also been having a hard time with his dad. His dad is an ass. He doesn't mean to be, but he's an ass. He's promised to get the kid a horse for a year now and has actually bought horses for the kid. But when someone offers a little bit of money for said horse, he sells it. He's broken Boy's hear many times by selling off his friends. Boy is an animal person. He doesn't have pets...he has friends. He should be a vet. Then dad gave the only horse on the place to his girlfriend's daughter. Boy was so upset. I thought he was going to cry. It was horrible. Dad needs to figure out that pussy comes and goes, but if he don't watch it, he's going to run off his own son.

Girl: Oh, the whirlwind of graduation. I didn't lose it like I thought I would. I got sick the morning of graduation and was sick for about 3 days after. That helped shift the focus of the fact that my baby girl is grown. She got all of the graduation crap done. I'm happy about that. Now she needs to get all the crap from the school she was going to go to transferred here. I don't know how all that works, but that's why they have counselors, right? She's hoping to get another job soon. She has a line on one in a pediatrician's office. She would be good at that. Little kids flock to her. I'm very proud and very happy that all that stuff is done!!

Divorce: Holy hell! We had our court date on 5/16. I went, he didn't. I sat there forever waiting for the judge to call my case. Finally, he let the last few remaining cases know that we wouldn't be called at all that day. He wouldn't grant my divorce because there was no provisions for child support listed in the decree. I don't want child support and asshole don't want to pay it, but the judge won't do it. I'm afraid that we're at a stand-still. We have til 6/30 or the judge will dismiss the case. I'm going to have to pay a fucking lawyer to do this shit.

In other news...we're fixing to have to move. I got another letter from the mortgage company that the interest rate is going up again. My house payment will be $900. I can't do that. We're in the process of getting rid of a ton of stuff, packing and looking for a house to rent (home ownership is for the birds). I have a friend that's in real estate who says he thinks he can help me sell the house pretty quick. I hate to move out of a 4 bedroom brick house, but I'm gonna. I'm hoping to find something moderately cheap...even if it's a trailer. If I can do that for 6 months, I can get on my feet and find something better. That's the plan anyway!!

Gotta run home for a family meeting now....I'll post again soon!!

My Baby Brother....

sent me a lovely text message last night. It seems he ran into my husband at the local sleaze-bar last night. He and his girlfriend just broke up, so I guess he was out prowling. When husband and I separated, Brother told me that Boy would want to go with his dad and I'd never see him again. Hmmm....looks like dad's at the bar picking up crack-whores while Boy is safe at home with me. Whodathunkit!

And Today It Begins

Today is the first day of my 39th year. It's been a very long, yet productive day. I started out by checking the company email and finding a wonderful email from a major oil company. I went to work and we got that paperwork all situated. Then I finished up payroll and a few other things. My wonderful friends and family called all day with birthday wishes. It was very heartwarming. I ended the day by finally getting my printer working at the office. It was a very productive day.

Girl went out and spent $80 of her hard earned dollars on a gift for me. I hate that. I wish she hadn't spent money. But it made her soooo happy. Boy then felt a little left out, so he took me out for supper and ice cream. OK, we had the ice cream first...but I'm a really cool mom like that.

By the way...Girl didn't get her raise on her check again this week. That's 3 paychecks that have supposed to have had raises that didn't.

Boy is staying at his dad's tomorrow. I'm going to go do some running around with Friend. Then I want to do absolutely nothing. Just a nice, quiet, do nothing evening. I can't wait.

Hopefully, this year won't be too intense!! Here we go!!

Yeah, Yeah...I Know...

I'm a dumbass...he doesn't really care as much as he says he does...he'll end up cheating on me. I know all that is true, but I'm gonna stick with him anyway. I don't imagine that I'll ever trust him again, but at least my eyes are open now. I've been put in my place. As long as I remember where that place is, I'll be OK. Now, on to better things.....

Girl had her prom Saturday night. She was absolutely beautiful. She and her friends had an absolute blast. I was so excited for her. She's still exhausted and probably won't catch up on her sleep til she collapses. Her dad even came to see her when they were leaving. Now we just have to endure graduation.

I took Boy fishing twice this weekend. He wanted his dad to take him, but he wouldn't. So Saturday after the girls left for prom, we went to Friend's stock tank where Boy caught two fish. He had a blast. Then on Sunday, we took him to our local lake where he fished, but didn't catch anything. I think he still had fun. He did end up telling his dad about Friend. Dad hates Friend. Oh well, he'll just have to get over it. At least I didn't go to the bar, pick up a crack whore and bring her home to Boy, like Dad did.

It's supposed to rain here all week and I'm not looking forward to that. I guess we need the rain...blah, blah, blah. I like sunny days. OK, I'm really going to sleep now. I've said for the last week that I was going to bed early and that hasn't happened. I'm exhausted and really need to get a good nights sleep.

When Did I Become Such A Girl

I used to laugh at girls that would dwell on a man-problem instead of just dumping his sorry ass and moving on. When did I become one of those girls? Is it because I'm old? WTF? I really don't like it. I'm going to try to become a hard-ass bitch again and look at things more realistically. Maybe then I'll be able to hold down some food and get rid of this raging headache. It sucks being a girl.

I Have Decided....

that happily-ever-after doesn't exist. I'd just as well get that notion out of my head. The sooner I deal with reality, the better off I will be. So, as of this minute, I have a new outlook on life. That way there will be no more time wasted on things that are just never going to happen. I can live for the moment and not worry about the future anymore.

Color Me Stupid

Obviously, Friend and I haven't gotten as close as I thought we had. I feel like a total dumbshit. I really don't know what I was thinking. Men (at least the ones I'm attracted to) are all pretty mean. The last two times I've been to his house, he's gotten calls or a text message from his ex-wife and/or her family. So I came home and checked the phone bill to see if they had been corresponding regularly. Didn't find anything too outrageous there. Then I decided it would be a good idea to check his email account. I had set the account up for him some time back, so I knew the password. That was one of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life. No...he wasn't corresponding with the ex. He was however corresponding with a bunch of other women. He was answering ads on "questionable" sites. He obviously had struck up a conversation or two. My soul is crushed. I don't know what to do now. Apparently, he doesn't feel the same way about me as I felt about him. I really thought he was a good guy. I thought he was real. I thought he told the truth. I thought he really cared about me. I thought he was the best, smartest person I've ever known in my life. Color me stupid.

Can Mom Stomp the Crap Out of Girl's Boss?

Let me just start by saying that when all the little knocked up bitches at Girl's work want to go home because they don't feel good because they're not fucking intelligent enough to keep their legs closed, they call Girl to work. She almost always comes thru for them. The little sonuvabitch boss gave her a promotion and a $0.90 per hour raise plus a bunch of hours. She was so excited. They taught her to open and close. She has closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday night for the last 2 weeks (because knocked up bitches have better things to do than work). When she got her check this last Friday, she had a ton of hours. But...look...Tom (his real name because I despise the little fucker) had "forgotten" to get her raise approved. Which means, "too bad, Girl". Then today, he informed her that, oops, because of some-lame-reason Girl will only be getting a $0.40 per hour raise. What the fuck!?! Unfortunately, Girl is the sweetest natured child you'd ever meet, so she won't let me react like I want to. We'll see what happens.

Wow...That Weekend Went By Fast

At my old job, people used to get excited when it was Friday. Not me. I worked every Saturday. I had to be at work at 11am during the week, but Saturdays I had to be there at 5:30am. When I took the job, I was told 6am to noon. That quickly changed to 5:30 til everybody was finished, which more often than not was 5 or 6pm. I was so happy to take my new job where I don't have to work weekends. It's a little different. I have all this time on my hands.

This weekend was not as productive as I'd like it to have been. Boy and I did get some yard work done. Not really "yard work"....just mowing and weed eating. I don't really have a yard...it's more like spots of grass and weeds. There's so much junk in back of my house that it's hard to mow back there. When husband moved out, he just took the good stuff and left all the garbage and junk for me to deal with. I need to take a weekend, borrow a trailer and haul all that crap off.

More than yard work, I REALLY need to get rid of a ton of stuff in my house. I have enough crap for four families. I've been getting rid of a little here and a little there. Now that I have my weekends back, I need to just take a whole weekend and go through the whole house. I'd have to rent a dumpster. I should do that....rent a dumpster and throw away all that crap outside and a bunch of the crap from the inside. Hmmm...I'll have to work on that.

Weekends May Be Over Rated

Boy and I had a blast at Spring Fest yesterday. We ran into people we knew, looked at old cars and ate lots of carnival-like food. I think he had a good time. When we got finished, we came home picked up Girl, then I took him to his dad while Girl and I did some running around. Girl was starving, so we ate, went to the Verizon store, then to walmart. After walmart, the day took a pretty big shit.

Girl copped the teen-tude and really hurt my feelings. She didn't mean to, I'm sure. But nonetheless, I was tired from walking a bunch and just flat irritated. We didn't' make it out of walmart with all of our stuff (i really hate those little spinney baggy things), so I called friend to see if he wanted to run back there with me. He said yes, so off I went.

We chilled a bit, all the while his various phones were ringing. His ex-in-laws wanted him to come to a birthday party. I knew he wanted to go, so I went on to walmart. Two trips to walmart in one day is way too much for this girl. All that running yesterday did not make my house clean. I've got a cousin from out of town who is visiting someone a couple of towns over and she'll be calling today to stop in. That is the goal for the day...clean house. Yeah, I'll be sure and let y'all know how that goes.

Finally...

A day where I feel like I've accomplished something. It was really busy. I got payroll done, ran a ton of errands, tanned, got my check in the bank, picked up parts at the parts house and I don't even know what else. Friend came over after he got off work and put the starter on my pickup so Girl is no longer afoot til her car gets out of the shop. The mechanic said that her car should be ready Monday, which in "mechanic" translates to probably Tuesday or Wednesday.

Boy has informed me that I'll be taking him to our local "Spring Fest" tomorrow. It sounds absolutely exhausting, but I'm thrilled that he wants ME to take him. I'm learning that I'd better cherish the time that they want to spend with their uncool mom. It'll be a blast. He plays guitar and there will be bands that he can watch and maybe learn something new.

I absolutely HAVE to clean up my house some this weekend. It looks like somebody picked it up, shook it and then set it back down. I have too much stuff and I need to get rid of it. The office is supposed to be moved to the yard tomorrow, so that will get my work stuff out of here and that will help tremendously.

I'm going to go to bed now so I can rest up and get ready to walk probably 10 miles tomorrow!!

Oh Holy Crap

It's like 10pm. I'm usually sawing some serious logs by now. Girl's car is in the shop this week. She's driving my POS truck and I'm driving a truck that I borrowed from a friend. She called me a couple of hours ago while I was picking up Boy from the retirement village where he plays guitar and sings with my parents, and tells me that my POS won't start. Ain't that just effin wonderful. So I call friend, who just happens to be a mechanic and he came over and looked at POS. It's the effin starter. Of course we can't get one tonight, so tomorrow we'll have to get one and he'll have to put it on. I'm going to bed.

I Have the Don't-Wannas

I have sooo much that I could be getting done this morning and I just don't feel like doing anything. I'm fixin to get started...I promise. I've been waiting on Girl's step-mom to call. I've put it off long enough and I'm going to have to order senior pictures. Step-mom had expressed interest in splitting a package. The prices are outrageous, so I thought that might be a good idea. She has til 5pm to call or I'm just going to order a package on my own. I had grand thoughts of 8X10's for lots of people, but now it's just me and my mom getting the big ones and everybody else can deal with 5X7's or smaller. I'm going to call in the order for the wallets to go in the announcements this morning. I need to start getting out the announcements asap.

I'm also going to take her prom dress and go to hobby lobby to find some ribbon that will match it to make her wristlet. I went to a florist yesterday to check prices on the wristlets and about fell over. I could make her something a whole lot nicer for a lot less money. Girl likes simple things...she does not care for big elaborate stuff. I'm betting that she won't even wear the darned thing after she's out of my sight, so I don't feel the need to go overboard. I'll make her a simple, elegant wristlet that will look better than anyone's.

Boy shaved for the first time ever this morning. His dad's freakin out, but it was really time. I just had him to shave off the dark hairs on his upper lip, that, at a glance looked like he hadn't washed in months. I went last weekend and bought him his very own electric razor. I couldn't stand the thought of him with a razor with a real blade. I had visions of blood-n-such. Anyways, he looks cleaner now and I'm sure feels a little bit more grown up now that he's actually shaved his lip.

OK...I'm really going to get to work now.

Let's Go Back To Sunday

I'm tired of all of the whiny-ass posts, so I thought I'd share a funny story.

Dig if you will, the picture....It's Saturday evening and I go to a friend's house to just "chill". We watch TV and just hang out. Sometime late Sunday morning, friend calls me and says, "You'll never guess what just happened". If you know friend, you know that nothing good can come of this statement. Friend likes to hunt birds. Apparently, an important part of hunting birds is a good bird dog. After lots of problems (that's a whole other story), he found a good dog that hunts really well and he likes her A LOT.

He had let this dog and her friend-dog out to run awhile and was heading outside to put them back up and begin mowing. When he stepped out the back door, he noticed that the dog had something in her mouth. She was bringing daddy a prize. Daddy's prize was a big ol skunk....yes, I said skunk. She passed her stunned daddy right by went through the back door of the house and promptly planted the skunk in the laundry room. It gets better...said skunk was still alive...and pissed. Skunk commenced to fighting with the dog and spraying everywhere in the laundry room. Thank goodness the door into the rest of the house was still closed. He couldn't very well go into the laundry room to get the little animals out so he called his neighbor for assistance. The neighbor (who you just have to know...he's a freakin riot) promptly came over to offer his help. The dog finally came out so the two of them just stood there looking at the back door (from a greater distance with every spray) waiting for the skunk to come out. The poor thing finally came out and scurried around to the front yard where friend and neighbor filled the little varmint with more lead than necessary just to try to rid themselves of some frustration.

This is the point in the story where he calls me. My brother used to trap animals for a living (yes...just like the hillbilly, mountain man he looks like), so I called him to see if he could offer any advice about what could be done about the EXTREMELY OVERWHELMING odor that the little critter had left behind. Mind you, the skunk had only sprayed the laundry room, but rest assured that the whole house as well as a good 2 acre radius was stinky. My brother said that vinegar had been the best thing that he'd found to cut the odor, but that nothing would kill it besides time and ventilation. So I'm off to the dollar store (where I spend a lot of my time as I'm a complete cheap-ass). I purchase 10 jugs of vinegar and a fan to set in the doorway of the laundry room. When I drive up at the scene of the incident, there stands my friend in one of those plastic, white suits with the hood...the kind like mold remediation crews wear....and a respirator mask. I'm not kidding. I laughed so hard I almost peed. He then grabs a spray bottle of "garbage odor eliminator" and a couple bottles of vinegar and heads for the back door. At this point, neighbor-guy, who'd been out ho-ing around all night the night before announces that it's time for him to have a beer.

The vinegar really did more good than I thought it would. At this point, all the doors and windows of the house are open for the ventilation process to begin. We'd gone in to pour more vinegar on the floor in the house and I went to check the bedrooms and bathroom in that part of the house. Friend proclaims that the bedroom should be just fine as he closed the door promptly when he'd been able to enter the house. I opened the bedroom door and quickly realized that he was dreadfully wrong. He brought in vinegar and started pouring it on the carpet in the bedroom and we all went outside to breath for a moment.

As we're sitting outside, neighbor-guy proclaims that it might be a good idea to go get the clothes out of the closet in the bedroom and hang them up somewhere outside so that the odor doesn't penetrate the clothing. The two of them start into the bedroom and I'm lagging behind trying to be polite and put out my cigarette in an ashtray instead of throwing it on the ground. As I step into the front door and they round the corner into the bedroom it hits me...at this point we have to go back to Saturday night. I forgot to mention earlier that I didn't go home til Sunday morning. We all "chill" in our own unique way, right? There had been a "small appliance" involved in our chilling. Surely he'd put it up and not left it out. Neighbor guy is a riot and would have a hay-day with that little apparatus. I went into the bedroom. They are both standing there with the closet door open, smelling the clothes and telling me that they don't smell. I look on the toddler bed where the grand baby sleeps when she visits and there it is...a big purple "small appliance". First of all, how effed up is it that it's on the baby's bed. I promptly announce that the clothes smell just fine and that we should all get back outside. They are wandering about aimlessly while I'm freakin out. After what seemed like hours, friend finally looked down and saw it. Then he looked at me and my beet red face and started to try to get neighbor out. I got neighbor's attention while friend threw a towel over "it". I was dying an knew that neighbor had seen it, but was just being nice as I was red in the face and sweating like a ho-in-church.

After we all got back outside, neighbor started calling a restoration and clean up company that he deals with in his business and I decided that it was time to go home...just as soon as I threatened friend with his life if he didn't put that damned thing up before the clean up crew got there.

All ended up well...the laundry room still stinks to high Heaven, but the rest of the house is OK. And I have taken over the role of "keeper of the appliance". Obviously, I can't trust other people to not leave it laying around for all the world to see.

Today is A New Day

If I can just keep remembering that today is a new day, I'll be fine. I got up early this morning, but not early enough to get the legs shaved. I have gotten quite a bit accomplished. I went and met Jimmy this morning with some time sheets that I'd made up for his crew. (Jimmy is the "construction manager" at the company where I've just started. I'm sure Jimmy is a very nice man, but I'm afraid that we're going to have issues. It's not really fair for me to say that, because I don't know him. We'll see.) Then I ran a bunch of other errands, went to tan and then came home and promptly broke my lawn mower. I hate my lawn mower but I hate borrowing a lawnmower worse. As soon as I play catch up a little bit, I think I'll go buy a new one. That's not going to do me any good this summer as I'm afraid "catch up" is going to take awhile. I really hate that I'm so whiny and bitchy. I think I really need to have a period. OK, break over. Going to get back to work now.

Can I Just Have A Moment?

This has just been a pissy day!! It rained all day long, I didn't get jack-crap accomplished and I can't order my freakin diet pills. I AM A COW! There is nothing, I repeat nothing in my closet that will fit my fat ass. I just got online and tried to order some stupid diet pills. The web site's home page displayed the MasterCard symbol, but when I tried to pay for the stupid things, they only took visa....I HAVE MASTERCARD!! I'm a little irritated. I was so upset that I had a big helping of strawberry shortcake. Now I'm going to go to bed and try to wake up to a better day tomorrow. It's supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow. I'm going to get up early, shave my legs, go tan and have a majorly productive day...I promise!! I really need to have a period. OK, tomorrow's posts will be light hearted and funny....Nighty night!!

What a Crappy Day

It's rained all day today. I have kept busy, but haven't accomplished a blessed thing. Boy is at school taking the TAKS test. (They put way too much pressure on the kids for those stupid tests) Girl just called and told me that she and her friends are at the zoo....in the rain. Can anyone say "pneumonia". Not to mention the stinky-ass animals...shew-wee! I'm trying to get a bunch of crap entered into the computer for work. The numbers are swimming in my head like you wouldn't believe. I haven't got any of my crap done today. I need to order pictures to go in the graduation announcements. I need to call my old employer about my cobra insurance. I need to cancel my AOL account. I have a ton of crap to do, but I'm gonna need some sunshine in order to get motivated. I've been watching the goings ons in Virginia on CNN today. I can't imagine. OK, long enough break from numbers....I'm getting back to it right now.

Not There Yet

Hello, my name is Thelma and I'm swiftly approaching my 39th birthday. I thought it'd be fun (and cheaper than therapy) to blog my 39th year. I've got a lot going on in my crazy life. Most of it is making me feel really old. A lot of it makes me proud. I have 2 children that are absolutely my life.

Girl just turned 18 and is getting ready to graduate high school and move away to college. The college that she's chosen is 400 miles away. I'm heartsick and proud all at the same time. She's getting ready to say goodbye to her friends and go out and start her life. I'm proud through my tears.

Boy just turned 13 and he's one big, huge mess. He's 6 ft. tall and currently in a size 14 shoe. He's not quite coordinated enough for his body. I'll be sad when the coordination sets in as then, I'll know that he's truly a man. I'm desperately proud of him. He has some trouble in school, but behaves properly and is very respectful. These days, teachers don't get a lot of respect. That is more important to me than grades.

These two are turning my life upside down by growing up....but that's not all. I've just quit a job that I absolutely loved to go to work for a company that doesn't even have an office yet. It's quite a bit more money so I know that it was the right thing to do. It will also be the most flexible job I've ever had. My new boss knows my kids and knows that I'll drop his shit in a heartbeat if they need me...and he's perfectly OK with that. He bought an office trailer yesterday, but it will be awhile before it's set up. I'm trying to enjoy my time working from home til then.

If this isn't all enough....I'm going through my 4th divorce. He moved out on July 24 and we'll have our final court date on May 16. I feel bad that I'm not as sad as I should be about this. I have a dear friend that has helped me through the split up and we've become really close. Probably closer than we should be. He's my rock right now. He doesn't judge me, he just lets me be me...even if he doesn't understand the reasoning behind some of the things I do.

And that's it in a nut shell. I'll be 39 years old on May 4 and this proves to be a very eventful year. I just read the book "Who Moved My Cheese". It's all about change and how to embrace change. I'm trying to embrace...but sometimes I don't want to. I intend to come here daily to vent, brag, bitch, moan and just think in print. I think it will help me clear my head and sort things out. I hope I can also sharpen up on some writing skills and possibly be a little funny. We'll see!