Life Sucks At Bailey's

Well isn't that wonderful? Upper management has been threatening for three whole months now that people are going to start getting written up. I never thought in all of my craziest dreams that I would be the first person to get written up. My work is practically ALWAYS done perfect, when there is a mistake, it's something pretty small, and I have no problem admitting that I was wrong, and I take whatever steps I need to in order to correct it.

Today, my boss got pissed off at me because I have clocked in almost 30 minutes early every day this pay period. Even though the store manager always asks me to do stuff for him and I have a very strict policy that I will not work off the clock, apparently I'm not allowed to do anything before 9 a.m. Fine. I just won't be at work until exactly 9 a.m.

At my preformance review, they said that my attendance was an issue. I've only ever not been to work 2 days in 4 months, once because the power went out where I live, and without power, my phone doesn't work. The second time, I actually went to work, stayed until the next shift came in at 11 just because I knew I was going to be the only cashier there until 11, and once the other girls came in, that's when I went home. Only because I didn't have a baby sitter.

I've tried my best to make sure that I'm doing my job, I always tell my boss where I am at all times, with the exception of today because she went to lunch. When I tried to talk to her, she kept walking away and said "didn't I say I was on lunch?" I had been trying to get this stupid address list done for the General Manager, only because the damn list has been sitting on the counter for 3 days, available for ANYONE to look at. I didn't feel that it was a good idea, so I took it upon myself to make sure the list got done so it could go straight back to GM, away from everyone's prying eyes. Damn me for doing that, because I got yelled at for it.

What really pisses me off, is that damn near everyone in that building can get away with just about anything... from doing shady deals with customers and constantly lying about crap, to arguing with management and doing whatever the hell they want. The other cashiers pretty much take turns on being late, someone calls each and every day to say they are going to be late, paperwork is always an issue, keys to the tills get left out on the counter, people stay logged into the system even when they are away from the computers, dress code violations, you name it. Do they get written up for any of this? No. I get written up for not only being on time every damn day, but for being early. And, on top of it, I get yelled at for taking the initiative and making sure that shit gets done, gets done right, and gets done on time.

From now on, fuck them all. I guess the only thing at that company I need to be worried about is myself.

Here it was, I thought this was different from every other job, that this wasn't a dead end job. Apparently I was wrong. Apparently, there is no future in this company for me. Good thing me and my brother came up with a good business idea today. Now it's a matter of sticking to it.

Long Time, Eh?

Damn! I didn't realize how long it had been since I had been on here. It's definitely been awhile.

Well, I've had this blog for a little over a year now, and a LOT has changed in the past year.

My little man is walking, talking, and getting himself into a LOT of trouble now. He's a climber, and no matter what, if I think that there is no way he can get on top of something, trust me, this little guy will find a way!

Jennifer is in Pre-School now. She is so funny, she's so smart--she already knows everything that they would teach her in pre-K but we enrolled her just so she can get used to the social interaction. Her first day in Pre-K, she came home and asked me, "I thought I was going to school!" I told her that she was, and she just simply shrugged and responded with "Well, I didn't learn anything. All we did was color and play and the teacher kept talking about colors and shapes." Hehehe, she's so cute.

LeeAnna is in the top of her class, doing really well, she's actually above her grade level in a few areas, and I'm thinking about enrolling her in some gifted classes.

Adam is doing okay, he could be doing a lot better though. He's smart and he's not having any problems with his school work for the most part, it's mainly his behavior. We found out that he's been secretly throwing his meds away, so his ADD has taken control again. We now have to watch him swallow his pill in the morning. There is also a kid in his class that has been a bad influence. He knows that he should stay away from this kid, as this kid almost got Adam suspended from school last year with the whole fire incident in the bathroom, but the temptation seems too great for him to resist. Me and the teacher discussed the issue at parent teacher confrences and we are both going to submit to the school that from now on these two should NOT be in the same classroom.

We went and got our annual pictures taken yesterday, and they look great. LeeAnna didn't smile in any of the pictures because she says she hates having her picture taken. But they look good nonetheless. I will add them to here when I'm done with this post.

Things between me and Dave haven't been that great lately. I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, or where it lays, but I think it's a bad sign that I've really wanted to say "screw it" and go back to being a single mom. At the same time that I want to be single again, I also remember how hard it was on me when I was doing it before, and when I was doing it before, my parents still lived in town, my cousin was living with me, and I had an awesome support circle. Now my parents live out of town and they have way too many of their own problems right now to help me, and my cousin is living in Colorado, and the guy who was kind of like my nanny is living in Florida now. So it would really be hard for me to do it again. But at the same time, I wasn't really working when I did it before, but now I am working, and I have an awesome job, with excellent job security, the two youngest are in day care, and my babysitter lives two doors down from me, so I don't know. I think I could do it, but at the same time, I'm not too sure. The thought kind of scares me, because of the uncertainty.

I've recently had quite a revelation about myself.

My whole life I have been very uncomfortable in my own skin. I've always felt like an imposter, like I was living someone else's life. Like this really isn't where I'm supposed to be. I've started putting two and two together, and started asking a LOT of questions. Like, I realized that there are absolutely NO pictures of my mom when she was supposedly pregnant with me. I don't doubt that we are related somehow, but I just started thinking about some things. Like, my mom's sister who is considerably younger than my mom. I used to get along with this woman, when I was really young, but then she had kids, and she neglected them terribly. She got into the whole drug scene, and at one point she even took her kids to a crack house. The state got involved and took her kids away, but during one unsupervised visit she took the kids and ran to Wisconsin. Once there she tried to sell her kids to the highest bidder, but she was caught by the authorites and they were taken away again. Wisconsin had a law at the time that if the kids were taken away from a parent, then the blood relatives couldn't have access to the children for the risk of the family returning the children to the parent. When the state of Alaska had taken the kids away, my mom was in the process of trying to adopt the boys. But once she ran to Wisconsin with the kids that whole plan was shot down the toilet. For this, I have always hated this woman. Plus the fact that back in 2000 she came up for a visit and while here she slept with my boyfriend who was living with me at the time. Needless to say, I will never refer to this woman as my aunt.

Thanksgiving weekend, my grandmother had to go in for knee replacement surgery, and she needs someone there to take care of her while she recovers. My mom's sister has moved up here to take care of her. I was quite upset because no one in my family felt brave enough to tell me this, and I had to find out from the vile evil woman I once called my mother-in-law. And now, my mom's sister seems to be extremely interested in what's going on in my life, and she's trying like hell to get me to forgive her for all her sins in the past, and she seems way too interested in how my kids are doing.

I can't explain why, but lately I've started thinking about how I'm really not anything like either of my parent's and how I've always thought I don't really look like them. I recently found out that my parent's moved to Alaska because they had to leave New York because they were being investigated for what my mom says was something to do with drugs and they wanted to get out of that scene and get me away from it all. This was when I was less than a year old.

I don't know if I'm being paranoid or what, but sometimes I think that maybe I was kidnapped and that's why they came up here. But at the same time, lately I've been thinking about how much me and my mom's sister are alike. I kind of think that maybe my mom's sister got pregnant at too young of an age, and so my mom took it upon herself to adopt me and raise me as her own. I don't know, but it certainly would explain why my whole life I've felt like an imposter. Why I've never been comfortable in my own skin. I'm not going to push the issue, because to be perfectly honest, I don't really know if I want to know the truth. With everything that I've been through in my life, I don't think I could handle a blow like that. That would be the one thing that would really push me over the edge. I love my parents to death, they mean the world to me, and I really wish I could do more for them, but if I was to find out something like that, and find out that my parents have lied to me my whole life, I wouldn't be able to handle it.

I can hear some people saying something about how I just look for drama and that's all this really is, but trust me, I have had enough damn drama in my life, I look for ways to keep it locked out.

Onto other topics not so heavy, my job is going good, for the most part. I love the company, I love practically everyone I work with, with the exception of a select few. There a few people at work that I like as people, but can't stand to work with. Like our Sales Manager. He is by far the most incompetent asshole I have ever had the displeasure of working with. There are few sales people that I like as people, but I hate working with. Most of them are in the bedding department. There are some sales people that I absolutely LOVE working with, one of whom quit the other day due to some huge mess and bullshit caused mainly by the sales manager, and it really ruined the rest of the day. Saturday more than half the store was ready to walk out the front door due to all the shit that was happening. But the next morning there was a large meeting in which the salesman who quit attended, and he's back with us now. Which I am SOO happy about!

My other favorite salesperson is fed up with all the bullshit and he could walk any day now. I'm really going to hate to see him go, he makes my day all that much better, but I understand the situation and I've always felt that if you aren't happy with your job, find a new one. The money is not worth making your life miserable.

There are two girls that work back in the warehouse, Tia and Danielle, and I love them both SOOO much! These girls truely rock, and they help me make it through the day when everything seems to be going to shit. When I have issues with some of the people up front, I find some excuse to walk back to the warehouse and vent with these girls. Tia always makes me laugh, and I honestly think of her as one of my best friends now. I just really wish she lived here in town so we could hang out outside of work more. Danielle is just a great girl! She seems so innocent, and she's been going through some rough times recently in her personal life, and she's the type of girl that you just really want to hug and protect and beat up any person that tries to hurt her. She is such a sweetie!! And if she moves to Colorado like she's talking about, I am going to miss her way too much!!!! She would be someone that I would actually take a vacation just to go visit, and I would definitely keep in touch with her, and talk to her regularly the same way I do with my cousin.

The Customer Service manager is a great guy, he's really fun to work with, and I've hung out with him a lot outside of work, especially lately. He's a good drinking buddy that's for sure, and he knows how to have fun. I'm just glad that I really haven't pissed him off, even though he doesn't really hold a grudge. I had a little "crush" on him for awhile, mainly because he reminds me of all the really good things in my first husband, and none of the bad things. My "crush" kind of went away when things between me and Dave started getting better, but now that things are bad again, my "crush" has kind of gotten worse. But then again, I've always had a problem with being attracted to someone at work.

I really like most of the warehouse guys, they are fun and great to pick on. One of the warehouse guys is the brother of a guy that used to work with Dave, and I feel so bad for him. He's such a pushover and his brother, who one of the biggest assholes I've ever met, takes advantage of him and walks all over him. And this guy is nothing but a big ol' teddy bear that you just want to squeeze.

The girls up at the front counter that I work with are cool. I have issues with them sometimes, and I really want to go off on them at times, but I have done an excellent job at holding my tongue and making it through the day. They are really cool to hang out with too. One of the cashiers is going through a really rough time with her family, so I really haven't had much of a chance to hang out with her, with the exception of the one night that I had to rescue her when her mom dumped her on the side of the road and went schizo on her. One of the other girls is going through kind of the same shit with her boyfriend that I am, and when we all went out the other night for drinks, we kind of sat there and compared stories. I was really happy to get a chance to hang out with her away from her man, because he kind of gives me the creeps. The cashier that I work with that is dating the Asst. Store Manager is really awesome, and we have an awful lot in common. We went to lunch together one day, and while we were sitting in the restaraunt, we started talking about our marriages, and she went through a lot of the same things with her first husband that I went through with mine, with the exception that they never had kids, so I really understand her now.

There is another girl up at the front, she supposed to be a receptionist, but she fills in as a cashier occasionally. There are times when her and I really butt-heads and I can't stand being around her, but then after work, or if we've spent enough time away from each other, we get along great. I just get frustrated with her sometimes because she's only 18 and new to the workforce so she's still fresh. I've done an excellent job at hiding my irritations, and most of the time I don't think she knows when I'm frustrated with her. She's another good person to hang out with outside of work, because when we are away from work we have alot of things in common and we can bullshit and joke around and get along great.

One of the other cashiers is from Hawaii, she's up here for college, and she's just a great person. She is sooo fun! She's wacky, she knows how to joke around, and she never takes ANYTHING too seriously. She can be a joy to work with, and one of the things that I really like about her is that when she makes a mistake on something and I have to point it out, she doesn't get all defensive, she really knows how to take constructive criticism. That, and she knows when to ask for help.

My immediate boss, I absolutely love working with her. She never takes things too seriously, except when it's absolutely needed. She has a great sense of humor and makes my weekdays so much easier. I've never had a boss that I felt I could really go to with problems until her. She is very understanding and takes everything in stride. Like last week when I was trying to get all my day care assistance stuff take care of, and get the applications for the day-care/PreSchool in, I had to take a really long lunch and I didn't know how long it was going to take (2 hours and 15 minutes is what it turned out to be), but she was very understanding and didn't get onto me about it. And you can "bribe" her with snacks, especially chocolate!!

I love the finance girls, one of them is the owner's daughter and she's a riot. She's one of those people that sees the world strictly in black and white, and I'm grateful for that because she will tell you when you mess up, and she doesn't make it difficult and she doesn't hold it against you and never really holds a grudge... not that I've seen anyway. The other finance lady is wonderful! We have a lot in common, and I think she understands my personality more than anyone else in that whole store, and she doesn't judge people. I think we have almost the same thinking pattern and our personalities are so much alike. She appreciates jokes and humor the same way I do, and she never really gets offended by stuff with the exception of when someone does something so stupid and there is absolutely no excuse for the mess up other than laziness.

The Asst. Store Manager is cool too, he has a great sense of humor and will work with people on their problems as much as he can. I tend to think that he's a little over worked for his job, and he doesn't like to ask for help or tell the powers that be that he's a little over worked, but he's got the type of intelligence and work ethic that even when he gets over worked, he handles it like a pro. I sometimes think he strives off the energy. He can be an asshole at times, but for the most part he's pretty cool.

The people I can't stand, I don't like them and don't like working with them mainly because they are self-centered and lazy. I have a problem with people who KNOW the procedures for their job, but claim ignorance and don't do it. Having been in sales myself and I LOVED it--I hate seeing people who call themselves salesmen, but don't take care of the customer. All they care about is their paycheck and how much money they can make with these people. I hate it when salesmen don't do their jobs right--they don't give accurate, or all of, the information that the customer needs, they don't do follow ups, they make promises that they know can't be done, and when shit hits the fan and it's the salesperson's responsibility to be the go-between with the store and the customer, they completely shuck all responsibilty and hand it off to whoever they can. When there is a problem and the customer needs to be called, they will find whoever they can and get them to make the call. Most of the time it's either one of us cashiers or they just leave it until be until it gets to the point that either a manager or the customer service guy has to handle it. There is NO excuse for their actions other than sheer laziness. They know it's their job, but they just don't do what they are supposed to do. I get so tired of having to remind certain salespeople about what their job entails, what they can do, what they can't do, what they need to do, what they should do, and what they should NEVER do.

There is one woman at work that EVERYONE hates. We call this woman "bobble-head" because she does this really annoying thing with her head. I think that what she's trying to do is toss the hair out of her face without really moving the hair. She's trying to pretend like she wants the hair out of her face, but she really wants it to stay where it is. Or she does this whole thing where she shrugs her shoulders and moves her head from side to side. She puts her hair up in the back but has these huge clumps hanging on each side of her face. It looks horrible, but she thinks it look good. Maybe she's trying to come off with the appearance that she's working really hard. She has this whole attitude that she is waaay too good to be where she is, that she is way better than everyone else there. And she is so fake. She will be the sweetest person to your face, but as soon as you are out of earshot, she is talking so much shit about you. To top things off, she filed two sexual harrasment claims against two men at work. The claims where the most bullshit stories I have ever heard. In one case, two of the salesmen where talking and she walked up and asked "So, what's for lunch today guys?" to which one of the salesmen turned and told her point blank, "It doesn't matter to me what you eat, because I'm not buying your lunch anyway." to which she replied with a stone serious face "You know, I do not appreciate sexual remarks like that." (This woman is craaaaaazy!) In the other instance, she was standing in between some furniture, kind of blocking the way through, and the sales manager needed to get past her but she wouldn't move. So he kind of turned to the side, squeezed past her, and in the process, his hand lightly brushed against her butt. Perfectly innocent situation, and it was an honest accident, but she claimed that he full out grabbed her ass. Both of her claims have been investigated, found to be completely unfounded, and the cases closed. Why this woman still works here, I have no idea. Other than the fact that we are short staffed on salespeople, I don't see any reason why she is still there.

I guess that's enough for this post. It's big enough already. I still have a lot of other co-workers to talk about that I didn't mention yet, but I will get to them later. There's only about 3 other sales people that I have big beefs with, but they are for another time. I'll try to remember to get on here a bit more regularly now and keep all of you apprised of what's going on with me and my little world.

Until later,
Ciao Baby!

Oh The Joys Of Working Again!!

So the reason I haven't been on here in so long is because I have started working again. I work for one of the largest furniture stores in all of Alaska. We just recently opened our new "mega" store, "super" store, whatever you wanna call it. It's a $22 million building with over 120,000 square feet, a massive warehouse in the back, an awesome repair shop and a very large clearance center on the side. We've got a two story waterfall that runs down the wall behind our extremely large fireplace.

As with the opening of any new serious expansion as we've had recently, there are going to be quite a few kinks that need to be worked out. A few bumps in the road that need to be smoothed over.

Unfortunately for me, I seem to be stuck in the bumpiest section of this highway.

Ever since the grand opening 3 weeks ago, the procedures for my particular job have changed so many times that I feel as if I've been turning cart-wheels. I'm a little dizzy still, and it seems like everyday there is some new turn, or twist that I never saw coming.

It seems like everything in the store is running smoothly with the exception of my department. All of the complaints that have been coming in from everyone has been for the people in my department. I swear that the next time I hear someone complaining about how the cashiers are not doing their jobs, or they keep screwing up things, I am going to point out how everyone in the damn building knows the procedures for their jobs, with the exception of the cashiers. Everyday something new has changed. One day we are keeping the receipts in our tills, the next we are putting them all together in one envelope, the next we are stapeling them onto the invoices. One day we are printing all the delivery receipts to the warehouse, the next we aren't sending any at all, then two days later we sending only certain ones. One day we are throwing all the quote sheets away (or shredding them as it is), the next we are stapeling (God I hope that I'm spelling that right!) them all to the invoices. Or like not knowing anything about MTO's because no one told us, and then next thing we know we are getting yelled at because we aren't doing them. It just seems like every 5 minutes they are changing the procedure on something else.

I started off 3 weeks ago completely confident that I knew the job, that I was doing a good job, and that I was appreciated. Now, I don't know. My head is spinning from all the meetings, being told one thing and then treated a completely different way. I find myself second guessing myself now, and I try so hard to stay out of the office politics, to stay out of all the "bitch-fests" that go on when people step outside for a smoke break. Unfortunately, because I've found myself caught in the middle of this massive whirlpool, even though I'm trying to fight against the spin, I find that I'm getting sucked in closer and closer to center of it all. It really sucks being where I'm at, because we are the middle man between the warehouse and the sales floor. If a customer has a bad experiance with their sales person, we are the ones who have to take the brunt of that resentment.

All I wanted was to start a job for a good company and work my way up. When I sat down and talked with the person I am supposed to talk to about advancing, I feel like I basically got a door slammed in my face. Granted, it wasn't exactly the best time for me to talk to that person, and I feel like an ass for not realizing it at the time, but I have basically given up. Thrown my hands in the air and said "What are ya gonna do?" and shrugged my shoulders of the situation. I'll give it some time though, because I don't have that nagging feeling that this is a dead end job like all the others that I've had.

Please don't get me wrong, it is a great company. We haven't even had the new store open for a whole month yet, so all I can do is give it time. But I've already made up my mind that if things haven't drastically changed within 6 months, it's going to be time to say goodbye. Especially after the past two meetings that we've had. Being told that I'm basically the second person in charge, but that I have absolutely no authority to make sure the other cashiers are doing their jobs seems a little crass to me. Then being told that if we put in too many day off requests, that we will get written up, and then today being told that if we even laugh too loud we will be written up. (They say that children laugh more than one hundred times a day, and that if adults would just learn to lighten up a little and laugh more, they would be a lot healthier. Try working for the same company that I do!)

I like a lot of the people that I work with. And I mean a LOT of the people, which is so rare. The people I don't really like, I have become a pro at dealing with them. I have to say that I am honestly proud of myself in the way that I have managed to cope with a lot of the crap that two years ago would have prompted me to quit. I have stuck with it, through the ups and downs so far, and I don't plan on quitting. I HAVE to keep this job. Not for financial reasons, but because I want to go to college and the only way I can get it paid for is to prove that I can actually keep a job. That and I honestly feel a lot more mature than I did two years ago. It's like I woke up one morning and realized how important work history actually is. (I think that happened the day after I realized that the number of places that I could actually apply for jobs at has drastically reduced since I've already worked most places that don't require some sort of college degree.)

Well, I'm a bit worn out right now from so much stress over the past week, I am going to log off and turn my attention to my screaming toddler, who by the way, has become a proffesional tantrum thrower! He can hang with the big boys (2 year olds) and make them seem like newborns, let me tell you!

My Two Cents

First let me start off by saying how incredibly sorry I am for all those families that are being ripped to shreds by this horrendous tradegy. I sit here in my home, every day, watching the news and feeling completley helpless, useless, and very frightened about what would happen to us if another natural disaster should occur any time soon.

I would also like to point out my absolute disgust at our own government. We have known for well over 10 years that something like this could happen to New Orleans. I can't even count the number of times I've watched some program on Discovery talking about what "COULD" happen in this situation. Was anything done? No. Our so called "government" has seriously dropped the ball. And I'm not talking about just with this storm. Ever since Bush was elected, we have found ourselves let down time and time again. Like a bad relationship where your partner does nothing but take advantage of your niceness, Bush has let us down over and over again. I hear Bush saying the National Guard is on their way, but I can't help but think "How? They are all over in Iraq fighting the same war your Daddy tried to start but couldn't get the backing." We are losing more and more troops each and every single day, more Americans are losing their lives over there, and thanks to the constant news coverage, we have become more desensitized. Each and every day since Katrina hit, Americans are losing their lives right here, IN OUR OWN COUNTRY!! And the help was too late in coming for those fellow country men. I lose so much sleep at night thinking about those children that didn't have a choice in the matter, and had to stay there, and now they are either in a much better place, or they are in a living hell.

9/11 was a horrible day that will live on in all of our minds forever. None of us will EVER forget where we were or what we were doing when those planes crashed into the towers. But do you know where you were when people began losing their lives in New Orleans? What were you doing when the flood waters started to rise and trapped people in their homes?

Everyone Still Okay? OK, Good! (Runs Out Of The Room)

Whew! I am friggin' exhausted! We had two people quit in the past week at work, so now I get to pick up the slack! Yay for me. (That's sarcasm right there, people!)

Me and David went on a 10 mile hike up one of the mountains here... got some pictures.. hope to have them up soon. Awesome trip, and extremely tiring. We were going up the side of the mountain and David told me where we going to, and I didn't believe we were going all the way up there, and when he told me, I was like "Chaaaa right!"

We got to about 6 feet away from the summit... didn't think I would make it that last 6 feet... but thanks to David's persistance I actually made it that last 6 feet up to the summit... and a little further too.... I reached my goal, which was nice, and now when I go to the gym and I start to get tired, I just think about how I made it up to the top of that mountain even though I was extremely tired and that helps me get through even the toughest of work outs.

Work has been really good. My boss loves me, and seems to tell me that at every turn. So of course I had to ask for a raise the other day. He said that he's working on it for me. So Yay!

The kids are doing excellent! Little man is walking so well now! He's walking all over the place now... He's not talking so much, but boy he sure is mobile.
Oh and LeeAnna didn't break her foot... the ER doc was an idiot.

David is in the process of switching jobs... He's trying to get all the vacation time he can out of these people, since they don't want to give it to him.
Oh and he tore his rotator cuff and is walking around in a sling. Long story, but he basically fell in the pit at work and slammed into a car at the same time. No, workman's comp doesn't apply in this case, since he works two jobs, and WC only pays for one job, he would still have to go to the other job, and if he did that, he'd get screwed out of the WC. Damn catch-22.

Well I think that's about it for now... I'm gonna close and attempt to get some sleep.

That Was My Day Off???

Talk about one hell of a day!

I had made arrangements to drive out of town to pick up this adorable little kitten that a couple were giving away. Just so happens that the only day I can do this on, is the same day that my daughter has an appointment with the pediatrician.

Well, since LeeAnna's appointment wasn't until 3, we leave the house right around 11:30. We have more than enough time to make the drive out of town and come back before her appointment. It's an hour there, and an hour back.

Before we can head out of town though, I have to go get money from Dave, then go and gas up the van. Not even thinking about how it's the week before 4th of July, so everyone is out and running errands. By the time we are all gassed up and ready to go, it's 1:30. No way am I making out there, it would be 2:30 by the time we got there, and making it back in time for her appointment.

Although, in hindsight, maybe I should have gone anyway.

We came back home for an hour. I jumped on the computer, and while checking my email, I hear this story playing on Headline News (I watch that ALL the time). I turn and see this picture and story playing... http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/06/30/thailand.catfish.ap/index.html

Now, my dad, being the fisherman that he is, is gonna LOVE this story. So I have to print this out and take it to him at work. I get there, and everyone wants to see this fish. We leave the gas station, and try to head towards the doctors office. Traffic is SOO bad at this point, that by the time we arrive at the doctors office, we are 15 minutes late. But they say us, so no biggie there.... Here's the real kicker....

The doctor goes to look at the x-rays of LeeAnna's foot (remember, she broke her foot), and when she comes back in, she tells me that the ER doc was wrong, that LeeAnna didn't break her foot. Excuse me? You mean to tell me that my daughter has been hobbling around for a week on crutches, and milking it for all the sympathy it's worth? All for nothing?

Yep. Nice.

Well, we leave the hospital, all ready to head out of town to get this kitten. Along the highway, there is an apartment building that is on fire, and all these absolute geniuses are stopping to gawk, and in turn they are not only blocking traffic, but also preventing the fire crews from doing their job. EVERY single radio station was announcing to people NOT to stop and stare, but to go about what they were doing and allow fire crews to do their jobs.

Then we get to the outskirts of town, and there is a car that is on fire on the side of the road, which in turn has set the brush on fire. Traffic is once again slowed to a crawl.

Finally we get out of town, cruising on the highway, going at a good pace. Then I glance in my rearview mirror, and there is a semi truck ON MY ASS!!! And I mean, if I even tap the breaks, this guy is going to slam into me! Finally he goes around me. Then we come around a curve in the highway (About the halfway point from when we left the city to where we need to be), and the traffic is at a stand still. No movement on the hgihway. Apparently there was a 3-4 car accident on one of the bridges up ahead, and it had both lanes of the northbound highway blocked. As soon as I manage to get close enough to the old highway exit, I take it.

Now keep in mind, that they built the new highway to replace the old one because the old one is WAAAY longer, and it's only one lane. And extremely curvy.

As soon as we get on the old highway, it starts to pour. I absolutely HATE driving in the rain, especially in a minivan, since my worst accident ever was in the rain, in a minivan, while coming around a curve in the highway.

Well I finally get to the town just North of where I'm supposed to be, and instead of taking the connecting highway between the two, I decide to take the main highway, where they have been doing construction for the past year. Smart, I know. I get to that highway, and traffic is moving at a whole 10 MPH. No kidding. Then, as I'm sitting there in this traffic, Dave decides to call my cell phone when I have like NO reception. I answer the phone, no reception, so I hang up. He calls right back. No reception, I yell into the phone, give it ten minutes and call me back, then I hang up. He calls right back. Right about the 4th call, I'm starting to get really irritated. Finally I get to a point where I have reception, and he calls back, and I just let loose. I'm sitting in my van, yelling into the phone, completely irritated. Doesn't help that Dave is being an ass about the kitten, he didn't want me to get it in the first place.

Thank god that when I got to the house, the kitten is just ADORABLE. And what a lover! I pick him up, and he starts just purring, and loving on me.

He does the cutest thing too, when I get home from work. He'll follow me all the over house until I sit down, then he "grabs" my hand with his paw and starts rubbing his face into my hand, and licking me, almost like he's giving me hugs and kisses.

I don't care what the kids say, that cat is MINE!

And that was my day off.

Tired

Well I'm going to do a quick post because I'm so tired right now. Work and all, you know?

LeeAnna broke her foot. Silly how she did it, and she's fine. She tripped over her little sister's shoes and she was wearing socks on a hard wood floor, so her left foot went out in front of her, while her right foot twisted underneath her. It's nothing really big, she doesn't even have a full cast. They just put a splint on her foot, and she's got a doctors appoinment on Thursday. But she's milking it, let me tell you!

Aaron is freekin' HUGE! He's starting to stand up all on his own, with no support now. He is trying very hard to walk, but he's still a little off with the whole balance thing right now. And apparently while I was at work tonight he managed to crawl up the stairs and fell. Don't freak out, he's okay. It was more of a shock than anything else. He didn't hurt himself, so I imagine that he didn't fall very far.

The asshole at work (Brett) is leaving!! YAY! I swear, I think that most of the employees are going to throw a party to celebrate. My brother got hired on today, he starts tomorrow, and will be taking over Brett's shift. It's funny when you think about it... My dad has morning, so he relieves my brother, I have the mid shift, so I relieve my dad, and my brother has the graveyard shift, so he relieves me. It's a family affair! Totally cool.
My boss loves me! He told me yesterday that I am the quickest person to pick up the system. 9I told him I'm a fast learner!!) So, of course now my brother is like, damn it, I have to beat you! LOL

We had a bit of excitement tonight in the area of the store. We saw a whole bunch of cops go flying past, an ambulance, and a fire truck. It seemed like everytime we thought the cops were done, 2 more would go flying past too. We had no idea what was going on, but we were all curious, so we turned on the news at 10, and turns out that apparently some guy shot another guy 4 times with a rifle and took off. They were reporting it as an apparent road rage incident.

Also, there was a large group of people standing in the intersection today holding a bunch of weird signs. We were all trying to figure out not only what the signs said, but what they were doing. Well, one of the girls came inside to use the bathroom, so we asked her. She explained that it was a sociology experiment for a college class. They were out there studying how people react to people holding signs on the side of the road. There was one guy holding a sign that read "Show me your tits", a girl holding a sign that read "My number is worth 20 bucks" another girls holding a sign that said something about "Why lie? I'm intolerant, but I have a job and pay taxes, so give me a smile" and one guy holding a sign that said "I'm with them!" there were a whole bunch of other people, but I didn't see their signs. Fun fun!

Anyhooo... I'm really tired, so I'm going to bed.....

Time to dream of a good paycheck!

Cool!

I'm a generally unfuckwitted, liberal, tight as fuck, pathetically simple-minded, dribbling child!
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I Got A Job!

Not that I need to work, but it's nice to have a little extra money coming in... Especially since we are planning on going to Florida for Christmas.

I'm working in a gas station, with my dad.... actually, I work the shift after his, so I'm technically his relief. The guy I work with, A, is really awesome... but our relief, Brett, is a major ASSHOLE!! (Can you tell that when there is someone I don't like, I will type out their full name instead of the initial?) I mean Brett has some major anger issues, he's rude, he's a jerk, he's been fired from several other gas stations, but he was rehired where I'm at just because they are desperate for people. My brother came in and filled out an application, applying for the same shift as Brett. I called him when I got off of work to warn him about this asshole, and we have decided that it is now our mission to either get this guy to quit, or get him fired. I mean this guy shouldn't be working there anyway.... He was yelling about how people are "fucking idiots", slamming stuff around, throwing a general temper tantrum..... WHILE there were customers in the store!!

Well, I am extremely tired, so I am going to go put my feet up (They are SOOO sore!) and go to bed! I'm off tomorrow, so YAY!

Until later, Ciao Baby!

The Worst Day Possible (Short of some sort of Major Catastrophe)

So I had a job interview today... I don't NEED a job, Dave brings in enough money to support us, but it will help pay those bills that I racked up before we got together that I'm still trying to pay off... just so we can eventually buy a house someday...

Now, usually I am very nervous when it comes to inteviews... I suck at them is putting it nicely... but today I think I had the upper hand, and was really relaxed. The guy was 10 minutes late for our appointment, and 2 minutes into the interview his cell phone started ringing and he had to excuse himself because he had been waiting for this "really important" phone call. Just knowing that the interviewer was messing up so badly really put me at ease. So I aced the interview, and I'm almost positive that I got the job. It also kind of helps that my dad referred me to the job and kind of has some sway in wether or not I get hired.....

That was the best part of my day. The rest was crap. I can't recall everything crappy that happened today, but let's just say it was a non-stop crap fest. The kids were HORRENDOUS today.... I don't think anything short of beating them in public would have straightened them out... well, that, and Daddy being there to set things right... It was one of those "Wait until your Dad gets home" days. The kids were fighting and arguing all the way through out our hour trip to Wal-Mart. Dave was cranky with me on the phone earlier. I had to go pick up a transmission for his truck, only one of the three that we need rebuilt right now... (Couldn't have happened at a worst time!!) Right after leaving Wal-Mart I realized that I needed to go get dinner, and that I was going to have to pick Dave up from work in less than an hour, so there was no point in going home. After leaving Wendy's I drive through the current Detour because of all the damn road construction going on. I come to this really busy intersection (It is rush hour after all!) and I'm making a right turn, so I'm watching the traffic comeing from the left... there was a break in the flow, so I start to go, and right as I start to go and turn to look to my right, there is a guy on a bicycle right in front of my van. I slam on my brakes, but I don't stop in time, and hit the poor guy. GREEEAAAAAAAT! He's okay, his bike is okay... But I'm practically flippin' out..... I jump out of my van all freeked out, making sure he's okay... what should we do? Does he wanna call the cops? Does he want my insurance info? He keeps trying to reassure me that none of that is necessary and that he and his bike is okay... Took about 10 minutes, but he finally managed to convince me that he was okay, and went about his way.

I get to Dave's work and we have about 40 minutes to wait before he gets off work. The kids start in as soon I put the van in park. I tell them like 4 times that they really really REALLY need to be quiet right now. Do they listen? For about 2 seconds. I honestly had to get out of the vehicle for a few minutes because I was about to lose it.

We get home, and I tell Dave that I'm going to the gym. I go to the gym, and it turns out that my membership expired TODAY! And because I didn't come in and renew it, I had to pay $124 instead of just $99 for another 6 months. You would figure that the one escape that I truely enjoy would help.... The treadmills weren't working.... the ab machine was taken.... so I had to wait, and use the really crappy treadmills.... and then, when I go to the water cooler to get some water, I drop a full cup of water on the ground. I dropped the water, looked at it, said yep, and left. Oh, and it turns out that my gym is no longer open 24 hours. Suck ass.

My day was so bad that when I left the gym, I went to the gas station to put air in the tires, and as I was doing that I could just see either one of the tires blowing out, or someone coming around the corner and running me over, or getting car jacked. IT'S BEEN THAT BAD PEOPLE!!

I'm just gonna go to bed now. Let's end this horrific day. Please wish me luck for tomorrow!

Cops!! (Again?)

So let me tell you about what happened last night.

The chicks who moved in across the street, replacing the previously mentioned crazy crackhead, who seem to party every single night of the week, had two guys over at their house. Me and Dave are trying to sleep, and right around 1 a.m., when I'm on the verge of sleep, I hear this blood curdling scream come from across the street. Then I hear what sounds like 2 guys yelling at each other. Then I hear what sounds like someone getting their ass kicked.
Me and Dave both shoot out of bed and go to the balcony door. We open the blinds, and right across from my bedroom is one of the girls bedroom. Her blinds were half open and the window was barely cracked. We see what looks like two guys wrestling with each other. These two guys are screaming at each other, the one guy is throwing things. I hear him yelling something about having tried the straight and narrow, he knows he fucked up, he doesn't care... then he starts telling the other guy "I would die for you man!" and "This stupid little whore coming between us!" We then see one guy fly against the window, and we both thought that he was going to go through the glass.
I then see my neighbors, the chicks next door neighbor, light turn on. So we call him up, and he answers right as he's coming out his front door. He goes and checks the parking lot, sees the commotion in her window, and rings the door bell twice. This girl answers the door, and she is obviously upset, but she assures us that the cops have been called and are on their way. J tells her that if she needs to, she can come over there to wait for the cops. She declined and went back into her apartment. J comes over and we're talking, and the neighbor who lives 2 doors down from my side comes over, and we stand there for about 30 minutes watching these guy sream and yell at each other until the cops show up. Right when the cops show up, the girl opens the front door and walks away. It had gotten quiet for 5 minutes right before the cops got here, but right as they were walking up the driveway, the guys started fighting again. The cops went to the door, rang the bell twice, and went inside. Now, when they rang the bell the second time, the guy who's flipping out and fighting with the other guy runs to the window, yanks open the blinds the rest of the way, opens the window and looks down. He sees Dave on the balcony, me, J, and K all standing out front, then he sees the cops. He darts away from the window and makes a break for the bedroom door... well, when he gets out the door, he comes face to face with one cop, and when he does, he turns and bolts for the bedroom, and then beelines it out the second story window. I swear to you, this dumbass jumped out the damn window! He's hanging there for a few seconds, by one hand and one foot. He lets hit foot drop and then drops to the ground. All of us heard some sort of crunch and then he takes off..... We're all yelling at the cops that's he's outside, he's jumped the fence....

I have no idea wether or not the cops ever caught this jackass, but I do know they had the K-9 unit out. I hope they caught his dumbass.

You would think that after something like that happens, these girls would learn there lesson. But NOOOO..... Last night they had another damn party, there was something like 6 cars outside, one of which kept fucking with his alarm, which woke up the baby. Dave went outside and yelled at them that if it happens again he's going to call the cops. Well, the one guy started being a smartass, but not being brave enough to say anything loud enough for us to really hear it or say it directly to us.... About an hour later the jackass sets off his alarm and let it blare for about 2-3 minutes. That's fine. If they wanna play this game, I'm game. If they start coming over tonight, me and K are going to go out there and try to make it very obvious that we are doing something around their trucks.... If they ask me what I'm doing, I'm going to tell them that if they won't work with us on this problem, that's fine. I'll just work with APD about it, and that I'm taking down lisence plate numbers. If I see ANYTHING even remotely suspicous, I'm calling APD.

A few years back, if this had happened, their windows would suddenly and mysteriously start getting broken out. But I think those moments have passed. I'll just do whatever I have to do within the legal restraints of the law to handle this problem. Like all the cars parking out front is a clear violation of the fire codes... if the apartment at the end of the building had caught fire, there is no way that a fire truck or an ambulance could get in there. I've got some photos that need to go to the Landlord and the Fire Marshall. We'll see what they have to say about all this!!

Stoopid People!

This picture was taken at my parent's house..... I wore that dress once and was never able to find it again... I think someone stole it. (It and the 2 others, in 2 different colors that I bought with it....) They just disappeared!! Weird..... 

Just Call Me Ms. Community-Watch.... Everyone Else Does!!

First let me explain the title...

I don't think I ever posted about the crackhead's daughter's boyfriend.... Kenny. He is the typical kind of guy you would expect to be dating a confirmed crackhead's psychotic daughter. (And I DO mean psychotic... this girl was actually handcuffed, for officers safety, and led away to the local mental ward for a few months!) He's a little thug wannabe, who thinks he's all badass, but in reality is nothing more than a little punk who doesn't have the balls to say something to someone's face. Well, Kenny was leaving here one day a few weeks ago, driving a friends truck that they were trying to sell, it had their phone number written on the back window. He left with his sister's 12 year old brother sitting in the passenger seat, my guess with no seat belt on, knowing the family. Well, he pulled down to the end of the complex and peeled out without stopping to look for other vehicles like you are supposed to do, and in the process hits a Honda CRV, and comes within inches of running over a high schooler who was walking home at the time. Instead of stopping to make sure everyone was okay, you know, like a normal, sane, DECENT human being would do, he takes off. (Surprise, surprise, I know!)
Well, me being at my wit's end with these people and the way they keep breaking the law and getting away with it, all while having several underage children in the house, I called the cops, and was one of the first people to report it. I went outside and waited for the cops with the "victims". I spoke with the officer, because no one knew the guys full name, and no one caught the license plate number, I wanted to make sure the officer knew that he is always around here. He gave me his card and told me to call him if I saw him again.

Well, the dumbass Kenny waited about 3 weeks before he started coming around again. This time he's in a completely different vehicle. Well, I immediately grabbed the officers card and called him to inform him that Kenny had come back. He said that it was ironic that I was calling him then because he was currently on the scene of another Hit and Run accident. He said that as soon as the current one was taken care of and cleared up, he would head over, and I should call him in case they left. Well, about 35 minutes later, they left.. But I got the license plate number this time and good description of the car. I called Officer M back and told him they had left and given him the info.
Kenny didn't come back for another two days. Well, when he did come back, I called the officer's number, but there was no answer. He was off-duty. So I called dispatch instead. Well because I had none of the necessary information, they couldn't send an officer out. Niiiiice. Oh I was maaad! Well, the next day, David and the kids are all outside, David working on his truck and the kids riding their bikes. Kenny comes back by to either drop someone off or pick someone up, not too sure about which one. Either way, he was fixing to leave and Adam had kicked his soccer ball and it went behind Kenny's car. David stops Adam from going to get it, and is standing there waiting for Kenny to back out and leave. Well, Kenny starts yelling and cussing at David to hurry up and get the F'n ball.... which does nothing but piss off David, so he slooooowly walks behind Kenny's car and gets the ball. When David gets back to where the kids are, Jennifer is about to ride her bike out of the driveway when David stops her and starts yelling about how
"This jackass has already hit one person and left the scene, you don't need to be the next person he hits!!" So Kenny starts yelling at David, cussing him out saying that he's gonna kick his ass.... To which David responds "You got something to say to me, get out of your car and say it!" Kenny just keeps cussing at him, and drives off. Well, unfortunately I didn't hear about this until after the fact, otherwise I was going to back my van out and block him in, preventing him from leaving and then call the cops and tell them either you get an officer out here, or I'm going to handle it.
Well, the next day, the landlord was here, working on one of the empty condos, so I went over and talked to him and told him what had happened the night before. He told me that they are moving out at the end of the month. To which I replied "Really?" like a little kid in a candy shop. WOOHOO! Finally, they are LEAVING!! (It was so funny because when I told him about Kenny threatning to kick David's ass, he just started laughing, and just said "David would knock his ass out!")
Well, later that day, the genius Kenny shows up. The landlord goes over to talk to him, to tell him "Look, you're causing way too many problems around here, I don't want you here anymore!" to which Kenny starts cussing out the landlord saying that he isn't going anywhere until his girlfriends mom is moved out. The landlord calls me and says that I should call the officer again. I try to call the officer, but once again, he's off-duty. And since I already had issues with dispatch, I wasn't about to try that tactic again. But they left before I could think of something. Well, later that night, after the landlord had left, they came back. This time they were moving a lot slower and obviously in no rush to leave, as they were loading stuff into the car to move.
Hehehe this is where it gets really good.
Thinking quickly, I call dispatch and tell them that there is a car I don't recognize two doors down and they are moving stuff out of the apartment and that I don't see the renter anywhere around. Well as I'm standing there on the phone with dispatch, they spot me watching them while on the phone, so Kenny assumes I'm on the phone with the cops, and starts yelling at his girlfriend that they have to go NOW! I think this is just perfect and relay that info to dispatch that they saw me on the phone and they are rushing to go and go quickly.... well in no time flat, there were two officers here. As soon as he saw the one cop car, he took off, without his girlfriend. The one cop car took off after him and got him to pull over, while the other stayed here and talked to the girlfriend and her mom, who just so happened to be in the apartment... I didn't see her, so I didn't know! Well, it turns out that not only is driving with a revoked license, but he's got 3 warrants out for his arrest on top of the cops looking for him for the hit and run. Hehehe needless to say he won't be coming back around here before the months up!

Whew! That's a lot to type! I'll catch you up on more later, I need to finish eating my dinner!

Oh! P.S.~ I've started the South Beach Diet, and in the first 5 days, I've already lost 6 pounds! WooHoo! Although it's really hard to give up all the foods I REALLY love, I'm doing farely well on it!

Until later,
Ciao Baby!

Hi

Yes, I am still alive... But extremely busy lately. So here's a quick update...

The custody hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 8th due to scheduling conflicts

Got my parents moved, with no help from my father, who I am quickly coming to realize is a bastard, lazy and treats my mom like crap.

The kids are great, school lets out on the 9th, and then I have them to myself for 3 months! Yay me!

That's it for now,

Ciao Baby!

Wow!!

OMG!! Has it really been over 2 weeks since I posted last? Holy Hell! I've got so much to catch everyone up on!

Let's see here, first let me tell you about my parents. I love my parents fiercly and I would do anything for them. Last year they recieved notice that the trailor park they were living in would be closing down, so they would have to move. Well, after spending almost a whole year looking for a place to live, they finally came to an agreement with a so-called friend of theirs, that they would rent the house she had wrongfully inherited from a very dear, and way too trusting family friend that had passed away. She was moving somewhere near Boston, and wanted to rent the house out.

Well this "Stupid Fucking Whore", as I call her since that's what she is, (Pardon my language, this woman really pisses me off more than anything I can think of, and you'll soon see why), was only able to inherite the house because she promised the previous owner that she would NEVER sell the house, or the 8 acres that came with it. The previous owner, God rest his soul, had built the whole house with his own hands. Everything in that house he put there or installed himself. He had built this house for his beloved wife, who had passed a number of years before him. The house was his tribute to his wife, and anytime he looked at ANYTHING in that house it reminded him of some wonderful memory of his wife.

My parent's were able to rent the house from the SFW because she knew that my parents had dearly loved the previous owner, and respected that house more than anyone ever could, besides the previous owner, that is. So my parents moved in last October.

Well, early last month, the SFW decided that she is going to sell not only the house, but the land as well. She flew into town, was here for at least a whole week, and only had the nerve to show her face at the house for all of 5 minutes. Long enough to drop the bombshell on my mom that they now had 30 days to completely vacate the house, and to get my mom to sign the agreement that she was notified and agreed to move out in that time frame.

*A little back history for a second, because I forgot to mention that when my parent's were forced to move from their original home because the land was sold, it wasn't just my parent's who had to move, but my Grandmother as well... she owned a trailor across from my parent's. Unfortunately the place that my Grandmother moved to does not have nearly enough room to hold even a quarter of the things she owns, so most of her stuff had to be stored at the house my parents were renting.

Unfortunately, my parent's don't make that much money at their jobs, and can't afford too much. Recently my parent's have been so strapped for cash that my mom hasn't been able to make her car payment in almost 4 months. So for them to find a place to rent, that is within their price range, is damn near impossible. For the past month now, I've been stressing so hard on what my parent's are going to do. I was even at the point where me and David were going to purchase a house and land and just let my parents live there and pay the mortgage. Unfortunately thats not an option for us for another 2 and a half months because David is currently being sued by State Farm for an accident he was involved in before we started dating. The amount that SF is asking for is absolutely rediculous, but we don't want to take the chance that the court will decide to take the property as payment on the judgement.

Well, thankfully after a whole month of serious stressing over all of this, my mom finally was able to find a place to rent.... a whole 5 days before the deadline of moving out. That left us 5 days to get EVERYTHING, and my parent's have a LOT of stuff, out of the house, get everything out of the huge shed on the 8 acres, and get the two sheds that my parent's own, off the property. For the past 3 days I have been helping my mom move everything either to the new place, or to the storage unit that they are being forced to rent. With yesterday being the last day, it was by far the longest. I showed up around noon, and didn't get home until 2 in the morning. Oh my god am I tired!!!

So that is one of the stressors that has been lifted off of my shoulders.

As for the other really MAJOR stressor that has been put on me.... The whole custody case involving my evil, vile, horrid ex-mother-in-law, and my 4 year old daughter, it is finally drawing to a final close. There is in fact a final hearing date set, and the end is not only in sight, but so damn close too! The final hearing date is set for June 8th. We got the custody investogators report back and it could not have been better for me!! I am so thankful that through it all, this whole time I've been telling people what a nut job this woman is, and how messed up in the head she is... no one ever really paid it any heed, just kind of brushed it off... well thank God that the CI saw through all this woman's bullshit. I got exactly what I was hoping for from the CI, a full recommendation that I recieve sole legal and physical custody, with no set visitation times set forth, so that I can arrange the visitation however I see fit. Yay for me!!

Oh, and if you don't know anyone who has ever done a civilian arrest.... you do now!! Hehehe

On Monday, Memorial Day, David, the kids, and I were coming home from my helping my parents move... They live about an hour away from us, in another town... We were driving down the highway when all of a sudden, these three guys on motorcycles go flying past us... They had to have been doing at least 110 MPH.. and they were weaving in and out of traffic, riding the center line, sometimes dashing in between cars that are driving side by side. Completely reckless, with no concern for other peoples live, let alone theirs apparently. Well, there was a 4th guy on a bike that had got caught behind two trucks that were hauling construction equipment, but as soon as the coast was clear and he could get past them, he took off like a bat out of hell trying to catch up to his friends. I mean these guys came so close to my van that the one bike was about an inch from my side mirror. Well, the area that this happened at has no cell reception, at least not from my carrier. But as soon as I had reception, I contacted the police department and reported the bikers. They informed me that they had already recieved several calls on these guys, and had a locate out on them, but the dispatcher asked me for my name and number just in case they needed another witness.

Well, these guys were being so stupid... and I don't mean the typical "out of the gene pool, damn it" stupid, I'm talking you should be executed for being that damn stupid.... that the rest of the way home I'm expecting to come around one of the bends in the highway to see the flashing red and blues, and flashing solid reds and to come up on some horrible, horrible accident. That didn't happen, but as soon as we did get to town, right at the first off ramp, there were the flashing red and blues, 2 cops had pulled over the 4th biker... the one I called the slow one. I took that off ramp, because it was the one I needed, and called back to dispatch. I informed them that the biker the officers had pulled over at that exit was in fact one of the 4 that were driving recklessly on the highway. They said thank you and hung up, and soon as I hung up my phone, another dispatcher called me right back and asked me if I would be willing to go and identify the guy for the officers. I told them that I was MORE than willing to do that. So I went back, I got to use the emergency turn around on the highway... hehehe... and when I pulled up to the officers, one of them came over and explained that because they weren't there and didn't see it, they would not be able to arrest the guy unless someone did a citizens arrest, and would I be willing to do that. I told them that I most definitely would be willing to do that. Unfortunately, it wasn't what most people would expect, because I didn't even get to talk to the guy at all, I just had to sit in my van, and fill out some paperwork for the officer stating that I was placing this person under citizen arrest, and what I saw that prompted the CA. But as soon as the guy had heard that there was a witness on their way back to ID him, he gave up the other 3 bikers. So all 3 of them got arrested all because of me!! WOOHOO, GO ME!!

There's a lot more to tell, but the batteries are dying in my keyboard so I'm going to have to save it until later!

Until then, Ciao Baby!

What To Do Today?

So we are having yet another absolutely gorgeous day here in Anchorage, Alaska. And I am at a complete loss as to what the kids and I should do. I really want to take them to the Seward Sea Life Center, link to the right, but I don't want to go all the way there, it's about an hour and a half drive away from Anchorage, without David. That, and Jennifer is spending the day with my Grandma, and I don't want to go without her either.
I'm thinking of taking the kids to the Marshland to watch all the birds that have made it their home. There is a really nice boardwalk that you can walk down with information boards all over the place talking about all the different birds that live there.
I could take them to the museum today, I've been wanting to go down there so I can sign us up for a family membership, and they've got a really cool display on old toys. And there's a lot of children's art work on display too. Link to the right
Or I could take them to the Imaginarium today, they always have great stuff for the kids to do, and the best part is that the kids are learning, and they are having so much fun, they don't realize it. Link to the right
We went to the zoo last weekend, for Mother's day. Got all the way there, and realized I didn't have my camera on me, so unfortuantely no pictures of that trip. Shame too, because we took the Snugli and I was walking around with my baby strapped to my chest and he was LOVING it!! Poor little guy got scared when he saw the elephant though. Loved the brown bears, got upset when we walked away. And of course, when we saw the mountain lion, which was laying right there like 3 feet away from us on the other side of the glass, he got all excited. Oh, did I mention that his second word was "kitty"? It's more like key-key, but he always says it when he's chasing our cat, Cooper, around. Still no "momma", go figure. So his vocabulary is up to 3 words, "Dada", "Hi", and "Key-Key". Stubborn little guy refuses to even try to say Momma. He gives me a look that says "Yeah, right. Why would I need to say your name, when all I have to do is fuss a little bit?" I think he tried to say Adam's name the other day, but I can't be sure.

So anyway, I'm going to go take my kids out to lunch, probably to Ihop because they are saying they want breakfast food and I refuse to ever eat at a Denny's again. (that's a whole other story for a whole other post!) And then I will figure out what I'm going to do with the kiddos. But this time, the camera is in the diaper bag, so I will take pictures!

Ciao!

Current Temperature: 64 degrees and clear skies.
Slight breeze

A Little Better Of A Day

I realized today that my kids have come up with a new way to test my limits. Whenever I need the kids out of my way, like when I'm cleaning, I'll tell them to go upstairs. Whenever I tell them to go upstairs, they whine about wanting to be downstairs.... It never fails that when I tell them that they can come downstairs, and they do, I'll wind up needing to do something in another room, and if the baby doesn't have someone in the same room as him he'll freak out, so I always tell the kids to stay downstairs and keep an eye on their brother. As soon as I tell them to stay downstairs, they whine about wanting to go upstairs.

This is why I have so many grey hairs at the age of 24, and why it looks like I've been pulling my hair out. Pretty soon I swear I'm going to wind up like Homer Simpson and only have two hairs left up there.... Sometimes I feel like doing what he did everytime Marge told him she was pregnant... go running up and down the stairs pulling my hair out and screaming "Oh My God!" over and over.

I forgot to take my meds yesterday, so that's the reason behind the rant and rave. Let me tell you, I can tell one hell of a difference when I'm off the meds as opposed to being on them. Just like my son, it's a complete 180.

We are down to five weeks left until school lets out, then I start pulling my hair out full-time. All I can say is that I am so thankful that I should be starting a job soon! Hehehe then they get to go over to their Grandma's or their Aunt's (who is a teacher by the way!) house and have fun giving them more grey hair!

Here comes my obligatory blurb about "The Apprentice"~ I have to say that I was wrong as to who the final two would be, but at least my chica made it! I thought it was going to be Tana and
Craig, but it wound up being down to Tana and Kendra. I want to say here that I have a strong feeling that Tana is going to be the new Apprentice. I like her a lot, and I can see that she has what it takes to be "The Donald's" apprentice. I haven't like too much of what Kendra has done. There was only one episode that gave me the reverse feeling.. the one where they had to come up with a brochure for the new Pontiac. I was upset with Tana for bailing on Kendra the way she did, and I very impressed with the work that Kendra did through the night all on her own. Go girl!
But, all in all, that was only once, and my money is still on Tana. All will be decided next Thursday at 9/8C on NBC. (Boy, don't I sound like an advertisement!)



By The way*** this was a post that I was in the middle of writing about a week ago, but never got around to finishing, and didn't want to delete it***

Aaauuuugghh!!

Current mood: pissed off

I hate how all it takes to ruin a good day or a good mood is one small little thing that wouldn't bother most "normal" people.

Here I was, browsing through all the profiles of the people in my area on www.myspace.com and lo and behold, I come across the profile of my ex-husband's sister-in-law.

"Beautiful girl seeking beautiful friends".
I don't think you can consider yourself beautiful when you are such a hateful person. And hateful for no good reason.

For some reason, I have no clue why, this woman has taken upon herself to hate my guts. I have never done anything to her, nor to her family, even though that whole family has decided to drag me through the gutter in a vain attempt to ruin my life, my spirit, and my relationship with my 4 year old daughter.

For some reason, this woman befriended my ex-husband. Even though both of his brothers, her husband included, always belittled him, treated him like crap, and thought he was a complete idiot.

For some reason, this woman was pissed at ME, even though my ex-husband completely abandoned his daughter and me, never gave a shit about us, couldn't care less whether or not we died. He never ONCE tried to contact his daughter, not while he was living with them, or when he finally got a place of his own and stopped mooching off his brother.

For some reason, this woman hates me, even though the end of my marriage came as a result of him cheating on me while I was stuck down in Texas, away from my (at that time) youngest child whom I had NEVER been apart from, while fighting tooth and nail to regain custody of the two oldest children that my first husband had managed to steal away from me. It was him who decided on New Years that he was going to go to a party where he knew there was going to be "X" passed around, and it was him that decided he was going to sleep with not only a friend of mine, but attempt to sleep with my best friend, and then sleep with her sister. In my bed. In our house.

And for some reason, even though my ex-mother-in-law is the devil incarnate, and out of her damn mind... (even her own children say this behind her back, and her own daughter HATES her to the point of moving everytime her mom gets her address or changes her number whenever she gets her phone number, that horrible woman is attempting to take custody away from me of my 4 year old daughter, even though all accusations she has made have been disproved, she has been shown, in court, to be a psychotic liar and I won't even go into everything that the vile woman has put my daughter through.) ... even though they all hate my ex-mother-in-law, they still go over to her house every weekend... maybe in hopes of some sort of inheritance, they are well off after all!

So, for this woman, my ex-husband's sister-in-law, to be such a heinous BITCH to me for no damn good reason, it just really PISSES ME OFF anytime I see her face. Be it in a picture, or in real life, like the time I ran into her at my work and I stared her down just daring her to say or do something... I didn't care at that point, I would have lost my job with no problem... For her to think that she is so damn better than me.....

At least I've never changed myself for a man.
At least I have enough dignity in myself to not get a boob-job just to make my man happy.
At least I'm secure enough in myself and my relationship to know better than to change my sexual orientation to suit my husbands ever-gowing lust.
At least I'm not so damn materialistic that I think anyone who makes less than me is beneath me.
At least I'm not such a bitch that I can hate someone for no reason.

I have a reason to hate her.... because of the ugly person she is on the inside, especially to me. "Beautiful girl.... " That skin will wrinkle one day, and those fake boobs of yours will one day sag right down to your "cute" little belly button ring... and one day you will look in the mirror and see cellulite on your ass. And knowing your husband, I can almost guarantee that just like his dad did, he'll trade you in for a younger, better looking model.

I hate how all it takes is seeing a picture to piss me off this much!

Alrighty, here we go... This is the after picture taken by Jennifer, all ber herself, just this morning! The woman cut it a little TOO short, but oh well... I guess I'll live.  

Somehow I always managed to look high whenever someone takes a picture of me. I don't know why, but I do. I swear I'm not though.... lol. Okay, so this is the "Before" shot.. I'm heading to get all my hair chopped off! Yay!  

This is one of the pictures that LeeAnna has convinced me to post... against my better judgement, that is..... I didn't even know she had taken this one, until I had loaded the pictures into the computer.  

Okay, so against my better judgement, LeeAnna has managed to convince me that I need to put the two pictures up that she took. SOoooo here you go! The hat says "The Mom"  

Jenny likes to show off all the things she manages to pick up off the ground.... Man, I wish she wouldn't do that!  

Jenny wanted to say "What do you want from me?" to everyone.... she's so damn cute!  

Adam wanted to say Hello! to everyone out there in cyber-world! And he wants me to tell you that the park was real fun, and know he's playing outside in the sandbox in our back yard.  

LeeAnna was making faces at her little brother to make him smile, and I managed to capture this moment. Imagine, that moment will forever be frozen in time..... hehehe I can't wait until she turns 16 and I can torture her with this one!  

He definitely looks like his daddy in this picture.... profile and all! Too damn cute! 

This was the first picture taken... he's only making this face because the sun was in his eyes, but it looks like he's saying "Where the hell are we, mom, and why did you bring me here?" 

Today's Plans

Today I will be taking the kids to the park because it is an absolutely gorgeous day here in Anchorage, Alaska. There isn't a cloud in the sky, and it's a warm 62 degrees at noon, which means that it will only get warmer. Yesterday it hit 75 degrees, which is sooooo great!

Of course I will take pictures while I'm out!

Last night we went to see the movie, and let me just say it was AWESOME! It was so great to see the work of one of the greatest comedic authors of the 20th century up there on the screen in a way that would have made him happy.

There was one problem though. There was a guy who was sitting right in front of me that reminded me of my jack-ass ex-boyfriend. From the moment this guy was within my ear shot he grated my nerves. Going on and on to his group of friends that they could sit wherever the hell they wanted to, but he was going to sit right here, because this is the sweetest spot in the whole place for sound and picture and he should know because he used to work in a theatre. Ugh.

There were only two other people with him when I first noticed him, a woman who looked old enough to be his mom, but later I found out was his girlfriend or something like it, and guy who looked really familiar to me. After looking at him for about two seconds, I ventured a "Rob?" and when he turned around we looked at each other we did the whole "Oh my god! How the hell have you been?" thing that you always do when you run into an old friend that you haven't seen in forever. I told him that I wasn't surprised to see him here on opening night, considering that this is the guy who let me borrow his "Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide" a few years ago that I still have in my entertainment center.... http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/trouse_80/detail?.dir=/383d&.dnm=1dbf.jpg&.src=ph

He mentions that Chris, another friend of mine is in the back row, and I turn and right behind me, a few rows back is my friend Chris, who like the genius he is, says "What are you doing here?" which I responded with a "Ummm, helloooooo?" while motioning to the movie screen. After about 5 minutes the jackass in front of me goes back to where Chris and his girlfriend are and manages to convince them to come join him where he's sitting. So Chris and his girl move, and now two old friends of mine are sitting in the row in front of me, with this jackass.

At the end of the movie, while I'm sitting there waiting for everyone to leave... With social anxiety I have to wait for the theatre to clear out before I can leave... so I'm talking to Rob about what he thought of the movie, and all of a sudden the jackass dumps his popcorn all over the girl he's with, and shouts "That's for wearing my shirt!" Well, she kind of laughs, but it's that laugh that all women know, the one you laugh when you first start seeing someone and they do something so asnine, but you are still in the puppy love phase and want to be polite, but you know that if they had been together for longer than 6 months that she would have slapped him or something. So I ignore it, and continue my conversation with Rob. A few seconds later the Jackass dumps the last of his popcorn on this girl. This is the best part, so pay attention.... This is when David grabs our bag of popcorn and dumps it on the jackass' head. Hehehehe...Now this guy is like maybe 5'4" and scrawny as hell, and David is taller than me, and pretty well built. The jackass turns like he's going to say something, takes one look at David and decides against it.
Chris and David do the whole macho high five thing, and the girl says "Thank you!" to which David responds "No problem. Men should treat women with more respect. Especially the women they so obviously want to sleep with." Oh MY God it was GREAT! After we left the theatre, the jackass went to the bathroom to clean the popcorn out of his clothes and go to the bathroom. I ask Chris who the hell he is, and I find out his name is Kenny. Chris explains to me that he's a really old childhood friend, their families are close, but lately kenny has gotten worse and worse, and he's getting to the point to where he just really wants to punch him the face. I laughed and told him that he reminded me of my ex, who I met through Chris oddly enough, and that I really wanted to kick him in the back of the head the whole movie.

But the kids are FINALLY done with their lunches and I want to "Get the hell outta Dodge!" So we are outta here!

Until later, Ciao!

Time Can Change Me, But I Can't Change Time

20 years ago I...
1. was still innocent
2. worshipped my parents
3. thought I could dig to China

10 years ago I...
1. Lost my virginity
2. Hated my parents
3. Wished I lived in China

5 years ago I...
1. Realized my parents are still amazing people
2. was pregnant
3. wanted to marry a dumbass

3 years ago I...
1. got my two older kids back from their father
2. Seperated from my dumbass husband
3. bought my first car

1 year ago I...
1. Finally grew up
2. Finally hooked up with someone I had loved for 6 years
3. was pregnant again for the 4th time

So far this year I...
1. Finally managed to get into therapy
2. realized how thankful I am in this life
3. finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up

Yesterday I...
1. Went to see a great movie that I had been wanting to see
2. Appreciated a sunny day
3. watched my youngest child learn how to stand up

Today I...
1. Got to sleep in for the first time in forever!
2. Completed this survey
3. Took my kids to the park and let them enjoy their youth

Tomorrow I will...
1. Go visit an old friend
2. Spend more time with my kids
3. Get out of the house

In the next year I will...
1. have my Real Estate License
2. Get out of Debt
3. Buy a new vehicle because I need it

It Has Been Decided

I am going to get my hair cut! I can't stand long hair anymore! It shall be chopped off! I'll post a before and after picture for all of you, so no worries!

Well, I just wanted to come on here real quick and let you know of my decision before we go to watch "The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy" It is so awesome that they made this movie. David and I share a passion for this book, which is weird because he doesn't like to read and I LOVE to read, so for the two of to love the same book.... what are the odds?

I'll come back on tonight and give my review of the movie without giving it away. All I'm going to say is if you are going to see this movie, and you haven't read the book, TAKE A TOWEL. You should be able to understand after you see it.

Until later, Ciao!

Just some randomness

So, I've begun going to the gym every night (and yes, I mean EVERY night). I'm determined that this summer I WILL WEAR A BIKINI!! As I'm sitting there in the ab machine, doing my crunches, and my abs are screaming at me, the saying "No Pain, No Gain" pops into my head. As that pops in there, my alternate personality, the smart ass in my head, says "I thought that when you are on a diet, the whole point is to lose weight, not gain it. So why do they say that?"

This is what I have to deal with people.

Yesterday, my legs were so tired pretty much right away when I got on the treadmill, and it didn't help that for some reason, all the GOOD TREADMILLS at my gym are all fucked up and not working, so I had to use one of the crappy ones. Well, right as I'm ready to give up on it, I look up at the T.V.'s and you would not believe what was playing on one of them.... G.I. Jane. Talk about one hell of a motivator. It was at the scene where they are all in the ocean, and it's night time, and the drill instructor is yelling at them and they are only allowed to get out of the water because she was able to answer his question correctly..... Yeah, so I toughed it out and made it through the whole cycle.... I was even about to do a second one just so I could continue watching it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything else if I did, so I unplugged and got off the treadmill.

Aaron has officially began crawling. I didn't want to call it until he actually got on his hands and knees and he finally did yesterday! Until then he had been basically pulling himself around by his arms.
Speaking of the little guy, he's going to be a fun 2 year old. I can tell already. And when I say fun, I mean it sarcastically, just in case you didn't catch that. He already throws his tantrums. It's cute now, but I know I'm going to tire of it at some point in the future. He gets mad when I'm trying to change his diaper and he wants to crawl off and I won't let him, or when I'm trying to get clothes on him. (He's such a boy, he wants to run around naked ALL the time!) What he does is, he starts off by kicking his legs, and if that doesn't get him what he wants, he'll scrunch up his face and start screaming at me. Not like crying, but literally screaming as if he would cuss me out if he could! Like I said, I think it's cute right now.

Also, the little boy has suddenly decided that 6 a.m. is now the time that the whole family should be awake. He starts off by waking up Daddy (who is in charge of taking care of him at night, so I can sleep, so I can function properly the next day) and then by waking me up. Of course, we have to entertain him until about 7, when it's time for LeeAnna to wake up and take her shower. Which, when I go into her room to wake her up, the noise from Little Man wakes up Jennifer, whose bed is creaky and in turn wakes up Adam.

It was reassuring to hear from my cyber twin... whew! I can breath a sigh of relief! I hope you get home soon, and I hope the whole situation sorts itself out for you!

Another update, I have officially started on a book. I have even managed to convince a photographer to take all the pictures I need for the book, basically for free. It's nice to know people! I'll try to keep you guys up to date on how it's going.

I realized today that I have a renewed appreciation for life and everything involved in it. I'm noticing a lot, things I would never have seen before. It's very refreshing!

Well, The Apprentice is on, and it's down to the final four, and I really want to see the Street Smarts take it all the way, so I'm off to watch my favorite show!

Until later, Ciao!

I stayed up all night long waiting for your call, and you never called.... what the heck man!! 

Bah, I'm bored.... let's see what's over there! 

Coming to get the camera! 

This is where he noticed that I was taking his pictures, and because he HAS to have whatever mommy has, he decided to come and inspect the camera. 

Did I have twins? Nah, he just LOVES that baby in the mirror!! 

He loves playing with his reflection!! 

Look at him sitting up! He's so damn cute!! 

Random Thoughts

I've had a series of random thoughts that I can't seem to let go of, so I figured I would post them here, and hopefully I will be able to move on to other random thoughts. So here goes....

First off, let me just say that closed minded people just really piss me off. Anyone who is a homophobe deserves all the hell that life can throw at them. I happen to have a brother who is gay, and I must say that I support him 100%, and I totally agree with a lot of the thoughts he has considering our "government". I think that any person who denied the ability to marry and have a family just because of their sexual preference should NOT have to pay taxes. Why give the government that denies you your rights any of your money? I personally think this is a great idea, and I would love to see all the gay people in America rise up together and perform one HUGE protest against the government, and even file a HUGE class-action law suit.

Speaking of taxes, can I point something out? One of the reasons our founding fathers created this government is because we had fought our way out from under the oppressive rule of the brits, and to escape the huge taxes that they were imposing on us. Remember the Boston Tea Party? Also, a lot of the taxes we have today were initiated back when we were fighting in the World Wars, and they were only supposed to be temporary to help cover the cost that we lost with more than half our workforce helping out in the fighting. They were supposed to be lightened after the wars. But our wonderful government realized what they had going and decided to keep it going. Don't get me wrong, I pay my taxes, and I like to see my taxes go to good use, but "good use" is NOT paying for some over-indulgent, self-preserving, ego"testicle", power-hungry politco that calls themselves our "Representatives". Or, as I like to call them, our current "Mis-Representatives". Here's an idea..... take all of the politicians, and all public office positions, and make them minimum wage jobs. See how many people actually run for election then. See how many people actually want the job. It's a good way to weed out all the bullshitters. It's a good way to get people in office that REALLY care. And it's a damn good way to save this country a WHOLE lotta money too!

Another thing I have a problem with- I think there should be a whole new department added to the current Police Departments. Traffic Control. These public service officers would be dedicated strictly to monitoring the roads. They would be required to drive around for their entire 8 hour shift, watching for speeders, reckless drivers, and any other offenders that are potentially a bad accident waiting to happen. I see too many dickwads that get away with doing 90 in a 35, running red lights, driving the wrong way downt the street, etc. Yet, if I forget to use my turn signal in a FREEKING TURN ONLY lane (which by the way it states in the driving manual that you get from the DMV that if you are in a TURN ONLY lane that you do NOT have to use your turn signal... I brought it with me and showed the judge to get out of that ticket! Go me!), I get pulled over. I wouldn't be able to count on both my hands and my feet the number of times that I have come within inches of death due to asshole drivers within the past month alone! Sheesh!

Well, I have to say that the Wellbutrin XL has been a GODSEND for me! I'm not nearly as angry as I have been in the past year (Although you probably can't tell by this blog), I'm actually able to focus, and I'm able to notice my anger levels so much better and I can let people know when they are ticking me off and warn them that unless they want to hear me scream, they should probably back off..... It's niiiiiiiiiiice! :) And I have been in a GREAT mood too! Therapy has done SOOO much!

Oh well, I'm going to load in some pictures so you can see all the cuteness that I get to experiance every day!

Until later, Ciao!

P.S.~ InANutShell, WHERE ARE YOU?? I'm going crazy here wondering how you are, and what's going on!! Let me know! I miss you "cyber-twin"!