Two 'fer Friday... Things...

You're going to get two posts tonight... back to back... because I have a lot on my mind and because I can... This post, and then, Feel Good Friday...
Are you ready?
Things...
1. If a hypnotist can fix your addiction to food, and your addiction to nicotine, then why don't other addicts use hypnotism to cure their addictions? Why can't criminals be hypnotized to cure their criminal intent? I am still thinking about this... I know there are a lot of variables...
2. In the same vein... Do fortune tellers know you're coming when you don't make an appointment? Why don't they win the lottery? Is there some kind of secret code of fortune tellers that forbids picking the winning numbers no one else knows about? But, surely, not every mystic follows that creed?  
3. Passive-aggressive behavior breeds passive-aggressive behavior. I have seen it. I have responded to it with my own passive-aggressive response in the past. And I don't like it. I don't like how responding in kind makes me feel (because it's really stupid to respond) and I don't like reading things that are such. I have recently read some things on social media that turn my stomach because they are that mean. I always wonder if the person posting knows, I mean really knows, both sides of the story or if they're going off of one side of the story / gut instinct / protection mode. It's like watching a train wreck...
4. Something else I have learned is that when a passive-aggressive post is viewed, people instantly think it's about them. The truth to that is, if you think it's about you, even if it's not, maybe you have some guilt somewhere? I know I've responded / thought "oh crap, is that me?". It's a sucky feeling. But... maybe that's the good to it? Those kinds of posts remind us to try to be the best person we are capable of, and if we still are failures, then we can at least be comforted by knowing we have tried to do the best we can. Keep it real, people.
5. Stress... We all have it. We all respond to it differently. I'm not sure how I'm responding. It's different these days than in the past, but my circumstances are also different. My goal is to cope in healthy ways and if I can do that I will be buff and fit in no time at all. HA! (I am finding great joy in hacking at the ice, which has to say something positive as far as a physical response to stress) Or I will spend my days watching reality TV and only going outside to take the puppy out! (not going to happen... just saying... I hope...)
6. I saw this great quote the other day...and I've been thinking about it a lot. I can't find the danged thing now, but it was something referring to lifelong friends and how grudges aren't held or relationships aren't questioned when it's been ages since they've talked. About how true friends always understand life is busy, but they know, regardless, that you will always love them. It reminded me of one of my oldest friends, Susie, who passed away over 3 years ago. That's how we were. We were friends since high school and into married life. We always had the best time together and managed to catch up so quickly when it had been a while that it was like no time had passed. She took care of me, and I took care of her. We cried together. We laughed together. We were strong together. I will never forget her bringing us dinner after K4 was born, and making sure she made all of the K's feel special with treats for them. She even took out my trash. And she held my baby so I could shower and spend time with the older K's. I did the same for her when her youngest was born. She helped us move into our house and organized my kitchen in such a way that I haven't changed much since because it works. She was the one who gave me a baby shower when most people said I didn't need one with a fourth child. And she made sure to pamper me as well as my baby. We both made mistakes towards her end, but it didn't matter. At all. She forgave me and I forgave her. The time that had passed didn't change my love for her, or hers for me. I still miss her a whole lot and wish I could call her to talk.
6. Cabin Fever is an absolute true ailment. I have been suffering from it, but I think I'm almost okay now. Maybe. After being away from the house nearly all day, I feel better than I did. I took the puppy to the vet, had lunch with my husband, went grocery shopping and took my time (and saved almost $20 in coupons), organized the grocery haul when I got home, went through my "to do folder" (yes, it's a real folder now and not just a list!), and spent a long time on the phone with K2. The rest of the weekend plans might help, and a little sun might go a long way too. (Especially since we're supposed to have more cold temperatures and more snow next week)
7. I should have talked to my husband before making the decision to not go away with my writing friends this weekend. I was being logical and financially oriented. But, as it turns out, we could have made it work. Sucks to be me...
Okay... I can't make it to ten, but maybe I will with Feel Good Friday...
Behave!

Friday Frustrations...

This is post one for this Friday. Post two will be Feel Good Friday!
But so far this morning I am totally frustrated / irritated / blah...

1. I'm trying to track down the kids' main Christmas presents. The ones I ordered a month ago. They were delivered. To New York. I have a case number with the post office and have spoke to the supervisor of the post office responsible for the wrong delivery. All I get from that guy is a run around - there are so many packages to be delivered, the driver can't remember where he dropped it, it had the wrong address on it - all bullshit. He also said he'd left me a message that they didn't know where my package was. Bullcrap. He didn't and he knows it. He also knows it was addressed correctly and that his driver didn't care. I caught him in that lie, but he still doesn't care. I called Consumer Affairs, but you have to leave a message with your case number. I left a message with the seller to please forward me a copy of the shipping label so I can prove to the post office that it wasn't wrongly addressed. (The seller has been okay through all this, but then, they already have my money - what do they really care?)

Argh! The thing is, I spent good money on the items. Good money that as of right now, I might as well have peed away. My kids have lost. I have lost my excitement at the prospect of their gifts because I know I'm never going to see them, and will probably not get my money back either. I am angry and frustrated. I want resolution and am not getting any.

2. Job searching. This morning I got an email from a company I applied to a month ago. He said they'd reviewed my resume and decided to hire me - without interview, reference checks... He'd gave me a weekly figure and said he was out of town, but we'd do the interview process, w2, etc, upon his return, though there were a few errands he needed me to run for him next week. He'd send me funds, including my pay. His email was full of errors - badly worded sentences, sentences that made no sense, logistics that made no sense. I had a bad feeling right away. I googled his name and company and on the first page, everything seems legit. So, I dug a little deeper, because who hires someone without an interview, or at least a telephone interview? And, of course, as is my luck, it's a scam. He sends you the money - which you then deposit and withdrawal - only the check is no good, so you're screwed. I know statistically I'm going to get a few of these due to how widely I am applying for work, but it's so frustrating. Why can't I just find a decent job?

3. Snow. Yes, I do love it. Very much. But I have things to do today. That Man "borrowed" our snow shovel (yes, we only have one right now) for his snowplow gig. I can't shovel the front walk. It's bitterly cold right now, which means the snow is not going to melt from the vehicles, so I have to clean both of them, too. I know... wah! Welcome to winter! I really don't mind, but given numbers 1 and 2, it's just adding to my frustration. Also, That Man has been plowing snow since 5:30 pm yesterday. He stopped in once to warm up and check the forecast, taking K3 with him for the shovel work, but he's been up for over 30 hours now, and I have no idea when he'll be home.

4. Sick kids. No, I'm not frustrated or irritated about this. Just blah. K3 ended up having to come home early because he wasn't feeling well. No fever, but his stomach is all messed up and he's almost as pale as the snow. I really hope this doesn't become an epidemic in our house, though  K4 was complaining about her stomach yesterday. Ugh!

5. Weird Dreams. Not going to go into them, but suffice it to say I was properly weirded out...

That's enough for now. I promise Feel Good Friday will be positive.
Behave!

Feel Good Friday - The Weekend Edition

Yeah, I know it's late on Sunday....
It's been quite a weekend around here. Busy and fun!
Here's the list!
1. Writing time. I've had to fight for it, but I win!
2. Not cooking Friday night! Yay for delivery and stuffs...
3. Revisions done and sent!
4. Renn Faire on Saturday. Very, very cool day! We had a blast!
5. Chilling with the younger K's and a lot of comedy videos Saturday night!
6. Sleeping in times two!
8. Laundry and grocery shopping done!
9. Meeting up with a very dear friend (and her daughter) on Saturday and getting to meet our dear friend's new man. Very fantastic to see her and he was very awesome. We are so glad for her! (Yes, they work at the Renn Faire!)
10. Managing... Because sometimes that's all you can do...
And in a few hours the week begins again... Oy! I know I'm not ready, but what can I do? (Can I get a rewind?)
Behave!

Bad Blogger

Yes, I suck!
I love this blog, and I hate not posting!
Not going to make excuses, because I always found time to blog before, so let's just move forward, okay? I will do my best to do better and maybe even try to be interesting. Maybe. No guarantees on that! Ha!
Okay... So what's been going on around here?

1. Total vehicle annihilation. Lost the tranny in That Man's Clown car a few weeks ago. Today, the drive shaft took a crap in our stupid mini-van. Which leaves my truck - my dying 'burban with over 200K miles, an electrical issue, and a tire that will need to be replaced soon. The Clown car is going to the Great Salvage Yard in the sky, but other than that, I have no idea what's going to happen, or how much anything will cost.

2. Crazy kids - Nothing has really changed in that department. It is very much chaos in this house, more lately. I really thought it would relax some once the wedding was over, but that hasn't been the case. We seem to be stuck in some kind of perpetual weird loop.

3. Writing - I am doing that! Have had to do some retraining with the new school schedule, but so far so good. Signed up for a conference in October and am very excited!

4. Other stuffs - This weather is so weird. It was so stinking hot today. I can't stand it! Time is moving by way too fast! Laundry never seems to get done. I suck at Twitter these days. I need to get some clothes for this conference. The day job is still very intense. My cat is shedding like crazy. My daughter could not move her very fat rat into their new apartment, so we are still "babysitting" the spoiled stinky beast. We will have a new driver in the house soon. (too bad there's no car for him to drive! Oy!)

Okay, I'm done blabbing for tonight. Sorry for the uninteresting content. Ha!
Behave!

Date Night!

*This was supposed to post Saturday night. I don't know why it didn't. I swear I checked and it was there...
Or date day!
I woke to the smell of coffee, followed by breakfast in bed - complete with the coffee and flowers! That Man said it was the beginning of our date.
It was a good beginning.
We talked over several more cups of coffee, and made more flowers for the bridal shower (these flowers are going to kill me, I swear! But they're so pretty and easy to make - unless you have to make a million of them...Oy!) He had plans to do yard work while I went to my writing meeting.
I skipped lunch after the meeting. I wanted to go, but we're totally under the gun with upcoming events and upcoming visitors (we have a month until That Man's brother arrives and the bridal shower - shhh!!). Plus, it was date night!
There was a massive amount of yard work already done when I got home. I helped, but not too much since I had to make flowers, and at this moment in time, I have only one pair of jeans and didn't want to get them dirty before our date.
We dropped the only kid home off at a friends for the night and went to a local steakhouse to use our gift certificate. The service was phenomenal, the food was pretty good, too, and so were my margaritas. We laughed, talked, and had a real chance to just "be" together. After dinner we did some normal errand running - craft store for supplies, grocery store. Then home to sit around the fire with our adult beverages. Alone.
It was a very nice date!
Behave!

Tuesday Randomness...

The people in my house are weird!
There has been traffic snafus, random dancing, hair straightening and then curling, wedding letter writing, awkward conversations, hamster cage cleaning, dentist appointments, cereal for dinner (for me. I don't know what anyone else ate), chores done way after dark (with attitude), an email that keeps popping up in my inbox even though I've deleted it sixty-five million times, spam messages that make me want to hit "reply" (I won't, but still...), funeral & calendar conversations, dead laptop batteries, summer camp forms, emails from friends we haven't seen in way too long (and plans to get together. Yay!), more awkward conversations, body part conversations (is it strange that this has its own category?), discussions of upcoming events and how not ready we are...
And all of that was just tonight.
That is all...
Behave!

Oy! Monday!

What a day! And I don't mean that in a good way!
It's cold! Horribly cold and the wind is blowing. I know it's January, but like I always say, if it's going to be cold, it should be snowing! It did snow a little earlier. Definitely not enough, but it was pretty coming down.
And the furnace was dead this morning. Neither That Man or I had time to restart it, so the kids (who had off today) had to deal with a frigid house. They did fine. Luckily we have the little fireplace that does a good job of warming the downstairs. It really wasn't too cold when I got home, which is good.
We won't talk about the bulk of my day... It should be sufficient to say that when it was over, I was glad.
I got some crappy news and that sucked!
Still... there were good things!
Baby B stopped by to see his Nanners. Well, technically, not to see me since he barely opened his eyes. He slept pretty much the whole time he was here, but he got lots of kisses. He is so cute and perfect!
Easy dinners. Still had to cook (and go to the store), but it could have been worse. (I'm ignoring the things I should have bought, but forgot, which means I'm also ignoring the fact that I'll have to go back tomorrow and then go other places in the frigid freezing cold.)
The kids cleaning up. The guys had a meeting here tonight and even though the guys they were meeting with don't care and probably wouldn't have noticed, I was still very glad not to come home to what I saw when I left this morning.
Weekend recap:
The kid didn't get his permit, because the testing place was closed due to the holiday. Oy! We were both very disappointed and I had to soothe his pain with a trip to the fancy grocery store for loose tea. (His new thing) That Man is taking a half day to get the permit done this week. If he doesn't it'll be March because K3 can't go on the weekends now because of the play.
The rest of the day was shopping, cooking, laundry, writing, bill paying, a quick trip to see Baby B. I filled my truck for $23.96 - saving $88.00! Not my best, but close! Love it!
Saturday night was good and fun and so needed!
Sunday with K5 was also good and fun and perfect! She said to me: "Nanners, I love you. You are my best friend." And my heart melted. God, I love that kid.
I did need another day to recover from my weekend, but that wasn't going to happen. Thank goodness this Monday is over... Though the week ahead doesn't look like a fun and shiny one at this point...
Whatever!
Behave!

Fun Stuff...

Today the crew went to the Ren Faire for my niece's 21st birthday. 20 of us in 5 cars and all super excited. That man and I hadn't been since K2 was 3 or 4 (we used to go several times a season). K3 had only been once with school, and K4 had never been there. I was so excited for them to go and thrilled that they loved it so much.
The kids took off to spend their money with instructions to meet us at the jail at a specific time so we could decide on lunch. Most of us walked around, checking stuff out, tasting wine, drinking hot mulled wine, or having beer for breakfast, (but just one, because it was expensive!) and laughing hysterically. We ended up changing the meeting place to the mud pit since the show was starting. That was very funny.
Then we moved on to lunch. Food costs weren't too bad. Sure, I spent a little more than fast food, but less than a sit down restaurant. That man and K3 ate turkey legs. Holy crap, they were huge! K4 had pizza and half of my perogies. I had perogies and then a gyro. So good.
K3, K4, and I got sidetracked by one of the musical performances, but we eventually met up with everyone again. More walking. More wine tasting. More shop visiting. Ended up following some awesome music and staying for the show...then buying a cd and getting it signed. K4 loved it because the band had a violin lead who was so super fantastic! When she got the cd signed, the violinist encouraged her to visit her website and check out the sheet music and forums after she found out K4 also plays the violin. So cool. K4 was thrilled.
We caught more music, met up with most everyone at the pub, did a little more walking around, watched the pirate auction, went to some more shops, tasted some more wine, met up at the pub again. Then decided we were done in... it was cold, though most of us have sunburned faces. K4 was falling asleep on the bench, That man's knees were killing him, and a few others were hurting, too. A quick stop at the wine / gift shop for one last wine tasting / tshirt and wine purchasing, then a random group picture (though some of our group had already left due to pain), mayhem trying to get out of the parking lot...met up at the 'rents for hanging out and cake. Pizza first, talking, laughing... then birthday cake (my s-i-l makes the best cake ever!). More hanging out... then home.
So tired, but such a great day!! My love for the Ren Faire has been reignited. I can't wait to go back and my whole family feels the same way!
And, I did my words for the writing challenge! Whoo!
Behave!

Things I Miss...

Things I miss about not being home during summer vacation...
1. Sleeping in.
2. Late nights.
3. Impromptu trips to our friend's pool.
4. Feeling free.
5. Hanging out with the kiddos.
6. Last minute plans.
7. Sleeping in.
8. Late nights.
There's more, but now I'm depressed. (Yeah, I know...you gotta do what you gotta do...blah blah blah)
Behave!

It's Almost Friday!

What I'm looking forward to...
1. My sister-in-law getting the all clear, (we should know soon!) though she might have to do some radiation treatments. (Surgery was today and went well). Oh and if things aren't as we hope and she has to have chemo, I will be sporting a bald head in her honor and my stubble will be dyed pink.
2. My writers group meeting on Saturday!
3. Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!
4. Making cheesecake for Easter.
5. Okay...amend #4 to say...Cooking for Easter. I'm not hosting, but I'm cooking some stuff...
6. Easter at my sisters. Always fun and I can't wait to hang out with everyone.
7. Writing time!
8. Retreat! Less than 42 days! Whoot!
9. The Hobbit movie. (It's a long way off!)
10. Relaxing, and maybe sleeping in a little on Saturday, though...see #2.
That is all. It's late and I'm tired, BUT it's almost Friday!!
Behave!!

Tuesday Nice...

I know it's only Tuesday, but in an effort to stay positive, here's what's nice about today...
1. The weather! Love! (I might have to take back what I said about one more big snow!)
2. My kids and how hysterical they are.
3. Catching up on blogs and laughing my butt off!
4. Dinner with friends last night - tons of good food, laughter, hours and hours of talking! Just what I needed.
5. New Supernatural to look forward to.
6. No stinkbugs today!
7. Writing time beginning in a few!
8. Getting stuff done!
Okay. I think there's some kind of rule that a good list can't be longer than eight on a Tuesday so I'm going to stop there, just in case!
Behave!!