in 12 hours

I will have been in the air for 15 minutes. We arrive at La@uardia at 8:10. We catch our ride to Manhatt@n at 8:30. We meet up with a sweetheart of a woman that is taking us to the inner sanctum of the wholesale world. I woke up at 4:00 this morning, I am so tired, but I am too excited to sleep...and I am terrified I won't hear the alarm. I am taking a camera and will amuse you with photos and details when I return.

Yesterday was my birthday

.....and it completely sucked. When BigD was on his way out the door to go to work he noticed a note that S3 had written and left on my computer, for me to find when I got up, and BigD got a look on his face (the face I know better than he does) and while he verbally stated "OH, he beat me to it", he was thinking ...shit, I completely forgot to wish her a happy birthday so now I am pretending that I remembered. So I teasingly told him he was a liar and that he just forgot...I was SMILING...and my tone was fun...he turned around and huffed out the door PISSED AT ME because he forgot. Sometimes I just want to hold that pillow over his head a little longer than others. Then twice more through the day we had what started out as nice phone conversations that ended up with him hanging up pissed at ME and I had done nothing. Sometimes I just want to hold that pillow over his head a little longer than others. Things went downhill fast from there. We are still dealing with car issues, which drive me freaking insane as I hate anything automotive. As far as I am concerned if you have to pay 20fuckingthousand dollars for something you should NEVER have a problem with it. S1 called and his roommate completely bailed on him and left the moving of all the furniture to the storage unit (till the new place is ready two weeks from now) and the final cleaning. THe roomie has nothing at stake here, but if the place isn't sparkling I, ME, THE PERSON WHO MADE THE SECURITY DEPOSIT, won't get it back. So S1 is freaked, worried that I won't get my $500 back so I drove to his place with S2 who helped him move furniture to storage while the roomie was no where to be found. (they have to be out by Friday). I have to go back tomorrow with him to inspect the place and deal with the raving bitch of a manager that has cackled to me before that she loves to keep the security deposits. Yeah. She is a bucktoothed bitch and I am gonna take her down. We have the photos of the move in day and the place will look exactly the same when we are done. Then the bad birthday continued into today and has just been one big mess of phone calls, problems, family issues (I canceled my brothers visit and he is pissed and can't get it that I have too many things on my plate for a visit right now....remember he does nothing, no job, no hobby, no companion, nothing.. so delaying a visit till next week is NO big deal to him but helps me tremendously so wouldn't you think he would be considerate. Nope. He is a complete asshole. If we were not related I wouldn't even like him). Between trying to make sure BigD and the boys don't starve while I am in NYC THIS WEEKEND and making sure I have the important items I need to take, etc, along with dealing with a work supervisor that is making my life very difficult right now demanding HOURS of daily overtime (yoohoo...remember it is called part-time for a reason??) and too many things that I can't even go into right now...it will be a miracle if I make it to New York with any sanity left. Honestly, I am so befuddled right now I can't even put together a coherent post. Sorry.

Baby acrylics

So, I was having a conversation with S3, as we were going through the mountain of clothes he has outgrown, the mountain of hand-me-downs he won't wear because they are "stupid" and the mountain of smelly clothes that need to be burned. He came across a sweater vest (for those of you that don't know, it is a sweater, but it doesn't have any arms so your boobs are warm but your arms stay cold) that he wore as a joke to a school function, after buying it at goodwill for 50 cents. He tossed it into the burn pile. I was aghast. I looked at him horrified and asked "do you know how many baby acrylics had to die to make that sweater"? He looked at me and thought for a second then said "what does an acrylic look like"? I could barely keep a straight face. I told him I couldn't believe they hadn't taught him that in his ecology/biology class. Only when I nearly wet my pants laughing did he figure out that a baby acrylic looks like a big acrylic only smaller. duh. I am such a bitch. I should probably set aside a few bucks for his future therapy. Oh, and also the "detective" came by today to interview S3 about the he said/she said crap. (Yeah, glad he jumped right on that, it happened, what, about 2 weeks ago and there were 5 whole kids to get statements from---podunk donut sucker) So, here is the scoop. She said it happened against her will. He admits it happened and was consentual. At least they both agree they were grabbing the goods. The reason S3 got dragged into it, is the girl in her statement said S3 was the first person she talked to after "IT" happened. So now the monkey is on his back to determine her mood/affect right after the event. You have to be kidding me. You think a 14 year old boy can figure out a 14 year old girl? I have a 55 year old boy here that can't even do that. So S3, wrote up his version of what did or didn't happen....he saw no flirtation, no curious blanket rustling, no crying, no sudden movements, no hint from her after that anything was out of the ordinary (but again, he is a 14 year old boy, so unless she was wearing a ham sandwich and carrying a basketball, he probably would not notice anything). The nice officer said they are turning the whole thing over to the prosecutors office to see if they want to pursue it with charges. In the meantime, both the parties mothers are P.I.S.S.E.D.O.F.F. and are talking lawsuits, after being friends for over 20 years. Welcome to middle America. (And please send donations so we can prevent the slaughter of helpless baby acrylics)

Update on he said..she said

Wanna know what I know? Nothing. A big fat nothing. This police department in this village (not where I live, but neighboring) is an absolute JOKE! If I were the parents of this girl making the accusation, I would be so pissed. They have only interviewed 3 kids that where there that night and S3 was supposed to be interviewed yesterday and the officer was a no show. (I waited here all day---grrrr) Do they really think that these kids are going to remember tiny details about her actions or the look on her face or if she "seemed" upset. Hell, most of them don't remember what they had for breakfast and are clueless to details after about 5 minutes. Unfreakingbelievable! We are not even certain the police have even talked to the boy yet...though because of faceb00k and texting everyone on earth knows that the accusation has been made. I will update if and when S3 is ever interviewed. (Did I mention that he was sitting right next to the boy that is accused?? Don't you think it would be a tad important to talk to the kid sitting next to the alleged perpetrator??) Anyway, on to a different topic. I AM SO EXCITED THAT 7 DAYS FROM NOW I WILL BE PACKED AND READY TO GO TO NYC! We land there very early in the morning and are planning on not stopping till we fall over. We might be hooking up with a sweet blogger that is a NY'er. I will let you know what develops. I want to ask her first if it is ok that I talk about her :) I am still not sure what I am going to say when I call in "sick" that Saturday. Anybody have any good ideas? I am not good at lying, and am so grateful I can call and not have to see anyone face to face...I would end up telling them..."oh hell, I am not sick, I am going shopping"...then I would be looking for another job. This coming week my brother is coming for an overnight visit. It has been a looonnngg time since I talked about him, but I am sure I will have plenty to say once he leaves. He is hard to describe but extremely irritating to most that know him. (and he wonders why he is still single). The story about him is somewhere in my archives but since I never labeled anything. I have no clue where. In the biggest news of the week I have decided to get my fat, out of shape self, onto the treadmill that has become BigD's clothing depository. He is daily hanging things all over it. So I have been moving his clothes, revving that baby up and walking. It is easy to do if I have something on the DVR that I have recorded...it passes the time much more quickly. An hour show is about 45 min without commercials (another reason I live my DVR) and I can do a couple of miles in one show. Off to a healthier me. I have been reading some bloggers that have had amazing weight losses 100+ pounds and if they can gather up the courage and stamina to do that, I can certainly lose the 30 (or 50 if I want to actually look good) with a little effort. Except for the food part. Somehow I have to get rid of my tastebuds, they are my downfall. Why the hell doesn't lettuce come in chocolate flavor? Ok, I am starting to ramble now. I will be back with any news.

He said---She said

S3 was at a friends house earlier this week. I really like this family. The mom (I will call her J) and dad are nice and have common sense and are doing a good job instilling values into their two kids. The son, is S3's age and they have been on several teams together and have become pretty good friends. While S3 was there, a couple more guys from the teams showed up along with a few girls they are all friends with, and live in that neighborhood.The mom and dad asked if they wanted to watch a movie. They have an awesome setup in their back yard with a projector and wireless speakers so they grabbed a bunch of pillows, blankets etc and plopped down on the grass to watch the movie. The next day the J calls me in a panic. The first thing she said was "S3 did not do anything wrong" so at this point I am thinking~what the hell is she about to tell me? Apparently, one of the girls I will call her B, went home that night, and sobbed to her sister, all night, that one of the boys (I will call him T) put his hand down her pants and then took her hand and put it down his. (they are both about to enter high school this fall) J was calling to find out if S3 saw or heard anything....because the girls parents went to the police and filed a report. She said if the police hadn't called here yet, they were about to. This all happened on Tuesday and J is still a wreck because whatever happened or didn't happen was in her yard. She is very good friends with T's mother and has been told to not talk to them until this is investigated. Now..here is a little back story on both of the "participants". B has a history of being a drama queen. She has been caught in flat out lies more than once, sobbing her innocence the whole time. She even told one of the guys a few months ago that she can lie better than anyone. T, is obnoxious. He is cocky (no pun intended)and is a 'get in your face' kind of kid. He is wickedly good at sports and thinks it makes him all around better than most of his peers. Do I think he is capable of doing this...yep, but I also think B is capable of lying. So, this has turned into a he said/she said situation. S3, didn't see a thing, said that B stuck around after the movie, laughing, joking. S3 said she did not appear upset at all the whole evening, in fact, after the movie they all went into the kitchen to eat. I grilled S3. Were they cuddling? No. Do they have crushes on each other? No. Do you think T would have done this? Maybe. Do you think B could be making it up? Maybe. S3 was laying on the grass next to T and didn't notice any squirming or anything odd that took his attention away from the movie. The parents were about 50 feet away, they didn't notice anything or anyone acting unusual. My take...I am thinking that it was probably a mutual grab fest and after she left, felt guilty, worried that T would spread the word about what they did, so she is crying assault. Yes, I know, I am a woman and any assault is a horrible thing, but falsely accusing someone is just as horrible. If you ask anyone in law enforcement, they will tell you there are many many times that men (mostly) are accused of assault after a wild night, when the woman decides the next day that it wasn't a good idea to have given up the goods. It is not fair. If T did do it, he needs to be held accountable. If B is lying, she needs to have some therapy. Her parents, by the way, are in complete denial that their daughter is as S3 stated "an attention seeker". As a mom of 3 sons, I have always worried about the accusations that could be made and thankfully have drilled into their thick little frontal lobes that when a girl says no, SHE MEANS IT. But, this girl never said no. She didn't leave. She wasn't upset until she got home that night. As of now T doesn't even know what he is being accused of. The police department that is handling this is getting statements from all the kids that were there before they show up at T's house on Monday to question him. (It is a rinky dink department and the cops there are either right out of the academy or are old and have been let go from "real" departments and are filling out their time until retirement and really don't want to be bothered actually working). I think if I had a daughter that told me she was accosted, my first call would have been to the boys parents, am I crazy to think this? Whatever they determine actually happened, one of the kids needs to be held accountable. What do you think? (I will update if S3 gets interviewed and what happens with this whole mess)

my career (grab some coffee...this is a long one)

A couple of weeks ago Dodi asked how I got into medical transcription and it is really kind of a mixed up story but here goes. When I went to college (in the stone age) I had a choice of being a teacher or a nurse. OK, I guess there were other options but not many for girls that grew up where I did. You either got married after high school, or went to college for one of the two above mentioned careers. I decided on nursing because, well you know, I wanted to help people (just like Miss America) so off I went. In those days nursing was not what it is today. It was basically bedpan duty, and grunt work, it was hardly glamorous. Anyway, I got half way through and realized that I really didn't like it. I had no idea what to do because I had spent all that time in school and didn't want to feel like I had wasted my time. One day after class I saw an ad in the paper for a school offering a course in medical technology, I called, I signed up and I loved it. It was my chance to work with people in the health care field without having to clean up vomit. After that I got a job at local hospital working in the cardiology lab doing all the diagnostics that were available there at that time and kept taking classes wherever and whenever they were offered. After a few years, the hospital was expanding their neurology department and the chief neurologist asked if I would be interested in setting up the lab with him. Sooooo...off I went to school again (this time on the hospital's dime) and I set up the department with Dr. Head of Department. My job entailed many different things and each day was different, each case was different, each patient was different, and when cool new equipment was developed I begged the hospital to buy it for me...um, I mean the department. I did this for more years than I had planned. I had a little diversion called infertility that sidelined my perfect plan of being a mother by my second wedding anniversary. Fast forward 8 years of working and it was becoming less and less interesting each day because I was consumed with becoming a mother. While I wanted a career, I didn't want to be a career woman...and nothing else. (if that offends some of you, it shouldn't...it was what was right for me). Then lo and behold, OHN became a momma on December 1, 1988. S1 had been born a few weeks before, but placement didn't happen right away. I had a call on Monday to pick up our son on Thursday. So much to do, so little time. I talked to my boss and took a "maternity leave", unpaid of course, cause you sure couldn't pay someone who has a newborn to be home with them (Oh wait, yes you can, but only if you somehow remove that child from inside your body--cuz we all know THAT is the only way to become a mom--don't even get me started). Dodi...you still there? Are you sorry you asked? Anyway, I was to return to work March 1, 1989. In mid February I was rocking my amazing new baby son and I totally lost it. I started to sob. I couldn't blame hormones unless you call unbridled happiness hormones. I told BigD that we had waited so long for this child that it was tearing me up inside to think about going back to work. He looked at me and said "then quit". Mind you, this was a Friday evening and I knew I couldn't turn in a resignation until Monday. I was twitching all weekend thinking that BigD was going to come to his senses, realize we would starve to death if I wasn't bringing in a paycheck, and by Monday he would look at me and say "your doing what??". He didn't say it. I went in and gave a 2 week notice....everyone laughed and said they knew on December 1 that I wouldn't be back...and they threw me a shower...in the cardiac stress lab. It was wonderful. So, now back to the question..how did I start doing transcription. After years of doing little things to make some extra cash so we didn't starve and when S3 was getting ready to head off to preschool, I decided that the babysitting I was doing wasn't what I really wanted to do. After all, I had changed about a gazillion diapers by that time (I watched up to 6 kids 3-4 days a week), and I wanted to do something back in the medical field again. It is what I knew, and what I was interested in. One day, I told BigD, that I wanted to work my own hours, be able to go pick up a sick kid at school in the middle of the day, take time off for school functions without a boss bitching, make good money, and not have to leave the house. He told me when I found that job to let him know, because he wanted it too. I called a few of my old doctor pals and asked what I could do for them with my fancy shmancy new computer. Unbelievably THE FIRST ONE told me his transcriptionist had just retired and wanted to know if I could do that. OF COURSE I CAN, I told him with way more enthusiasm than expected. (He is still one of my clients;) I went out, spent just under $100 on the bare necessities and my company was born. Timing is EVERYTHING. Had that woman not retired, I don't know if things would have rolled the way they did. I went on to add a multitude of doctors offices, hired and fired transcriptionists, added and lost accounts (my state has a crazy malpractice premium and several docs left for less expensive pastures) and here I am today, bitching and moaning about EMR's sucking the lifeblood right out of my veins. They will eventually put all of us transcriptionists (at least in the physician offices) out of business. It has been a great ride and I am still holding out hope that I can snag a few more offices to get me through till S3 heads off for college. By then, my other two boys will be out of college and so grateful for all of my years of sacrifice, they will set me up in a beachfront condo somewhere. It could happen, quit laughing. So Dodi...it is more than you really wanted to know I am sure. But this should be a warning for the rest of you. If you ask me a question, more than likely I will answer.

And the answer is.........

YES. She would love to go. It gets even better than that. Not only would she love to go, but I happened to ask a friend that happens to have a husband that is a complete sweetheart. He cashed in his Hilt0n Points for us so we are in midtown Manhattan in a suite at the D0uble Tree on Times Squ@are and it will not cost one penny. (I didn't have an inkling that this was going to happen and frankly neither did she till she was talking to him about the adventure and he offered his points....I am either going to have to sleep with him or make him a cheesecake.) Can I tell you how freaking excited I am???!!! We ended up ditching the package deal after spending some time at the computer comparing places and prices. I got a roundtrip flight for 140 bucks so this is the cheapest getaway ever, well, at least till I get there and my debit card will be smokin. We leave our nearby airport at 6 AM for the hour and a half flight to LGA arriving early enough to spend the entire day doing what we want. Nothing makes me crazier than shooting a whole day traveling. Departure date--August 1. Any of you that have any little NYC gems you want to share PLEASE DO. I am going to stalk a couple of you that live in the NYC area via email and see if you can tell me where to go (please, nobody tell me hell, I have been there, and it wasn't pretty, and it is a post that I will make someday that will be controversial--but I don't want that to bring me down so back to the topic at hand). We will not be concentrating on typical tourist, Empire State, Statue of Liberty etc. In fact she doesn't even want to go to ground zero, and since I have been there 6 times, I am willing to forgo that on this trip. Ironically, the only person having a hard time with me going is S3. He was visibly upset and quite vocal about it too. In his mind, here is his mom who canceled the family vacation and now she is jetting off for a weekend WITHOUT the family. I had to explain that a $2500 beach trip was a tad different than a $500-$600 trip. I also tried to explain how sometimes women need to be with other women and since I am surrounded by testosterone this is a rare and exciting occurrence. He is 14 and didn't buy any of it. I refuse to let him rain on my excitement though. I have a really large umbrella, and it is up, and will be up till August 1. Someday he will get it then feel guilty and buy me chocolate to apologize. I just hope I still have teeth by then. I'm going to New York. Somebody pinch me.

So here's the deal

I have been having this wicked fantasy where I jet off for a weekend in New York City to shop, eat, sight-see, shop, eat sight-see, you get the idea. Out of nowhere, Traveloc1ty sent me a notice of a package deal, air and hotel from my nearby airport to NYC. It is only 385 bucks people. This is for two nights at a nice place in mid-town near everything and the subway for things it isn't near. I called a friend and left a very cryptic message for her to call me back. We are both in semi-depressive states so this is completely crazy and our last conversation revolved around how our kids are sucking the life out of us financially. Why am I even thinking about this??? Because I can. I have no idea if it will pan out, but shit, it sure sounds like fun. I am fairly well acquainted with NYC having been there 4 or 5 times but it has always been with A MAN who HATES shopping, or rather browsing and negotiating with street vendors. He is good for about 2 blocks in Chin@town and he is done. But, going with another girl, we could wipe those streets up. I never spend much money when I am there, I just soak up the smells and sounds and sights. I love eating the street fair food, grabbing the pretzels from the roach coach, and there is pizza every 12 feet. OH, I just realized that I could probably go the MOMA there this time. When I go with BigD we are required to spend a ridiculous amount of time in Irish bars (and you have NO idea how many of them there are in NYC!). Even walking in Central Park, having brunch in the Village, popping in and out of the trendy shops where the well-to-do drop cash like crumbs. Does it sound like I am really considering this? It does to me. BigD will crap if I tell him I am taking off for a girls weekend to the city. I am going to be 52 in a couple of weeks and have never done this before. If it does happen, he has absolutely NO ground to stand on to say "no"...he has been away three times this year with his pipe band so if this pans out, he had better not even raise an eyebrow or things will not be pleasant in the half-nuts house. Am I crazy? I can't decide if I want my friend to call and scream YES or if I need her to tell me that I need to take a walk and get a grip.

Can't make this stuff up

How many times have we heard someone say "I would die for some chocolate right now" ? http://news.aol.com/article/man-dies-in-chocolate/562626

Did you watch?

I wasn't planning on watching the M. Jackson memorial but kept getting drawn back to the TV. There were some very poignant moments, some wonderful music, some beautiful words, but the thing that kicked me in the gut was his daughter speaking. No matter what we thought of him, he was her dad and she and her brothers will now not have a father or a mother, and that makes me sad.

I need a favor

I am looking for a photograph or image to use for a project I am doing. If you have any adorable shots of either infants hands or feet (no faces) and would like to have that featured where many many people will see it, send them on over. They can be black and white, or color, or whatever. I will pick from the ones I get and you will have the pleasure of knowing yours was picked. Of course, this just means that you won't be paid, you will just have the satisfaction of the knowledge that your photo/photos is/are being used for a good purpose. Sorry I cannot divulge any more than that. If you refer back to my earlier posts, I eluded to a new project I am doing and I cannot let the cat out of the bag yet. Now, on to other miscellaneous stuff. S1 was home for an entire week and bored to tears. He actually was invited to go to the east coast for the week with a friends family and he came home instead. He basically slept and ate. He will be 21 in November and I am having such a hard time letting go. I still want to tell him how to do things like I did when he was 4. Letting go of things is not an easy task for me...it never has been. Good grief he only lives 45 minutes from here, we instant message and/or talk daily-(sometimes just a 30 second hihowareya) but I still miss the hell out of him when he isn't actually here. BigD had a birthday earlier this week and we finally got around to celebrating last night. It was a beautiful evening, S1 smoked ribs, I cooked other picnic like foods and all 5 of us sat on the porch and watched 3 small deer grazing through our back yard. It was all rather surreal. The times that we are all together are so rare now and to be honest it makes me very melancholy. Almost to the point where I spend so much time thinking about how much I miss these times, that I never allow myself the chance to enjoy them when they are happening. I miss having my crazy little mess makers. (though the upside is way less laundry and whining;) but I am one of those parents that would be fine with my adult child living here. Weird. I know. To say I am in a funk is putting it mildly. The driving force for me right now is my new project and that will certainly help with the funk once it materializes. Some days work really gets on my nerves. I find the data enjoyable, well, as much as you can enjoy other peoples sicknesses and scourge. There are a couple of the docs that I just love and a couple that need to go back to high school and finish, because there is no way in hell they ever passed a Language Arts/English/grammar class. Oh, and by the way, if any of you are doctors, I have a little bug to drop in your ear. Please do not dictate 2 pages of data, then realize you have dictated the data from Frank's chart, instead of Mary's and tell me to "scratch that". I get paid by the line bucko. If you dictated it, I type it for 20 minutes, then "scratch that", I make no money. You are being a jerk and I am betting your doctoring abilities suck if you can't tell the difference between Frank and Mary. Please never come to a hospital near me. My desk is covered in papers and bills so in order to keep my sanity, I am throwing a blanket over the whole desk and walking out to the hammock, with a book, because I want to. Don't forget to send your photos to onlyhalfnuts@gmail.com or put them on your post and I will copy paste :)

food poisoning

Since BigD is away, the testosterone trio has been getting to pick dinner, as long as it doesn't involve me cooking it. Hey...BigD gets to eat out this week, so do I. Last night S1 picked a local establishment that has 7 locations...great food, big TV's everywhere, good atmosphere and decent price. I got their special gyro and can promise you I won't make that mistake again. I have been in and out of the library all night, had to call off work, and have been flat on my butt watching a marathon on USA network. Fun times. I will be back ...gotta run.

Farah AND Michael

Is anyone else stunned? I knew she had cancer, but him...all I know for sure that he had was plastic surgery. You know how they say that everyone is only 6 people away from knowing everyone else? I have a Farah connection. Remember that poster of her...the one with the red bathing suit with the points? The guy that printed that and made a gazillion dollars, lives around the corner from my house. Well, he did, I think he might be in jail now. He was involved in a lot of shady crap. Anyway, the house is up on a hill and we always called it "the house that Farah built". Michael...no connection to him, except he may know Lebron J@mes and Lebron lives about 10 minutes from me and when S1 was in high school he used to cook breakfast for LBJ at a local national eatery (rhymes with 'awful house')when LBJ would come in with his buds. (yes, he was a good tipper, not over the top but kind) S1 NEVER called us and told us so we could swing by to get a peak. S1 is totally not impressed by anyone "famous" ...except Stephen Colbert...he loves him. He quotes him. He sends me links to his show. He wants to be him. So...today two famous people have died that are a weird combination if you think of them arriving at the pearly gates...wow, that's a conversation I would pay to hear.

Got 20 G's?

If you happen to have a spare $20,000 stuffed in your mattress and the lumps are getting to you, let me know and I will send you my address. I figured out today (while very down, and ticked off that my anti-nut medicine doesn't seem to be working--but then again, it's hard to tell when one level of nuttiness blends into another :) anyway, I figured out today that if I had the aforementioned bucks, I could fix both broken cars, (I did mention that I canceled the collision coverage on the older car right before S1 smashed it right? just refreshing your memory), I could pay off ALL our bills (BigD's medical bills from last fall, a credit card that we had to use for an emergent situation--no, not pizza, help the boys with their 6 month rent that is due soon, and I could start my new business. What new business you ask? I haven't talked about it here because it is a wonderful idea, that hasn't been tapped yet and most certainly someone with some extra cash in their mattress WOULD steal the idea. When I do it, believe me, I will share. It will change lives. I am not even kidding. The few people I have entrusted with the idea, have been blown away. My next step is to a lawyer to figure out all the legal crap that has to be covered with this idea. It may vary from state to state and I need to talk with a slick willie to make sure all the T's are crossed. I have been working on this and tweaking it for about a year, I have my mission statement written, my business plan drawn up, my brains are in place (well, the ones I am hiring, not my actual brain) and once I get these immediate concerns taken care of....I will be off to bring happiness to the world, a little at a time :) I do wish though that this sunshine would brighten my mood. I get so stressed when money becomes an issue in my way. I have always been frugal (my friends call me cheap but what the hell to those spend-thrifts know--hell, they even shop for clothes more than once a year, wasteful people.) I am far better with money than BigD. If it is in his pocket, it is spent. Years ago he realized, after missing a payment here and there, that I was the one that should be taking care of our finances and it has worked out well for us. But, on the other hand, he glides along blissfully while I am stressing out here. He does not want us to help S1 with either car repair. (the broken one is his and the one he broke is ours, but he broke it) Total, it will come to about 4 grand. Ok, so here is a college junior working the only job he could find, it is part-time, he is paying rent and utilities, so where is he supposed to come up with that kind of money (legally)? I want to help him but I also need to respect my spouses feelings so I am stuck in the middle AGAIN. It seems to be a spot I am in too often. On top of all that, I got an email today from the people that we were going to rent the beach condo from before all this crap happened and we had to cancel all of our plans. They just wanted to let us know they still had that week open (yeah, I bet they do, we aren't the only ones staying home this year) and their note, though very very sweet, just reminded me that things suck right now. Pity party over for the day. Send cash.

Remember last week?

Things have done a 180°. So far this week, I got great news. The poopshoot biopsy results...AMAZING. Nothing bad. I am good to go for another 50,000 miles or 5 years, which ever comes first. (as long as I remember to oil regularly--ewwww;) Then S1 reached another maturity milestone. He handled a negative situation with aplomb. (as I always tell S2 when I use "big words"...look it up). He has recovered from his wallet theft with no scars, and when told by a girl he was crushing on that she just wanted to be "friends" he didn't characteristically implode. He said ok, and told me about another girl he has been running into lately and he may ask her out. WOW. If you knew him, you would know why this makes me feel so damn good. S3 had to have three whopping teeth pulled this week. I was dreading it more than he was because having a whining, bloody drooling, guy around wasn't going to be my idea of a good time. He SAILED through it, only had about 4 hours of whining, only took one pain pill (which leaves 29 of the suckers for momma) and he is eating solid food already. He is my kid alright :) (Yeah, and by the way, what normal oral surgeon prescribes 30 strong pain pills for a 14 year old? Either S3 is amazing because he only needed one, or this doc is out of his gourd. Though, he was really hot. I mean REALLLLYYY hot. It's a good thing he didn't have to sedate me because I am sure I would have made an ass out of myself TELLING him how hot he was ;) Today, BigD's paycheck was auto-deposited and the amount was about 800 freaking dollars more than normal. I called him and he told me why (unfortunately it is a one shot deal) but it sure does make the weekly bill paying a more relaxing event. Hell, I may not even have to have my three stacks titled:: MUST PAY TODAY; CAN WAIT A LITTLE; and HA! TRY TO GET MY MONEY SUCKERS!. Then a girl that S2 went to high school with, just randomly showed up at the door, telling him that she heard through the grapevine he was thinking about selling his car. He owes his dad and I $700 for repairs we helped him with and she is offering $1500 so that puts $800 in his pocket (he paid $2100 two years ago, so technically he got two years out of it for $600)...he is a happy camper. I DO think though, that he will miss having wheels, so we will see what happens there, but hey, the rust bucket won't be parked in my way any more :) I have already warned him that my car is MY car, not OUR car. Also, BigD is leaving on Sunday for a 3 day conference so I will be shoving all the animals over to his side of the bed and I will blissfully sleep and not wake up with a bruised butt. Oh, I think I forgot to tell you that I one night last week he was moving around in his sleep and his knee kicked my butt so hard it left a bruise. He didn't believe me till I showed him. I told him that he had better hope one of these nights I don't start dreaming that I am squeezing oranges :) That's my week in a nutshell from the nuthouse.

An assignment for you.

Mama Kat doles out assignments like the nasty English teacher that got a thrill out of knowing your assignment was going to take you forever to do and she knows she won't even really read it before she grades it, because she doesn't give anyone anything higher than a C+. So, if you don't want to get "the LOOK" from Mama Kat, you had best follow her orders and answer one of her questions on your blog. As for me, I will do all. I have nothing else to do because I am sitting with S3 whose face is stuffed with gauze after having 4 teeth yanked out today. This is supposed to be a post for tomorrow but I have to turn my paper in early Mama Kat, I have to work many hours tomorrow and won't have time. Please don't take points away. I am inept at getting my green linky thing to work so here is her address: http://mamakatslosinit.blogspot.com/ The Prompts: 1.) Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page and share two “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. (inspired by Heather) 2.) What do you aspire to be? (Inspired by The White House) 3.)Share a piece of unsolicited parenting advice...only I'm soliciting it. 4.)Tell us about your blogline...how long have you been blogging, when did you start, what were/are your goals for your blog, etc. (inspired by Corn) 5.)If you had 5000 dollars to give away or donate to a charity...explain what you would do with it and why. (inspired by Hallie's letter) Okay : 1) "How many men do you know who pick up on the subtleties of human behavior the way women do? It has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with the unique way women perceive things" (To be truthful, I finished the book two days ago and haven't started a new one. It is by Robin McGraw (yeah, Phil's wife) and I picked up the book at a $3.00 table at Borders, not sure if I would even like it and I was surprised at how much I did.) 2)I aspire to be a caring, nurturing mother to the boys that really think that they no longer need to be mothered, but someday will realize how smart I really am, and trust me with their kids. Oh, and I aspire to be rich too. 3)Ahhh, unsolicited advice...I do that really well. The one thing that always worked for me is talking. talktalktalktalktalk all the time and about everything. Truthfully, I started talking about everything when they were just toddlers. Drawing answers from them about things they see, think, wonder about etc. It has shown the kids that my ears and heart are always open and they tell me all sorts of things, some of which I probably would be fine not knowing about, but yet, they trust me and have learned to communicate. I think their wives will thank me one day. 4)I would have to go back and look, but I think this is probably year 3 of my ramblings. Ironically it all started because of a comment I made on someones infertility blog (having ridden that horse myself) and decided I had more to talk about...so here I am. 5)Well...assuming that it was mandatory that I give it away, and not use it to bail my sorry ass out of debt, or make car insurance payments, medical bills, utilities and on and on and on,....I would start a scholarship fund for the average kid. I would call it the "average but great kid" scholarship. There are very few places where really good kids, that are average students, can catch a break on college tuition. Hey, they all can't be 1st in their classes and quite honestly, these kids can be wonderful leaders, every bit as much as the valedictorians who will get full rides and may or may not contribute significantly to society. So darlings, it is your turn. Mama Kat has a pointer and she knows how to use it.

Where the hell do I live?

From the look of this piece in our town paper you would think that I live in the wilderness somewhere. I am actually 20 minutes from a major city that any of you would recognize. I did take he opportunity to scratch out the names of the streets, not because I think YOU are weird, it is the other guy, the one down your street, that may decide to track me down. You, well I would totally go out to lunch with you. Enjoy. (June 5th was an especially interesting day). click to enlarge

6 days of fun

Here is the view of my life since last Sunday. Sunday was the day I started the 'prep' for the test on Monday. It entailed eating no food but chugging 2 liters of nasty liquid concocted to make me eliminate anything that had passed through my lips for the previous week. n.a.s.t.y. two liters in 80 minutes. yuk. Ok, so that done, on Monday morning at 5:30 I had to down only a mere 10 ounces of lemony salt water that was supposed to assure that the previous days concoction had done its job. It had. My colon was clean enough to squeak. Then comes the test. I was given large doses of drugs that I woke up from twice. Long enough to look at the monitor and see mister reeealllly long camera tunneling through the regions of my intestines that I really never cared to see. Oh, and the times I woke up, I YELLED..OWOWOWOWOW and was given more drugs. Thank you mister ass doctor. (He really is a very nice man and told me later in his broken tongue--you neeted verdy much suddashun--yeah, lucky me. Apparently when S3 was csectioned out of me, mister baby doctor threw my bowels back in on a whim hoping they would land where they needed to be. Guess what? They didn't. mister ass doctor had to straighten out the kinks, though since they have been there for 14 freaking years, they will probably spring back that way before I know it. Then mister ass doctor said that he had to take biopsies from the REALLY HIGH UP small intestine to check for some sort of condition that he thinks I might have. More on that when the report comes back. So that was Monday...lets move on to Tuesday. I had to work because, no workee, no payee. My intestines felt like someone had rotorootered through them, oh yeah, someone had. But like a good little worker I worked. I was interrupted no less than 25 times by various males in this home asking what we had to eat (told them to look in the fridge, that the list I had written on my arm washed off in the shower), where are there any clean towels (look on the floor of whatever room you were in last when you used a towel), when will you be done working (the same time I have been done working every day, forever), can you make my airline, hotel and car reservations (make them yourself you 54 year old helpless person--well actually I said, I would when I got around to it, but I wanted to say the first part), do we have any _______[insert anything here cause we all know that I am the only one that knows where anything is], once again, look where it has been kept your entire life......anyway, you catch my drift. Lets jump to Wednesday. Remember that post where I told you that we are letting S1 use BigD's car because he is living in college town and working this summer?? Remember? This is the pristine jeep that is unbelievably 12 years old. It runs and looks brand new, well it did until S1 crashed it. Yeah, that was a fun call. The day before I had changed our insurance coverage to not carry any collision on that car, cuz, you know it is 12 and we would probably not even need collision. Not even kidding...the DAY BEFORE the crash this was accomplished. A $500 deductible sounds pretty good right now considering to fix the jeep will cost in the area of $5,000 that we don't have. fuck. The lady he hit thankfully was nice and didn't get out of her car limping or screaming about her back or neck. She just decided to get her car fixed and our insurance company ponied up almost 6 grand for her repairs. Can't wait to see how this changes our premiums. again,fuck. Now Thursday brings its own set of fun to the table. S1 called and was freaking out. It seems as though he had a little gathering at his little apartment Wednesday night and when everyone left, someone helped himself to S1's wallet. Gone. Poof. School ID, license, gas credit card, debit card, 40 bucks cash (his share of the electric bill for the month)and worst of all, the wallet itself. It was his very first wallet. He got it for Christmas when he was 13 and it had a crisp 20 dollar bill in it. Not only that, but when he got his license I had given him a coin with a guardian angel on it that he kept in the wallet. Honestly, I think we are both most upset about that. (though it didn't keep him from getting into an accident a couple of days earlier, but then again, he wasn't hurt so maybe it did work). He filed a police report and told them who he suspects took it and they told him, good luck proving it and that he will most likely never see it again. They probably snagged the 40 bucks and ditched the wallet in a dumpster somewhere. We have checked the gas account and debit card balance (reported the theft to both) and so far nobody has used it so it probably IS in a dumpster. Today, well today just sucked all around. I woke up 10 minutes before work (having overslept because I couldn't get back to sleep after the nightmare I had) and had to wake up and jump right in, which meant engaging my brain..fast. I had to make reservations for BigD to go to his yearly conference. Originally I was supposed to join him for a couple days to "reconnect" but now, with the car damage, and other financial crap, I won't be going. I was even supposed to meet the dear and wonderful Beagle there and now it is not going to happen. I really really need to get away and now am completely hateful of anyone that tells me how excited they are for their upcoming vacation. Yes, OHN can be a bitter bitch. So, BigD and I won't be reconnecting for awhile and really, I am not in the mood anyway. This afternoon, when he got home from work, he needed to eat, as he didn't get time for lunch today...he looked me square in the eye and asked "where is the toaster"? It took a minute for it to register that he was asking me where an appliance was that has been in the same place for the last 17 years. He is very very lucky I didn't throw it across the room, in his general direction. So how was your week?

blog responsibly

I checked my email a few minutes ago and two people had commented on the post that I had no idea I had posted. How weird is that. It just goes to show you that with the right drugs, you could go through life with amnesia. BigD is getting ticked that I keep asking him what the doctor said. The most horrifying event of the day...BigD dressed me after the procedure. I don't remember any of it. That means that I probably didn't remember to suck in my gut. Shit.

clean as a whistle

What does that saying really mean anyway?? Since you put whistles in your mouth I wouldn't think they would be considered clean ANYHOO had the scopin this morning and everything was just peachy. Off to take a nap :) THanks for all of your kind comments and emails. OHN~hugs and kisses (the drugs made made me a softer, gentler OHN)

Waayy too much TMI

If you really don't want to read anything yukky, then I suggest you move along. I am about to bare my guts. Almost literally, but I WILL spare you photos of them. Lets start at the beginning. The first time I remember having problems in the, shall we say, bowel area, I was about 4. That is when the stress in my little life reached an all time high. As a result, I became a little 4 year old non-pooper. I vividly remember Mrs. Carter, my babysitter, sitting in the water closet with me, holding my hand, singing songs, to help calm me down enough to do what I was there for. She was the sweetest woman on earth. I remember having to drink all sorts of concoctions and going to a doctor that did things that should never be done to little girls. As life has gone on, my stomach/bowels have always been what goes ape-shit when I am stressed. From the outside I appear to be the most confident person alive. I am confessing here and now, it is all a sham. I am a jumble of nerves and paranoia. At some point, my guts decided that THEY would decide when to interfere with my life. It no longer was just during times of stress. Sometimes I could be clucking along just great then !BAM! the rest of my day/night is spent rushing to the little room where the magazines are kept. I have learned to live with this over the years. I put up with all the teasing from BigD about being full of shit (yeah, he is a riot) and then about 3 hours later I tell him no....not any more. The pain has gotten to the point where it hurts, A LOT. I guess that is why it is called pain. Anyhow, a couple of months ago, I was so sick from this that BigD wanted to take me to the ER. Our local ER is full of docs that I know, picnic with, and have known for years and years, so the thought of any of them wanting to "take a look" or "examine" my backside and innards....no freaking way. I toughed it out, but it was bad. Really bad. When I finally got in to see my female doc, she told me that since things has accelerated and now there was the extra component of what I thought was a period but was coming from the wrong place, it was time for the dreaded scope. Once again, it happens to be that my neighbor is the best GI guy in this region. So it looks like he gets the prize of going where nobody belongs. So, when you are eating your breakfast today, lunch, dinner, know that there is a part of me that is hating you. Today, my diet will consist of tea, water, jello, and a bunch of horrid pills and liquids that will make my body do what it does without prompting most of the time. I can't wait. I cannot even tell you how much I am dreading this prep. The scope..not so much. I will be doped up--hopefully REALLY doped up--and shouldn't hopefully call the doctor a sonofabitch during the procedure. He is such a sweet, gentle, soft spoken man and I would hate to have him know the real me :) I am so preoccupied with worry about the prep that I haven't even considered that they might actually FIND something wrong in there. So, last night BigD and I went to a wedding and reception of a girl that grew up next door. It was beautiful, the venue was AMAZING, and I can honestly say it was the best wedding and reception I have ever been to, including mine. The reception was indoor/outdoor, the night was clear and there was a full moon...fabulous. The food...wow. I haven't eaten that well in so long I don't remember when. So today, I get to starve, and visit the magazine room. Wish me luck. (I have no idea why I decided to even post about this gross subject...maybe it is my head that needs to be examined!)

passages

In our society we recognize passages of time, events, life, accomplishments etc. Today was one of those days for me. S3 has made the passage from middle school to high school. As of 1:30 he is officially a freshman. I just had to share with you a few observations I had while sitting on the rock hard bleachers in the gym for 2 freaking hours. My first thought was that the administration was dragging it out as long as possible to torture us parents because they have been stuck with our little darlings for the 3 years. I ruled that out, but not completely. Everyone on staff (at least it seemed like everyone) had something to say and basically they all had different versions of "don't turn into a turd in high school" study, blah, blah, get involved blah blah, don't cave to peer pressure blah blah...mind you, these are all great things, but I heard it 27 different ways and it was still the same thing. Then there were the awards. I think it is nice to recognize the kids that have really shown effort and school spirit, through academics and/or good citizenship but a reward for not missing a day of school all year???? THose are the little shits that came to school, heaving up their guts, or coughing up lungs and MADE THE REST OF THE KIDS SICK. But, I guess it is ok that S3 missed a week of school with 103 fever, so you could get A PIECE OF PAPER proving that your mother was a thoughtless bitch and sent you to school sick because she didn't want to be bothered with your little snotheaded self. And for you kid, you the one that got the award for not missing a day of school in ALL three years of middle school....watch your mommas back. I did have a chance to pick out S3's wife though. She is adorable and won so many freaking awards that by the last time she had to trot up to the stage, the poor girl was nearly out of breath. When I told him afterwards that he was allowed to marry her, he smiled and said "yeah, shes hot". Not really what I expected. Then we can move on to the pervy music teacher that is retiring this year. Every girl that came up front for an award, he checked out their legs. (Hey, I was bored and people watching is very cathartic for boredom). So many of the girls looked so cute in sundresses (this is the first year that they all looked appropriate, not a hoochie in the bunch, but most had skirts and tops or jumpers etc. Anyway this guy really started to piss me off. I wanted to yell to him to remind him that the girls had faces too. I am glad he is retiring. Did he really not think that after the 15th leer that someone would pick up on his gaze? EW. So, that's about it. S3 did win two awards, one for excellence in Language Arts ( in the stone age we use to call it English class) and an award for science. Don't ask how he did in math. He just got his phone back after a month because of his math grade. (aren't people that are smart in science supposed to be whizzes at math? For some reason it didn't work here.) Well ta-ta till next time.

My name is OHN

And I am an addict. To the internet. That I haven't had for two days. I was so completely out of whack I was practically dizzy. SERIOUSLY people, what is wrong with me? I kept coming back to my office to "try one more time" to get online, only to be greeted with nothing. No snappy "you've got mail" guy, no blog reading, no etsy, woot or ebay. I thought I was going to have to up my meds to get through the day. I am off to get a new router now. I hardwired MY computer to the modem today (duh, I should have tried that 2 days ago instead of resetting, unplugging, replugging, obsessively wire checking.....) but S3 and BigD are without access, hence needing to get the new router....any suggestions from you?

Can I tell you why

I love my kids? We had a bit of a financial blow this week and tonight I decided that our planned beach vacation, just could not happen. I called the people that own the condo, and hopefully they will refund our deposit. I am sick about it. You have no idea how badly I need a trip. If I am within any radius of my home and/or desk, I am working and I need a b.r.e.a.k. But back to why I love my kids. I told each one of them separately that the trip was off and each one of them blew my mind. They all told me that it was fine, they understood and we can still do fun things here locally. S2 told me about a park that he and his friends discovered last summer. He said it is beautiful, has a lake with a waterfall, and he would like to go there and rent the little water bikes they have. S3 said we could go on some of the bike trails in a nearby town (that is known for their bike trails along a winding river--though I don't own a bike so that part might be a little tricky) and S1 said, it was fine, he would just come home and let me cook for him and do his laundry (there is one in every family.) So, I am sitting here having a pity party for myself. I started a new medication this week that is causing me to have VIVID dreams/nightmares so I haven't slept, got nailed for a $737 car fix that wasn't on the radar and basically feel like shit. So dear bloggy people, send me funny links or tell me a raunchy joke...I need a laugh (and a vacation, though we covered that topic already.)

it's how we roll

I get up early, even on nonworking days. I am the only one in the family awake before noonish. It is now 10:15 and this is what I found when I was walking to the laundry room to wash a load of towels that this human has stockpiled on the bedroom floor. How could I get annoyed at someone that is obviously a sweetheart? Even on my grumpiest days, this sight makes me smile. (The fact that taking 5 photos with flash didn't cause either of them to stir, still amazes me.) Then there is this kid. When he put on this shirt yesterday I told him that his eyes were the same color and he didn't believe me. This kid never looks in a mirror....I had to take a picture to prove it. (I try to get him to wear blue whenever I can.) Please take a brief minute today to think about all of the fearless (and fearful, but still doing their jobs) men and women that would love to be sitting in their yard here at home eating potato salad today.

Warning, you may go blind...

Just a little something for your Sunday morning. (Yeah, I know I should be in church but, I think it counts that I thanked god that I don't know this man, right?)

Grocery dipshits.

I am sure you have them in your town. But then again, it is entirely possible they ALL live in mine! I will set the stage. It is a holiday weekend. It is the first “summer” holiday, where people plant flowers, see the neighbors that have hibernated all winter, and one where people cook out food. In order to cook that food on your grill, first you have to get it to your house. So, my first question is to my grocer…the one with the lovely store with 12 checkout lanes that only had 2 of them open..THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST GRILLING HOLIDAY WEEKEND OF THE SUMMER. Are you kidding me? We were wrapped around those aisles like snakes with carts full of warming meats, with salmonella colonizing and laughing at me, and melting ice-cream that will be disgusting after it refreezes from a mush to a solid again, while your two worst cashiers are manning the only two checkouts open. Now, I don’t work in the food biz, but I think your employee that is in charge of staffing, needs a good swift kick in the ass for not realizing that you would need to have, say, half of your registers open, at minimum. The only upside of these snaking lines is that I had a chance to observe some of ~natures mistakes~ my fellow citizens. I am one of those people that can pretty much figure out someones story by watching them and listening to them for a short time. Take the man who was two carts in front of me. He was obviously putting on a show for all of us observe what a wonderful father and husband he is…after all, HE was shopping with his kids so that makes him wonderful, right? Not so much. Between his two brats boys screaming and climbing on top of the obnoxious carts that are made in the shapes of humvees, (when they are too old and too BIG to be using the kiddie carts anyway) he was pulling apart marshmallows for them to share. Really? They weren’t allowed to have one whole one at a time but 75 halves were okay? Did you even see where their sticky fingers were going or the fact that the kid that was on the floor was using his ½ marshmallow like a sticker to pick up all the crap on the floor BEFORE putting it IN HIS MOUTH. Yeah dude, you are father of the year and the fact that you were louder than your kids, was not a mark in the plus column. I bet because you went to the store for your wife, you think you are getting laid tonight. If she is smart, she is home packing while you are gone with the little snots. To the lady behind me, you came so close to having your eyelids stapled to your forehead. Were you worried that someone might try to sneak in front of you? Is that why you kept ramming your cart into me? Maybe you thought it would get you to the cashier quicker? Lady, trust me, nobody was going to jump in ahead of you, but by the third time I turned around and gently pushed your cart off my heels, I was trying to figure out how I could find out which car was yours and crazy glue your locks…..you know, because I was ahead of you in line and all….I would get to the parking lot before you. Oh, and please, the next time you are going to the store, take a shower some time that week. So I spent an hour on a 10 minute shopping trip, spent almost 100 bucks, came home and S3 and S2, whined that I didn’t buy anything “good”. Yeah, this weekend is gonna be a riot.

*Your opinion please*

I really need your opinions. As I mentioned a couple days ago S3 and I were out of town for a sporting tournament. Something happened that completely freaked out S3 and I am a little skeeved too. Let me set the background for you. The tournament had 80 teams coming from all over the state. It was held in a nice suburb of Columbus Ohio. About 6 guys from our team went to the mall to check out the girls that were in town for the volleyball tournament. S3 and I ran into them around 4:30 and I told him he could ditch his old mom and hang with the guys, we said bye and I told S3 that I would pick him up at 5:30 at the same entrance we had gone in. (Remember, he is 14 ½ , 5’8” tall and an athlete, so I did not dump my “little” boy off. ) The mall is literally across the street from the hotel. So, he and the other guys wandered the mall, stopped in Spen-cer gifts to look at the trashy stuff, that most 14 year old boys talk about but haven’t seen, ate in the food court, and drooled over the latest famous athlete shoes at the trendy footwear store. When I arrived at 5:30 to get him, he was waiting in the entry way (you know the kind where there is a double set of doors before actually entering the mall itself) and he came right out. He seemed a little quiet but since he had such a hectic week, I figured he was just tired. I was wrong. When we got back to the hotel, he relayed to me, with a quiver in his voice and an ashen look, that something “weird” happened. He then proceeded to tell me that while he was waiting in the entryway, a man, and woman, along with a lady about 20 or 30 (yeah, I guess 20 and 30 look the same when you are 14) came in, walked past him, then the man came back OUT through the inner doors and asked S3 “what team are you with”? S3, was not wearing anything that said he played on any team, wearing a plain t-shirt and shorts, but he quickly answered *our-town*, without thinking that it was a big deal, and ordinarily it wouldn’t be….but then the man lifted up his phone and snapped a photo of S3, and walked away, back into the mall. No words, no good wishes et cetera. Now my first reaction was that it was weird. I thought, maybe, the guy had a kid playing in the tournament and he was wondering if S3’s team would be playing them, as we had one game left, but still, WHY THE PHOTO? On a camera phone. ..with no explanation. :/ It wasn’t a secret that this town was where many of the teams were staying as there were 4 hotels within spitting range of each other, so he could have been a local and still knew about the tournament. I have had so many different things running through my head. S3, is completely freaked out now, worried that through the wonders of the internet that this guy will somehow be able to find him. He has deleted all his personal photos on his F@cebook, and we even G00gled his team photos to be sure that no names were written underneath identifying the kids. S3 then started wondering about if this guy could snag a yearbook from *our-town*, which isn’t very big, and be able to find him through an online search. I thought maybe the guy had seen all the boys doing something wrong and he was going to report them to a coach, but the guy was COMING INTO the mall after the boys were being picked up (at different locations per their mom’s convenience)..so that couldn’t be it. Plus S3 said all they did was walk around and eat, and did nothing that would make anyone even really notice them. I then thought that maybe S3 reminded him of someone and snapped a photo, but who in the hell, in their right mind would take a photo of someone (right up in their face) without permission or an explanation. Is the guy a perv? I only wish that S3 had told me about it when he got into the car, so I could have parked and gone in to find him, unfortunately the poor kid was so freaked out, he didn’t say anything till we were back at the hotel. I truly don’t know what to think and would welcome any ideas any of you have about why someone would do this. I don’t mind telling you that S3 isn’t the only one a little freaked out..you can count me in on that freak out too.

hey kids

Guess where I am? C'mon, guess. No, you silly, I am in a hotel. S3 is in the state championship tournament this weekend so he and I are having a mother son weekend in the state capitol, in a room with a 42 inch high-def plasma screen...with a bed all to myself..no husband or dogs pushing me to the side and I HAVE to stay here two nights. Isn't it so completely sad that I feel the need to post that I am actually away from my house for a couple days. Those of you that travel freqiuently probably think I am crazzeeee, but this is a much welcome break. What? You want to know what I am doing about work tomorrow? This should be fun, since I am a horrid liar (meaning I am not good at it, not that I do it all the time) and I am going to call in sick tomorrow. I know, I know, miss goodie two shoes is a rebel. Take that, mean supervisor. If I still have a job when I get back, I will do a little happy dance. What? You want to know why BigD isn't here? Cuz he is in yet another city doing work related drinking....umm, I mean entertaining, of fellow officers from around the globe. You see, this week is p0lice memorial week all over the country, honoring fallen offic3rs, and BigD is a big muckety muck and has to see to it that all the visitors are well fed, watered (ahem) and entertained. So while I am here, he is there, and all is good. Now, I am going to get ready to go out to eat, in a real restaurant, that does not have a window on the side where they pass you the food. Nope, this place will have real chairs and things on the menu that I don't make. Hot damn. I will try to snag some photos while we are here. OH..and I almost forgot....I am thinking of doing some video posting. I impulsively bought a webcam when it came up on EEbays deal of the day..hey it was 10 bucks with free shipping, who could pass that up?? I figure I will use it to $kype the boys at school and let you guys get a glimpse of me. That would make your day, wouldn't it?? I think I may need you to send in questions for me to answer though, so go ahead, shoot.

lovin life

I hope that when I get old, I have gotten this much joy out of life. The back story to this is what is really special. These folk are at the Mayo Clinic and the piano is in the lobby. They are either patients themselves or are visiting someone who is...and can still get it together....bravo.