Getting Ready for the New Year

The weekend has been fun and I have had a little freedom with Alex being in Kentucky, Kelsey pretty much just lets me know where she is, of course with proper parentaly questioning.

Last night I again played a cash poker game, and won 2nd in the second game bringing home my fees and a little extra, not bad, I truly enjoy the cash games more than the free, but the free games make me make decisions based on a no knowledge of the other player, plus 1/2 are idiots so they don't 'play' properly, they just play.

Gearing up for the new year I spent most of the day doing household chores, taking down the holiday stuff and getting it packed up and the house back in order.

Now its time to get ready to go out, starting with a Nap!!!

The Day of my Birth!

The party began at midnight and it was a good one. Having traveled home yesterday from Chicago, I got home early and decided to go out for my regular Wed. Poker game - I found myself with enough time to take a nice long shower, slather myself in rich lotion, put heavy conditioner in my hair and lay down for a nap to let it all soak in... ahhhhh - up again and ready to enjoy the evening I headed out. Being on mySpace most of my poker buds knew my birthday was in a few hours and decided to begin the festivities early. Shots began arriving while I was playing, which of course I had to do, come on - it was in my honor. As the evening continued, I was sang happy birthday several times (it was karoke night as well), did a couple of body shots off my best friend which the boys just couldnt handled and as with tradition, got spanked - thanks Cory for bringing out the bar paddle, much appreciated - not. I made it home safely with a nice buzz and a smile from enjoying a fine evening with friends.

Up early in the day to deliver Alex to a friends in Kentucky. We arrived on time, but they had been delayed, since it was easier, I continued to drive east and we met up near Frankfort. Since I was so close I tracked down a friend of mine I contribute to being the devil who got me into this computer stuff - damn you devil. We got a few hours of catching up in and it was good to see an old friend. Back on the road again, I arrived home to get ready for dinner with Kelsey and Leann, we decided a little house of Tokoyo action, it was all good. Kelsey went off to hang, Leann and I were off to play cards again. This evening was a lot more low-key in the 'drinking' department, still suffering from the evening before.

It was a nice birthday, and if your wondering - i'm 36 - lol

Ahhhh...it's time to rest

Sort of, the girls and I headed to Chicago after spending Christmas morning at home. It has been awhile since I had been home and I was looking forward to seeing my parents, resting and fulfilling my gastric delights of home.

I did rest a bit and if you get a chance, rent RV, it's a good movie for giggles. We got my parents a wireless router and webcam for christmas, this was another reason for the visit, tech support. I spent most of the day today getting thier computer hooked up, cleaned up and setup with a couple new accounts - seems dad is interested in getting into e-bay when he finally retires (this will be the second time around). I am all for it and may bring back some of the stuff hauled to me in the first place for him to sell. We'll see. So they now happily have thier own home pages, e-mail accounts and a little more knowledge on how to put it all together. Once baby Jade comes along next month, they will be able to visit via the webcam with both baby and my brother who will be on the road again starting at the end of the month.

Both the girls got digital cameras for christmas so I expect a wealth of pics to be available, mom is still saving for the one she wants.

I indulged in one of my favorite pizzas Baranaby's and of course Zippy's Italian Beef, top that off with my favorite (birthday) cake of chocolate and white icing - I was all good!

Sated and Happy.....

Wishing Everyone..

I hope all have a wonderful holiday, that santa is good to you,
safe travels and your wishes come true!
Merry Christmas!!!

Counting my Blessings....

My mood has been foul lately and I have been an un-happy camper, through this all I continue to remember that there is always, always someone worse off than me and I should be thankful for what I do have.....so in attempt to 'count my blessings'

1. I have 2 great kids that continue to impress and amaze me with their intellect, charm and humor
2. I have a great family that is always there when I need them
3. We are expecting 3 new additions to the family this year, each a blessing in themselves
4. I have a roof over my head
5. I have food to eat (though I haven't lately)
6. I have pets to welcome me home each day excited to see me
7. I have a job, though I have a lot of Dilbert's bosses running around.
   
8. I have medical coverage (though it seems like it gets less everyday)
9. I have what I need and sometime I get what I want
   
10. I am able to pay most bills on time
11. I have transportation
12. I have friends who are there if I need them, but rarely do I ask for their assistance
13. I am not sitting in the Denver airport
14. I get up everyday and breath

So how about all of you, do you have basic blessings you need to remember - we can always take a few moments out of our day to remember what is precious to us, the rest is just stuff.

Comfortably Numb

Hello.
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?

This would be my kids attempting to wake me up from my self-induced drug induced haze the past couple of evenings. Finally, relief for some of the pain has been forth coming allowing me to at least relax and be comfortable in the evenings, days still are difficult.

Coming into the home-stretch of the holiday season, I am hiding at home ~ Jen managed to drag me to church this evening and I enjoyed her company, feeling slightly better I ventured out afterwards to the second poker game in the league. Quietly playing my cards, I managed to find myself at the final table out of 75 people - wow. I hung in there, chip leader at times but in the end did a stupid mistake and lost it all, oh well - I ended up 3rd, but still my position I have held to date in the free league.

After my successful table position, I sat down with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile, back due to the holidays. Conversation ranged from politics (Osama Hussien Brama? or Hillary Clinton - a lesbian?), health care - if the rest of the world can have universal health care - why not us - after receiving a $2000 bill for Alex's needed oral surgery (for braces, etc.) - was asking as well - why not? And other lively topics of the day addressing both the local community (vandals still are plaguing the holiday decorations), to the Nation (are we still in the right place with our troops in Afganistan, Korea and of course Iraq?

Overall, a good evening that began to lift my cloud of stress and darkness to possibly see some light ahead!
cheers...

Pain and performances....

And life is getting busy for the kids. Final projects, tests, recitals and a general wrap up of the school season gets going in these last two weeks leaving us parents running twice as much as we attempt to get everything done and attend all these functions.

Alex had her band concert on Tuesday evening, again upset her dad wouldn't come over to see her - she tries to put it off as nothing and makes excuses, but it still bothers her. It was a wonderful concert, but will probably be her last year in band, which is required (or chorus) for MS kids. Personally, I think it is a scam for us to keep a certain instrument supplier in business - at the end of this year I will now be the proud owner of a trumpet to go along with the clarinet I already have in my ensemble. She cheered on Wednesday's game which of course CG won. In addition, she did really well on a math pre-test that let her do more advanced work, she was very excited.

Kelsey has been in/out working at Mikes and preparing for her many finals, her drive and self-dedication to get these things done always amaze me. She is one of the leads on the student council winter dance committee which we will all see how that turns out this evening. And, bless her, she has picked up some of the house chores while I have been down and out....

I have been pretty much out of it this week, doing my best to maintain but wanting nothing more to crawl in bed, which a couple of nights I have, the girls have attended to themselves, thank goodness they are older.

Since last week, I have been having 'pain' in my lower abdomen area, it had been getting increasingly worse over the weekend and really made me take notice on Monday, I suspected that my ol women's plumbing was acting up again so off to the Dr. I went, sure enough, after some blood work and ultrasounds, it was what I suspected - cysts (bout size of golf balls) have re-emerged on my ovaries and are pressing down on everything - now my frustration is, I am told we can re-scan in 4-6 weeks but that is about it - so I now am living with sharp pains that encompass walking, sitting and any activity which also is now effecting my knees - I am mess ~ in speaking with the nurse on Friday after the final results came in I said that's great I get to live with this for 4-6 weeks, what about the pain - I have not heard back, try to get any pain relief these days from everyone abusing, well Drs are not so forth-coming - even after I told her I am using 1600 mg (that is 16 pills) of ibuprofen twice a day and it is just dulling the pain, unfortunately, I am one of those people who has high tolerance to any medications so where one pill would put someone to bed, for me, it doesn't even touch it. I am calling again after the week end, this is just plain silly and when I hurt this bad, my kids suffer cause I don't want to deal with anything.

The weather as predicted has been a balmy 55 - 60 degrees and I don't even enjoy it right now.

I did attempt to get shopping done yesterday, I am truly not in a festive holiday mood at all, in fact I have been using the f'word alot the past few weeks, truly unlike me, but damn I am over all of it! - I managed to make a good dent and am almost finished for everyone, but due to the above, I pretty much came home, took whatever drugs I had from other things and went to sleep on the couch. At midnight, I had to get up and bring my youngest home from where she was going to stay the night, but due to some teenage fights, she was in tears - she called to come home.

Oh fun for the holidays - bah humbug I say!

It's Freezing in Here.....

After yesterday's birthday celebrations for Kelsey we all came home to finish out the week. We awoke this morning to a house that was 40 degrees, it was 8 degrees outside - the furnance quit.

Now thinking, it was my stupidity that forgot to change the filter and the furnance shut down, I was off to the store at 7am to get filters, home again and filter replaced I began my search for the manual limiter reset, this is where my frustration sets in - where it shows in the instructions is no where to be found, this of course resulted in a call to my friendly heating/cooling company - yes, I know I should just get it serviced and be done with it each year.

So I began my day of waiting for the service guys to come while wrapped up in layers of clothing and attempting to work on my laptop with gloves, it doesn't work very well.

They finally arrived around 2pm and after 20 minutes of inspection, testing and the alike it came up that the thermostat had gone bad in the house and had to be replaced. I was already out $100 for them to come out, so go ahead replace it. ~ so $200 later, cleaned furnance and new thermostat I was back in business and down in my xmas cash - but we will deal with it.

We cranked that furnance up to the point we were all walking around in our shorts and tank tops, ahhhh heat, we forget what a luxury it is. Course, the comical thing, the next week it is predicted to be back in the 60s here, my luck - it breaks down on the coldest day we have had yet this winter.

Stay Warm ~ I am Now!

HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL

Happy Birthday to you my love, I hope it is all you wish for!

Wet floors, Gingerbread house and Interesting Conversation

I arrived home this evening with a dad at my door attempting to pick up his daughter Katie and not really in a good mood, I introduced myself and we walked in together looking for the girls (Alex, Katie and Lauren) - what we found was a path of towels leading from the front door to the kitchen, what we saw in the kitchen were the three girls, stripped to thier bras & shorts and an explosion in my kitchen - towels covered the entire kitchen floor as well.

School project, they were actively engaged in making a gingerbread house, the old fashion way (no kits allowed) - cabinets all opened, table piled high with flour, sugar, icing, pans, foil and tons of water. Seems the sprayer got stuck and soaked them and the kitchen down, but that didn't really explain the rest of the mess - that was caused by them creating thier masterpiece (ugh!). Katie was told promptly to get dressed they were leaving, seems he had been calling the cell phones numerous times in an attempt to get a hold of her and was quite angry - now where have I heard that rant before. Before they could leave, the other Lauren's dad showed up frustrated with the same 'can't get a hold of you rant' - while I attended to the girls, and the mess - Lauren's Dad consoled Katie's dad to get him cooled off a bit before the poor girl went home, I gave Katie one of my sweatshirts to wear otherwise she would be leaving in her bra, shorts and nuthin' else - its currently 30 degrees here! Now Lauren's dad after talking a bit agreed to let Lauren stay so we could get this project moved forward and my kitchen cleaned. I rolled up my sleeves and off we went, getting walls up and iced and the roof on, it is now hardening in my kitchen as we speak - pictures will be included later -

So while we were cleaning and finalizing the conversation turned to thier friends and people in the 8th grade, I listened until my ears perked up at 'head job' - okay, lets get into this - let me just say I heard stories of acts between 8th graders I don't even think they should be talking about. Blow jobs, head jobs, feeling, getting off, wet pants, boners, etc. - these were just some of the terms I was hearing, it was quite an education and astonishing to me as well - now I am not naive, but dang - so you ask, do I go to all these children's parents and tattle or give them a heads up, not at this time, the girls trusted me as an adult, but it does make me more aware and on 'my toes' with this age group and my own daughter - but I will say this, there was conversation of one mother speaking ill of me because I cannot be available to haul the girls all over after school(okay single mom here - I have to work for a living) - her daughter was included in this conversation, now her, I would love to tell what her little precious can't do anything wrong girl is doing - and in her own house - that would get her, but I won't.....but its sweet to think about her reaction - lol.

Christmas Dance & Holiday Preparations....

Wow the weekend went by fast, as usual, I did not get all accomplished that I wanted. The girls once again pitched in and help make the house all festive - I came home Saturday night after Alex's indoor game (she scored against her old team - sweet) to find Shae, Jarrod and Kelsey in full force decorating the tree - with dinner in my hands all work was over for awhile, Shae decided to do a holiday rocker rendition complete with glitter ribbon headband and ponisettas in her hair - Billy Idol eat your heart out.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care with the hopes something might eventually be there - The tree turned out great but there is SO much glitter in my house that I don't think it will ever come up, though the Dyson did look like a miniature snow globe as it sucked up a good portion of it, maybe by Spring it will be gone.

Friday night I was once again invited to a $$ Hold'em game and once again came home the victor - yeah, think they are going to stop inviting me, I was supposed to be the sucker for giving away my money - lol!

Alex had the Christmas dance, the girls all got together, got beautiful, dance for a couple of hours then ended the night with pizza.

Have a Great Week All!