On The Move Again...

I've moved my blog again to Passions of My Heart.

I've moved!!!!!!!!!! Here's my new URL: http://www.ailurophile.com/karen/ Please update your Blogrolls and bookmarks! A HUGE thanks to Christine for all her hard work in moving my site and hosting me!!!

Things went well at my doc appt. Details on my Health Log. I'm off to study for my Org Beh mid term test! Hope everyone has a great night!

I finished formatting, printing, and putting the workshop materials together by 9:15! YAY! I just handed them off to Debi so she can take them to Kinko's. We both are sighing with relief that its done and before 11:00. I'm taking a short break before starting the couple of other things I need to do before I go today. I busted my ass all morning, so I deserve it, right?! I've had one hell of a time with my hip today, its been bad. I'm OK as long as I either sit still or stand still. It hurts like hell to stand up after I've been sitting a while. After I start walking, the pain lessens. The doc will be able to see my flares today, so he can determine how to deal with me. tee hee Isn't he lucky - to have to deal with me?! I best get back to work... hope everyone has a great HUMPDAY!!

Work was nuts today. I was given some workshop materials (mostly slides) to reformat for a workshop next week. We have to take them to Kinko's by tomorrow noon in order for them to be done. These slides have got to be some of the worst I've seen as far as formatting goes, they're a complete mess. There are 13 files, most with 60-80 slides so its taking me forever! I am on the 9th file and then I have to print all the exercises, appendices, etc., before I leave at 11:00am. So, I'm going in at 4am to make sure they are done in time. I'm actually hoping I'll have them all done by 9 or 10am because I have some other stuff that Timster will need to have done before I go too. I have my accounting class at 11:30 as usual, then I have my Remacade treatment (for my RA) at 1pm. So... if you don't see a post tomorrow morning, you'll know why! I most likely won't have time - maybe not even time to pee! *snicker* I'll be busting my ass on those slides. I really am hurting this evening - my shoulder and wrist were this morning, but as the day went on, my hip and both hands decided to join in the fun. So, I just took a pain pill and I'm headed to bed with some ice packs. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up and feel better (if I can get comfy and sleep tonight!). I don't have time for this! UGH!! I WILL be OK and it WILL get BETTER. Think positive, right?! OH! I just heard from Jeff! Shocker... we just chatted for a minute though cuz I told him I was beat and needed to go to bed. As we were saying good night, I told him to have a good night, and he said "you too babe." OMG, he called me "babe"... tug at my heart strings!!! *sniffle* I always loved it when he called me that! Damnit!

Warning!!! Christine will be hosting my blog . She's in the process of moving the entries, archives, etc., so this site may look a bit wonky... so don't be alarmed. I'll post the new site URL as soon as its finished!! YAY!! I will have comments again too - through MT so I won't have to deal with the flakiness of YACCS and better yet, blogger!!! Thanks again Christine! You're the best!

can I go home?? LOL! I'm gonna whine... I really don't feel like being here, but I am. Damn Rheumatoid Arthritis just won't leave me alone. I'll be fine, just waiting for my morning meds to settle before I take a pain pill. I can't go home, I can't miss my classes today. We're doing an exercise in Accounting (and if I don't see how we do it, then I will be lost with the homework assignment) and then in my Org Beh class we'll cover 2 chapters and then have a review on the first 10 chapters for the mid term on Thursday. So, I've got to suck it up. The night was so cool, it felt wonderful! 55 degrees when I came in this morning. Fall is on the way! The high was 80 yesterday too, which felt so great not to be so hot! We're supposed to have isolated thunderstorms today (and only a high of 64?! woohoo) and rain tomorrow. We need it! Well... enough talk about the weather and my pain. LOL! Here's something that cheered me up - thanks Colin!!

Here are some pics I took yesterday of my niece Elyssa's 2nd birthday.


What a day for shitty drivers! On the way to my accounting class, some jerk ran a stop sign and pulled right out in front of me, I had to slam on my breaks to avoid hitting him, then he goes 10 miles an hour BELOW the speed limit. Shithead. Then 2 blocks later, a "safety truck" pulls right out in front of me. Then on my way home, on a road going 50, some shithead pulls out in front of me (no car behind me for at least 20 car lengths), I slam on my breaks again and had to swurve to miss her, I honk my horn and she flips ME off! I took down her license plate number... its against the law in Utah to flip anyone off, shake your fist or anything else that is considered a threat. I'm turning her in. Bitch. I don't know if anything will ever come of it, but she pissed me off!

Well... damnit... Monday is here again. Why does it keep coming? It reminds me of sand in my underwear. Just when you think its gone, it comes back. So, being that it is Monday morning... we all need some cheering up. Something to get us through the day... For you men, you might want to go check out Colin's blog, I'm sure he has something at his to cheer you up. He's always got some great pics and funnies there.

I'm terrible... that no-good-for-nothing BIL of mine is here. He was in the living room upstairs putting together a toy for his daughter (its her 2nd birthday today) and I was coming downstairs, and I said "asshole" just loud enough for him to hear but soft enough for him to wonder if he were hearing things or not. *snicker* I just couldn't help myself. OHHHHHHHH I just can't stand the man (cough, cough, cough) Or should I just say MALE because he certainly ain't a man. But do I really want to lump him together with all the males? No... that's not fair to the males. Hmmm... what would be a good category for him... something that is lowest of the low... kinda like a cancer or nasty growth on your ass. I'm surprised he's here at all... he must have run out of money and it happened to be on Elyssa's birthday. He was here Friday when I got home, he was in the garage when I was backing my car in, and I almost didn't see him. I wish I hadn't seen him - not necessarily to run him over (I wouldn't want the lawsuit) but just because I hate seeing him period. OK, done bitching. I feel better. I had an uneventful day... just studied. I'm caught up now though and feeling a little less stressed. I talked to that Robert guy from Idaho a little bit Thursday night and Friday morning. Poor guy - he's really having a rough time. He really misses his ex wife and is very lonely. He's said a few times that he wished we lived closer, because he thought we'd hit it off since we're quite a bit alike. Hmmm... is 2 hrs really that far? I didn't think so... but if he does, then I'm not going to tell him its not. Its obvious he doesn't want to put the effort in as far as meeting so I'm not. He keeps saying how damn busy he is, everyone is busy. Its a matter of prioritizing things. I'm not a priority and that's really OK with me, I'm not *that* attracted to him. Finally heard from Jeff - for a minute. He popped online and said "hi" and "I'm going to go put my jeep top back on, I'll be back in a few minutes." I replied that I "wasn't going to be online long so if he wanted to talk to me then he should hurry." Then he replied "I'll hurry, and I hope I catch you tonight, if not maybe tomorrow." whatever... that was 20 mins ago and he's not back yet... I'm going to finish this post and visit a couple of blogs then I'm outta here. MEN.

I'm so tired!! I think I could have stayed in bed all day... wish I could have but I've got a lot of studying left to do so I dragged my ass out of bed, got in the shower and got dressed. Now I can't go back to bed. Well, I could... but I won't. I actually am not in much pain today! Shocker! Not sure how that happened... but am going to enjoy it. Days like this are few and far between and I do sooooo appreciate the break! Our power went out about midnight last night and didn't come back on until 5am this morning. I was woken up around 2:30 by loud clashes of thunder, and rain. A nice cool breeze came through my window. It felt so great, I snuggled down in the covers, one of my favorite things to do - just wish I had a sexy man there with me . I just love thunderstorms and the smell of the rain... mmmm... nothing like it!!!

Mr Ed is now on TV Land... how excited am I? More excited than that. I love that show! Its on for an hour each night at 6pm so I'm taping them. It take so little to please me... really it does. *snicker* I spent most of the day in my recliner reading my Organizational Behavior book. I'm now done through chapter 10. We'll cover chapters 9 and 10 Tuesday then have an in depth review of chapters 1 - 10 for the mid term Thursday night. Yikes. I'm nervous about that! I've got to go through the book and make study notes on what he told us would be on the test, I'm half way through chapter 2 doing that. I had to quit though, my brain was turning into mush. I'll finish tomorrow - as well as do my accounting homework and some exercises from the book on the balance sheet that I shouldn't have messed up on (yes, still beating myself up over it!). tee hee Anyhoo... My Mom has started her canning. She's made peach jam and bottled peaches and bottled a few tomatoes. She's been so busy today, and I feel bad that I can't help her. Mostly because I had to study, but also because of my health. I told her I'd help her for an hour or so, but she wouldn't hear of it and booted me out of the kitchen. She did let me make dinner tonight though. I was going to order pizza, but then we remembered that I had bought some pizza crusts at Sam's Club last week, so I made pizza. It was pretty good - the crust came with the sauce (not too spicy) and we had pepperoni in the freezer. Put toppings on, put in oven for 10 minutes and voila... pizza! I've found that my stomach can handle pizza once in a while. I made a couple of pieces without pepperoni though, I didn't want to try eating the spicy pepperoni just yet. I learned my lesson after the nachos last week. Tummy is not ready for spicy foods yet. Like you wanted to know that... I'm rambling aren't I?! See... brain is mush. I'm off to do some visiting now since I didn't get to visit many this morning because of Blogger being down.

OK, so is up with Blogger today?! GRRR! Took me forever to log in, and blogspot pages aren't loading all the time. Had a great time yesterday with the girls. We didn't get out of control like we have in the past, we just vistited and had some laughs. We only stayed about 1.5 hrs so I got home early. I had an early evening and just relaxed and puttered. I started watching Kangaroo Jack but fell asleep... was very tired! I'll have to finish it sometime this weekend. I also have Old School I want to watch. I'm off now to visit some blogs and then get back to

Musing for the day. Why men named Richard like to be called Dick. Why not Rick or Rich? Dick? It always struck me as funny and I have a really hard time calling a man Dick. Hi Dick, how are you today? Have you seen Dick? I saw Dick today. I haven't seen Dick in years! Dick is over there. He looks just like Dick, don't you think? Is Dick there? Do you hear what happened to Dick? Dick is a big guy! Dick didn't come. Dick is coming. Dick really screwed me over. (my personal favorite) I could go on and on... I just snicker everytime I hear the name. And well of course the word too.

Just got back from my accounting class. We got our tests back, and I did fine! Whew! I missed two multiple choice questions, and the balance sheet that I sweated over he only docked me 5 pts on (so I got 15/20 on that section). Ended up with 87/100 which he graded as an A! YES! So far I've gotten 100% on my homework assignments so I'm maintaining the A. Cool. I do want to stay on top of things though, and do some extra worksheets and examples to really hammer this stuff in my head. The balance sheet stuff I should not have messed up on. There are so many examples in the book that we don't go over in class and I do learn better doing "hands on" type things instead of just reading. One other source of stress this week has been me getting turned down for the cash advance to pay for my tuition from the company. Corporate policy says we can have cash advances, but each sector, group, and division can make their own policies. Well, the group I'm in has a policy of no cash advances. Period. I was absolutely livid when I found out. My boss and division manager went to the group manager and he wouldn't make an acception. Makes me feel like my company doesn't give a shit about the "pee ons" who are hardship cases. I am very appreciative that they are paying for my tuition - eventually - its just hard to come up with $1100 up front. We have to submit our grades (has to be above a C or they won't pay for it) with our expense report then will be reimbursed. This was not stated or at least clearly in the tuition assitance policy, because we all found out after the fact that this is how it worked. We still can't find where it says it exactly. My boss put the tuition on his credit card to begin with, and he said he can wait until the end of Oct (when I get my grades and reimbursed when I submit the expense report) for me to pay him back. Timster is just the best. Anyway, we have a challenge for next term which is coming up in just over a month that I'll need an additional $1100 (this includes tuition and books). Tim and I talked, and decided the best thing to do would be to take out a loan against my profit sharing. They'll take payments out of my check, and its at a 5% interest rate, which is lower than any credit card. Anyway, I'll get he money, put it in an account and withdraw it when I need it, then when I get reimbursed put it back in. I really hate taking out a loan, but we don't see any other way around it, and now that I've started back to school, I do not want to stop. I need to do this, and can't let anything stand in my way. Hopefully next year the company can continue to pay for it, especially since they'll benefit from it as much as I will. I'm going to make an announcement... I'll be moving my site soon. The wonderful, generous, marvelous, sweet (and any other wonderful word I can think of!) Christine will be hosting my blog and moving it all to MT! I'm so excited!!! I will let everyone know the new URL when its all set up and ready to go!

I'm feeling kinda today for some reason... I DO have a lot to do but should be able to do it all in the time I have. Maybe all the stress from this week is finally catching up with me, who knows... anyhoo... I need to get my cleaning done, dash off to class, work for a few hours then meet up with the girls. I really am looking forward to that. I have a TON of studying to do for Org Behavior this weekend, and that is a source of stress too, but I know I need to calm down and relax, and just study or else I won't absorb anything. We had an informal review last night on the first 10 chapters, and then Tuesday night we'll have a more indepth review... then next Thursday is our mid-term. I also have to do a paper on my own, as well as help with a group presentation. This class is definitely more involved than I thought it would be, but its very interesting. Anyhoo... I best get my moving. Have a great day!

I took my accounting test today. There was one part I really got frustrated with. I *thought* I had it down pat, but obviously not! We had to create a balance sheet, with a list of assets and liabilities to get the info from - but the kicker is that not all the assets and liabilities are listed on the balance sheet. The things I *thought* were to be put on the balance sheet didn't balance. I spent well over 30 minutes on that portion. Finally I ran out of time and had to turn in what I had. He said that he'd give us credit for the bits we had right, so I won't be out the full 20 points it was worth. Whew. I think I did well on the rest of it though. We'll get our tests back tomorrow so I'll see how I did.

Thanks for all your comments and all your well wishes on my Zonk board! Really wish YACCS will be up soon! It was up for a little while the other night, then down again. My foot is feeling mucho better, am walking instead of hobbling. Shoulders and my right thumb aren't liking me but are better than they were last night. Mr. Rheumatoid Arthritis is sure loving me lately. Sheesh... I went home early yesterday, got in my recliner, propped my feet up, and studied for my accounting test. Pretty soon, my cat came over and had to jump up on my lap... she's such a snuggle bunny and knows when I'm not feeling well. She purred and purred while I studied (had to have one hand on her and rubbed her head and petted her). Its funny how that always calms me down and makes me feel less anxious about things, and the love just radiates from Ashley. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's my baby! After I studied my accounting, I decided to start reading a chapter for my Org Beh class tonight. I didn't get too far though, maybe only one of the two chapters we'll cover tonight... oh well... more reading to do this weekend ;-). Tonight we're going to cover two chapters, watch a video and then start the review for the mid term that is next Thursday. UGH. I'm not sure I'm ready for this one... I'm really glad its Thursday, this week has breezed on by. I am going to work for a few hours tomorrow afternoon, to make up for yesterday. I also have my accounting class that ends at 12:30, then its the Girls' get together at 3:30 (right after everyone gets off work) and its a long drive home, so I figure I'll just stay in the area and work. I'm so excited to see everyone and get caught up on things. Its been way too long. Have a great day!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!!!!!!!!! Here are a few precriptions I'd like to take... ... yummy... great way to start my day... gets me going. *snicker* (click your mouse on the screen to bring up the text and change pages) I forgot to mention yesterday that there are some customer funded tasks that I will be working on as well as the database and financial stuff. We have customers that we need to support, and one of our customers is another organization on base that we're doing a series of workshops for. Plus any support that Tim and Greg need for the customers their supporting. Anyhoo... not much happening yet... the RA in my left foot flared during the night, woke up feeling like someone hit me with a sledge hammer. Pain pills are helping, I can't walk very well but can hobble. I've decided to take half the day off today, will go home after my accounting class. I want a little extra time to study for the test tomorrow, as well as do some reading for tomorrow's Org Beh class. Also, if my foot is feeling better I'd like to stop off at the grocery store on my way home and get a couple of things I'm almost out of. TTFN!!

Tim just got out of the meeting. There are two main tasks I can do - the database/customer service and contract management (my finacials, and reporting). Our support to the helpdesk has been cut - totally. Tim and Greg answered a lot of requests so that really cuts into that for them, but for me, it means no more tracking of the requests and beating everyone else over the head to make sure they answer the requests. I'm not too upset over that part of it, it was always a HUGE pain in my ass tee hee. So, that's part of the problem resolved, now we have to figure out what to do with the rest of our time. Tim is on the phone now with our Div Mgr Mike but I'm sure it will take more than that to get things settled.

Its been a pretty blah day here at work. I've been working on tasks that could be considered "overhead" tasks and not my usual duties since Tim's meeting this morning was postponed to this afternoon. He's finally there now, didn't go in until 2:15 or so... its now 2:40. So he should be out soon and we'll know more of what our situation is. I've pretty much ran out of things to do now... and still 1.5 hrs left. I'd go home but I have my Org Behavior class at 4:30. So... I'll stick around. My buddy Larry M just stopped by to say "good-bye". Its his last day, as he's retiring. I'm gonna miss him, he's a great guy. The girl's (aka the Motely Crew) are finally going to have a get-together this Friday! Its been AGES since we've gone out together... so I'm looking forward to it. We're going to meet Friday after work at a local restaurant. Hopefully we'll laugh and carry on so much we'll get dirty looks from people - NOW that is how we guage the fun. LOL!!

Snagged this quizzie from Rilana
"Sweet Dreams" (by Eurythmics) Sweet dreams are made of this...Who am I to disagree? ...Travel the world and the seven seas... everybody's looking for something ...Some of them want to use you ...some of them want to get used by you ... Some of them want to abuse you ... Some of them want to be abused
Which 80's Song Fits You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh man! The Tuesday after a Monday holiday always leaves me feeling like this! Anyone else??? Well, today at work will be interesting. Our funding for the day-to-day tasks has been lost (I've mentioned this before) and we don't have another sponsor, after several attempts. So... we're essentially out of funding - as of last week actually. The incremental funding we have now has been spent. The gov't is supposed to give us more funding to last until November, but its not looking that way. My boss Tim has set up a meeting with the gov't this morning to see what specific tasks we can work on with the remainder of our funds. 80% of what I do rely on these funds. So... it looks like I'll be changing jobs a lot sooner than we thought. Not quite sure what the other job will be yet, Tim has to meet with our division manager Mike today to get it all sorted. We're pushing for the job in our main office helping the financial guy Bart out. I will go into work this morning (2 hrs later than normal) and work on "overhead" tasks, then this afternoon, hopefully be able to work on my regular tasks for the gov't org. If things work out the way I'm thinking, I'll be working half time at the gov't org, and half time at the main office. Then when funds run out, full time at the main office. There is another contract on base that they were considering me for, but its in configuration management (which I have no experience) and I would require a security clearance to even step into the building. Which is no big deal to get one, but it takes time and we really don't have time. I've also heard that is a bad place to work - a bunch of back-stabbing gossips. So, I'm definitely pulling to work in our main office AND it will help me advance in the career path I want, and with me taking accounting classes, it would work out really well. So, fingers crossed! I had a good day yesterday, I was going stir crazy so Mom and I went to Rainbow Gardens shopped and ate lunch. It was nice to get out. We went to another store where I got me a couple of bargain DVDs (Evelyn and Lemmon Drop Kid) and a video Super Troopers. I came home, finished studying and then had an ealry night watching the movies. Have a great day!

Happy Labor Day!!! My attitude about Jeff today is...or should I say the attitude I'm TRYING to have today is... Have a great day everyone!

Yeah... OK... spoke too soon about YACCS being back up! GAH! At least the Zonkboard is working... I really got thrown for a loop today. The guy Jeff, that I was involved with for 2.5 years that I broke up with this past May, contacted me on Yahoo. He wanted to see how I was doing, and to tell me he was really sorry for treating me like shit. Whoa. We chatted for a bit, and got caught up on things. He was really worried when I told him about all my health probs lately, and was excited that I've gone back to school, etc. He told me that he's ready to settle down. I asked him to clarify that, and he said "ready to find love again." I didn't ask him to elaborate, and I have no clue whether this statement includes me at all. For all I know, he was just writing to apologize and to see how I was. I made the decision to break it off completely and not have any more communication, it was a tough decision but I knew I had to do it for my heart's sake and to truly move on. So I'm really blown away. To be honest, I miss him like crazy. He asked if we could talk again, (he had his kids and needed to go get them lunch) maybe tonight... if we were online at the same time. I told him that would be nice if we connected, if not we could talk another time. Am I nuts to let him back in my life? Or maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit and he really doesn't want to be "back" in my life, but just chat buddies or not at all?! Shit! I thought I was really calm about this, but now that I'm writing it down, I'm starting to freak out. I really thought he could be the one, that's why I hung in there for so long before. Long distance relationships are so hard, and if it weren't for the distance, and for the fact that we didn't think things could work out because of the distance... we might be together now. Shit! I know in my heart that he was a soulmate, and when I fianlly met him in May, it was like I'd known him my whole life. Never was more comfy with anyone else. Shit! It was so great! What am I gonna do?! I know... just see what happens...

This pic is of my Mom and a very special tomato from her garden. I asked her to pose with it, and was giggling. It was a very weird looking tomato, but it was just exactly WHAT it looked like that I was giggling about, and her holding up close to her face like that made me giggle even more. Mom asked me what I was giggling about, so I told her what I thought the tomato looked like - the male anatomy. Mom called me by my full name, and told me I was rude and my mind was in the gutter! Then she giggled too.

OK... here it goes... here is the the pic of me and my new do. WARNING! This picture also shows the ill effects of PREDNISONE, a medication that I have to take for my Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ulcerative Colitis... not a pretty picture. It makes faces puffy and causes swelling. I KNOW I look awful. But it will go away when I'm off the medication (they're slowly taking me off of it). CHIPMUNK!!
This is a picture of my niece Elyssa. She'll be 2 next Sunday, isn't she a cutie?
These are pics of my cat Ashley... on catnip! The picture with her wrapped in the rug, she does this on catnip or not... she actually thinks she's hidden under the rug if just her face is under it. She really thinks I can't find her. LOL!

HEY! Comments are back!!! YAY for YACCS!!! Finally! Mom, Dad and I had a great day today. I took them to lunch to the diner where my sis Susie works and makes the BEST food. Mmm... I had my usual, the bacon and cheese omelet and hash browns with cheese. I have half of it left over for breakfast tomorrow. We decided to go to Sam's club where I needed a few things, I was going to wait until next Friday when I got paid, but decided I'd do it now since I had the time and Mom needed to go there too. I spent $100 on 17 items. Man... it adds up fast but I also got a lot for my money. I splurged and got me a bag of Runts. I love those things. Then we hit Wal-Mart. I found my niece Elyssa a really cute outfit for her 2nd birthday (that is next weekend). Its a Winnie the Pooh purple shirt and knit pants. Of course its Winnie the Pooh coming from me. I also found her a Winnie the Pooh ball. She loves balls. *snicker* she must take after her auntie. It was just nice to get away, and spend time with both of my parents. They enjoyed the afternoon as well, and told me how much they appreciated all I do for them and how nice it was to get away with me today. They really needed the break from the whole situation here. When we got home, Kathy was pacing the floor. Wondering where we were all that time. She said that she was really tired and needed to take a nap but couldn't because Elyssa was awake. Like that's Mom and Dad's problem?! We just looked at her, set our groceries down on the counter, and went outside for another load. Then Mom came back in after the second load and told her that there were many times when she needed a nap when we were growing up, but didn't get one. Life's tough. GO MOM! LOL!! Kathy just "humphed" and walked into her room. Grow up Kathy. I'm off to study now! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I just finished chatting with Robert on Yahoo. He was really glad that I sent him that e-mail and was honest with him. He said that he really doesn't know what he wants right now, he's been thinking about his ex wife and he still loves her, but then again he wonders if there is someone else out there for him. He's just really confused. I can understand that... so I told him that we could be friends if he wanted to. He said he's a little leary of being friends with women on the net because his experience has been one-sided friendships. They have problems, unload on him, then don't let him unload his problems on them. I told him I didn't work that way. I believe any relationship there needs to be give and take, two way streets. We talked for a while, about what he's gone through, etc., and he was so grateful that I listened and cared about his feelings. I think I blew him away. I really do like helping people, it takes my mind of my own problems and makes me feel good.

I got a very quick, short e-mail from that Robert guy in Idaho in my e-mail this morning. He said that he's sorry he's been really busy and would be spending the weekend with his two kids, which is great. I'm happy for him. But ya know, I really don't feel like he's making much of an effort to get to know me, so I put it to him like this: " I understand what its like to be busy. I work full time, going to school full time, have health issues, and deal with every day life, yet I still make an effort to try to get to know you. I was wondering if you really do want to get to know me, since it seems like you're not making much of an effort. I don't want to waste your time." ( I almost wrote that I didn't want to waste my time either but decided against it) Then I told him I'd leave it up to him, and wished him a good weekend with his kids. I figure if he's really interested then he will make an effort, if not... I am probably expecting too much from people. I know everyone has different personalities, different traits, different priorities, but with guys that I potentially will have relationships with, I want them to put as much of an effort in as I do. Is that too much to ask? I've had too many experiences where I bust my ass to be there for them, and they don't do the same. It leaves me feeling empty and drained. So, I've come to the conclusion that if they aren't putting any effort in then I'm not going waste my time and energy. Does that make me a bitch? Sometimes I feel like one when draw the line like that, but I've learned some hard lessons and am tired of being let down and hurt. All was quiet on the Western Front last night. Mom said that Kathy is being nice, and I said "Yes, too nice... because she knows she's in deep and is kissing up." Mom said "I know." the we giggled. Ellis isn't here, he's where ever he stays when he's not here and God knows where that is. He only comes here when he's out of money and needs food. I'm really not going to worry about things too much though, I can't. Its not good for my health to get stressed out over it and I've got a lot of studying to do. So I'll just stay down here in my basement and do my own thang. I was toying with the idea of taking Mom and Dad to lunch or even a movie today, after the day they had yesterday they deserve a treat.

I did it - I got my hair cut! About 6 inches off the length so it hits the very tippy top of my shoulders, but curly is about half way up my neck. My Mom and Dad really loved it, and I like it too, just will take some getting used to it being this short. I will wear it curly mostly, which will save on the curling and blow drying damage and get it healthy again. With my body going through so much, its taken its toll on my hair. I've been losing a lot of hair lately too, but Melany said there's a lot of new growth so that's a good sign. I think this is all linked to being anemic. I am on meds that can cause hair loss (methotrexate), but I take mega doses of folic acid to combat that part of it. Anyhoo... new haircut! YAY! Melany is my Ex SIL. She's done my hair since she and J Dee first got married back in 1979. She has been involved with the whole Kathy situation all along. She's been a support to Kathy, and that's great. Melany also sees what Kathy has been doing, and she has been very supportive to everyone else too. Anyway, Melany told me that she got a phone call from Kathy this morning, Kathy whinging about what's going on around here. actually told Melany that the meeting last night was all about her and how we're all ganging up on her, and that she wasn't "invited" to the meeting so she couldn't defend herself. I busted out laughing! How utterly ridiculous! I told Melany the "meeting" was about HOW TO HELP MY PARENTS. It just happened that Kathy and Ellis were discussed because they are a huge part of the problem. Besides, Kathy should have been home. She had an epidural shot yesterday at the hospital for her back, and should have come home right after, which would have been around lunch time yesterday. Kathy didn't get home until 2am this morning. Yes, 2am. She left her child with my parents for 16 frickin hours while she was out messing around. She kept calling and saying "I'm on my way home". choke, cough, choke. Which is the norm. But not any more. My parents have FINALLY reached their limit. Then she had the NERVE to tell Mom this morning that she was in sooooo much pain that she couldn't take care of Elyssa. She couldn't feed her, get her dressed, nothing. Mom had to do it. Mom was furious. That is when she let into Kathy like you wouldn't believe. I wasn't there to witness it, darn it, but Mom told me about it. Then Dad got his turn. HAHAHAHA. One of the things Mom told Kathy is that Ellis is no longer welcome in this house until he gets a job and contributes both monitarily and helping around the house. I think Dad is going to be the one to break the news to Ellis, unless Kathy has already told him. Melany just loved hearing the whole TRUE story. She told me all that Kathy had told her and it was one big pile of bullshit. Its amazing how she either views things, or will say anything to make sure that Melany is on her side. When I got home, Kathy asked how Melany was... I said "fine." Then Kathy said, "Oh, I guess I did know that since I talked to her earlier on the phone." (to test me and see if we had talked about her) I just said, "Oh really? That's nice you talked to her." tee hee Like I knew nothing. Then she just went on and on about my hair and told me how much she sympathizes with me being in pain. Then she had to tell me how awful her epidurall was, yadda, yadda, yadda, like I care... She was soooo trying to kiss my ass... and ya know what, she can literally kiss my ass. I'm not falling for it. Does she really think I'm that stupid?!

What an afternoon I had yesterday with my right wrist. Holy shit. Details on Health Log. Org Behavior class was pretty good last night. We went over leadership and types of motivations in the workplace. We were done by 6pm, going over the stuff pretty fast because everyone was anxious to get started on their long weekends. We skimmed over most of the two chapters but its OK because I had planned on reading it all thoroughly this weekend anyway. My group (for our group presentation at the end of the term) got together and chose the topic of "Leaders, are they born or made", and we're arguing that they're made. We're going to start gathering info now which is good - I like people who don't put things off to the last minute. When I got home last night, Kathy and Ellis were gone (YAY). Susie, J Dee and Bob were here (my other 2 siblings) talking to Mom and Dad. It wasn't that I was not invited to this meeting, but they forgot I had school and it was pretty spur of the moment. Anyway, I got there just as things were getting settled. Mom and Dad are in financial trouble because of all the shit Kathy and Ellis have put them through the past couple of years. They're a huge drain on all aspects of my parent's lives. So, they all met to see what they could to do help them out financially AND to discuss the whole K & E situation. They filled me in on everything when I got home. Mom and Dad were pretty embarrassed that they all came over, but Bob pointed out that we're all in this together, we're family. There's nothing that my parents wouldn't do for any of us, and now its our turn to really help them out. I'm so relieved that they all came over and talked things out. Especially about K&E. I've felt so alone in the battle against them taking advantage of Mom and Dad all this time. I've talked to them about it but they've never talked to Mom and Dad. Finally they have told Mom and Dad that they feel the exact same way as I have all this time - it has got to stop. K needs to get rid of E is the #1 thing. He's dead wood, he lies, cheats, steals, and has convinced K to do the same. They've sold prescription drugs, and God knows what else. K has this thing where she calls the doctor in pain because of her knee and/or back, gets pain pills, then says they make her ill and so he calls her in something else. Then they sell them. She is in pain, no doubt about that but she's using the pain for pills and for manipulation. She is a player. She's always been able to manipulate my Dad and he's finally starting to see it. Especially after the little chat last night. She plays Mom and Dad against each other, and she always had, she's just gotten more crafty about it... but the jig is up. Bwwahhahahaha. She needs to grow up. She's 40. I will say that I know a lot of what she's doing now is E's influence. She's scared of him. He's beaten her down emotionally (she's unstable anyway) into thinking that she can't do any better and that she needs him. She has said she wants to get rid of him, but she hasn't gone through with it. He's threatened to take Elyssa back to Ohio, but he doesn't have the balls and would have to go through everyone in this family to get that little girl out of this house. He doesn't realize that we are very nice people until you mess with one of us, then we rally around each other and protect our own. He's the biggest dumbshit and the laziest ass. We know one of the reasons (besides being a lazy ass) why he's not getting a decent job. He's probably got people looking for him. He's got two other kids in Ohio somewhere and who knows who else is after him. So... we need to help these people find Ellis. Does anyone know how to find out if someone is looking for him? Either for financial reasons or for an outstanding warrant perhaps (one can dream that he does have one, and most likely does)?? J Dee and I will be looking on the internet to see what we can find, but any tips would be much appreciated. We need to get rid of Ellis Ringwood Jr. That's all there is to it. They also discussed having Kathy giving guardianship of Elyssa to Mom and Dad. If anything ever happened to Kathy, Ellis would get her and we fear for her welfare. Elyssa has some physical problems (she's almost 2 and isn't walking yet, and just learned how to crawl about 3 months ago). She does therapy a lot, and is making a lot of progress. They have done so many tests but can't find out any cause. She's soooo smart though. She gets really frustrated trying to talk too, and can't. They're teaching her some sign language and that's helping a little. She says a couple of basic words, Mama, etc., so we know she has the ability... she's just slow. Elyssa also needs to be around kids. She hasn't really been exposed to other kids, other than J Dee and Patti's grandkids at family gatherings. She doesn't know what its like to "share" toys, etc., K&E are supposedly going to put her in a play group but E is afraid that the other kids will pick on her. They probably will, but that's life. We think that she'll progress even further if she sees other kids running around and walking. It will be good for her, but E is being an ass about it and K is being lazy and won't just go put her in the play group. It looks like once again Mom and Dad will have to step in and take her. I think last night was really a new starting point. Dad finally understands that he's been taken advantage of and manipulated. I'm sure it hurts him to no end that its done by his daughter, but now he can put a stop to it. He said he was going to give E an ulitmatum to have a job, etc., in 90 days or he's outta here. We all told Dad 90 days was too long, it should be a week. So we'll see what happens. I hope Dad stays tough on this. He tends to get fired up about things, lays down the law, and then mellows out and lets things slide. They can't slide anymore in this case. He's got to stay tough. I'm going to get my ass busy now, pain pill is working so I should be able to get my cleaning done. No errands to run today - they'll have to wait until next week, pay day! I am getting my hair cut though, I'm excited... something new! Have a great day - and more importantly a great Labor Day weekend! This doggy is ready for the BBQ!

I had a pretty good night, didn't get any extra sleep but it felt so nice to relax and just lay still and not have to move about much. My joints thanked me. I'm soooo glad its Thursday! YAY!!! 4-day weekend is almost here! Its going to be a long day though. I've got my Thurs night class tonight... hopefully he'll let us go an hour early tonight like he did on Tues. I won't hold my breath though. Nothing else exciting going on, I've got some busy work to do. My uncle sent me some fun pics, this is one of them. I'll post the others on another day.

One more hour of work today then I'm headed for home. I have a plan: drive home, make myself a cheese omelet (craving it today!) for dinner, check e-mail, get in my jammies, go to bed. I need to do some reading for school and then will watch a movie until I fall alseep. My pain is tolerable this afternoon. YAY. I only had to take a half a pill. Improvement. On moving to our new cubicals on the other end of the building, I found out that I am not getting that luxurous cubical that Randy wanted me to have. *sigh* I am going to be put in a 4-cube space with the Timster and Greg again. Oh well... short time here most likely anyway. The 4th cube they'll let me use for storage and my customer service stuff. Not sure when the move will happen yet. The carpets still need to be cleaned and the cubicals need to be finished being moved about and furnished. Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'd imagine. My buddy Larry M. is retiring. They had a luncheon for him today, as well as a small reception. I'm gonna miss him, he's a sweetie. He's been with the gov't for 37 years, so he's done his time. LOL! I was thinking earlier... what is it about some people's laughs that grates on your nerves? There is one guy here that has the most horrid laugh. I don't know what it is about it, but it makes me want to pull my hair out when I hear it. Its not goofy or obnoxious, just irritating. Come to think of it, his voice and the way he talks is very irritating. I wonder if I'm the only one it bothers, or if its a personality thing? Does anyone voice/laugh ever just bug you like that and you have no idea why? He's a nice guy... nothing personal against him. ??

I just got these in my e-mail and had to share them, they made me giggle a bit. These are things taken out of actual patient's charts. Gotta love the medical profession... * The baby was delivered, the cord clamped and cut and handed to the pediatrician, who breathed and cried immediately. * Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized. * Rectal exam revealed a normal size thyroid. * She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until 1989 when she got a divorce. * The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of gas and crashed. * I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy. * The patient lives at home with his mother, father, and pet turtle, who is presently enrolled in day care three times a week. * Bleeding started in the rectal area and continued all the way to Los Angeles. * She is numb from her toes down. * While in the emergency room, she was examined, X-rated and sent home. * The lab test indicated abnormal lover function. * Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches. * Examination reveals a well-developed male lying in bed with his family in no distress. * Patient was alert and unresponsive. * When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room. * Male patient insists that his HIV was inherited, and not from sexual activity. * The patient was to have a bowel resection. However he took a job as a stockbroker instead.

Happy HUMP DAY!!!! The weekend is fastly approaching! Last night's Organizational Behavior class was pretty good. The teacher is a guy that I worked with for the first 3-4 years here. Cool. He's a really nice guy. We covered the first two chapters last night, and will continue to cover 2 chapters a night from here on out. UGH. I will have a lot of reading to do this weekend. I will read 1-4 to catch up on this week's stuff, then I will probably go ahead and read the next two. We will have a group assignment as well as an individual case study paper and two tests. I think it will be an interesting class. He let us go an hour early last night because he really skimmed over a lot of the material in the book. I think he wanted to go home too after the long day. I didn't argue! LOL! There wasn't any cute guys that I could scope out, damnit. They were either young (in 20's) or older and married. I was really grateful to go home early because I was totally hammered. I hurt everywhere or so it seemed. I took two pain pills when I got home, did a couple of things then crashed with my cat. She was a little pissed at me for being home late (she's so bossy tee hee) but then she warmed up to me when I gave her a treat. I'm not above bribary! LOL! No, really, she gets a treat in the evenings when I get home normally, and after I get out of the shower in the mornings. I slept good and really didn't want to get out of bed this morning, felt like I could have slept another 10 hours. OK... going to start my day now!

Update on Health Log Accounting class left my head swimming today. What I thought I understood yesterday kinda blew me away when we started to apply it in a practice exercise. He made the announcement that we WILL have Friday off! That made everyone smile big! We'll finish the practice exercise tomorrow, then he's assigning homework that is due next Wednesday... then next Thursday will be our 1st test! ARGGHH! A test!!! Do you have any idea how many years its been since I took a test?! Test anxiety here we come. Can you tell I don't want to work on the database? But I better... TTFN!

Not to be a whiner... but I had to share this, whether you like it or not. tee hee My right hip is in the middle of a flare, but the center location of the pain is in a interesting place. Its on the inside of my leg, at the very top, towards the back. Which is... right in my ass. So I'm sitting here thinking to myself, "hey, you've got a real pain in the ass." Then I giggled at myself. Yes, I'm on pain pills...

YAY for Tuesday... one day closer to the weekend. Not that I have big plans for the Labor Day weekend, I'm just looking forward to the time off. I will have some extra days to study, especially because I've got my first accounting test next Wednesday and I want to know the material inside and out. The teacher is giving us a list of what will be covered on the test this week. He's just so cool. I start my Organizational Behavior class tonight. I'm looking forward to it, but it is going to be a long day, especially cuz I'm still in quite a bit of pain. The pain is subsiding though, along with my sore throat (which usually means the RA flares are calming). My weird immune system. If they can just figure out what makes the immune system go haywire and starts attacking the body, they could cure so many horrid diseases. Anyhoo... it shouldn't be too bad of a day today. I've got things to keep me busy but nothing stressful. Mostly database work. Fun, huh? I got a couple of DVDs yesterday. One was "Bringing Down the House" and I watched it last night. That movie was really funny, I laughed right out loud in a few parts. See it if you haven't already. The other DVD I got is "Old School" but I'll watch it this weekend.

Stupid hand... I left work early this afternoon because my hand flared. It was hurting anyway, but by my wrist. My fingers started hurting and then an hour later it had turned into a 3-alarm flare and my knuckles were 2 times their normal size. Bam! That fast. So I took 1/2 a pain pill and headed for home. I'm going to ice it, take another pain pill (or two - its hurting THAT bad), and go to bed. I don't really know why I'm typing cuz it hurts like a bitch! I'm a blog and internet junky, that's why! tee hee TTFN!

Snagged this from Mama Moon
You are an Elementalist. Your magic stems from the forces of nature. You might be a forest nuturing Druid, a storm-creating Weather-Wizard or any of the many Elementals, but one thing is sure-- your bond with nature is strong. You can rely heavily on nature to support yourself aesthetically or physically for it lends you both comfort and strength. Your instincts rarely fail you. You are vibrantly passionate but are sometimes carried away by your own emotions. Which Magical Order Are You In?
brought to you by Quizilla Whoa... hit me right on I think!

OK, this really chaps my ass. Long lost friends who come out of the wood work (so to speak) and expects me to go to her baby shower. Pisses me off. I absolutely loath bridal and baby showers and this friend as well as all my other friends know this, but yet she assumes that I will come?! Grrrr. Guess again.

Hmm... just got an e-mail from Robert in Idaho (the one I hadn't heard from in a couple of weeks). He has been without the internet due to getting a new provider. He asked if I were still around and wanted to talk still. So I wrote him back and told him yes. We'll see what happens.

I had to stop off at the local Chevron station this morning to put gas in my car. The main part of the station was closed of course being 4:00am, but the pumps were open and they have the "Smile you're on Camera" signs all over. Well, I get out of my car, get my credit card out of my wallet, run it through, put the nozzle in my tank and start filling it. All the while, thinking, "Wow, what a nice cool morning we're having..." then I look down and see that my blouse is half open. (I'm wearing a skirt and blouse, the blouse has two ribbon ties, one under each arm, each wrapping around) I'VE BECOME A FLASHER!!! I'm showing my right black lacy bra-d boob to the world and to the camera. Hmmm... I wonder if they think I did it on purpose! But hopefully they saw the embarrassed expression on my face when I discovered it. LOL!!! Yup... its a Monday! This pic is fitting for today. Although I wasn't exposing myself to art, I was to the Chevron cameras and to the many people who will look at the tapes.
How is it that Mondays seem to roll around so quickly?? Doesn't seem right. My boss is out of the office this week, but I have to still deal with Greg. *sigh* I hope he has plenty to keep him busy and doesn't irritate me too much. Last night I was just about to drift off to sleep, and then I got a flash of the possible solution to my question about my accounting homework. I drug my painful body out of bed and got it all out... sure enough, I figured it out! It balances now, so I hope its right! I have a pretty busy day ahead, so I better get to it! Have a great day!

What a night I had... stupid Rheumatoid Arthritis... its driving me nuts. Details on my Health Log if ya wanna hear/read me whine. Its going to be a busy week and I don't have time for this shit! UGH! I was supposed to be getting better, not worse. I didn't get the studying all done yesterday, so I will finish it today. I want to make some notes on the key points because it helps the concepts sink in. I got the homework done, but have one small question I need to ask the teacher tomorrow. He gave us a hint on Thursday on how to deal with it, but if I deal with it the way he told us to, then I'm $80 off from balancing. So I must have either misunderstood or its a different type of transaction and is OK to be $80 off (which I doubt because accounting is all about balancing). Anyhoo... other than that I want to watch a couple of shows I taped last night and get a few other things done to prepare for the week. Oh shit... day too! I don't have a lot so I guess it won't be *too* bad. That guy Steve from Idaho (that disappeared last week and that I was bummed about) came back last night. We chatted for a while, and he just wants to flirt, not have a relationship with anyone, so we're not wasting each other's time. I also had three other guys that contacted me who just want lovers. Which is their choice, and am glad they're up front and honest enough to say so at the beginning. I'm looking for more and I'm not settling. Even though the horny factor is always there . *snicker* I best be off! Have a great Sunday!!! Just in case you're having a BBQ today and run out of propane, you might want to call this guy... LOL!!

Good morning!!! I hope everyone had a great night last night and are doing well this morning! I had a pretty good night's sleep on the Ambein stuff, but it makes me feel a bit oogy. My RA pain is virtually gone today, just the usual aches. See what the power of what hugs do? Even cyber hugs help! Not too much planned for today, first and foremost I will come around and finish visiting everyone! Then I plan on doing some studying and my accounting homework. I don't want to put it off until tomorrow like I used to do when I was a kid! LOL! I like my Sundays to be as "free" as possible. I'm also hoping to maybe get a little nap in. Here's a very yummy picture that a friend sent to me...mmmm... GIDDEEEEEEE UUUUPPPPPPPPPPP!! Gotta get me some of that!

Whew, what a day. I got everything done I needed to (for today!) done. I don't know how, but I got my cleaning done and managed to lay down for an hour before going to the doctor (my general doc for my blood thinner check). Once at the docs, they poked my finger and tested my blood. The thinners are right on target so I don't have to go back for another month. I also talked to him about not sleeping well, so he prescribed Ambein. I'm going to try it tonight to see how I do on it so there won't be any surprises if I take it on a week/work night. I really don't want to take another medication, but I need my sleep. I think my lack of sleep lately is behind my RA flares. Anyhoo... I came home and picked Mom up and we went to lunch. I was craving an Arby's Beef n' Cheddar like mad so... against my better judgment and not being able to eat red meat I gave into the craving. I was bad, but it felt so good to be bad and tasted soooo good. As for ill effects from my stomach, so far so good. So... things may be healing better than I thought... or maybe it hasn't hit me yet! LOL!! I gotta push the envelope though, don't I? I need to test things out. The next thing I test out will be a tomato out of my Mom's garden. Damnit, I'm gonna have one... or at least a wedge! I've had one bite of watermelon, one bite of cantelope this whole summer and I'm tired of being deprived! I want fresh fruits and veggies!! I've gone without them since January! ARRRGGHHH!!! Do you know how bad I want a salad?! *fit over* LOL!!! After lunch we headed to the grocery store, pharmacy, then to Wal-Mart. Tomorrow is Mom and Dad's 46th wedding anniversary and I wanted to get them something, or give them cash to go to a movie. We made our way to the movie section where we were looking at all the movies tosee if there was something my Dad would like. I found Dad a war movie and then found Mom a CD set of Glenn Miller. Her eyes just let up when she saw it. She said "now I have something GOOD to shake my fanny to while cleaning!" LOL! She cracks me up! We got home, and I call the mechanic to see how my car was coming along. He was able to get the digital display replaced, and was working on the emissions test. It wouldn't pass the first go-around but he knew what to tweak to get it to pass, so he told me to come get 30 mins later. He said the "stalling" was due to the odometer/dash not being hooked up and was confusing the computer. So... no more repairs! Woohoo! Which is good, cuz $653 busted me! Most of it was the digital display and he gave that to me at his cost which I was so grateful for. He's one good mechanic and will definitely go back to him if I need to. The car ran soooo good coming home and the display lights up like a Christmas Tree! Now I just have to wait for my tax bill to come and I'll be able to renew it for another year. Last year the taxes were a wopping $35 LOL! I can handle that! I need to do some studying this weekend, on the first two chapters of my accounting class. We covered the stuff in class, but I really want to grasp every concept and retake some notes. I also have my first homework assignment to do. We did an example in class yesterday so we'd know how to do this homework. I should be able to do it, I understood everything we did in class. Its not due until Wednesday. I really like this teacher ;-) He gives us plenty of time to do things. He even said we might have this next Friday off too if things went well during the week, and especially since it was Labor Day weekend. I'm feeling so much better tonight, even after having such a busy day. The pain is almost all gone, and I'm not feeling quite as weak. But...I better get my butt away from this computer and into my recliner now and rest so I don't have a relapse. I don't want to push too hard. I've been around to visit some of you, but will finish tomorrow morning! Good night!!

Thank you, everyone for the get-well wishes!!! I'm in the land of the living more than the past couple of days. I still feel yucky and still having some pains but they're subsiding as time goes on. I have so much to do today, but really don't feel like doing any of it. UGH. I feel awful that I haven't been able to get around and visit anyone, I WILL be by either tonight or in the morning. I've missed everyone! Have a great day!

OMG, yesterday was a day from hell. I had the stomach flu on top of one hell of a bad RA flare. My left ankle and right foot flared so I couldn't even walk, had to crawl. Then my hips, shoulders, wrists, hands, and elbows were flared too. My knees were OK though. I was in so much pain all I could do was lay there and not move. I couldn't take a pain pill cuz of my stomach being upset. I'm here at work now, but don't know for how long. I have to go to my accounting class and get some financials done. I think I'll be going home after class though, I'm feeling pretty shitty. Still in pain, but at least I can walk without screaming! Stomach still yucky but not throwing up. I'll try and get around to visit all of you later today or tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments and support! *hugs*

OK... got a plan to get the money for my car repairs. I guess this is the one good thing about being a worry wart and obsessive about not letting things drop until I have figured out a solution, despite getting stressed out. Now, the only thing that would blow me out of the water is if there is something really wrong, but its running good now (after the cracked spark plug was replaced) except for the occasional stalling and he's going to look at that on Friday. It did this exact same thing about 6 years ago and it was pretty simple but I can't remember what it was. My goal is by this time next year to have a new car (or at least newer!). If this one can hold out that long I should be in good shape. Its a 1987 Chev Cavelier Z-24 and its been such a good car, I really hate to get rid of it... who knows, maybe I'll just keep driving it until it dies, but be "prepared" to get a new car if something major goes wrong. Hmmm... maybe that's a better plan. tee hee My medical bills have been so much this year. I looked at my last explanation of benefits and over $33,000 in claims have been paid out (them) which is 1/3 of my lifetime max. Holy shit! I'm guessing that about $28,000 was paid out this year alone, not including prescriptions. I've paid out about $3000 this year in medical and probably $1000 in prescriptions plus who knows about the office visits at $15 a pop. I'm going to claim every last cent paid out on my taxes and should get a good refund. THEN use that money to help cover my expenses for next year. My company offers a flexcomp type program where I have money deducted from my check, put into a fund that is not taxable. I submit receipts (for any medical expense not covered by insurance) and get reimbursed, taxed free. I elected $1250 for this year and am thinking of doubling it next year. They take $48 out per check (every 2 weeks), and I turn around and submit receipts for $48. The only bad thing is, if you happen to not have enough medical expenses you lose the money, but between my my Remacade treatments and all the prescriptions there is no doubt that I will not use up $2500 next year. My financials have arrived so I need to get started getting the spreadsheet sorted so I can do my thang.

I am so tired! I think I only got about 3 hrs sleep last night between my hip hurting (RA flare) and my mind not shutting up again. I'm stressing out about my car, finances, etc., the mechanic called me yesterday and told me that my digital display (that we've been waiting to come in from the exchange place for over 2 weeks) was going to cost me an additional $200. Shit. They need to do the safety and emissions tests as well on Friday and I sure hope it passes. I'm not worried about the safety but am about the emissions. Just call me a worry wart cuz that's what I am. I hate being a grown up sometimes. If its not one thing, its another. I was going through my prescriptions and noticed its time to get the 90 day supplies again... yes, shit again. That will cost me around $350 (saving a bundle getting the 90 day supply - and you all know how I LOVE a bargain LOL!!). I need that Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes van to pull in my driveway on August 28. Gimme that million... I could use it, and I'd use it very well indeed. I have a pretty busy day today, my to-do list is pretty long in my planner. We'll start actual work in my accounting class today, and then my Organizational Behavior class starts tonight right after work. My boss will be out of the office at noon and irritating Greg is in Wash DC (but will be here tomorrow, damnit! I tried to schedule his trip for a longer period of time, but it didn't work out tee hee) so I'll have the cubical allllll to myself this afternoon. So if I get busy and get all my work done, I can cause some trouble or at least do some serious blog hopping! Here's a cute pic... have a great day everyone!

Whew! What a day its been! I'm taking a well deserved break. I got so much done this morning - the priority stuff anyway. I went to my accounting class and I really liked the teacher. He's laid back, but organized. He told us what the class will be like, and when the tests are and he even said that he likes to take as many Fridays off as possible ! My kind of guy... We were only there a half an hour, since it was the first day and he covered all he wanted to. So we'll start in on Chapter 1 tomorrow and won't have any homework assignments until Thursday. There were a couple of cute guys in the class, but unfortunately I didn't get to sit by any of them and won't because we have assigned seating. *sigh* Most of the guys are military and kinda young, but there was an older guy (about my age) that caught my eye... but I was on the wrong side and couldn't see if he had a wedding ring. I was nice and let him cross in front of my car as I was pulling out of my parking stall in the parking lot. He smiled and waved... and I smiled back. I came back to work and Tim had just got back from talking to our Div. Mgr. Mike about our job situations. Mike said that he's got a position for me in another building, and Tim told him that I had an idea of working at our main office with Bart, the financial guy. Mike thought it was a really great idea and "took note of it". So, there's a couple of possiblities. Nothing is settled yet, and we're still not sure if this organization will need us longer than November or not, it really depends on when for certain the funding/money on our contract is gone - or if by some miracle, we find a sponsor for our information services between now and then. I just found out that our shipment of monthly software journals are due in either today or tomorrow, so I'm getting the envelopes ready now while I've got some time and have my priority stuff done. Putting these damn labels on takes the longest. Stuffing the envelopes goes pretty fast. Tomorrow is when I start my financials, which reminds me, I need to bug Bart about them. He loves me to bug him. Toodles!!

School starts today! I'm quite excited, but also a bit nervous! Starting back was such a big step for me, I just hope I can keep up with it all and work too. I'm sure I'll be fine though, once I get the routine down. Today is going to be one CRAZY day. I've got so much to do this morning to get ready for my boss since he'll be out of the office for the next two weeks (after today). I'll post more later. Have a great Monday everyone!!!

I found some great code at Meg's site (thanks, Meg!!). I got a bunch of pics from a friend and decided to put them in this grouping. Just click on a pic for a larger view. Don't know what to do about the blank space, its how it is posting! Grrrr! What am I doing wrong?? Anyone know? The cell padding, spacing, and border of the table are all zero. Grrrr. These things are what happens when you party too much and don't have friends you can trust! LOL!!

*snicker* here's a cute little smilie that of course I took as looking naughty... woohoo

I've declared today, August 17, 2003 a pajama day. About the only constructive things I'm going to do is my and get my lunches ready for the week. I was contacted on Yahoo IM this morning by a guy named Steve. He lives in Idaho and seemed really nice! We chatted for about 10 minutes then all of the sudden he was gone. I'm bummed! Maybe he just had to go and I didn't scare him off... Yes, I'm having fun with new smilies today that Colin put on the server... LOL!!

Snagged this quizzie from Beverly
YOU ARE ROSEMARY

What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I think I could have stayed in bed all day today. But I needed to get my ass out of bed, for no other reason than to get out of bed and get moving! I'm feeling pretty rotten today, so achy and very tired. Showering and getting dressed almost did me in, but moving around tends to help me be less achy. I will take things easy today though, and will probably take a nice long nap this afternoon. The thunderstorms fizzled out last night, I wanted rain, damnit! Nothing much else to write about... I could bitch about a few things my sis Kathy and her asshold husband have done the past few days, but I won't! They're not worth my energy. LOL!! So...I'm going to sit here at the computer for a while and visit all of you instead, THAT is worthy my energy. Enjoy your Saturday!!

Mom and I had a good time today. We decided that we'd go to the restaurant where my sis Susie works for lunch. She fixed me my usual - a bacon/cheese omelet and homemade hashbrowns topped with cheese. Ohhhh so delicious. I have half of it left over so that's my breakfast tomorrow! How is it that when you only need a couple of small items at the grocery store - planning on spending under $15 on said items, that you come out with $40 worth of stuff? LOL!! It just amazes me, but there were things that were on sale plus having a coupon, I couldn't pass the deal up. Mom just laughed at me, but ya know, I'm just like her and that is what made her laugh the most! I got so excited when I saw that the Rice-a-Roni was 4 for $3 and then I had a $. 75 coupon so I got 4 boxes for $2.25. Not many people get excited over things like I do, do they? Do I need to start worrying about myself? Do I seriously need to get a life? Doesn't take much to get me going... I'm so easily entertained, passionate, and excitable any man would be lucky to have me... *snicker* see, there goes my mind into the gutter again, but the gutter can be a very nice place if you're with the right person. Looks like we've got another thunderstorm moving in... with lightening! I better shut this computer off just in case. Toodles!!

Hooray for Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are some days when I feel like I'm just barely hanging on... And then all of you come along and show me such support and give me encouragement that I need to keep going. Thanks so much for all your support - always! *HUGS* I'm so fortunate to have so many great friends! Don't know what I'd do without you all! I AM feeling so much better about things today, a lot less stressed and I'm starting to relax some about worrying about the cash advance for my tuition. There's really no reason why they couldn't do that for me. I've worked for them for over 8 years and have more than proved myself a valuable and worthy employee. Timster will certainly raise hell if they don't give me the advance, and I'm sure Mike will too. We really had a bad windstorm during the night. Lawn furniture is strung out all over (it even tipped over my Dad's swing, which 3 people can sit on and as soon as the wind started up, he was smart enough to take the canopy and cushions off so they wouldn't get lost.), tree branches everywhere... what a mess! Its just starting to die down now. There's a "chance" of more thunderstorms today, so maybe this wind is blowing them in. Hope so! That's all for now... I need to get busy and get the rest of my cleaning done, then run my errands. I will see if my Mom wants to go along too and have some lunch - since this is the last Friday for a while I'll be able to take her to lunch. We could perhaps start having our lunch and errand days on Saturdays while I'm in school, but we'll have to see how that goes. Have a great day everyone!

It was one hell of a emotional roller coaster ride today! Well, this week actually, but especially today. Ride #1: I checked my voice mail this morning and there was a message from a lady named Diane from our corporate accounts payable about my tuition expense report - the one for $1100 which I submitted last week. (I've been waiting for this expense report reimbursement so I can pay my boss back since he had to put my tuition and books on his personal credit card.) Diane asked where my grades were and that I had put the wrong dates on my expense report, or if the dates are correct, and I haven't even attended classes yet, I'd have to wait until the term is over then resubmit the expense report for reimbursement. So, in other words, I have to come up with the money first and then be reimbursed. Who the fuck has $1100 sitting around? I sure don't! So, here I am owing my boss $1100 that I do not have for tuition that the company is supposed to pay for. I wanted to break down and just cry. Tears broke through but I composed myself and told Tim what was happening. I didn't know what to do - I was thinking this is over, I'd have to drop out before I even started and take the loss of 10%, etc., but Tim said he had a meeting with our Div Mgr Mike and he'd see if there was anything they could do. In the meantime I took several deep breaths and cried on Colin and Emma's shoulders via e-mail (THANKS!!!!). Then a last minute meeting was called (see Ride #2) that I had to go to. After the meeting, I came back to my desk and called Diane. I explained the situation but she said there are absolutely no exceptions. You do not get reimbursed until the grades are in. Period. There was no policy that said anything about this in all the policies on our Intranet. The only thing it did say was "You must get a C or higher grade or you will have to pay the tuition back." What a crock of shit. Then Diane asked me "Why don't you just ask for a cash advance?" Cash advance???? I had no idea that we could do that and it sure as hell wasn't stated anywhere in the policies or tuition assistance stuff. So, I asked her what I needed to do and she directed me to the link in our intranet. I told Tim about it, got all the documentation together and filled out the forms. Mike has to approve it, but that shouldn't be a problem since it was all approved before... but there's still a slight chance the treasury dept (who gives out the advances) will deny it. I feel some relief, but I won't rest easy until I have that check in my hands and can pay Tim back. At the end of the term, I'll resubmit the exp. rep. with my grades and note that I got a cash advance already so it will "zero" it out. If the treasury dept doesn't approve it for some reason, I'm sure that Mike can ask his boss to get involved and get it approved. After all, I am definitely a hardship case! LOL!! Tim's meeting is on Monday, so he'll sign the forms then and see that they're sent off to the treasury. I called Natalie (Mike's assistant) at the off-base office to let her know what's going on, and she said "they don't do cash advances." Ohhhh yes they do and I have the policies to back it up. Natalie and I came to the conclusion that they most likely don't "like" to do them, but they DO do them. Tuition advance was specifically named and an entire section was dedicated to it. They don't advertise it and make it difficult to find, but its there. Ride #2: Our gov't organization that we're contracted to (Tim, Greg and I) has lost their sponsor for funding (this happend a few months ago) and we've been trying to find another sponsor for months. Nothing has panned out, so we had a meeting today and they told us that this funding will run out about Thanksgiving time. The first to go will be the contractors. We have customer funding that will cover consulting work, workshops, etc., but our information services and customer service areas will be cut unless we find a sponsor for them. Guess where the majority of my workload comes from? Yup, CS and IS. So... the main reason Tim is meeting with Mike about is "if the gov't doesn't find a sponsor, what happens to Karen, Tim and Greg?" Tim and Greg are consultants, but they don't work on customer funded projects 100% of the time either. So really, all of our jobs are in jeopardy. Our company does have other contracts on Hill AFB, as well as some work that could be done at our off-base offices. When I went to the company picnic a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to the financial guy, Bart from our main off-base office about the state of our gov't org and he said "we'll take care of you." I'm not sure exactly what that meant, I'm sure they'll do everything they can to place us, but I kind of had the feeling that Bart has talked to Mike about perhaps having me come and work him at that office. Just a weird feeling I had, not sure if it was my 6th sense or just a weird feeling. I've been concerned about this, obviously for months but I had a feeling that it would all work out fine and we'd find a sponsor... but after today's meeting I'm not so sure anymore. The gov't head honcho has one more advocate that may be able to sponsor us, so there's a glimmer of hope, but no one is really holding their breath. There's just so many budget cuts and programs that are being abolished. Its so scary to think of what is happening to our defense system. They need to put more money into it, not cut it. By this time, it was time for lunch and ooohhhhh did I need those cheese enchiladas! Big time. Sheri and I had a really good time, she's such good company and we both had a lot of things we needed to talk to someone about. So, good food, good company and we both felt so much better after lunch. I came back from lunch and had a card in my e-mail from Annie... Thanks, Annie! You sure know how to make me laugh! Ride #3 is on my Health Log if ya wanna read it. We just had a huge thunderstorm! The power was out for about 45 mins and it rained like crazy. It was so nice! I wish it would keep raining but its has stopped now. While the power was out, I took a nice cool shower and I'm feeling mucho better. I was all hot and sweaty because I cleaned the hell out of my bedroom after I got home from work. It needed it, and I needed the stress relief of cleaning it. Well... I am going to go really relax now and watch a fun movie to get my mind off things and destress. I'm soooo glad this week is over! This is my last weekend before school starts so I best make the most of it!

Today is the day Colin is to return from his trip! I went and filled out a report about my car being "keyed" yesterday. I knew they wouldn't be able to do anything but I wanted it on record and they need to be aware that its happening at least at our building. It could be happening at others and no one is reporting it. Yesterday afternoon was calm - Debi and I met the deadline for those workshop materials and everything is set. There was a meeting about this whole thing, but Debi and I weren't invited - which was OK with me. I was likely to have blown my top at Jim. I saw him in the hall as I was about to go home and he said, "thanks for all your help with the materials." I just said "You're welcome" as I walked out. I went home and just pretty much crashed, I was so tired. Still not sleeping well, if it keeps up I'm going to ask my general doc next week if I can get something to help me sleep and stay asleep - or at least be able to go back to sleep if I wake up in the middle of the night. I woke up again at 1:30 and couldn't go back to sleep... so I got up at 3 and came into work early. I'm making up time anyway, for the lunches I've had as well as going home early on Tuesday. We finally got funding for a series of workshops yesterday (we've waited for about 2 months to get approval for these) that will be taught to people here on Hill AFB. I've been asked to handle the registrations and coordinate all the materials and facilities. This will keep me pretty busy, but I like to do stuff like that. I'm hoping my car's digital display is in at the mechanics so I can get it fixed before I start school next week. I called them yesterday to see if it had arrived yet and they were going to call and see where it was, but they never called me back. So I'll call again this morning. I also need to get the safety and emissions done as well. It better pass or I'm in deep shit. ;-) Have a great Thursday everyone! Its my Friday! Woohoo! 3 for Thursday is up - go play!

I just found out that someone came along yesterday and scraped a car key across the hood of my car. It happened to two other people so far. WTF is wrong with people?! The cars that were "keyed" weren't parked next to each other, so we don't know why it happened. We were all parked next to the building, on the same side of the building. The only thing we can think of is that maybe we were parked a little close to the "white line for the parking stall" in front of our cars and the person didn't appreciate it? Its not a "walkway" between the parking and the building anyway. GRRRRRRRRR! The first guy who noticed it yesterday reported it to the security police and filled out in incident report, and I will be heading down sometime today as well as the other guy to fill one out too. I sure hope no one else's car was keyed. The security police said the only thing they can really do is patrol the area more often... so thank God for Karma. No kids are around, so we know it was an adult - or at least an adult in "years", in mentalility about 3?? Or is just plain malicious and twisted... I've just handed off the materials to Debi, she was so grateful that I came in earlier than normal to get it done, to give her some extra time to do what she needs to do. Poor Jim hasn't shown his face yet... tee hee

Some things in life are just so sweet that I can't help but smile. Now, there are really two kinds of "sweet" I'm referring to. Number one are incredible, supportive friends that are there for you no matter what - no matter how difficult their lives are, they always take time to make a point to brighten your day. The second kind of sweet: I get a voice mail from Tracy, the manager in charge of these workshops this morning (she left it last night) instructing me to not do any work on the workshop materials except get them ready to be printed. The rest was up to Jim. I got in this morning, and yes, the files were in my inbox and in the proper format!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I hadn't been sitting down, I would have fallen on my ass. Anyway, there were a few minor changes I had to make because he wasn't sure how we wanted certain things formatted, but that's OK, I don't mind little tweaks here and there (I really - wouldn't mind a tweak or two in other ways *snicker* sorry... my mind just went there). I'm waiting for the printer to get done now, make one final sanity check, then I'll compile everything and get it ready for Kinko's. I'm guessing that Tracy had a nice little chat with Jim last night... and THAT is what is soooo sweet. Another sweet thing, was the e-mail he sent with all the files was time stamped at 2am. I still don't feel the least bit sorry for him. He should have given the stuff to me last week and this whole thing could have been avoided. Live and learn, asshole! OK... I'm done being a bitch. Things have worked out OK now and we'll meet our deadline. My day should and WILL get better from this point forward, whether it likes it or not.

Well, its almost 3am! I've been awake since 1:30 and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to get my ass out of bed, and go in to work an hour early to get started on those workshop materials. I'm still so pissed - and I know I should just let it go because its not doing me or my health any good at all to be this upset. I guess the main thing that upsets me is Jim's total lack of respect for my and Debi's time and our jobs. Although the things we do may not be as "important" as his job (being a consultant), he doesn't realize all the work that has to be done behind the scenes. Most everyone else knows this and really appreciates what we do, but assholes like Jim have to ruin it. It really makes me thankful that I don't have to work with this jerk all the time. I'm going to try reformatting one section (since I'm going in early) and see what is involved. I may be able to have time reformat it all, depending on what a mess it already is. We'll see... if its going to be a big problem, then I'll just let it go as is. I also had a dream last night that I told Jim off royally... it felt so good. LOL!!! We'll see if this dream comes true ;-) Anyway, enough bitching. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday! I know my day will be better once I get all of this workshop stuff done and I promise to try not to let this get to me more than it already has. Its just not worth it! Off to work, I go! Hi, ho, hi, ho.

Just heard from my doc's office and I'm finally being referred to a hematologist to find out why I'm anemic! I'll call and make an appt first thing in the morning. As I was going to talk to that asshole Jim today on my way out of the office I decided I was still too pissed off to talk to him, so I went over and talked to Debi. Debi said that she'd talk to Jim again and tell him that we have to have his materials tomorrow - and they have to be in my e-mail by 5am. He told her that if we put his materials in the template, it would mess up the formatting. DUH. She told him that is WHY WE NEEDED THEM last week so we'd have time to reformat all of it. Dipshit! Debi called me a few minutes ago and we got managment involved in it. The materials are supposed to be uniform to other workshops we've held but since Jim has put this off, then we have no choice but to go with what he has. BUT I still need the materials in the morning so I can get them ready to go to Kinko's. Kinko's has to have them by noon. I haven't heard Debi so pissed - ever. Jim needs his ass kicked and I do believe he will. Anyway - Jim mad a point to call his wife while Debi was standing there to tell her "Honey I'll be working late tonight." Expecting Debi to feel sorry for him?! Nooooo I don't think so! I sure as hell don't! He can burn the midnight oil for all I care. He didn't do his job and its made it impossible for Debi and I to do ours. AND it is going to make our organization look unorganized and unprofessional because of him. Rant over. I need to calm down and go to bed! G'night!!

I think I'm going to be bad and take a couple of hours off this afternoon. I'm done with all my database work, and other work - at least the stuff that I had to work on. I'm really tired all of the sudden and my hip is bothering me. I am waiting on some asshole named Jim to get some workshop materials to me to reformat and of course he's waiting until the last minute - he's know about this workshop for 8 frickin months, and was supposed to get the materails to me last week, but did he? No... did he get them to me yesterday? No. Will he get them to me today? No. Will they be in my inbox tomorrow morning? They better be. He said he and another guy would go through them this afternoon and asked "is that OK?" I replied "No, not really since I needed them last week and now you've put me and Debi (who I have to give them to NLT tomorrow) in a real bind." The asshole had the nerve to just shrug. I mean, who the hell does he think he is?! I walked off at the point, I was FUMING. I know the materials are going to be a complete mess, and I have to put them in a common template (in PowerPoint). He's going to have a hissy fit that I've reformatted his stuff, but that's too damn bad. I have management to back me up on any changes I make - and they're just formatting, I wouldn't dream of touching his content. I'm outta here... but not before I go over and tell him the files better be in my e-mail when I get here at 5am tomorrow morning. I'll decide if I'm going to be nice or not while walking to his cubical. ;-) TTFN!

Good morning! We made it to Tuesday! YAY! I had a hell of a time getting home last night. There was a big wreck at a junction of two freeways. Luckily I heard it on the radio that all 4 directions were closed so I was able to get off on an earlier exit, but then had to deal with traffic in town which is normally heavy anyway, but was pretty much at a stand still because a lot of other people had the same idea I did. Anyway, it took me 30 mins longer to get home than usual, an hour total...in 103 degrees. Too damn hot. I was soooo ornery and exhausted by the time I got home. I felt sorry for all the people stuck on the freeway though, with no escape but to sit there and wait it out. I was really shocked that someone actually reported it to the radio, since Ogden isn't always covered on the traffic watch, usually Salt Lake is the only area. So, once I got home, I grabbed a sandwich for dinner, checked my e-mail and watched Days of Our Lives that I'd taped. I went through my mail and then started watching an old Disney movie called Gus with Don Knotts. I didn't get too far into it until I fell asleep. I was in a nice slumber when a stupid telemarketer called at 8:30. That pisses me off to no end. I cannot wait until that law takes effect for the "do not call list". I told them to take me off their list AND I didn't appreciate being called so late. She said "Well, ma'am the law states that we can call until 9pm." I replied, "Well how would you feel if you had to get up at 3:30 am and you were woken up by some irritating bitch trying to sell you something?" "Click" tee hee I'm sure being telemarketer really has to be one of the suckiest jobs in the world, so frustrating, getting rude people on the phone, getting a lot of rejections, but ya know... its also an invasion of MY privacy. I pay to have my number non-published and non-listed for a reason. I do not want to be called by anyone that I don't give my number to. Plain and simple. If they want to sell me something, send me something in the mail. I'm having lunch with my friends Linda, Gordon and Brian today. This is will be my "last week" for a quite a while that I'll be able to go to lunch with friends since I'll have lunch time classes starting next week. We're going to Famous Dave's BBQ and I'm hoping the ham sandwich will be something I can eat. I'm really looking forward to seeing all of them... and who knows, maybe I'll get another boob smooshing from Bri. tee hee

I'm taking a break! Its been a pretty crazy day but not really a bad Monday. It started out with a lot of things being thrown at me to do, but I was able to get them done and work on my database. There were a ton of records to be inserted that we found. Our data port was shut down since last Wednesday so everything piled up and was recovered today... so I was a busy girl! I just finished inserting about 75 records and processing their requests... so I deserve a break! I decided to let my hair just dry this morning and go curly. I've had a lot of compliments on it, so I may just do this more often! I'm still looking for a new hair style, so I'm thinking maybe I'll find one that I can use my natural curl with. Maybe a style that is just wash, a bit of styling and go. The really weird thing is - that I've slowly got natural curl over the past 3 years. I NEVER had one wave before that. Truly weird how things can change in a person's body, whether its from medications, or just changing. My X SIL who has done my hair since I was 13 still can't get over the fact that I've got curly hair now.

Monday had hit us in the face once again, hasn't it?! I actually slept like a rock last night. I went to bed early, and fell asleep between 5:30 and 6:00pm and woke up about 3am, still propped up on 2 pillows, still wearing my glasses. I hadn't moved all night long! LOL!! I didn't even have to get up and pee which is really unusual. Anyhoo... Feeling pretty sore today still but haven't had to take any pain pills yet. I imagine if I do have to take a pain pill, I'll just take a half. I got a lot of rest yesterday, and was just a bum... got caught up on some shows I taped (Monk, Wild Card, and 1-800-Missing). I was also able to talk to Connie on Yahoo yesterday morning for a while - its been ages since we've been able to chat. My bud Colin had to go to Dayton, OH for work and won't be back until Thursday - miss him already!! Did anyone notice that beautiful full moon?! I saw it as I was driving to work this morning and it was incredible! OK... time to get to work! Have a great day!

I had such a GREAT time last night!!!! Dinner was a lot of fun, there were about 11 of us and the food was really good. The play was absolutely fantasitc!!! My cousin Kelsey did such a fab job as Annie. Her character was just a riot, her accent was a hoot and her singing was excellent. She looked like she was just having the time of her life up there on the statge. We're all so proud of her!!! Its so cool to see someone you know up on the stage, it makes the play all that more fun to watch. My asshole BIL Ellis decided to come home this morning after being gone a week. He just turns this house upside down when he's here - brings so horrible vibes with him. Mom and Dad aren't happy he's back, they've actually started to admit they like him being gone. But Kathy has to be the one who tells him to get lost once and for all. My Aunt Lou Jean was going to stay until tomorrow, but she told Mom this morning that she felt like she needed to go home a day early. Mom felt really bad, and after Mom went upstairs, Lou Jean talked to me about why she felt like she needed to go home. She thought my Mom had too many things going on with Kathy, Ellis, and the baby. I told her that having her here has been such good medicine for Mom and asked her to reconsider staying until tomorrow. I changed her mind, and she's going to stay. She just came back downstairs from telling Mom she decided to stay - and Mom was really happy and Lou Jean said that she almost started to cry because she was so happy. Makes me feel good too. I'm not going to do much of anything today, I'm really exhausted and have a sore throat. My shoulder and wrist are feeling better (haven't had to take pain pills today). So... rest for me! I hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Got this link from Ulrika
You are an angel.
What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox Got this one from Brian
Pirates of the Caribbean!

What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
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My SIL Patti was in a car accident yesterday! She was going through an intersection on a yellow caution light when she colided with a guy coming from the other direction. She is certain the light was yellow and even had a guy behind her but he fled the scene, and the guy that she colided with wasn't even stopped at the light (his red light) when he claims it had just turned green as he was driving. Patti got the ticket though, for "running a red light" sounds awful fishy to me... Anyway, she wouldn't go in the ambulance (stubborn!!!) so my bro J Dee took her into a clinic to get checked out. She broke her ankle, and it sounds pretty serious. They have to see a specialist on Monday. She's really sore across her chest and also bit her tongue. The airbag didn't deploy either, and it should have so J Dee is checking into that! She's so mad about the whole thing, but also so grateful that she wasn't hurt worse, as we all are! Anyhoo... I just sent her some balloons and with some M&Ms and hopefully that will cheer her up a bit. Not sure what she's got against ambulances, I'm going to have to get the story there. She told my Mom one time that she would have to be "out" or dead before she'd get in an ambulance. LOL!

Last night I watched part of the Piglet movie (finished it this morning!). Its soooo cute! There's something about Winnie the Pooh and the gang that just soothes me. Makes me feel good. The relatives decided to invade again last night. Even though I felt like shit, I decided that I really wanted to be upstairs with them. The pain pills were doing a pretty good job and its not like visiting was physically straining! LOL!! Mom and I threw together some hoagie sandwiches, chips, fruit, etc., and we all ate together. There always has to be food at family gatherings... its part of the enjoyment of life I think! LOL!! People: my aunts Jan, Linda and her hubby Dale, Lou Jean, cousins Dana, Teria and her hubby Jeremy, my nephew Travis, my parents, niece Elyssa and my sister Kathy (she was actually decent to me and everyone else - shocker). After we ate, we decided to have a rousing game of Dominos, a game called chicken scratch. Its a riot! We were all crowded around the table and we laughed and played until about 11pm. Travis had me in tears a couple of times making jokes, he's so funny. He knew I was in a lot of pain, and on pain pills so he really took advantage of the situation - he was getting quite a kick out of making me laugh - I even snorted a couple of times (which made everyone laugh). I even got a few quips in, and cracked Travis up. Our sense of humors are a lot a like. We just all had such a great time! I'm so glad that I joined in the fun and didn't stay down here and suffer - being with all of them really took my mind of my pain. I had a rough night, as far as my stupid shoulder. Every time I moved I woke up UGH. Its feeling slightly better now... I'm staying on top of the pain and taking things easy. I don't want to miss dinner and the play tonight so I'm staying home and resting all day. Mom and Lou Jean are going shopping and wanted me to go too, but I'm staying home. They can go and have some quality time together. In the meantime, I'm going to come around and visit all of you... I may not comment (typing still hurts a bit) then I'm going to eat lunch and take a nap so I'm well rested for tonight. Have a great Saturday everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what the hell happened, but I've been attacked by RA today, big time. I started hurting so bad and feeling so shitty that I had to come home from the galavanting before the galavanting was done. More details on my Health Log. I didn't feel totally guilty though because my Aunt Lou Jean was really tired too... in fact she's snorning on the couch right now as I'm typing this! LOL! She's quite the snorer. My Mom and Lou Jean may go back to galavant some more later on with my Aunt Jan and her friend, but for me... its rest, ice, and pain pills. Oh! I can watch The Big PIGLET movie!!! I'm set!

I took my car in to Midas to have the exhaust leak fixed (the one the mechanic told me I had last week). They didn't find one! I'm confused... there is a possibility that the mechanic thought a hole where the moisture escapes could be the exhaust leak? That's how the muffler/exhaust was designed. I dunno... anyway... nothing was found so I went on my way. Got the lube job *snicker*. I took it to the place where my nephew works, although he was off today, they gave me a family discount which I thought was cool! Saving money today! I've got just a few mins before heading off to galavanting with the Aunts and Mom. My Aunt Lou Jean wants to go to my fav Mexican restaurant for lunch - twist my arm. She loves the restaurant too. So hopefully it will be agreeable to everyone else cuz it sounds *really* good to me... cha, cha, cha!!

Today's Remacade treatment went well, and the details are on my Health Log. I ran my errands, came home, and then...Holy shit! Relatives invaded for dinner! 7 cousins, 3 Aunts, 1 Uncle, 3 friends, 1 sister (Susie - my fav came over!), and two parents and me (I almost feel like bursting out it song here, the 12 days of Christmas). We had pizza and salad. It was a lot of fun, but man it was crowded! Fantastic to see all of them. Tomorrow will be some galavanting with 2 of the aunts, possibly 3, my Mom, and one friend. I've got to get up early and take my car in to get the exhaust leak looked at, and if I have time before the galavanting, it needs a lube job too. If I don't get around to it tomorrow, I'll do it Saturday, when everyone else wants to do it too - (that is get their CAR lubed) tee hee I thought that sounded kinda naughty. OK... inside joke or I'm so damn tired that I find myself very amusing. It was probably the "lube job" that got me giggling... yes, I need a lube job. Everyone needs a lube job from time to time. I just finished dusting and cleaning my bathroom. The rest is just gonna have to wait until tomorrow night or Saturday morning because I'm just too tired to do any more. I'm going to bed! I hope everyone has a great Friday!!!

Here I am... working away on some database stuff. Actually what I'm doing is deleting people and updating addresses of returned brochures we got in the mail. My question is, why do some postal workers and/or mailroom people find it necessary to black out the person's name or put a sticker over the person's name? Do they not realize I can't delete them without seeing the person's name? DUH people!! Come on! Gimme a break. I have to really do some work on some of them to get the names. There's been about 10/100 that even the entire address is blacked out and I can't see shit. See, "common sense" isn't all that common, is it? tee hee I e-mailed a lady in our corporate credit card dept about the problem I had with my corporate card paying for my tuition. It seems I've got one of the two types of cards - the travel expenses only cards. She said that I'll need my division manager to fill out a form saying its OK for me to have the second type of card, in which other expenses will be approved. So, I've sent an e-mail off to him asking him to do it for me, so next term I won't have to have Tim put it on his credit card. So... it should be sorted soon! Well, I'm outta here! Going to go relax in a nice comfy reclining chair, pillow under my arm (where they put the IV), blanket on my legs and my book. I'll be set. I may even take a snooze! TTFN!!

YAAAWN! Another rather sleepless night... woke up at 1am to muscle cramps in my feet and legs then my mind wouldn't shut up again. Took muscle relaxants so I'm feeling nice and goofy. Weeee... Today is my Friday - YAY! I will only have one more entire Friday off (next week) while I'm in school so I gotta enjoy these last two Fridays. I'll have class and I will probably have to work a couple of hours before class on Fridays to make up for travel time to my class, etc., I'll survive though... LOL!!! I've been spoiled for quite some time. I haven't taken any lunches this week, (worked 11 hr days) so I'll be off at 12 today... then I've got a 1pm doc appt for my Remacade treatment. So it will work out good. I've got a book with me, and should finish it today while sitting there with the IV. Then I'll run a couple of errands and head for home. Can't think of anything else to say right now... hope everyone has a great day... and go play 3 for Thursday.

Found this quizzie via Alexia
You are Peace. You are at peace with your self and the world around you. You have balance in your life and exude tranquility from every pore of your body. People are constantly asking you "what is your secret?"
What Emotion Are You?
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Thanks to everyone who commented about me going back to school! YAY! I still haven't come down from my cloud quite yet... such a huge thing for me. Geez, I'm tired! I didn't sleep much past 2am because I woke up and my mind was racing about everything you could imagine. I hate that! Anyhoo... I'd hoped to get some extra sleep last night by going to bed early but it didn't work out that way. Oh well... my weekend is almost here. Its going to be a crazy weekend though, lots to do, and relatives (Aunts) will be in town. My Aunt Lou Jean will be coming tomorrow from Idaho for the entire weekend, and she always likes to stay downstairs with me. Having her there is always great, but its really going to cut into my early morning schedule since I get up early and get my cleaning, etc., done... not to mention reading my blogs Saturday mornings. *sigh* But she doesn't come often and she's fun. It will also be good for my Mom to have Lou Jean there with the bad week she's having. We've got tickets to a play that my cousin is in Saturday Night (Annie Get Your Gun, musical) that she has the leading role in. Looking forward to that. My other Aunt Jan will be in town for the play as well, and we're supposed to all get together sometime Friday. There will be lots of fun, but I'm already stressing about how I'm going to get all the shit done that I need to (cleaning, having my exhaust leak on my car checked and fixed, errands, pay bills, etc.) ARRRGGHHHH here comes my OCD rearing its ugly head a bit! LOL!! The errands I could run after my doc appt tomorrow afternoon and will probably have to clean tomorrow night since I have to take my car in Friday morning). OK, I'll quit rambling... Have a great hump day!!!

I DID IT. I registered for two classes today. I?m now officially a college student at a university here on Hill AFB, where I work. Close, convenient, and within my training budget at work. AARRGGHHH can you believe it?!! LOL!! It all started last week when I was talking to my boss about what training I could attend this year. He said I had a registration, travel and a 40-hour budget. I searched the internet and couldn?t find any courses that really fit my current position that would be worth while, and others were beyond the scope of my duties. I could have continued taking the one-day courses down in Salt Lake, and get my MS Office Professional Certification, which would certainly look good on a resume and be helpful in my job, but I wanted more. I want something that I could use in life and use to grow. Then it hit me. I?ve been wanting to go back to school, and my boss has supported my goal and has wanted me to go back. There was so many reasons that I felt I couldn?t go back before, health issues and financial. The financial was once approved (by our previous division manager) but I would have to come up with the money first, then be reimbursed which was not possible for me, and then all my health problems hit. There were also personal issues for a long time before all of that though? the bottom line was I just wasn?t ready. For the past few months I?ve felt quite restless and not really knowing why. When the idea of using my ?training bugdet? for school tuition hit me last Thursday night, all the pieces just started falling into place. Things started making sense. Its time for me to do this. I know my health issues are far from over, but they shouldn?t stop me from living life and getting my education. There will be more stress, but a different kind of stress. I?m going to be learning and using this knowledge for my future. I talked to my boss, Timster yesterday and he was so excited! He immediately called our division manager and got his approval for me to attend two terms this year. There?s a possibility that I can continue with school after that, still company sponsored. The other terms will come out of a different ?pot? of money. Tim and I need to talk more to the DM about it later. When I went to pay for the fees today with my corporate credit card, the charge didn?t go through. I about died! I called the customer service line and they said that ?tuition isn?t one of the covered expenses on the card?. Shit? I called Timster and told him what had happened and he offered to put the charges on his personal card and I?ll pay him back when I get reimbursed. I?d come too far to back out ? and he knew it. I was so relieved and am so grateful. He?s such an incredible man! I ended up having to do the same thing with the books that I ordered too ? so silly that these things aren?t covered since its CORPORATE SPONSORED! Registration fees, etc., would have been covered! Sheesh! Anyway, I?m going to send an e-mail to the corporate card people at my company and see if they can fix my card so I can use it for tuition next time. There?s got to be a way around it. So, anyway? I?m going for a BS in Management/Accounting. I?m starting off with Principles of Accounting I, which is 11:30a ? 12:30p M-F, and then Organizational Behavior T & TH 4:30p ? 7:15p (perfect class for ME if I do say so myself, but it sounds interesting and will go towards my human resources part). Classes start August 18 and will go through October 12. Weeee!!! I am so excited yet so a little scared and nervous. Getting back into studying will be tough, but I know I can do it. Just a matter of self-discipline. Right? While I was out, I decided to stop by my old building to see Linda, my buddy Brian, and Sandi!! (Sandi is still over there on temp assignment) I first stopped by Brian and Linda?s office and saw Brian first. He was sitting at his computer, looked up at me and then did a ?double take?. Then he said my name and I went over and gave him a side-ways squeeze and he of course moved his head right into the side of my boob and smooshed it, then grabbed me and put his face right between my boobs! ROFL! I think he was happy to see me! Then he stood up and gave me a proper hug, but with more boob shooshing. I can?t say that I didn?t enjoy it too? tee hee? I?ve missed his harrassment/teasing. He couldn?t get over how good I looked, which really made me feel great! Despite my chipmunk face. Linda was in her cubical and I called over to her and she came running over? she didn?t recognize me from behind (even though I saw her just 2 weeks ago!) She made some comment about my skinny butt. LOL! Not really? not quite but skinner than it used to be! We visited for a few minutes, then I wanted to go see Sandi. Brian gave me another good boob smooshing before I left, and Linda and I went to see Sandi. I almost gave Sandi a heart attack, she was so surprised to see me there! She couldn?t stop grinning and was to tickled to see me. I?ve REALLY missed seeing her every day. We talked for a while, then Linda had to get back to work and so did I. Sandi walked me out, and we kept chatting? and then I ran into my friend Nancy! It was so great to see her too! I need to go visit them more often, its so hard being away from my good friends there. So, its been a really great day!! I?m really pumped about starting school and know I?m up for the challenge! The only draw back is that its going to cut into my internet/blogging/crocheting, reading, watching tv, etc time! Withdrawls!! BUT I can juggle and who knows organize my time better than ever and get more out of it. Oh, another challenge!

Cindy has stopped blogging, I'm terribly sad about that!!! I always looked forward to reading her site... Good luck Cindy, I'll miss you! If you read this, I'd love it if you kept in touch! Lights are back on now - how many software engineers does it take to turn the lights on? 3. The main breaker was switched off for some odd reason... what really took the longest was for them to find a flashlight and then the right breaker box. Before they found the right breaker box, the let me use the flashlight to use the restroom - I had to pee BAD. My heroes.

There are some people in our lives that are so special, so incredibly generous and thoughtful that we can never express our gratitude for all they do for us, nor express just how special they are. There is one friend of mine who I'm talking about. His name is Colin. I came home yesterday to a big box that came in the mail. This box contained some CDs he'd burned for me, as well as a t-shirt and a mug. I'd mentioned to Colin last week that while I was in Boston, I'd heard of a t-shirt that said "I got scrod in Boston" (scrod is a fish, and although I didn't have scrod, I had to have the t-shirt because I thought it was really funny) but alas, we could never find one. Well, this man went out and had the t-shirt and the mug (also personalized with my name on it!) made for me. Colin and his lovely wife D totally spoil me! Not just with presents like this, but especially their friendship, warm hearts and generosity. Thanks, Colin and D! I can't tell you how much you both mean to me! I got sort of a strange call from my Dad yesterday. He called and asked if I had eaten some of a coolwhip/jello salad that my Mom had made on Sunday. I hadn't, although I wish I could have because I LOVE the stuff but can't eat it anymore because of my diet restrictions. I asked him why and he said "I'm just doing some detective work..." OK... well, later I found out why he'd called. I was talking to my Mom last night and she'd had a really bad day. My heart just broke for her, she had such a hurt look on her face. I guess that Kathy had eaten two big helpings of this salad on Sunday (she shouldn't for one thing, she's diabetic!) then Mom had just a little of it. Yesterday morning, when Mom got up, she found the empty bowl in the sink, unwashed with a eating bowl and spoons in the sink. Later on in the day, Kathy asked if there was any more salad left. Mom said no, and that she'd found the emty bowl in the sink. Kathy said, "Well, did Karen eat it?" (Like that would have been a crime!) and Mom said, "I doubt it, she can't eat it and she wouldn't have left the dirty dishes in the sink." That set Kathy off big time and she verbally attacked Mom like she's never been attacked. Kathy yelled and yelled. Mom remained calm for a few minutes, then she yelled back. All my Mom does for her and Kathy treats her like that. What an ungrateful bitch. Anyway... Mom handled herself well from the sounds of it and told Kathy off. Kathy is just plain ill. Mentally and physically. I think she needs to be put away. She's the only one that could have eaten that salad. The only one who would have or could have (her husband was out partying with friends so wasn't even home.) I really thing the "Karen wouldn't have left the dirty dishes in the sink" is what set her off though, because it really bothers Kathy that I know how to clean up after myself (she thinks I score points with Mom and always have or looks at it as I'm kissing ass) and am considerate enough not to make any extra work for anyone. I just take after Mom that way... I hate leaving things messy and like to have things clean. Susie is the same way - and actually so are my two brothers. The only pig in the family is Kathy. Anyway... enough about Kathy... after Mom and I talked for a while and I gave her lots of hugs (which made her cry and me cry a bit too) I headed for bed and started watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding until I fell asleep. Then my brother J Dee and his wife Patti stopped in! YAY! J Dee came downstairs and installed a new water filter system for our drinking water, and then Patti came downstairs too and we visited. I didn't even get into bed until 9! Which is pretty late for me, but it was worth it. I'm not too sleepy today... or at least not yet. When I came in this morning, the building was totally dark, no lights on at all, not even the outside lights (I'm the first one here) but all the computers work... maybe the lights breaker switched off... so I'm sitting here in the dark with just the "under counter lights" and the light from my monitors on. Ooohhh... now if I only had a really cute guy in here with me we could have some fun! *snicker* Here's the pic of the doily I made - and will be making several of (its pinned and drying). Well, I best get to work! I've got some reasearch to do on my "secret" and hopefully this morning I can go do my "secret" thing and tell you all about it. Have a great day!!!!

YAY, Monday is over... well, the work part anyway!! Busy day, but ended up to be a good day because a proposal I made to my boss has been approved. Not an indecent proposal or anything like that but something I've been thinking about doing for quite a while now. Its a secret until I get all the details sorted because I don't want to jinx anything. I'm really excited about it, but also nervous and scared. This is a huge step for me... OK... I better shut up before I give it away or jinx it. This project/proposal may be settled tomorrow, and I'll do my best to see that it is. The sooner I do this, the better. Lets see... what else happened today... hmmm... had a good phone chat with my bud Linda while I was doing some of the database work. We giggled and chatted about what's been going on the past week or so. She's going to England on Friday for a couple of weeks with her hubby to visit their friends. I wish I could go with them! Do you think I could sneak in one of their bags and no one would notice? We'll have to have a girls' night when she comes back, its been waaaay too long. I feel so good being able to put all the stuff that happened between Linda and I in the past and behind us. Although we may never be as close friends as we once were, it feels good to have her back in my life. She's is being so compassionate and understanding - even more than I've ever seen her be. Its funny how such bad things can happen in life, yet so much good comes out of it. Life is too short and we need to cherish the people in our lives before we lose them. That's about it really... me thinks I'll take a nice soothing shower before heading to bed. G'Night!

Monday came whether I wanted it to or not! I've got a load of e-mail to go through this morning, and a lot of database work to do today and over the next few days. I don't really mind though, it will keep me busy, it's just repeticious. The RA in my wrist decided to flare, so I've got to baby it and wear my wrist brace. I better get to work... Have a great Monday... I know it's gonna be tough, but I think we can get through it! LOL!!

We had one big storm move through here, for about 30 mins it was a major downpour, with lightening and some pea-sized hail. Its been sprinkling off and on the rest of the day and its been so great! It can just keep on coming, I don't even mind... even though I'm a hell of a lot achier than I was earlier! I'm hurting so much that I'm actually going to take a pain pill and head for bed. I also think I over did the crocheting today, or was at a weird angle or something because my lower part of my hand and wrist started bothering me. But I finished the doily... I took a pic and will post it later after its up on Colin's server. I finished watching Gangs of New York - good, good movie. The Emporer's Club was a pretty good movie too. I taped two new shows from Lifetime last night, and watched them today too. Wild Card and 1-800 Missing. Both really good shows! Its about time they had some decent shows on Saturday nights. There's another show on Friday nights that I discovered on the USA network, called Monk. If you haven't seen it, check it out! Its funny and a good detective show. I really don't want this day to end... because that means it will be Monday. Don't want Monday to come. Don't want to face Monday... yes, I'm being a whiny assed boob.

I'm having a nice day so far, despite feeling really achy and tired. I watched the first half of Gangs of New York this morning (its 2-DVDs and about 167 minutes long!!! ) so I took a break and got on line. I chatted with Colin for a little while, then Glovefoxon Yahoo!! Its overcast outside so I'm hoping it will rain... ohhh... that could be one of the reasons I'm achy... a storm is moving in... anyhoo... I watched another movie last night. Phone Booth with Colin Ferrell... he is one fine man. It was a pretty good movie, not quite as "good" as I thought it would be, but it really makes you think about life and what you put out there. RAIN IS FALLING! Keep coming, rain, keep coming!! I want a downpoor! Anyway... I've also rented the Emperor's Club so I'll watch that after I finish Gangs of New York. Its a good movie so far, but very violent and bloody. Soo... I'm off! Hope everyone has a great day! Still raining! YAY! Its just not teasing me! Ohhhh, love that smell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning everyone! I'm in a pretty good mood today, despite being achy from yesterday's fabric closet cleaning ;-) I'm looking forward to a relaxing day and am going to come around and visit all of you this morning. I do have to run to the bank and to the grocery store a bit later - I forgot one thing yesterday (hate it when I do that). Other than that, I'm free to do whatever I feel like. I found a doily pattern last night that I think will work for my Xmas gifts. The pattern looks easy and shouldn't take long to make each one. I started the doily last night, and perhaps will finish it today. If I like it, then I'll start making them in mass ;-). Update on that "Ellis" story... no one believes he was hit by a car. We believe that he got the shit beat of him, and someone either stole my Dad's bike, took it for money Ellis owed them, OR Ellis just out right sold the bike for his own profit. Kathy doesn't even believe he was hit by a car. He's such a dip shit. I really wish my Dad would take him by the ear, drag him outside and kick his ass to the curb. Or if he'd let me do that, it would be even better. tee hee TTFN!!!!

I got all my cleaning done, and my fabric closet cleaned out. Wow - its really amazing how much fabric I have. I found quite a lot of smaller pieces of fabric that I can't see a use for (for me) but my Mom could make some shorts and t-shirts for my niece Elyssa. Mom was really thrilled about it, and she said that Kathy would be really grateful as well. After Mom and I got our stuff done, we went to lunch, we decided to do Mexican and had cheese enchiladas (cha, cha, cha!). I had a coupon (yes, I love coupons!!!) to buy one dinner and get the second one free. So, we ordered dinner sized portions and brought half of it home. Worked for us! Not bad - basically 4 meals for under 10 bucks, and that included tip! LOL!! Then after lunch we did the usual errands to the grocery store and then to Wal-Mart. As soon as I got home, the mechanic called and told me my car was ready. I about SHIT when the mechanic (Kyle) told me what he found wrong (its been running rough and miss firing). It was a cracked spark plug that was put in when I had it tuned up by the first place (Big O-Tires - who my Dad trusted so I took it there) back in April. I was furious! All the worry, all the stress, all the work my friend Robin's husband Jerry put all that work into it, trying to find the problem, and changing modules, etc., cost me about $125 then it was $80 labor to diagnose the problem at Kyle's today. So... I took my spark plug, and went and had a chat with Big O owner Mike. (He is a friend of my Dads so I was polite.) I took my receipts in, and explained what went on. Mike said "Well, you know that when you first brought it in, that I told you and your Dad that we may not be able to fix your car." I said, "I understand and remember that. You thought that a tune up would fix the problem so I had you do one. You were right, the tune up would have fixed the problem if the spark plug that you put in wasn't cracked. " He had an "oh yeah..." look on his face. "Then when I came to pick my car up and it was still running rough, you told me that you couldn't do any more for me and sent me on my merry way." Then I told him that I didn't want to make trouble, but it wasn't right that one of his staff's incompetence - or mistake caused me to pay nearly $200 and all the trouble Jerry went to. So we struck a bargain. He gave me a refund of $80, which paid for today's labor. I thought that was fair. I thanked him and was on my way. My car isn't totally fixed though... there are other things going on, one knew about (the digital display is going out again) and then there's an exhaust leak. I was expecting around $400 for the digital display (I had to have one 5 years ago) so that wasn't a surprise. Kyle has ordered the new display but it will take about 2 weeks to get it in so I'll take it back when its in. The exhaust leak I will take to Midas since I've got a warranty on my muffler that I bought 2 years ago. Its not a 100% coverage warranty, that only lasts 12 months so I'll have to pay for labor, but the muffler itself is covered. THEN after all that stuff is done, it should pass both safety and emissions tests (fingers crossed!) that are due in Sept. And fingers crossed again - my car will last me at least another year... If it lasts me another year, I'll hopefully be in a position position to get a new car. Its a 1987 Chevy Cavelier Z-24 but only 151,000 on it. Its been a good car really and I've done my best to keep it in good shape... and its still fun to drive. Even if I have to shell out about $1000 in repairs each year, its less than a car payment every month! Now I'm going to eat some dinner and relax!

I had a good night last night! I got to talk to Annie!!! on Yahoo! She's so fun and such an incredible person... so positive about life no matter what she's faced with. Fastly coming one of my top heroine of all time!! HUGS Annie!!! You can't tell me there's not a bit of justice in the universe. My Mom told me a story of what happened to my asshold BIL Ellis. He "claims" he was hit by a car while riding my Dad's bicycle, left on the side of the road for dead. He's got a split lip, large bump on the head (which he claims rendered him unconcious, and no one came to help him), large gash on his leg and hand, road rash on one side of his arm and other leg. He said that my Dad's bike was trashed, but yet Ellis failed to bring it home. He doesn't remember where he left it. There are "holes" in his story and of course things don't add up. Even Mom even picked up on this. Sounds to me like perhaps he was knocked off the bike, got in a fight and someone either stole the bike or Ellis sold the bike. Dad told Ellis he want his bike back no matter the condition its in, but he'll never see it. The bike is probably long gone. Ellis never called the police to report the incident... wouldn't you call the police if you were hit by a car? I honestly think he was NOT hit by a car. I know I should be sympathetic to his injuries but I find myself not giving a shit. In fact, I'd actually like to see him, take a picture so I can have a good giggle. Most of the giggling is coming from his creativity in making up such lies, and we've all caught on. I better stop now though, because I could be creating bad Karma for me ;-) I'm feeling stronger today, and am getting my postitive energy and fighting spirit back. I'm still working through things, but I'm gonna be fine. Getting rid of all the pent-up stress is really helping. I did half my cleaning yesterday and will finish it this morning... then I'm going to tackle my fabric closet and clean it out and reorganize it. Therapy... OCD and stress therapy. I just love the vaccum sealed storage bags, I'll be able to make lots of room in that closet. I've got so much fabric its not even funny. I worked at a fabric store for 4 years and stocked up big time. I think I've got enough fabric for about 10 quilts plus a buch of odds and ends. I really should get back into sewing, but haven't been in the mood for a long, long time. I have one pieced quilt that has the blocks done, I just have to put the blocks together with the borders between the blocks, then the main border. I have 2 quilt tops totally done (one I made for my Mom, the other for my sister) that need to be quilted. We don't have the room to quilt them so they've been sitting for years - at least 11 years. I'm thinking of seeing how much it would cost to have them machine done at a quilting place. That would be excellent Xmas presents if I could afford to have it done. I dropped my car off at the mechanics yesterday afternoon, so I should hear something from him today if he can figure out what's wrong with it. I'm hoping its simple (so he can fix it today) and not too much moola. I think my Mom and I are heading to lunch and to run a couple of errands this afternoon, but am not sure. Happy Friday!

One of the guys here has this beautiful Hibiscus plant in his yard. Every morning, he goes out, pics the flowers and brings one to each of us. Beautiful, isn't it? Always makes our day...

I feel like I've been hit by a big emotional truck this morning, but am feeling better than last night. All this stress and turmoil just isn't worth risking my health over. I need to draw the line and not cross it. I am human though, and I go along dealing with things pretty well on a daily basis then all of the sudden BOOM it explodes. I wish so much I felt strong enough to work out again, that sure helped get my stresses out before and I know it will do it again. So frustrating. I'm also so tired of being tired. I still haven't heard from my RA doc about my hematocrit blood levels so I'll call today - we've got to find out what's causing my anemia. I won't let any of this beat me... I may have had a bad day yesterday and will probably still have a bad day today, but its getting better and it WILL get better, one way or the other. I need to keep my fighting spirit (its still there, I can feel it, its just taking a beating right now) up. I sound brave, don't I?! I'm also trying to convince myself even as I'm writing this that I'm so brave and can handle anything. Really though - I've been through so much in my life, I'm not giving in now. Just having some set backs this year. *Concentrate on the good things, concentrate on the good things*. I have such incredible friends and family to help me through things and am never alone. I'm so fortunate to have all of you in my life. No matter how much I bitch you're always there, sending hugs and leaving supportive comments. I have 7 hours to work today, will be off at Noon, then will take my car in to the mechanic. Dad is meeting me there and will take me home. If I'm feeling up to it, I've decided I'm going to clean the hell out of my room. It needs it and I need the therapy ;-). Have a good day everyone and thanks so much for listening and your support... and if you want to play 3 for Thursday the questions are up!

I thought my day and emotional state were improving... then I got home. The long awaited decision on Kathy's disability claim has been extended another 6 months. I could look on the bright side - at least it wasn't denied - yet, but I'm just too upset that it wasn't settled today. Its just prolonged for another 6 fucking months. I don't know how much more of her and her situation I can stand. I don't know how much longer I can see my parents being dragged down financially, emotionally and physically. I don't know how much more I can stand of her so-called-husband not getting a job to support HIS family before I am going to beat the living shit out of him. I just really don't know how much more our family can take. I'm at a loss. I'm going to go have myself one hell of a good cry and take a Xanax or two (its allowed).

I hate waiting... I'm waiting for my RA doc to call me back with my blood test results and he hasn't yet. Usually when I have blood drawn on Fridays, they call me Tuesday evening to tell me the results. No phone call last night. So, this could mean two things: he didn't get the results or he is deciding what to do with me. Hopefully I'll hear something this evening. As I got in this morning, another guy, Kasey came in right after me. He's in the next cubical over the wall, and said, "Karen?? is that you?" I said, "yes..." Then he said that he and other people are starting to wonder if I've started living here - sleeping on a cot. LOL!! Ummm... nooo... I told him I'd just gotten here and was just a few mins early. He's in here about 1.5 hours early himself. He and his wife have a new baby and he was up anyway so decided to come in and get caught up on some work. But no, I definitely don't live here ;-) In fact this week, I'll have my 40 hours in by noon tomorrow since I haven't been taking any lunches. Today is the day for my sister Kathy's disability hearing. I am praying to God and anyone else who will listen that she will get it. The house will come tumbling down if she doesn't. Her lawyer (at her meeting last week) didn't sound as optimistic as he has in the past, but we're hoping he's just being 'realistic' and trying to prepare for her for the possibiblity of not getting it. Since her first go-around, she's developed other physical disabilities (her main claim now is mental as if anyone couldn't guess that) so we're hoping those will help. Not much else to say right now... feeling kinda grumpy today since I didn't sleep well, and I'm really worried about a lot of things. Car, my test results, etc., I really wish I could have just stayed in bed today and hide from the world, but I won't do that. I need to keep going... but I am going to let myself be grumpy that's the only way to get rid of the grumps and get back to myself. Hope everyone has a great Hump Day though!! *hugs*

I've run out of the creativity and motivation that I had this morning about my financials... I started to plan out my idea, then I asked myself if it was really necessary. No, can't say that it is. I can still extract the data I need in another way - a couple different ways actually. So, there ya go, I've talked myself out of doing it. I've worked on the database all day long but I'm finally caught up on everything! YAY! Its nice to have the time to do this stuff so I'm not complaining. There will be some more stuff coming in on Thursday that I'll have to do for sure, but I think tomorrow is going to be one of those "gimme something to do before I die of bordom" days after I get my regular/daily stuff done. I hope not, I hate those kind of days. I've made and appt with a mechanic for my car on Thursday afternoon. Its been running rough for quite a while, and its due for inspection in September. My friend Robin's hubby Jerry fixed what he could figure out on it back in May and he recommended a mechanic that he trusts (which is a very good thing). So, I'm going to bite the bullet and get an estimate, and hopefully its nothing *major* and can get it fixed and tested for safety and emissions. I can't afford any repairs, but then again I can't afford not to have my car! What do ya do?! This car really needs to last me at least another year. One hour before I get to go home... YAY. Its hot in here yet again... the air con is partially working and it stays kinda good until 1pm then it becomes an oven in here. UGH. A nice cool shower will be in order when I get home. Have a great night!

I had to do it... I just had to do it. I had to order this today. I just love Piglet, Pooh and the gang!!

I don't know where yesterday went! It just flew right on by... I had a break yesterday afternoon and was able to blog-hop for a little while which was nice. I had a ton of database stuff to do yesterday, and still have some to do today but I've got all day to do it, unless something else more important comes up. I also had an idea as I was waking up this morning on one more way I could sort my financials to make things a bit easier. So I may work on that this afternoon... when these brain storms hit, which I might add isn't very often, I better take action. tee hee I heard from a guy on that match thing I'm doing, and he sounds really nice. His name is Robert and he's from Idaho (about 70 miles away) and we've started e-mailing. We've exchanged messenger IDs but haven't chatted yet. Its worth a shot... I'm not expecting to be swept off my feet (by what I've seen so far), he may just be a good friend, but we'll see what happens. I've got to quit jumping ahead of myself and just let things flow! LOL!! I think and analyze things too much at times... got to quit that. Fun pic of the day:

I just found the BEST thing in my Inbox today. It was my annoying cubemate Greg's timecard (which isn't due until the end of this week). Its all filled out for this week with LEAVE HOURS! He's going to be out of the office and I didn't even know it! Oohhh... this is looking to be a good week already!

Well, its Monday... how did it come so soon again?! Time just goes by too quickly on the weekends. I've just gotten to work and am settling in. I see all the e-mail in my inbox and want to cringe, but I'll take one at a time. This week shouldn't be too crazy, unless something comes up that I don't know about. I forgot to write about the excitement in my neighborhood (well, this IS exciting for my neighborhood) over the weekend. When I got home on Thursday, there was a policeman sitting in front of my neighbor's house across the street. I thought it was odd, thinking maybe something was really wrong. So I told my Dad and he went over to see what was going on. Apparently my neighbor had seen a bobcat in her garage. The policeman couldn't find it, so he sat in her driveway for a while and kept watch while filling out some reports. After a couple of hours, he gave up and left. He thought my neighbor had lost her mind and was seeing a stray, wild cat. She asked him if stray cats have pointed ears, spots on their back and brilliant yellow eyes... Ummm... no. Saturday rolls around and the bobcat decided to show up again (or he could have just stayed and hid in their garage). It was indeed a bobcat. They had animal control come out and get him, tranquilize him, etc. Luckily no one got hurt. We live close to the mountains - probably about a mile or so from the base of the mountain range but we've never seen so much as a deer in my neighborhood, so this was really strange. Well, I better get to my e-mail! Have a great day everyone! Chant for today "We love Mondays... we love Mondays."

Do I have the word "fuckwit" stamped to my forehead?! I was online, checking my e-mail and had Yahoo Messenger running. This guy contacts me, he's 36/single/white/male says his name is Bruce and is from Missouri. Asked if I wanted to chat... sure, what the hell. He tells me he's a hypnotherapist which is cool... then he asks me if I have a webcam... yes... then he tells me he "helps people online" and says "its safe" Ummm yeah... then he asks me if I'd like a "demo" No thanks, I'll pass on that one. Wonder what he wanted to demonstrate... Can we say IGNORE LIST?! LOL!!

I was up really early this morning. I didn't sleep well at all, woke up at 1:30 and couldn't really ever go back to sleep. My leg was bothering me, so I took a pain pill and still couldn't go back to sleep... so I was up and showered by 6:30! LOL! Crazy... I know. I was contemplating a pajama day but decided to put shorts and a t-shirt on instead. I'm contemplating doing some cooking today. Not sure what I'm in the mood to make and who knows, by the time lunch time rolls around I may have changed my mind about the whole cooking thing anyway. I seem to be losing the motivation of doing anything really quickly, even as as I'm writing this... I think its the pain pill... hmmmm... maybe... I'm obviously babbling (more than usual)... la la la I'm going now. Have a great Sunday!

I know you all are hanging on the edge of your computer chair awaiting the news of how my company picnic went. tee hee So here it goes... It was OK, not as horrid as I thought... but if it hadn't been for Gordon being there I wouldn't have had anyone to talk to. Gordon was my boss a few years back (he works in a different location now). He brought his wife and daughter and we sat under a shady tree in our lawn chairs and visited. I stayed for about 1.5 hours then was outta there. I finally met the division manager Mike, and he seems nice. He was the chef and was all excited about it, kinda made me laugh. I came home, put my leg up, watched TV and finished a small doily. Nothing exciting at all, but relaxing. TTFN!

Cheers Roo for this link!

You Are a Like Eyes!

Sly, mysterious, and very sexy.You have a deep stare and lure people in with your gaze. Anyone would be lucky to get with you. Why? Because your big on doing things all the way... And making sure the pleasure is distributed evenly. And if not fifty/ fifty, your lover will get even more. You're sweet, kind, and love to be a tease at times. Congrats! You've got it all. What Body Part Are You Most Like?
More Great Quizzes from Quiz Diva

I just got this in my e-mail and thought it very puzzling. For the record, I'm not a dating service or pimping mamma (tee hee). I did reply and suggest he go through an online dating service such as Match Doctor. "Yes Karen hope your having wonderful day.Thanks for the massage your giving to the world.Well am XXXX XXXX from Uganda east Africa.am 28 years old.Am requesting you to get me a female friend from there.I really need one but I don't know how I can get one.So it my request to get one." Sorry dude! But hey - I'll keep the e-mail if anyone is interested in contacting him, let me know! Hey... maybe I'm turning into a pimping mamma... what do ya think? *Update* I just got another e-mail from this dude apologizing for contacting me... he's looking for friendships with females of common interests. Nice of him to write back and apologize...

I had a good time out with Mom yesterday afternoon. We practically shopped until I dropped! Compared to how I used to be able to shop, it wasn't that much but sure felt like a lot. We got the things we needed to and a couple things we didn't... but that's what makes shopping fun. I had a nice relaxing night, just watched movies and did a bit of research on the internet about my health stuff. Today is my company picnic. Yipee. I'm so excited to go. This isn't with the gov't organization people I work with, but the corporate people who I: 1) hardly ever see, 2) haven't met 90% of (since a merge of offices 6 months ago!), and 3) may never see again. It starts at 11 and they're having food I can't have, games I can't play, and is going to be hot. Yes, I'm being a boob. I'm taking a lawn chair to prop up under a shady tree and perhaps a book... or would that be too anti-social?! LOL!!! I don't have to stay all day, just as long as I can/want to. I will make an appearance and at least meet the division manager. I've e-mailed him and talked to him once on the phone but never met him. I don't even know if my boss, the Timster will be there, he acted like he wasn't going to go. Greg said heand his wife (she's cool) will be there, and there's probably 3 other peope that I hope will be there. That's all for now... I'll be sure to write again this afternoon with all the fun details of the picnic. tee hee I know you're as excited as I am and will come back and read my post! *snicker* Have a great Saturday!

Snagged this from Egypt *snicker* what do ya think... fits me doesn't it? LOL!!!
Innocent

What's your sexual appeal?
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Health Log updated...

Happy FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooohooo! I was dreaming that I was hearing thunder, could smell the small hint of rain in the air... then it dawned on me, I wasn't dreaming! There actually was a bit of thunder and a few drops of rain in the middle of the night. Its all gone now of course but they say there is a "chance" of more. I'll believe it when I see it. We need the rain desperately so I hope it hits big time. I had a great afternoon yesterday. Lunch with Robin is always so fun and we got caught up on things... we are so connected that we finish each others sentences, its scary. I came home after lunch (she had to go back to work) and got half my cleaning done and paid my bills. Then I made dinner for my parents and I then just relaxed the rest of the night. I was really exhausted! I started watching Mr Deeds and fell asleep before it was even half over I think! LOL!!! I didn't even hear fireworks in the neighborhood (for the Pioneer Day Celebration) so either I was too dead to the world, or the city outlawed them this year because of how dry its been. I'm guessing they were outlawed because my cat freaks out when there are fireworks and she definitely would have woken me up. I better get my ass in gear and get the rest of my cleaning done. I've got a doc appt this morning with my general doc to check my blood thinner levels, then will take Mom to lunch and run errands. I also have to run to the hospital to get some blood tests done for my RA doc to see what's going on with my anemia. Fun, fun. I'll post about that later in my health log.

This was an e-mail I just got - I don't know if its really true, but its so damn funny I had to share it! This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work, think of this guy. Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 on FM dial in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won. Hi Sue, Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my butt started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt. I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut. So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt. Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.”

I slept the best I have all week last night, despite the heat! We broke some record hight for the day in history. My car said it was 106 on the way home... UGH - enough already. Today is Pioneer Day here in Utah. Happy Pioneer Day! Its a state holiday so of course I don't get paid for it, and there's really nothing that I wanted to "do" as far as seeing the parade, etc., so I'm working. BUT only until 11 when I'll have my hours in for the week. I'm going to meet my good friend and twin sister (from different mothers) Robin for lunch. Then home I'll go. I need to pay my bills and I'll get part of my cleaning done so I don't have so much to do tomorrow. I don't think we're doing anything to celebrate Pioneer Day for dinner, and that's OK. Its not a huge holiday, but I know it gives the kiddies and the adult kiddies in the neighborhood a good excuse to do fireworks again. They should outlaw them this year since we've had no rain in so long and the high temps. Too much of a fire hazzard. I'm still not motivated to do anything this morning... *sigh* I've got some database work to do but I'll work into it slowly ;-). 3 for Thursday questions are up if you want to go play.

I can't believe it. Its 2:15 on a Wednesday afternoon of "Financial" week and I am DONE with my financials. Totally and completely done. All balanced. All printing done. All filed. Everything. What I thought was going to be the week from hell has turned out not to be. Gotta love that. I'm feeling a bit perkier now, but had such a hard time getting motivated to do anything this morning at all. I guess you can even say I *could* have gotten things done even earlier today if my motivation had been there, but I wasn't stressed about getting stuff done and its done now. So who really cares?! LOL! Now I'm going to relax some and do some blog hopping. YAY! One of my fav things to do!

Happy Hump Day! It seems like Wednesday should have been a long time ago, but at least we made it! Not a lot to say this morning, I'm feeling OK, just having a quiet morning I suppose... I had a pretty good night after I took a shower (and had fantasies about the rain tee hee). I went to bed and watched Grease (on of my fav movies) until I fell asleep. I woke up once in the night and had a bit of trouble falling back asleep, so I put a tape of the Brady Bunch in the VCR and that did the trick. tee hee I really love the show but it does put me to sleep - I guess its a comfort TV show. I'm not quite in the mood to do actual work quite yet... but I need to get in the mood. Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday! Here is the pic of the doily I made - it measures about 36" across. Its the biggest doily I've made. (image is clickable)

PHEW! What a day!!! I kicked ass on my financials. I got my files by 9am and started right away on getting them sorted and balanced. I even got my invoice to balance today (which usually I have to bug a lady back East for it) too! They went really smooth, all the items that cleared the system I accounted for and then I started on my financial report. One hour before I left, I gave the written and financial report to the Timster (my boss), he reviewed it, gave his stamp of approval 10 minutes before I was going to go home... so I sent it off to our division manager so he can have a looksee and if everything is OK (I have to give him 24 hrs to do it) then I can deliver it on Thursday and I'll be done! I still have to do my internal balancing "double check" tomorrow, but I've got the big stuff done today. It was a nice and toasty 107 when I came home today... Oh yeah... gotta love this heat. At one point on the freeway my car said it was 110. Too damn hot. We really need rain. I find myself having fantasies about a nice big, long, heavy, wet.... rain storm that lasts for days... *snicker* We're on our way for another record year for days in a row hitting over 100. Can't remember what it was last year, but we broke the record. I hear that Idaho is having the same problem we are. Rain, please... rain!!! Gimme some rain! I'm off for my nightly ritual... a nice cool shower... and maybe to have myself another rain fantasy. Sorry... I've been on one all day... and am even more goofy tonight since my brain is fried from doing all the financials. I'll give you an example before I go. Colin and I were chatting today via e-mail, and he gave me some code for a pic and with the width and height included. He said innocently "so you don't have to dick around with the width and height." Well, of course I had to take it the way I had to take it... it can be a very good thing to dick around with width and height, right? Surely I am! Good night! tee hee

I got into work 30 minutes early. I got up at the usual time, but got ready quicker than normal and don't know how I managed it. I guess sometimes your butt is dragging and other times it flies. I didn't have anything constructive to do at home (especially at 4am) so I just decided to come into work, and that makes less time I'll have to work on Thursday afternoon. I think I made it here in 15 minutes too, I cruised! It usually takes me 20-25. No one got in my way today, maybe that's why. tee hee My financials weren't in my e-mail this morning so I'll have to wait until about 8am to call Bart and bug him. I have other things to do (my regular duties) until then, but I'm anxious to get started on my financials and get them out of my hair. There were a lot of corrections that had to be made and I need to make sure they were done. Cute pic of the day: New meme Blog Candy by Annie. Go play! If you haven't read Annie you should, she's one of the kindest and sweetest souls in the world! She's so creative and has a beautiful blog. *hugs* Annie!

OOOHHHH 104 outside! TOO DAMN HOT! At least the air con was working half way today. It stayed under 80 degrees inside. They're still working on it trying to get it to work right, we knew it would be an "all summer" job. Figures. Today was a pretty good day, I got my written portion of my report done and tomorrow - if I get my files from the Bart dude as requested - I can start on my financials. I hadn't gotten them by the time I left, but hopefully they'll be there waiting for me in the morning? Too much to ask for? Hmmm... we'll see. He's usually pretty good at getting them to me when I ask or at least telling me when he'll get them to me. OK - I'm outta here, gonna get in a nice cool shower before I hit the hay! Have a great night!

Well, here we are... MONDAY again. I sure wasn't ready for it to come around again, was anyone else?! I wanted another Sunday, it was so nice and peaceful. I finally finished that huge doily I'd been putting off. It took me 3 hours to do the last two rows. Mom saw it when it was finished and she said, "That's so big, I don't think I have a place for it." I LAUGHED heartily and said "Sorry to break it to you, but I'm keeping this baby." I don't have a place for it right now either, but I'm putting it up for when I do. Its MINE. I don't keep many of my doilies but this one, is definitely a keeper. I watched the Minority Report and it was a pretty good show. Tom looking as nice and yummy as ever... Then I watched a cute little movie that was on TNT a couple of weeks ago called Prince Charming. I watched a few other shows - as I've always got the TV going. That was about it really... just a nice relaxing day. My boss will be back in the office today, and this week is my monthly report and financials week so it will be a busy one. Thursday is the Utah holiday (I don't get paid for it though) Pioneer Day and I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to take it off or not. I guess it would depend on how the week goes. If I get all my financials, etc., done, maybe I will. Try and have a good Monday!!! I know its hard... but try...

Thanks so much for everyone's support about my "sister" situation. It means so much, more than I can express... really about everyone's support with my life period! Its just does my heart good to know what incredible people are out there! Love ya all! I had a pretty good afternoon and evening. I heard from a guy (on that online dating match thing) that is 31 and lives in Salt Lake! I replied, and after a couple of days we finally hooked up on MSN Messenger last night! His name is Ed and he's really nice and funny. We chatted for over 2 hours I think! We do have a lot in common, (sense of humor, etc.) but there are some life goals, beliefs, and other things that would definitely stand in the way of a "relationship" so I think we'll just be friends. (He's just looking for "friends" right now anyway) He asked if I thought "friends" could be intimate. I think they can, yes but I told him that I wanted more. I want it all and am not settling. We'll continue on as friends and keep getting to know each other, but I'm going to keep looking for someone and something more. Colin has posted the buttons I made at CoolText.com (via Meg's site) on the server so now I have new buttons. YAY. It was a snap to make the buttons. There is a button for the link to my Health Log for anyone interested. Nothing much to report now, but I'll let you know when there is. On the daily basis I'm using it as a journal but feel free to read it. I've got to behave today, my foot and leg are really swollen so I won't be around too much. I need to keep my leg propped up and at as much of a flat angle as possible. I am planning on watching the Minority Report that I taped last weekend, and perhaps get the doily done that I've been putting off! Have a great day everyone!

OMG - Thanks Cindy for this quizzie link! I've been found out!!! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are a complete FUCKTARD!!!!! 100% Pure
Stupidity. People are always laughing at you
and you don't even know why. Then you start to
cry..You're a complete idiot, why don't you
just kill yourself!!!!!!!!

How much of a FUCKTARD are you?
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Why do I never learn? I should have known that what I said to Kathy would be turned around and put on me. Me being the bad guy. She told Mom and Dad that I raked her over the coals and yelled at her yesterday. She is just utterly and completely sick. I know I probably did hurt her feelings but they were things she needed to hear. There are two sides to every story so I told Mom my side. Mom said, "I thought things sounded a bit "off". Why would Kathy lie about the things you said?" I replied, "Because she's sick. Because she needs to take the negative attention away from her and put it on someone else to make herself feel better and look better in other people's eyes." That's why. Then I told Mom "See why I don't talk to her?" Point well taken. Another lesson learned. I WAS having a good afternoon until that happened. BUT its over now and I'm not going to let it spoil my day. I'm working on a new blog - not a new template, but a health log. I often feel like I'm whining here about my health problems, so I want a seperate place that the people who do want to read about my test results, etc., can without having to read it on my regular blog. I'm also making it out to be journal as well. Just for my own benefit of how I'm progressing. I've tried to have a normal journal (actual hand written) but I'm not very faithful about it, and I think I will be more faithful with a blog. I'm addicted to blogging if you haven't noticed! LOL!! Anyway, I was having problems with the template and asked my wonderful friend Connie fixed everything and even found me a better template. Thank you Connie - you're the best! Its up and running now and I will link to it when there is something of interest there. I'm going attempt to make a button for my sidebar via Meg's resources. If you haven't checked out her site, you should, she's got a lot of fun things.

Well, I've been up since before the crack of dawn (3AM)! I'm used to waking up at 3:30 anyway and today wasn't any different. I watched Goonies then got up at 5AM, took my meds and ate breakfast. I felt an anxiety attack coming on, and needed to do some organizing... my OCD was cropping its ugly head... I couldn't believe what I accomplished in 2 hrs. I put some some quilts in the vacuum storage bags, got rid of a bunch of sweaters (going to see if my nieces want them, if not I'll give them to a charity shop), re-arranged some of my closet, and the wardrobe that the sweaters were in, and then some shelves that are outside my bedroom in my hallway. After all that, I feel calm and satisfied. I'm breathing easy and anxiety is gone. I put up a new pic under mine on the sidebar. This is my cat Ashley (a.k.a pook-a-bear, Ash, Asher, monkey butt, baby, cooter pie - no jokes about the "cooter" tee hee it just fits her at times). She was sprawled out on the top of MY recliner (we always have a fight over just "who's" recliner it is) and she looked so cute I couldn't resist taking the pic and decided I wanted it on my blog all the time because after all, she's my baby! Snagged this quizzie from Dyane.
LOVE is your chinese symbol!

What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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Pirates of the Caribbean was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best movie I've seen in a loooong time. Full of adventure, laughs and oh, Johnny Depp ;-). If you haven't seen it already - GO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Definitely going to have to have that one on DVD when it comes out. Linda and I had a good time, visited at lunch and got caught up on some things. It felt good to be out with her again. OK... big ass long story ahead. I had to get some groceries on the way home. When was unloading the groceries when I got home and my sister Kathy was in the kitchen. I set a couple of bags down and went out for the second load. She poked her head out the door and asked if I needed help! I was shocked. Me thinking WTF are you talking to me for and WTF are you even asking if I need help! I really don't even want to talk to her AT ALL, don't want to look at her, be in the same room let alone the same house... anyway, I just said "no thanks, I've got it." Then she said, "Ellis (her ^$%$& husband) would be more than happy to carry the heavy things for you, especially down the stairs." Me thinking WTF again. Right. This man would do anything for me. Anyway, I put the second load down on the counter and started unloading the things that needed to stay upstairs. Then Kathy starts talking to me again. Saying that she really hates it "when we fight". You all would have been so proud of me. I kept my cool. I said "Kathy, I am so tired of what you and Ellis have done and are doing to our family. I'm tired of what you've not done and what you are not doing. You are killing Mom and Dad." Then she had the NERVE to say "We're not killing Mom and Dad, we're not doing anything to Mom and Dad." I still kept my cool. She's so delusional its not even funny. I said "You don't see it when Dad is pacing the floor when you and Ellis have either disappeared or are late coming back. Giving him chest pains from the stress. You're constantly dumping the care of your child onto them has got to stop. She's your daughter and you should be caring for her." She started whining about her problems and I just put my hand up and said "I don't want to hear it, it is gettng OLD and I cannot deal with it any more. I'm fed up and so is the rest of the family. We all bust our asses every day to make a living and we're tired of supporting you two sitting on your asses." She couldn't say anything to that. Quick - change subject... take negative attention away from herself. Then she started saying that Ellis would have helped me a few months ago with my car - saying that he didn't even know something was wrong with it. I came right and said that I don't want anything from that man. I told her I've had nightmares and fore-warnings about him and he's going to cause more problems and major ones for our family if she didn't get rid of him. She got a very strange look on her face on that one (she knows I've got a strong sixth sense). THEN I decided to go further. I told her that I hated what he has done to HER. He's beat her down so much that she is actually party to them being dishonest and pulling the shit they have (not all on the up-and-up as we found out last weekend) and taking advantage of my entire family. I told her it broke my heart to see what she's become. I still remained calm and was really sincere in the last statement. The look on her face told me that it stung but KNEW it was the truth - she needs to get rid of Ellis somehow. I know Elyssa deserves a Dad, but ya know what? She deserves the BEST Dad not one that won't support her, not one that disappears all the time, puts partying with his friends ahead of her. Even when Ellis was working, and they had their own apartment (when Elyssa was under a year old) Ellis would kick Kathy and Elyssa out of the apartment to come stay here in the bedroom upstairs because he wanted to "party" with his friends. What a good dad, huh? All the time saying "I'm the man, I have the job, its my apartment." Yup, he's a man all right. I have one wish for him - that he can become the man he *thinks* he is. 4 years ago Kathy was living in Ohio, working for P&G (PhD in pharamacology pulling about $80,000 a year - very successful). She lost her job due to downsizing. Somewhere along the line she got involved with Ellis' uncle and that is how she met Ellis (who lived with her but didn't work)... anyway... Kathy blew $40,000 in sev. pay in less than 4 months, and was on the verge of losing her house (she eventually lost it). It took over 6 months to get another job and when she did, it was in California so they got married and moved. Within 3 months she lost that job, then 3 months later was evicted and about living on the streets. This was January of 2001. The parents had to go down to Cali and move them here. Then Kathy finds out she's pregnant, and the rest is history. She's been on her ass since. He worked at Walmart for about a year but then lost his job for beating the shit out of a customer. He's been on his ass since. Kathy does have a lot of of problems, I'll give her that. She has been trying to get mental disability for almost 2 years now. Sometimes I think she really deserves it, and then others I wonder if she doesn't. Anyway, she's been turned down once but was approached by a lawyer who said he could rebuild her case. After months of waiting, she's finally got her hearing at the end of this month. Now besides her mental problems, she's got knee problems, a cyst on her spine, and is now diabetic. The plan is if she gets the disabiltiy, she will use the money to get back on her feet again (and make a home for Elyssa), go back to school and get another sort of job because she doesn't feel that she can use work in the stressful field she was in before... waste of a good Ph D! Ellis *thinks* that he's going to be in charge of the money (which is probably the ONLY reason he is still around actually!)... he's wrong. Mom will be in charge of it. Will be soooo sweet to see the look on his face when he finds this out. tee hee I really pray that she gets the disability because if she doesn't, I don't know what will happen. My parents have helped her out so much financially that they're going in the hole constantly and struggling to make ends meet. My parents cannot afford to have them continue to live here both financially and for their health. I wish I could help out more, pay more rent, but I can't. I struggle to make ends meet and that is one of the main reasons I live in the basement here. I'm proud of myself. I said things I needed to say without causing World War III. I also think I showed her that I still cared about her - because I do - I love her... I just can't stand her. LOL! Does that make sense? I really used to look up to her. She was ambitious enough to get her Ph D and did it on her own. Now I see what she's become and it sickens me. I curse the day she ever got involved with Ellis. I was going to come around and visit everyone tonight, but I wrote this story instead... and my butt has fallen asleep. Speaking of getting off asses ;-) tee hee I need to get off mine now. *snicker* I'll be around tomorrow to say hi! I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!!!!!!

I was just dusting and discovered a copy of a certificate near a home copier that belongs to my asshole brother-in-law. Its a certificate that proves he passed some sort of mechanics test... ohhh... dare I hope that he's actually looking for a job?! Is this my imagination?? Someone pinch me, please. Actually, after the blow-up last weekend, he did tell my Dad that he was "willing" to get a decent job now that his unemployment ran out. He's now "willing" to get a job and take care of is wife and daughter... isn't that great news?! What a loser. I'll believe it when I see it.

Woohoo for Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm looking forward to today. I've already got half my cleaning done (did it yesterday afternoon) and then I'm off to meet my friend Linda for lunch and a movie. We've been estranged for quite some time, but are starting to work through things again. We've talked a few times on the phone, but haven't "seen" each other since March. We're going to meet at the diner where my sis Susie works, then off to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Ohhh Johnny! YES! Here's a cute little movie clip Cat Slap The look on the kids face breaks your heart but I can't help but giggle. Friends... what would we do without them?? Well... I better get the other half of my cleaning done before it gets too hot and I run out of time! Have a great day everyone!!!

Another one... snagged from Kate

What Is Your True Aura Colour?
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Snagged this from Kane
I'm Marge, who are you? by Lexi

Some days are just great... I was just filling out my timecard and discovered that I'll have my 40 hrs in at 1:30 instead of 2:30! Woohoo!

I got the nicest surprise last night! Kat called me! It was so great to talk to you, Kat! You're just as cool as I thought you'd be! I'm here at work, and I got both fans/swamp coolers up and running. They've been going for about 20 minutes and so far its tolerable. I've dressed for the heat today (and since it is my "Friday"), I wore shorts. I'm sure I look scary but I really don't care ;-). I'll be done working about 2:30 so hopefully it won't get too hot before I go home. It would be really great if the base people would get their asses over here and do something with the air con. Anyhoo... this is the gov't we're talking about here, they only do things when they're good and ready. I got a comment on my previous post - from someone at socoool@hotmail.com asking me if I was for real... ummm... yeah! This is me... I'm real. I wonder what seems so unreal about me? I know I'm a goof... I best busy - hopefully I'll have some time to visit ya'll a little later! Meanwhile, have a great Thursday and go play 3 for Thursday if you so desire... Cute pic of the day:

Did I say it probably wouldn't reach 100 degrees? I was wrong! UGH! 103. Match score: 2 possible friends (one from England (25) and one from Mali (36)), and the other 4 of were over 50. What is the deal with that!? I put that I wasn't interested in anyone over 42 - I guess they still gotta try. Takes courage so I guess I shouldn't judge... unless they're just dirty old men. I gave the 2 guys my "anonymous" e-mail addy - both just mentioned friendship but I feel better about using it for now. That's all for now... I'm BEAT!

Well, its 2:30 and still really hot in here. Its really muggy outside and cloud covered so its keeping the temps down out there and we haven't hit 100's. I am starting to get a little sick now, but am going to try and stick it out for another 90 mins. The longer I stay today, the less I have to work tomorrow and I'm ready for the weekend! I'll just keep drinking my ice water and stay by my fans. Randy, my bud and the facility mgr here is really trying to get the base maintenance guys here to get the air fixed again. They *thought* they had it fixed yesterday late afternoon, but it broke again, obviously. Anyway, Randy just took me around and showed me how to start up the back-up huge fans/swamp coolers so I can start them first thing in the morning, since I'm here first and won't have to wait until Larry gets here. Oh, the power ;-) he teased me and said he hoped it doesn't go to my head. tee hee I had a great lunch today with Sheri. Barb ended up not coming because she wasn't feeling well. The cheese enchiladas were heaven of course, and I was a good girl and left the salsa completely alone, although it nearly killed me because they've got the best salsa. I got all the things done today that I needed to now, so I can relax a bit and do some visiting ! I'm enjoying it while I can, next week will be back to crazy with all the financials, etc., and my boss will be back.

I just had my day made... Larry just told me I was "one hot woman". *snicker* Do you think he meant because of the temperature in here?? One second thought... maybe I am just a hot woman... just checked my e-mail! I've got 6 new e-mails from that match thing! Now... here's the question, do I get all excited, rush home again, check the messages again then be hugely bummed again? I hope not... I'm hoping there's a guy around my age that is nice?! Do I dare hope?!!! ;-) Yes... I'm very hopeful. I may not rush home quite as fast but I am excited to check!

Yesterday afternoon we got the news that the air con was pretty much fixed, there were compressor and switch problems. It actually felt pretty good in here when I left yesterday despite being 105 outside!! Then I come in this morning (85 outside) and get blasted with hot air blowing from the air con ducts that feels about 90 degrees (not exaggerating!). This is the shits. I'm dying. I've got some windows open and my fans under my desk running (cheap thrill *snicker*) and its not doing much good. My bud Larry will be here momentarily though and he knows how to get the huge back up fans/swamp coolers running. UGH. This better not be like this all day or I'm going home and charging them for the day to sit on my ass and do nothing ;-) Sound tough, don't I?! tee hee Our monthly software journal arrived a week early again so I've got about 300 issues to mail out to our new subscribers. I love it when it arrives early so it doesn't interfere next week with my financials and reports. And seeing that this is such a slow week, it will give me something to do today. Today is cha-cha-cha cheese enchiladas day! I'm going to lunch with my friends Sheri (Happy Birthday Sheri!), and Barb. At least I should be cool for an hour while in the restaurant and in Sheri's car... other positives. Well, I best get busy! I've got database work to do before I start mailing all those journals. Happy Hump Day!!

Quote of the day (my Aunt sent it to me) "Life isn't like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." Isn't it so true?! LOL!! I had a very strange and unsettling dream last night. It woke me up about midnight and although I don't remember all the details, I think it was a warning that there is more trouble ahead with my lovely pain-in-the-ass sister and her asshole husband. There were things that happened over the weekend, that I really didn't feel like blogging about because I'm sick of the whole situation... anyway, I can't shake this feeling of impending doom. I really hope its just left over from what happened on the weekend, but I don't know. Maybe its the full moon too?? I couldn't get back to sleep for pretty much the rest of the night - I get up and 3:30 anyway and of course I feel back to sleep about 2:45. LOL!! Figures. Work wasn't quite as boring as I thought it would be yesterday, I'm keeping busy but at a slow pace and a couple of things came up to do so I was grateful for that. I have even had time blog hop a bit and that's been fun and I got to chat with Connie and Cin for a little while yesterday. Its been ages since I've even turned Yahoo on at work, but since my boss is out of the office this week and not in the cubical here with me, I've got a bit more privacy... but then again Greggy pooh is still here but he seems to be minding his own business for a change - at least he did yesterday. I've decided to go through my file drawer today and re-organize it. There are a lot of hanging files that don't have labels, etc., and some things are just thrown in and not in order. Sounds fun, huh? Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Got home, hurridly checked my match e-mail and these are the guys who e-mailed me today: Woodflyer was 55 - EWWWW. Muffeater was 47 and MARRIED - sounds like his wife isn't a good cook and he's obviously an asshole... or I could go the other way and maybe say he and wifey pooh are into some swapping?? Riley was 48 and HELP HIM!!! OK... 3 strikes but not out. Where are the YOUNGER men????? I got a call this AM that said my contacts and glasses were in! YAY! So I stopped off on my way home to pick them up. I can see (with my glasses)! I can see! The contacts "look" like my old ones so let's hope they are the same type. I'll find out in the morning! Good night all!

OMG - I just checked my hotmail again and I have two more e-mails from that dating thing... damn internet filters here at work! One of the e-mails is from a guy who's handle is "muffeater" something Message said "let's talk" I can't stop laughing... hmmm... I know I gotta weed out the weirdos... but on second thought... maybe this guy isn't a weirdo! *snicker* At least I know one things he likes to eat! He can't be all bad, right?

I had such a great day yesterday! Just what I needed - relaxation, peace and quiet. I watched fav movies all day long, and crocheted a bit. I am working on a HUGE doily, one I started in the hospital but haven't finished yet. I'm on the second to last row which is taking up a lot of time, a lot of detail. The very last row will be easy. This doily is probably the largest I've made. It will make a gorgeous center piece for a large table... And I think I'm keeping it for ME. I didn't get the nap, but that's OK because I would have had trouble sleeping last night if I had. I think this is going to be another slow work week. My boss is gone on a trip and didn't leave anything extra for me to do. My financials, etc., aren't until next week. So... Unless a something comes up I'm gonna start getting bored... Which leads me into getting into some mischief. tee hee It has been FAR too long since I've caused some trouble around here. I joined another singles thing - matchdoctor.com yesterday. I don't know what will happen, but I've already got a reply from someone. I can't access it here from work though, they've got filters on it so I'll have to wait until I get home to see. Part of me feels like I'm nuts for doing stuff like this, but then again, its hard meeting people in my area. I don't date guys at work (and there's no single guys in here anyway), and I don't do "church" things, I hate the bar scenes... There's really not a lot of choices here. My friends don't know anyone they'd set me up with either. *sigh* I'm really ready to move on now after Jeff and need to start getting out there again. Here's something that I got in one of my mailings that I thought I'd share. On the serious side, but I thought it was good. " Taking Risk " To laugh... is to risk appearing the fool. To weep... is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another... is to risk involvement. To expose feelings... is to risk exposing our true self. To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd... is to risk loss. To love... is to risk not being loved in return. To live... is to risk dying. To hope... is to risk despair. To try at all... is to risk failure. But, to risk, we must, because the greatest hazard in life... is to risk nothing...

I'm declaring today a do-virtually-nothing pajama day. I'm not feeling 100% so I need to rest and take care of myself so I can face the week ahead. I have a shower to take, movies to watch, a doily to crochet, and a perhaps a nap to take. Enjoy your Sunday!!!

I actually got around to visit everyone on my blogroll today! I may have not left a comment on all... but it was nice to catch up with everyone. I also was able to chat with Connie on Yahoo which we haven't been able to do for ages! I was feeling restless and wanted to get out today so I took my Mom to lunch. We went to the diner where my sister Susie works, and she cooked us an omelet with a side of homemade hasbrowns. Ohhhhh so yummy. I enjoyed every last bite. I ate way to much of course but I haven't done that in a while so what the hell. It gave me energy to do some shopping with Mom! LOL!! We hit the dollar store, the craft store, and then the grocery store. Nothing too exciting going on now... I'm going to try a recipe I found for crunchy tofu sticks. They sound really easy and I think they will be a fun thing to try. Its so hard not being able to eat meat (and very limited to what I can eat!), and I need the protein source and tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you put it in. I was pleasantly surprised how good it is - and I am one picky eater! So if I like it, just about anyone would. And most importantly, the soy doesn't irritate my ulcerative colitis. Ohhhhh... what I wouldn't give for a big, fat, juicy cheeseburger dripping with all the fixings. Ohhhh... I'd be in hell if I did!! I tried tofu in place of the hamburger in a 3-cheese pasta hamburger helper last week and it was good (sounds really bizzare and gross to everyone, I'm sure!). I've tried the Boca (soy) hamburgers and they're good, they taste like they've been char-broiled. The texture is really the only difference that I could tell. I bought some Boca chicken nuggets today, maybe I'll give them a try tomorrow. I'm being awfully brave (in my mind anyway) trying these things, but I'm so sick of bland things and having the same things day in, day out.

The day went pretty well. My first appt, my blood had thickened some so he increased my blood thinners ever so slightly, put me back on a higher dose of lasix and potassium, and said see ya in two weeks. I got my hair highlighted darker because it was getting so blonde (not from past highlights), it was almost transparent! My hair dresser thought I'd been out in the sun but I haven't. Its due to all the stress my body has been under and probably all the meds I'm on. My hair was pretty limp and lifeless as well so we decided to cut a couple of inches off. Next time, I'm going to do a new style so I'm going to be looking for new ideas. I'm going to have to go shorter no matter what, which will help get my hair back into shape. Just taking 2 inches off made a huge difference, it looks and feels great, but I need a change. Then I headed for the hospital. Got my blood drawn and then did the mamo and ultrasound. Can I just share something? My boobs hurt! Especially the right one. They took 6 shots/smooshes of that one, and only 2 of the left (where there weren't any lumps). I'm thankful that they're so thorough but OUCH. Those are my boobs! They're meant to be handled well...ummm... OK we won't go there. *snicker* I was really impressed with the staff at the womens' center. I felt comfortable and at ease and things were explained so well! Even though there is definitely a density/lump, nothing showed on the mamo or ultrasound (WHEW!!!!). Which means its most likely a fibroid like we suspected - and like I had removed 2 years ago. They'll send all the results to my docs and we'll decide what to do from here, whether a biopsy, watch it, or what. I want it out as I did the others, but I can't do anything while on blood thinners. I've got an appt on July 28 with my gyno to discuss the options. Oh man its hot out! UGH! It looks like the fire is pretty much under control, they've let people back in their homes but are still battling it. Its headed East up over the mountain and away from homes. My friend Linda lives 2 blocks from where the blaze started and she stood and watched 100 foot flames shoot up last night. She said she had never been so scared in her life. The fire turned North and away from her home (and into a canyon) so she was never evacuated. Makes me sick though to think all of this damage and danger happened because one selfish and sick man. I'm off to take a very cool shower and relax for the night!

There was a big fire that broke out last night in the mountains of Farmington (about 30 mins from where I live). Its a huge blaze, 500 people have been evacuated from their homes but luckily no structure damage or injuries so far. I just heard on the news that fire was started by a homeless guy (who turned himself in last night shortly after the fire started) because he wanted to go to jail and have a place to live. What a fucking idiot. Isn't there better ways to go to jail? Less disasterous? Less damaging? I'd like to get a hold of this guy. What a selfish bastard. I'm sure its really hard to not have a home to live in, but this is ridiculous.

Its supposed to get up to 102 today. Shoot me now. My schedule for today: Soon: Vacuum the hell out of this basement... get rid of any and all spider homes. I haven't seen any, but they could still be there. I hate spiders. 9:00 Shower 10:00 Dr. M B-day gift shopping (just a quick stop at Hallmark ought to do it) Bank Lunch 12:30 Hair appt 2:00-ish Blood tests 2:40 Boob smoosh 3:20 Boob ultrasound I'm taking a book to read so I'll be well entertained while waiting... and waiting... and waiting for all my appts. I doubt any of the medical appts will be on time. Part of life. I hope everyone has a great day!!

I finally settled on a couple pieces of licorice and some smarties. I never did figure out what it was I really wanted... It was such a SLOW day at work today. I was completely caught up on everything and one project that I had planned on getting started on to keep me busy in the afternoon has been postponed for a week or so. So... just after lunch I left. I took some leave but I deserve it. I might as well take advantage of taking time off while I can and don't feel guilty about work piling up. On the way home I stopped off at Petsmart to get Ashley's Science Diet, litter and of course, her treats. Then I went to the grocery store to get a few things so those errands are DONE. Tomorrow is gonna be NUTS with all sorts of appointments. Mostly medical appointments but also getting my hair cut and highlighted. I'm toying with the idea of something new with my hair but don't know what I'd do. I want to keep growing it out but yet I'm wanting a change. Hmmm... what to do, what to do. I guess I'll decide tomorrow... maybe my hair dresser has a fun idea. Anyway, after I came home I decided to rest for a bit, then get some of my cleaning done so I don't have so much to do tomorrow morning. So now I'm half done with the cleaning YAY. Well, actually more than half done, all I have left to do is vacuum. But with my low energy level, that's half of it! LOL!! My RA doc's office called yesterday and told me my blood levels have dropped again (going anemic again). Shit. So while I'm at the hospital tomorrow getting my boob smooshing and ultrasound I need to get some more blood drawn for more tests. Dr B thinks now maybe its more than my UC causing my blood levels to drop (since its starting to improve!!) and he might have to refer me to a hematologist, but we'll wait and see what these tests say. I should get the results early next week. I called my eye doc this morning - they looked through my chart and said that they ordered the exact same contacts as last time, but would call the contact company and see if perhaps they changed the contacts some way. Right. They called me back a few minutes later and and said that the contact company would be shipping the lenses should be in on Monday, but she still made it sound like it was the contact company's fault. Ummm... I doubt it. As I remember, they had to go to a special contact company to get the ones I needed last year. Whatever - as long as I get the ones I want, I'll be happy. I don't ask for much, do I? tee hee I was hoping my glasses would come in today or tomorrow, I'm anxious to get them. I am getting tired of not being able to see clearly when I'm wearing them. I've rambled on enough... I'm going to go help my Mom clean some veggies for a party she's going to tonight and fix some dinner. She's had a bad day and me thinks she could use someone to talk to too. Have a great night!

MUNCHIES!!!! Here it is, 7am... ate breakfast 2 hrs ago, and now I've got the munchies. Dunnoo what I want but I gotta have something. Every just get the total overwhelming urge to just stuff your face for no reason? Food... gimme food. GAAAAHHH!!! I'm stuck at work - I do have snacks here but nothing is what I WANT!!! I don't even know what I'm CRAVING! GAAAHHHH!!!!

I actually ended up going home at 1:30 yesterday afternoon. The air con wasn't working and was really making me sick so I decided to just go home. They really need to get their shit together around here and get this working. On the way home I stopped off to get my contacts from the eye doc since they'd come in. When I ordered them, I specifically asked the eye doc to order the EXACT brand and type as last year. He tried several different pair on me last year and we finally found one that didn't give me problems... well, guess what? The dork didn't order the right ones. I know these aren't the right ones, they're smaller and they're tinted a blue-ish color where my other ones are not. I am wearing the new ones now, and I'm not a happy camper. Within 30 minutes they're blurry and dry. His office will get a call from me this morning and they will order the ones I need. I'm not going through the same shit I did last year with trial and error. I don't understand why people can't do as they're asked, especially when he KNEW the problems we had last year. Why can't they make it easier on everyone and just order the ones I need?! Sheesh! OK, bitch session out of the way now. After I got home, I changed clothes, relaxed for a while, paid bills (oh fun), and then decided to treat Mom and Dad to dinner. Dad said since I was paying, he'd go pick the order at the local family drive-in. I had a yummy ham sandwich that they make. We all sat there and visited while we ate. The BEST part was that my sis and her asshole husband weren't there to ruin our dinner. I'm so proud of my Mom. Yesterday just before I got home, Kathy and Ellis had some "errands to run" and wanted Mom to babysit. Mom was going to be home, but she said "NO. You take the baby with you." Its about time Mom started saying NO. Woohoo! I told Mom how proud I was of her and she said it really felt good. As much as she loves Elyssa and spending time with her, Mom needs a break AND Elyssa's parents need to be primary care givers, not my parents. PROGRESS! After dinner, I played on the internet for a few mins then headed to bed and read for a while. The last time I looked at the clock it was 6:45pm so I got about 45 mins extra sleep. That's about it for now... me and my exciting life ;-) 3 for Thursday meme is up! Have a great day everyone!

Lovely, lovely Peanut Butter Moo'd Jamba Juice minus the chocolate. Mmmm... it was just what I needed.

YAY for Hump Day! The week work is half over. At least for me, but I won't rub it in ;-) I have 19 hrs to work between today and tomorrow. I'm feeling a bit blah today, kinda flu-ish and really tired. I think its because I had the Remacade treatment yesterday and took my other weekly RA meds last night. I'm not miserable enough to stay home, but yet not good enough to doing a lot here (which is good cuz I have easy stuff to do). The symptoms are normal (unless I get a high fever) so I'm not worried... just got a double whammy. I don't think I've had both meds on the same day before so I'm probably feeling the effects more. OK... I'll quit whining. I'm fine, really I am. I will treat myself to a Peanut Butter Moo'd Zuka Juice (minus the chocolate!) at lunch time when I make the treck to our main office to pick up our mail. That will make me feel better, I know it will. Now on a totally different subject... for a laugh... (thanks, Colin!)

Wow, this day zoomed on by! I was gone for 3 hours of it to my doc appt so maybe that's why. The appt went well. Dr B was really happy with the progress I've made and cut my prednisone down from 40 mg to 30 mg per day. YAY! I go back for another Remacade treatment in 4 weeks, and if I'm still improving, he'll extend the next to 6 weeks, then 8 weeks, etc., I'm feeling pretty tired this afternoon though, so I'll go home and just crash I think! Maybe take a nice cool shower and get right in my jammies. Mmmm... yup, sounds like a good plan to me! Hope everyone had a great day!!

I found this at Lana's and couldn't help but share it. I really could have used this yesterday, but hey, better late then never, right? FRIEND'S PRAYER May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the crotch of the person who fucks up your day and may their arms be too short to scratch. AMEN.

Thanks so much for the comments for yesterday's post. You guys really know how to make me laugh and feel better. After I walked around the building TWICE (tee hee) I came back and nothing more was said about that project. Greg KNEW I was pissed and I have a feeling that Tim set him straight while I was out for my walk. Tim is just like me, we don't like a lot of nonsense and Greg needs to realize that our records are correct. If they were incorrect, we'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble around here with our contract and funds! Anyway... I got involved in another project so I didn't have to interact with Greg again before I went home. This morning, there was an e-mail from him: "Dear Karen, I have updated the inputs to the final report to include the correct hours for each task (a few items changed due to some mistakes I discovered in my hour spreadsheet). Also, I'm sending you additional information for the Final Status section of the report which explains why I went over my budget. Thanks for providing the hour and cost information. I'm sorry for making you going to all that extra work. I now realize that your record keeping is exceptional and accurate. Best Regards, Greg" Thank you... Thank you very much! Can I just tell you that I LOVE being right in situatins like this! YES! Yes, Greg... don't doubt the woman who has kept a over 1.5 million dollar contract balanced within $10. I'm far from perfect, but work tirelessly until things are balanced each month. You dork! I had a pretty good night last night, although I didn't do much. It was so HOT and still is. Driving to work this morning (4:30am) it was 80. Too damn hot! I hate this time of the year. Its gonna be another scorcher today. UGH. I have my 4th Remacade treatment this morning and I'm excited to tell my doc that the Remacade (and other therapies) are finally making a difference in my Ulcerative Colitis (and its still doing good as far as my Rheumatoid Arthritis). I'm so thankful for any improvements! I'm finally starting to feel like I'm kicking butt instead of having mine kicked all the time. I just can't wait to get off the prednisone, I'm really tired of looking like a chipmunk , but... its part of what is helping me so I just need to be patient. I better get to work! Have a fantastic day!

Someone by the name of Greg that I work with is gonna lose one of his protruding body parts if he doesn't watch it. He is working on my last nerve. To be honest, he was working on my last nerve even as he said good morning this morning but for the past 90 minutes he's driven my boss and I nuts. There's a project he's been supporting since 2000. He's doing the final report - or rather I AM preparing the final report with the information he's giving me. Now, the project is over $7000 over budget - lots of details and politics went into the over-run - mostly the customer dragging their feet in finishing the project. Anyway, Greg wants to over analyze this situation and see "where excactly all the $7000+ went." Fine. Let's check travel and workshop materials... no, we're OK there, OK, let's check labor hours. I went back to ALL my spreadsheets, got him my hours, my boss' hours and Greg's hours. Fine. Greg tells me his hours can't be right. I take the frickin' hours straight from the timecards. Greg says that MY records can't be right. How can this be? I've got the timecards, the invoices, monthly reports and all the other financial data to back up MY records. WTF?! I think my boss is just as pissed at him, because he just told Greg that our records are correct and his must be off somewhere. Now Greg just had the NERVE to ask me to get the actual timecards out from 2000. They're locked up in the vault and I can't get to them without an escort - who are the secretaries, and darn it all, they're gone for the rest of the day. Why can't he just believe my boss and I and our records?? GRRRR! I'm going for a walk before I find myself hitting him. Rant over. At least I hope it is! ;-)

So many quizzies... so little time... ;-) snagged this from Ulrika
Rainy

What type of weather element are you? (With pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

Breast Cancer - Stop Drive-Through Mastectomies online petition. (link and words taken from Kat) In 1996, only 17,000 people signed a petition to stop drive through mastectomies. One night in the hospital is not long enough to recover from a mastectomy. Sign the petition and maybe we can force insurance companies to to guarantee a minimum of 48 hours to recover in the hospital.

Monday mornings... what can we say about Monday mornings other than they kinda suck. Its always so hard to get back in the swing of things, especially after a longer weekend. Mine hasn't been too bad so far, was able to drag my butt out of bed which was a good thing. I got here at work, opened up my e-mail and there were 189 junk mail messages. No shit. I couldn't believe my eyes, they kept loading and loading and loading. Someone in the security and IT are probably catching shit for it somewhere. (Looks like SHIT is the word of the day... don't know why, it just keeps slipping out *snicker*) Colin made a comment to me this morning in one of his e-mails about my comment about my "chipmunk" face (a side effect of the prednisone I take) and he wondered which Chipmunk I should be... Alvin, Simon or Theodore. LOL! I should actually be a Chipette, don't you think?? Maybe I better be Eleanor, she's the blonde one. (No, I didn't know their names, I had to do a google search!)

Sorry... I keep finding these fun quizzies! LOL! Found this one at Dyane's This one I COULD NOT pass up for some reason! *snicker*

Which random phallic object are you?
Quiz by Andrea.

Another quizzie :-) found at Ulrika's
You are Strawberries: sweet, colourful and
fragrant. You are the taste of summer.

Which Taste of Summer are You? *pictures*
brought to you by Quizilla

OK - so I re-thought the PJ thing today. I did get dressed... but am being a complete bum. I just finished watching "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I absolutely LOVED this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And just not because of Matthew McConaughy who is oh, sooooo ohhhh this man makes me think naughty thoughts !!! Found this quizzie from Kate
What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

Has this weekend just breezed right on by for you or is it just me? It seems like there should be another 2 days instead of just one! I had such a great time yesterday at the play! "Honk" was a musical, and such a cute story. There was a lot of laughs and my cousin did a fantastic job. She played Maureen, a duck who was a friend of Ida, the main duck. She was hillarious, all her mannerisms cracked me up. They didn't have duck costumes on, but you definitely knew she was a duck. There ended up to be 20 of us at the play, about 6 of them were friends of my cousins'. I saw my two cousins Jill and Diane (2nd cousins once removed I believe) that I hadn't seen in about 5 years! They couldn't get over how good I looked, which really made me feel good. Mom told them I was falling apart though, and we all had a good laugh about that. I'm being put back together though ;-). After the play we all went out to eat at a local restaurant called Roosters. Both food and company were good. We all said our good-byes after dinner and were on our way. Mom and I had a couple of errands to run so we went and did those. I found a new mouse - YAY. I found an optical mouse for a good price and I love it... sooooo smooth. The cordless ones were just too expensive. The next thing I need to get when I get some extra moola is a new keyboard. Its getting had to see some of the letters. Anyone else have problems with the E, R, T, S, D, C, K, L, M and N disappearing? LOL!!! Or is it just me? I was so tired by the time I got home, I went straight to bed. As I was laying there, all of the sudden that damn scooter started driving by. It drove by 12 times in 30 minutes. I was getting so pissed off. The scooter has to be the most annoying sounding thing I've heard in long time. I'd like to take this scooter smash it with a bull dozer. Grrrr. This time, it wasn't the under-driving-age teenager but her older sister. Now, how fun is it to just keep driving around and around and around the block? This girl really knows how to whoop it up. Anyway, since it was before 10pm Dad said there wasn't anything they could do - despite them disturbing my peace. That whole scooter thing that happened last weekend, we did the police were called on those people, (about the whole riding it on the street by a minor and for giving neighborhood kids rides). I'm really surprised the police didn't impound the scooter right then and there, but they were given a "warning". So, at least that has stopped (as far as I've seen). OH - and get this, with the parents not being home for most of the weekend, when the parents were home, the father was doing the exact same thing as his kid - giving rides to the little kids with them standing on the floorboard. Can you believe that?! No wonder is daughter is the is a total and complete idiot - she takes after him! Some people should not be allowed to breed. Well... enough rambling! I'm going to take it easy today and just be a bum. I'm thinking I might declare this another pajama day. tee hee Have a great Sunday!!

I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July!! I'm looking foward to today! My Aunt Linda and cousins are coming from Idaho to see my cousin Kelsey in a play called "Honk". Mom and I are going to the play as well. I haven't been a fan of the live theatre much at all, but this will be great to see someone I actually know in a play. About 6 months ago my friends and I went to one and I really had a lot of fun, so I decided to give this another try. "Honk" is a musical based on the "Ugly Duckling Story". I'm not sure what part Kelsey plays, but I'm sure she'll do great. My Aunt Linda's girls are so very talented in all sorts of arts - music, singing, dancing, acting. Kelsey has the lead in another play "Annie Get Your Gun" in August and we have tickets to that as well. Some other cousins that are coming from Salt Lake to see the play as well, so it will be so great to see them and catch up on things. I used to see them every year (at least!) at family reunions, but since my Grandma and all her siblings passed away, we don't have the reunions any more which is sad. We used to have so much fun at the reunions - each one ended up in a huge waterfight. Its been about 5 years actually since I've seen these cousins, I wonder if they'll recognize me! I've lost so much weight and changed a lot. But on the other hand, my face is puffy from the Prednisone I take (I call myself chipmunk face) so maybe they'll recognize me after all! LOL! I think it would be fun if we all went out to dinner after the play, so hopefully we can. Its going to be a busy day, so I'm going to rest as much as I can this morning. So, I best be off! Enjoy your Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think its time for a new mouse. My mouse was acting up this morning, so I took the ball out (tee hee) and cleaned it. Now it is acting worse than before I cleaned it. Despite my great love for balls, I'm thinking I'm going to get a ball-less one. Balls are great, balls are wonderful but they do get gummed up. *sigh* There was this guy named Lloyd that sent me a message from E-mode (a match making thing I signed up for a while ago) this past week. He's 47 and said on his profile that he was divorced with a child living at home. E-mode said we were a 96% match so I figured what the hell, I'd write back. We talked on Yahoo the other night, and I find out that he is not completely divorced, due to some financial problems. He made several comments about his soon-to-be ex wife and all these "funny" things he's doing to her to piss her off. Now - I know that I've never been married, don't know what its like to go through a divorce but the fact that he was doing these "funny" things to piss her off bothered me. He started talking about wanting to meet me - yeah right. After 10 minutes of talking online I'm gonna go meet him. We work on the same Air Force Base, but luckily he works on the other side of the base, and I didn't give him any details of where I worked - though he tried to get them from me. Then he starts talking about all these board games he likes to play. I told him I didn't like board games all that well, and rarely played them. He told me that he wanted to meet me (again!) and bring over a bunch of games. Can this man get a clue?! I told him I wasn't ready to meet him, or even talk to him on the phone (he even gave me his cell number). This man just had icky written all over him. I decided to give it a day or so to think about things. This morning he sent me an IM and I decided to tell him that I don't want to continue the relationship for several reasons. I didn't think we had anything in common - despite what Emode said!, and I am in a place in my life that I don't want anyone with so much anger and baggage. He really needs to work through all his anger of the divorce before he even thinks about getting involved with anyone. I also want someone closer to my age. I pissed him off - he said some crude things... and that proves that I did the right thing. I live my life by my gut instincts/6th sense and today it goes to prove once again its a good way to live.

Happy Birthday, America!!!!!! I'm wishing everyone a great and safe holiday! Enjoy!!

I wanted to get up early and get started on my cleaning before it gets too hot... and whew, I'm tired already! I've cleaned my bedroom and rest of the basement. I'm taking a rest before I tackle my bathroom and the organizing. I definitely see a nap coming this afternoon. Nothing much else happening... have a great Thursday! 3 for Thursday questions are up if you want to play along. TTFN!!

Christy has really come up with a fun HumpDayHump today - go play and see how many clips you can guess. My answers (no cheating) are on my meme site - and I think I got them all right. You wouldn't know I was a TV/Movie junkie. tee hee I had a nice lunch today with Sheri, and the cheese enchiladas were oh, so good. I ate half of them, got a to-go container, went to pay my bill, and left them sitting on the table. I had that "I forgot something" the entire way back, then it dawned on me what I forgot when I got in my car to come home. Don't you hate it when that happens?! I had to run a couple of errands, and my Mom needed to go as well so I came home and picked her up and off we went. We had the 4th of July grocery shopping experience at Wal-Mart. She wore me out, but we got everything we needed! Nothing fancy, just hoagie sandwiches and the fixings. When I got home, I was going to curl up and take a nap with my cat but I decided to watch Days of Our Lives instead. I'm caught up for the week now, and its going to be pre-empted because of Wimbeldon the rest of the week. *sigh* I'll live... it will be hard but I'll live. tee hee My cat doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with me since I got back from Wal-Mart. Me thinks she's pissed that I came home to get Mom and didn't stay home with her. LOL! She's so funny. She'll come around though, when she realizes its dinner and treat time. I'm going to get my cleaning done tomorrow morning for the week, and I'm hoping I'll have the energy to re-organize some things in my bathroom. I bought an organizer and want to - ummm what's the word I'm looking for... organize stuff! LOL! Yeah, that's what I want to do! I've really been in a re-organizing mood lately, more than usual. If I'm not careful I'm going to have to admit I've got a problem and start attending Over Organizers Anonymous! Have a great evening everyone! *hugs*

I've made an executive decision. I'm not coming back to work after lunch today! I need to make more of these decisions, don't you think? tee hee I'm so caught up on things and its soooo quiet. My boss doesn't have anything for me to do, so at 11:00, I'm outta here!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!! I'm soooo glad this is the last day of the work week for me! Woohoo! Nothing much to report this morning... probably not fully awake yet. I'm going to meet my friend Sheri for lunch today, we're going for cheese enchiladas, cha, cha, cha... fiesta time!

Damnit - he was wearing a wedding ring. *sigh* Oh well... I could still enjoy the scenery even if the scenery belongs to someone else, right? *snicker* I got a lunch invite from Nicole, Janna and Dave from work today, and we had a blast, lots of laughs. It was nice to get away from the office. While we were eating lunch a couple of really sexy policeman came into the restaurant. Nicole, Janna and I all had to wipe the drool from our chins. Its been quite the day for good looking men! Doesn't happen very often so we oogle while we can.

Went to the eye doc yesterday after work. My eyes have been a bit blurry and its time for new contacts and glasses. It took about 1.5 hrs by the time I was done. He dilated my eyes too - hate that. I could hardly see driving home, thank goodness it was only about 5 miles! My contacts should be arrive in about a week. I ordered lenses for my existing frames since they're still in excellent shape and its saving me about $200. I will have to make payments and can't have the lenses until my balance is paid, which is OK, hopefully I'll be able to get them in about a month - with my recent pay raise and some scraping. I'm anxious to get the glass lenses since I like to wear my glasses when I'm home to give my eyes a rest from my contacts. It would be nice to *see* tee hee its been at least 2 prescription changes since I got new glasses. I didn't even get on the computer when I got home - couldn't see much and it was driving me nuts. Lots of catching up to do this morning, and its going to be a pretty quiet day here, I think. I have a few things to do, but nothing major. I hope I can get around to visit most of you. It made it to 103 yesterday, with no air conditioning in here. I was so miserable. They had it up and running last week, so I don't know what the problem was yesterday. It better not be that hot again today or I'm gonna scream. The managment knows how sick it makes me and a few others here because of health probs. I've got the windows cracked now, and my fans blowing but the sun isn't even up yet. Oh... there are some guys working on our sprinkling/fire system this week... one guy is quite yummy and I'm getting nice looks and views while he's up on the ladder. tee hee I keep getting distracted with other things to see and forget to look for a wedding ring... I shall do that today for sure.

You really worry about some people, don't you? (Click on pics for larger image.)

Yesterday's pajama day was a complete success, almost too much of a success because I really had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, wanting another one. But, alas, I'm here at work now. *sigh* My really good friend Sandi (that works here) has been "loaned" to another organization for 2 months and today will be her first day. I'm so sad, I'm really going to miss going over to visit her and seeing her every day. We'll talk via the phone and e-mail but it won't be the same. She's such a huge support to me... I don't even think I can bring myself to go over and see her empty cubical without tearing up. One thing that cheers me up a little bit, is this is short week! Woohoo! I get paid for Friday, which means I don't have to work on Thursday! 4-day weekend!! TTFN for now... I better tackle my work e-mail to see what I've got to do today!

Its OFFICIAL! I've declared today PAJAMA DAY. How pathetic am I? LOL! I got up, showered and got right back in some jammies. I am hurting from yesterday's video/DVD cabinet putting-together-adventure and all the moving around I did. At least I'm guessing that's why I'm hurting. So... I'm behaving completely today and the only way I can make myself do that is to stay in my pajamas. Gotta have that mentality even though I don't feel like doing anything. I took a pain pill and its helping ease the pain, and of course making me feel goofy (yes, goofier than normal, hard for you to imagine, I know!). I'm going to lay in my recliner, snuggle with my cat and watch movies. Have a fantastic day!

My Dad helped me put my video/DVD cabinet together, and it only took us from 8:30am to 11:45am. MOST of the time was trying to figure out how to put the damn hinges on. No lie. It took us nearly 90 minutes to get them right. The instructions were just "diagrams", no written at all. You'd think that two people with common sense could put hinges on, but we kept getting them wrong. It started getting funny! But we finally managed to finish it. Its a lovely cabinet and I was so excited to get it in my room and filled. I spent most of the afternoon doing just that, and re-organizing my videos and DVDs. Now, since I'm a new DVD owner my videos outnumber my DVDs by a long shot, so I did leave room for my DVD growth inside the cabinet. I discovered a bunch of movies that I hadn't seen in so long and actually forgot I had! I'm planning on watching a couple tonight, just don't know which ones yet... hard to decide. There was one pesky problem while I was in my room today. There is a teenage girl who keeps driving her scooter around and around and around the block. She is driving me friggin' nuts. (It actually started last night for 2 hours - so my nerves were sick of it anyway.) I listened to her whiz by about 3 times, then I decided to go outside and ask her to PLEASE quit driving past our house. I went out to discover that she is giving her little brothers, sisters and neighborhood kids rides on said scooter IN THE ROAD, with no helmet or protective equipment on, and the kids she was giving rides to were STANDING on the scooter in front of her, not sitting. I just about came unglued! I can't believe that this IDIOT girl was doing that. I waved her down and asked her to #1 stop driving by and #2 asked her what the hell she was thinking giving these kids rides like that! She just shrugged and sped off with the kid (about 6 years old!). I was so mad! She kept driving past every so often for the next 3 hours too - probably just to piss me off... and she did. Little shit! If she's out tonight on that damn scooter she better pray that its faster than my car - I'll run her ass over. (KIDDING OF COURSE) I went inside the house and talked to my Mom about it I was so close to calling the police. She said that she and my Dad were going to see if they could find this girl's parents to see if they even know what their daughter is doing - let alone the parents of all the kids that she's giving rides to, but the parents weren't home. I don't know if it will do any good though, in this neighborhood, it doesn't seem like anyone gives a shit about their kids and their safety. They're always letting their play and ride their bikes in the roads. I forget, aren't roads for CARS???? The parents are the worst drivers as well, running stop signs, speeding, etc., Dad said he was going to call the city on Monday and tell them what's going on. This has got to stop. Lives are too precious not to do something - I may even start my own little campaign "Save your kids lives from your own stupidity!" Its pretty sad when someone who doesn't have kids seems to care more about safety than the ones that do have them, isn't it???

Got this quizzie from Beverly. Hmmm... imagine my surpise to my result! LOL!
You are an Amethyst. You are quiet and tend to be
shy. You don't like attention to be pointed
towards you, yet your beauty and uniqueness
draw people to you.

What Jewel Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I found this at Pam's site. Enter your birthdate and it tells you some things aobut yourself. Here's what it said about me: Strong muscular adaptable takes what life has to give happy content optimistic needs enough money and acknowledgment hates loneliness passionate lover which cannot be satisfied faithful quick-tempered unruly pedantic and careless.

Happy Birthday to Colin's wife, the Lovely D and to Maggie!

Woohoo! Telemarketers are going DOWN! Don't get me wrong, I know it would be an awful job to have to make phone calls all day, trying to make a living. But I HATE to be bothered on the phone. If they wanna sell me something, do it via the mail. Anyway... I just registered at www.donotcall.gov to have my numbers put on a list so telemarketers will not call me. I found the initial story at Kevin's site - thanks Kevin!

What an ablsolutely crazy day I've had which means of course I over did things. But now the errands, cleaning, etc., are out of the way I can relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend. I got up early, cleaned and went to the doc. My blood test for the blood thinners and things are right on target. See him again in 2 weeks. He wants me to keep taking the water pills, but cut the dosage back to the normal and keep wearing the sexy hose for a couple more weeks. went to lunch with Mom to the diner where my sis Susie works and she cooked us an omelet and hashbrowns. Mmm, Mmm good. The doc gave me the orders I needed for the ultrasound I need for the density in my boob, so after lunch, Mom and I went to the hospital to have it done, got registered, and went to radiology as I was told to. When I got to radiology, they said, "Oh, we don't do breast ultrasounds here. You have to go the Women's Center upstairs and you have to schedule and appointment." Nice. So I go upstairs. They look my records up, and discover I haven't had a mammogram since 2001. OK... which would be correct. So they tell me that since I have a density then I need to have a mammo before I can have the ultrasound. OK... better safe than sorry. So they call my doctor to get his OK, but they're out to lunch. OK... so I tell them just to schedule me an appt for both the mammo and ultrasound, and call my doc after lunch and have him fax the order. No big deal. They finally agreed and I'm scheduled in 2 weeks to get both done. I felt like I got the royal run-around at that place today! After that adventure, Mom and I went grocery shopping which is yet another adventure, at least it is with Mom. LOL! She's such the shopper. Then we stopped off to get some prescriptions and the pharmacist and the assistant (who know me well!) had to ask what happened to my face. They told me that I couldn't have any secrets from them. LOL! They got quite a chuckle out of it and teased me about being a klutz. So true. My face looks so much better than it did yesterday, its bruised a bit and has road rash but its not as swollen. I am SO sore though between bruises on my knees (and one on my shoulder that I discovered!), and the sore muscles. I still have to laugh about it. Probably the best trip I've had. tee hee I bought a new video/DVD cabinet and was going to put it together tonight but I best not. My ankle has started to swell from so much walking today, so its an early bed night for me. I'll ask my Dad in the morning if he would like to help me. He has me to read the instructions to him while he does the assembling. I like doing stuff like that with him, always have since I was little and I think he liked me to help him. I hope everyone had a great day - and I'll be around tomorrow to visit you all!

Bruce Almighty is one funny movie! I laughed so hard!! It was so great getting out again, its been ages since I'd seen a movie in the theatre. After the movie, Renate and I went to that one pizza place and I got my ham pizza with the alfredo sauce... mmmm... heaven. Still have half of it for tomorrow! I just finished paying my bills - oh joy. In my account then right back out. Now I'm gonna crash and go cuddle with my cat!

My face is getting lots of attention today. After several questions, I decided to mess with people a bit and tell them I got in a bar fight last night. I really had a few people going! I've done a lot of blog hopping since I've actually run out of things to do. Actually I'm waiting on an invoice so I can finish my financials... I found out I won't get it until next week. Sigh. I'm so caught up on other stuff so I decided to goof off a bit. I have 30 mins left then I'm done for the week! Yahoo! Busy day tomorrow though between cleaning, running errands, doc appts. I hope to go get the ultrasound of my boob tomorrow to get that over with. I have to have my general doc write the order since my gyno isn't on the insurance "preferred" list so they won't pay for anything she orders. I've got all the documentation I need from her though, to give to my general doc so it shouldn't be a problem. My uncle is a ob/gyn and he's sending me samples of the pills that I have to be on whiile I'm on the blood thinners. Saving more money! Does any woman out there use Ortho Tri-cylcen?? I have 3 months worth (not opened!!) I hate to throw them away.

Just Call Me Grace...

Just Call Me Grace... First of all, before I get into the "Grace" thing, I wanna wish Colin good luck today on his biopsy - I'm thinking of ya bud! I hope everything turns out OK. Now, for the Grace thing... my Mom always said she should have named me Grace. I stopped off for gas this morning, and all was hunky dory. I wanted some juice so I went to pay inside. As I was walking, the pavement seemed to jump out in front of me and caught the tip of my toe. I stumbled for about 5 steps trying to catch myself, but finally to no avail, I fell down on my knees, then my elbow, then hands, then yup, you got it. My cheek. Right below my eye. I hit it harde. I scraped the skin so it was bleeding all over. The nice guy at the gas station gave me some towels and directed me to the restroom. I was so embarrassed! I wonder if he thought I was drunk. It is red and swollen now, and I'm sure its gonna bruise. I do believe I've given myself my first shiner. !! I'm icing it to help with the swelling and it hurts like a bugger! But ya know, I can't help but laugh at myself. I'm such a clutz! Hey - its THURSDAY! My "FRIDAY"! Yahhoooooo! I only have to work until about 2:30 then I'm off to see a movie (Bruce Almighty) with my friend Renate, then we'll grab a sandwich or something after. I'm looking forward to it - its been ages since I've seen a movie in the theatre. Renate is a great lady so we should have some fun. 3 for Thursday is up if you'd like to go play. Have a great day everyone! I gotta get busy...

I need one of these t-shirts!

YYAAAWWWN!!! I got a really good night's sleep but I think I could have slept for another 4 or 5 hours! I'm so glad it is Wednesday, one day closer to the weekend. I'm feeling so much better about things today - thanks again for all your support, hugs and thoughts. You all never cease to amaze me... I've got to work on my financials today. I was able to get quite a bit done yesterday, mostly finding mistakes that corporate made, putting things against the wrong project numbers, etc. so I'll have to submit changes which is a pain in the butt, but its got to be done. I know no one is perfect, but come on - these types of mistakes shouldn't have been made if the person could READ. Anyhoo... I better get my database stuff done so I can get working on the financials! Have a wonderful day everyone - and I'll try and stop by to say hello if I get/need a break!

I'm not feeling quite so fragile now, I know I can face what I need to. Just got overwhelmed, ya know?! I hate to complain and be "down" but let's face it, we all are there at times, no matter how hard we try to keep that positive attitude. Thanks for all your kind words, hugs and support. You guys are just the best! A friend of mine just sent me these pick up lines and they made me laugh so I thought I'd share: Pick up lines with comebacks! 1.)Male: Haven't I seen you some place before? Female: Yes, that's why I don't go there anymore. 2.)Male: Is this seat empty? Female: Yes, and mine will be if you sit down. 3.)Male: Your place or mine? Female: Both. You go to yours and I'll go mine. 4.)Male: So, what do you do for a living. Female: I'm a female impersonator. 5.)Male: Hey baby, what's your sign? Female: DO NOT ENTER. 6.)Male: How do you like your eggs in the morning? Female: Unfertilized. 7.)Male: Your body's like a temple Female: Sorry, there are no services today. 8.)Male: I would go to the end of the world for you. Female: But would you please stay there? 9.)Male: If I saw you naked, I'd die happy. Female: If I saw you naked, I'd die laughing!

Warning: Rant and women stuff ahead! My life is just full of good timing lately. Its a damn good thing I had an appt with my gyno yesterday. She gave me lots of interesting news. She was quite dismayed about all the health problems I've had this year and the blood clot really is complicating things. I'm also quite PISSED at my team of doctors for not disclosing, thinking, or letting me know the risks of the blood clot could have on my body - my entire body. Being on blood thinners, if I were to have a period (which would have been in a matter of days!!!!!!!!!!), I could hemorrhage. Not a good thing. So Dr Wheeler put me on new pills and I'm not to have a period until I'm off the blood thinners (that I'm not too upset about, tee hee). When I'm off the blood thinners, no more birth control pills for me. Lovely. I've been on birth control pills for years for mostly medical reasons and I don't want to go back to the severe cramps, etc., grrrr, but this is my life and with the severity of the blood clot, I don't have a choice. I don't want more blood clots forming. With my history of endometriosis and other damage that was done while I was younger, I was told I'd probably never have kids. OK, I've lived with that and am at peace with it, and I've never really been in a position to have any either. Dr W told me that if I were to get pregnant, by chance, it could kill me because of the blood clots. It just seemed so final and hit me like a ton of bricks. So... I need to think about my options there. I'm not making any hasty decisions for now though since I'm not even seeing a man right now. Even though I do monthly breast exams, she found a lump in very bottom of my right breast. I've had a history of fybroids so that's probably all it is, but I'm having an ultrasound to be sure. I'm not messing around. If its a fybroid they'll watch it, and after I'm off the blood thinners I'll probably have it removed like I did the others I've had. I guess I'm having a Karen's health pity party. I was so upset on my way home from Salt Lake last night, my eyes kept tearing up. When I got home, my Mom was standing in the kitchen and I just broke down. I felt better after her hugs and support but honestly, I am so tired of having so many health problems, just when I think I've got a handle on things, something else crops up. I'm tired. So tired. I know I need to keep things in perspective - there are so many people out there worse off than I am... and I'm sure by the end of today I'll feel much better, just gotta work through these feelings. I am so grateful that I do have such good doctors - even though the other doctors didn't even mention anything about the potential complications. It shows that there are definite problems with the health care system, all have their own "specialties" and its up to us, the patients to make sure ALL the doctors know all of your history and are kept up to date on everything. Don't take your health for granted.

Funny for a Monday

The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners: 1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with. 2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly. 3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future. 4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid. 5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period. 6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high. 7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it. 8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late. 9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness. 10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.) 11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer. 12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. 13. Glibido: All talk and no action. 14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. 15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web. 16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out. 17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating. And the pick of the literature: 18. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Monday Already?!

I really can't believe its Monday already, this weekend really went by quickly. I'm ready to face my week though. Its my financial and reporting week, but I'm not stressing about it. I was able to get caught up on so much last week, its a great feeling. I got some new CDs over the weekend via one of the clubs I belong to, so I'll have some good tunage to listen to. Footloose soundtrack (yeah, I know, stuck in the 80's), Alice in Chains Greatest Hits, and a 3-CD set compilation of Women in Rock. I hope everyone has a great Monday! I need to get started on my day!

Nothing too exciting going on today... I'm just going to relax more and stay off my leg. I sure hope it doesn't flare up again when I got to work tomorrow. I'll keep it elevated so hopefully it will be OK. Oh shit. I've got my "Yearly Grand Opening" appt with the gyno tomorrow afternoon... lovely as if I haven't been poked and prodded enough lately. tee hee Wish it were a different kind of poking *sigh* Yeah, there I go... too much information again. I'll have to drive down to Salt Lake to my appt, I hope my car behaves. I watched two movies last night, The Road to Perdition and Serving Sara. I really liked both of them. There was a movie that premiered last night on HBO called Frailty that I taped, but it didn't tape all of it because due to the stupid boxing screwing up the schedule it came on early. Its on again Thurs night so I'll retape it then. Its got that yummy Matthew McConaughey in it. That man... ohhhhh... that man just does something to me. My vacuum storage bags came yesterday! YAY! I'm so excited! I tried one small bag putting some of my afghans that I've made in them and it worked great! I've already saved half the room in one drawer! Hopefully next weekend I'll be up to doing more. I've got a lot of big quilts that I use during the winter, lots of sweaters, etc., there's even one that will store hanging up clothes, so I'll use that one for my winter coats and jackets. So much fun! LOL! Ya think I need to get out more, don't you?! tee hee I probably do... Anyhoo... have a great day everyone! *hugs*

Good Morning!

I stayed in bed until 7:30 this morning (which I hardly every do!!), got up, took a shower, put on my sexy sox and here I am. My leg/foot/ankles are looking so good this morning! YAY! I know that still doesn't mean I can get up and putter about, but there is a huge improvement. There should be an improvement as far as the water retention since I peed more yesterday and last night than I have all week! Hmmm... too much information? Probably... I watched a movie last night, Hot Chick starring Rob Schneider. It was pretty funny, but remember I've got a goofy sense of humor, I'll have to watch it again later. I still have two movies that I haven't watched yet, The Road to Perdition and Serving Sara. I rented one movie called Charly. I hadn't seen heard about it in the theatres, but the video/DVD is in just about every store around here. Well, I found out why. Its a movie based on a book about a woman that comes from New York to Salt Lake City and gets involved with a Mormon guy. Ummm... yeah... no wonder its everywhere! LOL!! I got through about an hour of it and that was all I could stand. I let Mom and Dad have it to watch so it didn't go completely to waste (they loved it). All well and good - it was a pretty good story, it was just missing something. I also watched Just Married which was OK, but not as funny as it looked. I doubt I'll see it again. I got my hospital bill yesterday... can we say $8919?? Holy Shit. Good thing I was sitting down. That includes all the labs, room, meds not the doctors. My insurance will pay 85%, BUT I've reached my out of pocket expense limit as well as my deductable, so they should pay 100%. I called them to verify this fact but I won't rest easy until I see the actual explanation of benefits. It really should be fine though - each Remecade treatment statement I've received, the costs are about $5200 and at the bottom it says patient's portion a big fat $0.00. My insurance just loves me this year! Thank God I've got really good coverage. Too bad it all starts over in January though. I'm approved for 10 Remecade treatements between April of this year and next year. I've had 3 so far. Most of the treatments will be done this year since the frequency is tapered off. I'll have to come up with $250 deductable plus $1250 out of pocket expense, which will probably be raised... but that's how things are. I've rambled on enough! I'm going to blog hop a bit and go lay down for a while. TTFN!!!

Thanks everyone for your concern! You are all so great! I just got back from the doctor. My blood is a bit thin, so he adjusted my meds, every 3rd day taking half a pill. The swelling in the ankles and calves is most likely the normal circulation problems associated with the DVT and water retention. He's doubled my dose of Lasix and pottasium and has told me to stay off my feet and keep my legs elevated (laying down is preferable), as well as wear the sexy support hose. I go back next Friday unless things get worse. So... guess what I'm gonna be doing this weekend? Yup, you got it. Squat. I shall entertain myself with TV, DVDs, my good book, crocheting, naps (YAY), and the computer. But I can't over do the sitting at the computer. Must_be_strong. tee hee Have a fabulous day!

I over did things a wee bit today! I got all the files moved and organized in the vault like I wanted to, but it was a bit too much for me to do, and it was so hot in there with no air con. I was drenched by the time I was done. UGH. I hate that. I rested at my desk for a while and cooled off. I went to lunch with Wendy and we had fun, she's such a sweetie. The pizza was sooooooooo good. I have half of it left for lunch tomorrow! Mmmm! I'm telling you - if you get a chance to try alfredo sauce on pizza it is heaven. I got off work at 1:00, and decided to run my errands. Bad Karen. Between this morning and the errands I *really* over did things. I'm paying for it now, but not to worry, I'm sitting here in my jammies (actually got in my jammies at 3pm when I got home! LOL!!) and am about to go back and lay down on my bed and watch a movie or two that I rented. I rented 5 movies, so I'll be entertained and forced to rest this weekend for the most part. The last few days, my ankle and foot has been really swollen. I called the doc on Tuesday and he said it was normal and would do that over the next month or so. Its sooo swollen, I feel like I've got an elephant's foot! I'm starting to think something is going on though, because my right ankle and foot is swelling some too, not as bad as the left though. I see the doc tomorrow so he can SEE how bad it is. I sure hope nothing is wrong and it is just part of the healing process. I don't want to be paranoid, but I've learned that its best not to ignore things. I remembered last night that my RA doc told me last week that it might be a good idea to get me some support stockings (like they give people to wear after surgeries). DUH. So I stopped and bought some today. Of course my foot is so swollen I can't get them on LOL! So I'll have to wait until the morning when the swelling is pretty much gone and put them on. LOL! Tight white thigh-high stockings, woooo baby! Too bad I don't have a man to impress with how sexy I am!

YAY for THURSDAY!!!!

Its actually my Friday and I only have 7 hours to work and I'll have my 40 hrs in for the week The main thing I have to do today is do some organizing and filing in our storage vault. Things that have been moved from our old building finally and things are a mess. I spent about an hour yesterday going through 3 boxes but I know there is a lot more in the vault I'll have to organize. I wore jeans today so I could really dig in and get this done. I'm going to lunch with my friend Wendy today, and looking forward to it and catching up with her. She told me I could choose where to go, and I'm thinking of a pizza/pasta place. They will put alfredo sauce on a pizza instead of the tomato sauce (which isn't nice to my stomach) and its sounding really yummy. I best get started on my day! Have a great day everyone and if you want to play 3 for Thursday the questions are up.

Life...

Life sure has a way of teaching us how important our loved ones are, after we forget how precious they are. I received an e-mail last week from my friend Linda, who I've been on the "outs" with for a few months. Long story - some of you might remember the story of how it all started. Anyway, the e-mail she sent me told me that she and her husband had been in Australia visiting his parents. His Dad has been ill for years, but while they were there, he had to be hospitalized and had surgery on a blood clot, and had other things wrong. They'd gone through hell while there, but it made her realize just how important and precious family and loved ones are. Two days after they arrived home, her FIL passed away. Her husband flew back to Australia but she couldn't go because she was taking her Mom to Nebraska for a family reunion over the weekend, and because of finances. Yesterday, they spread her FIL's ashes in a park near where he lived, that was what he wanted. She wrote me an e-mail and told me what was going on and it truly broke my heart. She said some very thought-provoking and very insightful things in this e-mail. I realized - even more than I did from last week's e-mail just how precious life is. Even more than my experiences as of late - we need to concentrate on the good things in life, treasure them and don't forget how fortunate we are to have our loved ones in our lives. We need to look for the good where ever we go, however small the good. Even when we are so overwhelmed with bad things, as we all do if we can just concentrate on seeing a glimpse of something positive, it will help us overcome the bad. As soon as I got the e-mail from Linda yesterday, I called her. But she didn't answer the phone, she was having a real struggle and couldn't bring herself to answer the phone. She did return my call last night though and we talked for over an hour! It was so great actually talking to her, instead of e-mails. She told me how much she cherished me and our friendship and how much she loved me. We've still got some talking to do, some mending of hearts, etc. but we've started talking and that's the important thing. We bring out the silly side of each other, and I really miss that. I sincerely hope we can get back to where we once were, or close to it. I don't want to have to be afraid to tell her certain things in my life. I want to be able to trust her completely again. We were so close for 7 years, and despite all the hurt lately, I really don't want to throw it away. We've both done a lot of changing over the past year or so, some good, some bad. Now it looks like more good is coming. I know I'm guilty of not being compassionate and more understanding with my sister Kathy and her situation, and most of that is coming from her not doing anything to help herself, take care of her daughter, and taking complete advantage of my parents. Maybe one day we can rebuild our relationship because I do love her. For now I need to keep my distance because the situation isn't good for my health. I know that does sound selfish, but its what I've got to do. Enough about that situation, I want to concentrate on the good things! I've also rambled on and on this morning... I need to get to work! Happy Hump Day and tell at least one person in your life how much you love and cherish them. Here's a laugh for the day... damn - my teeth have a lot more fun than I do! I gotta do something to change that! LOL!!

Yipeeee!!! I met with my boss this afternoon and went over my yearly appraisal! It was excellent - the only room for improvement I have is to go back to school and start getting my degree. He was very pleased with all the work I do and how responsible I am about getting the job done and caring about it. He also mentioned in the review that the gov't (the customer we're contracted to) has nothing but great things to say about me, which made me feel really good. I got a $1500 a year raise too ! That was more than I was expecting, so I'm happy. I'm sure most of it will be taken out it taxes, but its better than a kick in the ass! tee hee Its been a crazy day, and I'm beat... tomorrow shouldn't be quite as busy so I'll try and pop in to visit! TTFN!!

Well, its Tuesday! One more day closer to the weekend. Its going to be a crazy day here for me today. The July issue of the software journal my org publishes came early and I need to send out about 300 issues to the new subscribers. BUT I'm glad it came this week, because next week is my financial week so its actually going to work out better. I have lots of other stuff to do too, but I'm stressing out about it, one thing at a time. Have a great day everyone! I'll pop by and say hello if I need a break and/or get time!

I_AM_TIRED! I came home, changed right into my jammies, fixed and at dinner, checked my e-mail and now I'm headed for bed! I doubt I'll sleep for a while, but I'm going to curl up with my cat and cuddle and watch TV until I do fall asleep. Good night!

Back to Work!

It feels so great to be back to work! I love seeing everyone and they're all so nice asking how I am, and say they're happy to have me back. I'm being a good girl and getting up at least every hour and walking and moving about. I walked around the entire building outside this morning and it was a bit much to do every single walk, so I'll do that twice a day and just walk around the cubicals the other part of the time. I hope everyone is having a good Monday!

I'm having such a relaxing day today and am enjoying every bit of it. I go back to work tomorrow!!! YAY! Do I have a fever? Am I feeling all right? Yes, I'm fine. I'm looking forward to getting back to the old grindstone. I'm sure I'll have a lot to do, but I'll just take one thing at a time. I've really missed everyone at work too. The major priority this week is getting my review done. I've done my part, now its up to my boss the Timster to do his, then meet with me to discuss areas for improvement, etc., then he'll recommend a raise (after its approved by our division manager) and send it off to HR. I think that the raise should take effect on June 23. I hope our division manager has put aside a goodly amount for raises this year, that is a big factor in how much everyone gets - besides their performance. Tim really fights for me to get me more money and training every year. My Dad is really enjoying his Father's Day. Mom and I went in on a 20 foot flag pole that he's been wanting and he was so thrilled! Its been sitting in the back seat of my car since Tuesday and the suspense was killing him. I also found him a 2-DVD set of some old Gene Autrey westerns and he's upstairs watching them right now having a grand time. I am going to go upstairs now and help Mom in the kitchen. The rest of the family will be coming over soon for a buffet with ham, turkey, homemade rolls (Mom makes the BEST rolls!), potato salad (Dad's favorite), chips, etc., I'm getting hungry! TTFN!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!!!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad. He's the BEST I could ever ask for in a Dad. He's always made huge sacrifices for our family and is one of the kindest and funniest men I know. Ido believe I got my sense of humor from him. Here's a picture of him and my nephew Travis.
I wish all the fathers out there a great day too!!

My Mom and I talked a little more about what's going on around here this morning. We have both decided we were really being ornery today and to just let ourselves be ornery. Its OK to be ornery once in a while. We're both feeling better this afternoon though. I took a nice 2 hr nap after lunch, then have spent the last 2.5 hours going through old bills, statements, etc., that I no longer need to hang on to. I got one huge rubber maid container finished but there was a couple of years of stuff missing so I went hunting through my closet and sure enough, there was the missing stuff in a big box. Shit. Oh well, I've gone too far now to stop. I'm taking a dinner break and checking my e-mail then I'll get back to it. It will be so nice to get rid of all of this. Its very theraputic actually! I need to figure out how to burn the stuff though, because its waaaaaaaay too much to sit and shred. So far, I've filled up a large black garbage sack about 3/4 full. Pack rat extroirdinair. From now on, I will keep reciepts and statements for one year and one year only and shred them. The only things I'll keep are my bank statements, pay stubs, and tax information. Hmmm... is this a goal I can keep?! LOL!!! Time will tell... I've ordered some of those space saver vacuum storage bags. The ones you can put blankets, clothes, etc., into and suck the air out with the vacuum to store them and save room. I can't wait to get them. I have so many blankets, sweaters, etc., that are taking up so much room. If I like them, then I'll have to buy more and really get into saving some space. Getting organized is so much fun... sick, aren't I?! LOL!!

Annie came up with this idea... so I played along. A. Age - 36 (UGH!) B. Birthday - Feb 2 C. Children - Cat, Ashley D. Diet - restricted E. Exercise - Looking forward to getting back to exercising after I get healthy. F. Favorite food - Cheese enchiladas, pizza G. Garden - parents garden. H. Home - Parent's basement. I. Illnesses - Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ulcerative Colitis, Autoimmune Thyroid Disease. J. Job - Project Administrator. K. Keen on - Reading, blogging, TV, movies, crocheting, cookingetc. L. Location - Ogden, Utah (United States) M. Married - Never N. Name - Karen Jean O. Optimist or pessimist - Most of the time an optimist but have my pessimistic days. P. Pets - Ashley, the best cat in the world. Q. Quote - That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. R. Relationship - Single S. School - Graduated high school, then attended some college, less than a year. T. Talents - cooking, crocheting, sewing, crafty etc. U. Unfulfilled ambition - go back to school and get my degree. V. Vacation in 2003 - Boston twice, Indianapolis once. W. Wish - Peace and health for my family and loved ones. To find love. X. X-rays - Quite a few, don't remember all. Y. Years online - blog 2 years, e-mail about 8 years. Z. Zodiac sign - Aquarius.

Am I a bitch? I am just so fed up with my sister Kathy and her husband Ellis that I've got to let my frustrations out somehow. About a month ago, I got into the freezer to get out a box of my mini pizzas only to find the box totally empty. I'd only eaten about 4 out of the 12. I was furious. Ellis had gotten into them and eaten them all. I never said anything to Kathy and Ellis but I guess Mom did. Last night, Kathy all of the sudden asked me what I'd like her to buy me to replace the pizzas that Ellis ate. I replied, "Nothing. I hope he choked on them." and I walked off. I know it wasn't nice to say, but its how I felt. I'm sick and tired of walking on egg shells, not saying what I really feel and letting the anger and frustration build up inside of me. Mom and Dad's phone just rang at 6:30 am and it was Ellis' mother calling from Ohio trying to find him. He's of course out with his friends - which is OK with me, life is better without him in this house. I told Mom I wished his mother would send Ellis a bus ticket home to get rid of him. I shouldn't have said anything, it just came out. Now Mom told me that Kathy felt sooooo bad last night after I said what I did about the pizzas (ahhhh, pity!). I say tough shit. She's got to know how Ellis is effecting all of us and we are so tired of him taking advantage of everyone. She needs to get rid of him, he's bringing her down. I absolutely hate what she's become. She used to be so successful (PhD in pharmacology!!!) until he came into her life. Now she's jobless and trying to get disability and has been for 2.5 years. She COULD work. She COULD take care of their daughter. But she's become this lazy, selfish, disgusting person. She doesn't take care of herself - I do believe she takes a shower about once every 3 days, never does her hair, never wears a bra, is seriously overweight. Yesterday she was diagnosed with diabetes. Surprise, surprise. She has been warned for over 2 years and now she's got it. It just gets better and better - one more thing for her to use as an excuse not to work, not to take care of her daughter. More goes onto Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad have been really tough on them lately, but they need to really get serious. Maybe the only thing that will snap them into being responsible and getting jobs is to threaten to take the baby away. That would be really hard on my parents, but that little girl deserves the best. She doesn't deserve the parents she has. If it weren't for my parents taking care of her, I'm sure social services would have taken her away by now. I can't understand how Kathy and Ellis can't look into her face and not want to give her the world. They're just too selfish I guess. I shouldn't let myself get upset because it effects my health, but its so hard not to let things get to me. I'd like to have my parents around for a few more years, and not have Kathy and Ellis effect their health and shorten their lives. Kathy boobs and whines to my Mom and other sister Susie that I never talk to her and she's "scared to talk to me." Well, she better be scared to talk to me because if she does talk to me, she's gonna get an earfull. I've kept my mouth shut for quiet a long time now, out of respect for my parents. They've asked me to stay out of things and let them handle things. Damn, its hard. OK, bitchfest is over. I hate being negative and having this anger inside of me. I do feel better having let some of it out. My goal for the rest of the day is to be positive and concentrate on the good things in life. I've got a lot to be thankful for. My family is wonderful and I've got such great friends. Enjoy your Saturday!!

Happy Birthday to Kate!

It is Kate's birthday today - stop by and wish her a happy birthday!

Things were stressful yesterday around here. My lazy-assed, pain the butt sister Kathy and her husband were causing all sorts of problems again. My Mom pretty much had a melt down, though she really stuck it to Kathy about what she needs to do - not like its going to happen but Mom is standing up to her and not taking her crap any more. Dad has his moments, then he changes his mind and doesn't follow through with what he says. Grrrr. I'm so tired of all this I could just scream. Anyhoo... yesterday afternoon I went to get some DVDs. I rented Antwone Fisher (such a GREAT movie!!), Two Weeks Notice, Catch Me if You Can, and The Importance of Being Ernest. Should keep me entertained for the weekend. Nothing much going on, I'm behaving, really I am! LOL!! Probably why nothing much is going on. I have been working on my yearly review and think it explains pretty well just how wonderful I am. tee hee Have a great Friday!

I had a great time last night at J Dee and Patti's. They're so wonderful, and am so lucky to have them in my family. I got two big hugs from my nephew Adam and one big hug from my nephew Travis. Patti's two boys Trent and Jason were there too, but they're not the hug