Hi! My day job is a CMA in the Precertificiation Department (I work with insurance companies). I'm a mom to two young men. I've been married to the same man for 34 years. I have a lot to say about nothing. Lucky you.
I’m sitting here trying to ignore my grumbling stomach while trying to keep my eyes open. I’ve had to resort to pouring myself a cup of coffee, left over from this morning because it has been confirmed (by abstaining and then drinking it to see what would happen) that my body no longer likes Starbucks coffee.
WAAH!
So I’m now drinking a nasty cup of coffee so I can wake up and have enough energy to do both Turbo Jam AND walk tonight because I can’t shake that disgusting, bloated body in the dark window image out of my head.
I never got around to going grocery shopping today, but I did make a dent in my emails – albeit a small dent. In fact, I was chugging along and correcting some HTML code when *POOF*, the lights went out. It’s a good thing I had juuust saved my work before that happened or I would be busy patching a hole in the wall made from my head continually hitting it.
The power was out for about an hour, but it was the hour before I needed to go pick up the kids so I was frantically trying to reach my husband to ask him what I needed to do to open the garage door (you pull the rope Karen, no big deal – why is that so hard to remember??) so I could get my car out and pick up the kids.
Luckily, that wasn’t necessary and the power came back on just minutes before I needed to take off. Whew!
I sat around and read that entire hour because when you lose your electricity and you’re stuck at home you can only do two things (okay, three things, but the husband wasn’t around so we’ll knock that one off the list *winkwink*) – sleep or read by a window.
I read. And I was almost disappointed when the lights came back on.
The husband has band practice tonight and I don’t have to cook because it’s Friday night and it’s our “go git” night – a family tradition – so I’m savoring the utter freedom of simply sitting back and waiting for the husband to come home, and drinking coffee the consistency of oil so we can go grab something to eat before he takes off and blows his eardrums for the evening. (I dread when he goes to band practice because when he comes back, he REEKS of cigarette smoke because virtually everyone in the band smokes but him. Or so he says …. hmmm…
It was a semi-productive day today and I’m feeling pretty satisfied with myself. Considering I was completely unproductive the rest of the week, I’m not going to complain.
Isn’t this graphic cute?? I love it and am glad to see one of my favorite memes is now “official” (meaning they have their own cute graphic now. *smile*)
Let’s get started …
—1—
Hi! Did you miss me yesterday? Did you wonder what was going on with me because I only posted once as opposed to the fifty times a day I usually post?
*sigh* Here’s what happened … I spent a good amount of time (I won’t tell you exactly how much time because it’s just pathetic) writing an entry about the movie I watched on the treadmill Wednesday night – “The Women.” And I was getting into it and I was about 1,000 words deep when it suddenly dawned on me, this is crap. Like really boring, preachy crap and I can’t post this because this stuff even puts me to sleep, what will it do to my visitors? And granted, this journal is about me, my thoughts, my life, blahblahblah, but come on, posting that would have been cruel and unusual punishment so I hit the delete button and from that point on? I was brain dead. You couldn’t have made me write something else if you had stuck a gun to my head.
But in case you’re curious to hear my thoughts on the movie, here are the highlights:
It’s a movie about women, for women. There wasn’t one male spotted in the entire film. Not one male spoke. I thought that was a very interesting aspect of the movie.
It’s a movie designed to make women think about their lives and their behaviors.
The movie also points out that when things go wrong in a relationship, don’t automatically point the finger to the partner – face up to the part you played in the break up.
It’s possible to be a strong, independent woman without being a bitch about it.
And those are my thoughts, in a nutshell. The End.
—2—
I now have 45 emails waiting on me. (And here I am, blogging instead of answering them – DEAR GOD, I’m a sad individual). And that freaks me out a little bit because WOW! So many requests and they involve more than a simple link or two. And I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and like a deer stuck staring at oncoming traffic and I absolutely, positively MUST get those answered today.
Today. And before Monday rolls around.
Seriously.
—3—
And just as I typed number 2, a utility truck pulled up in our backyard and it looks like they are preparing to install another pole in one of my neighbor’s yards to help lift the wires up so they aren’t hanging so low and shorting out the neighborhood every time the wind blows which means there’s a good chance I might lose my electricity before I’ve had a chance to catch up on my emails and I haven’t taken a shower yet and now I’m REALLY FREAKED OUT!
But not enough to stop writing this post …
So, moving on …
—4—
Though we’ve decided to take a cruise for our family vacation this summer, we haven’t actually made our reservations yet. We just haven’t had time to both sit down and DO it. Wednesday night, I HAD to walk because now that I know I’m going to have my picture taken in skimpy summer clothing (notice I didn’t say bathing suit because any pictures taken of me in a bathing suit are mysteriously deleted – I have no idea why that keeps happening), I must get this old body into some sort of shape or we’ll have lots of lovely vacation pictures with gaping holes where I was supposed to be standing.
Because I’m not too proud to cut myself out of them.
And last night, MK had his freshman orientation (more on that in a second), and tonight, the husband has band practice, so hopefully, we can get around to making our reservations tomorrow at which time I will explain, in excruciating detail, just what we’re doing and where we’re going – exactly. Lucky you. 😀
—5—
We went to MK’s freshman orientation last night. First, I feel compelled to do the whole girly squealing, tearing my hair out, reaction thing when I think about my BABY starting high school next year.
Seriously. I know it gets old when you read about people saying, “Where did the time go” but seriously, where in the world did the time go?! You young mothers out there with young children, just wait, you won’t FULLY appreciate what I’m trying to say until your kid starts high school. I can’t even explain the impact that has on you emotionally. The overall feeling is buried somewhere between excited-sad-scared-depressed. It’s just … strange. Just wait.
The orientation was long, and drawn out, and we had heard most of it before with GD’s orientation, and MK had even been present for GD’s orientation and was quite cranky we made him go, but I’m glad we did.
The boy’s personality LIT UP when his friends showed up and he talked me out of $8.00 in order to buy a school ball cap. I have a feeling that kid is going to be very sociable. And after the speech was over and we were allowed to walk around the school and visit various tables of clubs, etc., he really acted interested. He wanted to know more about Japanese club and of course, band.
The band information? Disturbs me. Freshman band will have eight evening rehearsals and a full week, we’re talking 8:00 – 5:00, of band camp, in the summer!! All that work before school even begins! And during the school year, they will pretty much be gone every weekend in October/November, play at every home football game and will take an overnight trip to St. Louis and Tulsa.
ACK! I’m not sure I’m ready to let my baby go with a bunch of other wild kids over night and out of town!!
And the sheet warns that band will take a lot of extra time away from the kids and they are still expected to keep their grades up and MK doesn’t manage his time wisely to begin with … can this kid handle it?!
*takes a deep breath*
I can feel the gray hairs growing in as we speak.
—6—
While we were walking around at the orientation, I noticed my reflection in one of the dark windows.
OH. MY. FREAKING. GOSH. Where in the HELL did that gut come from?! Seriously, what in the heck is going on? Here I am, exercising, eating less, definitely cutting back on the junk food, drowning myself in water and juice and yet … and yet … *points in horror* I look like I’m three months pregnant.
In addition to my blubber, I think it might be the clothes I’m wearing. I’ve been wearing these stretchy jeans with a low waist and though they are comfortable as all get out, they don’t do much about holding my gut in. And then I wore this short-sleeved sweater thing that just didn’t compliment my body type.
I’m just going to have to get over my aversion to shopping and spend some time figuring out what looks good on me. Seriously, I am really depressed about this. And I completely disgust myself.
But apparently not enough to pass on the ice cream we had after the orientation last night. *sigh* I’m hopeless. And I have exactly 5 1/2 months to get toned up.
—7—
Another reason I never got around to posting anything else yesterday was because I made the mistake of updating my iPod Touch. Thereby visiting the iTunes store.
I shouldn’t be allowed to visit the iTunes store. I lost track after the fifth click. And even though I prefer to buy a hard copy of my music CDs, I really hate buying a CD for ONE song, so I go wild on iTunes.
And speaking of music, have you ever heard anything from Jem? She’s wonderful. I LOVE this girl. She writes all of her own stuff. And her voice … is simply amazing. Think grungy Enya.
I know that doesn’t sound very flattering, but trust me, she’s amazing. Here’s just one of the songs on her new album that I’m in love with. It’s called “It’s Amazing” and yes, it is amazing.
Okay, picture this – you’re trying to entice new readers to your blog. But they only have time to read one of your blog posts. Which blog post would you direct them to? Which of your blog posts really shines and says something about your life? Which blog post are you most proud of? Now take that blog post and submit it to the Blogger’s Best Carnival so everyone else can appreciate your greatness. 🙂
Isn’t this cool? I wish I had thought of this when my kids were little and I had BOXES of old crayon stubs lying around the house, and in drawers, and on the floors and stuck in the heating vents.
But I digress.
What a cute, cheap and FUN thing to give away at your child’s school Valentine party! They could insert these into their valentine’s (thereby making them unique and a sure crowd pleaser), or into the kids’ goody bags. Wouldn’t that be so much better than sticking a bunch of gooey-chocolately-goodness in their bags?
Er, maybe not for the kids, but I bet the parents would prefer it. *grin*
Anyway, if have a few minutes, round up the kids, gather those crayon stubs and follow the tutorial to make fun crayon shapes!
In fact …
I bet I still have that old box of crayons around here somewhere. I wonder if I could talk my teenage boys into doing this with me.
Hey boys! Want to melt some crayons and make fun shapes??
And here we go, another week of random photos. If you want to keep track of my photos, you can subscribe to the Project 365 RSS feed.
1. I have no problem washing laundry. I have no problem drying laundry. I sort of have a problem with folding laundry. But when it comes time to PUTTING the laundry away? I have a problem!! I can let this situation go for exactly 2.5 days before the husband gets cranky with me. (When you’ve been married for nearly 19 years, you pick this sort of thing up. *grin*).
2. The husband, just waking up. Here is our morning routine: I’m usually up first. And I’ve made the email rounds when the husband stumbles in, gives me a quick kiss and then stumbles through making his breakfast of waffles, bacon and hot apple juice. (Every morning!) After he eats, he sits in that chair and drinks some coffee and we chat a bit while he wakes up. He’s so cute with his morning hair and glassy eyes.
3. Because the boys do such a good job at school (work) every week, I take them for a treat once a week – sometimes it’s donuts, but most often, it’s ice cream at our favorite creamy. This is GD, in the back seat, hunched over his brownie/custard … concoction. I wonder where he gets his “hands off my food or you die” attitude. Hhmm…
4. MK, same ice cream trip, only in the passenger seat. The way he eats ice cream just cracks me up. He takes little dainty bites, slurps really, which makes his ice cream last forever. When asked why he eats ice cream like this? “I hate brain freeze.” Well, there is that … OR, the real answer could be, “I like to stretch the anticipation out as long as I possibly can because it drives mom crazy.” But he’s a sweet kid, why would I think that? *snort*
5. Our front door and a few numbers from our house address. Why yes, I DO like to live dangerously. Muahahahaha. (Okay not really, I needed something to take a picture of that day and that was the only thing I could think of).
6. My weekly picture (I’m really not that narcissistic , well, okay, maybe I am a little, but I plan on stitching all of these photos together at the end of the year so we can all laugh at the crazy hair lady getting older before our eyes). I took this picture in the late afternoon, hence the funky hair color. It looks so red! And fluffy! And in bad need of a good conditioner!
7. Lovelovelove this sign!! If you haven’t visited before, then you probably don’t know that cell phones and driving? DRIVE ME CRAZY! This sign is actually prominently displayed at the driveway exit at MK’s school. Whoever commissioned to put that up, THANK YOU. Of course, people won’t listen, but THANK YOU.
You can’t MAKE your family do what you want them to do.
Oh sure, I could throw a hissy fit, I could be a (bigger) beeyotch than I already am, I could dig my heels in and make life miserable for my guys until they did what I wanted them to do.
But in the end, I would feel too guilty and wouldn’t enjoy my “victory.”
So, I admit defeat.
Uncle.
I give up.
We are not, repeat NOT, going to Disney World.
After I posted about my research, after clicking endless pages at mousesavers.com, after compiling (complicated) information for our proposed Disney vacation and THEN spending a few hours crunching numbers every which way, including sideways and with my tongue in my cheek for luck, to make them look even marginally better than the last set of numbers only to come up with an amount large enough to buy GD a decent (used) car, it all boiled down to this …
the husband said no.
Since we’re not going and we’re not spending the money, I don’t see why I can’t tell you the dollar amount that our trip would have cost IF we had gone – are you ready? Are you sitting down?
As in SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED OH-MY-FREAKING-GOSH DOLLARS.
Okay granted, I ran our trip through Disney’s website. And that was probably the worse-case scenario, we probably could have gotten it cheaper through someone else …
but I’m betting it wouldn’t have been THAT much cheaper.
That dollar amount covered everything – the parks, the Park Hopper option, the dining plan (which is two snacks, lunch and a sit-down dinner), our flight, our hotel, and a rental car (because I think we would have preferred to drive to our destination as opposed to using the public transportation system simply because of the sheer volume of people using it at the same time slows everything down. The guidebook said that it might actually have saved us time if we had simply drove ourselves).
The husband actually paled when I told him the dollar amount. I believe his exact words were …
“Over my stone-cold-dead body.”
Okay, maybe not THOSE exact words, but pretty dang close.
*sigh* I’m not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. When the boys found out we weren’t going to Disney World, they actually sighed in relief.
WTF?!
At first, I was furious. Was I the only one who wanted to go to Disney World?
Well yes, actually, I was. None of my guys ever really wanted to go. They simply weren’t excited about chasing Mickey Mouse down so we could take that all-elusive picture. They weren’t looking forward to the attractions. They certainly weren’t excited about the rides. They simply did not want to go.
Period.
So why, I ask you, would I POSSIBLY spend $6,500 on a vacation that no one wanted to go on? WHY would I possibly want to blow that money on a mediocre vacation?
And when it comes right down to it, when I step back and am being totally honest with myself, spending that much money on one vacation sort of makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
That’s a lot of stinkin’ money, folks. We could use that money to buy new kitchen appliances. We could use that money to put in hardwood floors. We would use that money … heck, for THOUSANDS of other things besides a vacation that no one was excited to go on.
Now I know what you’re thinking – “But Karen, life is about making memories and having a good time with your family. Your boys are growing up and will soon have their own lives. They’ll be busy with jobs, college, girls, yadda yadda yadda …”
And you’d be right. WHICH is the reason I put on my best boo-boo face and talked the husband into a …
Wait for it ….
Are you waiting …?
Are you sitting down …?
Are you waiting for me to stop asking you stupid questions …?
A Caribbean Cruise!!
Pardon me while I scream! (This is off topic, but did you see “Get Smart?” Remember the part where he goes into that “sound proof” bubble to yell and scream his excitement over becoming an agent only the bubble is not sound proof and everyone hears him? Yeah, that would be me and the whole cruise thing).
I know what you’re thinking again – I’m a mind reader after all (not really, okay, maybe a little). “But Karen, won’t going on a cruise cost just as much as a Disney vacation?”
The short answer? NO!
The slightly longer answer? NO! It will actually cost us almost $1,500 $2,000 dollars LESS!
*SNAP*
Actually, the husband suggested it. And when he suggested it, the boys perked right up and acted excited! (Probably because there was the prospect of seeing hot girls in bikini’s but let’s not dwell on that image overly much, shall we? Ew).
So I knew, this was the better vacation destination for us. And it would be money well spent.
I spent the better part of last night and today crunching numbers. And if we can JUUUUST get American Airlines to cash in our frequent flyer miles (Oops, I meant Advantage points) so we could, in essence, get two free tickets, it’s a done deal.
In fact, when I had lunch with the husband today, he told me he already cleared the vacation time with his boss. Which shocked and excited me because normally getting him to put in for time off is like blasting a hole through concrete, so that right there tells me, the man is excited about going on a cruise!
We’re planning on taking a seven day cruise. And we’re looking either going to the Virgin Islands and/or Jamaica – it depends on what cruise ship we sail on.
I’m so excited to go on a cruise again (the husband and I went on a cruise for our tenth anniversary) that I’m shaking as I type this. I just hope it works out because nothing is “official” at this time but we’re seriously making plans.
And if I’m being honest with myself and with you, I’ll admit that going on a cruise does sound more fun, at least to me, than going to Disney World.
Wait …
Something just occurred to me …
A cruise means a lot of time spent in a bathing suit.
This concludes the January 2008 photo contest! We’ll do this again in April – and I’ll even tell you the theme – SPRING! You can find out more information here.
If you would like an email, reminding you of the next photo contest, please send a blank email to [writefromkaren AT sbcglobal DOT net] with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. The email will be sent out a few days before the Spring contest begins.
Okay, picture this – you’re trying to entice new readers to your blog. But they only have time to read one of your blog posts. Which blog post would you direct them to? Which of your blog posts really shines and says something about your life? Which blog post are you most proud of? Now take that blog post and submit it to the Blogger’s Best Carnival so everyone else can appreciate your greatness. 🙂
*sigh* Here’s what happened … I spent a good amount of time (I won’t tell you exactly how much time because it’s just pathetic) writing an entry about the movie I watched on the treadmill Wednesday night – “
Okay, picture this – you’re trying to entice new readers to your blog. But they only have time to read one of your blog posts. Which blog post would you direct them to? Which of your blog posts really shines and says something about your life? Which blog post are you most proud of? Now take that blog post and 
