Wednesday, December 29, 2010

As the New Year Approaches

I am sitting in the den, the Christmas tree is lit and the house is quiet. I'm all snug and warm in my robe, sipping cofee and listening to FNC. I'm mostly thinking about this year and everything that's happened; how fast it's flown by!

I remember, that as a child, time crept by very slowly. I would count down the number of days till my next birthday, the year between my 15th and 16th moved slowest of all years for me. I always looked forward to the Christmas holidays, two solid weeks off of school and presents under the tree! Christmas was always wonderful at home, mom and dad went overboard with presents, there wasn't anything that we asked Santa for that we didn't get.

I still remember the year I got my first microscope and chemistry set. That was also the year I got the ventriloquist dummy I'd had my eye on for months. I got quite good at throwing my voice with him and kept him around for years. I don't rememember what I did with him though, I may have sold him at a garage sale when I outgrew him, in other words, when I thought it was uncool of me to have a dummy. This would have been around the age of 16, when I got vain and a bit shallow. In hindsight, I should have kept him around, but the past is another country, and they do things differently there.

Years have passed, Christmas desires have changed and I'm a mother now; a mother to a 15 year-old and an 11 year-old. Both daughters are a lot like me in many ways; anxious to grow up and have all of the things that they think teenagers should have. My 15 year-old will turn 16 in February, and she's spent the last few months arguing the finer points of why she needs a cell phone and a car with me and Mike. My 11 year-old was visited by mother nature on Christmas morning. I didn't think that having my baby get her first menses would make me cry, but it did.

They are growing up so damn fast.

On the other hand, I've started thinking about them growing up and actually moving out. Not that I want to rush them along, but these thoughts have led me to thinking about what I want to do for myself this coming year.


2010 wrought huge changes to my life, to Mike's life and to the kid's lives too.  I moved back to Houston from New Orleans, moved in with my "husband"; into my first house ever. I've had to adjust to homemaking in a 4 bedroom house with a front and back lawn, this from always just having a smallish apartment to care for.

I've had to get used to having a partner to work with and answer to. Before I made all of the decisions myself. This hasn't been all that difficult, Mike and I think quite a bit alike and he's so reasonable that it's easy to reach compromises. My first marriage was quite a bit different.

I've adjusted better than I thought I would, as have the girls. They love their step father and he loves them too. I thought that it would be a rough go at first, especially getting used to sharing a bathroom and a bed; a life with another adult. It was easier, or has been easier, than I thought it would. I can't imagine being anywhere else but here or having anyone but Mike by my side.

Last New Year's Eve, I spent on my sofa with a bottle of Moet and Chandon, watching Bridget Joneses Diary, while Mike was far away in Houston working.  He's working this year too, but he will be home at his normal time, and we will ring in the new year on the front porch with a neighbor, smoking a cigar and sipping scotch. I have a bottle of Veuve Clicqout chilling in the fridge for midnight and the start of 2011.

As for what I have planned for next year? Well, I don't do resolutions, as I always break them. I do make a list of Things to Do in (insert year here). In 2011 I have decided to do the following:

1. Quit smoking. It really is time to do this. I am sick of being tied to the addiction and I really hate the way  smell after I smoke. I also don't want to die from cancer.

2. Go to the health club we belong to, everyday except Sunday. My goal is to lose 10 pounds and get buff. I'd really love a set of feminine looking washboard abs, and my arse has been affected by gravity in more ways than I care to consider. This must change!

3. Get my motorcycle endorsement. I love riding bitch and all, but I really want to ride my own bike too. Mike gave me his old bike when he got his Harley, and the Kawasaki is just sitting in the garage looking all forlorn.

4. Get my concealed carry permit. Question is, do I want a Sig or a Glock? Decisions. Decisions.

5. Paint the entire upstairs of the house. This includes redecorating the master bedroom. I know what I want to do in the room, and it's going to look awesome! I only need about $1500 to do it. Very reasonable, I think.

6. Make wedding plans. True, I can't set a date until the annulment goes through (Catholicisim!), but I can start budgeting and looking at venues. I have a gown picked out, and hopefully it will go on sale! Still, for all of it's beauty, the gown is less than a thousand dollars, but a sale would be awesome too!

7. Go back to school. I want to study nursing, but need to knock out some pre-requsites first. I will work and go to school to get these knocked out. Once I get accepted into nursing school, I will have to go full time, which means no working a job. Mike is totally cool with this. He's so awesome.

That's it so far. I'm sure I will add more to the list as the week winds down.  What is on your list of things to do in 2011?

Knees and Early Morning Heart Palpitations...

If you were raised properly, then you were taught that one doesn't make phone calls before the hour of 9am or after 10pm. Early morning or late night calls, I was told are either, 1. rude or 2. harbingers of death or illness, so you can imagine how my heart started beating faster when my phone rang at 7:30 this morning.

My mother had her knee replaced on the 20th, and things went downhill after the surgery, she had a bad reaction to the morphine and spent 3 days following the surgery very ill. She didn't know what she was saying half the time, and why she was in the hospital, unless one of her wonderful nurses talked her into awareness.  It was very scary for me to see my mother like this.

There was talk amongst her doctors, about putting her into the rehab center at the hospital, so that she could be monitored and get a really great kickstart on her physical therapy. I was all for this, anything to help mom, but on Christmas day she went home, and we decided to put our traditional Christmas celebration off until this week.

Monday evening, daddy called me and told me that mom was back in the hospital, that her knee was infected and they didn't know what it was. Oh. Joy. Mother does so love hospitals. That and I had flashbacks of knee replacements past, and their complications. 

Dad called me yesterday with an update, the fact that she was responding well to the antibiotics and pain meds, made me feel better and the only reason I didn't go see her yesterday was the fact that I was feverish and muddleheaded. I figured that it wouldn't be a good thing to pass along anymore germs to mother, the knee hurts her enough and I didn't want to add to it with a head cold.

So this morning, I am up and in the back yard having a cigarette (Yes, with a head cold. I know. I know.) and the phone rings...not my cell, but the house phone. No one but family has the house phone number and it was 7:30am! I dashed into the house, heart pounding and answer.

On the other end were the dulcet, cheerful, well rested tones of my mother!

"Hi honey, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Mom! I almost had a heart attack! It's 7:30!" I panted in reply.
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"No,mom. It's okay, I'm so happy to hear your voice! You sound so wonderful!"

And she did sound wonderful. Apparently they've found a good combination of pain meds for her (she has reactions to certain things) and she slept "like a baby". The infection appears to be clearing up as well. They are going to keep her in the hospital for another day at least, but it's looking good. My heart is also beating normally again.

Friday, December 24, 2010

And So This Is Christmas...

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

~Luke 2:9-12

Saturday, December 18, 2010

When The Hawtness Cools...

There comes a time in a relationship when the hawtness begins to cool, things get tepid and don't work as they should. One has to ask oneself if a newer model is in order, or should one stick it out for a little while longer. There is something comfortable in staying with the familiar. You know the familiar and how it works, it's dependability; it's constancy. One hesitates in getting rid of the old, out of comfort perhaps, or fear that a newer model won't satisfy as much as the old. Yet you know that the day will eventally come when, in either a fit of anger or just calm realization, the old is eschewed and the new brought in and unveiled.

You will play with your new toy, admire the shiny newness of it all and wonder why you kept that old thing around for as long as you did.  Sometimes, especially in the beginning, when some of the shininess starts to wear off, you will miss the old; but not too much, it's nostalga after all and the newer is better in spite of the patience and time required in breaking in your new toy.

For weeks now, I've been hesitating to say anything, dreading the day that I new would soon come.  This morning was the day.  It is time.

The hotness is gone, and can only be gotten back with special attention. I am sick of the tepid, the slowness, the extra effort and the sloppiness of it all!  I've decided. I will tell Mike this morning, after he wakes up....I simply cannot take this anymore.

We need a new coffee maker.

Friday, December 17, 2010

History's Mysteries

This falls under the category of, "wow, that's cool!".

The Sea Gave Her Back


According to the article, she is a truly beautiful piece of work, and her sandals are especially lovely, very detailed. 


The white-marble figure of a woman in toga and sandals was found in the remains of a cliff

On of the things on my list of places to visit in retirement, is Pompey. Israel is another. 

One of the things that I really love about living in Houston is the Fine Arts Museum. The institution has works that range from religious art painted on wood that date back to medieval times, to Picasso and Kandinsky. One of my favorite halls contains marble statues from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. We even have a few sarcophogy, one of which has an interior painted in vivid color and hyroglyphs...it looks like it was painted yesterday.

Last year, the museum featured the exibition "Pompey", which I attended with my friend Donna and my impatient 10 year-old. It was such a moving and facinating exibition, one where we got to see not only some of the plaster casts taken from the "impressions" left by Vesuvious' victims, but everyday items like urns and perfume jars. The two things that left me gobsmacked were; the doctor's kits, complete with scalpels, forceps, tweezers and needles for stitching. The gobsmack factor was that they looked like modern instruments, only they were made of gold or silver. The second was the fine detail of the impressions of the dead.

There was one of a family, all huddled together, mom holding her infant child to her in protection. You could see the sutures on the baby's skull and their mouths opened as if they died screaming. It moved me to tears, this pitieous sight of death in terror. The man trying to protect his family, futilely, wondering what the gods were so offended by, wondering why the world was ending.

It was an incredible exibition, second only to the Tutankamen exibit I was lucky enough to see when it toured the U.S. back in the 70's. I will never forget that either. I was amazed at the workmanship and detail that went into the art and everyday implements that this culture provided it's royalty.  I've loved ancient culture ever since I met King Tut.

Now we have another addition, long lost, to the treasures from ancient history. I'm glad of it and can't wait to see it for myself.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Latest Salvo Fired by Nanny Staters...

Found this while getting my morning update.

Some people really shouldn't reproduce, and I'm not shocked that this comes from a lefty. It's not about money, it's about control. It's about power.

As one commenter stated on a blog, McDonald's should just close the restaurants in these areas and tell the people affected by the closing to go thank people like this Monet chick for the loss of their jobs.



JammieWearingFool

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

An Ongoing Struggle...

A few years ago,December 2003 to be precise, a major even occured in my personal life. I had what I call a nervous breakdown, and I know it's not a "medical term" but it's the best way I know how to describe what happened to me.

Basically, I ended up being diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. I can honestly say that my breakdown was one of the best things that ever happened to me, because the many months of intense and concentrated therapy, brought to the surface things long buried and also in facing the demons that needed facing, and knowing that I wasn't the only person on the planet who felt and thought the way that I thought, was cleansing. My breakdown also, thanks to therapy, finally taught me to speak up for myself, to acknowledge that I'm not a super human and that my faults are not as earthshattering as I thought them to be.

I also learned that I have suffered from this disorder all of my life (most likely) which made sense as I looked back in hindsight at peroids of my life that were particularly hellish. It was so relieving to discover these things!

That said, for the last couple of weeks I've been feeling the symptoms of a depressive episode coming on, and like an idiot, decided to not so much ignore them, but to think that things wouldn't be as bad as they were in 2003. I had a few minor episodes since 2003, the most serious being when I took Chantix to quit smoking, one cannot do that with Depressive Disorder and I still thank God for my friend Jason staying on the phone with me till 3AM. For the most part, however, the few episodes of "depression" I've had after the breakdown, have been minor and treatable without having to go to therapy or take Prozac. However, the last few weeks have felt different, my moods swinging all Tarzan like, body aches, headaches and the extreme tiredness; all signs that something big is on the offing. I chose to ignore them and this morning the scale tipped into the blackness.

Which frightens the hell out of me, because I don't ever want to go through another 2003. Even though I can look back on it and be grateful that it happened, being in the thick of it was pure and painful Hell. Getting to the other side of it, all of those long months was the hardest thing I have ever done, the most painful thing I've ever done and something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I suppose that I really shouldn't be shocked that this happened, given all of the changes that have happened in my life this year. It's not that I'm complaining about the changes, I'm not. They have been wonderful changes, but the brain of someone who has my disorder is wired a little differently than others and changes, especially those coming in rapid succession and throw someone like me off kilter. You see, I need time to deal with any change, good or bad.

The biggest change has been to my marital status...a HUGE change. I love Mike, love him very, very much, it's not that I don't. It's all me, you see. It's a ginormous change, going from a single parent for 12 years, to a married woman in the course of 7 months, and becoming an at home mom at the same time. I know that this has been a huge change for Mike as well. I have loved the change, there have been a couple of rough patches, but nothing serious. Then I had a death in the family recently, something that I am still dealing with and the fact that my mother is going to have her knee replaced on the 20th has me afraid, more afraid than I normally would be. I know my aunt's death, the suddeness of it in surgery, is why I'm afraid for my mother. The fact that she has diabetes doesn't help either. Normally, I cope well, just not this time and it's all because of the way my brain is wired. Then there are the daily worries, things that I've had to be hypervigilant about for the last few years, that I can relax about now...as soon as I figure out how to do that...this for the most part is tied to my not having to go it alone anymore. And I'm so used to going it alone. It's stressful, learning to to share the responsibilities, toilet cleaning jokes aside.

So Mike took me to the doctor today, and I'm starting my Prozac again. I just have to hang on until the meds kick in, and I'm pretty sure I can. I know that I have to make sure I eat, that I get out of bed and dress, make sure I keep to my normal schedule and make sure that I take care of myself. This too shall pass, this episode in life.

It's just so frustrating.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Know it All Children and My Mate's Driving Habits

Since when did my children become the experts on everything? It seems that they have answers to all of life's problems and don't hesitate to share them, voluntarily that is, with me and occasionally my husband.

Mind you, this sharing of knowledge is unasked for by me, and Mike. It also comes in the form of lectures about our vices; I drink too much coffee and am addicted to drugs, apparently, since I smoke cigarettes.  I'm also "old" and can't sing.

My favorite unasked for advice comes from my eldest daughter, Katie, when we are in the car.  I'm driving, and my 15 year-old, who has never driven and most likely will get lost going around the corner, insists on giving me driving directions.  When I started refering to has as Kate-Kate, after the Tom-Tom GPS system, I did so in the hopes that my sarcasm would relay to her that her unsolicited advice was obnoxious and annoying as all hell. I figured that since she knew everything, she'd pick up on it and adjust her behavior.
Not so, sadly, as she merely giggled and continued to relay her instructions from the back seat.

Mike says that he wonders where she gets her backseat driver gene from, this a not so cleverly veiled reference to the fact that I backseat drive when Mike is driving. I give him a sideways look, a middle finger salute and a "fuck you Thiac", which makes him laugh. I HAVE to backseat drive with Mike because he drives like a cop, ie: maniacally. He also rides his brake in heavy traffic and downloads his Mark Levin, and Rush Limbaugh to his phone when he drives. He's also been known to mapquest things on his phone enroute, as opposed to doing it at home BEFORE setting out to where it is we are going.

I still have nightmares about our first "date date", when we met up with Al, Claude and Christina at the Abita Brew Pub, and him driving on the twisty roads that led us to Abita, and Mike driving and mucking about with his cell phone at the same time. I was convinced that I was going to die, and yet didn't say a word to him because I wanted the relationship to progress. I do believe that my body language was screaming "PLEASE SLOW THE HELL DOWN AND PUT BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL ON THIS DARK TWISTY ROAD BEFORE YOU ORPHAN MY CHILDREN!!" but Mike was too busy driving and texting to notice. Either that or he was being purposly obtuse. By the time we got to the pub, I threw myself out of the cab of the pick-up like I was fleeing from a serial killer and lit a cigarette. Then I went in and ordered a martini, which I drank in record time, then proceeded to order the biggest ale I could get my hands on.

I kept my eyes closed on the trip home, which involved crossing the 24 mile long Causeway over Lake Pontchartrain, which is pitch black at night and cold in December.  There are baracuda in Lake Ponchartrain and fish and ever since Jaws, I've had this aversion to open waters. I didn't want to see us plunge into the dark depths, in case Mike's phone activites led to us plunging.

Since I obviously survived the trip (this isn't a zombie blog) and Mike and I are together 4evah, it all worked out.  He still drives like a lunatic, and I still backseat drive, which annoys the living hell out of Mike. We've even snapped at each other on occasion, and so on long trips I try to sleep, or at least recline my seat back and pray. On the short trips, I bite my tongue, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

As for my know it all children, I sometimes can't get a word in edgewise, because before I finish a sentence I get the "I Know, I know" reply, which makes me see red.  Since the state frowns upon the use of  Tazers on one's offspring, I am limited to growling at the children and occasonally resorting to the standard line that all "old" people like me use; "It must be nice to know everything. Why don't you go get a job and support me, since you already know it all, and I will go back to school."

Oh God, I am my parents!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Oh Jebus, It's Cold!

I was born in New Orleans, raised in New Orleans and now live in Houston.  I love the south, love the culture, the history, the people, the food and the weather.

I'm not loving it so much today, as it's 30ish degrees outside. Sunny, but too damn cold for this steel magnolia!

I can't imagine living where it gets down to -14 degrees during the day and colder at night! How do humans function in that?  I know that they have coats, heaters and snow tires, but how can one function when one's toes are numb and one's ears are so cold that they feel hard enough to be used as an anvil, and that's with a hat covering them!

As I sit here, in my toasty den, sipping a hot cup of coffee, I'm watching the weather on FNC. Janice Dean is talking about the record snow, and showing scenes featuring snow blowers, ice encrusted cars and the roof of the Metrodome collapsing under the weight of the snow (this collapse makes me wonder why the builders would put a cloth roof on a building...don't they realize that they live in snow prone parts of the nation and that snow is heavy!) 

Naturally, my children, who have never had to drive in snow (I did once or twice when we had freak snow in New Orleans and Houston) are wishing for snow here this season. They are jealous of the fact that the kids up north don't have school. I cheerfully explained to them that unless there were blizzards, the kids went to school in the snow, every day. They aren't so jealous anymore.

The kids are appreciative of the fact that I'm an at home mom now, as they both got driven to school today. Normally I make them take the bus, no matter the weather, as I believe that standing in the cold and rain, or heat and humidity are charater building, but even I have some mercy for my obnoxious teenager and my tough 11 year old tomboy! If I were still working, they'd have to take the bus today, and it's too darn cold; they each are also coming down with colds and our health insurance hasn't kicked in yet.  Adele, the youngest has a thermos of chicken noodle soup in her lunch box. I just can't see the kids eating cold sandwiches on a day like this.

I'm all for a nice chilly day during the winter season, especially at Christmas time, but by chilly I don't mean 32 degrees. I mean 65 degrees...just cold enough to wear a sweater and my fur coat; or a shortsleeved mock tutrleneck and my fur coat. I really don't want a white Christmas, slim as those chances are, this year...or any damn year for that matter.  I want my Christmas to be sunny and a nice balmy 65 or so degrees. Because this is the south, for crying out loud, and this magnolia is freezing!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Man Child In Chief

I've been reading news stories and blogs this morning about the jaw dropping performance in the White House Press Room yesterday.

I have to say that when I saw this story on Fox last night, I had to rewind the story and watch it again, it was THAT unbelievable.

Before I link to my favorite articles and postings, I have a point of view on this disgrace.

I am no supporter of Barak Obama, I think he is an inexperienced community organizer, who is a straw man for higher powers in the world. Yesterday's performance merely adds to the negative column in President Obama's book. Once again, we are seeing what electing someone based on style over substance can do. We saw it with Clinton too, but I can say for a fact that he would have NEVER, EVER done this.

What concerns me the most about his entire presidency, and yesterday adds to this concern, is how our enemies now view us, when we have such a man behind the Resolute desk. When your enemies no longer fear you, they have won. I believe that our enemies no longer fear us. How could they, when sitting in their caves watching this performance on their satellites, see a man who cannot communicate a point to his own countrymen and then brings a FORMER President into the presser and leaves him alone to speak by using the excuse that HIS WIFE is waiting on him to go to a party.

HIS WIFE! WAITING ON HIM, and boy will she be mad if she's kept waiting any longer!

First of all, Barak Obama is the leader of the free world, so parties, golf, sex, your wife, whatever, by NATURE OF THE DAMN JOB, MUST take a back seat to the job of running the bloody country! This kind of sacrifice is one of the reasons why the average human being doesn't desire the job. The willingness of a person to be on the job 24/7, to sacrifice most of his privacy, be Commander in Chief of the greastest armed forces in the world, and essentially living in a fish bowl as well as having the burden of the world on his shoulders is why we respect the person we elect to that office. It's a shitty job, and we see the results of that burden pretty rapidly; I know of no President who doesn't age pretty rapidly under the stress.

If you can't prioritize, don't take on the job.

Secondly, and as I stated before, our enemies most certainly were watching this, and the fact that a MAN is ALLOWING HIMSELF TO BE RULED by his WIFE is laughable among the mysoginistic pigs that are out to destroy everyone who doesn't agree with them. Yes, the Radical Muslims, the Jihadists, Al Queada, etc...

Can you imagine how WEAK this man appears to them? If he is this weak as a man then how weak is he as a leader? Surely this is something they are thinking about, and most likely talking about!

"The President of The United States of America is ruled by his wife and is too inadequate to explain important domestic policy to his people, so inadequate in fact, that he has to bring in a FORMER President, the man married to his ENEMY even, and then leaves that man at the podium to explain what Obama can't. Leaves! Not because he has am important meeting with a head of state, or a senator; leaves because his WIFE WILL GET ANGRY AT HIM IF HE'S LATE FOR AN INFIDEL PARTY! Ahahahahahaha!"

That's what our enemy sees. That's what our enemy thinks. 

We are dissing our allies, we are bowing to our enemies, we are apologizing for our superiority; it must stop. This man is dangerous and he is doing everything he can to destroy America and her specialness.

As President Reagan said, and I'm paraphrasing: If America dies, then the last hope of the world is gone.

President Obama and the "Progressives" (commies) that hold power in Washington D.C., in cities and states in this nation, and even in the Pentagon, must, MUST be removed from power. November was only the opening volley in the revolution. It is imperative that the battle continue to be waged at the ballot box. It is why we must stay involved, informed and to participate. Why we must continue to speak out, to educate and work for real change.



Hot Air: Great News! Bill Clinton Apparently Now President Again!

Michelle Malkin: Bubba Power!

So It Goes In Shreveport: Were They Serving Eggnog (With Nutmeg) at That Christmas Party?

Hot Air: Don't Walk Away Renee

My Daughter Wants to go to Juliard...

On that note, and after I finished hyperventelating, I bring you some of the performance from the Christmas Concert at Morton Ranch High School. Katie has been in choir since elementary school,, and she is working on lettering in Choir.

She's a mezo-soprano, and has talent, I do have to get her into some more formalized voice lessons, over and above what she gets at school. This will be done after the holidays. She can read music, a very good voice and marvelous control. She just needs some more training.

As for Juliard, well...GULP! Katie in NYC and the tuition! I don't know which is more frightening. She does have a couple of schools picked out as a back-up plan, but she is set on the performing arts, so more power to her!

So without further ado, here is The Morton Ranch Choir...



Mixed Ensemble



Full choir. After the performance, the local middle school choir and choir alum are asked to join for an encore.

It was a lovely performance, and it kicked off the last two weeks of the season quite nicely!

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Thursday Round-Up

I don't do these regularly, but today is a round-up.

I didn't know that Aretha Franklin had pancreatic cancer, but apparently she has A Year or Less to Live. This is sad, what's even sadder is that the "Reverend" Je$$ie Jack$on has visited her bedside. I'd rather have my nails pulled out with pliers.

As you know by now, Elizabeth Edwars lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer yesterday. I feel for her children and, while I didn't agree with her politics, I feel bad for her. She was too young to die, and she fought a brave battle. She handled her cuckholding with class and dignity, as a lady should. I do wish she would have had a longer life, with a different husband...someone who knows how to treat his lady. Rest in peace, Elizabeth.

When I woke up this morning, I learned that the House of Representatives passed the DREAM Act, and about had a small herd of cattle. Happily, the Senate has Tabled this for the time being. the DREAM Act is FULL of loopholes, and is really Amnesty in disguise. I don't need to educate my readers on this debacle, but just because it's been tabled, doesn't mean that it's dead. Like vampires and zombies, it will rise again. Hopefully, the new powers on D.C. as of January will put a stake in it's heart. That said, Pat as So It Goes In Shreveport has a good round-up on the floor debate:  Blogging the Debate

Better check out any Barbie dolls in the room if you're going to make kiddie porn or don't want to see any other nefarious, or un-nefarious activities featured on YouTube or Fox News, or anywhere, for that matter...seems that we now have Spy Barbie. She can tape a half hour reel ( do they call them "reels" anymore). The FBI is concerned about the potental for abuse, even though there are no reports of illegal activity yet.

DADT is also dead in the water, for now. Hot Air has a good take on this and as always, pithy comment and debate.

Julian Assange is still alive....would he still be if Ronaldus Maximus were President? Also, is it me, or does Julian Assange remind you of a Bond Villan, like the Chris Walken charater in View to a Kill?  this an insult to Chris Walken, to be compared to Julian Assange?

Speaking of Assange, apparently the rape laws in Sweden are very liberal. Two chicks go to Assange's hotel room and have sex with him, sans condoms or OMG the condom broke on purpose, or whatever....so he's arrested on an internation warrant or somesuch...whatever. He's still breathing. Why?

Am currrently watching last night's Red Eye, we record it because we have jobs that don't allow us to stay up till 2AM to watch it. I love Red Eye and Greg Guttfeld.

Spoiled, used to sucking off the government teat British students are bitching and moaning about the rise in tuition rates, so much so that they've attacked the limo containing Prince Charles (doofus and example of what in breeding does to a person's DNA string) and his wife, whose name I forget and don't really care about anyway....waaaaaaaaa and waaaaaaa

News flash to the students...socialism DOE'S NOT WORK, and now you are seeing the results of decades of a failed system...aka an Ponzi Scheme. If you are serious about your educatuon and future, if youhave any gumption whatsoever, then SUCK IT UP and pay for your education and better yourselves...by yourself!

That's the Round-Up for today...

Monday, December 6, 2010

Math Struggles and Monday Night Football

I have such an awesome man! Monday Night Football is on and he's at the kitchen table helping my youngest daughter with her math homework. She is so tired and frustrated, and I totally empathize with her as I struggled with math for my entire school career. As did Mike, but he's better at it than I am, as I can't even remember how to simplify fractions, and he can, which is why he's helping her.  He's much more patient with her than I am when it comes to math homework. I just seem to revert back to that age and I freeze. It's is rather ironic that I ended up working in a field that deals with math, such as interest rates, fractional shares and the like. Thank God for computers and calculators.

Also, my cat is too fat to jump up onto the sofa. I suppose that she really needs to be put on a diet.

Don Meredith died yesterday...I remember watching him and Howard Cossel on Monday Night Football, and those awful gold jackets. I don't think it's possible to forget Cossel's voice, and how he and Meredith clowned around together. Now both of them are gone and Frank Gifford remains.

I just can't seem to find the energy to comment on things political these days. I do pay attention and I have my thoughts on it all, but it's like this ennui has set in. I don't think that it's pessissimism on my part, I don't think that the country is doomed, yet, but I think that we are in for a very long haul. Thinking about it, and the scope of just how much of a shit storm we are in, is a bit overwelming. I think about what I can do to prepare so that my family can survive, and I thank God that we have little to no debt, but the largeness of it all is, like I said, overwhelming. I know that I shall have to think of it, but I choose to break it all into pieces and deal with each piece at a time. Hence the ennui.  I'll snap out of it, I'm sure.

Otherwise, on the homefront, I got Mike to myself for most of the day today, I knew that the strange man in my bed looked familiar! Tomorrow, we are both back at work; me from 6:45 am to 1pm and he from 1 pm to 10 pm, so I will get to see him when he gets home from work. If  I'm awake.  I may be, because tomorrow I start baking for Christmas. Katie and Adele want to give their teachers cookies and fudge for Christmas, and Mike wants me to bake goodies for his station. This will include a pound of fudge.  One thing is for sure, my diet has been abandoned, at least until the New Year.

Well, that's it for me tonight. Am off to bed, Need the beauty sleep.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Christmas and Football Widowhood

Well the tree is up,and I mamaged to tear Mike away from football long enough to watch A Christmas Story while I, and I alone decorated the tree. The last few years it's been me and the kids decorating, but I guess for my 11 year old, Pokemon on Youtube is more important. As is whatever it is my 15 year old considers important today is, as opposed to decorating the tree.

This is the first year Mike and I are going to put up outdoor lights. This is the first time I get ot do this, as I haven't had a house for over a decade. I'm excited about it, but have no clue as to how many feet of lights to buy. I suppose that I will have to play it by ear.

Mike is downstairs watching football, as opposed to cuddling up and watching a scary movie with me. I can't watch scary movies, but am of the theory that if I watched one with Mike, whilst cuddling on the sofa, I could handle it. Making out like teenagers is a given naturally, but apparently, the Steelers/Ravens game take precidence over heavy petting during scary movie.

So be it. I will go to sleep early.  I think that women in scary movies are stupid anyway. Why, for intstance, do all women in scary movies insist on running into the woods wearing high heels? If I were in that unfortunate position, I would chuck shoes at villan, and would make certain that I DIDN'T trip over stray roots. If I did, I most certainly NOT stay there and weep like some pussy over a sprained ankle.  I mean, really...to hell with a sprained ankle, an psychopath killer is chasing you for crying out loud. RUN! If you are going to die, at least make psycho WORK for it! Jebus, what kind of woman are you? Throw those stelletoes like ninja stars and run your pencil skirted ass off you stupid Barbie wannabe!

Between the Sig and the shotguns and the rifles in my house, no killer is going to just stride into my house. No sir, if I do die, the SOB will at the very least get some pellets in the ass for his efforts, because this chick is no high-heeled helpless chick. Besides, I can run in stelletos. Really, I can. I can also shoot and very, very well. Trust me. Most of my cousins are cajun and I've been hunting since forever....even gator.

Besides, in Texas, we have the Castle Doctrine, so I don't even have the chore of dragging some perv into the house and making it look like he was trying to break in...I can shoot the sucker on my damn LAWN and get off via a grand jury. I love Texas!

Thus is the ramble, in this the 5th day of December in the year of our Lord, 2010.  Night all. Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Hello, Yeah, It's Been A While....

Well, now that I have a computer again, and have rested up, I've deceded to blog a bit. If only to let my whole 2 followers know that I'm still alive. Well, 1 of them knows as he's my fiance', but whatever.

I've been working at a local department store for the last few weeks, as a seasonal employee, and now I remember why I haven't worked retail since I was in my 20's and working for Chanel.  Chanel was fun to work for, but retail SUCKS!  My customers are nice, but it's hell on one's feet. Also, it sucked having to be at work for 2:45 AM on Black Friday, with a hangover no less.  The line of people was wrapped around the building and when the doors opened, they came in an orderly fashion, but they kept coming and coming, like a tsunami!  I'd rather pay a few dollars more for the comfort of sitting on my ass in the recliner, in my pajamas, sipping a hot cup of joe and shopping on line. Which is what my dearest Mike did, while I was plunging bravely into the breach!  We really should buy Amazon stock.

Still, we got great deals on pretty much everything we bought, and I'm still shopping online, when I have access to "the toy" as Mike calls the laptop that I am currently hogging. We really need to buy ME a lap top. We have a desk top upstairs, but the kids hog that, and when Mike is at home, I prefer to spend time with him, as opposed to closeting myself in the guest room and playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook all day (which I can easily do, that game is so damn addictive!).

Speaking of Mike, he is so awesome. We haven't had a serious fight yet. Not that I want to have one, but it's a bit disconcerting that we get along so well...not that I want us to NOT get along, but you know what I mean. Like I said, Mike is awesome, and I can't believe that he puts up with me, my PMS and my love of couponing. Quite to my surprise, I have discovered that I enjoy being a homemaker and love to cook, now that I have the time to actually cook.  I really love the enjoyment that my family gets from my cooking too.

The hardest part has been getting used to taking care of a big house (I've lived in apartments for the last 12 years), sleeping next to someone who snores and cleaning toilets in a house that a man lives in. Woman are neater as far as the toilets go, and we will leave it at that.

I just thank God that the Playtex living glove has been invented.

The fact that we each have a female cat, and that they both think that they are the Queen cat, makes for interesting times in the house.  After we moved in, me and my kids and my cat Jingles, there were a few tense days... all hissing and spitting, but they eventually reached a detante of sorts. They can be in the same room, but if one gets too close to the other, well, we get cat like behavior complete with flattened ears, raised hair, hissing and spitting...oh and growling.

So, tonight, I have "the toy" since Mike left it home when he went to work. I think I've seen him for about 30 minutes over the last 2 days, as he pulled a double on Thursday and on Friday. He got home at 6:30 this morning, drank a glass of milk, kissed me then went upstairs and fell asleep. I went to work. He had left for work by the time I got home today and I have to be at work for 7:45 tomorrow morning. In fact I'm pretty much working everyday for the next two weeks.  God I HATE retail!

Mmmmmm...my  Au Gratin potatoes are ready.  I'm junk fooding it tonight, and I may heat up some left over chicken breast to go with it. Then again, maybe I will just eat the potatoes and leave it at that.  I love Au Gratin potatoes.

As for politics and current events, I've been follwing them, I just haven't had time to blog about them, Besides, there are plenty of others, who are more articulate than I am right now. I'm so tired, it's shocking how tiring it can be to just stand on one's feet all day!

Think that I'm going to go eat my potatoes now. Maybe I will blog later.