black friday

Are you one of those crazies that goes shopping on Black Friday to save a few bucks? Me... Not. So. Much.

My mom keeps sending me sale announcements for notebooks that are going to be sold on the dreaded day. (Yes, I'm looking for a notebook.) And I know if I really want to get a great deal on one, I'd get my sorry butt out there with the throngs of other crazies. But is it really worth it? Besides, this is my year to have WJ on Thanksgiving (he goes to his dad for Christmas this year - my first Christmas without him - an entirely separate post that will be forthcoming) and I just can't see dragging him out of his warm bed to join me in the madness and mayhem.

Then again... I'm a cheapass! And, if I can save a few bucks and get something I really want...

What am I saying? Someone. Anyone. Talk some sense into me.

anyone up for the Bahamas?

I seriously need a vacation! A real vacation too. Not going to see family. Not even going to visit friends. I'm talking about going somewhere sunny and warm, with sprawling beaches, crystal blue waters, and HOT scantily clad waiters delivering umbrella capped drinks. Thats. What. I. Need.

Yesterday was completely insane. It started with yet another visit to the dentist for WJ (3rd in two months - kid's got cavities galore). What should have been an easy fix was met with fear and tears. Not surprising after the last two visits. Funny thing about going to this dentist is it's the hygenist that does all the *yucky* stuff. So WJ really *likes* the dentist... just not the poor hygenist. Then it was off to school for him, and home for me to try to recruit the last of the volunteers needed for our school Emergency Call Tree System. Between working on that, talking on the phone, and getting the kitchen cleaned up I was ready for a nap. But no! There's more.

After picking up WJ and coming home to what I thought was going to be a quiet night, as I'm talking on the phone with a friend, the neighbor's 13 year old son comes over and tells me, "My Dad needs you to call him." So I get off the phone, call the dad, and find him in a panic. He's stuck in traffic (and trying to get around flooded streets) and his kids are stranded at daycare. So, I tell another friend that I'm IMing with *I gotta go!* and we jump in the car to rescue the kids. Think I'm done? Nope. There's. More.

Now it's going on 6:00pm, I call the friend I was IMing, make WJ some dinner, and sit down to relax. In the middle of dinner WJ tells me his mouth is sore. He says it hurts to open, so I figured it was just from having his jaw held open for so long at the dentist. He finishes his dinner (after I cut it in small pieces so he doesn't have to open is mouth so big) and when he's done I look at him. His bottom lip is huge! We're talking *someone who wants to have Botox injections is very jealous of him right now* huge. So, again, we jump in the car, this time heading for the Safeway pharmacy. The pharmacist recommends either Oragel or Benedryl, so I take the Oragel and head home. (After stopping at Bux to pick up a grande non-fat pumpkin spice latte with light whip.)

Now I've got two voicemail messages, make my return calls, gel up the kid, then sit to read with him before bedtime. I come back downstairs to find two friends IMing me, chat with them for awhile, and now it's 9:00pm. How. The. Hell. Is. It. Nine? I say goodnight, eat some dinner (yes, at 9:00pm - when else did I have time?), then plop in front of the tube. Back to IM and surfing a bit later, and at 11:30pm my head flops on the pillow and I'm out.

Oh, and did I mention I'm PMSing right now?

I. Seriously. Need. A. Vacation!

send a boat... and a paddle too

Another day of RAIN, RAIN and... did I mention... RAIN!! Our ball fields now look like lakes, with water almost up to the knees of the kids out playing in it. The roads are flooding. And my bay window roof is leaking... again. Ugh!

Finished the 4th Undead series book yesterday. So now the waiting begins until December for the 5th one to come out in paperback.

On a good note, after I assemble the binders for the ECTS (Emergency Call Tree System) I'll be done with my mandatory volunteer time* for the school year. That'll take about an hour. Yay! Now to get busy on planning the technology event I've been hired to plan.

*mandatory - obligatory; voluntary - given freely; without compulsion: hence... OXYMORON

books & stuff

I finally got my hands on Undead and Unappreciated on Thursday, but didn't really get much time to read until yesterday. Done! Again. These books are just so addicting. Really. I also picked up Undead and Unreturnable and immediately started it. I'm sure it'll be done by the end of the day, which is kinda sad because the 5th in the series - Undead and Unpoplular - doesn't come out in paperback until December and I'm just way too cheap to buy a hardcover.

As I think I mentioned before, it's not like I don't have a bunch of other books to read. In fact, I have four other books in various stages of unread that I can go back to - The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., and The Celestine Prophecy: An Experential Guide by James Redfield. Plus, I'm still waiting on the latest Stephanie Plum book (Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich) to come out in paperback, and have been casually looking for The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton. So, never a shortage of reading material... just never enough hours. And, with some of the books I'm reading, I have to be in a certain mindset to really absorb the info. At least I'm not the only one who's like this! When Stacie and I talked about all the books we were each reading, I think her last active read count was up to 14. Yikes!

In other news (which there really isn't that much of!) it absolutely DUMPED rain ALL day yesterday! I swear I thought I was going to need a boat. We went out to a birthday party for a little girl in WJ's class in the early afternoon, and by the time we headed home 2.5 hours later the roads were flooding, our new soccer and baseball fields looked like ponds, and it was still coming down. It was insane! I don't know when it stopped since I headed to bed early (well, early for me) but so far this morning, no rain. It's really nice to see the sun trying to peek out.

Today will just be the usual Sunday - laundry, house cleaning, football, vegging out and reading. Oh, and making phone calls to other school parents trying to finish up this stupid volunteer project I agreed to do. Ugh! Guess I'd better get a move-on.

is anybody out there?

Okay, let me just say this is NOT a plea for comments or anything! That would sound whiney... and I certainly wouldn't want to be accused of doing that. Pfffft!!!

But seriously. I know there are three of you who read my blog updates. How? Because you leave me comments. Of course sometimes they're just taunts, or evil thoughts. But whatever! At least I know you've been here.

But after agreeing to join Stacie in the NaBloPoMo posting frenzy, I'm seriously wondering if it's even worth it? I mean most of the stuff I post about YOU already know! I'm sure there are lurkers out there reading, but since my posts have become mostly gibberish, I'm thinking it may be time to "move on". (Speaking of which... I'm still debating on moving over to WordPress. Seems to be a lot more user friendly, from what I can tell.)

Anyway, just wondering.

But not whining!

could be

"Why is it raining, Mom?"

"Because it's that time of year again," I answer.

"You know why I think it's raining?" WJ asks.

"No... why?"

"Because we live in Washington. It always rains in Washington. You know... WASHington. Wash. Rain."

{insert eye roll here}

old & new

So, I've been wanting to do this for a long, long time now! Don't know that you can see the difference very well here, but I'm no longer a blonde. LOL On the left... the old me. On the right... the NEW me!

(If you click on the pics to enlarge them, you can really see the difference in color.)

Thursday Thirteen - Round 3

Thirteen Countries I've Visited

1. UK
2. Austria
3. Luxembourg
4. The Netherlands
5. Germany
6. France
7. Italy
8. Spain
9. Belgium
10. Mexico
11. Switzerland
12. Cyprus
13. US

how the hell is it november already?

Holy kraut! (as Stacie would say) WJ brought in a HUGE haul of candy last night. I think with it being so cold, and not as many kids out, people were giving out handfuls instead of one piece at a time. (I know we were! But, then again, I just wanted to stop having to get up to answer the door.) We went around our loop with some neighbors, then I pawned him off and retreated back to the warmth of the house to push as much candy as I could. By 7:45 the streets were empty and our candy was gone. Yay!

( Was finally able to post a pic!)

boo!

Happy Halloween!

It's that time again... ding-dong, trick-or-treat, "no we can't go to that house, the lights are off", sugar bugs reeking havoc on the teeth, spooktacular time of year! Oh joy! And this year, we get to wear several layers of clothes, hats, gloves, and big jackets just so we don't get frostbite while walking around in the 23 degree weather. Sheesh! At least it's not raining.

I was informed last night that my darling son had made plans with a classmate to gather the goods together. Uh huh! We already have plans to hoof it with the neighbors. So, classmate's mother calls and I break the news. Trying to be nice I invite them to come with us. She tells me the plan - they're meeting other classmate and mother in a neighborhood none of us live in. Notsomuch! Then, somehow, after hanging up the phone... I realize she's invited herself over an hour after we already go out. WTH? So now I gotta entertain tonight too? Ugh!

I'm sure you remember this from growing up, but it was really funny to hear WJ saying it this morning. (And guess who taught it to him? Classmate he made plans with!)

Trick-or-Treat, smell my feet

give me something good to eat!

If you don't, I don't care

I'll pull down your underwear.

book update

Another one done! I bought the second in the series, Undead and Unemployed, on Saturday around 3:00PM. By 10:00AM the following morning... done.

I knew I should have bought all the remaining ones right away. Now I've been forced to start reading other things. Not that these others are bad (though I am having a hard time getting into one I picked up last night), it's just not the same. Oh well! This looks like it's shaping up to be a busy week, so I probably won't have much reading time anyway. Unless, of course, I break down and get Undead and Unappreciated!

bittersweet

I finished reading Undead and Unwed last night before going out. Awesome book! With any good "series" book, it's always bittersweet when you finish - now you know the ending, but if you don't have the next one to start, it sucks. So, of course, now I'll have to make a trip out today to get Undead and Unemployed. It's not that I don't have a ton of other books around here I can read... I just don't like to wait. Besides, today is a perfect day for curling up on the sofa, under a warm blanket, with a good book.

I've also got to get something made with the big box of apples sitting in my garage. Applesauce is a definite, and I was originally thinking of an apple pie. But there are SO many of them! And then a friend mentioned she was making apple crisp. Yum! I asked her to send me the recipe, and it turns out it's her husband's mother's recipe. And now I can't wait! Family recipes are always SO much better than those from a cookbook. If you want some apple crisp, c'mon over! I certainly don't want to have to eat it all myself.

Thursday Thirteen - Round 2

Thursday Thirteen - Round 2: Thirteen Jobs I've Had

1. bank teller
2. caterer
3. dry cleaner
4. legal secretary
5. receptionist
6. administrative assistant
7. event planner
8. medical office staff
9. inventory counter
10. non-profit association management
11. owner of e-commerce site
12. independent consultant
13. mother

craziness

There's always such craziness when I'm hangin' with Stacie and Liss! Here's our latest wildness. You can check it out and run a picture of yourself... or a friend.

Hitch50

Have you ever wanted to see every state in the US? Well, these two guys, Scotty and Fiddy, are on the move to do it. Check it out!

Looking forward to their arrival in Oly!!

word verification?

There is just something wrong when you go to post a comment on your own damn blog and you have to actually DO the word verification just to post! I mean c'mon... you see it's me... I'm already logged in. Are you too stupid to tell that I am the only owner of this blog?

And, in case you didn't know, it's not really "word" verification! I'm pretty sure that randomly throwing together a bunch of letters does NOT constitute forming a word. Sheesh!

Thursday Thirteen - Round 1

I almost forgot I was going to start Thursday Thirteen this week! Found the idea from Stacie. Thanks chica! Guess it's a blog trend right now, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon. Basic rules: You post it every Thursday (which I almost forgot!), you create the theme (might be hard sometimes), then list thirteen things that fall under that theme. I hope you try it too!

Thursday Thirteen - Round 1: Thirteen Things on My Breakfast Bar

1. Coffee maker
2. Bottle of Merlot
3. Telephone
4. Plant
5. Candles
6. Leaves (collected by Wesley while on a walk)
7. Camera
8. Computer
9. Books
10. Keys
11. Sunglasses
12. Organizer
13. School photos

I was tagged!

That crazy girl Stacie tagged me! So here goes...

Here are the rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but the must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

My seven:
1. You and Me
2. Chasing Cars
3. Fix You
4. Welcome to Wherever You Are
5. Far Away
6. Now Comes the Night
7. Everywhere

Seven people I'm tagging:
Liss
Sara
Groove
Jessica
Terri
Norman
Subservient Worker

I don't really expect anyone to do this... so no pressure!

is this my hell?

It's that wonderful time of the year again when I will be somewhat absent from the world. Why? Tomorrow my mother arrives for a week. {sigh}

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed having her here the last time, this trip was "sprung" on me (read as she booked the damn trip and THEN told me she was coming without asking if it was a good time for me) and it really wasn't a convenient time (had to change around some plans). Regardless, she'll be coming by herself this time... something she needs to do every once in a while to regain whatever sanity she's lost to my father. The other thing that bothers me about this trip is since I'm STILL not working, I'll be expected to spend that much more time with her.

Oh well... maybe this is my hell and I'm off to better places later in life!

back against the wall (update)

My prankster is back!

Well, I don't know if he/she ever left, but there hadn't been any pranks... until I wrote about it. :-)

Wesley goes to bed at 8pm on school nights... and I am ususally a night owl. Last night, however, I headed up around 11pm. Anyway, as you can calculate, I was the only one downstairs and awake for the 3 hours between 8pm-11pm. AND, I know I used the downstairs toilet several times during that time.

When I came down just a few minutes ago and went in to pee, how do you think I found the toilet??? Yep! Lid and seat fully up! LOL

Now does that make you want to sit with your back against the wall?