Now Playing: Loser by Beck
Topic: Family Business
It's odd that the schedule change I'm currently getting used to is making me feel so odd. After all, the month of December I was out of work more than I was there due to my Grandmother's death & sick kids earlier in the month. Heck, the whole last 6 months of the year I was constantly leaving early, arriving late or not coming into work at all. Mostly due to my frustration with our new computer system & the fact that it's made an already difficult job almost unbearable.
We also got word yesterday that they're going to start making us be more careful about logging into the computer on time in the morning & after lunch & logging out at night. & that there's an 80% chance that we'll have to change shifts, it's supposed to be a company wide thing so everyone has to 'bid' on the shifts they'd like to have & then by seniority & performance they'll assign the shifts, one thing in my favor, though I'm only in the second tier in performance (mostly because of my attendance) I have a lot of seniority & I like the 4 days on working for 10 hours a day shifts best & the majority of people don't care for those as much so I shouldn't have too much competition to get a 4x10, if the shift I'm currently on will still be available is annother story & no one is making any promises.
Yesterday was frustrating enough in many ways that I came home saying I was going to start looking for a new job immediatley. By the time I'd written a little & talked to a friend I was calm enough to decide that I'll wait & see if they do make a shift shuffle & if they do what shift I get. (This is always assuming nothing else happens to piss me off in the near future)
On the way home I had to pull over for 2 police cars & when I got to the next little town (where I had to stop to pick up milk & a few other essentials) I could see the police cars about 1/8 of a mile away at a house, there were red lights of an ambulance or fire truck but I couldn't see any flames or smell any smoke. I went in the store & went about picking up the things I needed (some I wanted- the sugar shut down isn't going too well) & noticed the women behind the counter were at the door with it open looking out on the fracas down the street too. By the time I was ready to check out they were behind the counter again & discussing what was going on. They told me that it's rarely more than 5 minutes after anything happens in their town before they know about it due to being the only store open until 11 pm. & sure enough as I was finishing writing my check for the groceries (Day before payday you know, the only money I had is the money in limbo between direct deposit & the bank) The older store clerk looked out the window & said 'here comes F- he'll know what's going on!' when he walked in they asked him point blank & he did know, aparently a young mother of a 16 month old put the child in the bath & the phone rang, she went to answer for just a second & came back & the baby was under water. The rescue squad was able to revive the child though, he said & so we were all very relieved.
I'm having a very bad week with drama like that, Wednesday I was approaching the highway on ramp & came upon an accident which had just occoured, a large car, like a Lincoln or one of those other really big boats old people seem to drive around here had T-Boned a work truck. It was pretty awful looking & the police weren't there yet. I went through town so as not to drive through the scene of the accident to get onto the highway & then I called 911 on my cell phone, which I've never done before, they said they were aware of it & about a minute later police & an ambulance came flying past in the other direction.
I have mixed emotions telling the last two blurbs there, on the one hand, I think my 
blog is boring because it's mostly either bitching about work or talking about the kids. I realize most people aren't all that interested in this stuff, so I'm trying to broaden out a little & put other things in here. On the other hand, as I've mentioned before my ex was on the rescue squad & was not supposed to talk about what he saw or what happened to people he had to treat to me or anyone else, of course he did tell me a lot of things, I've never repeated any of them to anyone. (though since this was in 1998 & 1999 I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has expired or will soon) I kind of feel like both of these things, the accident I saw the aftermath of & that little child underwater & having to be revived are similar, that it's an invasion of the peoples privacy for me to talk about them.
Ok, well enough of that depressing stuff. the kids are ok, no one's killed anyone else yet though the death threats to each other continue daily. Miss 16 says she's sick, she said she was sick Wednesday & wanted me to come get her, I was already nearly at work & told her if she felt really bad to have the high school office call my work & I'd come, but I really can't afford too many more absecences from work! So she stuck it out & stayed home Thursday,
I don't think she's too sick, she put all my Christmas decorations away for me (I called just as she was starting to take down the outside lights & stopped her, I like to have them lit at night at least through epiphany or little Christmas, though I'm not Catholic I grew up in a town which was manily catholic & seem to have adopted a lot of their traditions. I was mulling this over on the ride home from work as I was noticing how few people still are turning their Christmas lights on at night & it's not even a week since New Years!
So when I arrived home after the stop at the nosy store I found mail waiting for me from my younger kids' school they stuffed both notices in the same envelope & the point was that they've been out too much. Never mind that the absences are excused, 2 with a doctors note & 4 due to the funeral in December which I wasn't about to miss. My Grandmother was like a mother to me in a thousand ways & in many ways more of a mother than my mother was. She & my mother are the only people I would drive that far to pay my respects to. (though, if it was the ex I guess I'd have to take the kids) & I am not about to have the school 'for shame' me over taking my kids to a funeral. Kids need to learn about death & the earlier the better I think, because then they can incorporate it into their lives as a perfectly normal part of life inste
ad of some alien, terrible concept as some see it.
Ok, yeah I've had to deal with a lot of deaths & have some pretty strong ideas about it. Whew, take a breath Becky, ok, so I was more than a little annoyed with the school about it & I'm really glad I didn't see this until 9pm because if anyone had been at the school to call & bitch at I certainly would have. As it was I had the evening to de-stress & the night to sleep on it & so I called the school this morning & they told me I had to come in & sign a paper that says I understand they need to be there every day & pledge to make sure they are there every day. So I did that & came back here & have been browsing blogs & Im'ing with a friend since then! Boring huh?
I had more to say but I have to get ready to take the kids & go grocery shopping & on our every other week outing together. (used to be Saturday during the day, with the Friday, Saturday, Tuesday off schedule change we're going to do it Friday nights so as to have a nice, quiet relaxing day Saturday) Yeah, that'll happen.
Annother holiday passed without serious harm being done to anyone I know, admitedly, the new years holiday can be more dangerous than Christmas, I should know, my former marriage's anniversary is new years eve! would be 13 years this year, I'm sure if it had survived this long it would be ending by now, lucky 13 & all. Since I'm already mentioning the ex let me say he has yet to contact his kids for Christmas, no call, no email, no snail mailed card. The last email I had was dated 12/17. He hasn't written back, nor has he done anything else, now I admit, it was in response to my email letting him know that my grandmother had died & the kids would not be available to talk to him by phone or online on the 19th or 20th as was supposed to be in the planning stages when we got the call about Phil. But in my email to him about this whole thing I told him I'd be home both the 23rd & 24th & to go ahead & call anytime since I have free nights & weekends on my cell phone. (yes, I could have called him & let the kids talk to him but really, why open myself up for more grief, all it takes is the mention of 1 thing he doesn't like the sound of - like that I had to work on Christmas day - I left work at 5 instead of 8- to set him off on a long winded, 'you don't take good enough care of the kids, you're always working & not around enough' rant & I have learned it's much easier not to open myself up to such things.
Later that night after a pick up dinner, (I didn't eat a thing, too ill with all the cookie batter & crumbled pieces I'd been nibbling) we finished the wrapping of gifts, (begun the 22nd after I got off the computer, I didn't go to bed until after 2 am on Friday night & it was telling on me, by the time I insisted miss 10 & mr 7 go to bed at 1030 I was already falling asleep)
oxes of cookies for friends & former neighbors, took showers etc & I was just messing around online when my sister in law called me to see 'where we were' -? I was a little surprised since it was just a few minutes past 3 at that point, I usually don't show up at Aunties until about 6, the kids had made me promise to try to go closer to 4 or 5 & I was really just waiting for 330 to start our rounds of dropping off cookie boxes & then go there. since SIL seemed to think we should already be there we headed out. After 7 stops we arrived at Auntie's & the kids had a blast, there were at least a dozen kids there & they all got gifts, it was a chaos of unwrapping & people calling out names on gifts, I was on th
e opposite side of the room from my younger ones & while that was great for taking pictures, it means I have no idea who gave them what! We ate & Hung out with the family for quite a few hours, it was fun, brought back old memories, some good, some bad, I missed my mother in law, who had gone to NY with her boyfriend (I guess that's what you call him, I know at 38 I would prefer not to refer to any one I was romantically linked with as a 'boyfriend' & she's considerably older than I am. Maybe 'life partner'?) This will mean I'll have to try to get with her sometime soon & interact, I do like my MIL, always have, I like/d both my in-law parents, it's my ex's step parents who drove me crazy, both of them. 
h (no chimney/fireplace to speak of in my house I'm afraid) & people were sent to bed, I filled miss 10's stocking first because she's been demanding to 'help' this year, since she's such an old hand at all this, (she's known the 'truth about Santa' for 3 years now) I know it's all a ploy to see what she's getting early & so I thwarted her, she filled her brother's stocking though & that satisfied her. 
9 am with us but go home at 5:30 were sent home at 4:15 & I was rather annoyed about it, it was obvious to all of us that they were going to try to hold everyone as long as possible, I knew there would be a large influx of people coming in at 5 pm & so I told my boss that if we weren't sent home at 5 I was leaving anyway, he was ok with it. & so I left at 5, we ate, did the tree & I tried to convince everyone that bed at 10 would be a good thing, no one bought it & by the time I had gotten everyone to go to bed I'd gotten absorbed in my current book (Angels & Demons by Dan Brown- the book before the DaVinci code) & didn't actually shut off the light until 1 am again! 
a ton of clothes (first time in almost 3 weeks I'm afraid, we've been living out of the laundry baskets & just adding more as they dry) Watched Fight Club for the first time (yes, I'm a little behind in my movie viewing) it was pretty good as miss 16 had told me it was (the dvd was a gift from me to her at her request) a quick run to the store to get milk & a few other things, got 2 checks in the mail today quite unexpectedly, one was from a company I had done business with & I'd closed my account but over paid, they refunded the amount I'd overpaid & it came today, I figured it would show up eventually. The other was from one of my Grandmother's brothers, he wrote that he wanted to send the kids & I something for Christmas & that he hoped we'd be able to have a good Christmas in spite of our loss. Very nice of him I might add, Very Generous. Christmas presents just keep showing up! Earlier today I was picking up my room & located a basketball I had purchased for mr 7 & forgotten to wrap & then just a little while ago Miss 16 also reminded me I had hinted to her about an easel I got her which I also had hidden in my room & had forgotten to wrap & put under the tree! 
y cough & cold.
l & we managed to get through the decorating with minimal yelling, bickering & fighting mr 7 only hit his sister once & miss 16 & I only argued twice when she wandered off to get online twice (anyone who reads my blog will notice that although I had 2 full days off this weekend I did not get online & blog or do anything else - except check email early saturday morning- at all this weekend- I spent it with the kids 100%.) 
s just to climb over furniture & jump off it). 
wn the kitchen or bathroom sinks flowed up the pipe into the tub & had to be bailed out of the tub & thrown down the toilet. It resulted in some odd, rather specific rules for trailer life, like that we had to be really careful about not letting food go down the kitchen drain because it would have to be cleaned out of the tub later, & that we could not leave the shower curtian in the bath tub because if nasty water from the kitchen sink got on it the shower curtain would grow moldy faster than brie cheese left on the counter in July. No one could jump on my bed if it was raining because I had usually at least 2 or 3 pots, buckets or bowls balanced precariously on the bed where the roof leaked (move the bed? there wasn't enough dry ceiling space in the room to put the bed anywhere that it wouldn't get rained on- except for the spot occupied by my dressing table which is an antique with lovely carving on it & given the choice of ruining that or sleeping with buckets I took the buckets. It's been 18+ months & I still get tense when I hear the weather man call for 3 or 4 days of rain in a row. I usually remember I don't have to worry about it anymore but sometimes I find myself during the second or third day starting to worry again!) Then there was the business of living 5 feet away from your neighbors, we had to remember to whisper if we wanted to converse in the bathroom after 10 pm because the bathroom was across from the back door which looked right out on the neighbors' bedroom window so if we talked even normally in summer with everything open they would hear us & wake up. No yelling in the house at all after 10 & no loud music or anything ever. (the first year we were there, back when the ex was still around, his best friend lived across the street & he & his girlfriend got in trouble because they watched a movie with their surround sound turned on & it bothered their neighbor next to them, we didn't hear anything right across the street though) 
an issue now. So I had to make some new rules fast.
r weather appropriate clothing to school every day- if it is anything less than 70 have a sweatshirt or coat on, or in your knapsack, just in case you need it'
I try to leave it at the simple common sense things like 'if you take it out put it back', 'if you empty it fill it up or wash it out', 'if you take your snack or lunch plate & cup out to the garage or upstairs bring it back before the mold grows across the whole plate' seems to be the one they ignore the most. But a lot of these rules assumes someone who lives here did take 'it' out or emptied that water bottle, to hear my kids tell it 'noone' used the last of the refrigerator water & put the bottle back empty (& all the way to the back, we keep 2 rotating bottles of water so one is always chilling) No one took that plate out to the garage with the nachos on it & left it to grow fur. (when did we last HAVE nachos?) 
I can usually tell though, who did what ever it was, of course the upstairs is the girl's territory so whoever brings down what ever I'm looking for (cups & glasses are always being called to the black hole of my upstairs- it gets to the point that I'm looking at 1 cup from Applebees & a coffee mug as the only inhabitants of my cup cupboard & I start yelling. Suddenly someone brings me 42 cups stacked taller than they are, from upstairs) But of course the person bringing the cups is not the one who used them (not a single one, no mom, I always bring my cups right back down) 
oom I can't blame every mess in his room on him, some of it is spill over from the girls upstairs, sometimes deliberate, sometimes accidental but I'm usually sure when I find Nail polish & eyeliner on his floor at the foot of the steps that they're not his (unless it's halloween time, then all bets are off) on the dvr out there he might let his sister have 5 & only if she's recording a tv show that he likes too. So he always gets the blame for anything wrong or left in the garage area. Since the stairs from the upstairs come down in hi
es earlier than I needed to be there ontime, well I was dead wrong, the line looped around the hallway twice! I didn't even try to get in it- I was afraid I'd be late for the teacher confrence, it's a good thing too because the gym where the voting took place is downstairs & at the back of the school, it has it's own seperate entrance & a hallway to get to the downstairs class rooms (where the 2nd grade classroom is) they had the doors locked though, so you couldn't get to the classrooms from the gym because the school was technically closed, so I had to climb the outside stairs, go in, say hello to the school secretary & then go back downstairs inside the building to get to the classroom, I was still about 3 minutes early & stood around in the hall comparing mr 7's work with his classmates while the teacher finished the confrence before mine. The confrence went well, mr7's doing well in math & science, doing ok in reading, not reading nearly enough, it's like pulling teeth to get him to do so. He's a lefty & they're having trouble getting him to space his words, otherwise all is ok. Then on to the line to vote. I'm still blown away by that, in 2004 I literaly walked in the door, voted & walked back out, no wait, other than while the nice lady confirmed my name & address, all of 20 seconds, the other 2 machines (we are talking a very small town here folks,) were empty & the only other person voting whom I encountered was a guy about my age walking in as I was walking out! & this was a presidential election in 2004! Most of the people on the line were elders, most of them knew each other well- that is one large drawback to moving to a small town where people tend to stay instead of leave, almost everyone knows each other & as someone they don't know they ignore you for the most part. I was 40 minutes in line, a lady I used to work with when I worked at a clothing factory here came in not too far behind me & so we chatted a little but when you work with someone, even for nearly 2 years, & have barely seen each other for 8 years there's not a lot you can talk about, especially when you're talking over 4 or 5 people. When we reached the registration table the lady in front of me remarked on the amount of people there, the pollster said they'd been out straight all day & hadn't had a break. & the woman who was in front of me remarked that the turnout was ok with her 'as long as everyone is voting the right way' I stood there fuming & reminding myself that at the very least my vote would cancel hers! (she & her husband had been rather loud in their praise of Allen for the senate- I don't think anyone who reads this blog regularly will be surprised that I voted for Webb, the Democrat) It 
it got really bad at least! I can't go help 10 because of the stairs or lack of stairs really, the ladder they use is ok for little people like them but I don't trust it & would not want to chance breaking it so I stay downstairs- annother reason I really want that loan so I can put in stairs. 
d out parts, the IT department in particular stands out - the little ones actually got tentative & jumped when the scare came- something I would have doubted would happen any longer, Miss 16, when we went to get her after school yesterday, had drawn spider webs on her face & looked pretty cool, I didn't make it halfway through the evening with my earings in. (I'd borrowed a pair of 16's big hoop earrings as I was playing gypsy fortune teller) miss 10 skulked around like her big sister- true to her goth teenager costume & mr 7's face paint looked very skull like & my black cape worked very well as a reapers cloak if I do say so myself. One of my co-workers didn't recognize me as we were walking towards each other I guess because my makeup was bright, if I wear makeup at all it's usually just mascara & along with the kids I put on full face makeup & everything for the fun of it. After about an hour at my work we left & headed to our town, on the way we saw my former mother in law at a store putting gas in her car & stopped so she could see the kids in their costumes, that was nice, I seldom see her anymore, everyone's so busy all the time. We stopped at family member's houses & at a church near our old trailer where they have a 'trunk or treat' where everyone parks in one place & the kids just go from car to car to collect their treats, the kid's school had one of these also but they had it on Friday night rather than Saturday or on Halloween & I work Friday nights so we didn't get to go to that. We came home & immediately I was under pressure from miss 10 & mr 7 to 
call it a night & give up on the idea that more trick or treaters might come by. I'd left a big bowl of candy on the porch while we were gone & there was some gone so I know some people came by at one point or annother- I was hoping we might get a few more but we didn't, we arrived home at a little after 8 & for over a half an hour the kids kept telling me to 'pack it in' & 'give it up' that no one was coming, I thought they wanted me to come in the house & hang out with them but it turns out they were waiting for me to give up so they could divide the remainder of the candy we bought for trick or treaters between themselves! 
the table, microwave & computer desk. (all the while worrying that the desk would fall over- it's more than a little shaky) I've done annother 3 loads of laundry over & above the 3 I did yesterday, it doesn't help that when 10 & 7 got home from school & I asked where all the towels are they went to their respective rooms & came back with about 8 towels! I could do annother load of laundry before I'm done tonight- & of course the more I wash, the longer I'll be up since I always like to have everything folded before I go back to work on Thursday morning. I got up early for me, something woke me up this morning which sounded like someone tossing a handful of pebbles against my window. No one was out there, I went out to see if the tree's branches were grown enough to hit the window, they aren't, we didn't have any tv activity yesterday though, which we usually get on holidays, the tv in my garage turns off & on by itself a lot. Over the first 3-4 months we lived here I've had the experience multiple times of seeing through the windows between the living room or dining room that the tv is on, going out to turn it off & when I'm halfway across the cement floor to where the tv is situated the tv will just turn itself off. The tv has no stuck buttons, I've tried it in 4 different outlets, with & with out surge protectors, it does not work with the dish remote so it's not like the remote is malfunctioning & I've tried other tvs out there (Chrissie's tv most recently) It doesn't matter, if it's of a mind to do so it does it, the satellite box stays on or off though, however it was left is how it is- though once we went out there & it had been moved off of the tv & set beside it on the floor- not like it fell, it's a delicate piece of electronic equipment- with a hard drive, if it had fallen it certainly would have been damaged- & no one had been home for hours- we were all out together. Last year around the middle of October it was doing it constantly & I got fed up, I got up to go to the bathroom & it was off, came back through from the bathroom & it was on. I opened the door to the garage & said 'look, just stop, you can come visit once in awhile but I can't take this all the time' I worked on Thanksgiving but miss 16 mentioned in passing that the tv was off & on all day, I was home for Christmas & it was flashing like lightning all day long- at Easter I told Chrissie about it when she got here & sure enough all night the night before Easter & off & on all day it went off & on. I have seen & heard it occasionally at night since then & Chrissie was living out in the garage all summer, she sa
id the dog especially was very concerned with noises & things she couldn't hear or see every time she was in there with Chris. I definitley felt weird about the sounds I heard this morning, it woke me right up & I can sleep through most anything, I've been known to sleep through neighbors knocking on the door wanting to use the phone. (well maybe a little of that was not wanting to deal with the neighbor) 
ids to get home from school, I have an hour left to wait & then we have to hustle the costumes on & go to my work (Why,when they're supposed to be providing a 'warm, safe place to celebrate halloween for the comunity' would they only have the place open from 4 to 6?) Miss 16 was going to opt out of this little excursion but has changed her mind essentially at the last minute, she just text messaged me from her feild trip to the exon station in town (?) to say to come get her & take her with us to my work. What does one
do on a feild trip to a gas station? Well, it's an art class, it could be anything. After the trip to my own personal house of horrors (that's work, I mean) we're going back to town for the 'trunk or treat' at a former neighbors church. 
get a picture of her pumpkin, Mr 7's pumpkin is supposed to be a grave, with the moon behind it & hands reaching up out of the grave. Miss 10's is a witch stiring up a spirit & mine is a reaper skull with flames around it, I also carved a Crypt keeper type face for my work, we have decorating competitions & pumpkin carving competitions & costume competitions, I'm not parcticularly competitive but most of my co-workers are & since I knew I'm a good pumpkin carver volunteered to do the pumpkin especially since in the scheme of things, my desk in our 'pod' is the least decorated (we did a horror movie theme & everyone got a movie to decorate our desk as-
mine was the fly- I can't afford fake drool! - Pictures to follow of the work desks, work & costumes in general) I usually dress up as a Hippie or a Heavy Metal mistress (ok, that one I haven't used in a few years) but as everyone keeps pointing out to me my costumes don't look to terribly different from my every day clothes- I'm going as a gypsy today, not, once again, that I look too different from regular clothes once again, it's the makeup & the scarf on my head & the jewlery which is supposed to make the look!
thirteenth, I was amused by this & actually surprised that 1 other person said it was their lucky day, my family for the most part considers 13 their lucky number, (I actually prefer 68 for myself but as a family thing 13 ranks right up there) it all started with my mother's father, he was born June 13, he met my grandmother on July 13, they were married March 13, my Mother was born February 13 & he died on April 13, I know there are more, but those are the ones I'm able to remember off the top of my head, my 16 year old is especially into the whole 13 thing & on the door of her room in the trailer we 
y enthused to leave because 
now I have to confine it to getting from where I am to where I'm going- gas is going down though, paid under 2 bucks today for the first time in over 18 months! So I came home & worked out my bills & wrote a couple more checks for bills it turned out I could pay after all this week. & after studying the map to see where a couple of roads I noticed on the way home went to looking for shorter ways from Chrissies to my house. 
e going to watch a scary movie on dvd (haven't decided between Sleepy Hollow & From Hell- yes, I have a Johny Depp addiction- get over it!) but that's the plan for the evening. Miss 10 was absorbed in taking pictures to email to my mother (she's a novice in email & I'm trying to teach her to attatch pictures etc. Here she is in all her glory: 
herbs out of my garden yesterday & spent a bunch of time with mr 7 while doing that, he found some interesting plants & was playing with the seed pods from them while I was bundling the sprigs of herbs together to hang up to dry & telling me a very imaginative story about the pods being planets & a big piece of quartz I found in the garden & brought back to the house being an asteroid coming to crush the planets, I thought it was very imaginative, 16 upon hearing it said it sounded suspiciously like something he watched on tv- who knows, I was entertained & that's the fun part. Mr7 is so absorbed in tv & his own stuff, running around, building with his magnetix or his fisher price castle pieces, he rarely just sits & talks to me, even about imaginary storys & even with a lot of encouragement from me. Part of the situation is that miss 16 is often monopolizing the conversation, yesterday she was home sick though & we'd 
had about enough of each other by 5 pm which is when I was out pulling the herbs & getting them bundled up, the chives I cut up with scissors & froze, the others are drying on my nice hutch I put together this summer. Note the cat sleeping in the Bowl.
ers him all too well, 10 idolizes him however. 
might be able to get their grades up Miss 16 did great she got 3 as & a b, her highschool does things differently, they only take 4 classes per semester, she's got English, History, Drawing & Sculpture for her 4 classes until the end of January & so while english & history are fairly hard classes the 2 art classes seem like they'd be a walk in the park. She doesn't think so though & thinks I'm mean for saying they are easy classes. I've loved my kids from babyhood on & enjoyed every minute of it but I will be glad just the same when they're all old enough to just do their homework with out argument, help or anything from me. There are too many holes in my own - homeschooled- education for me to be much help in many circumstances. 
10 today I'm afraid I'm raising a pack of night owls like myself) both 10 & 7 helped me make them 7 likes to flip the pancakes & 10 likes mixing them & breaking the eggs especially. Then we began making our craft project a halloween banner with pieces of that foam sheeting stuff, I'd made one out of construction paper back when 7 was a baby & I didn't have any money for floam & actually had to have an argument with the ex to get the construction paper! We cut out ghosts, harlequin masks, jackolanterns & Witches hats & decorated them with mettalic pens, glitter & more foam. eventually they'll be strung on colored pipe clea
ners & hung on a wall, like this halloween one that 7 & 10 made in addition to the ones we were all making. They put theirs together for something to do while 16 & I were decorating more in depth, it gave them a feeling of getting something acomplished, they hate that I wouldn't put up the others because I want the glue to dry completley so I don't end up with parts of floam candy corns & pumpkins all over the floor under where I put the banner.
et took less than 15 minutes for me, inexperienced novice that I am, to finish- it looks lovely, the whole arm sticks up higher than the old one, every time I go out there & see it it looks funny to me, but I'll get used to it, I'm not unhappy with the quality, compared to the 50+ year old one which was there it's shiny, feels strong (though I fully expect mr 7 to NOT sit on this one- he's been listening to his sisters & I bitch about him breaking the old one since the problem began back in June & is heartily sick of the whole thing. 
eather is supposed to co-operate next week & be over 70 all week again (YAY) & we'll be watching a scary movie on video tonight, Skeleton Key, not sure if I'll like it, I probably will, I used to love slasher type movies of the friday the 13th variety but after my brother died I lost interest (we used to watch them together) Ann told me through IM it was more the suspense type of movie though so should be good. Last night I rented Walk the Line, on the advice of a co-worker (the same one I was discussing the sink with- he & I have worked on the same teams off & on for 4 years- since he started there, about a year after me) I'm a rock & roll fan all the way, can't stand country music (though I always had some respect for Johnny Cash) & neither can W, my co-worker, but he said he started watching it to be polite to his father who wanted to see it & ended up really liking it so he recommended it to me, I liked it too-- 16 was dubious but sat down & watched it & loved it- more so than I did actually. 
myself a fairly lenient parent, I am easygoing on room cleanliness, bedtimes & TV viewing. I do require my 16 year old's help in watching her siblings while I'm at work & on my work days I do ask her to feed them, keep the laundry moving from laundry basket, to washer to dryer (I fold it all, always) & do the dishes on my work days also. I pay her, I don't ask her to watch her sibs for free, I don't pay her a lot but at least it's something, most people I know who are oldest siblings (myself included) did not get paid for watching their younger brothers & sisters. 
ut going at all) Next thing I hear is that the driving friend is staying overnight, not a big deal, they're pretty quiet, I bitch if they're not & she's lost the privledge of having friends over for weeks & months previously because of not being quiet so she's pretty respectful about that, when the friend arrived I said, since it was quarter past 10 & I'm a little caffeineated & probably won't be able to fall asleep at 11 anyway, that she could stay out until 11 if she wanted. Well, as usual, nothings ever quite enough. 
minutes after she's left the house, she's calling me & asking me if she can stay out until midnight. No, she can't. She then procedes to argue with me about why am I always such a bitch, never let her do what she wants, etc, etc, etc, the usual 16 year old rant, I remember it from when I was 16 myself, (& 15, 17 & 18 too) 15 minutes later (early I might add- just what I want, more of her!) she stomps in the house, tries to kill me with her eyes & marches upstairs, 2 minutes later she's back in response to my question about where's the other girl? Oh, she's still staying the night, she'll be here at midnight when her own, regular curfew at home is! 
1993, who was on his way to work in Roanoke & never arrived, he was like, 50 or so at the time & neither he or the car turned up, they just assumed that he'd just left his live in girlfriend & gone somewhere else, though he didn't take anything but his wallet & lunch for work. They found him & his car on a hillside, in 2002, he had gone off the side of the road, over the cliff & into trees & no one, looking over the side of the cliff could see the car. from where the body was they said he survived the crash but was pretty messed up, he got out of the car but was unable to get to the road & died in the woods by the car, 9 years to find him! That's what it's like here though, I think of it all the time, driving to & from work, going places with the kids- down to Roanoke on the occasional shopping trip, going to Chrissies house, there are crosses & other handmade memorials on many many curves where people have lost their lives & I seriously don't want to be making a memorial to my kid on one of them. 
es a note to stop by for a scary tour etc. but when I suggested it to 16 & wanted her to ask a couple of friends to help out she was shocked & appalled. How could I think of doing something so crazy? so weird, she'd be the laughingstock of the high school! So we didn't do it, as it turned out halloween time turned out to be a pretty financialy low time of the year last year so it's just as well that we didn't plan any such thing last year. There's always this year or next though... Right? 
Yes, so I don't have a lot of time today, I should be doing a lot of things & I haven't done much of anything, mr 7 took some scissors to his head yesterday while his sister was (not) watching him & I was at work. So among other things I have to shave his head. He & his older sister also both need some more clothes to start back to school in. ( Miss 10 is more than prepared thanks to hand me downs & Goodwill!) The pictures are new, cute & take a bunch of space, well the
imacts what I want to do (ie: waiting for the computer or the tv or the BATHROOM!) & I like knowing someone else has care of them, once they get on the school bus I don't have to worry about if they're punching each other, need to go to the bathroom or need a drink of water, I get a BREAK from fulfiling all their needs, wants etc. Heck, as for the drawback, where they're not available to do stuff while they're in school that's the best reason for having Saturdays off like I do- that's what Saturdays are for! 
Mr 6's hamburger was nearly as big as he was, 16 had an italian sub, 10 had a turkey & cheese & had a greek calzone which was excellent. 
16 is just too picky, we went to goodwill, TJ Maxx, Rugged wearhouse & Target looking for a bathing suit for her & none of them were good enough. she did find a couple of skirts she liked at least. I found almost nothing for myself, the goodwill in our area has only in the past year or so set up a plus size rack, before that shopping there was an exersize in frustration, I'd have to paw through all this stuff which would never fit me & it was very frustrating to see things which were beautiful prints or colors or styles which would never fit me. Now I can shop for both 16 & I on the same double rack of clothes but I only find a few things each time. I found 1 shirt I liked pretty well but it's a long sleeved shirt & I needed summer things, at $3.50 a shirt I bought it anyway, I'll need it in the fall I'm sure. but I was really hoping to find something new for work & for the vacation. Luckily Lane Bryant's clearance racks were full, out of 5 shirts I bought there only one turned out badly, it was just a little too small. It looks good on 16 though, a little too big for her but it's always nice to have a few extra things to wear! 