Survivor Gabon

It is no secret that I am an admitted Survivor junkie. I know some of you loathe the show. But T and I have been watching it since the very first season. While it is some of the same thing season after season, it is always different as well. The human dynamic is always changing. The challenges are a huge part of it for me as well. I am always excited to see where it is that they will be each season too. Gabon is simply amazing. Africa at its finest. I cannot imagine camping amongst elephants!

One thing I noticed about this seasons contestants, were that most of them seem completely full of themselves. This one gal, Michelle, was all bitchy because she wasn't on the team with the 'beautiful people'. Seriously?? Is THAT what this show is about??

What a shallow *bleep*!

I want to use the 'C' word here, but I shall refrain. I instantly did not like that girl. Ugh. And? Wear some damned clothes woman. I don't need to see your skeleton!!! I hope someone handed her a huge sammich as she walked off the set.

Anyway, as with previous seasons, it takes me awhile to warm up to any of the contestants. The thing that bothers me most is that these people are familiar with the game, yet... they have learned nothing. WHY would you go on Survivor wearing a DRESS?? I would have on Under Armour gear, a long sleeved shirt and either sweat pants or track pants or something, and the most expensive, comfy sneakers I could get my hands on. That way, at night and in the sun, I could cover up, and when needed I could strip down to the UA gear and be comfy and free to move around. Not that my fat ass has ANY business in UA gear, but I'm just sayin'. These yahoos are walking around in their underwear, for Pete's sake. *shakes head*

These girls wear next to nothing and then complain about how damp and cold it is at night! DUH! Have you never camped? How's about a little effing research into where in the hell it is you are going, you useless boob?!! ARGH.

Another thing? That girl that I didn't like? She got the boot. HAH! First one voted off! She was clueless as to how the game is played, IMO.

I will say this about her though, she talked about how stupid her tribe mates were, and she was right on. They booted her first instead of the the 61 year old woman who SHOULD have gone first.

Every year, we find ourselves yelling at the tv over who gets voted out and who doesn't. The choices always seem so obvious to us! Not so much to the contestants.

There is lots of drama to be had, and we just eat it all up, season after season.
I actually miss hearing Jeff say "C'mon in guys!" and "I'll go tally the votes" in between seasons. And the dimples? What can I say about the dimples?? :OP

Yes. I am clearly a dork. But you all should have known that by now...

woot!

I have my windows open! *does snoopy dance*
News channel says it is 67 degrees out right now. Glorious!

:O)

YAY for babies!

Chas had her babies! Chas had her babies!! YAY!!
Ugh. I cannot wait for the details. LOL
Twins. Now she has THREE girls. Lord help J in about 12 years. *giggles*

Congrats to the new FAMILY OF FIVE!! Woo!
She made it to 35 weeks! Amazing! Ahh, I am SO excited for her, for them. weee!

Mother of the Year?

I put Maya to bed each night between 7:30 and 9 p.m. It all just depends on what we have done that day or what have you, as to how tired she is by what time.

Tonight, she started getting really cranky around 8, so we read to her and stuffs and by 8:30 she was in bed. By 9 she was quiet, so we went outside and vac'd the pool, and did some cleaning up out back that was needed. It is now a bit after 12, and we are getting to bed, and she is WIDE awake. T said he had heard her a few times while he was in and out over the course of the night, but since she wasn't crying or calling out for us, he just let her be.

I feel AWFUL. My kid has been in there for hours, awake. Should I have gotten her up?
I feel as though I should have. Then again, I thought she was asleep. Ugh. I just feel awful. She is not upset in any way. When I went in there just a minute ago, she was laying down, playing with a teddy bear, but STILL. I feel as though I neglected her.

UGH.

Fall

I am SO jealous of all you northern people and your open windows and cool breezes. LOL
I was going to post a gripe about it (not a REAL gripe, take it easy!) but in a few months when you are all buried under snow and cursing Mother Nature, I will be the one with the cool breezes and the open windows. So THERE.
:OP

LOL

Unwanted mailbox guests

Roaches. In the mailbox. Big ones. (the roach, not the box)
This is why we all go through the ritual that we do.

It has happened more than a few times over the years, but recently? It seems like every time I go get the mail, I am in a battle of wills with one of these nasty things. UGH.

A month or two ago, our neighbor had new sod put in. They dug up the old lawn and treated the ground first for weeds and what have you. This obviously disturbed undesirable creatures because next thing I knew, my mailbox was overtaken with very large ants. The mailbox looked as if it had come alive. And? Two very large roaches had taken up residence inside. This does not sit well with me, nor did it bode well for the roaches.

I marched my happy ass into my garage and came out with a very large can of RAID. I then soaked my mailbox with it, inside and out. I looked up, and my neighbor D was looking at me like I was insane.

"Hiiii. What yah doin'?" she asked.
I pointed to my mailbox and simply said "Roaches."
"Ooh" came her reply.

Just then, one RAID soaked roach attempted to fly out of the box, unsuccessfully, and landed at my feet. I backed up, and the other one came staggering out and fell to the ground as well.

"WHOAH! Those things are HUGE!" said my neighbor, all wide-eyed.

RAID dripping from my mailbox, ants falling off in mad fashion and two very angry, near dead roaches made for a very satisfied me. I then headed back to the garage, stopping to talk with D for a minute or two.

If only I had had a holster for my smoking can of RAID.....

Mail Call

I have noticed something around here lately, that I find quite amusing. Over the last few days I have been observing my neighbors while they go to get their mail. And every single one of them does the same thing.

Each person opens the box with extreme trepidation, reaching out slowly, and opening the box in an even slower fashion. Then, they lean back and peer in, inching ever closer to the box with squinted eyes, trained to spot the slightest of movements.

They reach for the mail, taking it out slowly, then whisking it away from their bodies and violently shaking it.

And here I thought that I was the only one.

Any guesses as to why we must perform this ritual??

Hot for Teaching

I had wanted to get Maya into the Montessori Academy down the road from our home by the time she was 3. As it looks now, that will not be happening. So, I got the bright idea to google stuff, and I just ordered a book on Montessori methods (written by its creator, Maria Montessori) as well as two other books... one of them being on teaching a 2 year old.

I have lost my damned mind.

LOL

Wish me luck!

It's a bad hair day in these parts.

Accuweather.com has a 'Frizz Index' on the site, along with the UV index. I find this incredibly amusing. I so needed that back when I was in High School. LOL
Today, I shall be wearing a hat. :o)

Taking the Pea to the spray park in a bit. Weee.
Momma is gonna play this time as well. I am hoping there aren't a thousand kids there today, with school being back in and all.

Must remember to bring camera too.

We took M to the Florida Aquarium the other day. We had free passes! It was fun. She spazzed out a bit at first because she wanted to run free and we wouldn't let her.
I forgot my camera. I was SO mad. She LOVED watching the really big fish.

Also? This kid has an obsession with leaves and trees. So we took her out yesterday evening for a walk, gave her her beach pail and had her collect leaves, acorns and sticks. Today we will do her first REAL art project with them.

Seeing her putting things in her little bucket like that was so cute. Made me pine for Easter. LOL

POTD

I had the tv on as I was folding laundry earlier today. I wasn't even really paying attention to it. A commercial came on for some show, and they gave a date for the start of the new season, September 23rd.

My heart got heavy. September 23rd of 2003, I had to have my cat of 15 years, Blaze, put to sleep. She was so sick. It was the right, and humane decision, but it damned near killed me to do it. I think of her a lot. I miss her very much.





I cannot believe that it is coming up on FIVE years. *sigh*

POTD

Munchkin!

Crap!

We aaaalmost got Maya to poop on the potty today. Almost.
*sigh*

POTD

Earth and Sky

Seven Years.

Chris asked the question this morning "What is your 9-11 story?"

I was at work. I was logged into AIM and was chatting with my friend D, from New Jersey. She said to me "OMG. A plane just hit one of the World Trade Towers!" And I responded with "Pilot must be sick, or crazy!"

I was thinking along the lines of a small commuter/Cessna type aircraft. Maybe the pilot had a heart attack? Or a stroke? Then she said to me "No Jen. A PLANE. An airliner!"

I totally did not believe her. D was a prankster, but not in this fashion. Yet I couldn't really grasp what she was telling me. She told me to go put on CNN. So, I walked out into the other room and flipped on the tv.

I will never forget that moment. That one single moment when my eyes saw the tower, and the smoke, and debris flying around in the air. I did not know anyone in those towers. But anyone with an ounce of empathy felt awful that day. I remember not being able to breathe for a moment or two. Bossman said to me from his office "Jen? What's up?" Cause, you know, I don't usually sit around and watch tv while I am supposed to be working. Heh, I shouldn't have been chatting on AIM either, but I was.

Anyway, I said "You need to come here...." And he replied that he was very busy. So I said "No, Ed, you NEED to come here. One of the trade towers was just hit by an airplane..."

Silence from his office, and then he said "What? A cessna?" I replied "Eedddd. Just come."

He walked out from his office, and when his eyes fell upon the tv, he froze, all color draining from his face. "I used to work in that tower..." he said, as he plunked down next to me on the couch. So we watched. And we listened. And then we saw it.

"Is that another plane??" I asked in total and utter disbelief. Before Ed could say anything, it crashed into the second tower. I remember Ed stood up, ran his fingers through his thinning hair and started walking around in circles saying "Oh my GOD!" over and over again.

At this point I was physically shaking. A few minutes later they had footage from a different angle, and you could clearly see and hear the plane enter the building. I will NEVER forget that sound, EVER.

Then, Ed says "I just saw someone jump..." We sat and watched the footage being played over and over, and sure enough, you could see people falling away from the building. It was at this point that I had to leave the room. I felt like I was going to be sick. Trying to imagine the horror in that building, the horror that would make someone jump from 80+ floors up? Unimaginable.

I came back and sat down next to Ed. We sat there in silence until the towers fell. I remember hearing Ed whisper "Oooh. Oh Noooo.." as they came crashing down. I couldn't say anything. I was thinking of the people inside, and again, felt sick.

We sat there for a very long time, in silence. Ed then told me to go on home.

When I got back on AIM, D was gone. She had emailed me before she logged off though. Her boyfriend worked in one of those towers. I found out a day or so later that he was late to work, encountered a traffic jam due to an accident and went home instead of going into the office that day. I had another friend who watched everything unfold from his living room window.

And let's not forget the people on those other planes, either. Those people on Flight 93 gave their lives, and should NEVER be forgotten.

I remember laying in bed one night with T after watching more news footage, just sobbing. It was a very sad, and very scary time. I couldn't lose those images of the people jumping. Or of the towers falling, or of the plane hitting, or of all the people trying to get away as the towers fell. And you know what? Seven years later I STILL cannot lose those images. Nor can I fathom what would make someone do what was done that day.

Chris talked about one day telling his children of this day, because in telling, it will never be forgotten. We too, will tell Maya when she is old enough. Because we shouldn't ever forget. I know that I won't. I can't.

POTD

or, Photo of the Day.

Exit stage left

So the old blog is gone. *sniff*
I seem to have offended some Blogger users, with my attitude regarding being here. I apologize. I just have had my own domain and my own space for a VERY long time. Coming back to blogger just felt like a step backwards. I know in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter.

I need to spruce up this place, make it my own. But I have a freelance web job I am getting ready to start, plus a friend of mine wants me to do a site for her (we need to talk Bek!) and so this will just have to wait.

Thanks for following along over here. I am really going to try to post each day. I would really like to try to post a photo each day too. But, hahaa. Somedays I forget I even have a computer. So we shall see.

:O)

Thanks.

I have been meaning to post, but I just haven't had the time! Thank you for all of your advice on the previous post. It was a false alarm. That night, I ended up, ah... in the bathroom, many many times throughout the night. Seems it was something I ate.

I have been fine ever since. Munch has left me alone totally and I sniffed big on the Captain just to be sure the next day and all it did was make me wanna pour myself a drinky. LOL

So, I am fine. We are not trying, obviously, as I am still on the pill. We just have not made any decisions as to what we are doing. Yes, we want another. But there are a lot of other circumstances to consider at the moment.

Sooo anyway. That is that.

I have been feeling very out of sorts lately. Restless, unsettled. My house, it is getting to me. There are things I want to do and cannot, due to lack of funding. Argh.

So, my only choice is to focus on what I CAN do, and that is to declutter. I unloaded a ton of Maya's old toys and stuff to a freecycler, who will be here at 8 tomorrow morning for pick up. I listed a desk on craigslist, but no bites yet.

I am not 'giving' this desk away. When people see it, they are like "Oh wow. That is cool/interesting/awesome/never seen anything like that before.." etc. It is a one of a kind. It is solid wood, and heavy as all get out. It definitely has some dings and scratches as it is about 30 years old I guess. So I want to get some $$ for it.

I HATE to part with it. I have had it since I was 11, and before that it belonged to my Aunt and Uncle. I just do not have the room for it in this house. Maybe I will just get another storage unit, and keep it until we get a bigger house. Which could be like, an eon from now. :O(

See, now that has me thinking. I should keep it, because if we decide to have another baby, my office has to go. And my big desk would have to go into storage, along with a few other pieces of furniture we have, and then that old desk could go in a corner of the living room so I could still work and not be sitting at the kitchen table.

Hmmmm. *tents fingers* ...
Must rethink this! Thanks internets! LOL

HAHAHAA!

I am on the pill. Last week, we, you know, before T left for South Florida for the week. And for the first time in FOREVER, I forgot to take my pill that night. I took it the next morning when I got up. I did not think anything about it because it was the first week in my pack, and I have missed pills in that week before with no problems.

Today, out of the blue, I have been experiencing huge waves of nausea. I have eaten very bland today because I just didn't feel 'right'. Now, this one thing did not make me think that I could be pregnant. It was Munch, my cat.

When I was pregnant for Maya, Munch did.not.leave.me.alone. Through my entire pregnancy, that freaking cat had to be ON me. If I got up, she followed. I couldn't even go potty without her being RIGHT THERE. And this morning, I was asleep on the futon in the playroom (heh....hubby was a windbag last night. I got stunk out of our room!)and she woke me up pawing at the door to come in. I have never seen her do this. So I got up and let her in. I had a slight headache, so I crawled back under my blanket, and she made herself comfy. ON me. And that is how it has been ALL day. Even when we were outside today, she stayed close by.

The other thing that made me realize I was pregnant with Maya, was The Captain. T had made me a drink, and I could NOT drink it. The smell was making me want to hurl.
So tonight, while watching football, he makes me a drink. OMG. All he did was sit it down on the table next to me and my stomach went AWOL. Ugh.

So for the hell of it, I go to an ovulation counter (which I should not be ovulating on the pill, right?) and put in the first day of my last period. This is what it said..

Ovulation Calculator

Based on your answers, you're likely to be most fertile from August 31, 2008 to September 5, 2008. If you were to get pregnant during that time, your due date would be May 27, 2009.

We nookied on August 31st, and September 1st.

Now I don't know what to do. Am I crazy? Wishful thinking? Do I continue to take my pills? I am at the end of week two. What in the hell do I do here??

*screams*

Home ownership

In my previous post, I mentioned that my views on owning a home have changed drastically since becoming a home owner. When we bought this place, we knew things would creep up. It is an older home. The reason for buying an older home was because we liked the 'hood. It is established and there is not the threat of a Wal-Mart ending up in our backyard.

So, I worried about the old AC going south on us in the dead of summer and the cost of replacing it. Then it happened. Next, I worried about needing new windows, because the ones we had were chintzy and cheap. We got new windows and then I worried about the... You see a pattern here? Currently, I am worried about our 18 year old roof, and all of these G-d damned hurricanes and what have you that are lining up out in the Atlantic.


We had our roof looked at recently by a roofer. He said for as old as it is, it is in good shape. Right, good shape until a Hurricane rips it off of the house. I guess that happens with new roofing as well, but still. LOL. A newer one would give me a wee bit more peace of mind. I think.


Also, our backyard paradise is no more. The pool tiles started falling off, so we picked the rest of them off, one by one. Now, it looks like crap. The weeds have overtaken everything, and it is just too hot to deal with it right now. Hopefully once it cools off, we will have SOME $$ to do something about it. Nothing expensive, we just need some river rock and some mulch. And about a ton of weedkiller.
meh.


It just seems like we are always worried about something. When we rented, we didn't worry about a darned thing. We had an awesome landlord, and when something needed to be handled, she was on it. I realize that this is not always the case. There are just as many crappy landlords out there, as there are crappy tenants.


Still, I am too old to worry about all of this shit. Not to mention the near heart attack I have every time I see the numbers on the statement, and that with all that we pay out each month, only $150 of that actually goes to the principal. Pfft. *waves hand*


As I also noted in my previous post, we pay through the ass for this place. I would much rather pay less, for more house, and let someone else worry about all the crap that comes with actually owning the joint.

Broke as a JOKE, yo

My broke ass cannot afford the $$ for the hosting of my old blog, so here I yam, on blogger. Kind of humiliating, you know? But whatever. We have been in a financial mess ever since the hubby's melt/breakdown almost 2 years ago. If I had just one more week, I'd have been able to pay for it! Piss me off.


When we first got together, we lived paycheck to paycheck. Then we got serious, paid off all of our (read: MY) credit cards, stopped spending foolishly, and even had money in savings. Then we bought a house. And an older one at that. Hello debt, my old friend. We did lots to the house to update it, got rid of a nasty mold problem that was making us both sick, and thus ended up being house poor. We pay WAY TOO MUCH for this place. And as each mortgage payment goes in the mail, I get more and more irritated with that fact. If we were to try and sell, we would NEVER get what we owe.


And that brings me to my views on home ownership. My views on this have changed COMPLETELY. I do not care to ever own another house, EVER. Unless we build LARGE and with some of the goodies we want (like a media room and a game room, and an outdoor kitchen...). I would be happy to rent. However, if WE have to sign a lease, then so does the homeowner. That is only fair, right? I know of too many people who have been tossed on their asses because the owner decided to sell. I would be ok with this, but would want more than 30 days to find another place to live. And I would want it in writing.


I found an ad in a local flyer the other day for a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 3 car garage, pool home for $1250 a month. That included lawn and pool service. Hello! Where do I sign up??
Pfffft.

Ok, enough bitching. Welcome to the new blog.