qUEEN OF rETURNS

Friend R and I just got back a couple of hours ago with the impossible.
We took hubby's chair and loaded it up in the truck and went to Costco. The chair is is life. He sleeps in it everyday for a nap and sits and watches TV in his waking hours. It was 2 1/2 years old and falling apart. Part due to weight, part due to the manufacturer. Friend R is the Queen of returns. She can get anything returned. At first the "nice" people at Costco were going to give her what the price is now (even though they didn't have any in stock) since it was that old. No receipt (which we didnt' have) would've given us $249.47. Original amount $375.00.
After an hour of talking, arguing and then laughing with the nice lady at the return desk, we walked out of there with $375.00! I tell you, she's good.
So we of course told hubby we only got the $249 and made us a nice little profit to split.
SSSSHHHHHHH.

gREAT cRIMINAL mIND....nOT

The boy went and spent the night at his friends house.
At 3:25 a.m., the phone rang. I jumped out of bed, cause usually when the phone rings in the middle of the night during the weekday, it's bad news. On a weekend, it's either the drunk husband or the drunk husbands friends calling.
After I stub the toe on the telephone stand and hit the chair to the left of it, I grab the phone and say "hello"....silence..."hello?"...then its "oh, sorry, wrong number". I knew the voice immediately. It was the boy's friend he was spending the night with.
It seems that the boy was in their house and his friend outside on the phone with his girlfriend. Hey they're 14, they're stupid. Anyways, C (his friend) dialed the boys cell phone and it rang to the house instead.
I thank the Lord that my boy hangs around with stupid kids that most definately will be caught at every half ass attempt of trying to pull a fast one over me.

tIME a wASTIN'

Oh wow. I freakin' forgot my anniversary.

I have now been "blogging" for 1 yr as of July 18th. I can't believe I made it this far. This soooo totally calls for another 100 things about me rant.

vERY lATE sURVEY

1. If you had to set your own work schedule; 8 hours per day; 5 days per week. Which days and hours would you choose?
I like to sleep, so I'd have to pick somewhere I can sleep most of my working hrs. 10 pm - 7 am, so I can be home in the day to shop

2. What Reality Show would you be on and why? (stolen from J. http://ramblingsofamadpiggie.blogspot.com/) HEY THAT'S ME!!
As a watcher of reality TV (yeah, I said it) I would either choose Extreme Makeover cause hell yeah, I want a new house and 100,000 for upkeep or the one where they basically stripped you down of all natural facial and body parts and plastic surgeoned yourself into someone completely different.

3. What is the last book you read?
Oh , just call me a sheep and lead me to the herd, it was The Davinci Code

4. There are many songs that bring us back to a certain memory. What song(s) do you HATE to hear for that very reason?
"We are the World", good cause and all, but it reminds me of the time I was in 8th grade and for the talent show a bunch of us got up and lip sync to the music, I was the white Steveie Wonder girl.


5. If you could go back in time to be any place in world history, what time would you choose and what country/place?
oh shit, i depend on modern trinkets (computer, cell phone, dvd's, etc ) to go back.

6. Do you know more than one language? Which one(s).
Is cussing a language? Cause if it is, I speak it fluently.

7. What is your favorite blog? Please link it. One only.
why the one I got this from, my dear Christine

8. What is your favorite web site?
I'm not some doomsday freak or fanatic but I check the earthquake site daily. Hey, I live in California. http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm

9. Your house is on fire, the people and pets you love are safe and you can grab one other "thing", what are you taking?
My computer tower, no way I am losing all you people or the crap I've downloaded into this baby.

10. You have $100 to spend in the next hour. How are you spending it? (Saving it or giving it away not permitted.)
Gift card to the big mall. No way am I going to be able to shop in an hour and get what I want. I have to think about things sometimes.

tHE gREAT aNT sNAFU OF '06

Last night, I came home to a surly hubby. sure he's working 13 hrs a day in the 107 degree heat....aaaaannnnddddd! The guy has taken off more time than I have with both my pregnancies for fuck sake. He will also most likely be spending his winter days snuggled in his bed, while I go off to work. so fuck it I say. Anyways, I digress.

Hubby bad mood, check. I don't give a fuck mood for myself, check check.

I sit on the couch and "ouch"...i just got bit. I got off the couch and to my surprise, I had ants everywhere. On the couch, on the pillow, on the wall behind the couch, on the countertop and in the cupboards. Does this surprise me? NO. Every year we have ants. It's inevitable. We don't have a service and our house was built on an ant mound the size of Texas. I cannot help it, any more than the Freelings could when their house was built on the Indian burial ground and Carol Ann went trapesing off with the TV people. Shits' gonna happen.....deal with it.

So I calmly got up to get the vacuum (as I do every year) and proceed to vacuum the little bastards up.
Oh no no no....that wouldn't do for cranky hubby. He then proceeded to tell (yell) that this shit was gonna stop. ...some things he said

"We are not going to live like this anymore."
"You (meaning the kids) aren't to blamed for this. Your mom never taught you any chores cause she never had to do anything."
"This is fucking the last straw, we are going to clean this house from top to bottom."
"You (meaning me) may be able to live like this but I can't and won't"
"(The girl), if your mom ain't gonna do it, then you get to. Prepare to stay at home a lot more to do this shit."
"(The boy), and your room is next. I won't be having it.........

You get the gist. On and On and On. I mean, he acted if we had shitted in the middle of the room daily and had food and clothes and a decomposing body in there. Way , Way out of control.

I was in the kitchen sucking up dead ants (thank you, Raid) actually listening to him rant and rave while thinking , "oh man, this is SO going in my blog". I would also like to congratulate myself on keeping my temper in check and not going off like a mad woman, which has happened many a times. But with the mood I was in and the way he was acting, oh I know shit would've gone down and I didn't want the kids to see their mom getting handcuffed and lead away. They have enough problems without having to witness the ass kicking of their dad's life.

After all the ants were gone (for now, cause they're really never ever gone until September) , the girl went to Gma's, the boy went to bed and I went to go play Free Cell.

At the appropriate 10:30, I of course get the "what? your not coming to bed?" puppy dog look. yeah right buddy....like that's gonna happen.

aN uPDATE

It's been quiet at the house with no religion. The boy hasn't brought up or said anything about our discussion last week. It's as "normal" as "normal" goes.

Just found out that little sis's 2 girls won't make their anual summer trip to Gma's house. She didn't want to burden mom with them since middle sis ( I know I know)'s girl is coming for a week. Not to sound mean, but the girl just left 2 weeks ago and now she's coming back? Our town ain't that freakin' great. If she comes, then that means sis will be coming down for anothe visit. So close together isn't something good for us. Our mental state just isn't that strong to uphold another visit.

Little sis had a job interview for a new job at the same bank. Same position, same pay, but 12 miles closer to her home. I know 12 doesn't seem like a lot, but when you live in L.A. 12 miles is cutting 30 minutes of traffic out. She doesn't know if she wants it now though, cause her old job said she doesn't have to work every Saturday now. Only 2. NOW, they tell her. That was one of the other reasons she wanted to leave and try this out. That girl works 6 days a week and never hardly gets a Saturday off. So she's awaiting word on that one.

I have a sexual harrassment meeting that my company set up for its employees. I have to go, not by choice. But since technically have someone underneath that is my "minion", I have to. I'm gonna go find out how many times I could've gotten sued this year.

Hubby stayed home this weekend. I think he's sick. He didn't have a beer all weekend long. Not Friday. Not Saturday. Not even Sunday. Should I be worried? I think I should. These summer days must be kicking his ASS. Gotta luv it. I don't feel one bit sorry for him (which I tell him daily). He'll be sleeping in again come November - January cause of the foul weather and there be no cement pouring going on.

We got another guy to come look at our backsplash. He said he'd charge us $400. Hubby said he could have the job if he wanted it for $350. The guy's coming out next weekend. Sometimes he can do things right, that hubby of mine.

oNLY $53.95 pLUS sHIPPING aND hANDLING

So, yeah I did it, I got some stupid pills for diet control. What of it! I've been on them for a week now and supposedly they're all natural and they curb your appetite. No it doesn't. What it does do, is when you eat, it fills you up. Or at least it tricks your body into thinking that it's fuller than it is. I eat about 1/2 of my meals now and I'm full. the trick to any diet is not pills, I know this, but when your going to Hawaii in 5 months and you don't want to have to be poured into the airline seat, you go do desperate measures.

Listen up there sis. You have exactly 182 days until we step on that plan and come face to face to the dreaded seat. That's 26 weeks. We could lose 1 lb a week and lose 26 freakin' lbs. Wadda ya say!!!! Go open up that old blog and start writing again.

wHOA....dIDN'T sEE tHIS oNE cOMING

A couple of days ago, the boy and I went to dinner. Nothing special. Just some chineese food. During dinner, the topic came about that he being Catholic and had made the two sacraments, he would be doing the third, Confirmation. He then informed me that he didn't really believe in God. I think my jaw dropped at that and he said, "See, now I've freaked you out."
When your 14 yr old son says something like that, I think I'm entitled to be shocked. We're not church going people. We've been raised Catholic, but not "practicing". We don't go to church on Sundays, but we have our faith and belive. He said my faith is lost hope. Oh man Oh man.
Some things that the boy expressed:

"How do you know there is a God?"
"Where is the proof?"
"Faith is just lost hope."
"Who says the Bible is right? How do you we know that some man just didn't create it? After all, truths are something that once started as a lie and the more people belived it, the more it became true."
" There are no miracles, just coincidences."
"I think that after we die, we go into the ground, and a part of our life-force sometimes stays behind. (He went into that more in depth, but I couldn't wrap my head around that one)

Ok, so that was the religion part.
Then came the society part.

"Nobody shows their true selves to anyone."
"People walk thru this life, without ever knowing true happiness"
"We're just puppets"
"Materialism is the only thing people belive in"
"Life is about, being born, growing up, get a job, find a wife, have kids, home, dog, and then die. And if that's what it takes to "be normal", then that's what I'm supposed to do."
"What is normal? That's just the perception of a group of people who have to all think a like so they won't be the odd man out."

and on and on and on.

It's a lot to digest. I told hubby what happened, and he said I'm trying to rationalize with a 14 yr old that hasn't experienced anything in life yet. True, but that doesn't mean I don't have to listen and let the boy have a voice.

I'll tell you what though, he'd be one hell of a debater! Now I see why some teachers, especially Mr. R , calls on him to answer questions on class. He does give a hell of a different outlook on life, than just the plain old boring answers.

That's my boy, as always, thinking and looking past the box. Don't know if this is a good thing or bad.

As far as the religion goes, that does bother me. I am still going to have him go to his classes, whether he wants to or not, cause I'm the parent and he's 14. I just hope he doesn't get into a debate with the teacher.

This year is looking to go smooooooth. Lord help me.

tHE dAY aFTER

I'm tired. Last night was the annual fourth of July extravaganza. We had around 35 people over. 10 of big sis's, six of us, and then little sis and middle sis's families. It's time for a bigger house. We were soooo crammed in there. I belive this has just motivated me to make the addition to the house even more. this way we would have 2 big ol living rooms instead of one.

We won. Well, I should say Hubby won. It's gonna be a doozy next year. Oldest sis has has the trophy 2 yrs and we've had the trophy for 2!. It's on like donkey kong next year. The tie breakers of all tie breakers.

Here are some pics of the night.


Here are the 'works that went up at one shot. Total = one car payment.





Our display for the night. It's a painter scaffold with all the fireworks either taped to something or sitting up on plywood! How crazy is this. See how light it is outside? Yeah we started to decorate way before this and didn't finish until it got dark. Craaaaaaazy. We are way too much into this day.







And it all goes up in flames!!!! Whoooosh.....money all gone!








Here is oldest sis's display. They got a huge ass ladder (which will never be used again, I'm sure) and placed a firework on each rung, plus 2 big ones on a couple of sawhorses next to it. They fused them all together and lit it all at once,to the background music of Superman. The first 2 didn't go off as planned so they had to light them by hand, but all the other ones went off smooth. It was cool. The fuse helped out a lot.













And then there's hubby, standing victorious with his burnt ashes and money with his plastic trophy. (pic not showing,....don't know why)

This year we took a silent vote. Everyone had a piece of paper and was asked to write either a P or an A. Oldest sis's son, took the hat into the garage to tally the votes. You should have seen....20 people in the garage awaiting the announcement. It was surreal.. like in the movies. Every one waiting......you could hear a pin drop. All of a sudden, the score was tie - tie and one piece of paper left. He pulled it up and the letter was P. A huge roar went up and hubby's day was made. He was really sweating. The end tally was 20 - 19!!!.

All in all, it was great. Oldest sis and her daughter in law cleaned my kitchen, we had some awesome margaritas, good food, good company, and THE TROPHY.....until next year that is.

I'm sure hubby and brother in law are planning next year already. For sure, as of Jan 2, 2007, I am taking off July 5th, no matter what!