back...

Okay, I'm back...I had my own little 'mini-vacation', okay??
I've just been so fuckin' EXCITED since the Steelers are gonna go to the Super Bowl...and it's in Michigan!! Kevin just told me that Bill Cowher is having them wear their white jerseys to the game, he said Cowher won't say why, but he thinks it's probably that they won the last 3 away games in the white, so he thinks it's lucky...I do NOT blame him for that!! Even though they're gonna be classified as the home team this game...hell with that!! I absolutely know I'm making tons of enemies, too, but.....And I feel bad, actually, (no not about Denver) cuz I do like the Seahawks, but when they're up against my Steelers.....phhhtt! or...pee-shaw!
Kevin and I went out grocery shopping Monday, cuz he was still off, it was his 'personal day'. We actually had fun! I was using one of those carts for disabled people (I prefer to say I'm 'crippled', because you oughtta see the looks you get then!!). We went to the new super Wal-Mart (it's really nice!), & we were there for about 2 hours wandering around. And that's odd for Kevin, cuz he hates going to grocery stores, says he's sick of 'em, cuz he was a meat manager in one for so many years. Myself, I LOVE to grocery shop, and to look at all the new stuff they have, especially in the produce dept. Kathy said once when I was still the one that did all the shopping, when she went to the refrigerator to get a Pepsi, "What the hell is this? You guys must always go down the 'weird food' aisle!". Hmmmppphhh! Only because we had a bottle of green ketchup in the door...but you know what? My daughter ALWAYS used to love going to the grocery store with me, cuz as produce manager, I used to also run register when we got real busy, so I always got to see new stuff! So I was the one grabbing the new sugary cereal, new snack foods, etc! Oh, and new popsicles. Anyway, their main aisles are super-wide, so when Kevin was pushing his cart down one side, I speeded up the cart I was on, and did the rrrrrmmm-rrrrrrmmmmm up beside him! And told him I was doing my best Tony Stewart imitation...he just looked at me...I guess that's probably why I don't have a driver's license anymore, huh....
And this is WAY off the subject...but when we were in the store, there was a song by 'Wham' on Muzak. (you know, George Michael?). That took me WAY back to when I worked at the store up north. There was a guy that looked exactly like George Michael, even down to the super whie teeth, and the scruffy beard (mmmm)! When I'd see him come in the door of the store, I'd go back in my backroom & get on the intercom, & say "Rachel, to the produce aisle", and all the other girls I worked with would come over there, cuz they knew what I meant. (that was our code for 'you have GOT to hurry! this guy's HOT!!), cuz there wasn't a 'RACHEL' that worked there! Part of my job as produce manager was to go to the other stores in town Monday after I got the case set for the day, and do price checks on their produce, so I could keep my prices lower than them. (the shit we were allowed to do then!). The first store in town I headed to was Kroger. I was driving my little poopscooter ('80 brown Honda Accord) down the 4 lane main street, & looked at the car beside me, and it was him!! We smiled at each other & waved, then he started to drag race me, so we did that kid-stuff all the way down the street, til I turned off to go to Krogers. I went in and did all my price checks (took about a half-hour). Came out and headed to my car, and got there, and, oh my God, he was standing there, leaning against my driver's door!! I just walked up and said...uhhh..I'm not sure what I said, but I'm sure my tongue was hanging on the ground. We started introducing ourselves, and talking, then I said I should get back to work. And he said he'd follow me, cuz he lived close to it, and wanted me to stop by his apartment sometime...so maybe I should follow him, so I knew where he lived. So I did. And of course when we got there, he asked me in, I went, we kept talking, (that's all! well, he kissed me goodbye when I left) and I didn't get back to work as soon as the manager thought I would.....and he had had to unload the produce truck cuz I wasn't there. Boy, was he pissed! But when I told him where I'd been, he understood and laughed his ass off at me! That guy had asked me out for the next Saturday night to a bar in another town, but when I was unloading my truck Sat, I saw his car pull up out in the parking lot, and he came up to the door and met me outside carrying flowers, and gave them to me, & said he was sorry, but he couldn't go with me Saturday...he'd gotten back w/his ex-girlfriend. Grrrrrr! But I was gracious, told him it was ok....then went out that night to a bar in that town & got shit-face-drunk!! Sad ending, huh? ;-)
Very off the subject. See where a song can take me?
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

bitchy thoughts...

...Sergei Federov!

I'd like some different opinions on this, if it's not too much of a pain-in-the-ass? I talked to a friend of mine yesterday (no, not Kim!), and she's an old friend that's always been married to the same guy, and never worked, always been a stay-at-home mom, whereas I've been divorced, and never been a stay-at-home mom since Tiff was one. Basically, every time I talked to her since we've both had kids, she always made it clear that she thought that 'having a job' and 'raising kids' were two totally incompatible things. I always bit my tongue, never said shit about it, even though, you know me, I had shit to say about it coming out my friggin' ears!! But, I was polite...I knew someday "my way" would prove that I was right!
So, yesterday, she called me & was really mad at her daughter, who downloaded some illegal shit off the internet, & she got a big ol' letter from the company....etc...This is a 20 yr old girl, who has wrecked 2 cars, had really bad problems with a lot of people in high school, and of course the mom was always right there saying 'but it wasn't her fault!' Because the daughter was a cheerleader, a straight A student, etc...Man, do I know the shit you can get away with if you have straight A's!. So now the daughter's in college, living at home...somewhat, anyway, as I was told yesterday...
She's now dating a married-but-separated man (aren't they all?), and it actually seems to the mom that she's more or less living with him in his new apartment! But she comes home to do her laundry...and, I'm not sure, but I think Mom & Dad are paying for the part of college that she hasn't gotten a scholarship for...hmmm...
So, yeah, you KNOW I'm feeling all proud of Tiff now, seeing as I always told this woman it was better for her girl to not have Mommy right there over her shoulder, to jump in & 'handle' things for her. I dunno...it's just how I feel. I think part of the best things we ever taught Tiff was 'NEVER lie' and you'll never be able to say you only did something cuz this person or that person 'made you'!! We had those rules since she was, like, old enough to talk! Phheeewwww!! Glad we did, now it's actually been proven to me that it was the right way to go!
And, yup, she and Zach are still together, they went to a friend's wedding in Toledo last weekend, and Tiff caught the bouquet...God help us all! (HA!) No, I'd love this! I've told Tiff since she was in 10th grade that I thought Zach was the one she should've stayed with!! And it's really cool that now, when she's 22, she told me the other day "Oh, Mom, I love him SO much!!" We both decided that that's what their relationship needed...a few years apart! And she agrees! I told her "yeah...now you know what else is out there...run away from them!!" So he graduates from college in May with a double major, and after that, he's going to law school. His regular college was paid for with the full ride scholarship he got, now he's hoping for some kind of law school help, cuz he's in the top 20% of his class, and I was sittin' on this computer while he was on Tiff's across the room checking his exam grades........they were ALL A'S !!!!! Geez...brainiac...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

back for a minnit...

Okay. Kevin & Ken went to the hockey game last night, and it actually was a really good thing I hadn't planned on going, cuz I had 'intestinal issues'...'nuff said. I'm good today, though. I did watch the game on tv...and it SUCKED!! But only cuz we lost! The Red Wings are freakin' awesome! Which I already knew. I took Kevin to a Red Wings vs Buffalo at Joe Louis arena in
Detroit for out 5th anniversary. Now THAT was funny! It was so full it was standing room only tickets, this was right after we found out I had ms, and 'standing room only' at the Joe was okay, cuz I was still 'standing'! But what was funny was....there was a HUGE black guy standing next to me, he was really nice, but he was a little 'intimidating', cuz he talked to himself nonstop! At first I thought he was saying something to me, but when I said "I'm sorry, what?" all I got was a stare & a giggle!! So...picture Mr T giggling at you...
I took this test from http://ofcheeriosandqueens.blogspot.com/ website...I don't know how to put the test itself on here, so this is what I can do!

Your Life Path Number is 4
Your purpose in life is to build your vision.You are practical and responsible. You work hard, knowing that there are no shortcuts in life.You work for a better life for yourself and those you love, but you are not an idealist.Trustworthy and honest, you also demonstrate great courage. People can count on you.In love, you are a loyal and committed partner. You are the ideal spouse.You don't give up easily, and sometimes you can be too stubborn and unwilling to change.You also can be too conservative at times. You sometime miss out on good opportunities.Also remember that not everyone can work as hard as you, as disappointing as that is!

Wow. I just read that to Kev, and he laughed and said "Are you sure that's not MINE??" Hmph! But then I looked up his, and it describes ME more than him!! It's a #3, and says he's a 'social butterfly'. Huhhhhh?? He HATES people!! Not really, but he doesn't seek them out like I do. He's perfectly happy with the job he has at Verizon, not being a customer contact person anymore, but sitting by himself in a back room, making the center's webpages for sales and everything else! (smartyboots!).
Oh well, gonna go, nuthin' else is up!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

unavailable for the week...

Busy week this week! Kevin's on vacation this week, and his 40th birthday was yesterday, so we had a family party here last night. His mom & dad, Ken & Jill, Tiff & Zach, me & Kev (of course!), Kathy & the twins (Benji's in CA for work this week)...and food, and cake & ice cream (also of course!). So Kevin got tons of cool stuff, and I got him 2 tickets for himself & his brother to the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Detroit Red Wings hockey game in Columbus tomorrow night! I like to watch hockey, but I wouldn't wanna go to a game in a fuckin' wheelchair...it just sounds like a big fuckin' pain in the ass. I know exactly what happened the one time Kevin & I tried to go to a Nascar race with everybody else a few years ago...that was about a big joke...nobody's fault but the weather....and the idiotic parking places in a field full of mud, that, even if Kev & I would've tried to get my wheelchair out of the car, even if I wasn't sitting in it, could have never been pushed through the mud!!
Anyway, enough bitching. I'm gonna get off here, and go sit and read a book or something...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

tag answers for christine....and mary!

Ok, ok, I give up!! I guess I have to wake up and join the world, huh? ;-)

1) Hum a jingle of which you know all the words...
"A is for apple...J is for jacks..Cinnamon-toasty Apple Jacks..." (only us 'old folk' know that one, though...)
2) As a kid, you played a board game over and over. And you cheated, you little bastard. What was the game?
Oh, this hurts to admit!! I always had my friends come over to play Monopoly, when I was 10-ish...and I always WON...because "it's MY house, I have to be the banker!"
3) What is the song that you have been singing the incorrect words to all these years? What were you singing? What should you have been singing?
This is even more embarrassing :-( The first time I heard the song "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC, I was at a bar, drunk and dancing with my friends, and I was singing "Dirty jeans, dungarees!!". I honestly hope I played it off well enough, saying, "I was JUST fucking asround!! I was drunk, remember??".
4) What is the most embarrassing childhood story your parents drag out just to piss you off? (sorry...my parents never try to fuck with me, they just like to make me mad...)
I was in the dining room with Mom, I was about 3, and she was trying to call her friend, but she kept getting frustrated, and hanging the phone up, saying, "Oh! The line's still busy!", then she'd go clean up some more 'breakfast stuff', and come back to try the phone again. About the third time she headed for trhe phone, I piped up, "Mommy, the line's still busy." She looked at me like I was really weird, and said "How would you know that?", and I pointed out the window, because our old house had all kinds of wires & a clothesline in the backyard. There were a bunch of blue jays sitting on the clothesline, and I guess that's the line I thought she was talking about...I never understood why she laughed so much about it...until I got older!
4 Jobs I've Had
1. Mommy
2. Cashier At A Grocery Store
3. Assistant Head Cashier there
4. Produce Manager
5. Customer Service Rep with GTE
4 Places I've Lived
1. Massillon, Ohio
2. here
3. here
4. here (lived in two different towns in my life, don't even remember the first!!)
4 TV Shows I heart
1. Cold Case
2. CSI, CSI New York (Gary Sinese...mmmmm)
3. Without A Trace
4. Nanny 911
4 Places I Have Been on Vacation
1. London, England
2. Marco Island & Naples, Florida
3. Houston & Galveston, Texas
4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
4 Web Sites I Visit Daily
1. eBay
2. blogs!
3. my city's newspaper
4. MSN Gaming Zone
4 Favorite Foods
1. STEAK!!
2. Mexican
3. A Huge Tossed Salad with bleu cheese dressing
4. Sausage
4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Michigan
2. South Carolina
3. Pennsylvania
4. Anywhere But Here...
Names of 4 People I Do Not Heart
1. Angelina Jolie
2. Barbra Streisand
3. Ted Kennedy
4. Jane Fonda
....and too many others to list...

Okay, Mary & Christine! There it is...any more dirty laundry ya wanna know about??
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

more ancient work stuff

I'm thinking back to some of the other stuff that went on up at that store, cuz I think I grew up when I was there, and also learned that your job doesn't HAVE to suck! Well, I KNOW I grew up there! For God's sake, I was 20, & had a 1 1/2 year old baby at home to raise, where we lived in our own apartment, an hour away! This actually came to mind last night. Tiffany had M, her cousin (ya know the Dora the Explorer fan! She's 4) stay overnight last night so they could have one of their 'mini-slumber parties'. They went to Wal-Mart, cuz M forgot her toothbrush, so Tiff took her out there & they got a Barbie one! And Barbie toothpaste! There was a cop out there and he was fingerprinting kids, and giving them all kinds of safety stuff. He looked at Tiffany and said "Would you like to have your daughter's fingerprints done?" Tiff just about shit! She said "No, no, no!! She's my niece!! I'll tell my aunt about this, maybe she'll bring her back tomorrow and do it!" And when they got home, Tiffany was like "Dad!! I can't believe he thought she was MINE!! I'm only 22!!" I was sitting around the corner in the bedroom reading, and I just busted out laughing!! "Uhhhhh, Tiffany, guess what....when you were 4, just how old do you think I was?" She just stopped and stood still for a second...then she said "Man!! There is NO WAY I could do this!!" (phew!!)
Okay...on with some of the funny shit..
I was also in charge of checking all deliveries in, + doing the produce. That was neat, cuz I met all of the delivery drivers (pop, beer, Frito, etc...,). One of the women is still a great friend of mine, we email a lot! We always laughed and picked on each other all the time. I was up in the office, writing one of the beer guys a check in the office, and I dropped the pen. I bent over to pick it up, and he acted like a regular 25 year-old guy...put his hand on top of my head and acted like he was pushing it down!! (DICKWEED!). So I stood up all of a sudden, and said (real loud!) "Eric!! Stop that!!! You're gonna activate my gag reflex, and you DAMN SURE don't want that mess!!"

Another time, I was in the office again, writing a check. My other friends from other depts were up by the office waiting for me, so we could go to lunch. Then I realized that Bertha, the big fat bossy head cashier was on her way to the office. So, I threw the checkbook in there, (this safe was one of those big, huge enormous ones, if you're standing beside it, it's up to your chest!), and I crawled in after it, and closed the door with the lock on it. Bertha came lumbering heavily up the 2 or 3 steps, muttereing and bitching, she bent over to get some rolls of change out ("those stupid cashiers!!"). When she opened the safe door, I reached out and grabbed her arm! Damn, I NEVER knew a person could scream that loud. Or fall back on her ass so hard...(that's ok, she had a ton or two back there, anyway!). Oh shit, I gotta go, I'm laughing my ass off just picturing her again!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

long, long ago...when work was un-pc! (and much more fun!)

Does everybody remember work actually being FUN & SOCIALIZING?? Because that's what I always made my jobs be! I remember a long time ago, a cashier that worked at the same store as me, well, if she was talking, she was bitching about her job....one night when I was in charge, she was bitching, and I finally told her that if she hated her job that bad, well, nobody was begging her to stay...and if she just put all that energy into finding a job that didn't suck, she might find something better for herself...and, under my breath, as I turned away "and for us, too".Ya, she quit 3 days later, blaming it on the bitch in the produce dept! heheheh! But that was when I was at the store in "Fo-town", and I was only 21. haha She should've given me 20 years to hone my skills...
I had an assistant supervisor back in 1989-90, when I was working at our brand new store here in town (had transferred back in summer 89). And that was right around the time Kev & I started dating (but nobody knew we were yet!, cuz he was the meat manager & I was produce mgr...shhhh) So, my assistant supervisor was 'Woody' (no, not A Woody!). I pretty much started the 'ready-made salads' at our grocery stores in this town, before you could buy 'ready-made Dole salads' in a bag. Anyway...Woody & I were mixing up a salad in a great big 'lug', and then when we got done, I went over & got the plastic bowls & lids. I come back, and Woody's standing there looking at his hands..."God, it's just fucking amazing how clean your fingernails get when you're making a salad!!" Holy crap!! I thought I was gonna bust a GUT laughing!! I know, gross, right?
Then there was the time that he was there before I got there one morning, and started yelling at me cuz I was 5 minutes late. I just lost it, and said "Woody! You are the wet spot on the bedsheet of life, ya know??" And, miracle of miracles, he started laughing his ass off, and didn't fire me!! ....I quit 2 months later, when Kevin & I got married, though...then he actually got ahold of me when Tiff started selling Girl Scout cookies when she was in first grade, and bought a bunch! Never saw him or heard from him again, either. (maybe we shouldn't have spit on them, huh!?). Okay, got tons more stuff from all my old jobs, so I'll continue on them later...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

bitching...

Okay, it's a Monday, isn't it? So I feel justified in bitching...but only on Mondays!
I got up today at 10:30 am, didn't feel bad at all, so I got up & went out to the kitchen to get my freakin' medicine, like I do every morning! Vitamins, and all the ms meds, like dizzy pills, trembly hand pills, anti-seizure pill like dilantin, one that's supposed to make my legs less stiff, etc...So I got those, something to eat, some chocolate milk, and went back to bed to watch Dr Phil, and read. I kept feeling like I had to stretch, so that's what I did. Figured that maybe that was what I needed, cuz I'd had 8 hours of sleep, ya know? I did that, then went to get up again, so I could do some laundry or something. How-EV-er...my fucking legs would not bend!! Well, my knees. Anyway. I tried to think about what one of my meds coulda done that, and I'm blaming the 'Baclofen', for stiff muscles. I do know that a side effect of that stuff is to make your legs a bit heavier, so, like, when you walk, sometimes you have 'foot drop', and trip a little So now it's about 6:30 pm, and I'm feeling normal again (for a person with ms, anyway). I got worried before my legs got that stiff, and went back to the kitchen and took another lamictal (anti-seizure), cuz I had no idea what was up, and I DAMN sure don't EVER want another seizure! They're SCARY!! (that's what I hear, anyway.) Then Kevin called me from work on his first break around 1, and I told him what was up, he offered to come home for me (well, maybe for him! ;-D ), just kidding! But I said, no, I'm fine, I'll call your cell if something goes wrong, ok? And he told me that's ok...but just don't go and do anything stupid, or die, or anything, and if you fall down & bleed, DON'T BLEED ON THE CARPET, OKAY??
Hmmmmpphhh, again. So I went to the freezer & ate 1/2 of a half gallon of peppermint stick ice cream while I pouted at myself!
So, today, no cold, now my legs are fine, but Kev said I should stay sittin' on my ass tonite...who am I to argue with him??
BTW, I got this cool-ass catalogue in the mail Saturday, and I WISH it would've been here before Christmas!!
http://www.lighterside.com/website/store/promotion.asp?source_code=ql&AID=10274737&PID=1119829&SID=QX5xZ7jDNIEJjxqd7S6YpqJJ
check out their t-shirts!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

a little better...

Okay, I'm up...for a while, anyway...
So, here's what's up. I TiVo'd 'The Book Of Daniel' last night, and watched it this afternoon (I couldn't not watch it after seeing all the negative shit about it, ya know? I felt it was my DUTY to watch & review!). I thought it was funny, and I really don't see what's so offensive to some people. After all, ya know, it's ONLY A TV SHOW, RIGHT? Truthfully, I happen to find people like, oh, say, Pat Robertson, a whole LOT more offensive! Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to find a whole lot of people who are deeply religious can't laugh at anything. And that, more than anything else, keeps me away from organized religion. And whether I'm right or wrong, I don't want to be somebody that never, ever laughs. The whole world seems to have lost a lot of that ability lately, and I refuse to! Cripes, if I walked around like a sourpuss with a chip on my shoulder, & looking for everything WRONG in the world, I'd probably go off on a total rampage on everyone!!
Okay, with that out of the way...
I DID have a little bit of fun yesterday, before I gave up on 'being strong' and fighting my cold.I had a $75 Amazon.com certificate that was begging to be spent...so, I HAD to do that. Otherwise, the person that gave it to me for Christmas would've thought I was an ungrateful bitch, & I can't have that! heheheh...That got me five books on the way. & I'll finish off my gift cards Monday, with eBay, WalMart, & Victorias Secret.com!
I'm pretty hungry for ice cream right now, the only thing is, I'm really pissed off at myself, because I was sitting on the bed reading, & went and grabbed a pint of mint choc chip ice cream out of the freezer (it was still sealed), and took it back in the bedroom, sat back on the bed with a spoon and my book ('Vector' by Robin Cook, if anyone's interested), and ate every single bit of it! And was scraping the bottom, & bitching cuz it was the last pint of that flavor I had in there!! Then I looked at the container, and it said (well, it didn't say it...I read it!) "servings per container-4" WTF??? That's SO wrong!! As I see it, servings per container was ONE!! Hmmmmpppphh....
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

day off...

This is a buncha bullshit! I woke up last night at 3:30 am because I sneezed, and I've had every single symptom of a cold since then, except coughing! So, I'm going back to bed! Play nicely among yourselves while I'm gone, and I better not hear anybody being a tattletale when I come back! Toodles!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

today...

Alright....can everybody get a good look at this?? Kim was over today, and must've decided to leave her signature of trouble on our nativity set...
Last week I (yes, me, & my clumsy-ass hands!)knocked over one of the 3 Wise Men...and his head must've hit just wrong, and it just snapped off clean! So today, Kim's over there looking at the set & stuff, and I heard her start laughing our old evil laugh (hasn't changed in 25 years!), then she came walking back into the living room, still giggling. I was asking what was so funny, and she launched off into this big old loooooonnnnnnnggggg story about something her middle boy had done, and it WAS funny as hell, so we sat here & just rolled around laughing about all kinds of stupid shit. We sat around here bs-ing for a couple more hours, then she had to go, so we said see ya...
I came back in to the dining room and just stood here looking around, seeing if I could figure out what the hell she'd been laughing at. Then I walked over & looked at the nativity set, really close, and saw that the Wise Man I had knocked over was still standing there, minus head, which, last I'd seen was laying on the fake snow in front of him, but now, was on another Wise Man's hands, as if it were an offering or something!! I swear, I just laid down right there, and almost died laughing! Then later I called Kim & gave her hell for doing that! I told her that God probably would look & see that, & think I'd done it or something!! Damn! She's getting good at this stuff (in her old age! shhhh!).
Okay, I'm done for the night.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

hilda...

We used to have a maid/cleaning lady that came to our house once a week when I was a kid & hung out with Kim all the time...(age 12 - on). In that big 3 story house, the one Kim peed out the attic window, remember?
She used to show up every Thursday, and just scrub, and clean everything! Wow...wish I had one of those! Oh, I do! Kevin! (that's not funny, I know!). Anyway, her name wasn't even Hilda (but that's just funny, & how we referred to her...behind her back!). In the summer, Kim stayed with me practically nonstop, except when we wanted to go swimming in her pool. (we WERE little shits, remember?). Mom used to tell me to go get my room cleaned up (like, pick my junk up off the floor in my room) starting about Tuesdays when I got home from school...yeah, it would take that long. I would always say "Well, isn't Carol the cleaning lady?? Why should I clean? That's what you pay HER for!!" My God, I should've been slapped! Hmmmm...can everybody say "Spoiled little bitch"? All together now...
Every Thursday morning arround 10, Carol'd knock on my door, and bellow loudly, "Are you up yet, girls? I need to run the vacuum cleaner in there, and do the dusting!" And we'd get up & head for the bathroom with loud stretches & groans, of course....
One Saturday night we watched "Saturday Night Live". You know, back in ther late 70's/early 80's, when it was good!!!! IMHO, of course!! They had a skit on there called 'The Holiday Inn Horror'. Now THAT was funny! So, when Carol knocked on the door that Thursday, of course we looked at each other & died laughing, whispering "I clean now!!" like the Hilda in the SNL thingy!! Okay...you all hate me now, dontcha>? I somehow got blessed...Tiffany NEVER was like that with me! Except the one time when she was 15, and I told her how to do something (being helpful, not bossy!), and she got the teenager's attitude and said, "Maybe next you could teach me to walk on water?" I surprised her by not getting mad...but laughing, and giving her a hi-five!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

mice & stuff....

Okay...we're still not done with the 'takedown' of Christmas stuff. Kevin got the tree and everything in the living room done yesterday, and Tiff and Zach's gonna have to get outside & do that soon. But Zach wanted to watch all the football on yesterday. The first picture up there is a picture of the mice that we bought at Meijer about 13 years ago. They're on a little electric string, and they play about 20 Christmas songs in a row by hitting their bells(not BALLS!)hehehe. Anyway, I just started thinking about it, and I've never seen anything like this any more!! The next one is a Far Side cartoon (Gary Larson). I have even more of his books than I do of Calvin!
Okay, I guess I better get to the real shit now. On July 4, 1979, Kim & I went to the fairgrounds here in town with my mom & dad, to watch the fireworks. We had fun, but after it was over, we told Mom & Dad we were gonna walk home, ok, pleeezzeee??? So, they let us...(huh?).That was weird, cuz it was all the way across town, and we WERE only 14!! No, I'm not blaming them AT ALL!! Trust me, we were little bitches, and I sure wouldn't have wanted to be with us! Would you??
We promised to be back at my house at midnight, & walked off. (checking out every cute guy we went past, & then turning around & checking the "rear view"!). We were almost to the front of the fairgrounds when we saw 5 or 6 guys walking the same way, & I totally zoned in on one! He was so way hot! We walked closer to them, and I (yeah, me...) 'accidentally on purpose' ran into the last one, who looked the oldest and was kinda cute, but nothing like the one I liked! Whose name was actually Kevin, too. So we all decided to walk to this one playground behind an elementary school that was across the street from that Kevin's mom & dad's house. We were just chasing each other around and playing on the trees & swings & stuff. And then some of the guys pulled out their firecrackers and started lighting them & throwing them at each other! What happened after that was like a preview of what happened 2 or 3 yrs later with Hermie! That Kevin threw a firecracker in a big metal barrel. We all covered our ears & waited, but....no ka-boom! Steve (another of the guys we knew from school), finally walked over to the trash can, picked it up. and stuck his head down in it....BOOOMMM!!!! We all jumped, and I asked Steve if he needed to go dump out his pants...Yeah, anyway...we walked the, ummmm, mile or so, to a big scary building across the street from my house. Kevin grabbed my hand and we walked over behind the building...and we just stood there and kissed for about a half hour. Then we went back to everyone else & I told 'em we had to get home. Kim looked at me, and yelled, "God! You look like you just got laid!!" Grrrrr! I was only 14, for heaven's sake!!! So, Kevin & I exchanged phone numbers, and went home. And for the next 2 yrs, I was hooked! Not so for him...that began my 'career' of being fucked around on...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

old stuff...

I know this happens to everybody, right? You smell a certain cologne you recognize, or you hear a song that used to be a BIG part of your life, and you close your eyes & you're right back there. When I listen to a song by 'Foreigner', I'm automatically 21 years old (ok...stop the smartass remarks!), and working at a grocery store again. And, I know almost nobody will get this, but I've got some Foreigner music blasting here (thank God nobody's home!), and I just went out to the kitchen to load up a bowl of ice cream, and opened the freezer...had my head stuck in it, and all of a sudden I smelled "freezer air"! No, not stinky, just...frozen air! I opened my eyes, and it was really like I WAS in the old freezer, in the first store we worked at, behind the meat department, unloading gallons of ice cream and stacking them on a cart so I could take them out for sale. And I was thinking about the really hot guy with the cute little ass working on the other side of the wall. That was (oh, I forgot...that's Kevin!) before I knew Kevin's name! I knew Ken then (Kev's little brother...the #2 son...'the shitty one', as he, & I'm sure, Jill refer to him...;-) . I helped out with stocking the frozen food for a year or so...fun...sometimes!
I still have dreams that I'm working there or shopping there about every month. Even though that store isn't there anymore.
We all used to have fun there, like on breaks & lunches! I'll never forget the meat managers that used to work at the store sometimes, when one of us would walk past, they'd yell "Go get lunch! I'll buy if you fly!". HA! What girl with no money would say no? One day, a bunch of us were sitting back there on lunches, and we were all picking on Phil, a stockboy, (Tiffany was only about 1 and 1/2...she always called him Pickle. He was the hairiest little troll I have ever seen in my life!! But he was a nice high school kid). We were laughing at Phil cuz he had a reputation for the fact that he never had money on him, but, he would eat anything for a dollar! I had just taken over the produce dept, and had gotten finished unloading my produce truck, and flopped down on a seat back there. Then Ken (or somebody) dared Phil to eat one of the jalapenos I'd just unloaded a case of. After some heavy-duty negotiations, Phil said "I'll do it for $5.00!". And, of course, we each chipped in a dollar...especially me, because I KNEW exactly what just touching the outside skin to a cut on my hand did! He picked up the biggest, ugliest pepper out of the case, and, after making a big show, held it up & bit into it! Just imagine a guy's hair & face catching on fire, and his eyeballs burning & running down his face. Yup, that was Phil. Then he jumped up and ran over to my big produce sink, where I had a case of trimmed celery soaking, and plunged his whole head into it!! That was just the beginninng of the fun I had there!! Nobody has EVER laughed that hard or loudly!! Poor Phil...although we DID pay him...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

kim & i

Okay. Before I start on the shoe story, I need to get the picture of Jesus' birthday cake, & the Dora the Explorer tent on here! (and, yeah, those are my smokes...).

Before Kim & I were driving, we walked EVERYWHERE, just miles, all over town. One day we walked over to the north end, which we really hadn't been that way before. We were almost out of town, right by the railroad tracks, when all of a sudden, Kim grabbed my arm, and said "What the HELL is THAT??" We both stopped, and looked up to the top of a telephone pole out by a field, and, of course, almost got turned into strawberry jam in the middle of the road by the semi we had neglected to look for before we walked out in the middle of the street. (remember the song...'stop, look, and listen before you cross the street'? we didn't...). We walked across the street/road (it's kinda both), and tried to look closer, but the pole was out by a barn in the middle of a field. So we stood there and looked & looked...finally figured out it was a pair of plain brown or black men's workshoes, nailed sideways up there about 4 feet from the top of it! Now THAT was weird! We talked about that forever after that, trying to figure out what the hell was up with that. Finally, one day at school (I was a freshman), I was telling my friends there about it, and one girl started dying laughing. No kidding, she actually DID fall down on the floor in the middle of the hall, and people had to step over her, go around...she said she knew exactly where that was and why they were there! And she would tell us at lunch...

At lunch, she said her brother had told her a few years ago the story behind them. It seems that someone in their family had known the guy whose shoes those were a generation back. They had worked on that farm together for a long time, picking crops, taking care of the animals, all that 'farm stuff'. But one day, 'shoe guy' wasn't working there anymore, and nobody knew why. Until they found out a few days later...the farmer had come outside one night cuz he heard his dogs barking, and found 'shoe guy', ummmm, violating a sheep in the middle of the barnyard!! The farmer kicked 'shoe guy's' ass, and took his shoes, made him leave, fired him, then the next day took the shoes up to the top of the pole beside the barnyard, and nailed them up there, swearing that they would be there forever, as a warning to any other asshole that thought they'd get away with ANY of that shit at HIS farm!! There it is. I know it sounds like an urban legend or something, but, honestly, it's TRUE!!

A couple other monetary thingys to say...

I've been on SS disability since 1999, and usually don't see any kind of check or anything, it's always direct deposited. But I just got a statement last week that I actually looked at! And, lo and behold, they're holding back $84 a month for Medicare! Turns out it's been held out every month since 2001! Cuz I called there last week, and talked to a guy about it. I've NEVER used Medicare, always have had Kevin's good insurance from his job! You're just automatically put on Medicare after you've been on disability for 2 years! So we got it straightened out, he said he'd take the charge off. Then I kinda laughed and said "I s'poze there's no way to get a refund for that, is there?" Nope, there isn't...sure wish there was, though...can you imagine how much that would be? 5 yrs at $84 a month....Arrrrrrrggggghhhh!!

Also...I never bitch about gas prices...why should I give a shit? I can't drive anymore!! But....our gas heating budget went up a couple months ago....from $145/month to...$259/month! Yes, you heard me! That's the budget, which means we pay that every month, all f'n year!! Then we have to add the electric, cable, phones, etc...!! Damn, where's a good cave we could move into?

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Christmas day....

Christmas morning was funny this year! From the time Tiff was little, she used to yell down the stairs for us to get up, so she could go in the living room and see if Santa showed up last night. Of course, that was always at 5:30 am, and we were tired, cuz we had been up all night doing the stockings, arranging her presents, etc. But she's ALWAYS come downstairs before 6 am on Christmas. But this year, we got to sleep til 9:30! Then Tiff came downstairs, and laid across our bed (on top of our legs! Smoosh!!). Then Truman came in & jumped up & laid down on my legs too. That was it, no more 'family bed' for me! We got up, exchanged presents with each other (we ALL got really cool presents!). I got Kevin a ton of gift cards to Best Buy, we got Tiff clothes, cell phone gift certificate, etc...they gave me clothes, tons of stuff!
We went to Kev's mom & dad's about 11:30, and got ready to eat breakfast (they always make a huge breakfast for everybody, cuz we need to keep our strength up to open all the presents!). Then Ken walked in from the back porch with a little round birthday cake, so we all sang our happy birthday dear Jesus! That's become a tradition in the last few years! And, no, we aren't doing it 'disrespectfully' or anything. As a matter of fact, I'd bet Jesus is laughing, too! Then we go in the living room, and it's so full of presents, you can hardly walk! It takes us about 4 or 5 hours to open everything, cuz we take turns, and go one present at a time, and this year, the twins are 4, so they are REALLY fun! They got to pick who opens a present next. And everybody absolutely LOVES to buy presents for them! HowEVer...by the time anybody else gets to, Kat & Benji already have bought them everything in the world!! But...Tiffany is really good at picking stuff out for them, especially for the 'girl twin'! Actually, I think she just picks what SHE wants to play with ;-) .They're looking forward to their next 'slumber party', because Kev & I gave M a Dora The Explorer tent..and that thing is SO huge! It said it fits 4 people in there, but, honestly, we had the twins & about 4 adults in there! We actually took a good 4 hours to open presents, and Kev's mom & dad made dinner after that! His mom & dad are both great cooks, and his dad really likes to cook, he does that just for fun!! He's always bringing over food! Which is good, cuz I don't cook!!
Tiffany got a game for Christmas that I haven't gotten to play yet. We'll probably have to all get together and do that soon..it's called 'Apples To Apples' , and Tiff says 'it's the funnest game ever!!' Of course, she was real excited about the 'Newlyweds-Final Season' dvds I gave her too...

I just put a picture of a game I forgot to ask for up there...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Okay...I'll get to 'The Shoes At The Top Of The Telephone Pole' tomorrow...

Christmas hangover...

...and I only drank, like, a half a glass of wine on Christmas eve at my mom & dad's house!! And I need to make sure I call my dad tonight, cuz, guess what...he's 88 today! Quite amazing! It's kinda funny, when we get talking, he rambles on about 'the good old days' when he was a big-shot at a big company, did a lot of traveling, etc (he really mustve been awful to work for, though, cuz NOBODY he used to work with for the company he retired from has EVER called him, they never get together, nothin'!)...hopefully, that gene skipped me...Naw, he's the only person who can remember as much stuff from his "ago " as I can! Down to names, dates, who he met when he went to Pittsburgh in 1974 and he took me to the Pirates baseball game...
So Tiffany & Zach & I went to my mom & dad's Christmas eve (that's when my family gets together for Christmas), and, surprisingly, it was fun. Usually, there's dirty looks between my oldest brother & everyone else (except Mom!)...he's just a whole 'nother story all by himself. I hope nothing with him ever gets as bad as I'm afraid it will someday, so I don't hafta blog about him! Kevin stayed home Sat evening to wrap my presents, and get the house cleaned up (anal!!). I DID offer to stay & help wrap, but, well, that went over like a lead balloon...When Tiff, Zach & I walked in through Mom & Dad's garage, Zach looked over & saw Dad's big old Buick sitting there (Dad doesn't drive anymore...he can't friggin see!), Zach kinda started giggling and said in a low voice "Whoa! What a pimp-mobile!" My dad bought the car new, it's a 1984! And...it has over 200,000 miles on it!! When Dad came out & opened the door to let us in, Tiffany (she inherited the smartassness from me, remember?) said "Zach likes your car, Grandpa." OMG!! For the next 3 hours we were there, along with the other 20+ people, Dad kept seeking Zach out, asking him if he wanted to buy the car, extolling its virtues to him, etc. Dad was telling him he'd let him buy it for only $1,200! I can't even imagine how that poor guy had to feel by the time we left! Naahh, he handled it well. But I made him drive home, cuz Tiff & I both had some wine. My niece absolutely LOVES wine (she just turned 28), and she was carrying the bottles around, encouraging everyone 'drink, drink!' She is almost an identical twin to me! (except WAY younger!) Seriously, people have come up to her at work & asked her if she knows me, if she's related to me. Now THAT'S funny! Even Tiffany said how she looks more like me than Tiff does! We were talking about how Kim & I used to pick on C when she was little. One time when she was about 1 1/2, I taught her what to say when Kim said "What's in your diaper?" "Turdballs!" with a big happy, proud smile. Unfortunately, my parents did NOT see the humor in it. :-( So Dad taught her to say "Sunshine" instead of turdballs. Boooo!
So that was Christmas eve, and it was fun. Mom & Dad got Kevin a Columbus Blue Jackets sweatshirt & hat. Yup...we're hockey fans too. We did like the Detroit RedWings, but figured we should like a local team if they ever got one. Now, if they'll just get their shit together & WIN!! But I have faith in Sergei Federov, he'll kick their asses into shape! (plus, he's so damn cute! shhhhh!). I'll write about Christmas day tomorrow...ya know, over at Kevin's mom & dad's, where we all joined hands around the table before breakfast and sang 'Happy Birthday, dear Jesus...' before breakfast....
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

it's all coming together...

This is really starting to get exciting! I feel like I'm one of the little kids before Christmas! I can never sleep the night before Christmas, it's almost as hard as it used to be when Mom & Dad used to take me and a friend to Cedar Point, and we never could go to sleep the night before...

Today went SO freakin' awesome! Someone's knocking on the door every day 2 or 3 times a day to deliver boxes (Fed-Ex, UPS...), and I usually have seen that driver, so they know my balance is too bad to carry the box, so they bring it in for me. I know this isn't the thing to do, but, this house is, like, the poster-child of conspicuous consumption-ism this year. This has almost never happened, we're usually just not like this...but, I hafta admit, it's fun. Okay, okay, trust me, if the choice was mine, I'd be the one that went to work at a retail store (I am the merchandising/buying queen for the produce department, and Kevin used to be the king of it all in the meat departments) [ergo....we got married]. But, hey, you hafta play the cards you were dealt, huh? So, for the most part this year, I take care of whatever needs done around here, on the phone, etc. However...Kevin pulled off the biggest thing he could this morning! Every morning, he always checks certain stores' websites, to see if they have the x-box 360 in. Usually it never is. But today, I'm layin' in the bed watching 'Sylvia Browne Wednesday' on Montel, & I hear Kev say "woohoo! It'll be here tomorrow!!" He just happened to check the Circuit City website, and they had them!! So, for sure he'll have plenty to do this weekend! Especially cuz he's off Monday! Yes, everybody, he's been planning for this since early summer, so this is one of those 'plus' presents...And, while I was in the shower this morning, the girl Tiff used to work with at Maurice's called, and said the coat we ordered for Tiff was in, she was unloading it then! So Kev's gonna go pick that up in a couple hours. It's, just, everything's going almost TOO good. Kinda like when you're holding a rubber band, stretching it back, back, back, it's working, ya know? And all of a sudden, it snaps & hits you right in the eyeball! I'm just waiting for the 'eyeball hit', if you will. I hate pessimism....

Okay...done for today...remind me later, the next 'Kim story' has to be done. It's called "The Shoes At The Top Of The Telephone Pole".

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

C'mon, Christmas!!

Here are the rules The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits of yourself" and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says "You are tagged" (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

Okay...I'll play...but first, some Calvins....
Well, okay, they're up there....which is not exactly what I had planned, but...
My kinda weird habits...in no particular order..
5. Open the window blinds in the morning to get some light in here..this house is so dark sometimes, you think you're in a cave.
4. I hafta agree with Kimmyk on this one...when getting dressed, socks go on before the jeans! It's just wrong the other way...
3. I have probably hundreds of books around here, good hardcovers to ratty old paperbacks I bought off eBay, and I will NEVER EVER let any of them go!! They're my 'old friends'. If I feel like reading (always!), I'll reread them over & over, even if I almost have it memorized!!
2. In my opinion, 'grunge rock garage bands' became the downfall of the rock that made this country great! Think about it...from Elvis, & the Beatles, and on...they were the happy songs we all rocked out to!! In the eighties, most songs, if not all, were about sex, drugs, partying....FUN STUFF!! Fast forward to late 90's...Nirvana, etc...in other words, the impression I get is there's a lot more whining than enjoying of how great life can be if they shut up & do something worthwhile!
1. Holy shit. Where did THAT rant come from?? Well, I guess losing track of everything CAN BE a bad habit...oh, I remember where I was going with that...Other than a whole lot of 80's music, I have maybe one other one..."Hollaback Girls....bananas!"
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!
...and, please, anyone who hasn't done this yet, please, please do!!

birthday/Christmas week

some birthday pictures...
First, I have to say that I have truthfully never, ever had a better birthday in my LIFE!! Kat made me the big thick fleece blanket with the lighthouse, Kev gave me the black jacket with the green lining (it kinda matches my eyes)
..+ all kinds of other stuff! The whole party makes me wanna bawl thinking about it, so I think I better stop here...

Geez...none of the Calvins are going where I want them to! Waaaahhhhh! And I set them on large, but I know they're kinda hard to read.
What I miss a whole lot from being a produce manager in grocery stores is all the holidays...Christmas being one of the best! I was always the person who made the fruit baskets for people. They would come and find me, talk to me about what they wanted, who it was for...everything! But now, if you want to order a fruit basket, you go to the store, and look at their brochure that shows all the kinds and prices...THIS is progress?? Okay, I'll admit it right here and now...I LIKED the way stuff used to be done when I worked at stores in the 80's...(the good old days!) You know, politically incorrect and all! Get a backbone!! (more on this later)!!! No, one of the most fun baskets I made was when I was in northern OH. The woman who wanted it was a delivery driver, so I saw her a few times a week. And we have the same sense of humor...+she has a sister named Libby, but she said I was so much cooler...;-). So she told me it was gonna be for one of her neighbors out by her farm, who have big dogs, horses, etc! And she'd pay whatever, as long as I made it look good! So...I put all kinds of grapefruits, oranges, tangelos, apples, pecans, walnuts, bananas....and then topped it all off with bags of baby carrots for the horses, and big dog bones!! FUN to make!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

no time for an old story today..,.

above...this is why you should never, never, fart in a wetsuit...


Just doing this out of habit today, got lots to do today..I'll be 41 tomorrow, but Kev's whole family + my mom are all coming over tonite for...pizza, party, double chocolate torte, peppermint stick ice cream, and....PRESENTS, PRESENTS, PRESENTS!!! *LOUD HAND CLAPPING & YELLING!* I've NEVER seen a family so close & loving, & I am so blessed to be loved by them...
Okay. All I have time for is the daily "Calvin"
Well, that hardly worked out...gotta do something else too...
Enjoy! BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

BTW...Kevin is still 39 for another month!! Boy, do I hear about that...

Another BTW...if I got it in here right, please click on the JibJab video...Republican or Democrat, you WILL LAUGH YOUR ASS OFF!!

another vacation with kim...

...and my parents & me...

Mom & Dad decided we should all go to Seven Springs ski resort & lodge one time, in Pennsylvania, but nobody was even interested in skiing, had never done it, never wanted to do it, nothing! Oh. Which is probably the reason we went in the autumn, when the trees were so beautiful, that even as smartass, bitchy 14 or 15 year olds, we were amazed, and spent all kinds of time walking through the woods together, pointing out the best trees, etc. Then we'd go in to the restaurant and meet mom & dad for dinner, then we'd all go out to the huge lobby area in the middle, and sit in front of the huge fire in the stone fireplace in the middle of the room, and drink hot chocolate for a couple of hours. That was some good times. We even all got along, just talked about what we'd all done that day, and we weren't even bitchy!! (way out of character for Kim & I!)

So, after that, Kim & I would go back to our (separate, again!) room, and get our bathing suits on and go downstairs to the big indoor pool, and swim til it closed around midnight...and, of course, flirt with every even kinda cute guy that was down there too. One night late in the week, the night before we were going home, we met a couple of really cute guys (18 year old guys, of course...or so they said, anyway), and when the pool closed, they walked us back to our room (how gentlemanly, huh?), so we asked them in and we all still sat around bullshitting for another few hours...and nobody even had beer! We finally decided it was geting really late, and it was time for them to go, but they gave us their addresses (fake, I'm sure!) and told us to write them (ya, right!). Then after we each had our kiss-fest with our guy, they told us their room number and left. And we sat on our beds and swooned over those dreamy older guys who really, really liked us, and were interested in us!! OMG!! How stupid and lucky can 2 young girls get?? They may have been 30 year old rapists who planned to axe-murder us after the rape festivities were done...

The next day, while Mom & Dad were checking out, Kim remembered that she'd forgotten to give her address to 'her guy' . So, while they were busy checking out, we ran to the other side and found their room. Knocked, nobody answered, so....Kim dug a key or a pen or something out of her purse, and, in all her infinite wisdom, actually carved her first and last name and address on the big, heavy, beautiful door!! We totally died laughing, and I even took a picture of it! (which, sadly, has been lost...)

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

what'll it be, what'll it be??

I think I need to put these on here, one a day...actually, maybe more, cuz I just counted, and I have 13 more, so I'll hafta do 2 one or two days.

My parents let me have Kim go with us on lots of short vacations, mostly because they felt pretty bad, cuz by then I was the only kid that went with them, my brothers were both older, moved out, had their own lives...
So, once, my parents took me & Kim to Gatlinburg for about a week. And Kim & I had a room by ourselves, totally separate from Mom & Dad's! And we were 15! Does anyone smell trouble here? There was a balcony overlooking a river right off our room, it was really neat! Then, if you turned around and walked through the room out our front door of the room, and (we were on the second floor) went down a flight of stairs, and you ended up looking right at a big outside pool! So one time when we were on the balcony looking at the river, we were also checking out the guys who were in the hotel across the river. There were about 4 of them and they were playing ZZTop really loud (the song 'Party On The Patio' & the rest of that tape). All of a sudden, one of the guys lifted up his beer, and yelled "Come on over!" So, of course, Kim & I looked at each other, whispered 'beer', and shrugged our shoulders, and yelled "Give us a minute!" (you know, fix our hair, makeup, change our clothes....). Then we knocked on Mom & Dad's door and told them we were going to go walk around downtown, we'd be back for dinner...and they said ok!! Just the perfunctory "Be careful, girls, and stay together so nothing happens." Oh my God, how lucky have we been all our lives? "Stay together" was what always got us INTO trouble!!
We ran down the stairs, looked at the pool and decided we had to use it later, then took off to try to find the bridge over the river. We found it, went over, and found the hotel and the room # they'd told us. We got there and it WAS a party on the patio! Walked in, first thing they shoved a beer in each of our hands! THEN we all exchanged names, ages, and where we were from. They were all down from Cincinnati, cuz they had just graduated (that was way before people's parents would pay for a trip for their kids to go to Cancun, Florida, Aruba...). We sat there and bullshitted, and drank for a few hours, then we had to get back to meet in the restaurant for dinner. One of the guys was really cute (yes, I remember his name...but it goes to the grave with me!). Anyway, we made plans for him to come over to our room at midnight, and maybe bring this other guy, whose name was JuneBug (huh??), at least that's what they called him...(remember, they WERE 18, and that was cool.). Okay, gonna try to make this long story short(er)...after we went to dinner with my parents, and told them how much FUN it was walking around all of downtown Gatlinburg (heh heh), we said we were going back to our room to just lay around and watch tv, we were tired from all the walking around we'd done that day *with appropriate yawning and stretching*. The guys came over and knocked on the door (quietly!) at midnight....with more beer! We all took a beer, then sneaked down to the pool outside. There was a sign that said no swimming after 11 pm...but, #1, there was just a puny little waist-high metal gate, and it just had a lock that slid back & forth...not really a lock, just a latch. and #2, well, we weren't really planning on swimming per se, just getting in the water and, well, acting like, ummm, dumbass teenagers, skinny-dipping & stuff! Just quietly! After we got done messing around in there and we got away with it, JuneBug said he was going back to his room, and left. Kim & **** & I went back to our room, and went in quietly, cuz mom & dad's room was right next door (no connecting door, thank goodness). We all just sat there watching tv and Kim & I still had our same beers drinking them (ya, we were lightweights...then!). Eventually, **** and I ended up over on my bed making out...all very well and good til Kim walked up behind *** and stood there making faces and waving at me over his shoulder. Hint...to absolutely kill any romantic mood on the guy's part, start laughing in his mouth while he's kissing you, finishing off with a good strong bite of his tongue. Especially when he pulls away and asks, angrily, 'what's so funny!!?', and you two try to tell him 'we're not laughing at you, but...hohohahaha...well, she hohohohohohahahahaha!' For sure, he'll get really pissed, and get up and say 'gotta go, bye'. And my mom & dad thought I didn't know how to stay safe on my own! Pee-shaw!! Anyway, it was a great week! Mom just said something about Gatlinburg a few years ago, and she said "I listened all night because I thought you two'd sneak out or something." I didn't tell her 'we didn't HAVE TO sneak out...we snuck somebody IN!!'
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Here Are Your Results:
Life:
7.4
Mind:
7.8
Body:
7.3
Spirit:
6.8
Friends/Family:
6.9
Love:
9.1
Finance:
6

Well, this is pretty good, right??
http://www.monkeyquiz.com/life/rate_my_life.html
LibbY!

snow...

Well, just like I thought. We got maybe 3 or 4 inches last night (of snow!) So, I'm picking up on the bad Christmas presents..okay, that's the book &, ummmm...paperweight, and t-shirt that I don't want...as a matter of fact, I honestly don't know anyone that would want ANY of these things! I can think of LOTS of people I'd love to give them to (you know who, Jill??), but I really don't have any extra to spend on this stuff...
Anyway, as soon as the first snow hits every year, I always remember the years I worked an hour north of here, and drove it every day (nope, Kim's not in this one...she's never worked after she got married). Before Kev & I got married, or even thought about dating, I used to get up every morning at 5:30 am, and look out the window to see how much it had snowed the night before. If it looked deep, I'd call the State Highway Patrol, and ask how rt 23N was...however, soon I learned...no matter how much snow there was, they'd always say "snow covered and slippery". Actually, I learned that the first time I tried it. I went anyway, after I dropped Tiffany off at her babysitter's here in town. I got out to 23 N, and it was totally clear! All it had was some snow blowing across the road, but that was nothing! The only time I really remember it being bad was in January/February 1994. I've almost always had a job that was at least an hour away from where I've lived, cuz I always LOVED to drive! (see the irony here, anybody?). In early 1994, when I started a job as produce manager in Findlay (the BEST town in Ohio!), the first week I was driving up there, it was so snowy & windy (yes, State Hwy patrol had said "snow covered and slippery" when I called that morning too...obviously I gave them just as much regard as I had 10 years before :-)
As I was leaving the next county, I actually saw a semi-truck, on its side on the edge of the road!! I've seen shit-tons of things when I was driving, but...I'dve never thought that would happen!! In that January/February, I saw 4 trucks like that on 23! Musta been awful for those drivers!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

winter, 2005

our empty stockings!!

Mine, Kevin's, & Tiffany's!

and here's more...one's Jenga, the spoiled-ass dog in the leopard-skin carrier, one's out the window, waiting for the 'white death' (snow, grocery store lingo cuz everyone wants white stuff...bread, milk, etc)...our tree that Tiff & Zach put up & decorated the other day...no, seriously, I guess Jenga's cute...I'm just not a 'dog fan'...

I told Kevin last night that they're promising 5 to 8 inches of snow tonight...and 'Honey, isn't that just like a guy? They promise you 8 inches, and then you get 2...' All that got me was a dirty look...I guess guys DO stick together...

Okay...I get my intravenous steroids starting next Monday, for 3 days. Yuck, that's gonna hurt...but I know I'll feel better for a few months when it's done...

I'm STILL waiting for the snow...it was supposed to start at about 3pm here, but....

So....I've started Christmas shopping for Kevin, but we're supposed to start thinking about Tiff & everyone else tonight...errrggghhh! The only thing Tiff's asked for is a new cell...the only problem is, the one she wants is $400.00!! Oh well...'it's only money, we get more next week' as I was told by someone years ago. Good thing she's an only child! She asked Santa for a baby brother or sister when she was sitting on his lap when she was 7 or 8! He looked at us and HO-HO-HO'd once or twice, and told her she'd probably have to talk to 'Mommie & Daddie' about that!! Holy crap!! Boy, did we hear about that for awhile! But when she realized where babies came from, she asked me, when she was about 12 or 13 (lovely ages, huh?), "So..when are you gonna shoot out another baby, Mom?"

Anyway...nothing else up here...I'll continue the list of stuff I don't want tomorrow...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Kim and I...Dec 6, 2005

Okay, first of all I HAVE to put this on here...

If you look really close, you can see Jenga sitting on Santa's lap...however, don't tell anyone I put this picture on here (she's rather shy, you know?).

All right...back to the original programming...

Last night I called Kim, and she immediately said she was just thinking about calling me, because my birthday's pretty soon. We do live in the same town still, so we talk on the phone almost every day...except around Christmas, when we're both busy. So...she was telling me that she had gone to visit someone at the nursing home yesterday, and she was kinda upset about it. Not because the woman wasn't being treated right, at all, but because Kim walked in at the wrong time and saw the old lady naked & trying to get herself dressed after her bath, cuz she had told the nurse to 'leave me alone! i can do it!' I guess this woman is starting to show early signs of Alzheimer's, which Kim and everybody else know that I'm deathly scared of having myself someday! So, Kim told me about a few things that the lady said, and I told her 'shut up! i don't wanna hear about it! that'll be me someday!' She fuckin' laughed and said, "I'd just slap you in the head, and tell you to straighten the fuck up!!" Gee...what are best friends for, anyway? ;-) Well, I have to forgive her, she said she'd wipe my ass if I ever needed her to...

And she also was telling me that she was scared of being that flabby & out-of-shape...this is after she used to dog on me 20 years ago for having such a muscular, 'manly' body! Well, now I'm glad I did, cuz it's far easier to keep than it is to get! She also told me, that this woman's boobs were so saggy & floppy they moved like Slinkys when she bent over to pull up her pants! I just kinda snorted & said 'well, i hardly hafta worry about that...i'm streamlined, remember?' Okay, quit laughing & snorting pop out your nose!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

stuff i DON'T want for my birthday & Christmas...

Here it is! The long anticipated beginning of my un-gift list!!

This is only a partial list, remember!

So, I was thinking last night about how most single (or looking-to-be-single) women say they want a man who is a REAL man, you know, just a strong, manly guy, who doesn't show his feelings ALL the time, but has no problem sharing them with you. So, here goes my opinion...I genuinely think we've seen the last of the strong men like that. And that is really sad. These new guys are being raised by moms. Not just regular moms, like we were, but moms! The ones who make a career of raising boys that are 'soft' & 'gentle'. It's almost like they think the world would be better off without any men who actually enjoy real "guy things"! Like, ummm, football? No, you can't play THAT, it's far too dangerous! Or elementary school...no, no, you shouldn't play tag or hide and seek, because it makes the ones who are "it" feel picked on. No WAY can you play dodgeball! Holy shit, that'll KILL someone someday!! Well, okay, I guess you can play soccer...what? NObody's gonna keep score, we only play for fun, not to see who does something better. That's the quickest way to hurt somebody's self-esteem! Now quit your crying, and we'll go inside and take your ritalin. No wonder guys learn to cry a lot...wouldn't YOU? Then when guys grow up and they're in middle school, look who the guys are that get the girls. Ya, that's right...those big BRUTES, the football players that did all the stuff they were told not to! haha...and it's that way till graduation, you know, you've seen it/lived it. So, maybe this might be part of the reason online porn gets used so much by guys...who else doesn't try to boss him around, and tell him what he's doing wrong all the time? And now, women want to know where the REAL GUYS have gone? An emasculated little boy will never grow up to be the strong, self-assured man women really want...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

lazy day...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8236595474&ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/8236595474_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8QQfviZ1

Hey everybody!! Click on the link above and scroll down and read the contents of this VERY CAREFULLY!! I seriously thought I was going to choke to death laughing last night when Kevin showed me this!! I LOVE this!! No, maybe I'm just jealous, cuz I didn't think of it first!!

All right...guess I'm done with laughing at someone else's stupidity...errrr...misfortune.
So, some of the Christmases Kim & I had when we were teenagers were really stupid, too. I know, when I was a teenager and Mom & Dad never pushed me to get a job, my parents gave me money to go Christmas shopping for everyone (for presents from me!). That really sounds terrible, & now I'm ashamed...but, when I was that age, I didn't care. Anyway, I was always totally jealous of all my friends, cuz they could always buy their dads stuff like jeans, hobby stuff, everything, but my dad has never ever worn jeans in his life! And his only 'hobby' was golfing (and picking on me, of course, cuz I was pretty ugly at that age, as most 13 year old girls were then...not now!! What the hell happened?). Seriously, Ken was here one day when Tiff was about 14 or 15 and had a bunch of friends here. They were all playing in the backyard, and Ken looked at Kevin, and said, "None of the girls I went to school with looked like that, ya know?" Anyway, back to the shit going on...when I was getting my dad a present, I had a choice of belts, socks for work, & ties, or a shaving cream dispenser. Well, my mom always wanted to buy me stuff like 'old lady' looking clothes from Sutton & Lightner's (remember them?) like dresses (bleahhh!), and jeans from there. Which, the jeans were not only ugly, but she always told me I should wear size 5 or even 7! Mind you, still, to this day, I WEAR SIZE 3!! So I always was one of the girls that got made fun of...my clothes might've been expensive, but they were always baggy!! So, one Christmas, Kim had asked for some sweaters...she looked under their tree about a week before Christmas, and of course she was always poking, shaking her presents, etc. But the year we were 15, she waited til we were out of school on Christmas break and her mom & dad were at work, she actually picked a present out from under the tree in a box that looked like it had clothes in it. She opened it (her little brother was over at a friend's), but only one end, and slid the box out, opened it, & it was a sweater she'd wanted. So...(classic Kim!), she took the damn sweater out of the box, put it in her room, taped the present (empty!) back up, and put it back under the tree! Then when her mom brought her over to my house so we could go to the teen dance they had every week, she brought the sweater and wore it! Then the next day, she took it home, and wrapped it back up in the box, and it went back under the tree!! OMG!! I'dve NEVER had the guts to do that! Usually I was the "idea person"...she was just dumb enough to DO IT!! Another time she did something that was her own idea was way before we knew each other...she held her little brother down when they were fighting (he was about 9, she was 11 or 12) and she gave him the world's biggest hickey on his neck!! HAHA!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!
also funny! http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv

GRRRR! I'm pissed! I actually have to LEARN how to do something!

Holy CRAP!! I was getting ready to put my list of stuff I don't want for Christmas on here, but I can't figure it out...well, maybe that's a lie...I don't FEEL like reading all up on it & everything! I was just having so much fun picking out all this stuff on the web that I almost peed my pants laughing at, but then I realized...somewhere out there are people that are ASKING for one of those!! It's a sad world we live in, isn't it...

So, I gotta tell some stuff that happened at Thanksgiving. We were sitting at Kat's huuuuuggggggeeeeee dining room table (seriously, it's so long that last year after dinner we were all sitting there talking, and Ken got up to get a Pepsi, and as he was walking down the table behind people, he started smacking each person on the head, saying "duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GOOSE!" Now THAT was some funny shit!). So, we're all sitting there talking during dinner this year (usually with our mouths full...see why I fit right in with this wonderful family?), and someone said somebody they knew was going to Taiwan, they'd left the night before, and it was a 28-hour trip. Everybody was remarking about that, and my daughter Tiffany says loudly..."28 hours! Are they driving?" No, that was a serious question, too.We're ALL still laughing about that one!

Okay, you are warned....the following message contains political opinions. You may not agree with them, but, feel free to flip the remote if you want...

If I were a Democrat (is hell frozen yet? that's just a joke, don't scream at me!), I'd be so embarrassed that John Kerry & Senator Reid had to grab microphones & give a rebuttal of the president's speech today...well, I have no friggin' idea what I'd do. A rebuttal?? For cripe's sake, can anybody see ANY sense in that? It wasn't like it was a primetime speech to the nation, on the dreaded MSM or anything! It was him talking to people from a naval academy at 9:45 am! OMG!! I smell desperation here...

Man, was Christmas a whole helluva lot more fun when your kids were, like 6, 7, 8, 9...not only was it a lot more fun, it was a lot CHEAPER, too! I loved the Christmas that we got Tiff a whole bunch of Lil' Tykes toys. A great big tree that opened, and had bedrooms in it, a set of a family+dog, big plastic cars, and all kindsa stuff! Oh, and it was, mmmm, a total of....$200.00 tops! When she was 17 or 18, I think her Christmas presents from us totaled, like 5 times that!! And it keeps going up incrementally every year!! But, in my humble, lowly opinion, the toys are getting a lot less fun! (the toys for young kids). Kids don't have to do anything with their imaginationsl...competition is frowned upon...holy crap...here I go again...must be cuz I just watched Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!