Holiday Stress

The Holidays have been very stressful for me the last few days. I am still trying to figure out how I will get everything done. I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to relax enough to enjoy them.

My court case was settled the day before court incase you were wondering. I did not have to skip work or fly out to Cali for the ordeal. The lawyer worked her magic somehow. It was a horrible ordeal though to go through and I'm glad it's over.

Now for the weekend ahead. Tomorrow night at the out-laws after working a full day. Saturday a drive into my hometown to Hubby's Aunt's house for the Christmas eve celebration...then visit with friends that evening, and hopefully, sleep for a couple of hours before heading down to my Grandparents in Indiana for Christmas day. If we get home in time...more visiting with my hubby's friends. It's a lot to cram into a short period. Yes, it has me a little stressed out.

So wish me luck that I don't lose my sanity along the way. Merry Christmas to everyone.

Mood Boost

I haven't had anything profound or even really all that interesting in my life other than the law suit which has put a damper on everything lately. I usually LOVE Thanksgiving, but even that was not as festive as it usually is (the weather didn't help either). So to put things in perspective and give my mood a boost, I've created a short list of things I feel really grateful for right now.

1. My Hubby. He's cute, he's funny, he's attentive. And he gives me fabulous gifts for my birthday (just an added bonus).
2. My family. Without my family I really think I'd need to be committed to a mental institution. They always seem to know right when you need a little extra love.
3. My friends. They keep me grounded. They keep me laughing. They keep things in perspective
4. My Grandma. She's still here dispite "coding" while having surgery. Miracle of Miracles! I am so happy that she'll be around for another Christmas.
5. My hubby's Grandma. She had a REALLY rough year with a battle with cancer at the age of 80!! She came through like a champ. She's cancer free and for that I'm extremely grateful.
6. I have a job. Many around here don't. Not only do I have a job, I have a job I don't have commute to.
7. My niece. Natalie brings me such joy. I love the pictures I get on a daily basis (thank God for digital pics!). They make a bad day seem better.
8. My kitties. I love them and they keep me warm at night.

So that's my short list. I could go on and on. You might think this is a kiss-up attempt at the holidays. For those who might think that, you don't know me very well. I truely mean the things I said here.

Happy Freakin' Birthday to Me

Monday was my twenty-ninth birthday. I welcomed the day in with open arms looking forward to not only what the day might bring but this coming year. My husband started the day off by giving the most beautiful necklace. (us girls love a pretty trinket!) Work was nice. Lunch and cake were brought in and funny card.

But that is where the pleasant day ended. Things got ugly. Real quick.

I was notified by my car insurance company that I was being sued in small claims court for bodily injury for an accident that occurred two years ago. TWO YEARS AGO. Let me repeat. TWO YEARS AGO. I can barely remember what happened last week let alone two years ago!!!

This sleezy lawyer-brother of hers has been trying to locate me by calling my friends and family posing as a long lost friend of mine from highschool. The ends that people will go to just amazes me. He has to locate me before he can serve me with the papers to appear in court.

This whole ordeal has me entirely stressed out. I don't have the means to fly back to California, pay for a hotel, a car, etc. because someone is angry about an accident that happened TWO YEARS AGO. Let me repeat TWO YEARS AGO. Not to mention that I don't have any vacation time at my new job so all this would be unpaid time off. It's crap.

There are some things about "the case" that have me realing in anger. I won't get into them but basically this lady is a liar. There is nothing in the world that crawls under my skin more than a freakin' liar. Makes me want to fight harder to prove her wrong because A) all the grief that they are putting me through, B) the lies being told to my friends and family, and C) she's lying about what happened to begin with. MONEY GRUBBING WHORES.

People wonder why their car insurance costs so much. It's people like this. People that abuse the system. People who try to get something from nothing when it shouldn't be theirs to begin with.

The only positive part is that no matter what the verdict is in court, the insurance company has to pay in the long run. So I may be out my travel, but at least I'm not out $5,000. (that's the max in Cali until the end of the year that you can get in small claims...but watch out, it's been signed in to law that the new amount will be $7,500!)

I'll let you know how this unfolds. For now I'm not going to devulge much more for fear of the wrong people reading this.

College for Everyone

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/stories/news/20051110_kz_tuition.html

Last night it was announced on the news that every child that attends a Kalamazoo Public School will have the chance to go to college with all or part of her/his tuition paid for. Do you know how amazing this announcement is?

Yes there are some stipulations. If you only attend a Kalamazoo Public school for 2 years, then only a portion of your tuition will be paid for. The college they attend can be any state school in Michigan either 2 year or 4 year.

I really am in awe of this. This could really change the dynamic of the community forever. Public education will change with the thought of every child having an opportunity. The focus doesn't have to be on testing for state funding, but rather getting every child college prep bound. The opportunity set before these children truly is one where you can say anything is possible and reach for the stars.

Not only the schools themselves, but the community. It will be changed forever. It will be a desirable place to live again. People will want to live within the Kalamazoo Public School district.

For the past few years, industry in Kalamazoo has dwindled. Businesses have pulled out and Kalamazoo was looked at as a dying community. People who were moving to the area where moving outside the district to more desirable communities such as Comstock, Mattawan and Portage.

The pure generosity of these donors is pretty wicked-cool. They wish to remain anonymous which also is very cool. They want none of the joy associated with this other than the satisfaction of knowing that children are taking this opportunity and running with it.

Inappropriate Behavior in the Workplace

**Let me preface this with the word porn will be used in this post, but no porn will actually be shown**

I work in a pretty conservative office. It is predominately women. We have two men in the office. And it is an accounting firm...nuff said on the conservative nature of my office. You get the picture.

Today Ms. L came over to me and said "You've got to go see what is on the printer. Mr. J printed porn out. I can't believe it."

So I immediately walk to the PUBLIC printer and pull off what is on top. Sure enough a naked woman is staring at me in all her double DD glory. I really couldn't believe it. This was the work place. What the hell was he thinking.

Anyways, I tattled as did Ms. L.

Did Mr. J really think he could get away with this? It was like he was asking to get caught just to see what would happen. Why would you print to a public printer. And why wasn't he wasn't standing next to the printer to grab it/her.

Well he knew he was caught before the boss said anything to him. He approached her with it and promptly left the building saying he was embarrassed. Hell yeah you better be embarrassed!!! You were looking at porn at work. What were you thinkin'!?!

I'm curious to see if he apologizes to the two of us for scalding our eyes with that horrible picture.

Porn has it's place just not in our workplace.

Tricks or Treats

Halloween. One of my most favorite times of the year. I love handing out treats to all the little goblins that come to the door. I love the costumes. I love the smell of leaves in the air. I love the anticipation of the kids as they come to door wondering what kind of goodies they will get. Yes, Halloween.

We had a slight drizzle here in Holland but the air was warm for the end of October. I can remember many Halloweens where it was down right bitter out. The air smelled amazing outside.

This year we had a TON of tricker-or-treaters. I bought bags and bags of candy (7 big bags). I was stingey handing it out. One piece = one child. Last year I ran out and I didn't want to have that happen again. I had one rude highschooler call me out on my stinginess telling me "Only one piece, you should by more candy lady so you aren't so stingy." Nice. I of course didn't say anything to the kid as he was walking away for fear of getting T-P'd or something since it is the day for tricks to be played. I wanted to tell him "I didn't HAVE to give you anything at all you spoiled little brat. Didn't your mama teach you any manners?." Anyhoo....

For the most part the kids were polite, said thank you and looked great in their costumes. I'm sad that the day has passed already.

I lied

I lied. Our problems with SBC aren't over yet. More to come one that...

Our problem appears to be sporadic at best, which for DSL isn't suppose to happen because you don't share your bandwidth like you do with cable. But apparently something is wrong. They are coming out to test the line on Friday, hopefully.

I'll try to post when I can. Until then...

Check out my Mom's blog KazooHoosier. There's a link on the right.

Contemplating the Past

So I have a new job. I've been working there for 3 weeks now. So far, so good. Today I started on the monsterous task of organizing my tax season work load. You see, we do 3000+ tax returns. That's a lot.

As I'm inputting some data I came across a familiar name. I will use the his made up nickname, BCR. Good ole BCR.

I started to panic when I saw his name on this list. Could it be? I hope not, but it could be. This is one person I really hope I'd never see again.

I had to do a little investigating about this. I opened up the tax return to look at the birthdate. Yahoooo! Not BCR! Some old man. Yippeee.

It still amazes me that seeing his name sent me into a bit a panic. He isn't someone I want to see. Our relationship (if you can call it that) was anything but fun. We yelled, we fought, we screamed. We were in college and we were young. He had a temper and a "wandering eyes."...

Funny how after all these years, little things like this can cause a response you'd never expect?

I'm back!

After a week of my husband trying to figure out what was wrong with our internet, we seem to be back up and running. I think my husband ended up replacing our dsl modem, but I'm not really sure. I'm just glad to be back at full force.

I tried to write a couple of crafty posts last week but the darn thing kept timing out. It's frustrating when you think you have a post just how you like it and your computer/internet doesn't cooperate with you.

Needless to say, nothing too exciting happening over here. My life hasn't changed much.

We are experiencing fall in full affect now. I love it. The colors are awesome. I'm hoping to get some pics this coming weekend because we are just about at "peak color" according to the news report. Peak color. How awesome. Unfortunately after "peak color" we get the shower of leaves in the yard. Much raking and leaf blowing to come. Last year we had soooooo many bags of leaves. I couldn't believe it. This year we are staying on top of it so far. So hopefully that will help.

(okay I'm gonna have to post this now--my cat is licking the computer monitor! Yikes!)

Internet Probs

Damn that SBC!! We've been having internet problems. Sorry for my absence. Once it is cleared up I will write again. Until then, I'm not comfortable posting from work.

I'll write soon.

Cards Anyone?

I've been away from blogging for a bit. Life has been going fast. Every weekend there has been something to do. People to see. Places to go. Cards to play.

This past weekend we had a wonderful Saturday celebrating a friends birthday. We had a delicious meal at one of Kalamazoo's finer dining establishments and a couple of delicious drinks. Nobody seemed to be up for the raucous times we usually are so we went back to the birthday boy's abode to play Euchre.

Euchre is my favorite card game. I am a highly competitive person and this game is usually fast and competitive. I wasted many a college night playing cards instead of studying. I think it is essential to learn this game if going to school Michigan.

We laid the ground the rules as screw the dealer and no bottoms. (you would understand this if you have played Euchre) Anyways, birthday boy and his lady skunked hubby and I in the first game. It was embarrassing. Birthday boy really started with the table talk after that. He thought he was all that and more...until we won the second game. Now the true competitiveness came out. The game wasn't going fast enough for me. I was thinking too much...I made a couple of mistakes. The score was tied up. Birthday boy was talking trash. Whomever won the hand won the game...and the tournament (so to speak). Thankfully, the gods were in our favor.

I love a good game of cards. Anyone want to play?

Seasons-They Are a Changin'

Eventhough today felt like a warm summer day, the trees are telling me that the autumn weather is on its way. At lunch today I drove down to Lake Michigan to watch the waves crash in and catch that last little bit of summer.

I was pleasantly surprised that on the way home today there was a beautiful red, orange, yellow and green canopy over the roads. Fall is the most gorgeous time of year here. At least I think it is.

With the change in the weather also comes change in my life. Last week I accepted a new job and gave notice at my old one. Today was actually my last day of work there. It feels kind of weird. I'm excited to start my new job. I went from a 40 minute commute to a 5 minute. Can't beat that with a stick. Yes, the work is similar to what I was doing before, but I will have more responsibility and a fancy-shmanzy job title. Plus, hardly any miles put on the new car...or gas for that matter. I figure I'm saving in gas alone damn near $200 a month...that's a lot of $$$$.

So times, they are a changin'. Right along with the seasons.

Mixed Emotions

I'm very saddened over hurricane Katrina and what it has done to our country right now. Not only am I saddened for the victums, those poor innocent people who were completely devasted by this storm, but I'm saddened by our government.

I really don't care who's to blame for the relief effort not happening fast enough. Finger pointing should come later, much later. Let's help people first and figure out who's to blame once these cities are rebuilt. That's the time to learn from this. Right now. Help. Help. Help.

I was saddened to see that this was our Prez's first visit on the ground of this diaster. He should be inspiring people by getting in the thick of it; not cowering away.

I am happy to see how much money the Red Cross and other organizations have raised to help the people of the gulf region. We are a generous folk when it comes to helping our own. I have two to three bags of clothes to donate if they'll take them. I just have to figure out where to drop them off at.

Anyways, I do hope that we rebuild the Gulf region and are stronger because of it. I hope we learn from our mistakes and that the next time a natural disaster is on the way that we are more proactive. I hope that all those families find their love ones. I pray for us.

Fun, Sun, & Family

I had an absolutely wonderful time with my family this weekend at the lake. My parents, my sister, her husband and my niece all came up to the outlaws' beach house for some fun in the sun.

It was the first time (and probably the last this year) that my fam was able to enjoy Lake Michigan this year. We had a beautiful day. The water was a bit chilly, but by Lake Michigan standards it was pretty warm.

After the day in the sun we did some burgers and stuff for din-din. I'm so glad I moved closer to my family so I can have moments like these.

Here's a pic of my niece from the weekend sporting her new shades.

Prizes

Sunday night after a long afternoon of lounging by the lake, Hubby and I went to visit some friends of ours. Mr. & Mrs. G have a little girl that turns 3 today. She is a very smart and lucky girl. She was born 3 months prematurely and has suffered from some physical ailments since birth due to lack of oxygen during childbirth.

It has been a blessing to watch her grow up. Baby G starts preschool in a couple of weeks and is very excited about the prospect of going to school like the big kids. She doesn't seem the least bit shy or scared about the situation before her.

Somewhere in the middle of our visit with the G's, baby G asked if we had brought her a prize. I kind of laughed at her and said "Your birthday isn't until Wednesday. You'll get your prize then." Mrs. G said something like "Baby G, they didn't bring prizes with them." Baby G started to get upset that we hadn't brought her a prize. My thoughts of course are, is it a prerequisit to bring a prize to visit with the G's?

But what happened next has really gotten me a thinkin'...Mrs. G went and got a nicely wrapped prize, handed it to me from behind her back and whispered, you can give this to her. ???? Huh???? So I did as I was instructed.

I have been reflecting on that moment for a couple of days now. Apparently so has my husband. As we sat down to feast on our evening meal last night he looked at me and sad "If we have kids, they will not be asking the company for prizes. They will get a strong repremand from me if they ever do anything like that. It is unacceptable."

I agree. I may not have kids, but I do know that this little girl can manipulate her parents already at the tender age of 3. Feeding into behaviors like this only encourage it. I wouldn't have been embarrassed if they had addressed the situation in front of us. I actually would have liked to observe it. I do know that kids need to be disapplined in the moment when they are very young. They won't put the two situations together immediately unless you connect that behavior for them.

Anyways, I would be embarrassed if my kids started asking everyone for prizes. Greedy bastards.

American?

I believe that I am an American. Last I checked I was born in Michigan. My parents are both residents of the US. Thus, I am an American. I'm so American I even vote!!

Tonight on the evening news someone said "if you don't support the war you aren't American." What does that mean??? If I don't agree with the war, someones gonna come and rip up my citizenship? This is just stupid.

I don't agree with the war. I live in a gray area. I don't believe that our men and women should be fighting for the freedom of people abroad when we have our own problems here on US soil. I'm not saying I don't support the troops. (here is the gray area) I believe that all men and women who give there lives in the service of our great nation should be respected and honored. I wouldn't want that job and I'm glad that there are people that do. Therefore, I support our troops, but I don't support the cause.

I'm still baffled by the whole "not being an American" comment. Does this mean if I disagree with the Prez in any way, I'm not an American?

Last I checked our country was founded by people that questioned the status quo. That weren't statisfied with the way things were being run. I think that our founding fathers were about as American as they come. We are suppose to question our leaders. It more or less says so in the first amendment of the constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So, yes I'm still an American eventhough I don't agree with George W. I'll be an American today, tomorrow, and forever. And I can question anything I want. And I don't always have to agree.

A beach is a beach

There are beach cities all over the US. East coast, west coast, and what I like to call "the other west coast"--that's right, the other west coast baby. I'm talking about West Michigan...and all it's glorious beaches along Lake Michigan.

This summer we were invaded with our fair share of tourists. Tourists from other midwestern cities that come to escape the hussle and bussle of city life for a quiet beach community. I don't mind the tourists too much. They keep the economy going around here. They keep the bars happenin'.

Recently I had a conversation with someone and we were discussing that how if you didn't know that Grand Haven was in Michigan the beach could have been on any of the coasts in the US, heck it could have even been in Rhode Island. It is complete with it's light house on the end of a pier. I love it. I think the view is gorgeous.

I have lived in on other coastlines. I love the crash of waves from the Pacific Ocean. I love the salty smell in the air.

Sure Lake Michigan has its down falls, but I still love it. I can still hear the crash of waves along the shoreline. The air is clean and the water seems clean. There are dunes to climb, waves to jump, and sun to catch. Yes sometimes the lake is cold...but it did get into the 70's this summer which is very nice on a hot day.

With that I must say, I don't regret leaving sunny So Cal for Michigan. I still have my beach. I still have my sand.

New Car Smell

So I bit the bullet and bought a new car last night. I'm not all that sad to see my Saturn go. But I am, however, excited to drive my new car. The Saturn was a great car but had seen better days. I'm just glad I didn't have to get that cracked windshield fixed.

Here are some pics. So far, I love it.

Thoughtfulness

This past weekend hubby and I visited with father-outlaw and his brother before he returned to California. I suggested that we take dinner with us knowing that they had probably cleaned out most of the fridge. So before leaving our house for the beach house we packed up all the fixins for spaghetti (garlic bread and salad included).

We visited for a while and then hubby and I started making dinner. Hubby commented that "This was all Jenn's doing. She's so thoughtful." Father-outlaw responded with "We could all learn a bit from her."

Damn right. That's because I think of other people besides myself. Ya'll could learn a thing or two.

Random Acts of Violence

I have a difficult time understanding acts of violence. How can people hate so much that they must inflict violence against others?

This past weekend my sister had her car vandalized. Her back window was smashed in and her back bumper dinged up. Nothing from her car was actually stolen. So what's the point of that? That's break in the window and not take anything. Hello? There were CD's and shit in there. Basically whoever did this just felt like destroying someone elses property for shits and grins. Pointless. I guess I could just understand it better if something was stolen. Then the criminals at least had a point to breaking in; they wanted someone elses shit. But no, these criminals just felt like busting up some stuff.

I'm sorry. I just don't get this random act of violence. Just like I don't get murder, rape, and hate crimes. What's the point. You really hate someone enough that you feel you have the right to mess them up? (yes, I know I already said this, but I really don't get it) Seriously, I have never hated anyone enough to even think of these types of things.

Well, at least my sis is okay and she wasn't in the car with her baby when this happened.

Wanted: Lack of Motivation

The months of July and beginning of August have been busy. Insanely busy. Although I did manage to finish the Harry Potter book, not much else has been done purely for myself.

I must say the tiling project is done, thankfully. And most of the family is gone; only papa-outlaw remains.

Eventhough this weekend I went to the beach twice (I even wore sunscreen this time), neither time was all that relaxing. Saturday was spent with the outlaws before mom-outlaw left to go back to Cali. Beach and the outlaws just isn't relaxing, despite the atmosphere being about as laid back as can be. After a few hours down by the water, we headed up to the homestead to cook dinner for the outlaws at their house. More work if you ask me.

Sunday we were at the beach again, this time with friends and their adorable daughter. Eventhough she is adorable, she is still work. A 3-year old at the beach is work no matter how you slice-or-dice it.

So at the end of my weekend, I was exhausted. I needed a weekend from my weekend.

Come Monday night, I had nothing to do. No plans. Housework could wait a day. I lack any and all motivation right now to do anything except recooperate from company and stress.

If anyone finds my motivation, please hold on to it for a while. I'm not ready to be motivated. I don't want to be motivated. I want to go drink a cold Newcastle on my newly tiled patio and then go to bed early...actually, I think I might just go do that now.

Pure Sweetness

Last night I had the privledge of interacting with our 4 year old niece Maddy. She is sweet as pie. Her heart is sooo big and so genuine that the words that come out of her mouth often amaze me. This picture is from the wedding a little over a year ago (yes that's me in the poofy dress).

So last night her dad, brother-outlaw brought her over to see the kitties before they left town the next day. She has a deep fascination and love for animals. When Shadow, my escape artist cat ran away, she was sincerely concerned for my other cat, Lindsey and her not having a playmate. That's how much she loves and cares for these animals.

Anyways, last night she came over and tortured my cats. Shadow is pretty tolerant. He'll let you poke him and hold him and won't scratch, bite or hiss. Lindsey usually goes into hiding when the noisey ones are around. But Maddy still had a blast chasing Shadow up and down the hallways.

At one point she started shoving one of our couch pillows into the cat condo. I of course was puzzled as to why she would do this as were all the adults. So brother-outlaw being the good dad that he is asked Maddy, "why are you putting that pillow in there?" Her response "so they have some place nice to sleep." Perfectly logical when put that way. It was just so kind of her to think that they might need some place as comfy as her own bed to lay their furry little heads.

She also was very concerned because there was no food in their bowls. It wasn't feeding time, but explain that to a 4 year old. She actually whispered it to her daddy that they had no food. He in turn told her to ask me if it was okay if she fed them. Which she did eventually in her own kid language, and of course I let her feed them.

Her love was just so big for these two cats. She genuinely didn't want them to be hungry or uncomfortable. She absolutely amazes me in her pure sweetness for other living beings. I wish we all had that much love to give.

Village Idiot

That's me. The village idiot. The town cryer has dubbed me so.

This past weekend I spent some time out at the beautiful Lake Michigan. The weather really couldn't have been better. Blue sky. Slight breeze. 80+ degrees. BEAUTIFUL.

Naturally I soaked up the sunshine in typical white girl fashion with no sunscreen. How could I have been so stupid. The nieces and nephews had it on...but where was I when the slathering process occurred?

Needless to say my fair skin is now a nice bright pealing shade of pink.

I am an idiot.

Pet Peeves

Everyone has them. Those habits of other people that drive up the freaking walls; make you want to tear your hair out and yell "what the hell?" Ok, mine is timeliness. I cannot stand tardiness. I myself cannot stand being late for anything. I don't even like being fashionably late. I feel that a set time is when you should be there and you shouldn't disrespect the other party(ies) by being late. It's very rude.

I use to work with this girl, HB, who just did not know how to be on time. Her commute to work was short like mine. But she was habitually late. Like every day. When you back up someone for phone support, this gets old real fast. The little group of "early risers" used to stand around the coffee pot and take bets on how late she would be, if she would show at all (she was also sick a lot). I just didn't get it. After you figured out you were 5-10 minutes late everyday, wouldn't you set your alarm that much earlier? I find this type of behavior disrespectful not only to the employer, but to the other co-workers in the office that have to work a little bit harder just to make up for your 5 minutes of laziness. Do you know how many minutes of the year that adds up to? Do the math, it's a lot.

You may wonder, what's bringing on this little rant. In one word, the Outlaws (see previous post). They stopped by on Saturday and we decided to meet up on Sunday for dinner. No concrete plans made, just a vague dinner some time Sunday evening. My outlaws do not have phone service at the new house. They are too cheap to get one just for the summer. Their cell phones also do not get service seeing as how close to Lake Michigan they are. So there is no way for us to call them to make these plans. So we wait for the phone call from them to firm up the plans. Mom-outlaw calls at 3:30 and we decide we will go out for dinner (it was just way to friggin' hot to cook). They would meet us at our house at 5:30.

So 5:30 rolls around and they aren't there. Ok. I can tolerate a little late. 5:45, they still aren't there. 6:00...okay this is a little rude. 6:25. APPROACHING ONE HOUR. CAN YOU PEOPLE NOT READ YOUR WATCHES???!!!! At this point, I'm hungry, my hubby is hungry. Every minute that passes I become more and more unpleasant to be around. We decide that if they aren't there at 6:30 we'll leave them a note and go. As we are writing the note and hunting for the every allusive tape, they pull in the driveway. No story, no excuses, no apologies. 1 hour and 32 minutes late, I at least want to hear a good story as to why you are late. If you don't have one, make one up, be creative...It will at least kill the void of the uncomfortable silence because Hubby and I are too pissed to talk.

So when is being late, too late?

The Outlaws

The Outlaws are coming, the Outlaws are coming....One if by land two if by....oh whatever....

My inlaws bought a house near us. A summer house on Lake MI. My father-inlaw has already been in town for a couple of weeks now (he's a teacher with summers off). Tomorrow my mother-inlaw flys in. I'm thrilled can you tell? At least they have their own house now...Let me explain.

You see for Christmas this past year, I entertained the family at my house. Being newlyweds and having a central location, everyone else decided it would be the place to be (everyone else decided this without our consent--but we were forced to go along because the plans were already made). We have a pretty big house, 4 bedrooms 2 baths. We had 4 extra adults and 2 kids sleeping in our house. Our house suddenly felt too small. We needed an extra room, and extra bath, a padded cell. Try stuffing a turkey that has to get in the oven at a certain time, making breakfast for your company and watching a 6month old at the same time because her mom wants to take a shower and grandma is eating breakfast...none of these people being your own family rather your married-into-family, you don't want to impose on anyone; you want to be the perfect host.

I'm fortunate that the meal (for 13 people) turned out okay. No major problems...but lets say, I didn't enjoy Christmas that much last year...and I hated neglecting my own family completely because people were staying at my house. And then Christmas day passed...and they were still there...for almost a week. I've learned from this...it won't happen again this year.

In two weeks the whole fan-damily will be in town. All convening in the same city for 4 days once again. The stars must be in alignment or something. I'm sure I'll have some frightening posts. There are always stories to tell. I don't know if Holland, MI can handle the excitement. I'm am just glad that only one person will be staying with me this time. No 6 month olds screaming through the night. No two year olds feeding my cats an entire bag of cat treats (yes, an entire bag that I had HIDDEN in my dresser). No crowds in my kitchen. No extra trips to Sam's to stock pile for the army I'm feeding. Someone else can have these things this time.

Book-aholic

That's me, a book-aholic. If there were some kind of book-aholics annonymous program, I'd probably have to go. I can't seem to get enough of books. I love those houses that you go into that are just filled with books where you approach the walls and stacks of books in awe. It's comforting to me, books that is.

I still remember the first chapter book I ever read, Charlotte's Web. Oh how I loved that book. I think I was about 7 or 8. I still have that book. I'm a collector you see. I have lots-o-books. To list a few of my childhood favorites: Anne of Green Gables (the darn series), The Secret Garden (boy was I mesmerized by the language and mystery in that one in 6th grade), To Kill a Mockingbird (8th grade), and A Separate Peace (8th grade). My parents fed my addicition with books when I asked for them. Going to the bookstore was a special treat that I absolutely loved. I could spend my entire allowance there.

This year for Christmas we did wishlists on Amazon. My husband asked me what I really wanted off of my list and I told him "the books, please." And he obliged. I received 4 books. Unfortunately, I burn through books so fast that it really didn't keep my addiction fed long enough.

During certain times of the year I don't read as much as others. But right now is my prime reading time. I love a good book and the beach, a good book and a glass of wine, or a good book and quietness. Books allow me to escape. Escape into other people's lives. Escape into there personalities...I can appreciate the characters that I can relate to. I can appreciate the characters I loothe. Books with good character development are the best.

Last week my latest shipment came. I ordered 4 books and 3 of them arrived (I pre-ordered Harry Potter...so that won't come until next week). I was so delighted to see the package at the front door. I'm already through with one of the books. It was really entertaining and enjoyable for a summer read--A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing.

I also have a problem getting rid of books. I can't seem to let go. People have told me to have a garage sale or to sell them to a second hand store, but I just can't. I can't. They are mine. They are my stories.

This morning they had something on the news about how the pope feels about Harry Potter books...well to hell with that! I think it's great so many kids want to read. Do you really think they are running out to cast spells on people...now come on!! But that's another post.

Anyways, I love my books. Some day I'll take a look at my shelves and give ya'll a listing of my top ten. For now...I think I'll go feed my addiction.

Oink Oink

I have not been able to write like I usually do. Between the tiling (which isn't complete yet) and my father-inlaw flying in, there just hasn't been time. Not to mention that he has been hogging my computer.

I was all poised to write last night. I had an idea--a thought I needed to express. But my father-inlaw beat me to the computer last night. My oh-so-loving husband set him up on my computer to download some picutres and do some emailing that he needed to take care. I thought "oh this shouldn't take long," but I was wrong. He got on my computer at 8 pm...at 10 he was just finishing up his email. 2 hours, 1 email. I was too tired and the creative spirit had left me by then. Urg.

So, if there aren't very many posts, it's not for lack of not wanting to write. Damn computer hog.

Hey, Have a Scoop

This morning I awoke just like I do any other morning. The alarm goes off...I quickly scurry to turn it off....Turn on the TV to catch the days weather (because in Michigan you never know what the day might bring)...Only today I didn't see the weather. I saw some horrific scene in London. Horrible. I could only imagine what the people in the subways were going through. I just couldn't believe it. So I watched a few minutes longer then I should before getting in the shower. I went through the remainder of my morning routine, got in the car and headed off on my 35 minute commute to work. I figured this would be all over the news. I have a radio in my car and one on my desk. I should be able to stay up to date on the events, no problem. How wrong I was.

Firstly I put on my favorite radio station. Nothing. Not a single mention of it in ten minutes. Hello, world, can we say major event happening? Yes, it didn't happen here in the good ole U-S-A, but come on now. Isn't this newsworthy? I did find out that it is national ice cream day. Wahoooo. Vanilla or chocolate?

Frustrated, I tried to tune in an AM station thinking I would have a better chance with the news there. Wrong. Just call-ins talking about the middle east and how bad everyone over there is. Not what I wanted to hear. I wanted the facts. I wanted to know how the leaders of the world were taking stands on all this. I didn't get it. But hey, it's national ice cream day. Strawberry anyone?

When I got to work, I had the radio on all day. No updates. No news. Music and babble. That's it.

Hearing that it was national ice cream day and not hearing the real scoop has pissed me off. Where are our priorities? Isn't England one of our "friends?" Why wasn't I hearing anything about this? Are we so f**ed-up that we don't care about other nations besides our own? Where's the compassion in that? Have we no feelings for the other people of this world? I don't understand it all.

Tiling

Here's the progress thus far.

Tiling my life away

Sorry I've been away....we are tiling...I'll write more when we are done and post some pictures. Until then hope ya'll are well and had a good 4th of July.

Dumbest Conversation

I had the following conversation over the phone today:
Ring, Ring, Ring

"Hello." (Other chic)
"Hello, may I speak with Rita please."
(me)
"This is Sara."
(okay maybe Rita and Sara sound alike, they both end in "a")
"Can I speak with Rita?"
"This is Sara."
"Will Rita be in today?"
"No, this is Sara."
"I'll call back tomorrow, bye."

Duh, do you think the girl's name is Sara? I still can't believe this conversation ever even happened. I could make this shit up if I tried.

It's not easy being green

My husband has this strange obsession with grass...and I don't mean the kind you can smoke. He is out in our yard everyday trying to make that thing greener, and healthier. It borders on the ridiculous. By the end of the summer we are going to have the best looking lawn in all of Ottawa County!...or at least Waukazoo Woods.

But his obsession is a bit annoying. Instead of doing things with me, he's out in the yard. Damn yard. Watering, mowing, fertilizing....the funny part is, we hardly spend any time other then working on it, in the actual yard.

There for I'll say it again...DAMN YARD!!

Parrots--Gone to the Birds

Holland, Michigan isn't an area that caters to the young and fabulous. It is an extremely conservative, right-wing, religious community that circles around what's best for the family. They have had some pretty stringent rules in Holland such as stores and restaurants not being open on Sundays...even McDonald's. Those rules have relaxed a bit and you are free to eat all the fast food you want now on Sunday. But they still have some stringent rules regarding alcohol...like you can't buy it at all in Ottawa County on Sunday. Sunday's are for church. You also can't just open up a bar. You can't get a liquor license without having so many food to alcohol sales. Therefore most of the bars are restaurants.

There is one "bar" downtown--Parrots. It's been there for a long time. I'm not sure how it managed to get around all the rules and such but it did. Parrots serves mainly the Hope College crowd. Young, conservative, religious college goers that sneak out for a drink against the colleges rules of no alcohol.

Anyways, one night my husband, our friend Ben and I ventured to Parrots for a night out on the town...actually the weather was too nasty for us to drive elsewhere. It was my first time in Parrots and it will be my last time as well. The bar itself was nothing special. Dingy, smokey, with some pool tables and some local rock station; it felt like a drinkin' bar except that there were 4 other people in the bar and one of them was the bar-keep.

We took a seat at the bar on some stools. Ben took the stool closest the wall, my husband the next, which left me on the end with a bunch of stools open to my left.

Halfway through my cheap beer a young man sat down next to me. He proceeded to strick up a conversation (people do this to me frequently, I think because I look approachable). No biggy, I can handle a nice light-hearted conversation. But it went downhill from there. Before long this "boy" launched into something about supporting G.W.Bush in Iraq and recently enlisting because of it. Oh boy. This is not bar conversation! He then went on to tell me that "all Muslims were bad and we should bomb the hell out of them." Can you believe someone said that outloud? This quote has stuck in my head since that day.

I tried to reason with saying that there were "bad people" everywhere, all different colors, ethnicities and religions. That Christian extremists that bomb abortion clinics are bad too. That most Muslims are peaceful people, not war-mongering banshees like he was describing.

This kid didn't see it my way nor did he stop. He used every racial slur in the book. My husband and friend just looked on in amazement as I got more and more pissed off at the kid. They couldn't believe their ears either.

I flew the coop before I even finished my beer.

I still don't understand how someone can have so much hatred for people I'm sure he's had limited contact with. It's not like Holland, Michigan is a hot bed for middle-easterners. But this kid really hated these people.

Hatred seems to run deep with some people. It's like they never learned to love anyone who wasn't the same as them...and there fore everyone not like them is bad. I don't get it and wish it would stop.

Parrots is for the birds. I won't go back there. That experience has tainted how I look at that place forever. It will be forever be associated with the conversation that went wrong.

Back In Harmony

My nice little world is back in harmony since the return of my Shadow. For those of you who don't know, Shadow is one of my two precious kitties. Shadow has kept me company for the past 6 years. I love my kitties. They keep me company and give me cuddles and love when I need it. Yes, I'm a cat person.

Last Friday night Shadow escaped from the house like Houdini. I looked for hours and hours and hours for days upon days. I visited the local vets, the humane society, ran an ad in the local paper, hung signs and talked to more of my neighbors then I had since we moved in a year ago. All in the desperate hopes that they might have seen my cat.

Thursday evening while I'm driving home from work my husband called to tell me Shadow came home. I actually had to ask him if he was joking with me because it had been almost a week with no signs of him. But he wasn't. I rushed home and there he was. He looked a little worn out, hungry and ragged, but he was home. I think he was glad to be home. He hasn't shown any signs of wanting to go back out there.

I'm glad my cuddle-puss is back home and I can go back to my little harmonious life with both my cats under one roof.

Gone

My cat ran away. I'm very sad.

Piss-Off!

Piss-Off!

I'm really pissed off still. Yesterday evening when I was going through some old junk mail, I opened a piece addressed to me from an old credit card I use to use. Apparently I forgot to close the account when the balance was paid off and someone had used the account. This I couldn't figure out. How could someone use this account. I hadn't used it since before I was married...way before I was married and I had cut up the card into tiny little pieces.
Well, there was a charge of $1,300 and a late fee on the statement I received. Of course I was like "What the hell?!!!" With trembling hands I dialed the 1800 number on the statement. After about 8 different menus I finally got some drone who apparently did nothing and had to transfer me to the fraud department. Do they do this so that you get even more upset while you hold for another 10 mintues???!!!! So when I finally got Jessica** on the other line, I was very upset. There was probably steam coming from my ears. Jessica pulled up the account and the CHECKS there were written...yep, checks. Someone had gotten there hands on some of those stupid checks (that I usually shred upon receiveing) and decided to pay their own bills with them on my tab. What kind of person does this?!!! Anyways, Jessica didn't believe me when I said I didn't write them. One was written to another credit card company whom I don't even have an account with and the other was written to some chic Mrs. Steiner. That's probably who stole the money. Probably wrote the check out to herself. Freakin' scam artists. After stating about a bazillion times that I don't have an account and didn't know this person, they finally believed me and were going to close the account and reopen another...and clear the charges off of my account. I told them not to bother giving me a new account. I don't want a freakin' account with their company. My balance was zero, close the damn thing out for me.
To whomever did this too me (and I have a feeling it's whomever is living in apartment 22G now--Mrs. Steiner) "PISS-OFF YOU FREAKIN' DISHONEST, CREDIT CARD STEALIN', LOW LIFE SCUM!"

**Don't remember actual names

A home is a home is a home…not.

Inspired by something MissJackie recently posted about being “home-less” I wanted to share a bit about my home. I love my home. I really do. I haven’t loved or felt at home in any of my prior living establishments (with the exception of my parents home). I was just the tenant. I paid my rent just like all the other people in my complex.

Over the course of ten years I have lived in many different places starting with the dorms back in 1994 at WMU. The dorms where an adventure. I think all college students should experience the dorms. It's truly a test of how you can survive with lots of different people in a extremely confined spaces. From the dorms, I moved into an apartment with some fellow students. I won’t call them friends because I don’t think these two girls wanted any other friends other than themselves. From there, I moved back into the dorms after a summer spent at my parents house. Good ole Zimmerman. This is where I met my good friend Lisa. It is also where I learned how much fun college could be…whether that is a good thing or bad thing, it was fun. I then moved into an apartment with my dorm roommate and a fellow education major for the summer. That was fun. When school resumed in the fall I moved into a house with 4 other girls…big mistake. 5 girls, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Not enough room for all the cattiness. Then it was back home to the parents while I did my student teaching...no money to live by myself then. It was from there that I moved across country with my then boyfriend (now husband) to sunny Cali to live in the smallest most expensive apartment I had ever lived in. Who would have thought that for $1000/month that you could find anything smaller? I could not believe this. From there, we upgraded to renting a house. That was much nicer, but still didn’t feel like home. Then we were forced to move, so we found the biggest apartment that the three of us could reasonably afford. We stayed there for 3 years….me, my now husband, and James (some of you have met James). That was all over about 9 years!!! How many places was that??? I lost count.

Anyways, now my husband and I own a home in Holland, MI. We love our home. It isn’t anything particularly special. It’s a brick ranch. Not much to look at from the outside. Inside we have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a dinning room, living room, family room and kitchen spread out over about 1900 sq ft plus an unfinished basement. Not too shabby. But that is not what is so special about this house. It’s the patio. We have a screened in patio that is an additional 333 sq ft. We are currently getting ready to do some work to the patio. Tile specifically. We just bought all the product we should need. Some nice terra cotta colored tile that will compliment the chocolate brown color of the house. We are excited to do our first project. I can't wait until its done...to sit on the patio on a nice Michigan evening, have a glass of my fav wine and read a good book with no bugs landing on you! Ahhhh! What more can I ask for?

A home is more than just the walls where you live and sleep. A home is also the feeling you get when you walk inside. You just know you are home. The structure itself is almost comforting.

I love my home. After a long day, it is comforting to walk in those doors and know that I’m home. I can relax. I can be myself.

Go Pistons!!!

I'm getting ready to watch the Pistons tonight. I'm way excited. Go Pistons!!! We want a repeat!!!

$1,000,000

If I had a $1,000,000 we wouldn't have to walk to the store
If I had a $1,000,000 we'd take a limosine 'cause it costs more
If I had a $1,000,000 we wouldn't have to eat kraft dinner
~~BARENAKED LADIES~~

I was listening to one of my favorite cd's today at work (you probably can figure it out from the above quote) and that song got me thinking: What would I do with a million dollars?

There are always things that I want but many things that I really need right now. I really liked that Coach purse I saw at Marshal Fields, but I definately don't need it. A new car would be nice, but not necessary. The Saturn is to be kickin' just fine. Paying off my student loans seem like it would a good idea.

Would a million dollars be enough to see me through my old age? For some reason, I'm not so sure. With life expectancy increasing, and basically no hope of collecting any of that social security that I've been paying into, would that be enough? (Thanks George W. for spending that surplus in social security that we had when you initially arrived in Washington...but that's another story) What if I'm sickly in my old age? what if housing and gase and all the other expenses keep going up at the pace they have been. Will this be enough?

Being the practical person that I am, I would have to pay off bad debt (the kind you can't write off on your taxes) and invest the rest in something very, very safe. Guess I'll have keep eating my Kraft dinner too.

80 Degrees

It was finally 80 today!!! Yeah!!!! Warm weather. Click on the link of the title to see the weather in my area.

You're Fired

This has been a weird last few days. Yesterday two employees were let go. One by his own choice--he had let on that he was considering other employment; the other one was completely surprised by the whole thing. I know he was unhappy working there, but it never feels good to be let go; you always want to leave on your own terms.

Anyways, I'm completely sympathetic to his situation. I too was "laid-off" at one point in my life. I wasn't happy either. I had watched most of my colleagues leave or get laid-off over about 3 months. We went from a company with 60 employees down to 18 when the "last wave" hit. Looking back on it, it was probably a good thing because I wasn't happy there. At the same time I was more-or-less forced to take the first job that came a long instead of being choosy like I would have liked to have been.

The work at "the job" wasn't bad. It was somewhat enjoyable. My official job title was "knowledge developer"...which is a hybrid way of saying technical writer/instructional designer. I wrote all sorts of courses that were delivered over the web. I didn't mind the actual work. My educational experience made this sort of work almost natural for me. You see I have an elementary education degree and an English minor. So basically, I understood learning principals and could write in complete sentences...or something like that. Anyways, the actual design and implementation of my courses was almost fun. I even liked QA'ing (proofreading) other people's work...it was like polishing a rough stone to make it shiny.

Some of my colleagues from this place, are still good friends of mine. But working with management, or should I say management working us over, was another story.

We were often asked to work on many courses at the same time never giving any ONE course its proper due. I was actually told that they would "push me to the breaking point" to see how much work I could handle. Pay...well, that wasn't so good either.

Needless to say that when I was let go, it was a blessing and a curse. I still haven't found work that I enjoy. I'm currently "trapped" in a profession that I really can't stand. I'm an administrative assistant at a CPA firm. A CPA firm that is also SUPER conservative.

So what should I do with my life. Some have suggested going back to school. But to be honest, I don't know that I want to. Some have suggested finding something I can do from home with my current skills. Some have even suggested having kids. What to do, what to do....

I do hope that my fellow employee finds something better. I know that scared feeling of having to pay the bills and having very little income(Unemployment in Cali wasn't enough to live off of). With that good luck LS.

Apology

Dear Friends and Family:

Lately I've been feeling guilty about not keeping in better touch with some of my friends and family. Some of you know I used to be quite the avid letter writer back in the day. So to those of you that this applies to, I sincerely apologize.

You may wonder what is bringing this on? You see, about a year and a half ago, I lost someone very important to me. I think I've secretly been grieving silently for a while. I was very sad that this special lady wasn't around to share in my wedding and the birth of my sister's child.

You see not only was this wonderful woman a fantastic roll model, she is also the mother of my best friend and my mom's best friend. Without her around I feel like there is someone missing from all these important things.

Lately, my mom has been having a rough time of things. Her dad (my gramps), is battling alcoholism in his 70's. It's killing him. And the whole family is watching it happen. My mom is a natural "mother" figure and has been looking in on him since he moved to town. I can see the terrible strain she's under, and I can only imagine what it must be like to be going through all this without her closest friend by her side.

We've all been as supportive as we can for her but it's not the same as having that one outside true friend that is always on your side.

So let me finish with this: all of my friends and family are important to me. And I'm sooooo sorry if I have ever neglected telling any of you how much I love you.Love you, JLB

Rote Memorization - Worked for Me

I recently had a discussion with some friends about the value of some skills being memorized, particularly basic math. Is there really anything wrong with memorizing you multiplication tables?

My friend who is a teacher said in his science class not all his students can multiply. 7th grade and can't multiply? Don't you start that in 2nd grade??? How does this happen???

I remember in second and third grade going through the process of learning my multiplication tables. Boy what a pain. Everyday, the flash cards, the work sheets, reciting them aloud with the class. But with Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Brown kept us at it until we had it down.

Is there really anything wrong with that? Does every single activity in school have to be enriching? Is there really anything wrong with drilling kids to know certain things?

I know all kids learn differently, yada, yada, yada. It was drilled into us in the ed program at WMU. But isn't giving kids flash cards to they can see it, reciting it so they can hear it, and worksheets so they can practice it, meeting the needs of many different kids. Yes there is value into teaching kids that they can figure it out with grid paper or blocks, but is that practical? You know I regularly carry grid paper in pocket for those occasions when I need to multiply. Yes for certain things I'll use a calculator, but for figuring a tip for the waiter/waitress, I do that math in my head.

So MEMORIZE your multiplication tables. I did.

Party Time

I've been getting invited to a lot of events lately. It seems that weddings, birthdays, and open houses are popping out from everywhere. Some I can't wait to go to, others I don't want to at all (Jilly--I can't wait for your wedding, you are not included in this bunch).

Are you obligated to get a gift to every event you are invited to or only the ones you go to?

Case in point, my brother-inlaw's little brother is graduating. If I'm invited to the open house (which I don't know if I will be yet even though its only in a couple of weeks) and I don't go, do I still have to give a gift?

What about for a wedding that you aren't going to, but the rest of your family is? How do you know what's proper in all these cases. I'm sure there's some book or research I could do on the subject, but I don't feel like it.

Any feedback?

Star Wars Rocked

Nuff said.

A Little Bird

Last night my husband and I went to visit his Grandma in the nursing home where she is currently recovering from chemo and an infection. I could tell when we got there that she was tired and had a long day. We asked her if she wanted us to leave so she could rest, and she said "No." We knew she would say no. She would never turn away family.

So we stayed for an hour or so and chatted with her. She started talking about this past Christmas and how wonderful it was to have everyone together under one roof for the holiday. She told us about how as she was preparing the house for the festivities she kept having a "little bird" tell her to "Enjoy Christmas because it may be your last." That's a very sad thought. It didn't seem to bother her as much as it bothered us when she said it. It's hard for us to imagine her not being the center, the rock of the family. It's hard to imagine, not having Christmas eve at her house. She definitely seemed more at ease about it then we did.

I actually haven't been able to shake this all day. And as she lies there trying to fight off this terrible infection eating away at her, she still seems at peace with the fact that it might be her time to go. Amazing lady that Evelyn!

I am also reminded of a Bob Marley song called "Three Little Birds"
It goes something like this:

Woke up this morning, smiled at the rising sun, three little birds perched by my doorstep. Singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true. This is my message to you. Don't worry about a thing cuz every little thing is gonna be alright.

Bizzaro-land

If your windows don't roll down, why would you go through a drive thru?

I'm still trying to figure this one out.

On my way down to Indy last weekend I encountered this strange situation. The woman in the car in front of me had her door open as she was placing her order at the speaker at the drive thru. Then she proceded to pull up about three feet short of the drive up window, get out of her car, walk up to the window and hand the woman her money. While she is waiting for her change, she picks up all the change around the window on the ground and pockets it. After she collects her change she gets back in her car, pulls three feet short of the next window to get her two cups of coffee.

Isn't it called a drive thru for a reason?

This had been bugging me since it happened. It wasn't so much that she violated the laws of the drive thru (well that was part of it--okay alot of it), but also that she pocketed all that loose change that was on the ground. Why didn't she give it to the lady working the register so her drawer balances, like an honest person? This whole scenario is disturbing.

Is this world full of dishonest, stupid people? I like to think not, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Family

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to family. Family is very important. It's the only thing true in this world.

I love my family. My Mom is very giving. My Dad shows his love silently. My sister is an amazing young woman. My husband, I love him. I can't imagine my life without any of these people.

But my family extends further than this. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. And of course when you get married your family grows by leaps and bounds overnight. And even though I don't see these people as frequently as I would like, I would still do anything for them because they are family.

Lately I've heard a lot about sisters fighting on all sides of the family. It really bothers me. "Grow-up and get along" is what I want to say to them all. You only get one family. Don't burn your bridges with them--you only get one chance in this life. Regretting not forgiving or helping a family member is the last thing I want to do in this life time.