A Wandering Mind

I have often mentioned that I tend to be a little cheap when making purchases.  Something I have learned the hard way is that sometimes cheap shoes aren't the best choice, mostly because they hurt my little tootsies!  Then I end up buying another pair because the first pair has given me blisters that I could drive my car into.  Another thing I have noticed is that you really need a comfy yet cute/sexy pair of black heels AND a cute/sexy pair of dark brown heels.  It's really a must.

Lately I have been trying to balance out how crappy my job makes me feel by wearing something that makes me feel really cute.   After trying to find a nice cheap pair of brown shoes FOREVER, I decided that I was just going to buy a pair that may cost more than $24.99.

So I bought these shoes and they are my new favorite thing.  I wore them yesterday for 9 hours and they were really comfy!  And I never wear heels. 

The funny thing is that they are called "Lucky Day."

Some days all it takes is a cute pair of Mary Janes.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-Cole-REACTION-Womens-Lucky/dp/B0012BW130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1216863084&sr=8-1

 

 

My baby brother just turned 13 and to celebrate his entrance in his teen years, which I am sure are going to turn my Mom's hair completely gray, I thought I would share with you how he is the savior of my entire family.

You see, my parents were married for about 17 years and through out that time my mom had struggled with some depression but at about year 14 she began a slow progression into a character I call Crazy-Mom, or CM.  CM should not be confused with the sweet person that my mother actually is.  CM had mood swings like a sonofabitch, she had this rage and she would yell and hurl things and just totally make with the crazy.  I was about 12-13 around this time and she became pretty much unbearable.  This all led to a very unfriendly divorce, a brief stay in a hospital and then she moved to Georgia.  She was in Georgia for about 3 years and during this time I barely spoke with her and I never saw her, which at that time was fine with me.  So one day when I was about 17 she called and told me I was going to be a big sister.  Apparently she had some boyfriend down there and she had managed to get herself preggers.  I was not happy about this, this was a woman who had not paid any child support, had not ever offered to help my Dad pay for anything. 

Nine  months later he was born.  Of course it didn't seem real because at this point in my life, SHE wasn't even real to me anymore.  But when he was 18 months old, CM and the boyfriend weren't getting along so good and she fled Georgia like her ass was on fire and came back to Ohio.  When I first saw my baby brother, he looked like this:

 

As you can tell from the photo, this was not a face I could deny and even though I loathed her, I couldn't turn my back on HIM.  Another thing about my brother, he had asthma.  So one day at a doctor's appointment, the doctor happened to look over at CM and notice there was something wrong with her neck.  As it turned out, my mom had thyroid cancer, which had been developing in her for about 10 years and basically fucking with her hormones and pretty much turning that sweet woman in CM.

To make a long story short, there was radiation, thyroid removal, screaming fights and therapy but now I have a pretty good relationship with my momma.  She's sweet and lovely and even though she can aggrivate me and I can't make all those bad times disappear I can love the person she is now.  And I do.  But I really believe that none of that would have happened if my brother hadn't been born.  I was an adult when she came back and nobody could force me to spend time with her and I would have told her to fuck off probably, if not for him. I think the same goes for my sisters.  He saved our family.  And now, even though my parents are divorced and my brother has a different bio-dad, the six of  us are one big loud dysfunctional family.

So here's to my baby brother, the glue to the family fabric!

 

 

Mom (not CM!) and Blake having a laugh.

 

 

 

Mom and Dad aggitating one another...

Here is the progression of our front porch.

This is what our house looked like when we bought it.  You can't see it closely but there is brown carpet on that porch.  Brown, plasticy, kinda shaggy porch carpet.  There are so many things wrong with that.  And don't even get me started on those damn GINORMOUS bushes.

 

 

 

Then we tied those bushes to a 4WD jeep and ripped those bastards out.  We ended up with tire marks in the front yard and discovered the shitty porch construction and that half the house trim was painted bright goldish-yellow.  Those ugly bushes hid ALOT of ugly.

 

 

Then we made it pretty.

 

We still have to add some flowers and replace the right side window but I am loving the new look.

A husband who is surprising me with delicious chicken/veggie lettuce roll dinner.

 

 

A coupla dogs who can't wait to give me smooches.

 

 

One old grumpy cat

 

One ornery cat trying to sneak outside by pretending to be innocent

 

 

My little house filled with all the creatures that love me...

Now that the deck is done I can sit outside in my comfy chair and read a book and listen the trees rustle and the traffic go by.  I find it very peaceful.  It's nice to do after coming home from a very annoying/boring/soul-sucking day sitting in my cubicle.

Speaking of my cubicle, I've been thinking alot about what I want to do next since it is painfully obvious this whole cubicle thing isn't for me, at least not with the current job task.  My sister, who is a special ed teacher, thought I should get my license to teach.  This is something that I have thought about before so I decided to look into it.  Turns out I only need 7 classes and then student teaching.  Jay is supportive of me doing it even though I will have to quit my job to student teach in 2010.  The only problem is that its not necessarily something I am passionate about, even though I do have some interest.  I like the idea of doing a job that actually matters and that I could maybe teach creative writing.  There are alot of plus sides to it.

I'm still doing job searches though and I applied to work as an adjunct at the local community college but I don't think that will pay very well and since it's part-time, there will be no benefits.  Does anyone know anything about adjuncting?

I am too old to feel so directionless!!!!!

On Sunday morning after the party, I was getting some stuff together to send home with my Dad.  We went out the front door and around the side of my house so I could give him some of the left over soda to take home.  As we were emptying out coolers, I heard Mable (my chihuahua) yelping and kind of screeching.  I didn't even know she was outside, she had snuck out when we went out the door. 

I ran around the front of the house and saw her limping in my neighbor's yard, which is on the corner.  When I got to her, her front paws were curled up and she was hunched to one side and couldn't look directly at me.  I thought for sure she had been hit by a car and had some sort of internal bleeding.  I ran and got Jay and we wrapped her in a towel and got in the car to take her to the animal ER.  As we are driving there, she just snapped out of it.  It was so strange.  She's totally fine now. 

My Dad says that he saw a truck drive by and he thinks that maybe the truck drove OVER her without touching her since she's so small.  I think either that or maybe a rock flew out from the road when the truck drove by and hit her or something strange.  Either way, we are being extra cautious when we walk outside so that she doesn't sneak outside. I'm really glad she's okay.  I would have been so sad if something had happened to her.

 

 

 

I have been away from the computer lately because my sisters and I have been planning a big 60th birthday party.  My dad is not the kind of guy who ever treats himself, he lives so modestly and sometimes I want him to have some of the comforts that he's earned, like a nicer car, a house in a better neighborhood and you know, clothes that weren't bought in the 1992.  We have been working on replacing the clothes but it takes a special occasion before he wears them.  So I wanted him to have a big party with lots of family and old friends who love him, good music and lots of beer.  The husband and I have been working to get the house ready, my oldest sister made tons of delicious food and the middle child helped me clean.  The party was last night and it was a huge success.  I made him a picture slideshow of his whole life and a mix CD of all these songs my sisters and I remember him fancing around the house to when we were little.  I also bought him some jean shorts and plan on sneaking over to his  to throw away his old ratty ones.  Here is the photographic evidence...

 

Daddy's girls.

 

 

Me and my momma with  her gorgeous hair that I did not inherit.  (She and my dad are good friends even though they are divorced.)

 

 

Preggy McPreggerson...

 

 

My baby brother (not my Dad's son but he may as well be) and Preggy

 

 

This is my Little Man...he follows dad around but sometimes I can get his attention.

 

 

This is at about 11 pm and the drinks were setting in on my Pops.

 

 

A little air guitar for my husband and uncle.

 

 

The drinks were setting in on them too.

 

 

My sister is getting used to be the sober girl at the party and my Dad is getting used to having to stop smoking when she comes in the room.  In this picture, they are singing Silver Springs.

 

 

Lights out for the older folk.

 

 

The morning after.  I snuck in right when he was opening his eyes for the first time, it probably wasn't very nice of me to use the flash though huh? (I made him sleep in the spare room on the itty bitty bed.)

Overall he said it was the best birthday he ever had.  Mission Accomplished.

Today at work we planned a baby shower for my co-worker R.  We have this special co-worker who hates to give money for anything we have at the office, even though he eats more of the food than anyone.  So at 830 he calls and asks if the shower is today and then says he didn't know anything about it because he didn't get the email.  Um how did he know about the shower if he didn't get the email since we didn't talk about it out loud because we didn't want R to hear us?  Then he calls back twice and asks why he needs to give money since we already bought the gift so that meant we had enough money and didn't need him to contribute.  And he didn't give any more but he did eat the food.

Later in the day he got mad because we were talking in the office and went back to my boss's desk to complain.  The boss told him to calm down and this crazy guy says, "Why don't you do your fucking job?"

Then later he tries to cowtail and say he's reducing his dosage of an SSRI  and it's making him have rage.  The problem is that the guy is such a liar, I don't believe him.  The boss apparently does because he hasn't been reprimanded.

I could never get away with that.  It's ridiculous.

 

 

This is my little Brianna, my niece and my goddaughter.  She's three today.  The exact moment she made her first sounds in this world, I was five feet away on the other side of the door.  I kissed the top of her head when she was 30 minutes old.  She a little one.  She's 3 and just now starting to wear size 2T.  She's also fearless and spunky.  She likes to sing commercials.  She can be heard singing "No bugs on me..." from the frontline commercial.  Yeah, she's totally made of magic.