Blogger Fucker.

I just had a nice long post going, now destroyed by freezing. Microsoft has encountered an error. It will now close. Danelle will now run screaming from the room.

The Taste was great fun today, even more fun with Katie and Charlie in tow. We shopped, we ate, we made fun of people. When we got separated (several times) we called each other's cell phones. Frequently we could hear each other's phones ringing, but didn't have the person in sight. "Hey where are y..oh there you are! click." Hilarious.

I was happy they have finally enacted a no pets rule this year. There is nothing worse than traipsing around the Capitol Hill People's Fair and every other downtown event stepping in dog shit and standing in line next to someone who possesses a vile animal, the most evil of all canines...a crotch sniffer. "Nice dog, mind if I stab him in the jugular?"
Seriously, are the dogs really having any fun? They don't seem to be. People still snuck some tiny ones in their bags tho. Wow, you're so daring! So risky! A veritable rebel! You brought in a Chihuahua!

The only thing that would have been more pleasant is if they'd enacted a "no empty stroller" rule. Why do you people bring a stroller (two and three wide, no less) and then let your kids walk? You're trying to wrangle the stroller with one hand, and a dawdling toddler with the other. News flash for you. Strap them in and just say no.

Some people act like they don't know how to behave in a crowd. Keep moving, you're in the walkway. Watch where you're going..we walked way out of our way for some Thai tea for me, Katie was carrying it and some fucktard was talking to someone behind her, had her head turned, but was walking forward and knocked the tea right out of her hand to the ground. You have no idea how bad I wanted to take this woman's misty mate and string her from the nearest tree with it. We got some more later tho. Katie also went out of her way to find me some coveted cotton candy, which was delicious. We even stopped for slurpees on the way home. mmmm...

Oooh, then..we came home and I had the house to myself for a bit. (heaven, HEAVEN I say!) And I decided to make some funnel cake with my trusty funnel cake kit. (I've made several so far, it's so fun!)

Well, I had a flash of brilliance when I saw that Katie had opened a box of brownie mix last night. (We frequently mix a small bowl of brownie or cake mix with water and eat it with a spoon, shut up)

So I made some liquidy brownie mix and drizzled it on the funnel cake, and then put the powdered sugar on top. Oh man, was it terrific. I can't wait to make Katie try it. hee.

Next weekend is our hometown festival, The Arvada Harvest Festival. It'll be a lot of fun, but on a teenier scale. The funnest part is running into people I know and some I went to high school with - all will be wrangling a stroller, a toddler and a crotch sniffing dog, no doubt - lol - I am such a bitch!

Katie and Daniel will miss it, because they will be relegated to the backseat of a rented Cadillac for 2 days driving to California with Dan and his wife. They're going for Dan's sister's 3rd wedding. His 5 sisters really like getting married, they do it a lot. They will only be there 2 days, and then have to come back.

I seriously hope Daniel and Katie can get along, there's nothing worse than a road trip when you're not getting along. Trust me on this one.

Mark picked up Emma today and we had the obligatory 3 hours of chatter but now she's in bed.

Movie time.

We're heading out to the Taste in a little bit, but am searching for new blogs to blogroll and read. You guys never post! You have such fun interesting things happen in your lives, but I guess they're too fun and you're too busy to write about it. Bah. I like to read people's blogs who post similarly (in quantity) to myself, because since I'm in here a couple of times a day, I'd like to see what you all have to say a couple of times a day too, you know? I'll still be reading the "once and twice a weekers" but I really want to use the blogroll for posts I check in with a couple of times a day, and actually find something new. Actually, maybe I could do two different sorta blogrolls. I dunno, I will think about it. hmmm...

Don't anyone get all weird and offended if you're removed from the ol list. Who cares?! At least you have fair warning. I hate it when I'm dropped from a blogroll and I have no idea why. My first thought is always: "Oh, wow..I suck..but why do I suck..?" I remember once I thought Trish had taken me off her blogroll, and it kinda irritated me. So I took her off of mine. (Real mature, yea.) But then I found myself checking her blog everyday from my sister's blog (who also has her linked). Doh. Then I got a comment or something from Trish, about a post..and I was like 'oh shit. She's reading here?' So I just stopped acting like a baby and added her back up. No blogroll games. Just good reads.

Actually, now that I've finished this post I think I will make two blogroll lists. I will have a frequent and infrequent poster list or something. That way I will still have you on the page, but people won't be directed there as often, to look for new posts.

Also, if you all aren't pinging...please please do. I hate checking and checking all the blogs and finding no one has updated. A little pinging. That's all we ask.

Ok, Im off. Now that I've had my early morning rant, you all have a nice day.

This is for Emma and Dy..

yo yo yo...
[Edit - this turned into quite a rambling post..so sorry]

I have been a cleaning/filing machine this evening. I finally got all my stray papers filed in my lovely new filing system. I'm happy about that. Organization makes me feel content.

Then I started cleaning out the area by my bed, which was nearing the point of only have a slim path to walk through. Katie decided some time ago that she really liked one of the pyrex patterns I was selling on ebay. (Crazy Daisy). So I started collecting it just for her, and it was out.of.hand. I finally got it all put together and boxed up, sealed for a day when she moves out and has her own place. I even got a little weepy when I was sealing up the box, thinking about the day she'd open it. (Don't even go there..boohoo!)

I "filed" all the other dishes I need to sell on my ebay shelf; a black metal tower of shelves loaded with this and that that will eventually be an auction. I even have about 5 pair of perfectly good size 16 jeans if anyone can use them? Pay me for shipping and they're yours.

In the process however, I've piled an inordinate amount of crap on my desk. Remember, my 7'X4' desk? It's gone. buried. There's still wood under here somewhere...I'm pretty sure. I should take a picture of it, it's humorous, really. I bet if you were to name a few random obscure things, I could find them on my desk.
Tampon? yea.
windex? sure.
a brown paper bag of nails? yup.
wedding bubbles? check.
insect repellant (what do you think?)
a half roll of tp. yes.
Iron-on jean patches. (I gotta iron those on!)
Bookmarks. (only about 25 or so!) Everyone leaves bookmarks in books.

Also, at least 3 knives. And those are just the ones I can see, that aren't buried. I really need to keep all my knives in one place. That's one thing I'm too careless about. I very carefully place my $14 sunglasses in a certain place each night, but I leave $100+ knives laying around like spare change.

Seriously.

_________

We had a BLAST at the Taste today. I bought some fun stuff (Christmas presents even) and we ate everything in site. I can't wait to go back tomorrow with Mark in tow. Katie and Charlie are going too. Fun!!

Speaking of Christmas (we were, trust me)..I have bought so much stuff already. I have been buying things all year, finally becoming one of those people I guess. I just see stuff that people like, or collect, or appreciate and know if I don't get it then I may not find it again. Or, if someone tells me "oh, I want one of those ____".. then I will immediately be on the lookout for one and buy it. I know if I wait, I will forget everything everyone told me they wanted. Cindi mentioned something at Water World that she wanted to get "sometime" and I spotted one today. Heh.

I've gotten a bunch of stuff on ebay, I like to shop at 3 in the morning and see what's ending in the next few minutes, that maybe has slipped under the radar. I have picked up a few really nice things that I'm excited about giving to people. I even picked up a steal of a digital camera for my dad for Christmas, but about two days later Marla called and asked if I would help her buy one for him for Christmas. I was like "uugghhh..." So I just waited a few days, told her I found one, and let her "buy" it for him, through me. It was a steal - 2.1 Mpxels, 2x digital zoom, 16mb card, USB, black and white mode (I always wish my camera had this), etc..etc.. Brand New, for $75. Not a famous brand..but great for him to learn on. That's cool though, he's easy to buy for, and I already have a bunch of stuff for him anyway.

I had to sit down tonight actually and make a spreadsheet of everything I've bought so far, cause in the process of cleaning my room, I'm packing that stuff "away" (read: hide), and I will forget what everything is.

I think buying presents this way is more thoughtful. It shows you pay attention to what people like and want, rather than just buying some random crap.

Actually, some people are thoughtful without thinking about it. Dy once got me a cool stained-glass star (but way prettier than regular stained glass) and I thought that was so cool, because I collect stars, but not that many people know that. And I don't garishly decorate with stars all over the place, but I do have a few special "star" things here and there. You have to be paying pretty close attention to see it, I think.

I'm not thoughtful by nature, I have to work at it. If I wait 6 months I will forget that you told me you liked a specific scent of fancy lotion..or have always wanted a certain book about Winnie the Pooh.

So make sure you tell me what you want for Christmas. And then stay away from the top shelf of my closet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*
me: Im hungry
Katie: Im not hungry, but I'm eating.

audblog audio post

I'm not a people person. And I'm sick of people saying they are a people person. Cause you aren't. You're all just as self-righteous, pious and bitchy as I am.

I'm especially not a people person tonight. No, it's not my real life peeps. Just "out-there" folks.

I get so irritated at some people sometimes. Who the hell do you think you are? You think you're doing a good job at what you're doing? Think about it for a minute. Look around. Proud of yourself?

Laughable..that's what you are. A mess. Get this through your head. You're not interesting, attractive, or intelligent. In fact, you're barely tolerable.

I just had funnel cake.

For dinner.

Must lay down.

Something else I've realized since I got my new cell phone. (ooh, it's cute, I love it). I absolutely cannot talk on the phone and do something else at the same time. Mark called me while I was in the store and I couldnt keep shopping. I couldnt even roll the buggy. I ambled around, back and forth, pacing about 3 feet, then back, and around in a circle like a dumbass. Then Katie called while I was loading the groceries and I couldnt even keep doing that. How hard is that? Pick up a bag, throw it in the car. No, I stopped and stood there doing nothing till we were done talking. Someone even pulled up behind my car and wanted to wait for my space. I gave them a dirty look and waved them on like "no...I'm gonna be awhile." lol

3's a charm...

3 things that suck on this otherwise really nice day.

A few days ago Mark and I went to Target (remember?) and yesterday I realized we must have left a bag there, cause I couldnt find something. I bought 4 packages of ziploc type bags, for school lunches and stuff and they were no where to be found. We looked all over, but they never turned up. I was just like "oh, well.."

But now I am remembering all kinds of things that were in that bag, and now it's really irritating. I was in the grocery store a little while ago and saw a display of Cocoa Pebbles. I said to myself : "hey..cocoa pebbles, I just bought some of those...where are they? Oh no, I got em at Target!" Then I saw Vienna sausage (enema sausage, Emma calls em) and realized the same thing. Bah.

Sucky thing number two was that I took all of Mark's divorce papers up to the courthouse because he has to have them turned in by September 4. Affidavits, etc... Mountains of paper. I thought I would be nice and go turn them in for him. So I get up there and it's like 3:25, and they close at 4. The gal goes over the papers and sees something that she says is a "red flag", and that I have to fix it. Oh lordy. So I have to go all the way home and redo this one particular section. Fine, great. Except that Mark had signed the last page, so by me fixing this part, it totally screwed up the page breaks. I sat here for at least 5 minutes screwing around with that damn thing so the pages would line up right and I could still use the last signed page. I made it back up to this woman's line at 5 till 4. She was thrilled, no really. lol

The last sucky thing is that last night when Mark and I went to dinner, we left the minute I got home from school, so I didn't put my backpack in the house. When we came home, I just left it in his car. Welll....no biggie, except my keys were in there, and I had all these errands to run today. Luckily I had a spare ignition key. Buutttt...I realized after I had loaded my cart up with $120.00 worth of groceries, that I couldn't get into the back of the stationwagon. (I'm a very frugal shopper, $120 worth is a buttload.) There is no lever to open the gate from the inside. There is no handle inside the trunk either. I had to load a gazillion bags, plus a gabillion cartons of soda into the front and back seats. Keep in mind that Emma's car seat takes up a grand amount of space in the backseat. BAH BAH BAH!!! It wasn't too bad, though. Just took me a damn long time.

And so are the days of our lives.

Cool Change...

Last night while Mark and I were out, we were talking about bands that we were listening to in the 80's. We were surprised at some of the bands that did and didn't make it over the pond (both ways.)

I mentioned Little River Band, and he had never heard of them. Talking about them reminded me of this song, and how much it applies to me. The lyrics can be interpreted many ways, but to me it says..relish in your aloneness, yet cherish the people and changes around you.


If there's one thing in my life that's missing
It's the time that I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear water
Lots of those friendly people
And they're showing me ways to go
And I never want to lose their inspiration
Time for - a cool change
I know that it's time for a cool change
Now that my life is so prearranged
I know that it's time for a cool change...

I feel like it's gonna be a good day.

Lots of errands to run, but it feels good to take care of business. Mark is on the late shift tonight so we're able to spend the morning together, which is really nice.

Also getting laundry done..believe it or not.

Life is good today. Really good.

Nothing can ever be very bad..as long as I have IM's from the basement like this..

mark: pssst, i love you
me: I love you too...soo much
mark: not just 'so much' but 'soo much' !
mark: yr goofie, but i like ya, i think i am gonna keep ya
mark: do u want any coffee ? or just meet for cuddles in a few..
me: yea cuddles
mark: k - cya on the sofa

Bleh.

Called Mark crying after class. It was our first skill set and I sucked. I have no strength whatsoever. We spent 3 hours (NO break) lifting each other. On the backboard, off the backboard. Onto the pram, off the pram. Raise the pram (I really suck at this), lower the pram. Lift someone in a blanket. Lift someone off a toilet. All done? Do it again. I have crappy form, I can't lift with my legs. I cant keep my back straight. I feel fat. My hands are blood red from lifting everything. They are so sore I can't make a fist.

I have it in me, I know I do. I just gotta find it.

Mark took me out to dinner (at 10:15 no less). A nice dinner at Bennigans, and a few beers. I really needed it. I feel a lot better. Have also been promised a back rub for whenever I'm ready to hit the couch. He's so sweet, sending me text messages in class, little notes of encouragement here and there. I don't know what I did to deserve him. Musta been something damn good.

Dy and Emma left this afternoon after school for all parts southward, until I think Monday afternoon. It will be a nice quiet weekend, which we sorely need.

I guess Emma is sick of everyone asking her how school is going, cause today when I picked her up she immediately put her hand up and said "I had a great day, so don't ask." Ok, then.

I'm sleepy.

Bah. I'll just put a permanent post that says I'm sleepy, how bout that.

Edit - I have written several sentences, and keep erasing them. I feel censored sometimes.

Well, I just found out that Financial Aid will cover 900 of the 1300 I paid. Blah. How can an unemployed empoverished single mother not get full financial aid? Helloo? Bush? Cheney? Someone?

Be very careful what you drink when you are having a soda, and putting cigarette butts in a similar can.

3 for Thursday:


1. What are 3 things you love about long holiday weekends?
Well, when I was working I used to love not going to work. Now I love having all the kids around.

2. What are 3 things that you usually do on Labor Day (or a holiday like it)?
We used to barbeque a lot on holidays, when I was a kid and when I was married. Now it's hard to get everyone in one place at one time, so we catch as catch can. In recent years it has become a tradition to go to the Taste of Colorado.

3. What are 3 of your favorite things to eat on Labor Day?
Cotton Candy, Funnel Cake, Turkey legs!

Bonus: What are your plans for this Labor Day weekend?
See #2. Poopy part is that Mark will probably be working. Ah well, I'll live.

I found this video very interesting. See the facts about how badly our soldiers are getting screwed.

The house is empty. And that's a good thing.

Last nights class was pretty good. 2 hours of lecture followed by 2 hours of playing with gurneys, prams and backboards. We dumped a lot of people on the floor. lol. The teacher is getting on my nerves a bit. I hate it when instructors lecture the textbook word for word, and that's pretty much what she does. It is an apparent total waste of time to do the reading, because she goes over it bit by bit in class.

Last night the main focus of the lecture was death and dying. Obvious signs of death, and not-so-obvious. Interesting. Dealing with families at the scene of the death. Children's deaths, and severe trauma deaths. When to keep trying to resuscitate, and when to stop. Something to note..if someone has an open head wound exposing brain matter, they are dead. But.. you should continue to give oxygen and keep the heart beating...for organ harvesting. Who'da thunk it.

I've discovered that there are about 4 people in class that went to Northglenn High School when I was a Campus Supervisor (narc) there. Awkward, to say the least. But mostly everyone is nice..there's only one girl that I can't stand so far. Already 2 people have dropped out.

Tonight is our intro to clinicals, which is all hands on stuff. Should be fun.

********
I feel like I haven't seen Katie in days. She leaves early in the morning for workouts and school, and goes right to work after school. Maybe she'll come to the Taste of Colorado with us this weekend.

Guess that's it. Snooze a-rama, huh.

Woke up incredibly grouchy. Now am just sleepy as all get out.

I've read as much as I can possibly absorb, and I think that's all she wrote. Well, she wrote a lot more, but I can't read it. Im wondering if a nap before school will help or hinder. I did manage to put some laundry in, but only because if I don't I will be wearing pajamas to class. And I don't even own any pajamas. Scary.

Mark got a haircut today and it look ultra sexy. Very very short sides, a little bit of squidgy curl left on top. Yumm. lol

I really need to sleep I think.

Two for Tuesday...

1. I totally cannot stand -
Ohh, too many things. today.. I cannot stand the heat.

2. If I wrote an autobiography, I would call it -
C'mon, this is too easy..."My Life Is A Mess"

Knit it!

That's Emma's new saying. It's apparently what her teacher says when she wants someone or everyone to quiet down. I love it.

Emma's in the bath and it's almost bedtime. Ramma lamma ding dong. Dy will be here again tomorrow night, after her class. After Emma gets done at school on Thurs, they'll head southward for the weekend. Gah, I could never do that much driving. I hate to drive. I love road trips, but just driving driving driving is just drudgery to me. Of course, I've never had a car that could take that abuse anyway...*sigh.

What else is going on. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Wonder how Teresa's classes went. Wndering if Stacey is having a nice birthday today. Wonder if Cindi is in bed, wide awake anticipating her flight tomorrow. Wonder if Laura has a class to teach tomorrow. Wonder if Denny is sleeping ok. Wonder if Anne is moving in with her sister. Wonder if Lori will ever get down to the 130's again. Wonder if Katie will eat anything fun when she gets home from work. Wonder if Kimberly had a good day. Wonder if AJ is having fun in Hawaii. Wonder if Spencer is getting into any trouble. Wonder if Alan got the rest of his floor from Home Depot. Wonder if Lisa will ever give up any good sex. Wonder if Trish was having road rage today.

Just wonderin' about you all.

I've been trying to clear the piles that have accumulated in the kitchen and living room and I now know for a fact that I have entirely too much shit.

Gethering, copying, fill in the blanks.

Seems like that's the kind of day it's been. Mark and I went out to breakfast, that was nice. Then spent too much time and money at Target, but gee whiz, they had printer paper on sale and everything! It was just really nice to be out together again.

Mark's been gathering papers for his divorce; tax returns, pay stubs, blah blah blah. I think he has absolutely everything together. Since he initiated it, he also has to fill out the parenting plan, the child support worksheet, the support order and all that jazz. It's a ridiculous amount of paperwork, really. A few trees definately died for all this. I stay out of the actual filling in of the blanks, I just do the copying because the fax/copier here at home hates Mark. I'm just glad he's finally getting it done (Dy too, I know) and everything will be on paper, and done with. It really won't mean any changes at all, but I'm sure it'll be nice closure for all of us, especially for the two of them.

I remember the day of my divorce hearing, and while it wasn't altogether unpleasant, it was sad. I kept crying (not bawling, just you know..teary eyed) and the judge kept asking me if I was sure about all of this. I wasn't crying cause I was like "oh, boo hoo I don't have Dan any more.." it was just that I felt like such a failure. I felt like I had wasted so much of my life with him, and now had to start over. I had no friends, wasn't speaking to my family, and my kids felt lost.

I wan't even really mad at Dan, just sad. Although I did have that one brief giggly moment when the judge found out he'd lied about some things. The look on Dan's face when the judge took a recess to call his landlord was priceless. It was also fun to see the judge put Dan in his place about several things. Dy and Mark are lucky that they're on such good terms and keep everything on the level with each other.

Anyway..so that's the focus of the day..but now I think we're done. Mark had to go into work on his day off today for just a bit. Something or other about a trade in he took in last night or sumthing. Nothing bad, just clarification. So he's there, and we're ordering pizza. (No red sauce on mine!)

I guess Cindi is ready to go to NYC tomorrow. Wah. Ok, I won't complain, because we're planning some fun stuff too.

Right now tho, I have 4 chapters to read. Ssh!

Ultra grouchy cranky.

I'm just in a snippy mood this morning, I dunno why.

Class was pretty good last night. It seemed to be dragging on forever, but I guess 4 hours is a long time. Actually we got out at 9, so it was only 3 hours. It still seemed to drag.

There are about 40 people in the class. Probably 80% male. There are about 4 people in their 30's, me, and a guy who is 50. Everyone else is not a day over 23 years old. A good bulk of the younger guys are already firefighters. Some people already have their undergraduate degrees. Why would you be getting a paramedic certificate if you have a degree? Paramedics make nothing. Anyway.

I've noticed there is a definately "Medic-look". The guys are all in really good shape, very athletic and very cute. They all have really short hair, not sure what the story is there. The women are all lesbians. Ok, maybe they aren't actual lesbians, but you would peg them for one if you were guessing. There wasn't a woman in there with a lick of makeup on, and they walk like they are unable to put their arms at their sides. I'm cool with that though, they all seem pretty cool.

We did some get to know you exercises, and watched a couple of vides designed to gross you out enough into dropping the class, apparently. If anything, everyone was more encouraged. Each progressively grotesque screen shot of an injury brought louder cheers from the bulk of the room. lol.

The instructor is (besides being a lesbian - kidding) is very curt, loud, and effective. She had no problem telling a couple of people "you probably won't make it.." One because she's had 4 reconstructive knee surguries and one because she said if she ever had to encounter puke, she'd have to just walk away.

I already have 4 chapters to read by tomorrow and a big presentation on the physiology of the optical system by next Wed. Anybody got an eyeball I can borrow for some killer graphics?
_________

Mark's off today, that'll be nice. Home alone all day together. Yay. First order of business is we're going to Target. After that...gellin like a felon.

Im leaving in an hour. Agh! Nervous! Still afraid someone will say "aren't you a little old to be here?" Then I will have to say "aren't you a little young for 24 hour nursing home care for the brain injury I'm going to give you?"

I finished both biology reports and sent them off. That's it til next week, unless I want to get a little ahead.

I managed to take an hour-long nap this afternoon, Emma was mercifully watching HBO Family after school. I'm glad, cause I was already feeling weary and wondering how it would look to fall asleep the first day of class.

I'm leaving w-a-y early, probably around 4:45 so I can find the classroom and not look like a fool walking in late cause I didn't know where I was going. Plus, I know the drive takes me 35 minutes in the middle of the day, but could take much longer at rush hour.

Ok, Im off. Hold down the fort and don't hurt each other.

How cool is it..

When a 5 year old tells you today is the happiest day of her life, cause she got her new glasses. Very cool.
One is very "Harry Potter-ish", which everyone at the post office pointed out to her. She questioned me about it, and was happy with the answer that they were sort of like Harry Potter's, but for girls. The frames are a deep purple color.



And these are the ones with Elmo etched on the sides of the arm pieces. Very cute.

On hold.

I am on hold, and it is the most annoying hold I've ever been on. No, there's no elevator music, no awkward dead silence. No, instead we have a woman saying "please continue holding.." Ok, that's fine right? But she says it every 13 seconds. I counted. "Please continue holding, please continue holding, please continue holding.."

I am so damn sleepy.

My online Bio class started yesterday. Lots to do ahead. Already I have 2 2-page reports due by Friday. Easy tho. Already did one and sent it off last night. I went to bed at a decent hour, and yet am more tired than ever this morning. I'm pretty sure I got Emma dressed without opening my eyes once. Im not sure how I will fare putting one foot in front of the other in 15 minutes to walk her to school. Sleeeepy.

At this time tomorrow evening I will be in my first class! Yikes! I constantly feel like it's going to be similar to jury selection. The instructor will ask me a question, and after I answer they will say. "You're excused. Get out. You have no business being here, you old lady lookin thing. Sheesh." I have nerved myself into diarhea and stomach cramps. Gah.

I didnt pull any books yesterday, so there was a buttload waiting. I started pulling them at about 6:45 and I just got done. And there's still 4 waiting that were difficult to find, so I just said fuck it. Now Mark is down there packing them, and at 9, we'll settle in together to watch the finale of The Restaurant. After that, it just may very well be bedtime.

And just because I have so many funny pictures saved on my computer, I think I will start posting one here every couple of days. Enjoy.

A pretty nice, casual day.

We (me, Mark, Dy and Emma) got up early-ish and headed out to breakfast at Denny's. Then we hit the Mills and got my new phone squared away and did a little bumming around. We came back a couple of hours ago, Dy left for MV and we've all been pretty immobile since. She'll be back on Wednesday night to attend her parenting class and take Emma to MV with her on Thursday after school.

I haven't made any funnel cake yet, I need to get more oil. Otherwise, it comes with everything else.

Now all I need is a cotton candy machine.

This is the funnest thing ever.

Katie bought me a funnel cake kit! C'mon over!

Jammin'
I've nixed the movie idea and am instead enjoying some very loud and very jammin tunes. The Czechs next door are probably running around shutting their windows. Here's the playlist.

Bye Bye Bye - N'Sync
It's Gonna Be Me - N'Sync
Bialamos (Dance Mix) - Enrique Iglesias
Escapar (Dance Mix) - Enrique Iglesias
Everybody - Backstreet Boys
Firefly - Saves The Day
At Your Funeral - Saves The Day
Sincerely Me - New Found Glory
I Drove All Night (Dance Mix) Celine Dion
Somewhere I Belong - Linkin Park
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous - Good Charlotte
Mala Vida - Manu Chao
- - - -

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
They're always complaining, always complaining
If money is such a problem
Well they got mansions..think we should rob them

Did you know when you were famous
You could kill your wife and there's no such thing as 25 to life
As long as you've got the cash to pay for Cochran
And did you know if you were caught and you were smoking crack
McDonald's wouldn't even want to take you back
You could always just run for mayor of D.C.

I'd like to see them spend the week livin' life out on the street
I don't think they would survive
If they could spend a day or two walking in someone else's shoes
I think they'd stumble and they'd fall
They would fall


Heh. You say you hate it. But I guarantee you'd be dancing too.

Oh, boy. Water World was great fun. If wasn't very busy, but we didn't really ride anything anyway. I read all day, and finished about half of a new book, "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood." It's really good. From Amazon:

The scrubby forests of southern Georgia, dotting a landscape of low hills and swampy bottoms, are not what many people would consider to be exalted country, the sort of place to inspire lyrical considerations of nature and culture. Yet that is just what essayist Janisse Ray delivers in her memorable debut, a memoir of life in a part of America that roads and towns have passed by, a land settled by hardscrabble Scots herders who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, and who bear the derogatory epithet "cracker" with quiet pride.
Ray grew up in a junkyard outside what had been longleaf pine forest, an ecosystem that has nearly disappeared in the American South through excessive logging. Her family had little money, but that was not important; they more than made up for material want through unabashed love and a passion for learning, values that underlie every turn of Ray's narrative. She finds beauty in weeds and puddles, celebrates the ways of tortoises and woodpeckers, and argues powerfully for the virtues of establishing a connection with one's native ground.

Just got done with "Dress Codes" and passed that on to Dy. From Publisher's Weekly:
In this rich memoir, Noelle Howey details not one life, but three. It's a difficult juggling act, but it pays off beautifully, for the story of her father's coming out as a male-to-female transsexual is only part of a larger narrative of growing up female in America. Howey's writing is neither sensationalistic nor condescendingly cheery; this is a loving portrait of a girl's complicated relationship to her father's femininity and her own.

I highly recommend either. Good books lately. Denny also sent along HP5 for me via Dy, that will be next.

I couldnt go to Laura and Denny's art opening in the Springs, because I had to take Daniel to Conifer, then right after Dy left..(I mean right after) Dan called and said he got called into work, and Daniel wasn't going up anyway. Bah! On the up side, Daniel is out and about, and everyone is GONE! Gone, I say! The couple of hours of an empty house will be soo nice. Im going to languish in the tub, and then put in a movie.

I know, I know. I whine when no one is here, and I whine when everyone is here. I guess just too much of anything is a bad thing. I'll be glad when everyone gets home, but I'm gonna take advantage for now. Don't call me, I ain't answerin!

One More Time...

Daniel and I are headed to Water World today for one more day of fun in the sun. Next weekend is it's last days of operation, but we'll be attending the Taste of Colorado then. Yay!

Oh my god, my archives are back. Do you know how long I haven't had archives? A long long time. Like a year.

Some of them are funny as hell. I was in such a different state of mind then. And I had to use soo much code, because of things that were going on and who might or might not be reading. Read May 11, 2001, if you're bored out of your mind and have an hour or two to spare. What is that? I was posting a lot back then. You think I post a lot now?! It's a mish mash of emotions and rambling-ness. Crazy.

I am getting nothing done today. Nothing.

God, I feel like I am in such a rut.

I know all hell is about to break loose with school starting next week, but I just want to go and do some things. I want to go out to dinner with my honey. We keep saying as soon as we get a free night we're going to go out and get some indian food and celebrate his successes. I want to go have a nice beer too and chat about things. I want to go to yard sales. I want to get my laundry done. I want to drive somewhere without filling the radiator 3 times. I want to not feel like a tired old hag on her last nerve when I have to ask Emma to pleeease stop singing.

What's stopping me? Mostly nothing. Motivation. Gumption. Where-with-all.

I know things will improve dramatically when I am in class, and out among the grown ups again. Mark's schedule is dramatically more regular now, and the responsibilities will be a lot more equitable from here on out.

There's a lot of good things on the horizon, if we can all just hold on till then.

Slacker, slacker, eat a cracker.

Oh my, I have done nothing but sit at this stupid pc all morning and read blogs. I'm trying to find some new reads, y'all don't post enough!

I absolutely have to get in the shower. Emma is eating marshmallows and I don't even know if she's had breakfast yet.

Friday Five!

1. When was the last time you laughed?
Probably last night with Mark, though I don't remember if I did or not. I know for sure I did while out thrift store shopping with Katie yesterday afternoon. Yesterday wasn't much of a laughin' day.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?
I have to say probably Mark, but I don't remember. It's been a while. I did holler at Daniel last night for something, but he didn't holler back. Hardly an argument.

3. Who was the last person you emailed?
Oh goodness. I don't initiate emails all that often. Oh, I know. Front Range financial aid.

4. When was the last time you bathed?
Last time I took an actual bath has been a while. a week..two? I showered yesterday tho.

5. What was the last thing you ate?
Hm. Well, I haven't eaten yet this morning. I guess it was the cinnamon roll around 11 last night. With coffee. yum.

Other big big news.

Amanda and Justin are homeowners as of today! They closed on their brand new house and got their coveted keys. I'm so proud!

I wonder if they've ever seen The Money Pit?

Congrats Amanda and Justin!

For Mac lovers. And haters. Funny, funny.

Bravo!!

MARRIED COUPLE REICHEN & CHIP WIN THE AMAZING RACE!



From CBS:
After 4 continents, 24 cities, and 44,000 miles, married couple Reichen & Chip won THE AMAZING RACE. Starting the leg in second place, the pair took the lead heading into Hawaii when engaged couple Kelly & Jon missed their connecting flight in Tokyo and best friends David & Jeff became stranded in Sydney.
This was intense! David and Jeff made a fatal error, and they were goners.

Kelly & Jon caught up (boo!!) to Reichen & Chip on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona, and from there the two teams battled it out in a tight race to the Finish Line. Kelly & Jon struggled to overtake their tenacious competition, but in the end the married couple shot over the Finish Line first. Upon hearing the good news that they had won, Reichen & Chip screamed and cheered in disbelief, as they became the winners of THE AMAZING RACE.

Kudos to THE AMAZING RACE, Emmy nominee for OUTSTANDING REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM!

Yay Reichen and Chip! They've been my favorite since the beginning. Everyone made fun of them all the time, and no one thought the "two gay guys" would ever make it. I'm doing the Amazing Race happy dance.

Yesterday Emma and I were sitting at the patio table, just chatting. She had a pile of pennies out there and was fiddling with them. She said:
"I got these at Laura and Denny's house."
"yea? that's cool."
"But..I have to ask before I take them out of the bowl."
(rolls her eyes)
"Well, that's because you can't just take things that don't belong to you"
"I know. And I don't ever want to be a burg-a-lar"
(Im laughing) "Yea, not good."
"What is a burg-a-lar, anyway?"

jeebus louise. I go to the bank and the grocery store and all hell breaks loose.

The offending comment has been philiminated, thankyouverymuch. People are just fucked.

It's shit like this that just makes me want to yank this whole mother fucker down and let you all wallow in your own filth. Not you, but you.

Frazzle Dazzle

Dy's right. I am frazzled. I feel run down, cranky, ill, and needy. Unfortunately everyone else in the house is needy too, and I gotta be the grown up. Life's that way. Emma's behaving just fine, but she needs stuff, and that's not her fault., She can't get drinks by herself, read which movie is which, or cook her own dinner. It's just been a l-o-n-g 8 days since mommy was here. But she'll be here tomorrow, so that's a good thing.

I still have to run to the bank and grocery store, but Emma has settled in on the couch with droopy eyes, so you know damn well I'm not touching that for a while. The store will still be there, and the bank has a night drop. Katie cleaned the kitchen before she went to work (thank you Katie!) so at least that is taken care of. She's so glad to have her car back! So now she has new tires, a new alternator, and a door that won't open. Hey, that's not so bad! the guys at Discount Tire were so nice. I swear, I will never go anywhere else. They were quoting me prices, etc and then saw in their computer that I had been a repeat customer for many years. They knocked off a bunch of money, and we got a helluva deal. I seriously would never go anywhere else. They've always been great to me.

Tonight is the season finale of The Amazing Race, which I will have to tape and watch later with Mark, because he's doing the late shift tonight. I just talked to him and was threatened with a spanking if I watch it without him. heh. Keep your comments to yourself.

That's about it. Riveting, huh.

More car stuff

We picked up Katie's car, it's not pretty, but it's driveable. Dropped it off at Discount, and she's getting two new tires. We got the check from the insurance company, and for now..all is well with Katie's car. knock on wood.

I have 3 hours till I have to pick up Emma at school, and I think I'm going to spend it on the couch. I deserve it.

I'm sick.

Not sick and tired, though I do feel sick and tired. I have a little fever, and woke up at 7am nauseous, and sweating like all get-out. I've also got it at the other end, having spent most of the morning sitting on my porcelain throne. I think the immodium has finally kicked in and am feeling better. More as the situation warrants.

No particular reason for the picture, I'm testing a picture placement html code that I found while surfing out and about.




Not much going on here, just hanging out having some coffee and relishing in the quiet that comes when Emma goes to bed. Tomorrow she has another long day at school, and we have tons o' stuff to get done. Bank, Katie's car, Katie's tires, new cell phone business, etc etc! And all this must be accomplished before Mark has to be at work at noon.

Dy's coming in this weekend, but she'll likely have to just deal with the dust. I don't see any break in the action anytime soon, so other than loading the dishes and keeping the catbox clean, she'll just have to share our squallor.

Ice cream time. Later gators.

Errands are done, and techically I'm in for the night. Someone needs to pick Katie up from work at 10:30...but that's a long time from now.

It's hotter than Hades. Some people call it hell, I call it Hades. lol

I'm gonna go clean the kitchen (bleh!) and see what's on the tube for the night. I know one thing for sure, I am "emma'd" out. She didn't have school today, she only goes on Mon, Tues and Thu, so she's been in, out, up, down..all around..since 7:30 this morning. She was a sweet pea and let me sleep for quite a spell after she got up, tho. I got up and saw her in her room, and told her I was going to go lay back down for a bit. She said "Ok, Nell..take your time." And I never heard a peep. Ah, I love that. She gets her own breakfast out of her Emma drawer in the kitchen, and is perfectly content to watch Discovery Health all by herself. (I make sure that's what channel the tv is on when we go to bed, so all she has to do is turn the tv on...brilliant, eh?!)

But now she's exhausted her tv time for the day, and is looking for company, and something to do. Off we go....

Sometimes kids surprise you with what they remember and retain.

Emma had a little homework assignment, where she had to answer questions about her family. One question was "What are two of your family's rules?" Without missing a beat she said "If you ask daddy or Nell something when they are on the phone, the answer is no".

Ahh, yes.

A rule instituted early in my own kids childhoods. If you interrupt and ask a question while we're on the phone, the answer is no..even if it's something that you would have gotten a "yes" answer to, if asked at any other time. I'd get off the phone and say
"Now what did you want?"
"Can I watch a movie?"
"No, do you know why?"
"Cause I asked while you were on the phone."
"Bingo. Go play."

And what was Emma's second household rule remembered?

"No twirling on the stairs."

Ok then.

This is a too-much-coffee induced business rant. Skip it if ya want. It's probably boring as hell. I just hadda get it out.


We get the dumbest questions in response to books and merchandise for sale on half and ebay.

Here's a book we had listed:
Internal Marketing Strategies - Like New
and our comment about the book:
Completely clean inside, tight binding. Looks brand new.

Today we get a question:
Does this book have any writing inside?
[slap]

Also...people are forever writing and asking us to leave positive feedback for them after they've bought a book. I have no problem with leaving feedback for someone, when the transaction merits it. I leave feedback for every ebay transaction, because that is appropriate. I've dealt directly with a buyer or seller, and can truthfully leave feedback about whether the transaction was positive or not.

But on half.com, we don't actually deal with the customer, unless there's a problem. People order books from us through half.com...not directly through us. Half.com collects their money. We don't even get the order if there's a problem with their payment. If they order a book, and the payment doesn't clear their credit card, we never even know. We ship the books out to the customer, and then we get paid by half.com, twice a month. So it's appropriate for someone to leave us feedback, which they frequently do. We get about 10 comments a day, mostly saying how fast we ship. But there really isn't any reason for us to reciprocate positive feedback. We haven't dealt with the customer, we didn't collect their money. What is there to say? "They bought a book. We mailed it out".

Some people are really mean when it comes to negative feedback. At the volume of business we do, problems are unavoidable. Books do get lost in the mail, or we mix up orders and send the wrong book to two people. We lose books. They're in there somewhere, but misfiled, or..something. Usually we find them right after we've cancelled the order. It never fails.

Frequently, we have to piggy back a book onto another edition of the same book, because half.com doesn't list every single book ever put into print in their database. Textbooks, especially.
So we'll attach a comment to the listing of the book, that says something like "1992 3rd Edition", when in fact the actual half.com listing is for a 1997 edition. Almost all of our negative feedback comes from people who ordered a book, and didn't read the comments, which are visible to the buyer at every step of the transaction. Man, that pisses me off.

We have gotten positive feedback after problems, too. Recently we got these comments:

Praise: Book was not as stated. Refund promptly given
Praise: Sent me unavoidable cancelation in a timely and with explanation; good people!

Nice folks.

I do love it when people write and say how much they loved the book, or have something nice to say like that. Often someone will write and say "I have been looking for this book for years!" That's fun.

However, regularly someone will write and say "What is this book about?"

Um, hi. As you can see, right by our name on your half.com page...is the number of books we have in inventory. EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED BOOKS. I haven't read em all, believe it or not. And I sure as hell am not gonna go pull the book to synopsize (is that a word?) it for you. Go look it up somewhere.

We had an auction of James Michener books up recently. A woman wrote and asked
"Are these mysteries?"
I wrote back and said "No, they are geographical fiction novels"
She wrote again - "What does that mean?"
"They are "drama" novels, written about and from the perspective of a specific place and time"
"How many novels has he written?"
Grrr.
"I'm not sure, I think there are probably lots of web pages with a biography of James Michener that would list all his books."
She wrote back one more time. And this is all she said:
"Ugly."

What the hell does that mean? I'm ugly? She looked up James Michener and he's ugly? His stories are ugly? My attitude was ugly?

People are fuckin weird, I tell ya.

Missing:

Motivation. Last seen somewhere around late May.

It's just me and Emma here today, and the forecast is for it to be hot, hot, hot. Wah!

We have tons to do, the kitchen looks like we fed an army last night, and didn't bother to even stack a dish. I have to pull books, pack what I can, box up another dress ($38 for that one - yay!) go to the post office, pick Katie up at school, go to an appointment to look at her senior picture proofs, go to the bank, take Katie to work, and take the Taurus for an emissions test.

On the flip side, Katie's car will be done first thing in the morning. I hope it truly is driveable with just the minimum amount of work we've agreed to. It will also have to have 2 new back tires immediately after picking it up. More errands for me! Whee!

We've decided to drive the Taurus until we can possibly allow to get something else, hopefully soon. I'm going to go see if it will pass emissions today, this could be a big deciding factor on what we do with it. If it will pass, we will likely sell it asap. If it won't, we'll drive it until it won't drive no mo'. Mark's already seeing what his car place has on the "back lot" (that doesn't sound good, does it..lol). This time we are going to take the car we want to a mechanic first and make sure there is nothing majorly, obviously wrong.

I'm so damn sick of friggin' car problems! Why can't I just ever have something good that works for a long time? Why do snotty rude people that I can't stand have wonderful cars. Lately I sit and daydream, and wish problems on people I can't stand. It's either cathartic, or disturbed. Maybe both.

Speaking of driving...
I'm not exactly a passive driver. I'm very "verbal" in the car. heh. I try to keep my sailor mouth clean and generic when Emma is in the car of course, but the other day we were on our way somewhere and she said "You're so yelly in the car, Nell. Why are you so yelly?"

Want the bad news first? Actually, there is no good news.

Repair estimate for the Taurus is $1100. It needs a new head gasket, and radiator. They say it wont last long at all in it's current condition. We sat down and talked about it and decided maybe we should just sell it and see what else we can find. But now we've realized we can't sell it because it won't pass emissions the way it is.

Our only other option is to fix it, then we've invested $3K into a 8 year old American car with 150K on it. Someone please shoot me. now.

Well, once again my car has been dropped off at the miracle repair place. (I gotta give CP those strokes!) I hope the problem is something manageable.

Mark has the day off tomorrow, isn't that great?! We don't have anything major planned, which is also great.

Emma helped pack her lunch tonight for her first long day at school. She put in 5 Vienna Sausages, a slice of bologna, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pudding, and an apple. (Which I cut up and dredged with lemon juice...I bet she wouldn't eat it if it was all brown by lunchtime). Her lunchbox came with a coolie moolie water bottle, we put Crystal Light in there. I hope it's enough food, it doesn't look like a lot, but she grazes so much during the day. They also have a snack in the morning and again in the afternoon, so she should be ok.

That's about it. Dull, huh. Just the way I like it. No surprises, please.

Promo Guy's Monday Mission - (only 30 mins late)

1. Are you good at responding to emails and/or Blog comments?
I think so. Better than most.

2. Does it make you crazy when people won't reply to your emails even though you know good and well that they are reading them?
YES! I hate that!

3. I recently watched the FOX special "101 Things Removed from the Human Body" which was quite disgusting in a can't-help-but-watch kind of way. It got me to thinking about many of the accidents I had as a child. I remember climbing over a fence after T-ball and catching my palm on the top of the chain-link fence. Went through my hand and tore it right open. What's the most unusual thing you've had inside your body?
I still have a small piece of lead in my thumb from when I was about 8 years old. You can still see it through the skin. I might have had more unusual things inside my body, but we ain't goin there.

4. What person from your past would you most like to run into and visit with for an afternoon? Why them? What person would you like to not ever see again as long as you live? How come?
I would like to find my friend Lorri, who I lost contact with about 16 years ago. She loaned me her wedding dress for my wedding...we were on the cheap! We were very very close.
I would like to never see any of Dan's sisters again for as long as I live. They're catty, mean people. The day my divorce was final they sent me an email about how glad they were I wasn't in their family anymore. And that's the nicest thing they said. Bitches.

5. What was the last bad meal you (or your special someone) paid too much for? What's the story there?
Alamos Verdes, just the other night. Not particularly expensive, but lousy nonetheless.

6. If out-of-the-blue you were forced to find a new career, if there was just suddenly no need for your field of expertise, just what job do you imagine you would seek out? Do you have any skills you can "fall back on?" (If you stay at home or are a student, adjust to fit your situation)
I am embarking on a brand new career that I have absolutely no experience in. If for some reason it doesn't work out, I can always go back to administrative work. I excel at it, but I hate it.

7. If you were to open up your own restaurant, what would it be called and what type of food would you serve? Describe the "feel" of the place (the decor, the music, etc).
Katie and I have always wanted to open a coffee shop with snacks..maybe sandwiches and pastries, all homemade stuff. We talk about it all the time. It would be cute and cozy, KBCO type music playing, with internet access and of course, books.

BONUS: How long can you stand the heat?
I can't. I hate it when it's hot.

I have a rip roarin' headache, and for everyone else's protection, I am holed up in my room with the door shut.

Lots of stuff accomplished today!

The claim on Katie's car has been settled. They are going to pound out the dents so it is driveable, and then we'll have to immediately get two new tires on it. The suspension is ok, so that saved a bunch of money. She'll come away with a little money to save for the next problem, and all is well. Hopefully she'll have her car back on Thursday.

I ordered my books for school, (don't ask) and spoke again to financial aid. They seem to think everything is just moving along swimmingly, and I should hear any day about what my award amount is.

I also mailed off two more dresses that sold on ebay. They're doing so well! One person emailed me right after I put one of them up and wanted to know if she could buy it outright because they wanted it by this weekend. Sho nuff! (something to note, out of the 5 dresses I've sold so far, 2 have been sold to men. I love it!)

I got so tired of farting around with the "we cant make glasses that hold together" place, that I got Emma's prescription mailed to me and then today Emma and I took it up to a "two pair for dirt cheap" glasses place and picked out some really cute ones. One of them has Elmo etched in the metal part of the ear piece. They should be here by Friday or Monday! Yay! We also got the optional 1-year protection thing that covers anything and everything that could happen to her glasses...just in case! So now hopefully by the time she comes back from Mommy's on Sunday, she'll have new glasses to wear to school.

Things are looking up, hmm?

I still have to take my car over to CP's place tomorrow and find out why it throws up anti-freeze on a regular basis. Hopefully it's not something major. Please oh please!

That's about it..my guy will be home in a few, he sold another car! This job suits him so well. Even the managers around there say he's doing way better than average. He's offered to go out and do whatever I want tonight, but I think what I want is just to stay in and enjoy everyone's company.

PS...when you have a very hungry toddler in the backseat, going to McDonald's drive through is a good thing. However, I should have listened to my gut instincts and gone inside when I heard the clerk tell the guy in front of me : "That'll be 57 dollars and 32 cents". Sheesh. So much for fast food.

Let's everyone join together and sing the song of the day, sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle

Insurance adjuster, where are you?
Why dont you look at my caarrr...
You're sitting around not doing a thing
I bet you're at the baarrr..

Bleh.

I just spoke to them *again*. "Someone will probably be out to look at the car today." It's at _________?"
"No....it's at ________"
"Oh well, I guess it's a good thing you called! tee hee"

Someone has been deservedly ripped a new one.

********

Everyone is off to school and work and I haved vowed to get a bunch o' shit done. First of all, I will be riding the insurance adjusters back like a monkey on crack. I've also made arrangements for Emma's glasses, we are going to get her two new pair at a franchise place for $60...hopefully these will hold up a bit better. I'm so disgusted with the other place that made her glasses. Emma is not hard on things, and yet the lenses have come out twice. I think it's because of these stupid frames, they didn't even have childrens frames, but "sized these down" for her. Whatever. Go away.

I need to order my book for school, once I can get a straight answer from someone about which book that actually is. I'm so nervous about starting school. Can I handle it? Is it going to be too hard? Am I gonna feel like a geriatric dumb ass? Gah.

Last week I was whining about being lonely. Now tonight I am really looking forward to everyone being gone in the morning!

Emma has another half day tomorrow, then Tuesday and Thursday she will be at school all day, and have lunch there. She's so excited to bring her new lunchbox that mommy got her. We went to the store tonight and picked out all kinds of things she wants to bring for lunch.

Her latest thing is "What's your favorite...."

What's your favorite food?
What's your favorite day?
What's your favorite animal?
What's your favorite style? (she actually asked me this) - I'm like, I dunno...slob?

She says the funniest things. The other day at the post office she hugged my leg and said "You're the best....whatever!" I laughed and grimaced at the same time. I hate being a 'whatever.' NOT that I want to be the mom....oh no no no, thank you very much. Being not the mom suits me juuuusst fine.

She also asked me today if daddy gave me an allowance. lol.. No comment.

She's been going to bed much earlier than she had in the summer, and it shows..last night we were just kind of being lax about it, cause it was Saturday night. But at 10pm she said "It must be late, cause I'm tired.." Tonight she helped me pick out her clothes again for tomorrow, I hope she tries to put them on herself again. The other day when she dressed herself she had her panties on backwards, so I showed her an easy way to figure out how to put them on. She's doing so good at it!

She was SO proud of herself yesterday..she got her sandals on all by herself (on the right feet!) and even fastened the velcro! We made a huge deal about it, and then today before we left, she did it again! yay! She was literally beaming.

So... school for me starts a week from tomorrow. I'm freakin out.

As promised, pictures from the Dragon Boat Festival. (Cick the link to see all the pictures.)

Oooh, we're all so pooped.

We left here around 10am for the Asian Dragon Boat Festival, which was hella fun. We walked, ate, and watched dancers and dragons and boats all day. Very very fun. And it's only 2 weeks until the Taste of Colorado Festival..one of my favorites.

We stopped and got slurpees on the way home and now everyone is nearly comatose. Emma and Mark are in the living room, Mark is asleep and Emma nearly is. I'm next. naptime! Pictures tonight..

PS - As much a I love these kinds of festivals, I hate hate hate the people. Why do people stop suddenly in the only area there is to walk in? Why do people walk diagonally in front of me, cutting me off and nearly planting their face in my chest? And people...please. Your dogs really don't want to be there. They're hot, panting, and the ground is burning their little foot pads. I'd love to go to a no-dog festival for once. Oh, and if you have a three-wide stroller, stay the fuck home.

Other than that, it was great fun.

I take a lot more of these tests than I actually post, mostly because they are just inane. But I loved this outcome.


histrionic


Which Personality Disorder Do You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Tomorrow we're going here! Man, I love Denver.

Well today was a big ol' bust.

We didn't find anything fun at yard sales. I determined that going to yard sales alone with Emma on a hot day is just not worth the trouble, actually. We went to a few, but gave up early.

Then this evening we (me, Daniel, Emma) went to a street festival nearby. Borrrring. It started raining the minute we got there, which was ok because walking the midway took all of about 4 minutes. We did manage to snag some cotton candy tho.

Then we went to get some food at a local mexican place (Alamos Verdes) that used to be really good. Well it's not good anymore. The service was horrible..we had to ask (at least once) for everything..our drinks, refills, cutlery, our FOOD..

Then when our food came, we decided that Alamos Verdes is Spanish for 'plate o' lettuce'. Our "Sizzling Tostada Deluxe" was no more than a small corn tortilla with beans, a huge (I mean huge) mound of lettuce, some gooey tomato-ey stuff slapped on top and about 5 shreds of cheese. The tostadas at Taco Bell are 100% better...isn't that a pathetic thing to say.

I should have picked somewhere else anyway, Mark hates that place..it's the one where the waitresses punch their orders into the machine that BEEPS loudly with every keystroke. I even wrote them a letter about that, and not only did they not reply, the machines are still beeping. Bleh on Alamos Verdes.

Mark's on his way home, he sold another car! yay! We have a date for couch cuddling after Emma goes to bed. Mmm, love the spooning on the couch.

Today's haiku

Green puddle, oh no.
Antifreeze leaking, not good
Car is broke..again.

Bleh.

I just took Katie to work and there are garage sales galore out there! Emma and I are heading out to find some bargains. Mark has to work the late shift, so he'll be coercing buyers while we're coercing sellers! Whee!

Friday Five

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
Probably about 7 hours or so total. No surprise there. I work online, yanno.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
Google.

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
I use trillian, so I can use all the message programs at once. I have the fewest amount of friends on MSN, and the most on AIM. I have about 35 people on my list. (no dead wood, I weed frequently)

4. Where was your first webpage located?
Hmm. Wow, I have no idea. Some free service. It was in 1995.

5. How long have you had your current website?
This is my third year of blogging here at My Life Is A Mess, and my current personal webpage has been up for about 2.5 years. I also have another blog that I've written for about a year. No one knows about it, I just use it to vent vehemently. It's just for me.

Weekly Wrap-Up

1. Do you enjoy arts & crafts? Why or why not?

No, I don't. I'm not good at it, I get very frustrated, and I get bored very easily. I don't particularly like the look of home-made things, and I just don't like it. Blech, blech blech. I used to do decoupage, dumb! I also used to cross stitch, and that was ok, but I had a job where I sat in the same place doing nothing for 8 hours a day, so I had to do something. Gahd, I even did plastic canvas then. Yuck! My mom said I should open an arts and crafts store with half-finished projects, that other people could come and buy and finish. lol!

2. What was your favorite arts & crafts project as a child? Why?

Play-doh is cool. That's about it.

3. What kinds of arts & crafts do you do now? Has this changed over time? If so, how and why?

I do no arts and crafts if I can possibly avoid it. If Emma and I are making something for mommy or something, it is quick and simple. The only thing particularly artsy I do now is frame my photography. That's it. Get those weeds and tweeds away from me.

4. What kind of arts & crafts would you like to learn how to do? Why?

Zilch, nada. I have no desire to learn to make anything crafty.

5. Describe your ideal arts & crafts environment, whether it's at home, school, work, or elsewhere.

My ideal arts and crafts environment is sitting at a bar, peeling off the label of my beer in pieces, and arranging them on the table to look like a house, a car or maybe Hitler.

Emma had another fabulous day at school. Next week begins her regular schedule of 1 half day, and two full days. Hope that goes as well.

Since I've picked her up at 11:20, we've had to run here and there and everywhere. We went to the canbank, which she thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread. (no crusts!) It was noisy and obnoxious, and she had a heyday putting the cans in the hole. We had 3 large trash bags full, and got $2.75 for it. She squealed like mad whenever it would spit out another quarter. She asked about a billion questions about why we were doing this, where the cans were going and what happens to them. Good ecology lesson there.

Then the post office, and the grocery store, where she said "I've never seen anyone buy so many groceries in my life!" Granted, the buggy was so full by check out time, that I had a few things piled in her lap! Only amounted to $111.00 tho, damn..I'm a good shopper.

Mark called a little while ago just to say howdy. Emma spoke to him for a minute and said "So what are your plans tonight?" What a nut.

Time to do some laundry and get dinner going...my sweetie will be home soon. Yay!

PS - no word from the insurance adjuster on the Subaru, tho the body shop says he is 110% sure it is totaled. Depending on the offer the adjuster makes, Katie may be car shopping again soon. Bleh! She doesn't even have the title for this one yet! I say we all go back to horse and buggys.

Must.go.to.the.store...

I dont wanna but I gotta.

I'm missing Mark so much during the day. So many things are changing, and different than they used to be. We can't just go here and there all day long, enjoying each other's company. Instead I'm sitting in the house alone wondering which is worse on tv..Divorce Court or Texas Justice.

We can't stay up late anymore, cause he has to get up early. He's tired when he gets home, and sometimes needs a nap. Plus, he's got oodles of other things to do when he gets home. So even when he's here, he's not here. And that makes me sad.

I suppose it will be better when my school starts, although then I probably will feel even more overwhelmed. I'm sure things will balance out eventually.

I'm just lonely and I miss my guy.

Amazing Race was not an elimination round. Fuuuck. I hate that Kelly woman. I hope something bad, very bad happens to her soon. If Reichen and Chip (married gay guys, I love them) don't win I am gonna philiminate someone myself.

I'm sure it's no big surprise to you that your
romance is The Princess Bride. A heartwarming
tale of "Twue Wuve" that has giants,
Spainards and swashbuckling. You really do
think that love can overcome anything. You may
be a touch naive but your heart is certainly in
the right place. You've probably got one of
those relationships where proper nouns have
been replaced with "Snookums" and
"Pookie Pie". Eww. Beware a cuteness
overload.


What Romance Movie Best Represents Your Love Life?
brought to you by Quizilla

If you're looking for blogs that have been de-linked, let me know. Most just weren't posting frequently enough for my tastes. Once a week? C'mon. That's not a blog, that's a drive by.

Then there was the one that claimed to be a kinky sex blog, then I just read she'd never been with two men at once. Hell, I could write a kinkier sex blog than that.

I'm just sayin'.

Amazing Race tonight, the next to last episode. Go Reichen and Chip!

So New York is without power, along with a lot of other folks. The feeds on tv look like a 5K walk. Im not sure what I'd do, but walking home probably isn't high on the list. Gotta be cold beer there somewhere.

I just thought, I hope Amazing Race isn't pre-empted by New York black-out news. I mean really, do they really need this constant coverage?

"Jim, what's happening where you are?"
"There's no power and people are walking home."
"John Stossel, what's happening in Times Square?"
"Power's out"
"And our local affiliate, wnyt.."
"It's dark"

That's pretty much it, isn't it?

I so damn sick of it being so damn hot.

I need Indian food.

I need Cheshire Cat beer.

I need new shorts.

Re: the picture of Emma coloring, below...

We always keep stacks of papers laying around that we've printed on, for emma to color on the back. Well, with all my sorting and filing that I did last night, I had stacks for this, that and the other all over the living room. I just noticed after looking at that picture again that she's coloring on Daddy's car insurance policy! Whee!

I've had such a productive morning! How nice it is when the house is empty.

So far today I've:
secured insurance for the Taurus
signed and mailed our new rental lease (along with 12 months worth of checks)
gotten a copy of my motor vehicle record (insurance said i had two 2 point tickets..wrong!)
faxed that to the agent
paid my water bill and mailed it
filled out some school paperwork
verified Emma's immunizations, (they said she was missing one, - she isn't) and faxed that to the school,
filled out a new application for Emma's state-based health insurance and sent it off

Now I still have to call about getting Emma's glasses repaired (again), wait for a call from our insurance adjuster about Katie's car and decide where to go from there. And that's about it for the day!

Last night Katie and I went to Office Depot to get some filing supplies. When I was married I had a wonderful filing system with sections for each item and then sub sections for each specific thing. A school section, then folders for Katie, Amanda and Daniel, a car section with folders for each car, a medical section with folders for each person, a house section with separate folders for repairs, lease, etc. The past couple of years I've just been putting everything into one big brown envelope, but it's getting unwieldy and too hard to keep track of things. I think in the past 2 years Mark has had to get at least 2 copies of Emma's birth certificate, cause he kept losing it. No more!

So today I will be a filing fool. For some reason, when I got divorced, Dan thought he needed to take the filing cabinet and it's contents. He wouldn't copy anything, so I had to get all new copies of shot records, birth certificates, everything! Ridiculous.

Other than that, I'm taking it easy today. Yesterday entailed too much running around and sweating my ass off. Today is much more calm. (Sssh, don't say that too loud)

Yahoo! Emma had a much better morning this morning. We got up in plenty of time, and Emma had time to eat, watch a little Pooh, and even color a picture.



She was rarin' to go, and Katie and I could barely keep up while walking her to school! She kept saying "C'mon guys! Walk faster!" When I got up at 7:45, she was already out of her pajamas, and trying to get dressed all by herself with the clothes we'd laid out last night. She'd already done her shorts and socks! Whee!

Looks like the first day jitters were just that. Go, Emma!

I know it's been car-this car-that for days. It just happens to be the main focus lately.

Mark almost sold another car tonight, then it turned out that the Social Security number the dude was using to get credit was for someone who was dead. He also had another almost-sale but the people got spooked for some reason and didn't want to give out any information to have their credit checked. Sheesh.

Emma had a good evening, though Katie and I had to run to the bank (again!) and to office depot for a bit. We only told emma we were going to the bank, because we didn't want her to feel like she wanted to go, etc and she was already in her jammies. When we got back she was crying a bit and said "You were gone too long.." I explained that sometimes errands take a short time and sometimes they take a long time. She said...
"I know how long it takes to go to the bank.." - - we were so busted!

She wanted to talk about school some more before bed, she had kind of a rough day today and was feeling the nerves again I think. We talked about how everyone is going to school tomorrow, and even I have to go to school soon. She wanted to know if I was nervous, and we talked a lot about that. She helped pick out her outfit for tomorrow, had a slice of baloney, brushed her teeth and went to bed sweetly. Katie is walking with us to school tomorrow, I know Emma will like that.

From today, the saddest little "I-don't-wanna-go-to-school" face you've ever seen.



Does daddy look exasperated at all, do you think?


It's sewer night, you know.
Katie's last year, and hopefully a good one for Daniel. Knock on ALL wood in your immediate vicinity!!

And here I am, gearing up for school myself. What the hell was I thinking?!

Well...

Because of the optional thingie we had on our insurance, they are going to cover Katie's car. It is being towed to a body shop this afternoon. I spoke to the body shop, and he said it is likely totaled. Not sure what that amounts to, we'll just have to wait and see. Will update as the situation necessitates.

Dy left for Monte Vista today, after Emma's first day of school which was...pretty good. I'll let Dy fill in the details, but basically she didn't want to go, and ended up in the nurses office. She finished out the day and I think all will be fine from here on out.

Gotta go get some stuff done..waiting for the tow truck driver to call me back to meet him at the car.

Oh..one funny note. we didn't call the police yesterday because insurance said it wasn't necessary, and plus Katie didn't really have any information on the gal that hit her. Then today, insurance said we did need a report, so we called the police. My friend Tom and his brother are both dispatchers, and when the guy picked up I knew immediately it was Tom's brother Mike. We had a nice chat and took care of business at the same time. Crazy. Funny tho how his tone and demeanor changed when he knew it was me.

Ok, now I have a car and Katie doesn't. She was driving home from work today and someone cut her off and hit her, and took off. The lady inititally stopped but then after Katie called Mark and I, she left. Totally weird situation. But in the end, it may turn out to be the best thing, because since Katie only carries liability insurance she would only recover funds to repair the other persons car, because technically they were probably both at fault. However, I have an optional coverage item on my insurance that covers our own property damage in the case of a hit and run. We won't know until Thursday if they are going to cover Katie's car or not. It's undriveable right now, so we're back to sharing a car. Gah! does it ever end?!?! Ever?!?!

My neck has been so much better lately. But I woke up this morning with it stiff and smarting again. What the hell is going on with my neck?!? It's gonna be another ibuprofen-laden day.

But I have a car!

Everything is peachy keen. Wow, I can't believe how quickly things can change.

Both Katie's car and the taurus are fixed..so now I have a car! I can run errands! I can go to the post office! I can go shopping! I'm so excited.

Dy arrived safe and sound and Emma was wound up tight all evening. Running around, squealing, throwing horses here and there, and oh my lordy was she nutty. Mark is off tomorrow so we might all go to the Mills Mall or something. What a quaint outing. Mark, his wife, his daughter, and me. lol - I don't know why it works, but it does.

For now, I am sleepy. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted, and am now exhausted.

Oh, so much is getting accomplished!

I found out that my car insurance is going w-a-y down, it will be lower than it is now, even with adding the Taurus! I scheduled an appt for my immunizations, and everything is looking peachy.

Amazing what a difference 24 hours can make.

I forgot to mention, Mark and I went to the Cheshire Cat last night and had such a nice relaxing time just sitting at the bar having some brew. We hadn't been out in so damn long, and even last night I was hemming and hawing about going. But I'm so glad we did. I love that place, I love love love the beer, and it just felt nice to stop for a little while and enjoy each others company without running errands and working at our desks. We got a nice buzz and then went to the grocery store...which was interesting. We were laughing and carrying on all through the store. Mark was being frisky, and someone even said "Get a room!" haha!

Things are looking up.

Both cars are in the shop, total for katie's is 328, mine is around 330. Not too bad, considering we didnt really know what was wrong with katie's and we thought mine was a lost cause. Katie has some of the money to pay for hers, and we will cover the rest. Im so happy we took the cars to CP's place, they told us that some of the things that brakesplus told us about Katie's car were not true. She didnt need anywhere near all the repairs they recommended. What a bunch o' creeps. I hate not having someone to trust to work on my car, but now we do..and Im soo happy!

So now I will have to facilitate insurance on the Taurus and get it registered asap. This week is full of errands that need to be done. I have to go back up to Front Range and fill out another form and pick up another class. I wasn't taking enough to get financial aid. Red Tape! Red Tape! does it ever end?

Mark is selling cars at a nice Toyota dealership in town. He's been in training for a couple of weeks, and got "on the floor" 4 days ago. He's already sold 3 brand new cars! He is on salary the first month, to "get his feet wet" but he is going to try to get on commission sooner, because he would be making a lot more money. He's a great salesman, and people love his accent. I think this could be really good for him, for a while..or for a long time. In any case, it's giving us the funds we need to get all these niggly problems fixed. Yay. The books are enough to pay rent and bills and keep us standing still, but there's never any extra for things like car repairs and such. Im so glad he's found something profitable that he likes doing.

Dy will be here tonight, to stay for a couple of days. She's going to Emma's Kg orientation, and to see her off on her first day. It'll be great fun. Now I just need to tidy the house for company, and we'll be good to go.

So sorry. I feel better, I just had to get it out. We've worked out the post office, and things will be fine. Things.Will.Be.Fine.

Gah...
Everything is just so fucked.

We waited at my moms house (where the Taurus is) for 3 hours for a tow truck, and he never showed up. We wanted to get it to the shop so we could at least have it looked at and see if it's a lost cause. But no, we can't even get a fucking tow truck driver to show up. So there it sits.

I have so many things to get done, and I just can't do anything. Mark has started working full-time, ( a very good thing) but for now the hours are insane. He is gone all day and into the night. Friday and Saturday he was gone from 8am to 11pm. Most days it's till at least 7. Im not complaining, that's a very very good thing. But it just creates all these other problems. But I feel so fucking selfish even being upset.

I have to get to the post office tomorrow. I have two USPS containers full of packages that are really late going out. I am seriously thinking of taking the two wheeled dolly with all these packages down to 58th and getting on the bus. Gah. I really have no other choice.

To boot, Katie has to walk to work tomorrow. All the nice things she does, and she has to walk to work.

Fuuuckkkk.

I'm a nice person, I don't swerve to hit squirrels or cats on the road. I pay my bills on time. I have no debt. I do nice things for folks. I had a perfectly good car that I loved and now its gone. Just fucking gone because Hyundai can't figure out how to hook wire A to metal thingie B. "Oh sorry, we don't know what we're doing. We thought we knew how to build a car, but we don't. Sorry your 2 cars, and all your trees and almost your house burned down. Sorry you have to drag 150 pounds of mail on the city bus. Actually, no we're not. We don't give a shit on a shingle. Too bad."

People I know, even my neighbors, even my next door neighbors have perfectly good vehicles just sitting in their driveway that they never drive. Spare cars. SPARE cars! The phrase itself is unfathomable.

I so hate this part of my life right now. I know I am lucky in so many other respects. But this is fucking up my life. How am I going to get to school?

I'm sitting here bawling my head off at my damn desk.

Well we found Katies, car..on the side of the highway. She was coasting it, and couldnt get it completely onto the shoulder, so standing at the driver's side door, you were literally on the highway. Scary. We jumped it and got it to the shop, with a very low battery charge. Mark is certain it's the alternator. We'll see.

Then we went out to breakfast, just the two of us...man, that was nice. We lingered over coffee and the paper, and it was just really a nice way to spend the morning.

So now we're waiting on the call to go get Katie at work, she's working a split shift today so we have to go get her, then take her again later, then go get her. But it'll be ok, it's temporary. We're gonna go over to my moms in the interim and look at my Taurus and see if there is any hope of revival there. I'm hoping so. Please oh please oh please.

And now Katie's car is broke down on I-25. The only agenda item for today is to get it towed to CP's shop, where I hope they can work miracles. Not sure what the problem is, it just kind of lost power while driving, and previously she had to get a jump. Maybe alternator...?

Mark was dutifully remorseful about what happened yesterday. Granted, he's got a lot going on lately, and has been running ragged. But I still made sure there was no mistaking that "forgetting" to pick me up was unacceptable.

When I got home from walking yesterday, I sent him a text message. He wasn't able to check it until 9pm, but I wish I could have seen his face.

"Waited for 3 hours, walked home. Took me 90 minutes. Thanks a lot."

He said his heart sank and he knew he was in big, big trouble. We talked for a long time last night about the changes taking place with his schedule, my schedule, everyone's schedule...and how it needs to be managed better. I think it'll be ok.

So now I have the worry of how to get Katie to and from work on Monday, and until her car is fixed...annndd...how to get stuff to the post office. We previously shipped every single day, and now we haven't been to the post office since Thursday..and there's no indication in sight that we can get there Monday either. Just what I need, a few more worries.

Ah, it'll get better. It certainly can't get any worse, can it?

Don't answer that.

If there was ever a day to go back and do over...

I got up a little late, Katie and I were to leave at 8:40 for my 9:00am class, but I overslept a bit and didn't get up till 8:15. She was giving me a ride there, and Mark was to pick me up at 4:30. While getting dressed to go, I happened to look at my paperwork for this class, and freaked when I saw that the class actually started at 8:00!! Katie was in the shower, but we hustled our asses like madwomen and I was there by 8:35. I didn't have time to pack a damn thing, just grabbed a bottle of water and my backpack and ran.

So by lunchtime, I was cursing myself for not waiting 5 more minutes to throw some food together. I had no food, no money, just my water. Bah. I spent lunch talking to a guy that's already an EMT, and was taking this class as a refresher. Good talking to him, but I was starved.

The afternoon portion of the class was much more intense than the morning, and I was daydreaming, not really concentrating all that much, thinking instead about baloney, chicken, hamburgers, cotton candy, and slurpees. It's a wonder I learned anything at all. The actual CPR portion of the class was quite grueling, we had to do it for extended periods of time, to see how exhausting giving CPR is. Just what I needed on an empty stomach.

So, the day wore on and we learned everything there was to learn. We tested one on one with the instructor, with different scenarios using the mannequins, then also had a long written test. I froze a bit when she switched scenarios right in the middle of what I was doing, but recovered ok. After we handed in our tests, she kept coming around to people saying "ok, you missed this one, go back and make sure you understand.." or "You missed 3 questions, let's talk for a few minutes after class.." etc.. She never came around to me and finally I said "uuh...I didn't get my test back" thinking oh god, I've done so poorly she's not even going to mention it in front of the class and will probably speak to me privately. Gah... But she said "If you didn't get your test back, you got all the answers correct." Whee! I now possess a CPR/AED Certification for Professional Rescuers. They spelled my name wrong on my card...but still.. *sigh.

The day went markedly downhill from there.

We got out early, at around 2:45. I dug deep for change to call Mark from the payphone and let him know that we were out early, and if he could pick me up earlier than 4:30, please do. I knew he would be mostly unreachable all day, but thought if he checked his messages I might get lucky.

Not only did I not get lucky, I'm the most unlucky person on earth. I waited 3 hours, and he never showed up.

I had absolutely no more money, so I finally started walking home. 4 miles. Fuck it was hot, and all uphill. I even stayed on the sunny side of the street facing north, sweating my ass off in case he drove up, he would see me there. 4 miles was bad enough, but I was totally unprepared for walking. My backpack was really heavy, I had my planner, my makeup, and big heavy book in there. Plus, I had on my $3 thongs from Kmart...not exactly walking shoes. I had no sunglasses, and no chapstick. My lips were killing me. And now my legs are killing me.

He didn't drive up, and I still haven't talked to him. I have no idea what happened, if he misunderstood my 3:00pm message, if he got busy and couldn't get away, or if he just plumb forgot. (Note-no excuse that I can think of will get him out of the doghouse anytime soon, nuff said.)

It doesn't end there.

So I get home at 7:20. It had taken me 95 minutes to walk home. Oh, I was such a happy camper! Then Katie calls, and I tell her my tale of woe. She felt so bad! But then she said ..

"did you get your lunch?"
..."uh..what lunch"
"I made you a sack lunch, drove back up there and left it at the front door of the class"

Fuuuuckkkk.....

I saw it there when we went to lunch, and ignored it. Never even considered that it was mine. I only happened to look down at it and say to myself.."Hey, I have cookies like that at home..."

Then we came back from lunch and it was still there. I feel like such shit for not looking a little more closely. Katie went to a lot of time and trouble, and I didn't even know it was for me. She had written my name on the side, but I couldnt see that because I was standing up and the lunch was on the ground. She had put in a soda, a sandwich, cookies, candy, and chips....and a few quarters in case I needed to make a phone call, she said. Which I desperately did, as it turned out.

That's the kind of kid Katie is. I wish everyone could have such a daughter. I cried when she told me what she'd done. Not cause I missed out on lunch, but just that she was so thoughtful to do that for me.

Now I've been home for an hour, and still haven't eaten. I'm ticked off that Mark never showed, but am reserving my wrath to see what happened.

If I set the clock back to midnight, can I have a do-over?

[Edit - Does anyone do carpentry work? I need a doghouse big enough to house an average sized British man for an extended period of time.
He forgot.]

"I have no power. Why should she have the upper hand? Once in my life I would like the upper hand. I have no hand. No hand at all. She has the hand. I have no hand."
- George
"We all want the hand. Hand is tough to get."
- Jerry

Right now, I have hand.

Friday Five

1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?

Mark and I went to Atlanta in June of this year, for a knife convention. Great fun.

2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?

Maybe when I left my planner at a phone booth in New Mexico, while on a road trip with Katie. We had $10, a pack of cigarettes and my Texaco card after that. My ex wired us $200 and we had to beg Iranian motel owners to give us a room with no ID. Also on this trip, everything that happened in Roswell New Mexico was weird. Everything.

3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?

I want desperately to go on a Caribbean cruise, and also would like to see Israel, and the South Pacific.

4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?

I love love love car trips. Mark and I drove from Washington DC to Denver last year, and it was sooo fun. We took 4 days, stopped everywhere, searched out thrift stores and funky pubs, stopped at nearly every rest stop for some amour al fresco, drove through shitty neighborhoods just to see the cities, and stayed in really cheap motels. It was the absolutely best trip ever. A close second is the road trip Katie and I took to NM. Car trips are great fun.

5. What's the next place on your list to visit?

We're tentatively planning a UK trip, but we may end up going somewhere else first.