Another Day, A Fluffy Dog and a Baby.

Well today was another busy day. 

Work.

Doing paychecks at work. Then realizing that there is no printer hooked up.

Waiting while someone finds and hooks up a printer.

Be surprised when it actually works.

Get taught how to do the employee taxes.

Even though I don't want to.

Come home.

Sit down long enough to make sure we still have some money.

Take the kids to all get hair cuts.

Go to the Redbox machine and get movie for the girls 

and a Wii game for Trevor.

Wonder why I didn't think about getting him games before.

Pick up (sugar free) candy for Charlie and my father in law.

Spend $12 on candy once the kids get some too. 

Go to the care home and watch the kids entertain my FIL while he eats his dinner.

And Trevor drinks his juice.

Charlie liked his candy too :)

Come home.

Jess made hamburger helper while I did the dishes.

Eat.

And now, it's 7:30

So how do you like this adorable white fluffy dog? 

She belongs to my cousin. 

We went to see her and her baby last week and OMG. 

I love the dog!! 

I wanted to stuff her in my purse and take her home with me.

oh and here's the girls with the baby. 

He was cute too.

(but the DOG...!) 

Too bad this one turned out blurry! 

He was one slobbery baby :)

He'll probably be in 6th grade or something next time we see him. 

Kids grow up too darn fast!

Visit to the Care Home: Charlie

Melissa, Trevor and I went to see my father in law at the care home today. He was actually walking down the hall with his walker when we were coming to see him. He's moving along pretty fast. It appears that now he is ok with staying for as long as they think he should. I think my mother in law had a bit to do with that, telling him he needs to stay there for his therapy.

My father in law has a room mate. The room mate's name is Charlie. I'd guess Charlie to be about late fifty's or early sixties. Charlie has a wheel chair, a walker, his feet all bandaged up and special velcro shoes. He wears adult diapers but also goes in the bathroom.

I'd talked to Charlie a little bit when I was visiting my father in law. He was telling us how FIL is lucky that he has so many family members and friends coming to see him. I asked him, "you don't have any family?" He said no. Then awhile later he said that he had a wife, who lives with her boyfriend. A daughter that is waiting for him to die to get money, and he used to have friends that he paid to visit him until he ran out of  money.

I can't help but feel bad for Charlie, sitting there in that little room for who knows how long. He said he's been there "a long time" and "this place sucks" is something he says on a regular basis.

Today he had the curtains drawn all around him. I don't know if it was because my FIL has had so many visitors or what. Charlie was also sounding really cranky. He asked the nurse to close the windows and turn on the heater. It's like 90 today so the first thing I'm thinking is that Charlie must have a fever. I saw them bring him him a blanket, close the window, and heard him bitch that they wouldn't turn on the heater. I think he got up and turned the heater on (no small task for him to get out of bed). Later I heard him say that he was a diabetic and has no circulation.

Everytime we leave I ask my FIL if he wants anything. Today I took a chance and peaked around the curtain (I was really hoping he wouldn't get mad) and asked Charlie if I could bring him anything. At first he said no and I went through a small list of things. Life Saver? Gum? Magazines? Books? Word search? He kept saying no but then right before I gave up he said I could bring him some Life Savers and gave me a tiny smile. Then later I remembered he's a diabetic so I guess I'll be looking for the sugar free ones. I think I'll get him a few different things. It's really got to suck to be in that situation.

Doesn't it make you wonder how people can just give up on a family member? I mean, it could be that the guy was a total dick to everyone so they just wrote him off. I DO have a few family members like that. BUT maybe they used to love him and just find it easier not to see him anymore? It just seems so sad to be all alone in the world.

Weekend Round Up

Well I made it to work today. I had a donut and I'm drinking a Mt. Dew. Sounds pretty healthy eh? Thanks to a pretty relaxing weekend I think I'm feeling a little less stressed. Saturday I slept in until 9:30, which is almost unheard of in our house. I actually even layed around a little longer than that before I got up. I told Scott I'd clean up the kitchen if he'd go get some stuff and make breakfast (I REALLY need to go grocery shopping). By the time we had breakfast it was well after 11. I whipped up a macaroni salad to take to my friends house and before long I was on the road to Oakdale to go help with my friend's cleaning/birthday party. She's moving pretty soon so she asked for some friends to come help her clean and since her birthday (actually today) was coming we'd roll that all into one.

So we did some cleaning. Can I just say, a single person's house when it is dirty is like my house when it's almost clean. I spent most of my helping time wiping down walls and cabinets. After that we went for a swim. We came back and hung out and a couple more gals showed up so there was 6 of us total. The highlight of the whole night was when we were out on her patio talking and some of the girls were singing (badly) to a song on the radio. A neighbor asked if they could keep it down since she was trying to get her baby to sleep. Everyone apologized and we went inside. Not too long after we ran to the store real quick to get a few things and when we got back there was a police car in the complex parking lot. We went in the house and not too long afterwards there was a knock on the door. The party girl went out and talked to him and he was like well obviously your party has broken up. I still can't believe someone called the cops on people talking loud and singing at 10:30 on a Saturday night. Talk about some uptight neighbors! I ended up staying until about 12 when I decided to just go home instead of spending the night.

Sunday I slept in AGAIN and then got up and did laundry before going to book club. I never got around to reading the book and I can't even tell you what the name of it was. Pretty sad lol. Apprently the book was sad. I had a nice time visiting with my book club ladies and most of them were going to a bingo game down at the hall afterwards so I went down there with them. I didn't win anything but again had fun hanging out.

So not a real productive weekend or anything too exciting but it was relaxing. Hopefully this week will be stress free but I doubt that will happen! My father in law is still in the home. My sister in law got him a cell phone so he doesn't feel so trapped at least. I'll probably go there after work.

Sister In Law To The Rescue!

Arf, I'm so exhausted! Yesterday I took the day off to take Jess to the dermatologist for her eczema.  The only appointment we could get was for the middle of the day and it took us a month to get that. Trevor was at my mom's so the girls and I planned for a little girl day of sorts. We went to the Dr, then went and saw my cousin and her baby. Went to Applebees, Target and Wal Mart. At Wal Mart we ran into my aunt and my other cousin who is pregnant. I think she's MAYBE 19 or 20. She looks like she's 12, she's an itty bitty thing. I can't believe I had a kid at the age of 20, it seems like such a baby age to me now.

After that we went and picked up my mother in law to take her over to the hospital. When we got to the hospital my father in law wasn't in the room. They said he had been sent over to the "care center" place, which is where he was to go for a few weeks to get his physical therapy. When we got there, we quickly realized that this place is actually an old folks home. You know, one of those places they put you away to slowly die while no one you love comes to visit you.

We went to the room they said he was in and found him laying in his hospital gown (everyone else had clothes on but we didn't even know he was there to bring him clothes) staring at the ceiling. He had a roommate who was watching tv. But my father in law was just laying there flat on the flat bed staring up at the ceiling. One of the first things he said to me was that he wanted to go home.

I sent the girls over to my in laws house to get him some clothes. They weren't gone too long. When they got back I looked at my mother in law, who was totally fixated on the people in the halls and other rooms. She looked a little pale. I asked her if she was ok and she said no, that she was going to go outside. We visited a bit more than the girls went out to find her and take her home.

But when they got out there, she was gone! They came in and said that they couldn't find Grandma. I went out to help find her and had Jess drive the car around on the route she would have had to take to walk home. She came back and still couldn't find her. My cell phone was dead and Jess didn't have her Grandma's cell phone number in her phone so we called Scott to get it. When we called it it went straight to voice mail so it wasn't even on.

I got in the car and drove the route again, still no grandma. I didn't want to go up to the house and knock on the door because my sister in law that lives there gets really upset about things. We got back to the care home and I called the house and she FINALLY answered.

I immediately told her that I was going to give her a spanking! She said "no you're not!!" She apparently just felt the need to get out of there and high tailed it home. I don't know how she got home without us ever seeing her walking!

After we found her I took the girls over to hang out with her for awhile and went back to the care home. I asked someone in social services what I had to do to get my father in law out of there. They acted all surprised and wanted to know why I would want to take him out of there. I told her how he is very sharp and he's laying there listening to people moaning and he's so upset and thinks he's been brought there to die. How he needed at least a tv for a distraction and how I really thought he could just go home and we can take care of him there. She said she'd see what she could do and a nurse also talked to me about why he needed to stay there. All things I know he can still have with some home care.

I ended up staying there for hours, I was so afraid to leave him. They did bring him a tv. When Scott finally got there I left, and he stayed there for a couple hours until visiting time was over. Apparently we were both on the same wave length at the same time because we both sent messages to his sister telling her we needed to talk to her. I called her later and she said she'd make some phone calls and arrangements to come stay here for awhile.

This morning I got up and went to the care home instead of work to once again talk to someone about getting him out of there.  I told the woman there that just for a heads up my sister in law is coming and she is way meaner than me! I also hung out in his room with him and got to see his "physical therapy". He was supposed to get "occupational therapy" later in the day but he said no one ever showed up.  I stayed a few hours and then went to work for two hours and then went and picked up my sister in law at BART. We went straight to the care home where she checked on all his medication, told the nurses that she in no way wanted to come in and find her dad laying slumped over in a chair like so many of the other residents. She got him a nebulizer treatment and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.

Can I just say how extremely happy I am that she was able to come? I feel like a tremendous weight is off my shoulders. Although she has to go back to work on Sunday if she can't get some leave time from work. Let's all pray.

I Need A Pool

I can't believe it's already 10:30. The days have been just flying by lately! It was SO hot here today. Probably over 110. Of course this was the day I had set up to drive the little truck that has NO AIR CONDITIONING to help my friend who is moving.

I drove to work and worked a bit but left early. We went over to her house and by the time we got there I was sooo hot. Did I mention that I don't really sweat so my body gets over heated and I just turn red and get a really bad headache? Lucky for me it didn't get that bad until we were almost done. We took all her recycling to the recycling center (she recycles things you don't even get paid for, what a good person!). She gave me all the money for helping her. Wasn't that nice? She just wanted to get it all taken in before she moves.

When we got back I borrowed some swim suit bottoms and went and jumped in her little complex pool with my shirt and bra on. We soaked a bit and then I went home in my wet shirt and the pants I came in. By the time I got home my shirt was almost dry (and I didn't ring it out when we got out of the pool). My head was killing me so I laid on the couch for a bit and finally felt better after eating some dinner. Although now my stomach feels a bit off again. Ahhh summer..

So in other news, this is what was out in the field this morning.

Not such a great picture but it's zoomed out the back door. Yes, that's an opossum. In the daylight. Aren't they freaking ugly? That one was SO BIG. It was about the size of a medium dog. There was a cat kind of stalking it but it was bigger than the cat! nasty things :shudders:

Well I'm about exhausted! Nothing planned for tomorrow except maybe working a little longer to make up for leaving early the last two days. The father in law is doing well and moved into a regular room. Hopefully he keeps improving. Scott said he was bickering with his mom when she was there visiting at the same time so that must mean he's feeling better :)

Hospital Day

Last night I was thinking I would TRY and get up early and get to work early. I should have known better than to think that would actually happen. It wasn't all my fault though! The power went off sometime in the night so the alarm clock didn't go off. Never mind the fact that Scott woke me up before the time it would have went off anyways and I just rolled over, but yeah, that (lack of) power made me late.

I got to work at 8 and had to go straight to a meeting that I had totally forgot about. I tell you lately I've had to go to a meeting almost every day. What have I learned at these meetings? NOTHING. Such a huge waste of time. I sat in this meeting for TWO hours and heard the same things three times since people kept coming in late. THREE. You'd think they would have just let us "first timers" go.

I finally got to go back to my desk and attempt to work for a whole hour before leaving to go to the hospital. Which really means I worked for about ten minutes today. 

I got in the car and drove straight to the hospital and got there right after they took my father in law in for his surgery. FAIL! I was pretty sad about that. I went in and sat with my mother in law, sister in law and nephew for  hours while we waited for him to get out of surgery. My nephew finally had to leave so he could get to the city before all the traffic got bad. Eventually I gave in to going to the bathroom and guess who came out while I was in there? Yep, the Dr finally came out to give the news. And I missed most of it. Batting 100 today!

After that he was in recovery so we ran an errand for my mother in law real quick and got her the ice cream she was craving. We got back and waited some more and then hours later finally got the news that he was moved up to ICU. We went up and only had to wait a few minutes before they came and got us. By that time Scott had made it  there from work. I was surprised that they let all four of us go in together but they did. They sure have relaxed hospital rules from what they used to be when I was a kid. Remember when you had to be 14 or 16 to visit someone?

My father in law was actually kind of awake when we came in. I was pretty surprised that he cracked a joke before he started snoring. He woke back up a few times and would talk a bit then fall back asleep. I had went out for a bit since I felt like there was too many people in the room. My mother in law and sister in law left not too long after that and I went back in and sat with Scott. We sat there for quite awhile before making a trek to the cafeteria for some food for him and then went back up for awhile longer. 

I finally left to go home to the kids and he stayed for a bit. It's so surreal seeing your parents all old and broken, not knowing if they are going to live much longer. Very sad. I hope he can recover and be around longer. Scott's mom said she is down to 95 pounds. She's like a walking talking skeleton with clothes and skin. I'm surprised she made it so long today.

What A Weekend!

Wow this has been such a crazy weekend!

Friday night I went over to my friend's house to get a bunch of plants from her. She is moving to Minnesota, which is where she was from originally. She hates it here in the valley and was lucky enough to get a job back home. It will be great for her to be closer to her nephews and away from her job that she hates. Anyhow, she is a big gardener so I went over and got a bunch of her outside potted plants. She rents so next weekend we will dig some of the ones she had planted in the yard and get those too. Somehow we managed to get a half wine barrel full of plants in the back of Scott's little truck all by ourselves. I was quite impressed! Of course I had a few drinks while I was there so I had to stay awhile and didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning.

I slept in a little too long on Saturday morning and we ended up running behind for the family reunion for Scott's side of the family. I was hoping we could get his parents to ride with us but of course his 82 year old dad insisted that he drive himself. We didn't even get out of town and Scott had to pull over and tell him he needed to stop running the stop signs to keep up with us. Of course he didn't even think he was rolling them. He was good for awhile then started doing it again and at one point almost rear ended us. Oh and did I mention that he didn't drive over 45 the whole way there?

We finally got there and even though we were late we were still the first people to show up. An hour later his one sister and her daughter in law showed up, and then an hour later another sister and her son. Not too many people this time. We were outside hanging out when we heard a loud shout and we came running in the house to find my father in law sitting on the tile floor by the front door.

Apparently he had slipped on the rug trying to go out the door. When he fell he also hit his head on a coffee table that was close by. He was sitting on the floor and when he tried to get up he almost fell down. He couldn't control his right leg. Scott and his nephew got him  a chair to sit in and helped him into it. They picked it up and moved it to the living room and he sat there for a bit while everyone decided what to do.

We all knew that he must have broke either his hip or his leg and he wanted to go to the hospital in our home city. Scott and his nephew got him loaded in the car by carrying him and the chair out to it. (yes they are big guys!) Scott's sister who had been planning on going home with her parents anyways drove and we caravaned to the hospital (again not going over 45 since they were yelling at her not to drive too fast).  Eventually we got there and they took him in through the ambulance entrance. Hours later they said he had a broken hip and would have to have surgery.

Scott's mom was complaining that she was tired so I offered to take her home. She took me up on it and she complained of a head ache when we were walking out to the car. The woman is so tiny and frail. All I can think about is that there is no way that she is going to be able to care for her husband by herself.

Back at the hospital, Scott's sister ended up staying with his dad while they waited for him to  be taken to a room. We decided to leave since we had had plans to go to my brother's birthday party that evening. Jess had already taken the kids there. We finally got out of the hospital around 7ish. My sister in law said they didn't get him to a room until after 10 and they lost one of his shoes somewhere.

We went to my brothers and had a really fun time. Jessica's new boyfriend came so I finally got to meet him. When he was leaving I went to give him a hug and spilled part of my drink on him and messed up his phone. Great first impression, eh? I drank way too much and contemplated throwing up for most of the ride home.

I was wide awake early Sunday morning. I woke up to the sound of a cat fight out the back door. My cat that I just paid $400 to get his neck sewn back up had somehow got outside during the night and was fighting with the same fucking cat. I really need to try and catch that cat and take it in to the pound. I don't think it belongs to anyone. Eventually Buster came back and banged on the back door to get in. So far he looks ok. I hope he didn't do anything that will cause another abscess. Stupid cat! I told Scott he was probably pissed that he's had to sit inside looking at the stray walking around in his yard for a couple weeks now and wanted to go out and kick his ass!

I got up while Scott slept in and made a 3 bean chili for the barbecue at my other brothers for father's day and a Greek salad. Eventually he got up after sleeping in all morning and I made waffles. The plan for the day was to go visit his dad then go out to my brother's house. He ended up watching a movie so again we left later than I had planned. We went up and saw his dad who is doing pretty well considering the circumstances. He has to wait until Monday because he is on blood thinners (and 12 other medications). It's no wonder the man fell down with all those chemicals swirling in his system. Most people can barely handle one kind of medicine.

While we were there I left for a little bit to go take a card to my real dad's house, which is only a few blocks over. He wasn't home so we left the card on the porch. Hopefully it's still there when he gets back from where ever he is.

Not too long after I got back we left, went home and grabbed the food and then went over to my brother's house to celebrate Father's Day. I just got my dad a card since he's so hard to buy for. My brother? Got him an iPhone. Crazy. I wish they would talk about what they want to do so we could go in together or something. I'm sure I look like the total cheapskate!

Most of the time we were there was fun. The kids swam and I jumped in the pool for a little bit.

My niece was totally adorable the whole time we were there! She loves the water and blowing bubbles and EATING and she is starting to talk so that we can understand her and she is oh so much fun!!

I didn't take any pictures this weekend with all we had going on, which is so not like a scrapbooker. Oh well I have my great memories recorded here, right?

I hope you all had a nice Father's day weekend! I am going to try to get up early so I can go in to work early and maybe leave at lunch time to go to the hospital. Poor Scott isn't able to take the day off since his boss is on vacation (again) and he's pretty much running the place. I hope nothing happens to his dad while he's in surgery and everything goes well. He had a pace maker and a defibrillator in his chest already so there are a lot of things that can go wrong I'm sure. But we'll just not focus on those things and have a positive outlook right?

FREE BOOK FRIDAY WINNER

Last week's Free Book Friday winner is Jennifer! I'll be getting your book out to you shortly, make sure and send me an email with your address!

I actually don't have a book for this weekend! I've caught up on all the ones I've read. I still have a bunch of stacks so I'll have another one soon I'm sure!

Better Than A Board Meeting

 Sometimes I hate that I have to work while my kids are out of school.

Sometimes I'm glad that I work while my kids are out of school.

Sometimes I just want to stay home and play with them.

Especially when I find pictures like this.

Jess took them to the park with the fountains in Ripon earlier this week.

It looks like they all actually liked each other!

Especially unusual for these two. 

They are two peas in a pod.

Or two bulls in a china shop.

Sydney Kitty :(

I'm almost all cried out. For the minute anyways. I had to take my poor little Sydney kitty in and have her put down today :( I'd put a pic up but I just can't bear it. The poor thing was down to 5 pounds when they weighed her. :sob:

Well I think that's all I can manage for now :(

I'm Famous!!

Well not QUITE famous, but I did get to be part of a little story in the July Redbook!

 This is just a quick cell phone pic of the article

I'm sure Jess will be even more mortified when she sees it haha.

In other news, I went out to dinner Las Casuelas with my two of my friends yesterday. I've been friends with these gals for 12 years now. My one friend can talk for like AGES. It's like no one else can say anything. It really annoys me sometimes. Well pretty much everytime we get together. I still like her and have a nice time when we're all together, I just wonder if she realizes she monopolizes the whole conversation? It's quite exhausting actually.

After I got home I sat down and almost immediately the power went out. When you live out in the country the power goes off a few times a year so we didn't think much of it and all ended up outside because it was hotter in the house than out there. I actually got Scott to mow the lawn and I went around and watered everything while the kids all whined and complained about the bugs and how hot it was. After about an hour I realized that both next door neighbors had power. WTH? The whole block behind us however didn't have power so apparently we're connected to their power line. I decided to call the power company and it said that I was the first one reporting the outage. I'm glad I didn't wait much longer to call. About an hour or so later they came out and replaced the fuse on the power pole and everyone went to bed.

Pretty exciting night!

Celebrating Our Anniversary In Gold Country

This has been the best weekend in such a long time! Scott and I saved Saturday for just us to go do something. We weren't quite sure what we wanted to do. We had talked a bit about going around Gold Country and looking at antiques. We also talked about going to Auburn to see if we could find this place that we ate at years ago that had the best burgers EVER.

So that's about what we did.

We drove up to Auburn and somehow found the burger place right away. We were pretty proud of ourselves. It turns out the place is called Brookside Grill. Unfortunetly their website link doesn't work on the Auburn food page here, but it has the info. I got the San Francisco burger. It was good but could have been cooked just a bit more for my liking. Scott got the mushroom swiss and he moaned and said it was just as good as he remembered.

After that we went and walked around the stores. Then we took Hwy 49, which is the road through all the old Gold Country towns. We drove through Coloma, which one of these days I really want to stop and check out. Then we ended up stopping in Placerville, which had a street fair of sorts going on. I don't think I've ever been to Placerville before, but they had a great variety of shops. I love going through all the antique stores. Although I didn't buy anything, I'm still thinking of some little green glass salt and pepper shakers I saw. We had missed the cook off they were having but there was still people playing live music. I think we spent a few hours there walking around. By the time we were done there we realized it was probably too late to hit any of the other towns to go through the shops. 

We continued down Hwy 49 and decided to go to one of the Indian casinos. Although the internet service on my phone kept going in and out I was able to find the Black Oak Casino and navigate us there with only a few turn arounds. We decided to just play $20 each, which maybe took us about an hour to lose on the penny machines. It was pretty crowded there. It was fun even though we lost. 

After that we went back up to Sonora and stopped at Round Table Pizza since Scott was jonesing for some pizza. When we walked inside we were greeted with some REALLY LOUD music. Then we realized it was live.

This guy was playing and singing his heart out. You can't really see but there's another guy behind the salad bar playing a bass guitar. The lady in the booth was with them and was singing along to herself. They really weren't that bad it was just REALLY LOUD. They were only there for about half an hour and then packed up.  

After that we drove home! It wasn't an EXCITING day but it was so nice and relaxing and we had a good time hanging out with each other. Not a bad way to celebrate 18 years of marriage if I do say so myself! Here's to one more year!

FREE BOOK FRIDAY WINNER and THE LAST SONG

The winner of last weeks FREE BOOK FRIDAY for Paint It Black is

Which is Krysten at "After I Do"

Send me an email with your info and I'll get that mailed out to you.

This weeks book is a paperback. You might have read it and or seen the movie. If you've just seen the movie you need to read the book because it's WAY different than the movie.

From Goodreads

Her parents' divorce left 17-year-old Veronica Miller embittered and confused. Three years later, "Ronnie" still seethes with anger toward her father, a musician and teacher who has abandoned hectic New York City for the quiet beach town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Nevertheless, she reluctantly agrees to her mother's altruistic plan that for the good of all concerned, she should visit her estranged father in his new home. As the story of The Last Song unfolds, novelist Nicholas Sparks weaves his magic, threading together the intricate story of three very different people tied inextricably together.

As a reminder my Free Book Friday books are previously read books. I am cleaning off my nightstand and sharing with you! All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner NEXT Friday!

Alllll byyyy myyyysellfffff sing it with me!!

Don't forget tomorrow is FREE BOOK FRIDAY! Get your comment in to win my free book!

So I just got home from going to the movies by myself. Am I the only one out there that loves going to the movies by themselves? I think it's AWESOME! I can get my own popcorn, my own soda, sit where ever I want and even stay to watch all the credits if I want to!

I went and saw Something Borrowed.

It was the only chick flick that was playing that I hadn't already seen (the only other one playing was Bridesmaids which I saw last week with Jess). It took me about three-fourths of the movie to realize that HELLO, I have read this book. And the one that came after it. So now I'm racking my brain trying to remember how it all went. I know Darcy ends up going to stay with Ethan and I THINK I remember what happens. It's in the next book Something Blue.  I was thinking there was another one after that but I guess not. I wonder if they will make a sequel to the movie?

I really like Ginnifer Goodwin. I remember her most from Walk The Line. She played Johnny Cash's first wife. She reminds me of Sally Field. I think she looks a lot like her.


The reason I was able to go to the movies by myself is that my Mom took my two youngest for the night. Thank God for Mom's!! It's great when she takes them to her house since she babysits my nephew Tony. That way Tony and Trevor can play and Melissa ends up helping out with my other brother's little one, who my Mom also watches. Am I supposed to capitalize Mom when I'm talking about her? Since I am using it as a name? Hmm English classes were a long time ago. (and according to spell check I need to capitalize English!)

Today at work was pretty interesting. First I had to drive to a little town about half an hour away to get this lady to sign a contract modification. I got all the way out there and no one is home? Came back and the lady shows up in the office about fifteen minutes later. She told the contract lady that I must have went to the wrong house. UM NO. Freaking liar! Not that I really care since it got me out of the office for over an hour.

After that I went to a meeting. They were having a meeting because the girl that is my direct boss is quitting and they were having a discussion of sorts on how they wanted to go about hiring a new person. I decided to go to the meeting (which was open to the public) to find out what was going on, because this WILL affect me. Basically they don't want to pay people very much money to do more stuff than one person is really able to do without wanting to slit their wrists. Which explains why I DO NOT want the job. I put in my two cents worth and told the board that I think that the job is too big for one person. One of the board members basically acted like I was an idiot, even though I sat almost on top of the last girl that did the job and watched the most recent one go from cute and perky to totally stressed out and haggard looking. Yeah, you that comes in just for meetings and signing checks, you really know what you're talking about. It really makes me want to find a new job. BUT I don't really have to deal with them very often so I guess I won't. I just don't like the way they act. It really pisses me off actually.

So yeah. I'm home by myself at the moment. It's almost quiet. Except the fan is making a weird noise. Funny how you hear things when it's so QUIET.

LAC Concert

Saturday my girls and I went to the LAC Concert. Which is a concert put on by the local country radio station. The only way you can get tickets is to win them or purchase them for $10 at one of the ticket stops they have. Jessica won us two at one of the ticket stops. She tried another time to win more but wasn't successful so I had her buy one for Melissa so the three of us could go together.

When we woke up that morning it was raining cats and dogs so I wasn't sure if we REALLY wanted to go stand out in the rain for a concert. I told Jessica I was trying to decide if I wanted to go when she woke up. She responded by freaking out about how she had wasted all her time standing in line for me and now I wasn't even going to go. She went on and on and on. Sheesh. Nothing like guilting me into going.

So I bundled up and we went. When we got there Jessica's friend and her sister were already waiting in line to get in. The line to get in was 2 blocks long. I have no idea why the line was so long. The doors had even been open for about an hour. Eventually we got in and Jessica and her friend took off and I was left with Melissa and the friend's sister. Which was fine but not really what I was planning.

My crew and I worked our way towards the front of the stage. The girls were about as exciting and a rock. I on the other hand was doing a little bouncing and a little screaming with my arms up, etc.

Jessica sent me a text that  said "tell me when you are ready to go, I'm not having much fun". I'm thinking SERIOUSLY? After all that shit she gave me about going? I just ignored that one and kept on bouncing to the music. Then she kept texting me that they had ditched her and she was trying to find us. Eventually she worked her way up to us. She told me to "please stop" when I was bouncing around to the music. Seriously? It's a freaking concert. Sorry if I'm "embarrassing you" in a crowd of a few thousand people that aren't even looking at me. Eventually I gave her $20 and she left to go find her friend again.

After two sets Melissa kept telling me how "tired" she was. Seriously, you are 12. You should be able to run a freaking marathon? What is it with my children? So then I said "ok" and we made out way away from our awesome spot :( and went to the bathroom, got the girls and ice cream and sat on some wet grass for awhile. I sent Jess a text asking if she was ready to go and she met up with us all pissed off. I still have no idea what she was so pissed off about. We could have stayed longer if she wanted to.

I was so mad by the time we got to the car I don't think I said a word to anyone on the way home. So much for my girl bonding day where we were all going to hang out together and have fun.  Next time I'm taking a friend!

So out of the two bands we saw we saw the Eli Young Band and who was really good even though I didn't know all their songs and  Emerson Drive, who I also didn't know all their songs but they were freaking AWESOME. I especially loved the fiddle/violin? player. Their songs just flowed into each other and they gave such a great show.

Here's a couple pictures

Eli Young Band

Emerson Drive

Needs Kitty Prayers

I have 2 entries for Friday's Free Book! You should enter!

Awww lookie there I lost a follower. That makes me sad. I know I haven't been very entertaining lately. I keep wanting to blog but there is someone always hanging over my shoulder and I don't like to blog when people are hanging around.

My kids are out of school. Not sure if I mentioned that or not.  Surprisingly I haven't been getting calls all day at work and so far they haven't killed each other.

Today I got home from work and then had to take the cat in to get his drain out. I'm glad that disgusting thing is gone. Blech! I couldn't find my OTHER cat this morning or after I got home. I looked everywhere in the house and even outside. She mostly stays in the house and keeps acting not quite right. I was very upset that I couldn't find her since she's been so off, if she somehow got outside that would definitely be the end of her.

After taking Buster to the vet for the drain I dropped him and Trevor off at home and then went to the grocery store. When I got home I was putting the groceries away and out walks Sydney right out of the cabinet. I swear I looked in there quite a few times and never saw her curled up in there. Her eyes were very dilated and she was making a weird noise. She is so thin I don't think she's been eating much. I was holding her on the couch and just started bawling.  I'm pretty sure her end is near. :( I think maybe she's had a few little strokes or something.

Well I have more to blog about but that's enough for now. I hope if she has to go she goes on her own while she's sleeping so we can bury her somewhere in the garden. I hate having to take them in to put them to sleep :(

FREE BOOK FRIDAY!! Paint It Black by Janet Fitch

This weeks FREE BOOK FRIDAY is

Paint it Black

by Janet Fitch

From Goodreads

A dark, crooked beauty that fulfills all the promise of White Oleander and confirms that Janet Fitch is an artist of the very highest order." Los Angeles Times Book Review Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from the coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body, her bright dreams all turn to black. Josie struggles to understand Michael's death and to hold onto the world they shared, she is both attracted to and repelled by his pianist mother, Meredith, who blames Josie for her son's torment. Soon the two women are drawn into a twisted relationship that reflects equal parts distrust and blind need. With the luxurious prose and fever pitch intensity that are her hallmarks, Janet Fitch weaves a spellbinding tale of love, betrayal, and the possibility of transcendence.

I'm not going to lie. This is a deep read. BUT it's one I think about sometimes. It has very mixed reviews and people either love it or hate it. I'll let you decide!

Just leave a comment here to enter and I'll pick a winner next Friday!

WINNER THE LOST MOTHER

The WINNER of last weeks FREE BOOK FRIDAY  for The Lost Mother

is

LAURIE!!

Send me an email with your address and I'll get it mailed out to you!

I'm going to put this weeks in a seperate post so it looks nicer. Don't forget to enter!!

Another Day Another Quitter

Today's the last day to enter for this weeks Free Book Friday!! The Lost Mother is this weeks book, go check it out and leave a comment to enter!

So nothing too exciting happened today. Well other than my immediate boss giving her two weeks notice. She's a younger gal, just graduated college last Friday and she's been on vacation for about  a week. She's off until the 6th when I think she's coming back for a week and then will be done. Did I mention that she taught me how to make the payroll checks before she went on vacation? My other boss told me I get to make those for awhile longer, and am I sure I didn't want that position?? Most people would say jump at it but I don't want it. WAY too much stress thank you very much. Hopefully whoever they get to take her place is nice and not some dick head. The poor girl that was doing it turned into a giant stress ball.

In other news my $420 that some asshole used in Vegas is pending back INTO my account. I just paid most of the bills. I can't pay my big one though since my husband put his paycheck into an account that I don't have access to. He said he will add me but it better be pretty quick. Otherwise the first thing to go is the Direct TV.  I'm trying to figure out what to do since I have some things that come out of my old account automatically. I JUST sent in a thing to change my life insurance to this account. I'm kind of thinking of just keeping it for stuff that's online but I think that might be too much of a pain in the ass having to transfer money to different banks all the time.

Jessica picked up the cat for me today. It ended up costing a $100 less than they had quoted me. WOOHOO. I had opened a Care Credit account so the bill went on there. Should be pretty easy to pay that off quick.

The poor kitty though. He has a big rubber drain, a ton of stitches and a cone. The dog is kind of scared of him in his new state I think.

Whenever he's walking around he starts barking at him like he's some alien cat. Poor thing. He goes back in 5 days to get the drain out and 2 weeks for the stitches. Hopefully I can get him to like being indoor more so he'll stop getting his neck ripped off. I think this is the 3rd time it's been sewn back together.

Today a friend at work and I went to lunch. When we were leaving we noticed this candy machine.

Looks pretty appetizing doesn't it? It's kind of by the windows so I'm thinking they got a little too much sun. Pretty gross though!

Well it's 7:00 and Scott isn't home and never sent me a message that he was leaving work. My little kids still aren't home yet either. Melissa said my mom was bringing them home later but now I'm thinking it must be MUCH later. Maybe I'll go pull out my scrapbooking stuff or something.

So how YOU doin'?

Hey crazy people!! It's been like days since I've posted anything. Feels like forever but I guess it's not that long. Don't forget to comment here for your free book! If I owe you a book it will be going out tomorrow. I'm a slacker, sorry!

My mom has had my two youngest kids since SATURDAY. It is now WEDNESDAY. That's a long freaking time without much responsibility. I feel like I should be in Vegas or something! 

BUT I have no money. 

Especially since someone has once again JACKED OUR F'ING BANK ACCOUNT. And guess where the jacker jacked our money? In VEGAS. Mother trucker!! So we are now the proud owner of not one but TWO new bank accounts at new banks. I guess we'll find out soon if it's someone at the bank that's getting our info or someone who is stealing our numbers somewhere where we shop. This time they used Scott's ATM card number at an actual CHASE ATM. Funny how they did that since his card was in his wallet here in our living room when it happened. We reported the card number as stolen and have been waiting for the "pending" transaction to clear so that we can get it reversed. Nice f'ing bank that makes you wait so long to get your money back!

To add to all the fun my cat Buster has been missing since last Tuesday. I thought for sure he was a coyote snack. BUT today Jessica found him under the boat in the side yard. WITH a big huge hole in his neck. I took him in to the vet and they said he probably got in a cat fight, got an abscess and it ruptured. So CHA'CHING. I really won't be going to Vegas anytime soon. I did apply for the Care Credit card and was approved so I get 6 months at least to pay that off with no interest. Would have been nice to put that towards something a little more fun than a scruffy cat.

And that is why we won't be getting anymore cats. 

Even though I love them.

Stupid cats.

Last night I picked up my friend at the San Francisco airport. I took her about 2 weeks ago, with no problems at all. Picking her up was fine too, except I now know when someone says they have landed to give them at least a half hour to get their luggage before you attempt to pick them up. Otherwise you get to drive around and around and around the whole airport since you aren't supposed to just stop and wait. Totally inconvenient!

Sunday we went to my brother's house for a BBQ. They cooked ribs this time and they were delicious! I had cleaned up my room earlier that day so Monday when I was off with no little kids I worked on Jessica's scrapbook. I haven't scrapbooked in forever so it took me awhile to get organized and to find all my stuff. I did a few simple pages and her book is now caught up to Halloween of last year. Woohoo not too far behind there. I'd like to keep hers all caught up. I'm planning on stopping her book after she graduates next year. Then I'll just do any of her stuff in my family album. The kid already is going to have to get bookshelf when she eventually takes all her albums. She has one for every year or two so that's quite a few!

I'm importing some audio books onto my iPod. From the library. It's a great way to get some free books and to have something to listen to in the car, washing dishes and putting away the laundry. 

Well enough about me, what have you been up to? I've been trying to read blogs and comment. Leave me a comment and I'll leave you on your blog too!