~A Bitter Swallow~

Now that 2.0 is over (that was what the work-related thingymabob was called- for those of you not from KRL /grin/), I decided to clean up my blog. Since I plan to continue on with it, I figured for those others out there that came to it, they have no interest or clue as to what I'm talking about. Not to mention that I don't need them anymore either. I have everything I need from them saved :).
So, I deleted all the old posts that I felt had no bearing on the overall feeling of this blog. All of the posts remaining should be clean and understandable-- that is, if you can understand my ramblings.
And on that note, I leave you with some pretty pictures that I felt brought in the holiday/season feeling!

So this past Saturday we had the kids' birthday party. We took them to the new skating rink here in town, and let them invite some friends. My daughter had four of her friends there. They had a great time at the skating rink, with lots of pizza, soda, video games, cake, presents, and of course- skating. My kids both went out and did the hokey-pokey and the limbo on the rink. It was great. I tried to go out and skate. I wound up hugging the wall the entire time, and even jammed my finger and elbow while out there. I am not thinking I'll be going back out on the rink anytime soon.

But I digess...

Anyways. My daughter remembered my offer that day to have all her girlfriends spend the night at my house that night. Don't ask me what I was thinking, because I clearly wasn't. So she hits me up to let them stay, she runs it by her dad (since it's his weekend with the kids, and it would be at my house), and he okays it, so I end up with five eightish-year old girls all spending the night at my little duplex. Oh.. my...

They played alright at first. Then they fought. Then they cried. Then they fought. Then they played. Rinse- repeat. All night. And then again all morning. Holy moley! I thought I was going to have a breakdown!

But of course, the next morning while going home, they stated that they all had a fantastic time! So I guess overall it was a success. And everyone is alive, albeit probably a few less sane brain cells. Twister wound up being a great hit. I didn't even know we had that game!

I came to work yesterday, and began searching for books on activities for girls during slumber parties. I am sure I must have been flubbing my search somehow, because there were suprisingly very few. I did find one here at my branch though, and I checked it out. I paged through it last night, and it seemed to have some pretty cute ideas. It is my vision to run it past my daughter, and perhaps even my son, since most were rather unisex activities (and my daughters friends all seem to have crushes on her brother, and like to encorperate him into thier play). Then, with thier imput, and my realism, type up the ones we like into my laptop and save them for the next sleepover.

We'll see how that works out! All I know is that the next time I mention having that many girls over for the night, that I am to be immediately taken to the nearest psychiatric institution, no questions asked! LOL

Oh, the Places I go. I showed you all the links to them- my proud little moment of techy-discovery. It takes me a while to figure those types of things out sometimes. And then while I was sitting here looking at it, I realized- you people out there aren't going to know what those sites are. Why are you going to click on some chick's unidentified link, with no knowledge of what kind of places it may lead you. The places I go could very well be places you have absolutely no desire to see!!

So, in my infinite (sometimes questionable) wisdom, I decided to give a quick overture of what they are. Some are easy to identify- My Myspace page and My Library I'm sure are kind of a given. Others might be terrifying in their possibilities!

Cerapis is my boyfriend's website. He has various postings and photos there. He hasn't been working on it much lately, and it is a bit outdated at the moment I think, but it is still sometimes fun for me to go there and peruse. Especially when he does decide to post new stuff.

Books is the link to Barnes and Noble. I love that place. I can go there and spend hours just perusing the shelves. I particularly love their clearance racks. I have bought many of my "out-of-my-genre" reading fare from there, and do not feel bad if it is not something I particularly like, because I only paid a small amount for it. On the other hand, if I do enjoy it, I feel a sense of victory- for the same reason.

Rian's Page is my girlfriend's terminally ill daughter. I love that (not-so) little girl dearly, and wish everyone could see what a bright and brillant girl she is. This is an area where I can keep up to date with the latest goings on, since she is terribly busy now, and it's hard to keep track of who you've updated and who you haven't. From what I understand, CaringBridge is a site where parents of terminally ill loved ones can blog, post photos, etc etc.

My other little spot in cyberspace (or whatever the heck I termed it) is my website. Right now it is mostly where I post quick reviews of books I've read. It is a production in the making, and Dustin is working on jazzing it up for me now. It will host my book reviews, there is a place for movie reviews (which I have not done yet), and then my various writings. I also have pictures there, but have not updated them in a while. I hope to do that over the next week. So check it out. =)

Wally's World and Neville vs... are some of my coworkers blog spots that I find entertaining and amusing.

HaZaah! is a link to the local Renaissance Faire stuffs.

Neat Stuffs is a very cool website / catalog of items that I find unique and interesting and super cool!

Art is a web community of artists, and an area to post your photography, sketches, paintings, or writings. It is a free site, but with donations you can have access to other stuff. I just have the free page, and find many many interesting photos there. It is a neat place to just peruse people's galleries.



Well, that is all of them for now. As I add more links, I will update this post, so you can see what they are all about. So go! Shoo little readers. Go and follow my hurried footsteps (cyberly speaking, of course) and see where I've been, and where I will be!!


3-19-08 Added "What the.....?" which is a website I discovered that has weird, wacky and strange postings. I find it rather amusing!!

Hey look! I finally figured out how to add nifty links to those sites I visit frequently. Just look- right there to the right ------------------>>>

I'm at work right now (go figure... lol.. can you tell I'm hard at work?!), so I'm thinking up stuff that I know the web addresses to. I'll add more to it once I get home. I have plenty of places to go on the internet. That, and my video games! But you don't get links to those... those are MINE!

Enjoy!

Most of the patrons I deal with at the library come and go quickly and easily. They show up to my counter either grumpy, or polite, or even cheery, but for the most part, they get here, we do our business, and they are on their way.

But every once in a while, you find one that sticks out. Either patrons who do strange or bewildering things while here, such as discuss very personal information loudly on thier cell phones. There are also those who make you do a double take, like the woman who had her library card in her mouth before she handed it to me. Sometimes it's the way the books are returned. People who dump water all over them, and then wonder why they are charged. A co-worker was telling me of a patron who actually broke an egg she found while walking around on one of her library books, and then was all confused as to why we could not accept it back, since it was technically still "readable"...

However, today was probably my most memorable experience with a patron thus far. An elderly gentleman came in and began carrying on a conversation with me. Apparantly he's one known for being a talker, so eventually my boss came over with a project for me, and he was ushered on his way. Well, he came back in a little bit later, and started talking to me again. He was explaining how he was across the way at the bar, and some of the men there were telling him he sounded like some singer. He had asked them who, and then he started belting out the "You are so Beautiful" song. Now, it took me a moment, since I had thought he was just expounding on who they were saying, and trying to show off, but as he continued going, I realized he was singing to me, and I must have turned three shades brighter than the pink of my shirt! I think I was more embarassed that it took me so long to realize he was serenading me, then the fact that he was.

He later came back in and apologized for any embarassement he caused me. I told him not to worry. It's been awhile since I've had that (with the exception of my boyfriend. He sings to me all the time. I love it!). It was sweet. And being that he was a very much older man, I am not concerned about it =)

Something nice to spend the day with. Thank you!

This is a quick blog, and it is about someone very special to me. My girlfriend's daughter is sick, and I would be so appreciative if everyone who reads this could send out all the warm wishes, thoughts, prayers, and positive energy they can to this wonderful, bright ray of sunshine that has lit this Earth for the past 17 years. She is such a strong, brilliant young lady, and the issues she is having to face at such a tender age are heart-breaking.
I've known Rian for a long time now, and she has always put such heart and energy into everything she does. She has a stong will and always has a smile on her face. She brightens any room she enters, even now.

Please visit her page at Cambridge:

Rian's Page

Read her story, and keep her in your thoughts if you could. The site is a wonderful outlet for people with issues such as Rian's. Perhaps you know someone who could benefit from such a site.

Also, keep the Ronald McDonald house in your thoughts when considering charities. They have done so much for my friend's family, as well as others I know.

Thank you for taking the time out of all the silly and nonsense articles we post, and paying attention to this one very serious one that is very close to my heart!!

Just a head's up- this is a rant. A long one.


Some of you have heard me complain about the stupidity of my neighbors, and the problems we've been having with them. I just cannot understand the lack of mental capacity in some people- the urge that drives a 30 year old person to act more like a 2 year old.

For the year that we've lived here, they have complained about us having 3 vehicles. You see, I live in a duplex, and we share a driveway. Now, Dustin use to park his Geo out on the road, until it got keyed and the antenna broken off. That was our "crap" car, so there was no way after that that either of the other ones were getting put out there. And although we cannot prove it, I have a sneaky suspicion that our neighbors had something to do with it. So, back into the driveway it went. We park up against the side of our driveway, to where we literally have to crawl through the bushes to get out of our cars.

Well, that wasn't good enough, so they decided they wanted Dustin to park his jeep in this dirt patch in front of their porch so that they could fit in the driveway (apparently she can't drive.....). They even had the landlord come out and have him park there. No problem, OK. So, he starts parking there, and they start blocking him in, and not answering the door when he goes at 4:00 in the morning to ask them to move so he can get to work. Mind you, he is in the union, and if he doesn't get there early, he misses out on work. There has been more than once that he has missed work because of this stunt.

Regardless, the landlord told him to park there, so he has continued to park there. We put up with them blocking us in, parking in the middle of the driveway to block all of our cars either in or out. Then in November, when they parked in the middle of the driveway, Dustin thought he had enough room to squeeze by, so that we wouldn't be sinking to their level by parking behind them, and he misjudged and scraped the side of their car. Now, we are bad bad folks, and didn't have insurance on the car at that time. He went over to her house, and told her he had hit their car. She slammed the door in his face, so he assumed she had heard. Then a couple weeks later, she comes over pounding on the door asking if we had hit her car........ He thinks she means AGAIN, so says no. Then, upon a couple minutes of thinking about it, realizes maybe she meant the first time, so went and talked to her. Apparently she hadn't listened when he told her that we had hit her, and had just realized the scrape on her car.

Ok, so she was a ditz that time, but we've known this.. so we roll with it. He explains to her and her boyfriend that we do not have insurance to cover it, but he is very much aware that he hit it and he owes for it. He also explains at this time that he hasn't been sent out on any jobs lately, and that money is extremely tight, but he will do what he can. We fill out a paper that agrees we will pay for the car. Everyone around is talking about how they only expect it to be a couple hundred dollars for the work. Well, we can do that no problem. Then, two weeks before Christmas, they bring over two estimates that run around $1500. Now, this is quite a bit more than the couple hundred we were expecting. There is no way that he can afford that right now. He hasn't been sent out on a job since the beginning of October. The next week, the boyfriend comes over and starts yelling at Dustin, saying "It's a week before Christmas- I can't have my girlfriend driving around in a piece of sh@t!". Ok, there is a slight scratch on the taillight, a scuff on the back corner bumper, and a teeny dent you really have to get down and look for to see. Dustin looks at him and says "Yeah, man... it's a week before Christmas. I have 2 kids here. Do YOU have $1500 in your pocket right now??". Dude says some threatening words and walks off.

Later on that month, she comes out and tells Dustin that she paid the deductible on her insurance, so they will be coming after him. Good! he says. He'd much rather deal with the insurance company than them at this point. So we don't talk to them about it while we wait for the insurance company to get ahold of us. Meanwhile, they are still parking like jerks, her boyfriend makes threatening and condescending remarks to Dustin every time he walks out of the house. She even took her own son's outside toys and shoved them under Dustin's jeep at one point.

And I won't even get into how many times we've had to call 911 at 3am because someone is over there banging on their door screaming and cursing.

Then, I get accosted by her mother on my way in from work one afternoon, yelling at me about when am I going to pay for their car. Uh.... we've been waiting on the insurance. She starts yelling that it's not their place, and that we owe them. She says the insurance isn't involved. Well, that's not what we were told, and with the way they've been acting, I wouldn't put it past them that they are trying to pull one over on us.

At some point, she sent her daddy over to talk to Dustin. Of all of them, he seems the most calm and reasonable, thank the gods! Dustin explains to him that he hasn't been to work. He even gave them the Hall's number and told him to call and verify it. He explains to dad that he's not trying to screw them over, but with not working, and not to mention the way they've been acting, he's got his own butt to cover. Dad seemed to not be happy, but at least understand.

Ok.. I think I've gotten off the original path with this thread, but they are so frustrating. Some of their antics include the parking directly behind us so none of our vehicles can get out, or in. She shoved stuff under his jeep, for who knows what reason. At one point we had the Geo out in the road for a tow truck to pick up. The Geo is not registered in WA since it has been broke down since it expired. So, Dustin had a note on it to the police that it was awaiting pick up from a tow company, and the tow company had been having problems getting out to get it, so pick up time was unknown. He came home to catch our neighbor gal taking the note off the car.... The Geo is back in the driveway.

*breathe, breathe, breathe*




Today, my daughter is sick. They are parked directly behind us. We have errands to run. Dustin goes over and asks if they can move their car because my daughter is sick, and we need to take her to the doctor. The boyfriend screams exploitative words at him, and says if we want him to move the car to call the cops. So Dustin comes in and does just that. The girlfriend looked pretty abashed when the police showed up knocking on their door. She moved it. The police told them they were acting like 2 year olds. Next time we have to call for them to move their car, both her boyfriend AND mine are getting arrested. That angers me.
I finally broke down and contacted my landlord again today. He says he will interfere. I just hope this doesn't wind up causing more problems for us, since our lease is up next month. I'm kinda worried about that, since there is no way I could come up with a deposit for another place. But, I'll deal with that if it gets there.

Ok, I feel a bit better. Venting is good for the soul! At least for that part of you that wants to go put bullets in your gun! LOL...