Cleaning Out My Closet

Figuratively, that is.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm tired (figuratively and literally) of dealing with negative, disrespectful people who don't really add anything positive to my life. You know those people... they're the ones that after you get done talking to them in person or on the phone, you feel absolutely exhausted and sometimes even physically sick.

Well, guess what... I have decided that in most cases, I no longer HAVE to! (With the exception of family (cause well, it's family) and anyone I may be "related to" by childbirth. And no, I'm not speaking of my children here.)

Now I know that I can be this way at times... I understand it, I don't deny it, I will admit it and I'm working to change it. That is the difference between me and those who cannot see how negative behavior effects other people, how it hurts other people and how it makes themselves look insecure. You know, that whole I feel bad about myself so I'll put you down every chance I get so I feel better and you'll feel bad about yourself like I do, thing.

Or maybe they're just horrible people and don't care.

Either way, I'm over it. I don't want to waste time in my life with negative people and I don't want to waste time in my life being negative. And I sure don't want to teach my children to be negative.

Now this doesn't mean that people can't have a bad day, that is to be expected in life. And there's always going to be stressful situations thrown our way. But how does having a bad day or going through a stressful time give anyone the right to try to bring others down? If you're having a bad day or going through a hard time, fine... feel free to share that with me, I'd love to help if I can. But when the tables get turned and you're starting to put me down, well, that's when it's going to end for me.

Example: If a friend is going through issues with her child/children and she feels insecure about her own mothering abilities, she will share those insecurities and issues she's having, but will make sure to slam the way you parent and tell you what you're doing is all wrong, too. Then the conversation goes from, "I'm having a hard time with this" to "Well, I don't feel too bad about myself because you have be doing it all wrong for the last 16 years, and your children won't amount to anything, and you should be ashamed of the way you parent your children, and you're probably going to hell for co-sleeping and homeschooling anyway, so I guess I'm not that bad of a parent after all."

Just sayin'.

Anyway, like I said, I'm done. I think when friendships get to the point where you dread talking to that person, where you start to question that person's loyalty to you and where you realize "Hey, they treat me like total crap"... Well, unfortunately you have a decision to make.

In Which I Whine About Swine

You know, when you're less than 6 weeks away from having a baby, you really have better things to be scared about than "swine flu".

We're stupid... shut the freakin borders already, keep people out of Mexico and keep the people in Mexico out of the U.S.! I mean really, does it take a brain?

I'm irritated. Mostly because we haven't had the flu yet this year and of course if we get it now we'll be all freaked out. Do I really need this right now?!

I hate the media. Why put everyone in a panic? And does anyone see the way this is correlating with the President's first 100 days "review". Whatever. I'm so over it.

The melodramatic United States.

And how wonderful that there has been at least one case reported in my state. I hope the person is responsible enough to stay home and away from the rest of us.


Anyhoo... enough of that whining. Nothing much is happening here. The temps have been in the 80's and I have a new respect for women who are pregnant during the summer months! Yikes! I got my taste of it over the weekend and it was not fun! I was miserable to say the least. I ended up turning the A/C on. In April!

I have another OB appointment tomorrow. I'm anxious to see if I've gained any weight or if I've lost again. Of course a part of me is hoping I've lost, but I certainly don't want that to effect the baby. I'm also wondering if he's still facing down or if he moved back up. He sure has been moving around a lot for having such a small space to move in. Trust me, I feel every little and big move he's making right now!

I'm getting about 4 hours of sleep a night. The night before last I laid there until 5am. I'm so happy I'm not working full time right now! I'd be ok if I didn't have to lay on my sides. I just get comfortable on one side and my leg and hip decide to go numb. Ahh, the joys of pregnancy.

Trust me, even during the harder moments, I'm not complaining. This has been the easiest pregnancy ever and I have nothing to complain about. I know it's going to be over all too soon and I'll miss it, so I'm really trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

We're Gonna Party Like It's Your Birfday

So yesterday was Mr. R's bday. I won't tell you how old he is, I'll just say he's 5 years and 5 days older than me.

I took him out to eat, we came back here and he opened his presents and blew out his candles on his ice cream cake. He wasn't feeling good and I was stuffed from dinner so we didn't even have any of it. We checked ebay for some baby stuff, watched "Role Models" and called it a night. We're BIG party people!

Tomorrow is my mom's bday and I won't even get into how many years and days older than me she is. Cause I love her. And she's got my kids right now.

Anyhoo, I know the perfect gift for her, but they aren't in stock ANYWHERE!!! I rarely know what to get people and it figures that the year I know just what to get my mom, there are none to be got.

Tuesday is my bday. I will be 36. I was ok with 35... 36 is pushing it. I think I can make it a few more years, but then hitting the big 4-0 may be a rough one.

Next Saturday is my dad's bday. I have a few ideas for him. One I'm still looking into and I think he would really like, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it work.

PS- What's up with McDonald's and their Shamrock Shakes??!!?? Since when do you have to hunt for them? This is stupid! It's a yearly tradition (since my bday is on St. Patrick's Day) that I have one. Sorry Mickey D's, I'm not traveling all over the state to find your stupid shake! I mean it's bad enough you bring back the McRib every few months and then take it away... but this? This is just plain MEAN!

Here's some new belly shots from my last OB appointment. They are pictures of pictures because I don't have Mr. R's card.

Carrie Under---- (AI)

I'm losing more respect for you every day Carrie DIDYOUHAVE Underwear on! Wow, what a trashy outfit you were wearing tonight on American Idol. How about you cover it up, sweetie. I'm sure the cameraman enjoyed it. I, however, was very disappointed in you.

Not Much To Report

What a week. My mom is sick so I'm doing daycare by myself. Today was easy. Tomorrow will not be. I did something to my neck and shoulder picking a kid up yesterday and now I'm starting to get a headache from it. I really need to go to the chiropractor.

Two more days and I will be on vaca for 5 days. I am so excited! I really need a break! As long as I'm not sick, I don't care if it rains or shines! I'll just be glad to get away!

Someone egged our house Sunday night or Monday morning. Seriously, how immature do you have to be to do something like that? I have an idea of who it could be and all I have to say is, I don't even have time to analyze that psyco. And thank God I dodged that bullet!! Grow up!

I was flipping through channels tonight and I stopped on QVC... they were selling "The Firm"... for HALF of what I paid! UGH! I was so ticked. BUT... it got me to finally put a dvd in and work out a little!

T2's allergist appointment went ok. We were only there for an hour this time. I was very UNimpressed with the lady we saw. She just sat there looking through a catalog so she could make sure his insurance would cover everything. She SAID the 4 prescriptions she wrote would be fine. 3 of them were NOT! Do you know how much I hate the words "prior authorization"!! Every time I hear the pharmacy say that I want to punch someone. So we're waiting the 2-3 days for it to go through, which would be ok if my son, who is suppose to have a 125 lung function, wasn't at a 77!! He's almost down to half lung function and has nothing but his albuterol to help him. Umm, we have albuterol up the yingyang, it's the other 3 prescriptions that we need. I will be calling the doctor's office again tomorrow and I'm hoping they've done something. It's a holiday weekend, we're leaving and my son REALLY needs some help. I guess the thing that bothers me is that I told the NP that I would be happy to pay out of pocket for whatever would work best so he could have what he needed asap, but she said everything would be fine and everything would go through. I don't think we'll be seeing her again.

Well, I'm going to bed. I'll be up early tomorrow and it will be a long day.

Counting It Down and Drinking It Up

A little over a week away until my family comes to visit and we leave to go on our mini vacation. Yep, I'm counting it down. I'm so ready to get out of here for a couple days. I love mini vacations and I love where we're going!

It's working out that I may only be working Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, for at least part of the summer. This is going to be a nice break and will give me time regroup and figure out where I'm going with the daycare.

T2 is going to the allergist on Monday. I know they are going to give us tons of meds so I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe I'm a bad mom, but I dread all the meds. And I find it hard to talk to them about what I want since it's all about T2. (And it should be!) They don't seem to be open to "natural" methods. I guess I'll give it another try and ask again.

I bought "Mad Money" last night and watched it this afternoon. Good movie!! Makes me want to go out and rob a bank. Loved the ending.

Here comes a vent...

There is a "daycare" in our small town, and when I say "daycare", I use that term loosely because NO ONE has anything good to say about this place. They are illegal, unlicensed and honestly, they need to be shut down. And from what I've heard, there's not a lot of "care" going on in this place.

I have a little girl in my daycare right now who got let go without notice from her last daycare and her mom had to take her to this place a few times before I could take her. Her words about their experience there went something like this: "It's a place that you take your child to and hope and pray they're alive when you get back." Nice.

It's a "drop-in" daycare so they take anyone without notice and she had to go to work and had no where else to take her. This mother stood in my doorway on the first day in tears, thanking me over and over for being able to take her daughter. Nice.

Anyway, the owners of this "daycare" just started a new business in our little town. A bar.

They have a myspace site for their bar. I took a peek tonight and I have to say that I would be absolutely disgusted with these people if I were taking my child to their "daycare".

I mean, is it me, or do bars and daycares just NOT go together? I can't even imagine seeing your child's daycare provider or teacher out drinking it up at a bar, let alone having the person who is caring, teaching and molding your child each day own one.

It's not that I have a problem with drinking necessarily, but I find bars immature.

Their myspace page makes this place look like a skanky dive. They've got pictures of the daycare provider with her boobs sticking out of her shirt singing karaoke. They have another pic of some chic laying on the floor in super SHORT shorts with her butt hanging out and her boobs are practically out of her shirt and she's clearly passed out with her cell phone laying next to her. They make a joke out of the pic because they offer free rides home to anyone who gets too wasted, in their 1980's white limo. Hmm, wonder if the chauffeur is wearing a baby blue polyester suit?

I guess I'm just a lame old woman now. But rest assured parents, the closest thing to alcohol this daycare provider is drinking tonight is Welch's Grape Juice.

I blame my cravings for that stuff on all the Nazarene communions I partook in as a child on Sunday mornings. You know, the ones where they give you grape juice in those little plastic shot glasses. Later on in the week I would get out my mom's wine glasses and the leftover bottle out of our fridge, invite a friend over and we'd play "bar". Sometimes we'd even sneak those plastic shot glasses into our little purses, get our bathing suits on and play "spring break".

My My... nothing like playing "Girls Gone Wild" with the "blood of Jesus".

Please forgive me, Lord!!

Happy Earth Day!

What did I do for Earth Day? Umm, well, I taught my preschoolers about it and how we need to take care of the earth and pick up the trash and blah blah blah... but other than that... nada. I really wanted to take them around the block with little grocery bags and have them pick up trash, but I had a couple of kiddos today that either did not deserve to go outside or probably wouldn't have made it around the block without throwing a major fit. So, we didn't do anything. Sorry earth, my sanity was more important. Besides, Al Gore's got my back. He said he'd do my part today. Thanks Big Al!! (He let's me call him that, but only on "special" occasions!!)

Right now I'm watching the big end of the season New York Housewives thing where they all meet up after the show and sit on couches and talk to a host and fight and explain why they acted like fools and etc. etc. etc. You know I didn't think I could stomach the New York chics because let's face it, compared to the OC girls, they are... well, let's just say "woof"! But then I watched a couple episodes and I decided I could tolerate it. A couple of them are actually funny.

Anyway, today was a bad day. Sick kiddos... misbehaving kiddos... headaches... no alcohol in the house (kidding)... I told my mom at dinner that tonight may be a THREE Advil night. Whoohooo, I'm a rebel! Yes, I get high on Advil. Call rehab.

Seriously, I have a major headache so I'm off to crawl into bed. At 9:30. I'm pathetic.

It's Baaaack

T2's fever has returned. I think I'll call the doctor tomorrow. Again, he has no other symptoms other than the fever. I wish he'd just cough or something!!

I lost my religion this morning. It was not pretty. However, in my defense, I was up half the night with what I think was a migraine, and then anytime I'd try to lay down I'd end up coughing. So... I think I finally got to sleep about 3:30/4:00. Not a good night.

I thought I could make up for the lost sleep this morning. Wednesday's are my day to sleep in a little. I don't work until 11:30. The problem is, I never get to sleep in a little. I'm not saying I want to sleep until 11, but past 7:30 would be nice. Never happens.

And today was no exception! The neighbors dog is about to drive me crazy. The barking is out of control and it all started again this morning at 7:30. Yesterday when I was up by 7am, the dog was not out. My neighbor didn't let it out until almost NOON!! UGH - why do things like this always happen? I NEEDED extra sleep this morning but I couldn't get it because of a stupid dog! And I'm not talking a little barking, this dog comes out of the garage and stands and barks and barks and barks. And its bark is loud and deep. And it's RIGHT BY MY HEAD!!

And I won't even get into the noise from below me. I think my mom must slam every kitchen cupboard about 30 times each. And she KNOWS I hate it cause I've told her about it and how I can hear her slamming things around. BUT... she still does it anyway. Does the dishwasher REALLY need to be emptied at 7:30 in the morning? I think not. I swear she does it on purpose.

I'm just SO sick of NEVER getting one moments peace to myself. I don't ask for much in life. Heck, I don't even really HAVE a life. Is it too much to ask for a little extra sleep the morning after I've been up half the night? Throw me a bone here!

So anyway, in the words of my father, I was acting like a 10 year old.

Yep, there was slamming... Yep, there was stomping... Yep, even some yelling...

And since there was no way I was going to be able to get back to sleep, I did what any crazy person would do... I got up, got in the shower and LEFT MY HOUSE TO GO SHOPPING! And I did it ALOOOOONE!!! No kids!!!!

And let me tell you IT. FELT. GOOD.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Did I forget to mention in my prior post that I spent some time yesterday afternoon tracking down "Jerk off's" (who is how we will now refer to my children's "father") friend of the court rep and probation officer? Well, I did... cause well, that's what I do.

I found them both, after having to explain over and over that I did not know who I was looking for exactly, I just knew they were people who needed to hear what I had to say.

It was no big shock that I got through to only their voice mails, but that was ok, because then I got to say exactly what I wanted to say without interruption. *grin*

I honestly figured they'd think I was just some loser single mom and wouldn't waste their time calling me back, but low and behold, Jerk off's probation officer called me bright and early this morning. He was very nice but made it very clear that this was not his fault and that he had nothing to do with his court hearing getting cancelled and in fact has nothing to do with the whole child support situation at all. I find that odd because I have court papers stating it IS part of his probation to pay child support but it was too early to argue and I was just so impressed that he called me back. I only asked him why it wasn't a part of his probation since it was at felony level now but he didn't know.

Now, I need to give credit where credit is due (hence the title) and Mr. Rose deserves credit: A. for actually calling me back, and B. he put a call in to friend of the court and said he would call me back as soon as his contact called him back and would let me know what was going on.

THAT was VERY nice of him considering this situation isn't HIS problem! Of course I apologized and said if I sounded upset at him in the message I left, I wasn't, but that I'm just frustrated that they would know his record and cancel a court date. He said the message was fine and he understood and that it was actually good for him to find out this information, because he is in charge of monitoring his employment and it is a violation if he has quit a job or changed jobs without reporting it to him.

Oops, OH NO... do you think I got him in trouble? *wink*

And before you go thinking "This girl IS white trash"... I'm not upset because of me... I left his sorry butt 11 years ago... I'm upset because he is taking money away from my kids! If it were me, I wouldn't even care, but knowing that with this money there would be extra things for my children will always keep me fighting.

Today's Loser Award Goes To...

The wonderful court system of Livingston County (Howell, Michigan). And to the judge, case worker and/or probation officer who is over my children's "father's" child support case.

Thanks to you dismissing his last show cause hearing, he is no longer paying child support. (As of Dec.10) Which leads me to ask... wasn't that part of his probation, to pay child support? Shouldn't he have to continue to show up for those hearings so you can make sure he's doing what he's suppose to be doing? Aren't you getting paid to monitor that? Isn't that your j.o.b.?

OH no... you looked at his file and saw that since he started paying child support in the fall, that he was no longer the dead beat dad he's been for the last 14 years. (You know, because he was paying support for all of 3 months.) And I'm sure you had faith and confidence that he would continue to make his support payments. I'm sure he had you all fooled into thinking he was really turning over a new leaf THIS time. (By the way, have any of you SEEN his record?? How many "new leaves" does he get?)

I guess my question to you would be... How many times are you going to fall for that? Idiots! You all are idiots!! How long have you worked with people "in the system"? They don't change. Duh!

So thanks for dismissing that hearing (that would have taken all of 5 minutes), because as soon as he got that letter in the mail telling him he didn't have to show up for court, he quit his job so he wouldn't have to pay me support. Because that's the kind of new leaf he turns over.

You are truly exceptional leaders for the Livingston County Court System. And I thank God I'm not paying your salaries!!

Tax Time

It's tax time. Just thought I'd put that out there. I have nothing to say about that, I was just sitting here trying to come up with a title and saw my attendance and food records for last year sitting on my desk just waiting for April 14.

T2 had basketball pictures yesterday and I was so irritated!! They all get uniforms which include: a jersey, shorts and a WHITE tee shirt with the Upward logo. They were suppose to wear their "uniforms" for pictures and so at 8:00 AM yesterday, I was up getting T2's white shirt in the dryer. I had washed everything else Thursday night and washed whites Friday afternoon. I forgot they were in the washer until I was tossing back and forth trying to get to sleep around 2am Saturday morning. I would have gotten up and put them in the dryer right then, but our dryer is upstairs and there were 4 other people sleeping and I was feeling nice. So, I made myself a note and put it on the bathroom sink so I'd remember. Hard work I tell ya. But, you do what you're suppose to do, right? Yeah, not everyone. As soon as we walked in, I looked over at his team and saw one little boy with his gold jersey and shorts with a BLACK tee shirt underneath. I about flipped!! A BLACK tee shirt? WHY???? I swear, there always has to be one kid that ruins all the group pictures!!!! Of course, I'm anal like that and it just bugged me all day. I looked over at the other group and they had a kid on their team in dark blue shorts with a light blue stripe down the sides... totally out of uniform. So I guess there really is one on every team. I wish this sort of thing bugged others like it bugs me. Perfectionist thinking IS good. Right?

The same thing happened at our family Christmas... we were all taking pics up against a white wall and for the separate family shots, we could have had everyone centered without any wood or trim on the sides, but it didn't happen that way. And of course, you never notice those things until after the pics are taken. Oh well, I guess I'm just picky about pictures.

We didn't do much this weekend. Friday night we went out with Mr. R and looked for basketball shoes for T2. He didn't find any he liked. Then we went to Starbucks and I got a Double Chocolate Chip frap. And as much as I loves me some chocolate, I didn't care for this. Something about the chocolate pieces coming up in the straw with the rest of the drink just didn't do it for me. I don't like chunks of things mixed in drinks. I like little pieces of ice, but not anything else. Not to mention it's 510 calories for a Grande! 510!!! Without the whipped cream it would have only been 400, but when your sippin in that many calories, what's another 110? Guess I better stick to my iced nonfat carmel macchiato. Only 190 calories. I could eat that buttery caramel sauce on everything. Anway... then we went to the video store, they had nothing so decided we'd come home, set up the home theater system I got for Christmas and watch 'Live Free or Die Hard'. Let's just say that we have half the system set up and we didn't get to watch the movie and let's leave it at that. Ok? Ok!

We went to my parent's house last night and then went to church this morning. Stayed for lunch and then came home. I decided I was going to take a nap so got in bed, flipped on the tv and ended up watching this 1963 movie. It's called 'Sunday In New York'. I'm a sucker for old movies. Have you ever noticed how much they smoked in movies back then? And the drinking... They are always making drinks and every house or apartment has a bar and when anyone walks in they make a martini for them. I also like how every restuarant has a band and dancing and how going out to eat was such an event. I love movies from the 60's. Needless to say, I didn't take my nap until later which meant I didn't wake up until oh, about 7:00... which means even though it's almost 10:00, I'm not ready to go back to bed!

And oh my gosh, I now remember why I never watch Extreme Home Makeover... I'm sitting here crying. That little girl is so sweet!! I don't think people really understand what it really is to have the gift of having healthy children! I can't imagine what some parents go through! I guess that would put the nonperfect basketball photo waaay down on the list, huh.

Well, off to bed. The weekend is over and I have a long week ahead. Kiss kiss.

Move Over Ann Coulter

Let's all welcome our newly most hated newswhore ... Wendy Murphy.

I wasn't into the whole "Duke" rape case, so I wasn't aware of this woman. I wish I could go back to that time.

While watching CNN tonight, there she was in all her glory... talking about how the government should focus on homeschooling families. How the children of homeschooling families need help and need the government to step in to make sure they're ok. WAIT! I bet you're thinking that I'm talking about their schooling, their education? OH NO, I'm talking about their well being. Because according to Miss. Wendy Murphy, homeschooled children are most likely being abused by their parents and will someday end up dead. Because WHY would a parent want to keep their child home and educate them as they want? There must be major abuse going on because they're keeping them hidden from the world.

Sorry, but I keep my kids home and educate them myself because the government's NOT doing it's job, in education or anywhere else.

I'll tell you what Miss. Murphy... when the government takes care of the neglected kids they clearly KNOW about, then you can open your big former prosecuting ex-NFL cheerleading mouth about homeschooling.

Just for giggles, here's what she has to say about shunning families:

Nice huh? So Wendy... should we send the government in to help them, or do it your way and just IGNORE them because they're different?

Anyway, she was on there to discuss the Washington case where the children were found dead in their mother's home this week. Government workers knew about these children BEFORE they stopped going to school. They asked for food stamps and were turned down. Asked for help and were turned down. Were living in a van and no one helped them. In 2006 a nurse said it was clear that both parents had substance abuse problems, but they could not receive help because they were living in a van and therefore had no permanent address. They stopped going to school in March after their father died, but no one noticed until May. At that time a social worker went to police and said the mother might be holding the children hostage, therefore making them truant. The officer went to the home and reported back to authorities that they "APPEARED to be healthy and were being homeschooled".

And can I remind you that they were very newly in the "system". They started asking for help in December of 2006 and their file was closed in May of 2007. That's only 5 months!! And you want to get our government involved in homeschooling?

I think it has enough on its hands.

Update on the "Naughty List"

Children's "father" - still on.

Proactiv - still on.

Daycare Mom - came over today and paid some of the money, so we can take her off. At least she's trying. :)

American Eagle - this is a hard one. I got the items this morning, so I guess they should be off the list, however... I'm wondering if I wouldn't have taken the time to call, if I would have gotten my son's stuff? I think they should stay on the list just because of the fact that I placed my order last Monday, but maybe we can move them a little further down.

Here's To A Merry Christmas Eve!!

Ba Humbug Christmas Losers

It's so nice when just 3 days before Christmas...

- Your children's "father" doesn't pay his child support for the week. I'm sure he "needed" that money for beer, weed and a cheap gift his girlfriend. (OH, and let's hope, some condoms!!)

What else is nice?...

- A daycare parent (who is over a month behind) who "said" she'd have you paid up by Friday but ended up "not needing" daycare on Friday and you still have yet to hear from her.


... I'm pretty sure you're both on Santa's naughty list now.

===========================================

**Edit Naughty List**

Two more people to add to the "naughty list"...

- American Eagle... I bought T1 two items online, ON MONDAY, and they just shipped out today!! When I went in to track my items last night, it wouldn't work. So I called. The very snotty customer service girl said that I wouldn't get it by Christmas since I ordered on Monday. Umm, well, with 3-10 day shipping, I was willing to take my chances. I asked her how she KNEW I wasn't going to get my items and she wouldn't answer. I didn't really think that 6 shipping days would be such a problem.

Today I called back to try and get more information... today I was told that it just shipped out today. WHAT!?! Umm, I placed this order on MONDAY, today is SATURDAY... what's the problem. But then... the nicer customer service girl said it was shipped FedEx and I should have it by Monday.

So, either the girl from last night knew how ticked I was, or figured out that they OOOPS! hadn't placed the order I had placed on Monday and sent it out with "2 day" shipping, or American Eagle just doesn't care about Christmas wishes coming true. I haven't figured it out, but I'm not holding my breath that it will make it by Christmas, which means that tonight and tomorrow I have to go back out and try to find two more items to take these items' place.

- Proactiv... who LIED and said I would only be charge $19.95 per month. I checked my online checking account today and noticed a charge for $45.85. Nice. I called, they said they were giving me the bi-monthly ordering with "bigger bottles" and blah blah blah... I said "Please UNenroll me!" Why do companies do that? If I wanted that, I would have ordered that. T1 isn't using it anyway, so now I'll have a two month supply of Proactiv with "bigger bottles"!! Anyone need any Proactiv?

A Couple O' Vents and Some Cute Fall Pics

First let me say that some people really crack me up. Or rather surprise me at the fact that they seem to think they're celebrities and can just do whatever they please. I have a daycare parent right now who really doesn't know just how close she is to being told she needs to find someone else! I mean, when you ask someone to do something for you (at their time and expense) and they do... and then you can't hold up to your end of the bargain and end up being 45 minutes late to get your child when the child wasn't even suppose to be in daycare that day in the first place, but you were nice and made a "deal" THINKING the other person would actually follow through for once in their life... you get a little irritated when for the 37th time, you get screwed!

You want to know what else is irritating... Walmart. I've had not 1, but 2 bad experiences there this week!! Over charged and crappy produce! Sorry Jer, the truth must be told. lol

Something else that irritates me... my bank! At my bank, the tellers like to talk. And when I say talk, I don't mean to the customers that sit there for hours waiting to be waited on... oh no, I mean they like to talk to EACH OTHER! Today was no exception. I think I waited in the drive thru for about 5 or 6 minutes before another teller who was actually helping a customer motioned to the other two tellers (who were obviously in deep gossipy conversation) that HELLO, there's someone in the drive thru and she's been there awhile now! So the girl comes over and says in a voice that tells me she's trying to get the "apology" out, "Hi, sorry". To which I don't respond, because why should I? Then, because I don't respond and I guess because they really do like to talk, she says "How are you?" Ugh! Can't you just take my deposit? Guess not. So I bark back "fine!" and that's it. I'm not going to be all fake nice like it wasn't ok that she's wasted my time for 27 minutes. So she takes the money. Well, the woman she was talking to was the bank manager and when she went back to her area, I knew she said something about me. So that lady, who is standing on the other side of the counter, where the customers stand... she takes the envelope and proceeds to walk it outside to my car and apologize. I'm just sitting there like "Seriously, you people are only making it worse!" So she hands me the money and "apologizes" and I really can't be all nice and giddy because I'm NOT! THEN.... THEN... she tells me that they were talking about a customer. Like that was suppose to make it ok because they were talking about a customer. Hmmm, I didn't see that customer there, so I would think that any smart person would stop talking about the customer that clearly wasn't there and perhaps go over the the customer that WAS there. Ridiculous! And the thing is, this is not the first time that this has happened. They do this all the time! If I had more energy and patience I'd switch banks on Monday. But I'm too lazy. All that changing of debit cards and ordering new checks is too much to think about. However, next time I'm left waiting for 67 minutes... I'm honking my horn! That should get their attention. OH, and they didn't even offer me a sucker! As if.

And yes, if your wondering, I do realize that I didn't have a Christlike attitude and I am sorry that I didn't. But in my defense, just giving a snotty "fine" back was truly progress for me!! I think there should be an exception for lousy customer service though. Can anyone find scripture to cover that?

Anyhoo, on to my cute fall pics - because we all need to smile and if you can't smile while looking at these, then we need to get you into Operation Smile and bump you up to the top of the list! Enjoy.