Sick Of Myself.

It's been one of those days.

I am trying real hard to not get sick, but I have been achy all over with a scratchy throat and eyes and a few sneezes thrown in and been miserably cold all day.

Not bad enough to stay in bed all day, but bad enough where the smallest thing makes me aggravated and grouchy. And I certainly have been. It's been one of those days when I can say something, not meaning it to be taken in a bad way, but that's how it comes out of my mouth.
And I have gotten my feelings hurt over the smallest things as well.
I absolutely hate myself on these days.
I'm miserable and I make everyone around me miserable, too and I'm sick to death of acting like this and ending up apologizing to everyone every time I do it. I'm a grown-up and I should think before I act, no matter how crappy I feel. And the more I talk- the more offensive (and defensive) I become.

And so, once again, I'm apologizing.
Maybe tomorrow will be a better day and I won't let the little things make me crazy, but today I'm so sick of myself being such a whiny ass witch that I'm going back to bed.

Stupidest, Most Useless Thing Ever!!!

Couture Lollipops with faux jewel encrusted sticks........ cost 22-25 dollars. EACH.

In THIS economy?
Are you EFFING JOKING?
WTH?

Pound Cake...Lemon Buttermilk.

That's what my husband made for me last night. I kept telling him he ought to go bake me a cake and, to my surprise, he agreed. So I found the recipe and he went into the kitchen and had a go. His first time making either a box OR "from scratch" cake.

And Guess what?

It.
Was.
Awesome. !!!!

It was awesome when it came out of the oven, but after it sat overnight and cooled- it was even "More Awesomer".
The texture was smooth and velvety and it was as light as a feather altho it had the perfect density that a pound cake is supposed to have. I'm proud to say I couldn't have done a better job myself. Heck- it was so perfect there was no need whatsoever for a glaze on top and I usually think the glaze is what makes the cake perfect!

And to prove my point.....I have eaten about a third of it. I had to slice the rest of it and put it in the freezer before I ended up eating it ALL today!

I just want him to know that now that I know for a fact he can bake this well...I WILL be expecting a cake for my birthday!!!
....for the rest of my life!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~*Does a Happy Dance*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not So Much, After All.......

Yeah, well......my new purse....not so "just right" after all.

I LOVE all the separate compartments, That IS just right....but I thought it would be big enough to hold all my other stuff, but it's just a BIT too small. As in.... I have to suck in MY tummy to get the purse zipped. And then it's still a BIG question of whether it will stay zipped or burst open.

I'm not buying another til I find one that's JUST RIGHT!! Good thing the last one was only 10 bucks. Always nice to have another purse tho.

Thought about just continuing to use the computer case as my carry-all, but I don't want to take the chance of getting fired because someone sees the case and reports that I'm bringing the computer to work after the policy change. In our neck of the woods, it's never a case of "Innocent til proven Guilty"...it's "Guilty unless you have ABSOLUTE, INDISPUTABLE evidence that you ARE Innocent".

No one ever said Life is Fair.
Sad, huh?

Just Some Stuff.....

Well, I bought my new purse today. It's just big enough to fit my day-planner,a nice paperback, my meds,a hairbrush, my make-up and wallet in it. It also has seperate compartments on the front for my keys and cellphone and a pen and notepad which I constantly need to have at my fingertips.

Tomorrow is Paul's birthday so I'm planning to take him out for a nice steak dinner to celebrate before I go in to work.
IF I go in to work, that is. I have a migraine again...or to be closer to the truth, I STILL have it. so I may have to call off if it gets worse. I may end up going to the doctors and get an injection for this one...I've had it constantly for more than 10 days now and it just fades a bit and then comes back strong again. Just trying to go about my normal day is becoming a trial. I wish I knew what triggered it. I used to think it was stress- but things have been going so smoothly since Christmas and this one started DAYS ago when everything was going so smoothly....so that can't be it. Ah well, I've had them since I was 10 so I should be used to them by now.....at least they seem to have become less frequent in the past few months.


I'm also very impressed with my hubby. He decided to quit smoking- and just DID it! It's been a year and a half now and he hasn't started back! And now, he has decided to get back in tip-top shape so he's been watching what he eats, and most impressively, he gets up, eats a breakfast, takes his meds, and then goes for a mile and a half walk every day. Rain or shine, cold or warm, he goes for the walk. If we lived where there was sidewalks, I'd go with him on my days off, but I can't deal with the trail he walks, huge chunks of gravel that would have me turning my ankles in a heartbeat. I know- I actually went with him once last week and had to look directly at the ground the whole way, made my head hurt even worse to have it at that odd angle for that amount of time.
But KUDOs to my hubby for doing it! He's already lost a few pounds as well!!

I'm doing all my walking at work. I walk about two and a half miles at work just doing my regular tours around the facility with a lot of stopping and starting checking doors and lights and such. I've started training for my annual endurance test coming up in a couple months, as well. We have to be able to go up 7 flights of stairs in 90 seconds or less for that. So I'm going up the stairs as far as I can go every night I work. I'm also walking an extra 1-2 miles non-stop on my breaks and lunch or in between tours of the facility. I'm bound and determined to get rid of this excess weight this year as well. So far I've dropped a few pounds as well! I still have my days when I eat something that's not so good for my weight loss, but if I do, it's usually just a small something....altho I have had a night or two that I wayyyyy overindulged. But I'm limiting those times as well. It's not an ALL the TIME thing!!

Fingers crossed, I'll still be plugging away at it and almost to my goal by the end of the year holidays!!! Still got a ways to go on that one tho.

Little Boys.....

This evening Kathy and CJ came to visit. He wasn't at all afraid of Paul this time!! He laughed at him and chattered like a magpie and is actually talking now. I got in the floor and tickled him and we played with the toys in the toy basket a while and had a load of fun.
I gave him a chocolate cookie when they first came in, his mom doesn't buy him sweets much because he gets REALLY active when he eats sugar. He is so sweet- he asks for a paper towel, I gave him a Kleenex, and he wiped the chocolate off his mouth and then turned and gave it to his mom and said, "Here you are." as he handed it to her. is that not just ADORABLE?????
Anyway, So long after he finished eating it- about halfway through the visit- he asked where his cookie was, and I told him he ate it and Nana would send another one home with him to eat later. Well, we visited some more and played some more, and then before we knew it- it was time for him to go home and get his bath and get some sleep before pre-school tomorrow. I carried him up to the car so I could get in a few extra minutes of hugs and kisses and tickles, and halfway there, CJ stopped and looked and me and asked "Mmmm's cookie?"
So I laughed and told him I'd go get his cookie while his mama was buckling him in his seat.
Halfway back UP to the car with the cookies, Kathy met me and said..."We're gonna look like we're doing a drug deal, but I don't want him to see the cookies now or he'll throw a tantrum all the way home!!" So she stuck them in her jacket and hid'em til tomorrow for him after school.

LOL- I understand COMPLETELY!!!!!!

I love my grands. And my kids!!! All of them!!!

"End of An Era" or "I Get To Go Shopping!!!!!!"

Well, the powers that be at my job site have declared no more Personal Electronic Devices are allowed for the Officers there. Except for a cell phone which I don't own anyway.

I'm not terribly bothered, to be honest. I only went online occasionally on my breaks for dinner anyway- or to check to make sure my Direct Deposit went in the bank like it was supposed to before I filled up my car on the way home from work, because on the Wednesday nights/Thursday Mornings I work I'm usually red-lining on the fuel gauge on the way TO work, let alone on the way home!

I mostly used the case as a carry-all for my meds, and make-up, and girlie stuff, and my appointment books, and my paperbacks and wallet and such. And since I can't bring the computer case to work with me anymore- guess what this means??????

Yep- I get to go shopping to buy me a brand new purse/tote big enough to carry all that other stuff back and forth to work!

Yay Me!!!!!!!

Photoshop.....First Try

For years I've tried to get my darling hubby to sit down and give me a tutorial on PhotoShop.
And for years he's claimed that the best way to learn it is to sit down and figure it out by just playing around with it.

Now, we don't have many photos of just me and my kids when they were little. The only professional one I do have has their "SpermDonor" (their adult chosen name for him) in it with us. On Clay's memorial site, Julie had posted that photo of us- but together one night, they had ripped the top of the photograph off, effectively- albeit crudely- decapitating their SD, altho his body remained in the picture. They want nor have nothing to do with him except for the occasional accidental meeting around town and I certainly don't have anything to do with him. We were actually surprised he showed up for Clay's Funeral, to be honest....sad isn't it?

Well, anyway,I have looked and looked and we have no other photos of us as a family when they were small...none...just a few snapshots from Christmases and Birthdays Past.

So I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try and figure out PhotoShop.
So it took me almost two hours of trial and error to do it, and it's not perfect by any means of the imagination, but I got it cropped and "the dumbass" edited out of that precious photograph.
Is it wrong that I wanted him edited out of it so I could have my babies all to myself without him mucking up my memory of that day?

I don't think it is.

And I think I did a pretty good job of it for my first try if I say so myself!!!

Design on a Dime....(Well, Actually For Five Bucks.)

So I've had this headache for several days now. The first couple days it was a dull throb- then advanced to night before last when it was bad enough for me to throw up- and today it's eased off a bit so it's just a dull throb again.
I suppose it's an improvement.

So since I can sit up without feeling like my heads going to explode, I have been sitting here catching up on my e-mails and such. Paul's playing his new game........Resident Evil 5....... so I opened up my design program he installed for me a couple years ago and have been playing around on it a bit. The pics here are actual 3-D renderings of our kitchen from the program!

I love that thing. I can indulge my love of home design without the strain, stress and annoyance of having to move everything around until it's perfect. I can use preset plans, or I can design my own from scratch. I have space plans, floor plans, and 3-D views. I can add as I see fit, delete as I see fit, change colors, stains, fabrics, wallpapers and all manner of materials for literally millions of choices and options.
It keeps me entertained for HOURS! Well, as long as I remember to save every 15 minutes. Otherwise, the program turns itself off and I lose EVERYTHING I've done for that entire plan.
It's the one flaw in an otherwise perfect program.

It's how I decided to change the color of our kitchen to Carolina Blue.
Although I wanted to change the color of the kitchen up a bit, I couldn't decide what color palate I wanted to change it to. So after debating and debating, I went and looked at and chose a few paint chip samples at the local Home Improvement Center and brought them home. Then I turned on the design program, quickly keyed in the kitchen layout I had done almost immediately after getting the program, and then started matching up the paint samples to the colors in the program, and voila...... the perfect color combinations for our kitchen. I got to see it just perfectly with the 3-D walk thru option!!!
I just need to finish painting the walls and then paint the table and chairs and re-upholster the seats and re-floor the kitchen and put down new tile. That is IF we don't move soon.

I love my hubby for getting that for me. Best thing about it- it only cost 5 bucks at our local Electronics store!!
How awesome is THAT, I ask you?!!?!!?!!

It's raining here, it's chilly, but we're having a casual weekend.
Can't ask for much more than that, can you?

Starving....

After all this cold weather- I'm thinking some comfort food today for dinner. I'm down 9+ pounds, so I think I can have a "Sunday Dinner" meal as long as I don't go over on the portions.

We're having.....

Pork Roast w/ Spicy Rub
Roast Potatoes
Beans
Biscuits

No dessert.

YUM!!
I can hardly wait.

An Hour And A Half Later......

God- Just shoot me.......


Okay, if you haven't read it yet- take a minute and go read THIS first on Paul's blog.......I'll wait.


Back already? Wow- you must speed read!

Anyway, so Yeah....a mere hour and a half later and I'm sitting here on the sofa wrapped up in our trusty blanket. Yeah, blanket. Not the SNUGGIE we JUST went out and bought.

"Why?" you may be asking.......Well, I'll tell you exactly why.

First of all, it's EXTREMELY thin cheap quality "fleece". It's more like nylon fleece to be honest. You move just a tiny bit and you can hear the static electricity crackling. Now, call me a Wuss, but getting a static shock every time I touch something after wearing/while wearing the SNUGGIE just doesn't do it for me in any way, shape or form.

Second of all, it's way too long. It's a full two or three inches LONGER than Paul's, who is a full 7 or 8 inches taller than I am. Great if you are lying on the couch and don't have to ever get up and do anything else all day, but if you're a normal person who is usually multi-tasking all day and up and down alot.......not so much.

Third.....Now, while the sleeves are very convenient for reaching for the remote or reading a book- (and that's a STRETCH even) -the sleeves are also about 6-8 inches too long. Trying to drink a drink- the sleeves fall over it and you have to hold it back with your other hand while you take a sip. Same thing with eating anything with it on . As I said- even reading a book would be tricky because the sleeves would fall well over the pages.

Fourth, the back is totally open. I don't know about y'all, but if the back of my neck and my shoulders are exposed to the cold, I'm miserable and just cannot get warm. With some people it's the backs of their arms, or their hands or butt, or their ears... but I'm a neck and shoulder kinda girl. It could easily be improved by having a strip of Velcro on the back so you could actually use the excess cloth at the back of the neck to close it up a bit.

And last- but certainly not least........as Paul said ....I think my IQ dropped about 20 points just putting the thing on.

Pfffffttttttt....
Like I need THAT!!

So, in conclusion, my personal opinion of the Snuggie is.........don't bother. You can get a nice quality fleece throw for the same or LESS money and be more comfortable.

Oh........And no- I'm not really surprised it was crap- but I was being an optimist.

(BTW- the "TWIN DRAFT GUARD" works just fine....unless you have carpet.
What can I say....we went White Trash crazy today.....)

Change Of Heart

It seems with the change of weather here to below freezing temps with rain, sleet and snow, my hubby is now re-thinking how stupid an idea the Snuggie is.

(No that is NOT my hubby- he's MUCH better looking and sexier than this random guy!)

New Years Curse-Be Gone!!!!!

Calling all my Mountain Witch loved ones.
Spells needed for Anti-New Years Curse. All my friends are sick with one thing or the other, autos are needing repairs and water-pipes are bursting. Someone has cursed the New Year and it's in dire need of some Majikal help from us.
Tonight-Midnight.

(Just so you all know- my hubby is double-triple awesome for braving the cold wet elements to fix our burst pipes without a word of complaint...oh wait- never mind- now he's sitting here reminding me how he did all that AND almost cut his hand off in the process....all with his "Die-uh-Beat-us".) *sigh*.....Oh my head hurts......Bleh.
;-)

*sigh*....in a good way........

We had an awesome New Year day. First we woke up and went to buy Paul some more tea bags and a jar of curry so he could make Turkey Curry with the leftover turkey from our Christmas Dinner we postponed until Monday because I had to work on Christmas Day night. We also had planned to go to market for groceries, but the local ALDI was closed yesterday so we ended up just getting some bread and chicken and milk and eggs and cheese and calling it a wrap.
After that got put away we...okay, *I*.... decided we wanted to go for a nice long ride. So we headed in the general direction of Charleston. We knew our finances wouldn't allow an overnight trip but we just headed that way for the ride.
A good few miles down the road- I saw a sign for Columbia and told Paul that someday I wanted to go to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia again. He asked "Why not now?", and since the only reason I could come up with was that they might not be open on New Year Day, we decided to give it a try.
Luckily, they were open, so we spent a lovely two and a half hours walking hand in hand around the zoo, looking at all the animals and reptiles and fish. Riverbank Zoo makes our local city zoo look like an ant next to an elephant. They also always decorate the entire zoo with lights for Christmas and we were lucky that they stay decorated until the third of January.
So, we finally left when they closed the zoo at five PM and headed back home. Once back home Paul made his lovely turkey curry which I had to give up eating after only a few minutes because it was too spicy for my stupid ulcer-riddled tummy. (Paul hates it when I refer to my stomach as my *tummy*.....I have no idea why.) What I did get to eat was YUMMY, but I think I prefer the KORMA Curry he made last time. As long as it's heated. He gave me a tiny taste of it straight from the jar before it was heated and when I tasted it I, unfortunately, told him it tasted a bit like throw-up, which he will never let me forget.............however, once heated with the meat in it, it was really quite nice!!
Then we sat here and watched a bit of TV before turning in early last night. It really was a great start to the new year!!

This morning between Paul jiggling me every time I started snoring(so HE says....I personally don't believe a word of it)....and Logan crawling UNDER the blanket to keep warm and purring so loudly he kept waking me up....and Lucy(who I want to re-name Tinkerbell) jumping on the bed and her bell on her collar tinkling and waking me up, I was awoken so often I got really annoyed and finally got up and came into the living-room and began de-Christmas-ing everything. I'm almost finished with the living-room and have to do the kitchen which will take all of 15 minutes tops.

Ugh- the new kitten, Lucy, still has a cold. And keeps spraying-sneezing everywhere, especially when she's curled up on our chest or shoulder. It's a good thing humans can't "catch" a cold from our feline friends.

Also, now that Logan has decided he is going to "allow" her to stay, he has also decided he is going to try to hump her every chance he gets.
Both of them are vying for attention from us, so it's basically a comedy of epic proportions every waking minute.

On the upside- better this than having to worry about walking into a room to find two dead cats and blood spattered all over the walls, floor and ceiling from the fight before they killed each other.

Yay us.
:-)

Dare I?????

Dare I make any New Year's Resolutions?

I hardly ever do- and usually end up not reaching the few goals I do resolve to attain. I usually figure- what's the point- I'll just end up feeling like a failure if I don't make my goals.
But this year maybe I'll take a page from a Fellow Blogger and make a LOT of resolutions so I have a better chance of actually making it to goal with at least ONE of them!!

That being said...here goes............

1)First and foremost, FINALLY lose this excess freakin' weight!! 26 years is way too long to still claim it's "Baby Fat" I still haven't lost, don't ya think?

2)Buy a piece of property and move into our own place and quit wasting money on rent..

3)Go on an overnight trip to Charleston. I love that place and miss going there. Even tho I'm definitely NOT a Beach Bunny, I think a trip to that lovely city won't hurt every 5 years. Charleston isn't exactly a beach town, anyway!!

4)Figure out a way to shape my eyebrows while wearing glasses. I can't figure it out because my glasses get in the way with them on- and with them off I'm blind as a bat up close- and I don't want to pay 15 dollars to have them waxed and shaped every month.

5)De-Clutter my house. Really.

6)Get everything done/bought/paid on time. That would take a miracle, tho.

7)Have at least ONE romantic candlelight dinner with my husband.

8)Buy a new bed.

9)Be able to keep my car neat and tidy.

10)Ditto on my Kitchen.

11)Plant a vegetable garden and have it flourish. Unfortunately, this will probably never EVER happen in my lifetime. I did NOT inherit my family's Green Thumb.

12)Find a fool-proof way to pick WINNING lottery numbers. There has to be a system or a method to the madness and I want to be the one to figure it out. Just ONCE!

13)Read 10 books that aren't trashy romance novels. Once you've read five hundred-which is about how many I own- you've read them all anyway. There's only so many ways a pirate/cowboy/knight/bandit/Scottish lord can ravish a girl without it becoming ho-hum.

14)Pay off most of my debt........ I'm working on that one.

15)Finally find make-up that doesn't a)break me out....b)look like an oil slick landed on my face after 30 minutes.....c)make me look like Ronald MacDonald is my beauty consultant. Something with light coverage and natural would be nice.

16)Finally get my nails to grow out past my fingertips.

17)Buy a pair of sneakers that not only LOOK great- but are comfortable as well.

18)FINALLY be able to wear my boots again. I have 4 pair I bought 4 years ago and still can't get on because...(see #1 above).

19)Buy a pool so I can learn to swim properly. (Maybe that property I want to buy will have one on it already- a two-fer!!)

20)Save some money.

Now that wasn't too hard to come up with. Let's see how many I can actually knock out in the coming year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

May 2010 bring us ALL much Happiness, Health, and Wealth!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!!!!!!!