:-)

"Happiness is mine" sayeth the Sun.

Ever have one of those days when you just feel like crap?

Having one today. All this stuff going on in my life is driving me absolutely nuts. Seriously.

I like my new job, but there are days when I just don't wanna go in. I sleep about four hours and then get up and take care of housework and run errands....whatever needs doing. I also worry about what is going to screw up next with all the paperwork that Paulius and I am going thru right now. Then I have to take an hours or so nap before I go back to work at night.

Usually we have company when it's time for me to nap before work. And sometimes, like last night, it really gets to me that while everyone else is in here visiting and having a grand time in each others company- I can't be with them because I have to get sleep so I won't doze off while I'm at work. I can't afford to lose my job. And then I get to get up and go off to work and everyone is still here visiting and still having a good time.

It just doesn't seem fair. And when it really gets to me- I go off the deep end.
I apologize for that. I just wish they would realize that it really hurts my feelings that they don't have a tiny bit more consideration and empathy for me.
I wish I could go to bed late and the get up late and be able to sit with them and have a good time. But I can't.

I made a promise to my husband that he wouldn't want for a thing and I would take care of everything until his paperwork got straightened out and he was able to work. And I meant it. Paulius means more to me than anything in this world and that will never change.
I just wish there were a few more hours in the day so we could spend time doing things we WANT to do instead of things that have to be done.

I just keep telling myself that soon everything will be straightened out with his paperwork- and my family will at some point become somewhat normal again, and everything will be fine again and we won't have to stress so much.

I'lll try not to go off the deep end again.

Guilt Trips

It's one of my pet peeves.

Why can't a person just ask for what they want rather than beating around the bush about it?

I need to know exactly what you need from me and I need to know when you need it.

I have so much to do and it drives me crazy to have someone make me feel guilty because I am not giving them the attention that they want when they won't tell me that they want it or need it.

Sometimes I get wrapped up and focused on my agenda and everything else just kind of fades into the background until I'm finished. If you need me before that time you literally have to turn me towards you and say so.

Is it a form of Adult ADD?

Maybe. But don't guilt trip me if you haven't asked for what you need.


And Nope- It's NOT Paulius I am talking about.

End Of Rant

We Have Needs

Pete posted this on his Blog and I tried it. It seems Paulius and myself have a lot of needs.

Some of my favorites are...

Sunny Needs-
*A distraction from self pity....(uh- okay. I really wasn't aware of this but if they say so!)
*Volunteers....(For what are they volunteering?)
*To be placed in a home with kids over the age of 12....(Why age 12? I can't be trusted with kids under 12?)
*A new crate for work....(a crate? For law enforcement? Not in my WILDEST DREAMS!)
*A business Manager....(Oh so now I can't be trusted with money OR children under the age of 12??)
*A nice warm spot by the window to watch the sun....(Sure- look directly at the sun and burn the retinas of my eyes.)


Paulius Needs-
*Specs....(meaning eyeglasses or was there supposed to be a manual with his specifications included?- If the latter, I really could use that and how do I get a replacement manual?)
*1000GBP....(I'll go for that! Cash is always a good thing!)
*Advice....(Which I TRY to give him but he usually ignores)
*A haircut....(no- he DOESN'T- why would they think thator more importantly- HOW would they know that?!)
*Space....(I don't THINK so- he has his own closet)
*Education....(He has quite enough, thank you, and if he decides to go for a masters or a doctorate it will be HIS decision, not theirs...whoever "They" are)

I just googled our names and needs after it....it really was funny some things that came up!!

What did we ever do before the net came about???!!!

Taking the JOY out of Christmas.

Yesterday I had a really great day.

I got up and started to clean the kitchen from the night before- I just hadn't had the energy nor the desire, truth be told, to do it after eating. Some days you just cant be bothered. Right?

Anyway, I was running a sink of water and went over to the radio to see if I could tune in something peppy to help things along, and as I was turning the dial, lo and behold I heard a snatch of Michael Bolton singing what I would have sworn was "I'll Be Bome for Christmas".

I stopped dead in my tracks and returned to it after a nano-seconds hesitation.

It was indeed exactly who and what I thought and I was absolutely delighted! Then another Christmas selection came on after it- and another and another after that one. The two easy listening stations in the area are now playing Christmas tunes all weekend until Thanksgiving Day and then it will be all holiday tunes-all the time.

I got my dishes done quickly and then it got me in gear to go ahead and dig all my Christmas decorations out of the hallway where everything we have packed for our move is stacked up. And that reminded me we didn't have a Christmas wreath because the Grapevine wreath I made about 6 years ago and didn't shelack finally disintergrated this summer in the hundred degree weather, which we have been having all six summers. So then I got out all my decorations and somewhere I had read about someone making a holiday wreath from a small sized hula-hoop and I had one just sitting there, not being used because I bought one last year and swore I was going to learn to hula-hoop again because since I had kids I cant hula hoop for more than one swoop, and decided to try to make one(Wreath) with what I had.

So I did.

I just wrapped the white flower garland from our wedding around it and taped it in place. Then filled in with a green pine garland from leftover Christmas decorations I had and secured it in place. Then I secured some artificial English Ivy along the bottom. A nice bit of it to fill the bottom out nicely and then I finished it off by adding a thin ribbon of red curly foil garland spiraled from where the ivy ends on one side up and over the top and down the other side to where the ivy begins on the other side.

It was very nice for something started from an unused Hoola-Hoop and leftover decorations and it looks perfect on our front door which is painted red.

Anyway- I hung it up for the day to decide if I really liked it or if it was just the novelty- and to get my kids reaction to it.

My daughters fiancee, Mike, looked out the window of their house and asked her to "Please tell me that's not a CHRISTMAS wreath your mom has hung on her front door".

Julie just laughed and said "Yep- probally is. She starts getting things out about this time every year."
She didn't even come look. She KNOWS me.

But this retail holiday thing is getting WAY out of hand.
Retailers are ruining it for us. Even Hardcore Christmasers like me.


I'm sorry, but starting to see Christmas advertising just after the 4th of July is really starting to piss me off. I don't wanna see that stuff that early! Sure I start my Christmas shopping about that time of year- but it stays put away until after just after Thanksgiving when it goes under the tree.
I think there should be a law that says Christmas retailing absolutely, positively CANNOT and or WILL NOT be started until the day after Thanksgiving. AND Christmas decorations cannot be put up in retail stores until the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving.

I have to start getting my things out three weeks before Thanksgiving to get everything sorted in relation to what theme I am planning on doing. (Someday, when we get a proper house of our own- I will have enough space to have it all sorted into seperate boxes and labeled so I wont have to go thru this process. But for now it's how I have to do it.) Then the weekend before Thanksgiving I put up my tree if it's an artificial one and have JUST the lights on it. It's Thanksgiving tradition to decorate the tree on Thanksgiving night- altho for the past couple of Christmases due to schedules with kids having the other side of the family to visit, Paulius and/or I have decorated it except for the kids "Special" ornament, which they always put on themselves.
Yes- I stole that tradition from the Horton Family on Days Of Our Lives but I knew that was how I wanted my holiday party to be with all the family there and happy and having a GRAND time, and if seeing them put their "Special"ornament on the tree makes me happy , so what? DOOL should be thrilled I DID steal the idea from them.

Anyway- that's just how I feel about it.
And it really makes me mad that anything about Christmas- my favorite holiday of the year- is being done this way.

Altho I have to admit that retailers aren't singling out Christmas as being special by early marketing. They are doing it with all the major money-making holidays.

But I don't want them to take the Joy out of MY Christmas.
They can just stop it right now.
I'm writing my Congressman.



***(Sorry about the run-on sentences and the rambling paragraphs and such. I just needed to write the way I was thinking today and that's how it came out. Come think of it- that's how I talk too. Read this non-stop as fast as you can without stopping to take a breath until you absolutely run out of breath and that's exactly how I talk. Have pity on Paulius, it's no wonder I drive him nuts!)***

Short & Sweet

One Word.

FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!


One LAST word.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

The End Of The World.....sob.......

as we know it.

I received some terrible news yesterday. It seems that the McRib is on it's Farewell Tour this season.

For some unexplained reason, McDonald's has decided that they will take the McRib off the menu. Forever. This will be the last season they will have them.

Now, Paulius said not to worry- It's just a marketing ploy. They are going to toot it as the Farewell Tour, everyone is going to buy gobs and gobs of them and moan and complain and write nasty letters to the headquarters, and then after a year or so- McDonalds will have a Nostalgia Tour- returning them for a limited time only. Then because they are so popular- they will put them back on the menu as a seasonal thing again.

I hope to goodness he is right.
It is always the cue for us that the holidays are here.

The first McRib I ever ate was in October 1989 at the McDonald's on Woodruff Road. I was working Security at the Greenville Mall and they had the Monster Mansion set up for Halloween. It was chilly weather- almost downright cold- and on my lunch break I saw the McRib ad on the window of McDs and decided to try one.

I got one with a large order of fries and a Chocolate milkshake- and it was love at first bite!!!

Every year since it has become a family thing to go out and get a McRib dinner as soon as they come out in October.
My oldest son, Frank, has the same passion for them as I do. The rest of the family like them- but don't anticipate the return nearly as much as we do.

A McRib stands for something. You can enjoy them all month long and it's the signal to us that as soon as Halloween is over, we can start getting out the Holiday decorations. Only three weeks til we have to have all the windows decorated with swags and/or wreaths, the Snow village set up in the place of honor, the front door wreath set in place, and the Christmas Tree set up for decorating on Thanksgiving Evening.(Artificial trees only- real trees must wait til after the 10th of December.)
We send someone after a bag of McRibs while we are decorating. We send out for a bag of McRibs when we are wrapping gifts. We stop for a McRib meal when we are spending the day shopping for Christmas gifts.

And all too soon, the holidays are over and the McRibs are gone for another year.

Sure, we can go out and buy the stuff and make a similar sandwich at home during the rest of the year- but it's just NOT THE SAME.

Maybe it has to do with the memories we associate with the McRib meal than the actual sandwich itself. All I know is- It just won't be the same without it and if there are ANY McDonalds executives out there in the "blogosphere" who are reading this now, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!!!-(I'm down on my knees as I am sure millions of other McRib Lovers are)-
Re-think this HORRIFIC decision you have made! Don't take this icon of the holiday season away from millions of people who are loyal eaters of this truly wonderful memory-making sandwich!

I hope Paulius is right about the marketing strategy- but just in case he isn't- I'm going out to buy a dozen chest freezers now and as soon as they are installed, for the next month if you need me, you can find me at one of the 10 Million Gazillion McDonalds nationwide.

I'll be stocking up.