This is what a Christmas tree looks like when you have left it up until, oh I don't know, THE END OF JANUARY hehehe
As you can see, we FINALLY took our tree down. Before you pass judgment, remember that this has been a sick house for many weeks, so no energy to do anything like get rid of the Christmas things. It was interesting to say the least, I packed away the ornaments and Roomie got the ornaments and lights off the tree. I was told that next year I would take the lights off the tree, which is only fair as I put them on and get somewhat anal about the placement of them, wending them throughout the branches. It makes for some pretty lights, but it doesn't make it easy to take them down! Many scratches and sap covered feet later, finally the tree looked like that, pretty sorry looking! Most of the needles were on the floor! We went one step further though, we organized and cleaned up the whole living room, which took some doing as all we have been able to manage up to now is a little light cleaning. It looks great! Today I tackle the Kitchen, and then the rest of the house is just light picking up. I hate it when the house gets away from you, but there are times in life that the energy is not there. Below, you'll see how Psykit "helped", she had to make sure that everything was put back as it should be on the mantle. Thank god for the kitty inspection, without her we might not have gotten things right on the mantle! We were pretty amazed that she actually was able to jump up there! So as you can see, we didn't have the most exciting Sunday, but it sure was a busy one.




When you've cleaned the mantle and put back the pictures, of course Psykit would want to jump to the top of the mantle and check it out! 


I got home from work tonight and surfed through my bloglist, reading and catching up an all you talented people. I got to roomies blog and read how she got her work ID back. She's sitting on the couch and I tell her how cool it is that someone sent it back to her, and them found myself opening her comments to comment on her blog as to how I think it's so cool she got her work ID back.
I need help.
Lots of it hehehe!




Little snow bunnies

We had more snow, which Princess and Little Man were so thrilled about. The snow came up to Little Man's waist in some places, pretty cute! Yesterday at work,One of my clients and I were talking. He's dating another one of my clients, as a matter of fact he became a client because of his girlfriend. He and I started talking about the future, as they will get married someday. He was saying that her earning potential with the career path she had taken was about 50 thousand, and his was probably about 70. He hoped this was enough to get the house they wanted and to raise their kids without struggling as both their parents had to. Usually, I listen to the two of them and think how mature they are, but when they say things like that I truly see how young they are. I looked at him and said "since when is 50 thousand a terrible thing to make?" He said it isn't, but that it may not be enough for children.
Well, they both would be working, and even if she decided to stay home, they could do it by living frugally. I started to think how people view the world and children. It doesn't matter to the child how much their parents make, as long as they know they are loved. True as they get older they may feel slighted if they don't have what the other kids have, but knowing teenagers you could give them everything in the world and they would still find something wrong with what you do, say think, buy or don't buy. That is the nature of teenagers folks. These two don't seem to realize that they don't need the best house or the best car, they just need to keep loving each other and their future kids, do the best they can and plan for the future, but not stress about it. I asked them if they loved their parents and that even without a lot of money if the felt they had been raised well, both of them said yes. Isn't that what having kids is all about?
I would love to have a house, a nice car, and live in the best neighborhood. But I'm proud of what I have achieved and am going to achieve, and I may never have those things, but I have Princess and that is more than enough blessings in this life.



I don't do politics, especially in my blog. This doesn't mean that I have no strong beliefs or know what's going on, I simply know that my political view may not be yours. That said, I can't stay silent when it comes to social security reform. If you don't agree with me, that's alright, this is my blog and my views, you are welcome to express your views on your blog.
Social Security right now pays about $14,000 a year, which works out to be about 40% of an average workers pre retirement wages. Some people live on nothing but that. Right now, social security has taken in more taxes than it has paid out benefits, which in a perfect world would mean that even without anyone putting anymore money into Social Security, there would be enough money until about 2040 something. Social Security has invested the excess in government bonds and the like. Sounds good right? Here's the problem. The government has borrowed against Social Security for tax breaks, the war, and other such things. Which means that when Social Security goes to cash in the bonds it has, the government will at that time have to do some drastic measures to pay it back.
Our President, thinks it wise to privatize Social Security, leaving it in the hands of the common man to look out for their future. This sounds good on the surface, can anyone else see the problem here? Most of us don't know how to invest that money. A lot of us wouldn't, and those of us who do would probably lose a great deal, think of 401K's. This means that instead of coming up with that money that the government "borrowed" from Social Security in the future, it would in essence have to come up with that money now. Which would mean tax hikes and/or benefit reductions for the average man. Our President says no to tax hikes, after all why not give us the bread and circuses now, and let us pretend that we won't have to pay for the ticket. And also the benefit reduction, which he is not against. His family has more money than god, what's a few benefit reductions to him.
Either way you slice it, we the future retirees, will be the ones that suffer. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that the presidents plan has many short comings, kind of like his thinking when getting us into this war. Give now, don't think of tomorrow, do now, there are no consequences to action, that seems to be the way that Bush does things, and his cabinet of yes men seem to follow right behind him.
I fear for our future. I fear for my rights as a woman. I fear for the rights of my child. I don't feel safer, I don't feel more secure, and I don't see the benefit of giving me a tax rebate now when I have no idea if I have any money coming to me when I am old.





Here is our house the day it snowed...And snowed...And snowed!

Below are pics of my weekend. I spent most of it sleeping, seemed to be the thing to do when you don't feel good! Thank goodness for Oliquig, she really helped me out! The snow was beautiful, we went out when it started on Saturday, then again when it was still snowing on Sunday! This was by far the most snow we got all year, and Princess loved it! We found out all too soon that it wasn't the best snow for sledding, however we still gave it a try! We couldn't stay out too long, as I was still sick and it was way windy, blizzard like conditions, so even Princess didn't want to stay out long. All in all it was a wonderful quite lovely snowy weekend, made all the more special by Princess!




Here is Princess enjoying the snow and running through our Christmas candycanes...yes yes they are still up hehehe!




snow angel




Our yard during the heaviest snowfall.




sledding with a mouth full of snow.




What does psykit do when its cold and snowy? Why sit on the top of the guinee pig cage of course! 


I have been sick. For about 4 weeks now, cough cough cough until I want to scream. Except if I scream, I cough, see the dilemma? Finally I dragged myself to the doctor. Seems I have pneumonia. Okay, the doctor is 90% sure I have pneumonia, can't be totally sure without a chest xray, and that's expensive and I don't have insurance. I think I'm the only person who has a doctor who plays the percentages. 90% is pretty darn sure, so she put me on antibiotics, an inhaler, and a cough suppressant for night which will put me to sleep alright...Haven't taken that yet. Here's the thing, I thought you were supposed to be so sick with pneumonia that you couldn't move, and yet I have been working and doing things all this time. Okay so I am run down and tired, and missed Tuesday because I couldn't drag myself off the couch, but really, other than the coughing and the backache and the hard lump on my left side and the tiredness I feel fine. Hmmm....Upon reading that last statement I guess I could perhaps be sicker than I thought. Oh well, never having had pneumonia before, how was I to know. I now have to sleep with my upper half propped up, it seems that lying down flat is the worst thing you can do with pneumonia. I hope the medicine and all the rest work, because I am so tired of being sick. Here's to better days...And nights!!

PS: I apologise for not truly commenting on all the blogs, I usually comment on, but the tiredness sets in pretty damn quick.



Well, after a sleepless night, I decided to talk to my landlords and get a timeline, turns out there isn't one. They were just thinking of selling, nothing is definite yet, and they promised to let us know well in advance if it ever becomes definite.
This started me thinking of how I deal with things, I tend to obsess. No really, I do! (hush Oliquig hehehe) Things happen, and I tend to let my mind go off on tangents and what ifs. This has been my way of dealing with things for as long as I can remember. First grade, I was so sure I would hate my teacher. Why? Because I loved my kindergarten teacher and I just knew that I couldn't love another teacher again. I had these whole visions in my head of how awful she would be. You know what? She was wonderful. Different than my kindergarten teacher, but wonderful just the same. My first zit? You don't want to know how I obsessed on that one!!! Suffice it to say it had to do with utter despair and knowing that I would never have a boyfriend. I did have a boyfriend, he had more zits than me! The funny thing is, my obsessing has never solved anything. It just gives me sleepless nights and acid reflux! So, finally I have a New Years resolution. I will stop obsessing. When I start, I will say to myself "self, you are obsessing stop it!" Now if an argument ensues, better call Sigmund Carl and Alfred and get me commited!!!
When I let things just take their course, it all works out. Now I'm not saying I sit back and do nothing and it works out. Oh no, but when I stop obsessing and start DOING, things just go better. I think I have a highly overworked guardian angel that sits on my shoulder wiping its brow after pulling me yet again from the fire!
So, stop obsessing. I can do it. Yep. No problem here. Now what to do if I start obsessing about obsessing......



Most of the weekend was wonderful, minus the poisoning of the niece. There was one thing yesterday that I have been dwelling on since it happened. My landlord called and said there was a possibility that they were going to sell this house. It weighed on my mind all day in little snippets, then last night the worries started as I tried to sleep. I love this house. I love the yard, the street, the neighborhood. I love the fact that Princess loves this house. I came here when Princess was 9 months old. It was the start of a new life for me, and it has been wonderful! Now I'm not saying that moving would change everything, but there are things that need to be considered. I have two cats, so I have to find a place that accepts pets, because they are part of my family and there is no way I am giving them up! I need a neighborhood that is affordable and nice enough for Princess to play in. I have to somehow tell her that we need to move, but we don't need to do that yet until the landlord gives us the final word. Oliquig will still be my roomie, and thank goodness for that as we get along so well and Princess loves her with all her heart. It's hard to think of leaving when you truly like where you are. I would love to stay in the town I'm in, but frankly it's kind of expensive around here. I can't buy because of things in my credit past. This is the hardest part of renting. You get to love a place then find out you have to leave. Even harder when you have kids. I have no idea where we will go. I think I'm in for some sleepless nights here folks. My heart is heavy, and my mind is blank. I know that I'll find a place, I know that it'll still be a home because that which makes up a home is not the actual house. But damn I love this place! And the thought of leaving is more than I can take right now. So....I'll start to look, because I need to know what's out there. I'll start to plan, because I have responsibilities other than to myself. I'll start to pack, because I hate to have that all to do at the last minute. And when the landlord gives me the word, hopefully I'll be ready. At least physically, because emotionally and mentally I don't think I 'll ever be ready. Oh well, that which does not destroy us makes us stronger.



Well finally, all of Princesses birthday parties are over. The last one was this weekend. There's a place here in town called Kidcity, great place for kids to play and have birthday parties. My sister in law and three kids came down for it as they were off from school today. The party was a hit, everyone had a good time, Princess got more good loot! After the party we all headed back to our place and then we planned on going to dinner. That is when I poisoned my niece! Lest you think me mad or evil, this was NOT done on purpose. You see, she and my younger nephew wanted to have applejuice, and I, being the good Auntie that I am, promptly poured them glasses. My niece chugged, nephew hands the glass to his mom and says "this tastes funny". I tasted it, and sure enough, WOW was it bad!!!!! Niece drank most of it, then complained about her stomach hurting all night long (they slept over too). Now sister in law and I didn't think much of it, she was tired after having been busy even before they came down here, and she's a girl/dramatic. Everything was fine last night. Today we went to see Racing Stripes (which by the way was awesome!) and again niece complained about her tummy. After the movie, we got up, and that was it folks! She threw up all over the movie theater! Poor kid was so sick, and I am to blame! Yes, I poisoned my niece!! I am going to Auntie hell! I felt so bad, perhaps not as bad as she did though! Finally she was a bit better, we came home, and they left....with lots of bags for the car. Sister in law and I joked about how we always seem to have something to talk about when we get together, and we have decided to have less interesting times in the future! So how was YOUR weekend????



I had a best friend growing up, she was one of 6 kids, and was raised by a divorced mother. Seems her father decided he didn't want to raise 6 kids, should have thought of that before you fathered them. However this post is not about the stupidity of middle aged men as that would take way too much time to write about. No, this post is about some of the wonderful stories that came out of that house, and how much love was there despite the father.
She was 4th in the line of kids, and had two younger brothers. One of which didn't speak for a very long time. They took him to doctors to see if there was a problem, and the doctors really didn't know what to say. He seemed normal in all the tests, he just wouldn't speak. So they took him home and hoped for the best.
One day they were getting ready to do something as a family, and time seemed to run away from them. The mother was frazzled, and fed her kids in a hurry. There was little Gregory sitting in his booster seat looking at his toast, he being the one who didn't talk. All of a sudden, he says "There's no butter on my toast". The whole kitchen stood still, they were stunned!!! A full complete sentence from a child who had said nothing up to that point! "Gregory!" his mother cried out "You can talk! Why haven't you talked before?"
He said, "There always butter on my toast before." He grew up with a genius IQ! So mothers, don't despair if your child seems a bit slower to do things, you may be the mother of a genius!



When you have a nasty lousy lung hurling cough, and you have medicine that actually alleviates some of the worst symptoms, and when you take the time to pack it up so you can take it to work because you will be working late, it might be a good idea to actually remember to bring the dang medicine instead of coughing so hard it now feels like I have pulled a muscle! I'm just saying that it might be a good idea sheesh.



You know that song by U2 Vertigo? The first line in that song is "uno, dos, tres, catorce", never made sense to me. I found out what it means. No Bono did not forget how to count in Spanish. The producer of that CD produced his first, second, and now his 14th album. Now you know. I got it from a source at work. She better be right hehehe.



I have been coughing so hard that my whole body aches. I was getting to the point where I thought I might need to see a doctor. I asked Oliquig's opinion, she asked me if I was taking anything. I said yes, Advil cold and sinus. She looked at me strangely and said "you need to take an expectorant, your cough is your bodies way of trying to get rid of the gunk in your chest. That stuff won't do it." I knew that. Sheesh. Ever have those moments where you slap your forehead and go "duh"? I amaze myself sometimes with stupidity!



That was a line on the commercial for CSI NY tonight, and after hearing it, I am definitely the hydrant today. Nothing terrible happened, just a series of things that tended to make this day less than wonderful. Ready for some whining? Good! Those of you who don't want to hear whining, move along and find a less whiny blog to read right now :-)

I woke up this morning to my poor roomie with the stomach flu in the bathroom, she must have woken up Princess and I heard Princess run into the living room and yell "I'm in here Mom". I felt so sorry for Oliquig, I don't tend to get the stomach flu, but the few times I have gotten it, I felt like dying! Her blog is malfunctioning right now, but she assures me it will be up and running soon. When it is, please go over and give her a hug, and wish her well!

Last night was less than perfect. For a while now, Princess had been doing the "I have to go potty" thing, often and loudly right when she has to go to bed. Now, if she had a problem all day, I would most certainly take her to the doctor, but she can hold it during the day, but at night she has to let out the tiniest piddle or she'll burst sheesh! Because of this, she lost TV privileges for most of the day, I caved towards the end. That brings us to today again.

I have the worlds worst cough and feel like $hit. I would have liked nothing better than to sit on the couch and cough up a lung or two while my daughter turned into zombie child while watching TV. Now before you all get in a huff...No I do not routinely let her rot her brains, but today would have been nice. Careful how you punish, you might end up punishing yourself! Instead, I cleaned the guinee pig cage and totally rearranged Princess' bedroom, then took out the mountain o' garbage we had on our back porch. You see, if I put it out before garbage day, the myriad wild animals in our neighborhood tend to think it's a feast and I wake up to garbage strewn all over the yard.

My ribs hurt, my chest hurts, my throat hurts, in general, I hurt, all from coughing. I want my mommy!!!

Okay, I'm done with the whining. The good side of today, the guinee pig cage is clean, Princesses room looks awesome, roomie only got sick this morning so it looks like a 24 hour thing instead of longer, and Princess and I went for a walk which was nice. So now, I go to sit on that couch I wanted to sit on all day, and cough up that lung or two! I'm done now :-)



I have an addiction. I don't like to talk about it much, I feel so alone about it. This thing that I'm addicted to can make me talk to myself, and I take such pleasure in blowing things up. I have been known to cackle in glee when things blow up. I'm addicted to Bejeweled 2. There! I said it, I feel so much better. I keep telling myself hey, I can give it up anytime I want to, I just don't want to right now. I keep saying just one more game and I'll quit, and yet, I go back, again and again and again. When will I learn, you can never play just one more game!!! Going back there now....the addiction is calling me....can't....stand...the...pressure.....I'm outta here....got to blow things up!!!!



There's a new show I really like, Medium. I watched it on Monday, and correct me if I'm wrong, but they said there would be a new show tonight of it. Wrong, it was the same one from Monday. On the good side, I didn't have to miss Without a Trace, it was a good episode. It was about a young highschool girl who goes missing, she has plans to go to Harvard and it turns out she's pregnant and doesn't know what to do. This made me think of Princess and how I wouldn't be pleased if she got pregnant early, but I would deal with it. No matter what, she's my daughter and I love her. I'd support her any time, any way, any day. This in turn brought to mind an article I read in Parents magazine a while back. I can't get it out of my mind. It haunts me at night when we all sit there and think of the what ifs. A mother was getting ready to go somewhere, I'm not clear after all this time as to where, and her very young daughter wanted to listen to her favorite cd in the mini-van. So while getting things ready, she let her daughter stay in the van and listen to it. She then went inside to get more things ready, looking out her window to make sure her daughter was okay. It looked like her daughter was looking out the window at a squirrel, then the mother realized she hadn't moved. She ran outside, and saw her daughter dead, she had strangled herself with the automatic window. I cried so hard reading that. Imagine, thinking your daughter is okay and finding out the worse possible thing! Now before you mothers judge this woman, think of the things you have done, and later thought wow, that wasn't the brightest idea! I have left my daughter in the car sleeping in her car seat while I ran into the house to put away groceries. Anyone could have taken her, or she could have squirmed around and gotten hurt. Since that article, I have never done anything like that again. The mother has now become an advocate for power window safety. She says she does this so that no other parent ever has to feel the way she does, and to make cars safer. I think she also does this to stay sane. I know I wouldn't be able to stay sane if anything happened to my daughter, and I'm not too sure I would be strong enough to channel my grief into something positive like that mother did. So parents, hug your children keep them safe, and don't judge them too harshly. Remember how much you love them, especially during those times they drive you crazy. I'm hoping that writing about this, the fear that I keep reliving in my mind for something that has never happened to me will go away now that I have written about it. Somehow, I don't think it will, with time I'm sure it'll go away, but for now, I just remember to love my daughter, and hope I never have to feel like that woman feels.



I usually don't blog about tv shows, but really, Lost is awesome!! When I found out that Kate had been part of a bank heist and was actually its mastermind, I thought wow, she is a bad guy! But then she broke down and said she killed the man she loved, so now I'm not too sure if she is a good girl who got into bad things, or if she is a bad girl with feelings. Anyone have a theory? My only criticism of the show is when it's on, as that is the time I usually get Princess to bed!Now I can't get the song "Somewhere beyond the sea" out of my mind, more annoying when it's stuck in my head in French!
Also, what a great De-Lurking day! I think that this day, January 5th, should be the official annual D-Lurking day from now on, so mark your calenders, let's get Hallmark involved in this too. Now I'm gonna try to be an even better blog host and answer all you nice non-lurkers in email :-)





After reading roomies blog, I decided to join de-lurking day. Please notice the punch and pie in the corner, and the balloons, as this is a festive day! Please leave a comment, and I promise to do the same when I visit your blog. And take a balloon on your way out heehee!



Princess was in fine form tonight when I picked her up from daycare. This was our conversation:

Princess: "I kissed Christopher today."
Me: "Did you?"
Princess: "Yeah. He say he not my friend anymore."
Me: (trying not to laugh) "Well honey, he may be a little bit young to appreciate a girls kiss."
Princess: "Next time I just hug him."

In the next breath she told me she was going to marry her best friend Emily. I love the innocence of children!



To those of you who are on my blog roll, no I didn't delete all of you, at least not on purpose. You see, I tried to add new names to it, and they weren't appearing. I must have done something wrong, like perhaps start a new blog roll, of course I'm not too sure how I did that. Then Oliquig tried to help me by getting rid of the old blog roll and re-coding in the new one, and you can see what happened lol! She says she is gonna email Ro and see if she can help. Ro if you read this...Help! Also, somehow I have two site meters, I only need one...Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice.....blogging LOL. All will be well shortly :-)



To anonymous who left the comment on my last post, I may be fat, but I am not mean. Nor do I hide by being anonymous. Obviously you are a coward with nothing better to do in life but to make sure you try (the key word being try) to make others as miserable as you. Well, I will take being fat over being mean and cowardly anyday. You notice I not only left your comment up for all the world to see, but I also answered you out in the open for all the world to see. My life is rather nice, I don't think you can say the same. Anyone else want to comment????



I think that quiche and homefries are the worlds most perfect food mmmmmmmm.



Well it's over. We had the two parties, and we survived woohoo!!! The house isn't even a big mess, just a little one which I will take care of tomorrow. The new years eve party was fun, and we actually did make it to midnight! Even Princess did, which was amazing. Little Man from upstairs did not. Which was funny, because his parents don't really have a bed time for him, he goes to bed whenever, like 10 or so. He's only 19 months old! Princess on the other hand, is usually asleep by 8 or 8:30, so for her to make it and Little Man not too, wow! However, wake up on Saturday was rough, Princess still woke up around her usual time, and was quite cranky! She did however take a 2 hour nap at 9:30 which Oliquig and I were truly thankful for! She gave the word whine new meaning. Then....we cleaned up, went shopping, and got ready for party number two. Ok, if we ever plan something like this again, shoot us. Two big parties in one weekend is too much! We opened Christmas presents with friends this morning, and then had a yummy brunch which everyone brought something to. We had Oliquig's mom's delicious egg casserole, bagels and lox, homemade home fries, pancakes, bacon, quiche, and toast. Yummy!!!! Princess was so excited because she got to open Christmas presents in the morning, then birthday presents in the afternoon, a kids dream!! The theme of the day for her was spiderman. I know, she's a girl, so what, she loves spiderman and it makes her happy :-) There was some whining between present openings, and she hardly ate anything. I think she was too excited having all her favortie people over and presents all in one day! It was kiddie overload! After present opening number two, we sang happy birthday to her and had a piece of her Scooby Doo cake. Spiderman was all sold out you see. Now, roll me to the bedroom....I can't move teehee!!!
I must say that the holidays are even better with Princess, she is the light of my life and makes everything better. It amazes me how much I love her!!! Tomorrow after cleaning, I get ready to send out invitations to her kids birthday party, which will be the 16th. No one can say she is cheated having a birthday the day after Christmas :-) So everyone, have a happy spiderman day :-)



Not to meme, but here are a few things I learned this year:

Just because you feel strongly about a candidate for election doesn't mean that he will win.

Just because you despise a candidate will not keep him out of the White House.

Children will always surprise, captivate, and frustrate you. That's what they are there for.

Just when you think it can't possible get worse, it does.

Just when you think it can't possibly get better, it does.

Your capacity to love your child (children) just gets deeper and deeper.

When you think that the stupidity of mankind is just astronomical, you in turn will do the stupidest thing imagineable. This keeps you humble.

Cats never change, but at the same time they keep you fascinated.

Guinee Pigs gets more annoying with the passage of time.

And finally, whatever line in Target you get into, it will turn out to be the slowest line on the face of the earth.

Happy New Year everyone :-)

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