Feel Like Complaining

It was a weird day. It didn't start that way but it most certainly was. I was excited to have coffee with a friend. I've written about her before on my '365 days' blog. She's known hubby for quite awhile through his driving job and also more recently as a client of his. She came for a reading quite some time ago and is now coming every 2-3 weeks for ongoing mentoring sessions. I can't say she's a happy person and she freely talks about her depression and years of therapy. I can kind of relate so I think that's why we hit it off, or so I thought. During our visit she just had a strange vibe to her. We were just talking about things in general and she said she didn't think she'd ever be happy. She says she's spent a lot of money and time with therapy and still doesn't feel like she's getting anywhere. Then she started talking about hubby and some things about her sessions that she doesn't like and some things he says bothers her b...

....being a parent of a Senior in High School. When our daughter was born a little over 17 years ago we didn't even think about college. Let us enjoy this time, that's a long way off. Even as she went from Grade School to Jr. High, we said 'Oh, we have lots of time to ponder that'. As a Freshman in high school, thinking about college, choosing a career, and the financing of it all still seemed far off. But as we are realizing now, we wish we had really started planning then. We foolishly thought that a guidance counselor would walk us through the steps but how can they? One counselor has almost 400 students to take care of, our daughter has not even met hers this year. I guess if you're not a troubled kid, you never even get close. As soon as she started school this fall I started doing research on filling out the FAFSA (financial aid application), and you know how it is when you look one thing up; 100 more like-minded topics show up. I was getting inundated with ...

Since I schedule my posts so far out in advance, this is old news but still I'm sure other bad news has taken its place. There are so many horrible things that have been happening in town and I realize it's not just here, but where you live too. I'm not sure why the citizens of our fair city are so shocked by what is going on. I think it's that we still think of ourselves as a small town; we certainly are in our thinking. Gangs, graffiti, armed robbery, home burglary, shootings, and stabbings fill the evening news and Facebook news channel feeds. At the time of this writing, we had about a 4 day streak of stabbings. It's so hard to keep up, it makes us numb and one story blends into the other and you find yourself thinking "Wait, is this a new one or the one from the other day?" Needing money to fill their drug habits, homes and businesses are robbed and people are shot and stabbed over the drugs they want or didn't get. I don't care if the d...

I've been blogging for a little over 4 years now. I have also gathered some followers along the way. Some have come and gone, some are still with me, but most of them have never said 'Boo!' I've looked at some of their profiles, some are new bloggers, some are not. Some have even stopped blogging with posts clearly a few years old. And quite a few are from foreign countries and I can't understand what they write. They haven't said 'Boo!' either, in whatever language they speak. I've never really been into the whole stats thing, it could tend to make you crazy if you started following them and where your readers are coming from. Recently I saw I had several traffic sources from a site I wasn't familiar with so I clicked on it. It was a porn site! Huh? How in the heck does that work? It surely isn't a place I've been to so how can they be referring to me? See, all that can drive you crazy real quick. But what really baffles me is if I...

We have been filing our taxes electronically through TurboTax for several years now. We also file Idaho State returns because the company my husband works for is based there. Filed at the same time, both returns are accepted almost the same time. This year our Federal was accepted on Feb. 5th and State on the 6th. Within a respectable amount of time (nine days), we got our Federal refund. And just yesterday we finally got Idaho State to cough up a whopping $106.00; taking almost 10 weeks. It has never taken that long before. While checking the status online, the web page will tell you that you can expect your refund in 3-4 weeks if you e-file and 10 weeks if you paper file. Then when you input your information to check further it says 7-8 weeks. Last week I checked again and it said that our return had been finished on 3-29-12 and we could expect our refund in 3 weeks. Huh? It took 7 weeks just to be processed? And just a few days ago it said that it is scheduled to b...

My husband's ex-wife lives in as assisted living facility because she can't really take care of herself fully. She's been there about 2 months and has staff come in to do laundry and probably help with bathing also. My step-son came over a week or so ago to take our daughter to a movie and relayed this hilarious but scary story. The day before he had just gotten to work and the facility called him and asked if he was sitting down. He was kind of annoyed that they would bother him at work and thought it was kind of a stupid question. The woman on the phone said that she was very sorry to tell him but his mother had passed away earlier that morning, they just found her in bed with the T.V. on. Of course he started crying immediately and they asked if he wanted them to call his brother in California. He said yes, and proceeded to text his girlfriend to tell her the bad news. They also asked what kind of preparations he had made and who should they call? He had no idea of w...

Just a sentence or two. What in the Hell is Blogger doing now? All blogs look like shit and what is this Feedburner Crap. You have to click on the title of the blog to get to what they should really look like. I wish they would stop screwing around with things. Grrrrrrr. ***2 minutes later, things are back to normal. But it happened I tell ya, it happened. Carry on.

Usually it's the little kids that keep you laughing all day at their antics. Well my daughter, at age 16 still cracks me up with her oddities. She is very finicky about what she eats. She doesn't like most meat which makes it a challenge to get protein in her. Cheese is good, cottage cheese is not. No canned soup because the meat is fake (her thinking). Absolutely no cooked vegetables, but raw is OK, some of them anyway. Any hamburger cooked in a recipe must be very small, no big chunks. Mashed potatoes? Never in a million years. Tuna (or any fish)? She's NEVER tried it, nor does she want to. There are hundreds of foods she has never tried but knows she doesn't like them. I  just don't understand that kind of thinking. She just informed me this week that milk does not go with sandwiches. Huh? I still portion her food out like a toddler, because she doesn't eat much. At five feet tall she barely weighs 105. Foods must not touch on her plate and she usually do...

Alright, I think it's time to tell you all what's going on with the kid's boyfriend. It's been 9 months, and they're still in love although they haven't seen each other in 3 years. They were texting heavily for the past year until his mom put a stop to it. One night he sent her a picture of him without a shirt. To me, it was really no big deal, my daughter showed it to me. But his mom went balistic. She then texted my daughter and said that he was grounded for a month (after just getting off being grounded for a week). That grounding was because of the kinds of things he was saying; such as 'I Love You'. She told my daughter that they are too young to be in a relationship and they should be concentrating on God and although my daughter may not like her decision, she had to respect it and ended it by saying "Have a Blessed evening". Huh? He's not allowed to date until he's 18, that's a little over a year away. I don't even c...

Bill wrote a post recently and mentioned the term "here's the skinny" and how it came about. My husband has his own language when he describes things. Some are real, some made up. Laugh along with me as I give you his phrases and the definition. Chesterfield--couch. Push ana Pull--the act of vacuuming. The left hand don't know what the right hand's doing--to describe his bosses, or anybody in authority. Set a spell--go to the bathroom. Wanna take a rassle?--When his kids were little this is how he would ask if they wanted to wrestle. I don't know what in the Hell's going on--When he has an ache or pain of any kind even if it's been going on for years, he will have the same comment when he feels it. Plum or Plumb, not really sure--He uses this word for only two phrases; to say "I'm plum full or I plum forgot." I'm fixin' to...-- Anytime he is going to DO something, he says "I'm fixin' to go to the sto...

Last year my step-son, his wife and their 5 month old son came from California for Christmas. It was the first time we got to see our Grandson. After they returned home she emailed me and said they would probably not be up this year because it was stressful to visit all family members in the time allotted. We live here as well as hubby's ex. Her parents live about 100 miles away which means more travel time in more than likely bad weather. They usually stay with an Aunt of hers in town, but is still clear across town. I understood but she sounded downright angry that they had to take their entire Christmas vacation to come up here to see us. And by us, I believe that meant 'us' and not her folks. Recently my husband asked him if they were coming for Christmas, figuring he would say no; but he said yes. But last week we got this email: Hello, It looks like traveling to Washington at Christmas time is going to be too expensive. We are now planning on traveling from Dec 10...

A couple of weeks ago I woke up with a stomach ache of some sort. I just took some Pepto and seemed to be better by evening. By the next day though I felt some fluttering and discomfort in my bladder and the following day the pain was more intense and into my back too. Now, what would one think under those circumstances? Bladder infection? Me too. By the Monday before Thanksgiving, I was in agony but sucked it up and went to work, while taking loads of Advil. That just happened to be the day I saved the life of the woman I work for so I guess it was a good thing I went. OK, maybe I didn't actually save her life, but it did involve a 911 call and a night in the hospital. Tuesday wasn't so bad but Wednesday was worse than any other day. I made some frantic calls that morning to my clinic and made arrangements to stop in to do the obligatory 'pee in a cup' thing for testing. I went to work and had planned to stay for the whole day but told her I had to leave early for...

I thought y'all would be interested in some of the fascinating conversations my husband and I have and maybe you will understand my ongoing frustration. This started yesterday when I looked out at the thermometer outside. It was reading 4 degrees lower than what the weatherman on TV said. The temperature is important to me because I won't take Nellie out for a walk if it's below 20 degrees. So if it's reading 18, I don't go. Just a weird little thing about me, I don't like my face to freeze off and I don't wear hats because it messes up my hair. Anyway.....I made the mistake of mentioning this to my husband. He said our thermometer was right because the station was located in a warmer area. What the Hell does that mean, it's like 10 blocks away. I suggested that he take another thermometer outside and leave it overnight and we'd compare the two. This morning, the present one reads 18 and the TV said 20. He goes out to look at the cheap plastic ki...

When we went on vacation I had our mail held as usual, with them to deliver on a specific date upon our return. That day I saw the mailman coming up the walk so I went out to meet him, only because he was carrying a lot and I knew it wouldn't all fit in our slot. He introduced himself as our new carrier and said we would now be getting our mail in the morning instead of the afternoon. Then he proceeded to tell me that if I came out to meet him again, to make sure that the inside door was closed so my dog wouldn't break down the screen door to attack him. Huh? Sure she barks but has never been really interested in the carriers that much to run through a screen door to eat them. A few days ago he delivered as usual but included mail from a few blocks away. This happens occasionally and if it's close by, like a neighbor I just take it over. But this was several blocks away plus in the mail were cards that were not supposed to be delivered. They were complaint cards meant o...

In no way am I making light of the tragedy yesterday and today in Japan and the approaching tsunami's on Hawaii and the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. I've been kind of tense myself all day waiting to hear about my older brother and his wife who were on vacation in Honolulu. They already had plans to fly home tonight so they are safe and will be on their way home soon. But when I went to check on an elderly friend, I really had to chuckle at her thinking process. Of course the first thing we start talking about, is what is all over the news. She said she had some things in her walker basket that she grabbed in case they had to evacuate. Huh? I looked in the basket and saw two rolls of toilet paper, one box of Kleenex, her walkman radio and a pair of socks. Huh? Also in her room was a set of warm clothes that she got out of the closet just in case she had to stand outside. Why? We live about 30 miles from the Idaho/Washington border. So my thinking is that...

serves them right for eating something so gross in the first place These two idiots in California are suing the Seafood Peddler restaurant in San Rafael over an alleged incident of "exploding" escargot. Chadwick St.-OHarra and Steve Righetti were celebrating Righetti's birthday at the restaurant and they both ordered the escargot. As they dove into the little devils with their cocktail forks the snails squirt out hot garlic butter on both of their faces and polo shirts. St-OHarra cried that butter got into one of his tear ducts causing 'temporary vision impairment' and said he was genuinely outraged about the incident. Maybe he should have sued his mother for naming him Chadwick, a name like that is just asking for trouble. And have you ever been outside when a tiny little bug flies into your eye. It hurts like Hell, but you don't see me suing God do you? Like God should have warned me that little bugs can be hazardous to my eyes, causing 'tempora...

Husbands. They are very similar to children. You just can't leave them alone for long. This is going to be a good one, I guarantee. My daughter used to volunteer at the local animal shelter. Although she only went once a week, and then cut back to every other week, she volunteered for four years. She only worked with the kitties because she was under 16 and would have had to have either me or her dad with her in order to volunteer. But the woman that worked with the kitties took her under her wing and as long as she was there our daughter didn't have to have one of her parents along. But with a bigger homework load and I suppose burnout she wanted to give it up. We hadn't been there in awhile and they were having a big book sale last Sunday so we decided to go visit and buy some books. I stayed in the car while my husband and daughter went in because the books were in a big barn on the property. I love kitties, too much, and it's too hard for me to go look at them. ...

The fruit loops are out in full force. An attorney who was in town to put his hat in the Congressional race to run against our current Republican, was assaulted in a downtown parking lot. When the cops came he told them that he had asked the man (who body slammed and threw him to the ground) if he wanted to perform a sex act on him. He deserved to be body slammed. He was quite puzzled regarding the man's reaction. "I don't understand, I asked him nicely," he told police. He was interviewed on the news and told the reporter that he couldn't comment on advice of counsel, and then told the whole story. "The gentleman sort of made it look like he would go along with that sort of plan," he said. "What's done between two adults is a private act that's not anyone's business." Well yea, that's true, but No means No, even in a McDonald's parking lot. This guy has had brushes with the law before. He was once accused of forci...

Summertime is the time for swimming, ice-cream, and camping. It is also the time for road construction. I don't know about where you live, but here in our city it seems like every main thoroughfare is going through some type of fixin' up. We live on a busy one way street and the neighbors behind us live on the opposite one way street. A few years ago we went through a total  tear down and rebuild of both of those streets, not just a simple repaving. It was a pain but worth the inconvenience now that we have a nice smooth road to drive on. Traffic from another nearby street in repair is being diverted to our street now.  There is so much more traffic and it's getting hard to get across; either while walking or driving. Yesterday when my husband and I were on the way to the store we had quite a wait before we could get across. He said "Those Alberta people are so rude. They come over here and drive too fast and won't let me cross when I'm trying to walk the...

My older brother and his wife recently went to San Francisco where he took this picture of a 'for rent' sign. Two bedroom, one bath--$2,495.00 PLUS another $150.00 for parking. That's 4x our house payment for a month. Just another good reason to stay away from California.