cabana boys and tequila oh my

How odd is this?

2007-06-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

I have been a member of classmates.com for forever it seems. No one has ever really contacted me which was no big deal. I wasn't that popular in school and I have only been out of my shell for a few years now. I used to be an extreme introvert ( I know, hard to believe). So, when I got home Friday night and was checking my email, there was one from my best friend in school. We probably haven't seen each other in 15 years. Last time I saw her, she was on her 3 or 4th husband and wasn't someone I really liked. 15 years later and 45 miles from where we grew up, we find out that we live pretty much across a ridge from each other. She hangs out at the VFW which is about 1/4 a mile from my house. She plans on being there tonight and I might just have to go down and see her. Weird, huh?

Maybe I should have stayed in bed

2007-06-06T18:24:00.001-05:00

Great day today. First off, I had to get out of bed early to take Drifter back to his truck which is in the shop. Good news - it is fixed and for less than we were afraid of.

I step out of my bedroom door and.... the kitties have torn open a bag of litter ( not my cats mind you, they were in my room with me all night) and scattered it all over the carpet. Of course, as long as there was litter on the floor, might as well use it. Thanks kitties. I was not my quietest this morning while cleaning it up. A vacuum at 5:15 in the morning has a way of letting everyone know you are not happy.
So, off I go to take Drifter to the truck. No one was there yet but he stayed anyway since someone would be there soon. I even found gas for 2.86 a gal - 12 cents less than near my house - so I filled up.

Off to work, arriving only 45 minutes late which had already been approved. No one is in the office. SHIT! The boss called a meeting for 8:30 and I wasn't there in time. Just as I was about to head into her office, the door opens up and everyone comes out. Someone got canned this morning ( he was a lazy, bitching person) and his wife works there. She had a look like she could bite the head off of puppies for fun. This also means that his work had to be split up. I got half, another girl got half. I have managed to get all but one of the accounts he had in the past 45 days.
Oh, and they unofficially announced that I will be going permanent in a week or so as soon as the paperwork is approved.

OMG have I been bad

2007-06-02T07:47:00.001-05:00

I have a few excuses ( most of them lame) as to why I haven't been blogging.
1. My computer. It is a POS and I need a new one but it is not on the list of priorities right now. When it messes up, we have 4 people sharing one computer.
2. The kids. I felt like I spent most of my blogs bitching about them. Yes, they are still here ( 2 months past the time they were told they HAD to be out). They were going to be moving to an apt ( one of the more expensive places in town) next weekend but he had to spend 500 bucks to get her out of jail last Friday night on some hot check charges from 2001. How stupid can you be to be on the roads at 10 pm on the first night of a holiday weekend? Ya think they weren't looking for drunks? More on that story later.
3. Work. My hours are different now and I get to spend more time with Richard since I now get home an hour earlier. I also have to leave 2 1/2 hours earlier. Love the new job too. It gets stressful but what doesn't? I have been working through a temp agency but I fully expect to go permanent sometime in the next couple of weeks. My boss had to have shoulder reconstructive surgery and just got back yesterday. Let's see how fast she puts the paperwork through on the 2 of us who have been there a little over 4 months and do more work than some of those that have been there years. ( They cannot process 100 invoices a day. My personal best - 308. 5 of us average 200 daily each.)
4. My back carport. We proudly call it redneck heaven. I will try to get a pic of it when I get it a little better. It is a 2 car carport looking out over the back yard and into the woods. We have the old sectional couch that was in the living room (before "new" furniture that I got at an auction), an outside table, chairs, grill, freezer and cable TV. I will have to buy a TV for outside when the kids move cuz ours are too big to carry back and forth. Just turn on the ceiling fans and curl up with a book.

That's all for now. Let's see if anyone actually checks to see if I posted again.

I QUIT!

2006-12-17T20:12:00.000-06:00

Finally, I quit my job. I was so nervous that the adrenaline had me shaking. Last night was the boss's wife's birthday party so I decided to be nice and wait until today. Soooooooooooo, I got in my company car and drove it to his house. Remember, this is a 40 minute drive that has me second guessing and worried the whole way. I appeared more upset than he did. Of course, Drifter could not understand why I cried for a minute after I got in the truck with him to come home. Adrenaline baby. My co-worker knew I was planning this and had to call me as soon as she got the news. I had been wondering when she was going to call since it took her 4 hours after I had quit. She grabbed her friend's phone and called so that it would not be obvious from her work phone records that she called me immediately after finding out. I put out a couple of resumes this evening and more will go out as I find decent jobs to apply for. Drifter has already told me to take a month off but I don't know that I can do that. I have to at least look.
Tomorrow I go to the doc with my friend to hear the baby's heartbeat and Tuesday, Drifter's niece in law and I are going to do Christmas goodies. I will find something to keep me busy the rest of the week like scrubbing the floor and filing the tons of stuff I have to do for our business. I don't think I have put hardly anything in our accounting program that makes it so easy to file the taxes at the end of the year.

Finally

2006-12-03T22:40:00.000-06:00

Had a great weekend, sort of. Thursday night we were expecting some snow/sleet/ice in this part of the state. No idea how much but not much was expected. As it was, we got practically nothing. The ground was too warm for what fell to stick but it was pretty. WPOS boy had never seen snow falling from the sky so it was a big deal to him. I had stopped at the store on the way home Thursday night ( yes, I got bread but none of the other "essentials" since I already had those). Work car was running fine when I pulled in. Note - I have been driving a retired police interceptor for the past few months. Trust me, don't try to outrun one since you will not win. Came back out with the groceries and loaded them in the car. It had been raining all day so I was standing ankle deep in cold water with a strong northerly wind and 37 degrees. Why yes, I was a lil cranky. Go to start the car and it won't start. Go check the fuel pump relay switch in the trunk. Nope, it has not been tripped. Hrmm, I know I have fuel. Call the boss - maybe there was water in the fuel and the fuel filter had some in it which froze. Ok, whatever. Go buy 2 bottles of alcohol and put them in the tank and try again. Nope, still won't fire off. Call Jess and ask her to come get me ( they let them off work early because of the impending storm). I have never been so happy to get wet socks off in my life. Drifter went and tried to get it going Friday, boss and mechanic came today and still couldn't get it going. I now have the "stinkin lincoln" town car that handles like a log truck at times.
Let me just add that I am trying to quit this job but we are trying to get some personal stuff out of the office before I quit. I have a very nice Xerox copier and office chair, among other things, out at the office that we haven't used in a couple of months. No one will notice it gone because I am the only one who goes out there. Looks like another week of work for me since it didn't get done this weekend because we were working on the damned car that I won't have when I quit.

Friday - stay at home most of the day except to go try and start the car. I did practically nothing except fix a good meal for dinner. An old friend was in town from Nashville to move his stuff up there and he stayed with us this weekend. I miss him. Oh, and apparently I do good drugs because I was at Wal mart on Friday, Dec 1st at 5pm.

Saturday - got up around 9 am and waited for everyone else to stir. Finally got everyone up and fixed a big brunch. Mmm, they are spoiled. Went out and ran the errands including the liquor store. 1/2 gallon Jim Beam black, 1/2 gallon Evan Williams, 5th of Jaeger, bottle of merlot, 18 pack of Bud Select and 6 pack of Icehouse later, we are headed home. We already had Crown, tequila and few others in the house. Let the games begin! Another friend dropped by as well as Drifter's 2 nephews, one wife and 2 young boys. I think Drifter was still drunk when he got out of bed this morning.

Sunday - spent several hours in a grocery store parking lot only to not be able to fix the car. We had to push it up on a trailer. Mental pic for you - me, Drifter ( 6'4") and boss (6') all pushing the car. I think I had to take 2 steps to their one. Brought my "new" car home and then had to go run errands again which only took about an hour and a half. Got home and fixed dinner AFTER I had done the dishes that apparently are my job on the weekends. I missed this memo. So now everyone else is apparently asleep, including the 5 cats and I am having a little solitude.

It's fixed

2006-11-25T14:04:00.000-06:00

Finally, I got my computer fixed. It was just the power supply but Conway has so few places to actually get one that I had to get one while in Little Rock. Sorry, but when I get off work I am ready to come home.

More later since I need to go start getting ready for the big forum get together tonight.

Surprise!

2006-10-29T19:06:00.000-06:00

I am gonna try to keep the bitching to a minimum today. It was my sister in laws 56th birthday and we have been planning on surprising her for over 2 weeks. We had her coming over for lunch after church today but she thought it would be Drifter and I and her kids. Wrong! We surprised her with the rest of the family too. Her sister, hubby and their 2 kids came as well as their brother's widow and their 2 grown daughters. She was definently surprised. Everyone was sitting out on the back porch where we all tend to sit when the babies are here because we don't smoke in the house with them here. Big no no for us. Anyway, I kept coming in to check on stuff ( riiiiiiiiiight) when I saw the first car. Margaret and her daughters were here. Understand, Margaret lives 3 hours away now in the house her parent's left her. As soon as she could retire, she sold the house she and Norman had built for them and moved back home. Norman is buried up there too. She came through the house and Pam ( gotta know her guys but she is a lot like Munchie in the talking dept) was shocked! Next thing ya know, Ginger and her family are coming in. Big family dinner ( 18 people) and I managed to feed them all well.
Next came the gifts. Another big surprise here. We handed her the small stuff and she opened em all happy that everyone was here and thought of her. One of her boys had gotten her a cordless drill so we gave that to her after the gift bags. Then for the big one. Trust me,at this point in time, I don't think she could have imagined it any better. Well, me in my sneaky way had talked to the kids and we all went in together and bought her a Sunbeam Mixmaster. Understand, this woman LOVES to bake. She cried. She kept saying how this was the best birthday ever. I am still smiling because of all of the joy we brought to her today. This woman does for everyone else and is like Drifter's mother to him. She raised 3 children on her own when she was widowed ( Jess was 12 and the twins were 10). She has taken in foster children. She has never remarried and has no desire to date letting her family be enough for her.

See, no bitching. YAY, I CAN do it!

2 days off, 3 days on

2006-10-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

Actually, only 2 days on so far but I am sure I will work tomorrow. It has rained the past 2 days and doesn't look like it is going to let up until the weekend so I would much rather stay at home and in my sweats. Don't see that happening. Got home last night and Jess was home with a headache. It only seemed to affect her for 30 mins or so then the darvocet kicked in and she could play video games. Drifter spent the night on the truck to get an early start so I slept ten freaking hours.

We have 2 kittens that were born with rib cages that are not curved like they should be and we knew they would not grow to be adults. They are 15 weeks old now and the worse of the 2 is breathing pretty hard. Guess I will have to bite the bullet and have them put down but it kills me to have to put an end to their young lives. They don't appear to be in pain but I am sure that they will get worse and I can't stand to see them suffer.

Oh well, off to work.

Sorry......

2006-10-23T19:20:00.000-05:00

I seem to get to where I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over as nothing interesting seems to happen to me.

Anyway.... Went to Nashville 2 Saturdays ago and had a fairly good time. Hustler has an "adult book store" there that we had to see. Drifter stayed at home and I was at the mercy of the driver. We headed out to a VERY adult club later that night. Downstairs is pretty mild, much like any other club you would go to. Upstairs, however, is a totally different thing. Needless to say, I spent more time downstairs than up. They have private rooms that gawd only knows what is going on in there. The doors are shut and since I didn't feel the need to check if they were unlocked, I can let my imagination go whereever it would like. Not my cup of tea but hey, more power to em.

I am updating my resume and will be sending it out soon. Maybe there is the perfect job out there for me or at least one that is close to home and with regular hours. It would be nice to not have to come home at 7 pm and try to get dinner ready before Drifter has to go to bed. Of course, the days at home have been nice lately.

The kids are still here ( I know, surprising isn't it?). Drifter says I WILL have my house back if they are still here after a year. Man, he is really putting his foot down,huh? He was at home with them for 36 hours while I was in Nashville which helped him get a lil more fed up. Then, I went on strike yesterday for the most part. I did a load of laundry so that his favorite fuzzy pants would be clean for him but that was it. I had cooked dinner Friday night and had to do the dishes before I could cook brunch on Saturday. Everyone else sleeps later than I do so we end up eating around noonish on the weekends. We had some errands to run and a game to go see that afternoon and when we got back - dishes were still there from the morning only now they are "soaking" in cold soapy water. I HATE cold soapy water because it stinks. This is when I decided that I would not do dishes and they could all take care of what to eat. We had plenty of left overs in the fridge so I played bum. Everyone else gets the weekends off, I should at least get one day. WPOS boy got up today and washed all the dishes. Guess since it was Monday, it was back to work for him. No, he doesn't have a job yet, tyvm. Apparently, no one has come and begged him to go to work for them at 20 bucks an hour to play X box.

I worked from home today which means I did 20 mins of actual work and the rest of the time I played online and cleaned my office. There really is a floor in there. Best find of the day - my ankle brace so that I can walk when the weather is cold and/or rainy.

Anywho, I promise to try and be better.

Thank gawd it is over

2006-10-06T08:27:00.000-05:00

Since most of you live outside of this area ( all of you I think), I am sure you have not seen the news coverage from the last week. Tim Wallace was to go on trial Oct 24th for the murder of his ex wife and her male friend. I will never forget the call last year telling me that he had killed her. We had socialized with them along with other couples on several occassions. Nothing could have prepared me for what he did. Brandi had graduated from nursing school and was getting her life together. She and Tim had been divorced for 10 days. Rumor has it that he followed her and Billy around all day that day and then to her house where he killed them both. He left 2 small children parentless as the courts decided the person who took their mother from them did not need to be around them. The prosecutor has decided to go for the death penalty.

Anyway, after 3 pshychiatrist saying he is sane and was at the time of the murders, he saw that he was not going to get away with this crime. Instead, he ran. His mother and step father helped hide him out and get him out of the country. Official word got out on Sept 26th that he was missing. Last night, they captured him in Canada. Mom and step dad are in jail with no bond for trying to help him. Extradition should take 20 - 30 days. I no longer feel like I have to look over my shoulder wondering if he is hiding out there, just waiting to get those of us who had the audacity to not want to have anything to do with him after his actions.

Boy, have I been bad

2006-09-27T19:38:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged. My computer going down didn't help matters at all since we now have 3 people sharing one computer. Work is slow so I have been doing some internet stuff from home which means I get to post online from time to time. Drifter and I both have this damned virus that is going around. He has been sleeping on the truck so he can get a couple more hours a night. We haven't seen each other since Monday morning very early. That is about it for now, I will blog more later.

Not so great escape

2006-08-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

I think I am going to voluteer next year to help these people get vendors. We have like 3 day spas here in town, one was there giving cut rate massages, pedicures, etc. Problem was, you couldn't get in because all their appointments were full. Got my blood sugar and cholestoral checked ( both are way too good for an old fat chic like me) and bought a cookbook for this absolutely wonderful cake recipe. Otherwise, a flop! Where were the people doing facials and face waxing and stuff like that? There were more vendors there for vericose veins than for lingerie. Yep, I am gonna have to help them. No florists or gift shops either. There was a Tupperware, Home Interior and several other home party reps there though.

The Great Escape

2006-08-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

Damn, it is only Wednesday and I am soooooo looking forward to the weekend. Every year, the local women's shelter has a women's day out type thing called the Great Escape. Tickets are 5 bucks each to get in. This will be my first year but , from what I understand, they have all kinds of stuff for women at discount prices. Massages, pedicures, manicures, facials and all that good stuff. They even have seminars and food booths ( probably not as good as carnival food but probably still good). There is even a fashion show. So, 2 of my girlfriends are going to go with me. One is moving to Texas as soon as they sell their house ( hubby got laid off and had to go to Dallas to find one in his field) and the other one is 10 weeks pregnant with her second child( this is the one I told you guys about). Her children are going to be 11 years apart. That should be a big adjustment back to day care and bottles and babysitters.

No, I am not on crack

2006-08-13T18:11:00.000-05:00

But the family sure thought so this morning. I woke up around 6, got dressed and went grocery shopping. This is my favorite time since there are very few people there and the butcher starts reducing meat that is about to be out of date. Apparently, I was the first person there this morning ( they open at 6) so I had the best selection of reduced items. Nothing really good but plenty that will feed us for a couple of weeks. I even got ground beef which I never seem to be early enough for. Come home, unload van and put up groceries. Everyone was still asleep- nothing unusual there. Sooooooooo, I decided to scrub the gawd awful kitchen floor. My original plan had been to ignore it until someone else, namely the person who is at home all day, notices it and does something about it. Wrong answer. No one has touched that floor since I mopped it on the 4th of July before company arrived. I got down on my hands and knees and started scrubbing. Drifter woke up and thought I was crazy. The "kids" woke up and thought I was on drugs ( I had already done half the floor) and the cats were watching me like I had lost it. It is now clean. YAY.

Prayers please

2006-08-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

I found out last night that a dear friend is pregnant again. Her son is 10 and she has suffered 2 miscarriages since having him, both before her 10th week. She is 7 weeks now. Conceiving for them is almost a miracle in the first place due to reproductive problems on both sides, carrying is even harder due to hers. Pray for her and the baby. All anyone cares about is a nice healthy baby this time. Her miscarriages almost killed her emotionally both times and we don't know if she will be able to handle another one since this is her last chance due to a fibroid in her uterus. Sunshine and Munchkin, you have met them - the ones with the red headed boy who were at the wedding.

Work is gonna be crazy for a month or so since school is starting back so I will blog as much as I can, when I can. If anyone has any suggestions for a good book or movie, let me know since I sit a lot waiting to take students back to their cars because of too little parking on campus.

But it's for your own good

2006-07-28T08:24:00.000-05:00

It has been one week since Arkansas started the new "Clean Indoor Air Act". I am so glad to see that they can fine someone up to 1000.00 for smoking in their place of business. The criminal penalties are to be decided sometime next week. Bars are excluding from this ban so there is a place you can go to smoke indoors. Some places have had to make the distinction of either allowing smoking and allowing no one under 21 to work there or in there or to go non-smoking. The restaurant/bar I used to work at has gone so far as to ban smoking by employees while they are on the clock. Gotta love it!

Another thing is the psuedoephedrine tracking. One town has decided to start electronically tracking the purchases by swiping your ID now. We wouldn't want the meth cooks to be able to get enough to continue to cook ya know. While I don't have to use such products on a regular basis, the thought of having to be treated like a criminal in order to get my OTC meds disturbs me. What is next?

The joys of paperwork

2006-07-26T21:16:00.000-05:00

Or should I say dealing with dumbasses who have no clue about paperwork. I am in the middle of an audit at work ( just a few grand at stake, no big deal) that is driving me crazy. The drivers who didn't make sure they signed or dated or any other number of miniscule things that the brilliant minds have decided to use for a reason to not pay. YAY! My job, go back and double check each of the 100+ instances they have chosen and make sure that ALL the ducks are in a row ( did I remember to dot that I?) and send it back to them in order to prove that I did what I said I did. The funniest part of this? It seems they sent me a letter saying I had 15 calender days for the date of the letter to send it back via certified mail. They, however, got the year wrong. Typed plain as day 2005.

OK Manders

2006-07-23T16:48:00.000-05:00

I know, bad cabana. Who is going to punish me? Just got the official word today along with the website
http://www.largeandohsolovely.com/

I am now officially a semi-pro model.My face shot is almost too dark to see but that is OK. I would post the pics from my page on here but he has them under copyright, etc.

Work is feast or famine. I sit one day twiddling my thumbs, the next I am going crazy running in circles. Last week, we had a church youth group going to camp and a group of city people who are learning how to grow stuff in the city. On one such outing, my work cell phone came up "missing". I called and it kept going to voice mail. Oddly, 26 hours after I made my last call, it was being used to call long distance. Uh huh. Turn your back just long enough to run in to use the bathroom ( with one person besides the driver on a bus) and it disappears. The church group had us waiting all day while they went to an amusement park on the same day that the no inside smoking ban took effect. We had to wait for a bar to open up ( smoking is allowed in them) to go inside instead of running the van to stay cool since it was 103 before the heat index. Yeah, this is gonna make people a lot healthier.

Male moocher managed to go fill out 1 application Monday morning. Or should I say he went to the place and inside since I drove him but I can't prove he actually applied for the job. Somehow, they have missed the help wanted sign in front of IHOP for the past 2 weeks even though the letters are at least a foot high each. She is now going to try to go to second shift so she can help him find a job. Honey, if he wanted a job, he would fuggin have one.

The truck required 1000.00 in repairs this week ( hole in the radiator from the fan disintigrating and chunks coming off). Good thing I stocked up on TV dinners at 5 bucks a case a month or so ago. I love the Con Agra store. TV dinners pretty much suck but they make a good, quick lunch or dinner without any fuss. They also keep people who sit around the house all day from eating up everything else.

I'm too old for this shit

2006-07-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

Oh dear gawd, where do I start? We ran away from home all weekend after getting the must have dones done. Got to the hotel around 3, kicked back and relaxed for a few hours before going out to a steak dinner. Yummmmmm. 8 ounce filet mignon cooked just the way I like it. Went back to the room, changed clothes and then walked across the parking lot to the bar where we were having Krystle's party. Drifter stayed behind to finish getting ready ( he is worse than a woman) so I starte drinking crown n coke. We ended up having around 50 people in this bar that should hold no more than that. I actually lost track after crown n coke #2 and cuervo gold shot #8. Let me just tell you this much, I was on the dance floor actually thinking I looked pretty good ( scary thought since I probably looked more like Elaine from Seinfeld). The amazing part? I had no hangover yesterday which made the photo shoot a lil easier to handle. Finally got home around 10:30 and I am still tired today. Hope everyone had a good one too.

Just another blog

2006-07-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry for so long in between blogs but I just couldn't think of anything to say of real relevance. With so many of our friends going through such terrible times, I was feeling petty for my problems. Kid, I am sorry about your grandmother. I know when I lost my grandfather, it was a long drawn out thing and we sat around hoping each breath would be his last so that he would finally have peace. One look at his face and you knew he was in pain no more. I know this comforted me and I am praying it is a comfort to you. Daven, give C a big hug from both of us. If you need anything, let us know because if Drifter isn't in Tulsa within a day or two, someone he knows is.

On a lighter note, we are running away from home today for one night in a hotel. A friend is having a 21st b-day party there tonight so we intend to get drunk and stumble back to our rooms. Why next door? It was a lil over half the price which jumped dramatically 2 days ago. Sunday we have another party for his nephews ( twins) 26th birthday. Home to drop Drifter off and then off to another photo shoot to see if they get something they like better. It's always fun getting 5 or 6 women together running around in their lingerie, fixing each others hair and giving suggestions on what they think would look nice. Let's just hope this one doesn't go on until midnight again.

Everyone have a good weekend and I will try to get back in here a lil more often. Maybe getting drunk tonight will free up part of my brain from whereever it seems to be lately.

Death Wish Boy

2006-06-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

That is the nickname being given to our male moocher around here. A friend gave it to him and it fits quite nicely.
His ignorant ass mistakes this weekend-
1. J got her pics back from the photo shoot the other night and they were excellent. He, ummm, laughed at them and kept pointing out where you could see something ( if you had a really good imagination). This was not the best thing he could have done because it upset her. Our friends were here for the weekend and S ( the wife) made some not so veiled comments about how good her pics were and they were something to be proud of. J is in line to be Ms October. I haven't gotten mine back yet but I am first in line for April ( YAY me!)

2. Making comments about how much money DID she spend on her nephew's birthday present. She responded with a " I am glad that I have a job so I can buy him things". Low blow boys and girls yet highly called for. As long as he is not working, it is none of his fuggin business what she spends HER money on.

Let's all give a special kudos to Uncle Drifter for not smearing DWB into a smudge on the concrete out back after he heard about the making fun of the pics.

Attention all you freaks!

2006-06-21T20:24:00.000-05:00

Ha, caught ya looking.

Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when I did some semi nude modeling for a website. Well, last night I had a photo shoot for a bbw calender that should be coming out toward the end of the year. Let's see if I get any months ( crosses her fingers). This one actually pays approximately 28 cents per calender sold for each month that a pic of me is on. Buy people buy! As for those of you who are shocked ( not that I can do much to shock you guys anymore), let me say that the important parts are covered. You will see nothing that would make this an adult calender. Hell, I don't even think it is gonna be R rated since we don't even show nipple. I may post a pic when I get them in, after the touching up and stuff they have to do. I asked em to trim a couple inches off my thighs but I doubt that happens. The above pic is one from an earlier shoot.

Sad news

2006-06-15T20:02:00.000-05:00

Seems that when it rains, it pours. Our friend Lawson has had the most awful week I can imagine. First, his 14 yr old son slipped and got his foot caught under the lawnmower. Thankfully, there was no irrepairable damage and he will be fine with time. The muscles were damaged but the bone was barely chipped. This was on Saturday afternoon.Monday evening, having had little sleep due to taking care of his son, he had to replace a water hose on his truck giving him even less sleep.Worst of all, last night, they took his 19 year old grandson to the ER because of a sore throat. The docs decided it was tonsillitis and gave him a shot along with a prescription. At around 3 am, his girlfriend went to wake him up to take his pill and he complained that he couldn't breathe. He went outside and collapsed in the driveway. 911 was called and the girlfriend gave CPR until the ambulance arrived ( they are less than 5 mins from the hospital). They never revived him. As this is a truck driving family, the father was in Houston with one of the uncles who was called and asked to break the news. I could not imagine what they are going through right now. Hopefully, they will find out what caused such a young life to be taken. Hug those you love because you never know when it is going to be too late.

And for a little good news

2006-06-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

The company we haul for gave us a nickle per mile raise last week. Add that to the fact that Drifter has driven twice the miles the past week that he had been and that will make for a lil less stress around here.

2006-06-14T09:34:00.000-05:00

I have a little time to spare so here ya go. Sorry I haven't been keeping up again but as usual it is nuts around here. Here is my usual bitch. Sorry guys but sometimes this is the only place I feel I can put this down.

My back carport is all nice and cleaned off now. Shawn decided to do it which was nice. Of course, anything Drifter asks him to do, he does. I honestly think he is trying to impress him but the fact that he doesn't have a job and the females are still having to do most of the housework ( when we decide we wanna do it) is not sitting well. As for the carport, I thought he might just be cleaning it to do it for us. Wrong answer. He got it all cleaned up including moving our boat out onto the concrete pad and covering it with a tarp then went and got his foosball table out of storage. Here is one of the questions I have been asking since the beginning - if you have a 27" TV, nice stereo and an Xbox, why were you needing money to live on? They didn't even have money for toilet paper. Huh? Umm, sell the stuff and get tp and food?
Jess is doing pretty good at her job but poor thing barely makes enough to pay for smokes, her mom back for moving them here, cell phone bill and storage building. Of course, there is always money for the bottle or 30 pack they get each weekend. I so wanna shake her and tell her that she is not with a man but a lil boy who will never grow up as long as he has someone to take care of him. Maybe she will learn one of these days. Any nice thing we do for her for trying so hard ( she really does) by cooking dinner for me since she gets home first and doing the dishes most days ends up being something for both of them. How do you take one to the lake and not the other? I go out of my way not to be negative in any way because this just makes her defend him more ( sound familiar ladies?).

Work truly sucks at this point in time. We refused to take our people to their appointments until we knew when we were going to get paid. Typically, they direct deposit the money on Thursday morning but twice already this year, they have sent out faxes ( after normal business hours of course) letting us know that they will be mailing us a check. Excuse me? I kinna need this money now since this was a 3 week pay cycle. Now they are holding our last settlement until they get all of our original paperwork which means I have to copy 3 years worth of paperwork ( 20 bankers boxes) so that I have some record of what we have done. I was the only employee left and I can't get paid until something happens with either that settlement or he gets paid for some of the ebay cars he sold. Great. Do I walk? I have considered it greatly the past couple of weeks but something ( foolishness perhaps) makes me stay. Gawd, I am an idiot.

It's the small things in life

2006-06-07T08:52:00.000-05:00

I don't think I have ever been so happy to wash my hair and shave my legs in my life as I was this morning. My hair hasn't been washed since I got back from the lake - first the sunburn was too bad to let water touch it and then I was too sick to stand up that long. It was almost getting oily. Thank goodness for dry hair. I haven't been able to bend over to shave my legs for close to the past week so we know what they looked like. I just wanna shout it to the world! Swelling is down SIGNIFICANTLY today. I may just survive this.

Jess and I went and did the ole google thing on my antibiotic and it treats lyme disease, rocky mountain spotted fever and anthrax! I am pretty sure that anthrax was not the cause but hey, gimme the good stuff.

Why mom's are not allowed to be sick

2006-06-05T21:15:00.000-05:00

I know it may be a lil hard to see here but this was a last minute thought before I walked out the door at 4:30 this morning. Not sure how much you will be able to make out but here is my kitchen/dining room as it appeared after me being sick for the weekend. I really should have had more light on but....

Dirty dishes piled up in the sink and the cabinet including the breakfast dishes, pots and pans from Sunday morning. Scrambled eggs are a bitch after 24 hours, trust me.

4 empty ice trays. I guess filling them with water is confusing.

Empty pizza boxes from the night before because no one had thought ahead to dinner. Guess who had to order the pizza.

As you can see, there apparently is a cat ( I am guessing Oakland) on the table since that is one of his favorite sleeping places.

Remind me again why I do this?

Another fun filled weekend

2006-06-04T18:32:00.000-05:00

For those of you who might not have read elsewhere, I have been pretty much confined to my bed all weekend by my husband under orders from the ER doc. Yep, that irritating bug bite on my waist got extremely infected Thursday evening and I held out going in until after work Friday. I had 2 meetings that I just couldn't reschedule - you try explaining a bug bite as an excuse. Anywho, had a temp of 101 and a knot the size of my fist by the time I got seen. Gonna be on antibiotics for a week( no doctor, I am not pregnant and yes I can stay out of the sun) and we shall see. The fever broke Friday night late but tried to creep back yesterday. Today has been much better since I am actually able to sit up for limited amounts of time ( 4 hours or so). Tomorrow I go back to work and get to drive for 3 hours straight. YAY!

Ladies, here is something you can understand. Drifter tells me to just let him know if I need anything, he will have his cell on him no matter where he is in the house ( not that big of a house but OK). Mind you, the pain is about a 7 when I move the right way so getting to my cell is not always an easy thing to do. No problem, I get up and do it myself. I finally figured out how to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom with the minimum of pain. The stuff he was going to the store to get, he still hasn't gotten. No dear, checking on me in between movies might be a lil long when I am in pain and unable to move all the while with a fairly high fever ( at least for me). So, this morning, I got up, did the clothes I asked him to do before they soured ( they already had) and filled the ice trays which apparently no one else can do and do a few odds and ends around here before I got pooped out. Remind me next time to just stay in the hospital.

Back from the lake

2006-05-29T18:15:00.000-05:00

I remember now what I love about camping and hate about it. Holiday weekends at the lake are like NYE at a bar, amateur night. Everyone who even thought about ever driving a boat was out on the lake. We sat most of the time at camp except for the occassional ice run back at the marina. This year was a little warmer than in the past so more people were out. The water was fantastic, a little on the cold side when you got in but felt great in a minute. Here are a few of the pics we took ( incrimination ones will not be published).

Here is the sunrise Saturday morning over the island across from us. I took it while sitting in my chair at camp so you can see what a beautiful view we had. The other is the daytime view from camp. Sorry, I am not very good at this posting pics yet so ya have to deal with it.

Here are pictures of the ducks that kept coming up to camp and out campsite. We had 3 tents but there were places for at least 2 more. I was standing at the water's edge when I took this so you can see how close we were.

And finally, after 2 full days and 2 half days of camping, swiming and eating, this is how happy we looked. Drifter was out of Crown ( OMG) and I have apparently 2nd degree sunburn on my back even with SPF 30. Note to self - 5 hours in the lake is not a good thing when you are not used to the sun.

The weekend is here!

2006-05-26T08:08:00.000-05:00

Yep, I got the day off. I am sitting here having coffee before I get myself up and around to go do the shopping to head to the lake. Drifter has a short load today then going to put the truck in the shop to get the brakes worked on. Hopefully, we will get out of here fairly early. My biggest fear is that he will be ready to go and I won't. I already have all the bedding packed but I have to get food/snacks/drinks for the lake and pack the suitcase. Gotta be sure to buy a battery operated fan and tons of batteries since the lows are only going to be about 70 at night which tends to be a lil warm in a tent. Boat is gassed up and ready to go ( might top it off on the way out of town). Our friends left around noon yesterday and got a really good camping spot out on an island at Lake Ouachita http://www.lakeouachita.org/lake-ouachita-map.htm We launch out of Crystal Springs and will be camping near point 6. Here is a site that has some decent aerials of the lake. These were apparently taken before we got enough rain to raise the lake level back up to normal. You can see how far down it was before. http://www.almosthomehouseboats.com/LakeOuachita.htm

Anywho, off to get a shower, get off any excess hair and then shopping.

My day off

2006-05-24T18:29:00.000-05:00

Yep, I had a day off in the middle of the week since there was nothing for me to do at the office today but sit around and play spider solitaire and maybe vacuum. So, I was given the day off. I asked for Friday but we shall see. I didn't get all packed for the lake today but I did get all my laundry done so I can pack. I even got all the clothes sitting around needing to be put up done. You can actually see my dressers and the bedroom floor. No more kicking stuff out of the way.

Why, you ask, do I have so much spare time at work? Well, it seems that a couple of weeks ago ( after waiting out a 3 week pay period), the medicaid broked, due to cirumstances beyond their control ( for the 3rd time this year) could not direct deposit the money they owed us for work we had done a month ago. No money, no gas, no pick up people. They decided that we were in violation of our contract even though we offered to start running as soon as someone could tell us when we would get paid ( do you continue to work if you don't get paid?). We had gotten a check in from another source that would have given us enough to get through for a few more days. But nooooooooooooo. We are the bad guys. So they cancelled our contract. Bad news? Not really. Their contract expires the end of next month and chances are, after all the problems they have caused and the complaints to the state lately, they will not get it again. Another company has already come in and set us up in case they get the contract. Sadly, we had to lay off 4 people until then. My job is still up in the air if there is no work for me to do. Let's hope that things work out. I can make it without a paycheck for a month but it will hurt. No weekend lake trips after this weekend if it happens. Of course, every year, they have a fireworks stand where we are renting and last year, with our help, was one of the best ever. We have already put in our credit app to see if they approve it. That will definently give me something to do while I get together employee files and records for the new company. I intend to make the best of any time off to clean house, maybe decorate a little and to spoil Drifter if I get laid off.

Has it been that long?

2006-05-22T07:49:00.000-05:00

Geez, I bet you guys thought I wasn't gonna blog anymore. Wrong, just been hectic around here lately and I felt that all my entries were negative. No one wants to be brought down all the time.
Drifter and I start on our second year of marriage today. We had friends come up this weekend ( her b-day was last Wed) and we drank, worked on the boat and cooked out. The boat is now ready for the water. Last year, it just wouldn't start and was taking on water. There was too much oil in the fuel, the spark plugs were fouled and a hose to the second bilge had busted where were couldn't see it, letting water in. Neither bilge was working so now we have one that does and excellent job if we take on water. Susie and I laughed so hard because last year I kept saying "it sounds like it is not getting fire". Hrmmm, fouled plugs anyone? As you girls know, if you don't have a penis, you cannot know what you are talking about.

We took Jess and Shawn out to the lake yesterday to try it out before we took it to the big lake. There is this fairly small lake less than 5 miles from the house where we could have paddled back in had it not worked right. No real problems, just seems to be running rich now.

Jess started her job last week and is doing great. She is in training for 30 days then she gets a 25 cent an hour raise and another one after 90 days. Still not enough for them to live on their own but it takes care of their habits, pay her mom back and a lil spending money. She borrowed money for a carton of smokes to get them through the week until she gets paid. He is "trying" to get a job but nothing yet. One of these days, maybe she will learn that a cute guy, nice ass and good sex does not make a good husband. Oh well, most of us had to learn the hard way so we shall see.
His birthday is a week from Friday so Drifter and I talked about taking them up to the lake 45 miles away that is much larger and nicer for the day. The water felt pretty good yesterday ( a lil on the cool side) but I am betting it will feel better in 2 weeks. Don't wanna be accused of not being a nice person and celebrating his b-day. Each time we do something nice for them, it shows them what they can do with just a lil bit of money. OK, so a boat isn't cheap but for 100 bucks or so, you can get a tent, air mattress and cooler so you can go to the lake for the weekend with us. I hear her comments sometimes and they are not all positive ( see baby what we can do when we get some money?).

Anywho, have a good day kids!

Update!

2006-05-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

It is 9:45 and I hear stirring in the other room.

Fussin, fueding and a job

2006-05-10T07:37:00.000-05:00

I love my life ( insert sarcasm here). Actually, it is not that bad. There is food on the table and money to pay what needs to be paid. Sometimes not as much as we would like, but we live less paycheck to paycheck than we used to.

Jess got a job on Monday, about 5 minutes before her mother showed up here ( I was at work) to "motivate" them. She doesn't get to start until the 20th but it is a job. I understand depression but to use being depressed over leaving your child 1300 miles away as an excuse to mope around and not truly try to get a job for 6 weeks is a little much. How much does he miss his son? Well, the pictures in their bedroom consist of mainly Jimmy Hendrix. There is an Irish flag and his family crest but the pictures of his son and her deceased father are propped up in the living room. Am I missing something here? Ace, Puff, Kid - you guys have kids. If you were unable to see them, would you not want that to be the last face you saw at night and the first you saw in the morning?

I got a nice lil lecture on how they are from a different generation and they feel differently about gender roles. She intends to work and put him through school. He hasn't registered yet and has not held a job for the past 8 months but somehow, she is going to support him while he goes to school to do computers. No real clue exactly what with computers but most of the computer geeks I know are actually looking for work. Anyway, apparenly the younger generation ( mid to late 20's) feels it is OK for the woman to support the man because it is all 50/50. I still contend that a "man" is judged by how he provides for his family and treats women. Is it OK for her to work full time and him part time while he is in school? Yes it is, IMO. However, while you are not in school and haven't even applied to a school, you should be supporting your family. Me, being the not so nice person sometimes, "forgot" to buy sodas at the store the other night. 2-3 cases a week while you are not working is a lil much. Make tea or drink water. I am already feeding you and your cat, I should not be expected to give you the luxuries. I am also providing a car and the gas money to look for jobs.
A little note - it is approximately 8 am and she is taking him to look at a job 20 miles away today ( apparently, the ones within 2 miles of our house are demeaning or something). They are still in bed. Am I wrong to think they should be up, dressed and ready to go by now? Is working in a restaurant or as a detail person at the car wash too demeaning, more than having to ask for money to buy pads or tobacco?

Another early morning

2006-05-03T05:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been up since about 4 am. I got the coffee made, the litter box cleaned and some online bills paid. Drifter's alarm has been going off every 9 mins since 4 am and he finally got up a couple of minutes ago. I don't seem to be able to get myself in the mood or find the time to blog lately. Maybe it is the lack of sleep or whatever. Maybe I just can't seem to find much positive to write about.

The refugees still have no jobs. She has at least been trying somewhat to find something in her field. He has maybe filled out 3 applications in the past month, including the 2 places I took him. I passed 5 now hiring or help wanted signs within 2 miles of my house last night but apparently, Ryans, Burger King, Wendy's, Fuji Steakhouse or the Splash Lube/Car Wash are not good enough for them. I told Drifter that I am on the verge of enacting the homeless shelter rules as they would have been on the streets had we not helped them get out here.

1. Everyone is out and on the streets no later than 8:30. You are not allowed back in until at least 4:30 and must be in no later than 6.

2. You must make 3 job contacts per day. These are checked.

3. Men and women are not allowed to sleep in the same room. There are no closed doors except on bathrooms.

4. There is no TV, stereo equipment, etc in your private area. Of course, you really don't have a private area since it is pretty much set up with cots, etc to sleep on. The only TV is in the main room and the person in charge decides what is on the TV.

5. Lights out is 10 pm. The only reason to be up after that time is to go to the bathroom.

6. No alcohol or drugs. None. Nadda. Don't care if you scored a joint off ya friend.

I have to hide the alcohol that I don't want to be drank around here. I see shot glasses sitting around the sink and/or on the drainer knowing that I didn't have a shot. Drifter has told them that he refuses to buy them any more alcohol or smokes. Food he will provide because it is a necessity as are drinks. Personally, I think water or tea is a good enough drink but then again, I like cold drinks too. Let's see how long these 3 -12 packs and 2-3 liters last. Anybody taking bets? I made a gallon of tea so that will slow it down some, right?

Am I really a stick in the mud?

2006-04-22T11:20:00.000-05:00

Last night, Drifter and the kids stayed up half the night drinking and playing loud music. I, however, got nauseated on the second shot and bored with the music after about the 10th song. Of course, now everyone is still asleep and I have scrubbed my bathroom including the floor on my hands and knees with 2 cats helping. I have the second load of clothes in, had breakfast and I am again sitting down checking out the forums and stuff. I honestly wish I could stay up and party more often but I wake up by 7 every morning so when midnight gets here, I am tired. Tonight, they will all want to party again and I will be dead on my feet, again. I am hoping that mowing the yard ( if they ever wake up) and cleaning up the outside will tire them out but I doubt that happens. Again, I will be in bed by midnight while they stay up and party. Am I getting old or boring or what? It seems that I have to be out and have planned on partying in order to stay up late. I guess we shall see.

Good morning!

2006-04-17T04:19:00.000-05:00

Why yes, I am up at 4:15 on a Monday morning. Drifter seems to be having a little trouble waking up this morning ( the alarm started going off at 2 am) and for some weird reason, I cannot sleep through and alarm blaring every 9 minutes for 2 hours.

The guests are still alive but I don't know for how much longer. We stayed out of town Saturday night in a really inexpensive ( OK cheap) hotel. It is not quite the no tell motel but apparently Ramada Inn has gone the way of Days Inn and will let anyone slap their name out front. I am where I would rather stay at a Comfort Inn, which used to be known as the cheap hotels than a Days or Ramada.

OK, enough with that gripe. I have to go try and get the man off to work so I can reclaim and hour and a half of my lost 2 1/2 hours.

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn

2006-04-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

Blah! Yes, it has been one of those weeks. Actually, it has been the whole month starting with the downpour after the races on my b-dy, to the "raid", to the media, getting Drifter's niece out here, maintenance expenses that are eating us alive, etc. I don't guess it would be so bad if I felt like someone else cared as much as we do. His niece really seems to want to get the job ( not a job but the job) so she has been applying online, etc. I took both of them to a temp agency which was a total waste of time on my part. He will only work first shift and she just turned down a 2 week assignment because one of the jobs she applied for might come through in that time. Duh! People understand that you are currently working and usually do not mind waiting the 2 weeks it takes to give notice. NTM, none of them have even contacted her to come interview. He has managed to drink most of the half gallon of crown we bought last weekend ( Drifter helped some on Sat). Do I look like I am made of money? We TOLD you we weren't going to have any money this weekend. The 68 bucks they got back on their electric deposit is going for smoke and renting an x box game. Ummm, who has time to play games when you should be looking for a job to pay for your expenses? Do you think the kick ass job fairy just comes to your door looking for you? Oh wait, you have a DUI ( bogus of course because the cop told him to move his car after he pulled up behind his friend who had been stopped) and you couldn't pass a piss test if your life depended on it. Grrrrrrr! Drifter has been out on the truck all week so no support there. I honestly do not want to be here when he gets home from working all week and finds that he has no alcohol to drink. Anybody know of a good hole I can hide in until the fireworks are over?

For those of you who haven't heard yet

2006-04-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

http://www.arktimes.com/Weblogs/WeblogArchive.aspx?WeblogID=dabe8285-8214-4a72-ae7c-7ed16bb5ed5b&Date=4/3/2006

This is the story from our local "liberal" paper ( more mainstream in most of the US) about what happened at my birthday party. Nothing like being on the news and in the paper for a citation for a business without a license. Even better, the police spokesman was quoted as saying that they saw no sex and no topless dancing but they believed it was going on. 19 murders this year and they have time to worry about such silly stuff. Of course, according to the mayor, if you aren't into drugs or illicit behavior, you don't have to worry about getting killed. Glad to see we are getting the bootleggers and the people at a private party.

Happy birthday - the cops are here

2006-04-03T08:02:00.000-05:00

I had an interesting birthday, to say the least. I should have known to just go back to bed and try it again when I woke up at 4 am and had gotten the monthly visitor. Couldn't wait just one more day. Grrr. Then I had to get out of bed at 6 am so I could get my shower to go to the races. Mind you, the races don't start until 1 but the gates open at 11. You can get the 10 buck across the street from the track parking spots about then but there are none left later. Of course, our friends overslept and then it took us longer everywhere so we ended up not parking at the track ( 1/2 away but only 2 bucks) until after post time for the first race. Went inside, got us some decent seats but the area I wanted( fairly comfy chairs, long table, buffet, unending tea pitcher and a waitress) was full. We had to sit with the masses who, of course, complained about us smoking in the smoking section. Go figure. Did OK ( translation- came back with some money in my pocket). The monsoon hit about the 10th race and continue until after we were almost all of the way back to Little Rock wearing our soaking wet clothes.
Drifter and I then got ready to go to the club after drying off and warming up some. Shutttle came and got us so I could get smashed which I managed quite well. Note to self - eat less than 10 hours before you start drinking heavily. We have a little area with 2 love seats so you can just sit and bs which I was doing with my friend Earl when we notice the bossman talking to 3 cops, the fire marshall and a guy in street clothes. OK, no problem except they had no warrant and the fire marshall or code enforcement are the only ones who can come in to inspect without a warrant. I seriously doubt they needed 3 armed officers to make sure nothing happened to them. General consensus is that someone who is upset with us ( perhaps the child rapist that we alerted others to so they would know he was in their group) made some complaints and they decided to come check them out. I think they actually got to see a woman flash someone. OMG! After a good 30 minutes of snooping around, we were told to be sure to have our business license there in the future and that the capacity of the club was 299. I saw no citations written and no one was hauled away in cuffs. As soon as they left, everyone went back to what they had been doing. Good for them for not being scared away from doing nothing illegal.

Happy Birthday Ace! Hope your party has a lil less excitement than mine. Just FWI, the dude who is the child rapist ( convicted of 6 counts including the actual rape of a girl under the age of 14, got off on technicality upon appeal) claims to be an Italian from NY. Wanna come get him out of my hair?

I've been a little lax on my blogging

2006-03-31T19:56:00.000-06:00

I know, I didn't blog anything this Monday. It rained all day and I had the rainy day stay in bed all day mood going on. So, here is it on Friday night.

First of all, these chocolate chip cookie dough pop tarts are pretty damn good. Almost as good as the reason I am sitting here eating pop tarts instead of smoking the cigarette I went to go get out of my purse but forgot what I was going after in the first place. That was the only disclaimer you will receive.
Tomorrow is my birthday ( 1o years and 363 days older than Ace, you do the math). Drifter and I are going to head down to the horse races with our friends that we lease on with. Gambling is not legal in Arkansas unless it is perimutual which is BS but we all pretend anyway. I will pay some poor jockeys salary for the weekend in losses. I think I am going to start claiming my gambling losses on my taxes. I have already decided that my mechanic can be claimed as a dependant because I give him enough of my income. Just this week, we have blown a drive tire ( 175 bucks) and blew a hole in one of the mufflers. Last week, it was a trailer tire. Blah!
Drifter's niece and her guy are moving in with us as soon as they get here from Phoenix which should be late Sunday or Monday. We had to send them gas money so they could drive the U-Haul with her mother's stuff back here from when she lived out there for a few months. Mom paid for the U-haul. Did I mention the tags ( 1363 bucks) and the road use tax ( 504 )? It seems like March is not a good month for us. Maybe tomorrow will be better since we start a new month.
The club is doing OK even though our security guy ( see the eye candy in a previous post) with no notice on Sat ( no call, no show). I actually get this Sat night off so I can party. No cooking/preparing snacks, no sitting up front being nice to people and no having to drive the drunks back to the hotel when we finally leave. Everyone drinks but me cuz I gotta handle the money until 2 am. Not much fun to party at 2 when you have been up since before 7 and someone has to drive.
Enough of my bitching. I am sure I will think of something later.

Another Monday

2006-03-20T11:05:00.000-06:00

It seems that the only time I can sit down and update is on Monday so please bear with me. Weekend went a little better than they have been. Friday night I went to bed fairly early but then had to keep trying to get Drifter to come to bed since he had been up 26 hours the last time I had looked. Enough Jaeger blasters and no one wants to sleep. He finally came to bed around 2ish. Last Monday night, our cat had 5 kittens. YAY! ( not). I have got to get them fixed soon.

Saturday was not too bad. Got to the club around 1ish to do the final set up before opening at 8. We got out of there by 3 and went to our room, napped, showered and then back to work. We keep having a roof leak that we cannot seem to isolate and since we rent, you would expect the landlord to fix it. Nope. Probably got 300-400 tied up in it already and apparently it still leaks. Luckily, it held until closing except for one small drip. By the time it started, everyone was pretty well drunk and didn't care ( or notice, not for sure which one). Again, for the second week, I had to drive the boss and his wife back to the hotel since we stay at the same place ( us for the convenience of not driving 45 miles at 4 am and them so they don't have to get woke up by their kids after being out so late). It appears that the roof let loose after we left and the inside is pretty wet. This is a converted cold storage warehouse so we have floor drains that keep the water from stand so it is not as bad as it could be except for the parking lot which has what we loving call the pond - a low spot that doesn't drain and holds about 6" of water.

Sunday - we went to pick up the freezer we had given to us by someone at freecycle. This will get tons of use since our freezer part of our refrigerator is small. The lady is a BIG talker and we stayed there for probably 2 hours drinking coffee and smoking. She and Drifter had plenty to talk about since she raises cattle and he grew up on a cattle farm. I just sat there and looked interested.

I will try to post more often but that is it for now.

Pics

2006-03-13T07:55:00.000-06:00

Again with the dark pics even with a flash. You can see a couple of tables, the DJ booth covered in roofing tin and if you look REAL hard over to the right of it, you will see some flecks of silver that which is the dance cage.
Everybody needs a good bouncer and we have Nick, also known as eye candy. I wanted a rear shot too for you ladies but he insisted on doing it only if he was naked. I am working on that one as we speak.

More pics

2006-03-13T07:31:00.000-06:00

The vanity area in the ladies room. We all know how much we ladies love to primp.
The teal is the doors to the stall. Only thing worse than trying to make one woman happy is to try and make 3 of them happy. The pink is for his daughter, the teal was picked out by his girlfriend and the burgandy ( which looks black in these pics) was actually his wife's idea. ( Don't ask).
The door to the ladies room. Yes, the walls in there are pink. The boss's daughter is 5 and it is her favorite color so we had to do the ladies room just for her. The flamingo was hand painted by the teenage daughter of a friend.
The food area. As you come up the hall, this is to your left when you walk into the bar area, to your right if you are standing behind the bar.
Here is the "bar area", the view is from behind the bar. Obviously, there is not a whole lot of light in the place so the pics are not that clear. We have colored sleeves on all the florescent lights which gives off colored, muted light.

Here is another picture of the hall leading to the "bar" area and then into the party room. It is hard to tell with the flash ( gotta try it without it and see if I get anything) but the pictures on the wall glow in the dark and especially under the black lights. They are wizard and dragon pics ( fav of the boss's wife)

A few pics

2006-03-06T20:41:00.000-06:00

This is the hall halfway done. There is still some trash and the lighting is not quite right but you get the idea. The just party stuff is at the far end of the hall so you can't see it in the original pic.

I don't have any of the finished rooms but I wanted to give you guys some ideas how hard we had to work. Hopefully I will have more pics soon and you can see what the whole place looks like with the club lighting, etc.

40 lashes with a wet noodle

2006-03-06T20:12:00.000-06:00

OK, I have been TERRIBLE about blogging lately. Let's see work, work, work, sleep alil, do laundry, work. That has been the extent of my life lately. We finally got the club up and going fairly well. We could always use more business but who couldn't. We had to rent tables for the first 2 weeks but we have finally gotten enough in that now the room is set up on Fridays when we leave which means I get to go in much later that night ( 6 as opposed to before noon). I am caught up enough on my paperwork that I am not balls to the wall all day on Monday so I have some time to play online.

Ice!

2006-02-18T07:32:00.000-06:00

Yep, we are getting the ice storm they predicted, kind of. We were expected to get more freezing rain and so far it has been mainly sleet with a little snow. Of course, 1/2" of ice can be a bitch to get around on. Doesn't look like it is quitting anytime soon although it has slacked up sone. Provisions have been stocked - a liter of jaeger, liter of crown, fifth of tequila and misc odd and ends alcohol. Bought a carton of smokes and plenty of food. I tried to stay away from the sugary, snacky stuff. I am already getting a mild case of cabin fever. I HATE when I cannot go someplace. I really don't have anywhere I need to go anytime soon but I guess not leaving the house for 24 hours and then getting stuck for possibly another 48 is bugging me.

Have fun guys, hope the weather is better where you are.

OMG, what a night

2006-02-12T15:41:00.000-06:00

As some of you know, we have been in the process of opening a private club/special events center in Little Rock. My boss, his wife, drifter and I have put a lot of time, sweat, money and tears into it. Last night was opening night ( delayed for 2 weeks from the original opening date). We had over 150 people in attendance!!!! YAY! Of course, this just put a small dent in the debt but I am sooooo excited. We had some snow that didn't amount to anything here but ended up keeping some of our out of town special guests from being able to get here. I am waiting for our photographer to get the pics ready so that I can post some of them.
Our florist did an excellent job with 60 bud vases, each with 3 different color buds ( that's rose buds ace and daven) and a huge arrangement for the entrance way. The tables look sharp with the crisp white linens and our "bartender" who only poured mixers ( BYOB) made close to 100 in tips. The caterer, as usual, had plenty of snacks for everyone and still came in under 200 bucks. Yes, I will give the name to anyone who needs a good caterer around here. Guy and his wife do this on the side and mostly for fun, expecting only their actual expenses to be covered.

For the down side - the new ladies room that had been added on ended up with a drainage problem within the first 2 hours ( don't flush the tampons ladies). People were pretty understanding when we had to turn the water off and no flushing because someone felt the need to flush such things. A light ballast burned out in one of our rooms, leaving only 2 going and when they went to hook up another one ( always a good idea to have your electrician at your parties), they found water in it. Oh, and the fact that it was freaking COLD didn't help much. Why did it have to pick this weekend to turn off extremely cold? The club is in a converted cold storage area so it holds heat or cool pretty well once you get it to the desired temp but it took a lot of work ( ntm propane) to keep it at a liveable temperature inside. Next on the list - heat and air guy!

That is about all for now. I have about 3 months worth of sleep to catch up on.

The problem with working at hom

2006-02-06T19:55:00.000-06:00

is that you get nothing done. I managed to get my paperwork done around 7:30 tonight. I didn't even get dressed until after 11. Shame on me! I did manage to get the dishes done and dinner cooked. Now I have to clean up the dinner dishes. Drifter is all happy with his belly full of his favorite food- meatloaf! Oh well, maybe I will get lucky and be able to stay at home on Mondays for a while. Then again, will I ever get anything done?

Tagged!

2006-01-27T21:16:00.000-06:00

Thanks Daven since I have been so busy lately that I haven't blogged. Anywho

5 guilty pleasures:

1. Smoking - yes, it is bad for me but I am gonna die from something.
2. Flavored creamer in my coffee. The latest is chocolate caramel and it rocks.
3. My bullet - nuff said
4. Sweats - the man who came up with them deserves to be a saint.
5. Spending the night at hotels. We try to do this once a month or so. No cats, no litter boxes, no worrying about cleaning house because you are not there to do it. Just drinking, going out to dinner with friends then sleeping past 7 am.

Another long week

2006-01-21T06:34:00.000-06:00

and I wish I could say it was over. Drifter ended up at home sick all week while I had to make the best of it and go to work. I had already been through the roughest part of it so I understood how poorly he felt.

I was watching the news Monday before leaving for work and saw a story about a 20 year old that had been shot in the back of the head being found alongside the road. The name sounded vaguely familiar but since I don't hang around with 20 year olds.... Come to find out, it was my friend's son Charlie. It breaks my heart. Momma has worked her ass off to be sure that her children never went without, especially after Daddy went to prison. She is not the kind of woman who would approve of violence and now her son is dead. They made an arrest and maybe the SOB will get life without parole. He shot his friend in the back of the head while he was talking on his cell phone to someone. How fucking cowardly can you get?

That wasn't very nice of me

2006-01-16T17:02:00.000-06:00

Not only did I give Drifter my cold, but he has it much worse than I did. He tried to drive today, he really did. He made both his drops then had to drive straight back in. Apparently, he was coughing so hard he thought he was going to black out. I even had to go pick him up because he didn't have the energy to drive any more.
Nothing like having a sick man in your house.

I am such a giving person

2006-01-14T22:16:00.000-06:00

I was so nice that I gave Drifter my cold. I had no need for it any more. Of course, I keep telling him it is his own fault for kissing me when I was sick. Oh well, let's see if he can get better faster than I did. He is doped up on Nyquil and tucked cozily in the bed under the comforter and an extra blanket. Poor thing. To top it all off, we had dinner with the family tonight for my Mom's birthday and there was no way he was going to miss that. So, doped up on Dayquil, he managed to deal with 11 of my relatives including the 2 teenage girls and the 4 year old who has more energy than all the rest of us put together.

Self pity?

2006-01-12T06:23:00.000-06:00

I guess I am feeling a little sorry for myself or more like sorry about myself lately. You know how it is when things are not going right and you can't do what you would normally do. I think it affects women more than men.
First of all, I have been sick for the past 2 weeks with a cold that just will NOT go away. Great. No energy whatsoever so I get up, go to work, come home, grab something to eat, check emails and them I am in bed before 9 or 10. I have had to be to work at least 2 hours early every day this week so far ( I have been getting off a lil earlier too) and my body is not happy with that. A lot of things are going on that have all pounced on me at once that make me feel like not the kind of person I want to be. I feel like I am letting people down. Some of them I am not living up to what I should be doing and some of them are just people that I give more than the normal amount to and can't seem to give them much of anything any more.
My family lives 45 minutes away but sometimes I feel like it is another world. "What, you didn't know that Uncle Bill has a massive heart attack 2 weeks ago? I thought I told everyone".

OK enough feeling sorry for myself. I have to finish my coffee, get a shower and drive 2 hours to pick up the lady that I have been picking up at least once every other week.

Shots and ladders

2006-01-08T12:58:00.000-06:00

A friend's 9 year old son bought Drifter this cute little game for Christmas called " Shots and Ladders". I don't know how many of you remember Chutes and Ladders but it is loosely based on that game. Each person picks a shot glass to use as a game piece. Each has a different color dot on it so you can tell them apart. You roll the die and see how many spaces you get to move( just like every other board game). The fun of this one - spaces where you have to take a shot, take a double shot, take a triple shot or have a friend take a shot. Note - be careful what you choose as your shot if you plan on playing more than one game. We played like 10 rounds last night. We had assorted shots of buttery nipples, wet pussies and jello shots. The truth or dare spaces can become quite fun after a few shots also. We also received a game of checkers that is played with shots too. I have a feeling the guys at the liquor store are going to love me.

Sick day

2006-01-04T07:58:00.000-06:00

This cold finally got to me on Sunday night. Luckily, I had Monday off so I just lazed around the house. For some odd reason, I could not get the sleep I needed. I was at the store buying Daytime and Nighttime meds when the boss called me on Tuesday morning. Yep, stay at home, you sound terrible. YAY! I came straight home and took a dose of the nighttime. This was 9:30 in the morning. I finally woke up around 2 ish. I stayed up for a couple of hours then took the daytime stuff since I wanted to get a little work done around here. Uh, huh, right. I woke up at 6:55 from that dose. Now I still can't seem to get awake but I doubt another day off work is gonna happen. Oh well, at least I got tons of sleep.

Observations while driving

2005-12-30T07:43:00.000-06:00

I have actually had to do some driving for work lately ( like 50 mile commute each way is not enough) and while driving along, I tend to notice things. Here are some of the fun things I saw yesterday. This is on top of the daily NASCAR wanna bes who seem to think that they are actually going to get somewhere by weaving in and out of traffic.

A woman driving 70 MPH on the interstate, in traffic, with a book propped up on her steering wheel, reading. Yes, this is safe. We all know that driving only takes about 1/10 of your concentration. Geez, if you are that bored driving, get an audio book or something.

A full size SUV with our state "choose life" license plate, zooming in and out of traffic with their children not even in seat belts in the back. Yep, gotta make sure that all fertilized eggs make it to birth but whatever happens after that is another thing.

A sporty car with the state education license plate ( Arkansas has to have one for every fetish) flying past me, in a construction zone with workers present, going at least 10 MPH over the speed limit. Yep, you're a smart one.

The early 80's station wagon with paint peeling off of it, looking like it might be on its last leg, occupied by a couple that you are sure haven't seen soap in the past week, covered in all kinds of " My child is an honor student" and " My kids loves scouts" bumper stickers. Oh, don't forget the " I love God" ones.

Lastly, this was seen a few weeks ago but it still bears mentioning, the porta potty sitting on the side of the interstate with no construction area, etc anywhere near.

My new find on the web

2005-12-22T18:05:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me about freecycle.org. I love the place! You sign up for yahoo groups in your area. The people on there have free stuff to offer and you can offer stuff too. All replies go directly to the person you are replying to, not on the message board so that it is easy to see what has been offered and taken. I got Drifter a Lazy Boy recliner that was used but still in great shape and a 19" TV that worked just fine. We have a ton of painting to do at the club and most of the paint has been donated thru freecycle. You would be amazed at the number of people who have paint sitting around because you can't take it to the dump, etc. Sometimes they have that little odd ball thing you might be looking for ( a remote to your TV or the one cup that you need to replace the one that got broken, etc.).

Some people just need to be shot

2005-12-11T22:05:00.000-06:00

Over the past 2 days, there have been stories aboout 2 different couples in this state that have been arrested for pedophilia. One couple, after being arrested and released, killed themselves. Good riddance. I have no clue why these people were even given bond since there apparently were numerous photos, etc of them with underage children, some of them as young as 5. Then I decide to watch a few minutes of the news and they have a story on a guy that raped a 5 year old little girl. A woman ( no clue how she fits in for sure) was also arrested for the rape and meth manufacturing as they found an active meth lab in her house when they went to investigate. WHY? What can someone possibly see in a 5 year old child that is sexual?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2005-12-07T21:00:00.000-06:00

Yep, we are in for a major snowstorm here ( 1-4 inches!). Trust me, for here that is pretty durn major. I am sure all the stores are out of milk, bread, eggs and toilet paper. I was out of coffee and milk yesterday so I got my shopping out of the way. Never ceases to amaze me about the milk and TP thing. Do you NOT know if you have any?

I am actually hoping for a nice dusting and then for it to be gone. Tomorrow is a busy day at work and if the roads are bad, we don't make money. Boss does NOT like us out driving in bad conditions ( tornados don't count). So, I have to get up early to check road conditions since I got volunteered to make this long ass out of town trip. Not really that long but it feels like it. About 2 hours to the first pickup, pick up 2 more people 45 minutes south of there and then take them all to appointments. Worst part is going to be making the boring first half hour alone on the 2 lane highway to get to the interstate. Oh well, we shall see.

Not the way I wanted to come home early

2005-12-01T16:34:00.000-06:00

Sometimes work throws you something that you really don't want to do but you are the most logical choice. On Tuesday, we got a fax from a local company verifying that we need to pick up someone at 1:30 outside their front doors and bring them to Conway. Cool! I get off work early. The problem is, this lady was getting fired. You can always tell when it is one of those deals and I wasn't looking forward to it. Sit outside and wait for us to escort her out. Gotcha! Fifteen minutes later, they step outside and the lady climbs in. She must have been in her mid to late 50's. She called someone to see if the house was open because she had just gotten fired. Today, I had to go get the boxes of her stuff and deliver it. No matter what, this is not a comfortable situation for anyone. Mission accomplished and I am off early, again.

Oh what a night!

2005-11-28T19:21:00.000-06:00

Fun day here Sunday. We had been in Little Rock all weekend working on trying to get the last few things done on cleaning the club up so we can get started decorating and building the things that need to be built( like ladies rooms). I got ill at dinner on Saturday night so we went back to the room instead of going out. Woke up Sunday aching in every cell in my body so we came home. We stopped along the way to pick up some munchies and then curled up on the couch to watch Hotel Rwanda ( great movie but very emotional).
About halfway through the movie around 4, my brother called to make sure we were watching a local channel because there was some bad weather coming our way. I went into the bedroom to check it on TV then went back to the movie. We finally made it through and went to check on the weather again. Great, severe thunderstorms right on top of us, then a tornado warning ( map showing rotation right over my house). I had to go outside and look. When the leaves began flying to the west parallel to the ground, I was in the bathroom. The storm passed and we continued to watch the news because there was still more rain.
Anyway, we hear about a guy that was killed on the freeway from some lumber from a lumberyard around exit 111. OH SHIT! This is where our 2nd trailer is to be loaded on Monday. The news is not a lot of help because it goes from damaged to destroyed. No one could get close enough to see how bad it was. Finally found out this morning that there was considerable damage but our trailer was not hit.
There was another tornado at exit 101 ( I live at 124 so we were safe) and further up north. Our truck was parked, loaded, at exit 107. I have never felt so lucky in my life. While the treatment plant is down, they are using generators until they can get power back and doing their best to keep the guys going.

Is this November?

2005-11-14T07:49:00.000-06:00

I keep looking to see if it is actually going to cool off to more seasonable weather soon. I think it is expected to get quite cool here tomorrow night so, in the middle of November, we have to start getting ready for winter. And just a snap because it is going to barely dip below freezing here at night. Weird.

Drifter, his sister and I went to Tunica this weekend. We lost, big time, like we always do. It is for entertainment, ya know. We found these penny video slots and played forever on them when we couldn't seem to win on anything else. The buffets, as usual, were a big hit. They Hollywood has someone making fresh alfredo so we had to have some of that ( shrimp, crab, onions, green pepper and some ham). Not bad. Of course the best part is always the dessert bar. My sister in law was worried about the price of the buffet until she saw that, then she was happy.
After losing some more the next morning, we headed over to their little outlet mall. There are 2 Big Dogs outlets anywhere near us and that was one of them. Drifter now has several new things to wear. Got my brother a hooded sweatshirt for a buck! Carter's was having some clearance sales so I got my niece 4 turtlenecks for 21 bucks. LOTR trivial pursuit was 14.88 at the KB toys outlet. (29.99 at their retail stores). They had a flying Dumbo pig that operates on batteries that Drifter just HAD to have. And I got me.....nothing. I have to be in the right mood to buy for myself.

National Bad Driver Day?

2005-11-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

I am not for sure but it must have been. Let me start somewhere near the beginning.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day and the banks will be closed. Today was payday for us but it seems the company we broker through kind of didn't make our direct deposit last night so we don't have money. Oops. The girlie who handles such things has the excuse of " I had court the yesterday then I had to take my daughter to the doctor and I didn't get to my desk until after 2 pm and I found that no one had picked the folder up to make the transfers for me". Fine, when are we getting our money? She has no clue. Off to deal with someone who will try to get our answers. Finally, they call and let us know that they are going to wire transfer funds today. This was before noon, mind you. The wire came through at 4 pm. YAY! I have to jump in my car and drive to the bank to get some money out to pay people since it is too late for them to get paychecks and get them cashed. First branch closed at 4pm. (I get that this is the normal closing time but since you are going to be closed tomorrow, dontcha think you could pretend this is Friday?) So now it is rush hour through town to get to the only branch I know of that is open.
I have people cutting me off with no blinker, people stopping in front of me for no reason, people leaving 3 car links between them and the car in front of them on a left turn, people stopping to make a right turn and my favorite, the woman in the station wagon who decided that she wanted the parking place she just passed instead of the one right in front of her which requires me to back up in a crowded parking lot full of idiots. Twenty mins in the bank and I am off to do it again. I hate driving sometimes.

Nothing much happening

2005-11-10T07:18:00.000-06:00

I work, I come home, I eat, I play around on here, I go to bed, I get drifter up in the middle of the night, I go back to sleep, I get up, I work........
We are going to Tunica this weekend to have a little fun. We haven't been there in almost 11 months and this is going to be fun. Drifter will sit at the video poker bar and drink crown and coke, I will go find me some slots and lose money.

2005-11-04T07:16:00.000-06:00

I have been pretty bad about not coming back in here and posting. It has been crazy at work lately. We are renovating an old warehouse ( actually, a portion of it) for a club that will be open every Saturday night. This is gonna be fun. Work all week then hang out at the club working on Saturday. Who needs sleep anyway?

I will post some pics of it as it progresses. The man who owns the building had said he would have all his junk out in one week. It has been 3 and we have moved it all to the portions that he wanted to keep. The pictures are pretty much what you saw when you first walked in. All the junk is gone now . To give you an idea, the second picture is of a hall that is approximately 10 feet wide and 60 feet long. I think the room in the first pic is about 25 by 30 or so.

Oktoberfest

2005-10-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

kicked much ass! We got out there around 11 ish on Saturday and started the rounds to the vendors. Drifter got him a t-shirt ( the one with the big lips that says "kiss me" in German), a chicken hat and some sunglasses shaped like beer mugs. I bought this adorable handmade sweater for my niece and he got a nutcracker for his sister. Shopping done! We then hit the beer tent and he drank a pitcher of a nice dark beer. More shopping since we missed this one tent. Off to eat some carnival food and then back to our hotel room which is a story all of its own.

We arrived around 1:30 Saturday morning with our friends expecting to have a room since we had a credit card confirmed reservation. Oh no. Apparently "Expedia had overbooked" ( translation - someone fucked up) and the only room left had one queen bed instead of 2. I don't know about you guys but I really don't have any friends that I care to share a queen bed with. After controlling my temper, I had them bring some blankets and pillows to our room. No way was I going to be able to find another room at that hour. So Drifter and I crash on the floor for a few hours and let them have the bed. We all wake up in a slightly pissy mood around 7:30 and have some coffee( Earl goes nowhere without his coffee pot). We packed up what little we had brought up the night before and headed down to the front desk. I politely informed the lady behind the desk that we would be checking out since our rooms had gotten messed up and there was no way I was going to spend another night on the floor. How did she intend to make it up to me? Never let them tell you that diplomacy does not work because I managed to get 20 bucks per night off the room AND they somehow found us a double queen room in smoking that was ready that very moment. We decided to stay since the only other room I could find available was in non smoking, across town and twice the price.

After Oktoberfest, we lounged around and had a few drinks ( some more than others) and got ready to go see Sunshine at the ER where we drank more. And I do mean more. Sunshine honey, you deserved every bit of that tip plus more. Some guy saw Drifter in his kiss me shirt and went up and kissed him on the cheek at the bar. Good thing the man is a happy drunk and then managed to hang out at our table for most of the rest of the night. Somehow we managed to make it back to our room, crawl in our beds and pass out. Our friends are already wanting to know when we are gonna go back to Tulsa.

Oktoberfest here we come!

2005-10-18T20:37:00.000-05:00

After it taking what seemed like forever to find a room ( so many places are sold out and I am somewhat picky) and lowering my standards somewhat, we have reservations at :
SUPER 8 MOTEL - TULSA 5811 S. 49th West Ave. under Drifter's name if you want to find us and don't have our cell numbers this weekend. Hopefully it is not a flea trap or I will not be a happy camper. We have another couple coming with us and we promised to split the room with them so they could afford to come since his hours have been cut at work. You try finding a place with 2 queen beds in a room. I was about ready to rent 2 kings and pay for it all myself.
Anywho, we will be leaving Friday night and be ready to head out Saturday during the day for Oktoberfest and ER that night if Sunshine is working.

I had said I would update the other day and I got sidetracked. The children are still with the state, the baby has a bad esophagus which makes lying down taking a bottle dangerous and grandma is having a nervous breakdown.

Hope to see you guys this weekend!

Update, kind of

2005-10-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

Well, seems mom and dad were arrested for child neglect. Grandma bailed daddy out of jail but left momma, who apparently tested positive for meth, there. Remember folks, I am getting 2nd and 3rd hand info but these ppl love to talk about anything and everything. Momma says she didn't do meth but they had sprayed her with something at the jail ( probably to delouse her since her kids end up with head lice every other month) and that is why she showed up positive. The landlord bailed her out and kicked the people out who turned her in to DHS. Sounds kinna fishy to me but hey, I am sure it was totally innocent ( riiiiiiiiight). The baby, who is like 3 months old, ended up in the hospital. Apparently, she hasn't seen a doctor since she came home from the hospital weighing less than 5 lbs. They were allowed supervised visitation with the kids and mom paid attn to the oldest one, a boy. The other two, twin girls, she ignored. The baby, of course, was in the hospital and they haven't seen her that I know of. Some people should NEVER EVER EVER BREED!

What a way to end a weekend....

2005-10-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

Drifter had to leave out kind of early so I was at home by myself after 7 last night. I had planned a nice quiet evening of surfing the web and maybe watching a movie. Then the boss calls. Nothing unusual for him to call me on Sunday to ask me a question or something. This time was different. Seems that one of the employees that we had to let go due to lack of work had called him and he wanted me to call her. Her daughter in law used to work for us and her children rode the van to school. DHS had always been kind of watching them because mom is not the best mom in the world. Seems that mom had decided to go out with friends on Sat night and took the 4 children ( 6, 3 yr old twins and an infant) over to the neighbor for her to watch. Somewhere along the line, DHS got called because the children were filty! This is all of the story I have heard so far. Anyway, the cops came out, DHS got called and grandma was driving down as quickly as possible to try and get the babies. I called her to help calm her down and such and to offer moral support. This was about nineish. I finally got a call at midnight that DHS had taken the children - wouldn't let them go with grandma and grandpa. The state now has them. Are they better off than with their parents? I believe they are but grandma would have been a better choice IMO. We shall see how this plays out in the end. Grandma is not handling this well at all. Poor thing.

Hello? Echo?

2005-10-06T19:43:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I am being whiney and self centered so deal with it. Is there anyone who actually reads my blog? Not that it is fundamental to me blogging because it actually helps me to get some stuff off my chest. Drifter doesn't have the link and I don't want him to have it. He would only end up getting his feelings hurt or trying to make things better, etc. Anywho, hello hello hello is there anybody out there?

Busy, busy, busy

2005-10-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

Life has gotten busier lately. Seems every time I turn around, there is something to do. The truck needs some maintenance so we had to go buy tools on Saturday which irks me when I have to spend that kind of money. I know we need them but geez, it still hurts when ya spend 200 bucks and still need more tools. Had a flat on it last night so I had to run go take Drifter some money to get a new one ( got a 50.00 discount for cash) that cost 350 freaking dollars. Maybe that will do it for now as soon as he gets the new thermostats put in. We shall see.

Saturday after tool shopping, we decided to go to a party some friends of ours have every month at the lil lesbian bar. We rented a room down at the Legacy which is 2 blocks away so we could both drink and not have to worry about driving. After relaxing for what seemed like 15 mins, we got ready and went to dinner with our friends, came back then went to the bar. Drifter had a lil too much to drink ( imagine that) and stumbled back to the room around 2 am with our friend Tanya in tow. She was just as drunk. I had already gone back to lie down an hour or so earlier since I had worked half the day before going shopping. Tanya left around 3am when Drifter finally passed out on the bed wearing nothing but his socks ( man, what a sexy look). Got up Sunday and came back home to see if it still existed.

My house is a disaster since I haven't been home that much lately. Almost impossible for me to get motivated when I get home from work. It will just have to stay a mess for now. I have to get to it this weekend since Brian is scheduled to be here sometime next week if the navy gets his paperwork straight. I am actually washing his sheets and stuff right now so he has a clean bed. YAY!

It's gonna be a long night

2005-09-24T21:48:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here posting while we are waiting out the 3rd tornado warning in a little over an hour. Thanks Rita. There is another line of storms south of us that looks like we will get in the middle of the night. Luckily, there is a fire station right down the road from us with a siren. It's not very loud though so I guess if we sleep, it will have to be with the fan off. I fully intend to make the best of it by doing jaeger bombs until I pass out.

I hate paydays

2005-09-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

Not because I don't like getting paid because that would be just stupid. But I am in charge of hours at work. Real simple process - you call my work cell which I very seldom answer early in the mornings, etc when people are clocking in and out. All ya say is " this is Billy Bob, clocking in ( or out)" Simple. I have a time stamp on the voice mails that tells me when you call so that you are credited for all your time. Daily totals are averaged to the nearest 1/4 hour. EVERY payday, someone has a bitch about their hours. If you worked a normal job and forgot to clock in or out, you would not get paid. Simple. So, I put a new rule in effect. I know what time they made their first pickup or last drop off of the day when I do the reconciliations for us to get paid. You get 15 mins before or after. Not too shabby when you think about it unless you are on a long road trip and you just screwed yourself out of 2 hours worth of pay while driving back. Am I being a bitch? Yep, sure am. If you can't remember to clock in or out, at least I am being nice enough to pay you.
Yesterday, our driver that has been there the longest disagreed with the number of hours he was getting paid for. Wanted to know how many hours he was getting screwed out of. Umm, did you clock in and out on a regular basis? I am guessing NO since I am in charge of it and you call your g/f the second you get off work. This man has been nothing but pissy the past few months. You would think that finally getting laid on a regular basis would have made him less pissy but nope. He doesn't realize that his attitude is going to give him plenty of time to spend with new chicky ( unemployed since she just got her degree).

Is the weekend gone already?

2005-09-19T08:04:00.000-05:00

It seems like Friday just got here. I woke up early Saturday morning and went grocery shopping. If you get to the local store before 8, you can usually get some awesome deals on reduced meat. Got some really good sirloin steaks that are for dinner tonight. Drifter was too ill all weekend to worry about wanting steak. We had some left over chops on Friday night and Saturday night we had sandwiches. Last night I broke down and made a big ole pot of chili.

Anyway, so I came back home and started working around the house, washing clothes, doing dishes, etc. We got out and mowed the yard ( or should I say cut some hay) and it looks much better. Long, boring day.

Sunday morning I got up and ran down to WalMart to get a gift card for the baby shower I got invited to attend. Silly me decided to walk over to the baby section and they had this whole end cap full of toddler and baby caps that were on clearance for a buck apiece. I am sooooooooo there! I got one for Mags ( my niece who is 3), Layla ( my friend Chili's new baby) and one for Autumn ( the one due next month). Went and met up with Lucy, drove to go get Chili and Layla then off to the shower! Two hours she opened gifts. Had to pick up Drifter at the truck stop and bring him home. By this time, I just want to sit. Not gonna happen. Baby, I'm hungry. Could you make that pot of chili you were talking about? Sure babe, getting right on it. I finally got him fed and in bed by 10 ( alarm was going off at 1) then I did the stuff I needed to do online like print out reports from our Searcy office. That whole hour sleep I got before the alarm went off was great. I finally went back to sleep and woke up still tired.

Another week down

2005-09-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Boy, have I been quiet all week. Work has been hell ( imagine that) and worrying all week about having enough money for fuel for the big truck. We made it! Got our first check that we actually had money left out of even though it will go mostly for fuel. I owed the boss almost my whole entire paycheck come Thursday. That sucks but he was nice enough to help us get through the week. There might even be some money for groceries this week. Drifter is getting tired of the same thing 3 days in a row but family packs are much cheaper. Maybe tomorrow I will treat him to dinner at someplace decent.
WTF is my neighbor mowing his yard after dark? I know mine needs done desperately but I can't imagine being able to see much in complete darkness.

Boy, am I long winded or what?

2005-09-12T07:52:00.000-05:00

I was looking at my posts and you can't even get all of the last one on the monitor at once. It's Monday, so be careful out there!

Busy day

2005-09-10T21:57:00.000-05:00

I actually slept late ( OK so I went back to sleep after Drifter got up at 5 am after sleeping 12 hours). Boss called and woke me up at 7:30. Grrrr! Then I got out of bed and there is only ONE cup of coffee left. Yep, gonna be a good day. Drank my cup of coffee, did 3 loads of laundry while getting together the snacks for the baby shower. We left around noon and got to the hotel around 2:30 after making a couple of stops. Idiots at the hotel had given them a regular king room so we had to move the bed out ( YAY again). Get all that set up and of course, everyone was late. D got a lot of neat stuff though. Her sister managed to make the 2 hour trip bearing gifts which I am sure she bought herself and put everyone's name on. I am taking D shopping in a couple of weeks to get anything she might need still after the shower. This girl is due in 4 weeks and her sister tells us that they are planning a baby shower for her back home so family and people she went to school with can be there. Umm, you do realize that she is REAL close to her due date, right? You gonna wait until she is in labor to have it. IDIOTS!
We went to dinner with my family ( brother, his two teenage girls, sister, her hubby, their 8 and 3 year olds and my mom). It was one of the niece's birthday parties. I am not a huge fan of Olive Garden in the first place but when they run out of penne on a Sat night and it is on their never ending pasta bowl ( what a joke), you really begin to wonder. Sister got her app at least 10 mins before mom got hers which was at least 10 before we got ours ( see a pattern forming?). Same with the meals. She wanted a refill on her pasta which finally came a good 20 mins after she asked for it. The excuse? They were busy. Not from where I was sitting, they weren't. The tables behind us were empty the entire time we were eating. They brought another group in as we were being given our bills and they had a different server.

Short weeks

2005-09-08T23:01:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I hate short weeks after a holiday. Seems like I am running around trying to get everything done in 4 days instead of 5 when I really needed 6 days to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I love 3 day weekends, I actually get to do nothing at least one day but I don't know if it is worth it in the long run. I finally finished up something yesterday that should have been done the week before but I was out of the office half days driving for Leslie since she had a sick baby at home. Let's also not forget about the one day wasted making plans to go to NO that never materialized. Just one more day then I get to have a whole day off ( if you don't count working on the truck, etc). Saturday is a baby shower for D and then dinner with the family.

D's family really pissed me off yesterday. We had called and invited them to the shower since they are her family. Her mom calls her yesterday to inform her that she could not make it because she had to babysit another daughter's baby while she was at work. I get that they have little money and it is 2 hours away but it broke her heart. Boss man ( and her FIL) told his son to call the mom and offer to send her 50 bucks for gas which he is going to pay for. Son was worried they would not accept it because it was charity. Bullshit! It is OK to break your child's heart but not OK to accept money from someone who wants to see her not be upset? I just don't get it.

Camping, is it worth it?

2005-09-05T18:16:00.000-05:00

We went camping this weekend with 2 other couples. One had already gone down on Thursday and gotten a nice site on one of the islands on Lake Ouachita. Beautiful lake, especially when it is up. Right now, it is about 10 - 15 feet below normal level. Still not bad, just a lil further walk to the campsite from the beach. We met up with another couple and their 9 yr old boy to go down on Sat morning early. Drifter had busted an air bag on one of the trailers Thursday evening so first thing Sat morning, we are off to the truck part store. YAY! I friggen hate that place. They have the prices marked on nothing since they know you need it and will pay whatever they want for it. So, we get the new air bag and head off to Mom's to pick up the boat. We have the wrong plug for the lights. Run to Wally World to get the right one, hook up the lights and off we go! Finally. By now, it is around 10:30 or so but the day is not lost. Get to the lake around noonish and they are waiting for us to show us out to the island. We start to put the boat in the water and someone ( who shall remain nameless but it wasn't me) forgot to put the plug in. Pull it back out, drain the water and put it back in. Won't start. Tries but won't start. Finally starts but then has no power. Great. It gets over the attitude and runs right so we can get out to the island and unpack. Carry stuff up what seems like a mile hill and set up camp. Drifter takes the boat back out to see how it is doing. Comes back and it is flooded. The plug fell out. Get that in, bilge pump doesn't work so we empty it by hand. ( How many 12 ounce glasses does it take to empty 20 gallons?) All in all, the damn thing "sank" 3 times on us all weekend. Still no clue what is up. Got ready to head back today and had to get towed back because it wouldn't start again. This was our first time out in it since getting it fixed and this is how it goes? My brother has taken it out a couple times and apparently no problems. Guess it is grounded until we figure out the problem.

Will we or won't we?

2005-08-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

We received a call at work this morning about getting 1000 people ( guests and employees) of a hotel in New Orleans out to safety. Apparently, they wanted us to bus them anywhere. My boss calls me to tell me this as I am driving down the interstate to deal with the slowest people in the world at the IRP office to get tags on the last trailer. These people make getting your tags renewed speedy. Anywho, I looked down at my feet and started laughing. Here I was possibly going to be leaving for a flooded war zone and I have on the cutest pair of barely there sandals and pastel clothing. Turned out, we didn't have to go because he found a church in Texas that has resources to go get them. We did this for nothing even though we could have gigged them royally. No good deed goes undone though. Boss was looking for something in his desk and found and envelope with over a grand in it that had been there for 2 months. I also have a call into FEMA to offer our services for a not totally exhorbitant amount. So now I am on standby to start packing and head to NO. I don't even own a pair of jeans that fit. My black steel toes are gonna look adorable with capris.

Sleep? Did someone say sleep?

2005-08-30T05:50:00.000-05:00

Obviously, since I am posting this at 3:50 in the morning, I could use some. Saturday, I got a call from the boss saying he was going to need me to be in at 5:15 on Monday morning to help with a baby run! YAY! I was so thrilled ( wipes sarcasm off screen). It wasn't too bad expect I am used to leaving the house at 9 am, not 4:30. Couldn't go to sleep early because I wasn't used to it. I was so tired last night that I laid down at like 8 pm. Phone rings at 8:30. Go to sleep, phone rings at at 10:30 - I don't have to be to work early! Back to sleep again. Alarm goes off at 2 am to get Drifter out of bed and follow him to go fuel the big truck since the card isn't in his name. I am now home and on a capuccino buzz from hell! Here I was looking forward to going back to bed for a few more hours sleep.

Will it ever end?

2005-08-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

This has been the craziest of weeks. On Wednesday, we started taking 15 more kids to daycare. Or we were suppossed to. Of the 15 kids, it turns out only 4 of them either are still in that daycare or were being carried by transportation. Then we get a list of about 30 more kids who need to be transported. We send back in the list of ones we want real fast because it is first come/first serve. Whoever gets it in first, gets the kid. We requested 18 and got 16. These children are scheduled to be at school by 8 Monday morning. At about 4:15, we start getting the faxes telling us to pick up these children. Excuse me???? Do you not think you could have done it a little faster? I had nothing better to do than try and figure out who was going to carry them, etc. The boss took the paperwork home and is gonna work on it Sunday then call the drivers. YAY.

The AC is not working in the big truck and there is a pin messed up that keeps shorting out the brake lights on the trailer. Both have to be fixed this weekend. Drifter was extremely ill last night from the heat but we were a lil more prepared today. Of course, I had to get him up at midnight last night and go with him to fuel up since the card is in my mom's name and I don't think he has ever been mistaken for a female. One more week of this and we should have a paycheck where he can pay cash or use the debit card.

My first blog post!

2005-08-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

Well, since some of you suggested it, I decided to do it.

Today we finally got the IFTA sticker for the truck. It is loaded and ready to go to Tahlequah in the morning. I don't truly know if I am relieved or more stressed out. On the one hand, it is finally going to be moving and making money. On the other hand, we have to keep it going for 10 days before we receive our first check. Most of my paycheck, his last paycheck and money taken off the credit card are tied up. I honestly have no idea what we are going to do if something major goes wrong in the first month. After that, we should have the money to fix it. Remind me again why I said yes to this? We all know how much of a control freak I am.