r@nd0mn3ss

A month or two ago, Bob was innocently looking for some reloading information and had keyed in "lube" and something else. Apparently, this is a not-so-secret code word for all things porn and our HP desktop was inundated with porn. Bob is angry at himself and I can't seem to get him to understand that it could have happened to anyone. I was able to get the virus off but I had to do a full system restore back to day one so we lost all of our pictures, files, updates, programs and other things stored on that computer. Talk about good times! It took TWO full days for that machine to download all of the critical updates. TWO DAYS! Every day I realize one or two more things that I've lost, my resume, my spreadsheet of expenses, cheat sheets on how to do things, recipe cards, Christmas card labels, and the list goes on and on. Luckily, some of my pictures are here on this blog, some are on MySpace, Flickr and FaceBook. Some, not all.

In an effort to not lose any more pictures, I'm going to be more vigilant in posting them here so that I can not worry about them in the future. So, here's a few pics I've taken recently:

Just a random cell phone pic of me. Sometimes I just want to update my web sites with new pics but then I take a picture and realize it wasn't worth my time. LOL

MWH and her Manic Panic blue hair!

Her evil twin... hehehe


Another random pic of me, this one I really like!

A Ladies Who Lunch luncheon during my staycation! What a fun day that was!

Stay tuned, there will be more to come...

greeeeeeeeetings

Nope. I'm not dead. Yet. Though I'm sure there are days when I look it. A lot. Life's been kicking my ass lately and I just don't know what is going to happen from one minute to the next.

Summer is almost over and I'm sitting here wondering what happened to February. Hello? What the hell happened? Where's my Easy Button?

MWH is working at the local bowling alley, she's the hostess with the mostest and she really likes it. Bob found a new job and he's still working 4 days.

I'm still working. Hard, mind you. But I haven't forgotten about my blog and I am hell bent to return to it. My loyal readers have probably left me, all but my lovely Lynne and sweet sister Kindel. The rest, well, gimme a shout, I hope you're still here.

There is a window of opportunity that I may have time this weekend to spend on something for me and if that window remains open, my blog will be top priority. Stay tuned, friends, I'm back.

Whiney Wednesday

Ok, it's now officially Thursday, but I'm half asleep, hacking and gagging from allergies or the swine flu (not sure which is ailin' me) and both my ears are clogged so I'm still kind of behind in everything else so why not whine about missing yesterday?

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, I had a tickle in my throat.... it was coming. I tried to blow it off. I failed. Bob has been sick, extremely sick, since the first week of April. He's hacked, gagged, sweated, chilled, snotted and slept. His ailments are so what I didn't want. Friday, dinner went from my gut to the Marvin's parking lot. Uh oh. Saturday, the air was fresh, the sun was out, it appeared to be a wonderful day to get out and deny any illness..... Yet, Saturday's dinner also made a repeat appearance. Oh how I paid for my Saturday running on Sunday. Sunday, Mother's Day, was spent in my chair, on my bed, stuffy headed, coughing, gagging, but no puking. Which was mostly based on the fact that I barely ate. Bob cooked me breakfast that I'm sure was simply wonderful but I could not smell nor taste. MWH gave me a beautiful card and a new Pandora bracelet (the bracelet was actually bought my my mom since she was sad that Bob nor MWH actually got me anything other than a card). I think I slept through lunch but dinner was Nott's ribeye steaks. Yummmm. I'm sure they were good too, but, I couldn't taste a thing. Sunday night was spent wide awake considering I spent the entire night just focusing on breathing. I'm not sure if Boss Lady was surprised or not when I called her Monday morning to let her know I would not be making her morning coffee. I think there was Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup on Monday but I'm really not sure if it was soup or just yellow water since I have apparently lost all my abilities to do anything other than suck snot. The office welcomed me warmly Tuesday, but every time the phone rang and I answered, whoever was on the other end paused.... then asked "April, is that you?" My voice sounded like, I don't know, just not me. My 19th wedding anniversary was Tuesday and MWH had her Spring chorus concert at the Coleman theater so I had to get out. Mom gave me and Bob a sweet anniversary card with a Montana Mike's gift card in it so that's where we went for dinner. Bob and I split a tasteless, gristly steak. Bob says the taste was actually good but the gristle got the best of both of us. I had a sweet potato and I do think there was one or two bites that I could taste, maybe it was just a memory though. The concert was nice but terribly loud. My ears are still hurting from the volume. My congestion is to the point where you have Charlie Brown ears and all you hear is "waaaaa waaaaaaa waaaaaaa" and they squeak inside. It's terribly painful now. Wednesday was a blur.... I spent the entire day trying to play catch up at work while the Boss Lady was in overdrive. My desk is such a mess. The hall copy table is buried. There are 4 different cases that she filed stuff on yesterday and I have work to do on all of those files. I did cook spaghetti for dinner last night, I did taste a little bit so it must have had decent flavor. Yummmm. I saved the left over pasta and I hope to make something with butter and garlic tonight. Oh, how divine!!!!! I crawled into bed around 9pm, called my friend Susan to let her know of some sad news about a friend who's cancer has returned and isn't doing well and the tornado sirens start going off. Bob, MWH and I spent the next 40 minutes underneath the house in our basement! The sirens went off repeatedly, I think I lost count after about 6 times. Bob called the police department to get the all clear and they said there was another twister sighting in Commerce (about 3 miles away) heading SE (towards us) so we stood our ground even longer. It was after 11pm before I got back into my comfy bed and after midnight before the sandman came along and took me away. I must have passed gas or coughed on him though because he didn't keep me. The clock said 1:47 and I was awake again. It's going to be a long, long day......

I hope my friend Cruella is doing better;
My wonderful sister's been texting me all sorts of funnies and warm fuzzies but I haven't reciprocated, just no energy, I so need to see how she and my sweet nephews are doing;
My awesome friend Retro Kim had surgery last week and is recovering well and that makes me very happy;
The wicked smart Tillie has finished school and I need to send her a congrats but I just can't make myself do it....

My ears hurt, my nose is glogged, my eyes are gunky and I'm tired. I think I'll have another cup of coffee and start my busy day. Wish me luck.

livin' the good life

Yes, it's been a month of Sundays since I posted last. There's been more terribly bad news around my little corner of the world but I refuse to dwell on it here. Life is too short. One good, positive, wonderful thing that happened in the past few weeks is that my amazing friends from Wyoming came to see me and my family for a short visit. Too short if you ask me..... Ugh. Why must I work? LOL Why must I have to NOT devote my life to shopping and merry making?

The last several weeks has been a literal mad rush to get things done before Cruella and the ol' Cody Coyote get here. Bob has been trimming out the windows that we bought, what, three or four years ago, that he finished installing last year but never had time to trim out. Well, all but TWO are now finished. The two that need sanded and stained are in my bedroom and I can live with that. Bob has crawled under the house and jacked up the floor to make it more sturdy (ah, life in an older home.....) and now since he did that I moved my living room furniture so that my entertainment center is not up against a wall. My living room, which is 13 x 35, is now divided better into a family room, a computer area and a dining area. Right after Christmas, my mom gave me her dining room table and chairs and buffet and hutch. She bought the set in 1985 or so and it's not the top of the line but it's held up for the past few decades and still looks nice. I think it looks fantastic in my home and I really do enjoy having the set here. It really feels like home here now. So we've been doing a crap load of home improvements lately in addition to the frenzied cleaning regiment that has just completely unnerved me. I like a little bit of clutter and dust. If there isn't dust then I'm just not sure I'm home. Helloooooooo, you can't cold turkey me with a clean house!!

So, Cruella and the ol' Cody Coyote get here Wednesday evening and we have a wonderful dinner and some great conversation. Thursday, Cruella and I went to Joplin and did a little mall crawl and hit Sam's where we bought some of the best shrimp you can buy in bulk. LOL Cruella introduced me to Pandora and I fear that my life will never be the same again. She bought a bracelet for me and even gave me several amazingly beautiful charm beads and now I am hooked!! Oh, I love me some European silver!! The charms are just so cute!! I love (and have!!) the rabbit, the easter egg, the snake, the love bokay, the amazingly beautiful One World Health charm and the precious heart lock and key to name a few. Even thought there are several charms on my bracelet, there are still a ton of charms on my wish list and I'm so glad my birthday and anniversary are coming up soon!! I can't believe how sweet, kind and generous Cruella is to me!! I truly don't deserve a friend like her! Friday we trinkey dinked around town, found the local Pandora dealer, Goforth Jewelry, and tried to build our energy levels up for Tulsa!! Even though we stayed close to home, we still enjoyed ourselves immensely!! Saturday we went to Tulsa and hit a ton of Pandora shops where Cruella and I added some charms to both her bracelet and mine!! While I was driving, I called several Pandora dealers in Oklahoma and I found her a retired strawberry (they only had one though) that Cruella really wanted to find. In the shops in Tulsa we found retired dice and 8-balls for each of us. Cruella spied an ugly duckling before I did and I am sooooooooo jealous!! I seriously wanted that one, oh well, we found that one, surely there are more. We had lunch at PF Chang's with our hubbies who were in Tulsa too spending the day at the gun show. After lunch, we hit more Pandora shops and the mall where Miss Whineyhiney failed in finding clothes for her Key Club convention. Ugh, that kid is the hardest to shop for!! We hit The Cheesecake Factory for dinner and I had the BEST crispy artichoke hearts and MWH ordered a salisbury steak and a kahlua, coffee, mocha cheesecake that she ended up wearing because we fought over a few bites. LOL I won, of course!!!!! Sunday I cooked breakfast burritos, read my Sunday papers and we went BACK to Joplin for another mall crawl (MWH was still searching for clothes!).

Sadly, Monday came and my friends went home and I went back to work. *sniff, sniff, tear, tear* They're home now and I'm sad to see them leave..... So much fun, so little time. I can only hope we are able to head that way this summer! Weeeeeeeeeeee, more adventures!!!!!

Phelps

Yesterday, during my lunch hour, KSYN 92.5's DJ was discussing Michael Phelps and he made a comment about how Snoop Dogg gets photographed doing drugs all the time and I lost it. While I'm not an Olympian or even an Olympic fan, I find the Olympic spirit and drive of these athletes to be just damn near divine. They spend years in training for a stupid little hunk of gold that means something to them, to their families, to their country. So, I don't laugh at it, I just basically ignore the Olympics and go on. Whatever floats your boat. I do sometimes watch the gymnastics simply because there is nothing else on, but that's about it. Oh, I do laugh at the runners too because sometimes their faces and lips contort to the most amusing configurations while they're running.

So, here's my opinion on the Phelps scandal:

Phelps spent years honing his skill. He earned 8 GOLD medals, if memory serves, he's received 14 total in the recent Olympics and 8 more in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He worked his ass off. He came home an American hero, an icon, and resumed life, returned to college. I don't know what happened, if he was bored, stupid, rebelling or what but he was at college party and took a hit out of a bong. Generally, I think drugs are stupid and I stand by this whole heartedly, but if you're 18 (Phelps is 23) and choose to do them that's your stupidity. Obviously he chose this path, and now Kelloggs, one of his endorsers, is chosing not to renew his endorsement contract because his behavior wasn't "consistent with the image of Kellogg". Now, supposedly he was not going to be re-signed because of a change in Kelloggs ability to use the Olympic rings in their advertising but they chose this time to publicaly separate from Phelps which to me was immature and I feel is terribly cowardly. Let's take the golden boy while he's hot but one screw up and let's drop him like he's got ebola. Keep in mind, folks, that Phelps had a record prior to Kelloggs endorsing him, he pled guilty to drunk driving in 2004 and received 18 months probation. So it's not like he was walking around with a spotless record prior to their signing him.

My final point is that no one is acknowledging whether or not he's passed a urine test since this drama began. Hello?! Is his piss clean now? If so, slack up already!! If not, shame on Kelloggs for not trying to get this young man into a treatment program.

I do believe that Kelloggs sugar laden cereals and other products won't be on my shopping list for some time.....

Subway and Omega (watches) are continuing their support and endorsement of Phelps and I think that's wonderful.

I do think that Columbia, South Carolina's local law enforcement needs to investigate this incident and pursue criminal charges against Phelps and anyone else at the party for use of a narcotic and for paraphenalia, etc.

Make the punishment fit the crime, folks.

I'm such a Twit(ter)

Since I have (a) unlimited text and (b) a vast amount of angry "why haven't you blogged lately" friends, I have decided to become a Twit(ter). I don't know how well I'll keep it up (aaaaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) but hey, it's worth a shot. So, if you're a Twit too, please let me know so I can stalk, er, um follow you......... Look for me on Twitter as, wouldn't you know it, aproka425.

Ch-ch-changes....... turn the beat around!

How does that song go?


So, in the last millennium since I've blogged, a lot has changed.


My perfect child has turned 15.


My husband has gone and returned on his long awaited for Colorado Elk Hunt.


I took a mini-vacation.


I've had an erection.


MWH found a real, paying job.


Miss Whineyhiney competed in her first, second and third MHS Swim Meet.


I've found a new (old) job.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years came and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years went......

And our nation has elected a new Commander in Chief. I didn't vote for him.


You all hear November 4th and think "election day" but no, not in my house. November 4th is my daughter's birthday. It used to be my mom's birthday but in 1993 it stopped being HER birthday and became Miss Whineyhiney's. My mother will remain 38. Forever.


MWH got a Chi flat iron from her 'rents. She's in flat haired heaven. We also let her have a party at the local Holiday Inn Express where she could invite all of her wonderful friends plus One. One knows who he is 'cause he's the token male. Actually, he's hilarious and I'm glad he's in her life. One's girlfriend couldn't come to the party though so it was a little odd, but we all had a great time (no he did NOT spend the night, he went home at a decent hour). The hotel party was insane. The girls ran on the tread mill until their feet were smooth as a baby's butt. Seriously, they were all checking the smoothness of their feet the next day. Ah, kids......


Bob went to Colorado with a co-worker and friends. He stayed in a little cabin that was probably nice in the 1960's but now, well, not so much. They didn't even have telephones. He didn't have cell service either. He called home twice, collect. The bill for those two calls alone was $92.50. That was JUST. FOR. THE. TWO. COLLECT. CALLS. Seriously people. Never call me collect. Even if you're dead, I'm not going to accept. Ever.

So the erection bit is about Bob's new shop. While he was in Colorado, we had a building erected. When I say we, I mean I. It took three men seven hours to put the shop up and while there was a great deal of drama about it all afterwards, it was still a seven hour erection. Yes, a lot of hilarity ensued when I told people I had an erection while my hubby was hundreds of miles West of me hunting for elk. Ah, good times......

I also went back to the ol' BossLady. I don't mean she's OLD, I mean she's my former employer, that kind of ol'. So glad to be back, so glad to be doing bankruptcies again. Such a stress reliever to be away from my old job and the drama.

Lastly, (I know I'm forgetting something though) I need to chime in on the whole Obama thing. I voted for McCain. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I didn't want the big O in the office simply because he was inexperienced. I stand by that to this day. I don't think he has a clue about the big pile of steaming shit he's stepped into. The media elected this man by way of a marathon of infomercials. He's in, I'm fine with that, whatever, but I'm chapped at how everyone talks about how he's black. Hello, his mother is white, he was raised by his maternal *white* grandparents. It's wrong to call him black. I do find it hilarious though how the government is trying to downplay his Hussein though...... At the inauguration, he was first introduced as Barrack Hussein Obama, then Barrack H. Obama, then Barrack Obama. What next? The big B.O.? Haaaaaa haaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa.

I'm not slamming the president, I hope he does a good job, I just don't think he's experienced enough to do it. I do think his wife is interesting though. I like how she has continued to keep one foot stuck in reality, such as wearing J Crew gloves at the inauguration.

My sister and many of my friends have asked, texted and threatened me about blogging so here you go, it's not perfect but it's me.