On Hiatus

I am on hiatus...

from blogging for awhile. I guess you could say that I have blogging burnout and writer's block so I'm just going to lay low and try writing later on. Have a great summer!

 

 

Later

I have been...

very, very, bad with posting these past few months, but you can only write about boring mundane stuff about life until you get bored with writing it. There has been something that I've been meaning to write about for awhile, but I kept forgetting. I've been aiming to write about two fun sites that I have found. The first site I found thanks to Val at Mulewings. LetterPop. It's a fun site where you can create newsletters using premade templates. The second site I discovered thanks to Caffeinated Librarian. Shelfari. I really have fun with this site. It's a place where you create an online bookshelf of the books you own. You can find others that also share in the same books that you have. Take a few minutes and check them out.

Later

Okay, let's see...

Since my last posting, my monitor finally went bellyup, so I was a few days without a computer. Wyrm pretty much stays on his playing World of Warcraft. I just didn't bother getting on his. Tuesday was Wyrm's and CR's birthdays (35 and 16). We celebrated on the Sunday before it with a cookout. CR got 2 computer games (that he couldn't play due to the monitor crises) and Wyrm got the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon series. When Tuesday rolled around, I was all ready for work when Wyrm came to me saying that he wanted to call in. He didn't have to twist my arm very much. We both ended up playing hookey from work and went to Owensboro for the rest of the afternoon. Wyrm spent his birthday money that he got from his parents on D&D books while I purchased a reasonably priced monitor at Office Depot. It was a very nice monitor that came to a total of $158. It also came with a $100 rebate that I hope will be accepted. It would be really nice to get $100 back. Once we got home I got busy along with CR's help and hooked up the new monitor. CR was excited so I let him play his new games for awhile before I got on it to check my email. Later on that night I found a nice surprise in my inbox. A friend of mine from elementary school had sent me photos of her newborn son. I was thrilled for her. As for any more news, it seems like work has managed to straighten out the water problem. Here's to hoping the water problem stays fixed, and they soon stop posting to work on Saturdays.

Later

Actually written on Thursday, April 5...

Such is the annoyance of things mechanical. Last night as I was in the middle of discovering a new thingy to play with on my blogs (thanks to Hack MSN Spaces) my monitor goes completely dark yet the computer is still on. This has been happening off and on for the past few days. Not sure if it is the video card or the monitor itself on the fritz. Good thing that I was just surfing and not in the middle of typing my blog entry. That would have severely angered me to have been in the process of typing my thoughts down and not be able to save. So now I have resorted back to the old fashioned method of jotting down my thoughts with pen and paper. So let us begin...

In continuance of my mundane and non exciting life, some interesting things have popped up for the past two weeks. I have been working sporadically due to a water problem. Last week I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I woke Thursday and discovered that production had been called off for my shift. That was a lovely and unexpected surprise. I enjoyed the day be getting my hair cut and ordering our supper from the cafe. Wyrm enjoyed his day with getting his hair cut or should I say shaved. He is nearly bald.

Friday I woke expecting to go into work, but again production was called off for my shift. Wyrm however got called in for a few hours. On Monday both of us went into work to hear that we would only be working half a shift. I clocked out around 6:30 PM but had to wait for Wyrm till about 8:30 PM. For Tuesday and Wednesday, my shift was the only one running and now work was canceled yesterday for everyone. Who knows about Friday. I will have to set my alarm to get up and call HR to find out if we are running. I'm loving the time off but my paycheck is hurting. Ouch!

The lowdown on my sister is that all of the tests that she had done have come back negative. She's in good health. Her neurologist seems to think that one of her medications that she's been on may be the culprit of her spells she's been having. She's off the medication now and her mind and ours are at ease.

I got a wonderful surprise while grocery shopping at Wal-Mart last weekend. As I was walking down the aisles looking for an item, I saw a young girl that seemed familiar to me. She looked so much like the photo of my friend, Karen's, daughter. I decided to keep the girl in my sights. After I was done shopping and heading to the checkouts, I saw the young girl again at the jewelry counter. I made my way slowly past a display stand and lo and behold there was Karen. I almost didn't recognize her with her recently dyed red hair (she's a blonde). We hugged and laughed and were chatterboxes until I absolutely just had to go. As much as I hated to leave, I had no choice. The ice cream I had picked up was starting to melt. I was so elated after that. Nothing could have dampened my spirits then.

Well that's been the happenings here so far. Since I haven't been very good at keeping up with my posting, it may be a few days before I write again.

---

Update:

My monitor went completely out before I could get a chance to get this typed and posted. It happened while CR was in the middle of a computer game. Thanks to his expertise (he got so mad he started banging on the monitor and the video popped back in) the monitor is working again and hasn't given us any trouble. Also I'm off again due to work being canceled due to the water problem. Will have to call tomorrow to see if I go in or not.

Later

Book Meme

I borrowed this sometime ago from Caffeinated Librarian and it's been sitting in my saved file so here ya go finally. I guess better late than never.

1. Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? I guess from all of the Star Wars novels that I have you could say that I prefer Science Fiction.
2. Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback? I don't have a certain preference. I have an abundance of paperback along with some hardcover and a few trade.
3. Amazon or Brick and Mortar? I love Amazon. It's one of my favorite online shopping places.
4. Barnes & Noble or Borders? Actually I have to say Books-A-Million.
5. Hitchhiker or Discworld? Neither
6. Bookmark or Dogear? I would never dogear my books. I'm very fickle with them. I have to use a bookmark and insist on anyone who borrows my books to use a bookmark.
7. Magazine: Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction? I would have to say fantasy and science fiction since I've never heard of the previous.
8. Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? Actually my Star Wars novels used to organized chronologically according to the Star Wars timeline and the other are organized according to series and such. That was preZoloft. Now that are in disarray on the bookshelf.
9. Keep, Throw Away or Sell? Never ever throw away a book. I usually keep all of mine. I can't seem to part with any of them.
10. Keep dust-jacket or toss it? I have to keep the dust jacket.
11. Read with dust-jacket or remove it? I usually read with the dust jacket on. It irritates me when my hubby removes the dust jacket and leaves it lying around.
12. Short story or novel? Novel
13. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I have all in the series and am eagerly awaiting for the final book to be released in July. I have never read any of the Lemony Snicket. It's something that I may look into since we have the movie and I enjoyed it.
14. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I have to stop at chapter breaks. It's a quirky thing with me.
15. "It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time?" Once upon a time. I love fairy tales.
16. Buy or Borrow? Buy
17. Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? I usually just browse.
18. Lewis or Tolkien? I loved the movies of both books. We have Tolkien.
19. Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? I have a few of both.
20. Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? I have to have the tidy ending. Cliffhangers get on my nerves.
21. Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? With the way my shift is it is mostly nighttime reading.
22. Standalone or Series? I actually like both
23. New or used? I guess you could say this is the OCD in me, but I have to have new. There's nothing like the smell and feel of a new book and to flip through the pages the first time.
24. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? That's a hard one. I guess you could pick one of my Star Wars novels.
25. Top 5 favorite genre books of all time? Not sure what this means exactly, but favorite genres are science fiction, self help and self teaching
26. Currently Reading? Not currently reading anything at the moment.

Okay, so I've been...

very bad about keeping up with posting, but in all honesty, there hasn't really been anything of major earth-shattering importance to write about. Along with that, I haven't been in a writing mood lately or in the mood to sit at the computer for that matter. I've been spending my time just goofing off with CR and relaxing. So here's the lowdown for this month of March.

So far we haven't heard from my sis about her checkups. She had to go to the hospital for some tests to be run (I believe it was last week) and then those results would have to be sent to the neurologist to look over before he would call her back in. We're just waiting right now. She called me up a couple weekends ago and wanted me to go with her to a baby shower that someone from her work asked her to go to. The only person she would know there would be that co-worker and I knew how she would feel so I agreed to go. We both enjoyed that Sunday out.

Mom's been down in her back here lately. Bless her heart. The woman is like the energizer bunny. She just keeps going and going. She just can't keep still and has to be doing something. I believe it's getting better now though.

CR signed up for his junior classes on the 15th. He should get all that he requested with him going into the 11th grade. It's looking like he will be taking English 11, Basic Geometry, Chemistry in the Community, Advanced Placement European History, Driver's Ed, Business Law, and Spanish I and II. I can't believe he will be turning 16 next month. My gosh! Where has the time gone? I feel so old. LOL!

After a couple of days of not having the Internet (our modem went out and we had to get a new one), I found a surprise in my email. I received a notice that someone had sent me a note on Classmates. I went over to Classmates to see who this person was and it turns out it was a friend from my grade school years. After my father died when I was 13, mom, sis, and I had to move and I lost out on finishing school with my friends. Some of us kept up with letter writing through our high school, but we eventually lost touch with each other. After getting the Internet I decided to search for them and used Classmates to find them all. Well life got in the way again and I lost touch with some of them. Until now. She let me know that she had a MySpace profile and I found her. Meet Karen, my friend since we were little things. We've been emailing back and forth getting reacquainted again and this time I'm not going to lose touch with her.

Work sucks major butt right now. We have a new supervisor and he's a slave driver. He's so into kissing his boss' butt and trying to make himself look good that the rest of us are paying for it with being overworked. He's making it very hard to go into work everyday. Wyrm and I are looking into other options though that are becoming available this week.

Well that's been all that's been going on this month.

Later

Wow! Has the week...

went by already? I managed to actually get 40 hours for this week so my paycheck will look somewhat better next. Hopefully I will be able to get caught up on those couple of bills that I got behind on.

The weather here has been completely crazy. One day this week it was almost as if spring was coming in. The temps were in the 50's and the sounds that let me know spring is here were plentiful. Music wafting out of windows that were rolled down in vehicles as they drove by, and the constant hustle and bustle that picks up at this time of year. Only it didn't last. The very next day we were under tornado watches and thunderstorms aplenty. Now we're back to the cold temps. Sigh. I'll be glad when spring gets here and actually stays.

My apologies once again. I didn't get around to writing those posts that I had planned to. The day gets away from me on the weekends and during the week I basically come home and go to bed. Okay I take that back. I don't just go to bed. Thanks to my hubby I've become addicted to Sudoku and usually work a couple of puzzles before getting sleepy enough to curl up under the covers.

Someone asked sometime ago on my sister and how she was doing. Well, she ended up calling her family doctor and demanded to know exactly what those abnormalities were that showed up on her MRI of her brain. The nurse reluctantly told her that it was two lesions on her brain. We're worried. Took had her appointment with a neurologist on Monday this past week. We still don't know anything but he did take vials of blood for bloodwork to be done. She has another appointment, but I can't remember exactly when. It's sometime this month. She's coming down for a visit tomorrow. CR is excited. He loves it when she comes over for a visit.

That's my week in a nutshell.

Later

Blogher Conference '07: A World of Difference

Have you ever been sitting at your computer blogging and wondered to yourself, "it would be so neat to actually meet some of my favorite bloggers"? Well hang on to your keyboards and get ready because coming July 27-28 you can have that opportunity. Blogher's A World of Difference 2007 conference will kick off in Chicago, Illinois that weekend. Events and seminars are still being planned at this time, but for now, you can visit Blogher's postings: Blogher '07: Theme, Programming Tracks and a Call for Ideas and Blogher '07: Look Out, Chicago! Location, Hotels and Buttons to read up on the seminars planned so far, hotel locations, and buttons to advertise. This is a big event for bloggers and last years conference went over very well in which Mocha Momma was an attendee and has the photos to show how much fun she had while there. To find out more about last year's conference click over to Blogher '06 Conference News to read the all of the posts of note and discover how much fun you could possibly have at this year's conference.

Tracks that have been scheduled so far include:

"Art of Life Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Kalyn Denny and Jenny Lauck

This track will be devoted to the passions about which so many of us blog...food, art, photography, crafts, knitting, writing, poetry, music and more.

Business of You Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Jan Kabili and Lena West

This track will be devoted to personal and business advancement. We expect to discuss speaker and media training, self-branding and promotion, mentoring, turning your blog into a book or a business, and perhaps even managing your time, your finances, your blogging policies and practices...the business of you.

Community Track (1-day) Co-chair: Nancy White

This track will explore the care and feeding of communities. Possible topics include building bridges between local for-profit and non-profit companies, continuing the discussion of community assistance and relief programs that was kicked off at Blogher '06, how to galvanize social change with your blogs, and wherever else the Blogher community leads us!

Identity Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Jory Des Jardins and Liz Henry

This track is about both the immutable and the dynamic aspects of our lives. Race, gender, age, sexuality, parenting, singledom, faith...many of us blog about who we are, not what we do, and this track will explore your many facets.

Politics Track (1-day) Co-chair: Lisa Stone

While Election '08 coverage and the drive to register women voters would be enough ground to cover, we're also looking to expand the Politics track beyond the U.S...should we be talking about the politics of war, about gender equity worldwide, about how different regions of the world are drawing women into the political process? You tell us.

Technical Track (2-day) Co-chairs: Barb Dybwad and Nelly Yusupova

We're calling in some gurus to help us build two days of Deeply Geeky content. Last year we covered audio, video, photography, tagging, HTML & CSS, SEO and more acronyms galore. What should we focus on this year?

In addition to the tracks above we will have some general sessions, plus some alternative spaces, like an Internet Cafe and a Collaborative Workspace. We are also considering adding an optional Sunday half-day unconference, sort of a "BlogHerCamp" and would love your feedback on that. Let us have it!"

Blogher is also asking for ideas:

The Call for Ideas

So, now is the time to start sending us your submissions. You have until March 16th.

What we're looking for:

-Session ideas. Anything from a line or two to a full session abstract or proposal will be accepted. And you can submit an idea even if you don't want to be considered as a speaker for it. -Speaker ideas. Again, we're happy to have you propose yourself, or recommend someone else.

How to submit:

Please submit via email to me and to the co-chairs for the appropriate Track. Please use [BlogHer 07 Submission_Track Name] in the subject line to help us organize.

Emails:

Every submission should go to: Elisa Camahort: elisa at blogher dot org

plus

Art of Life Co-chairs: Kalyn Denny: kalynskitchen at comcast dot net Jenny Lauck: mizzjenny at gmail dot com

Business of You Co-chairs Jan Kabili: kabili at saga2 dot com Lena West: blogher2007 at xynoMedia dot com

Community Co-chair: Nancy White: nancyw at fullcirc dot com

Identity Co-chairs: Jory Des Jardins: jory at blogher dot org Liz Henry: lizzard at bookmaniac dot net

Politics Co-chair: Lisa Stone: lisa at blogher dot org

Technical Co-chairs: Barb Dybwad: barb at weblogsinc dot com Nelly Yusupova: nelly at cgim dot com

Does it sound enticing yet? If so, start saving those greenbacks for hotel reservations (There are 3 hotel options available ranging from $27.80/night up to $209/night).

Keep an eye out on Blogher for more info as it becomes available.

Well, I just woke...

from a lovely 3 hour nap. Rainy weather like today makes for good napping and that is what I just did. We are getting our fair share of rain since it's been going on since morning. I'm not complaining though. I've had enough of winter and those temps in the 50's this past week was wonderful. I'm eager for spring to get here.

Talk about surprises. The wardens at work have decided to be generous now and let us work on Monday. People are talking that maybe we will get 40 hours this week. Hah. I say you wait. They'll post it about Thursday that we won't work Friday. This getting less than 40 hours on my paycheck really bites. Especially since now I've got that bankruptcy garnish coming out every week.

I've got something interesting tidbits to blog about (or they're interesting to me at least) later so look for some posts coming up.

Later

This week has been...

kind of hectic for us. Tuesday mom woke me early to let me know that CR was having ear pain. He had been dealing with a sore throat over the weekend. I woke Wyrm so he could get dressed, and we headed out to Multicare. This was at 7:30 AM. Luckily at that hour the waiting area was kind of empty so we were seen to rather quickly. The doctor said that his ears weren't red, but they did have fluid in behind them. His sore throat was red but didn't look infected. All she gave us was some samples of an antihistamine to dry up his sinuses. After getting home his other ear started hurting. Both ears are fine now, but his sinuses are still stopped up and he can hardly hear. He just went back to school yesterday. With President's Day on Monday, he has a 3-day weekend to rest up.

On Monday I had called my lawyer to let him know that my employer has cut back on our hours so I'm not bringing home a 40 hour paycheck. My lawyer had told me before that if there were any changes in my finances or if I am behind on bills to let him know. Well that's what I did, and the receptionist clearly said that she would leave him a note. I received a call later that afternoon informing me to stop by and pick up some papers. I thought that it was some type of paperwork to fill out to reassess my financial situation. Wednesday was when I was able to stop by his office. The papers that I was supposed to pick up wasn't what I thought they were. Instead I was picking up my checkstubs, bills, and tax returns that my lawyer needed. When I asked about my phone call that I had made and explained my situation, at first I was told there was nothing that could be done, but when I said I was doing exactly what my lawyer told me to do, this lady changed her tune and proceeded to tell me a bunch of crap. To make this long story short, I explicitly gave my opinion and walked out. Man was I mad! Since I am off, yet again, on Monday, I am planning on calling my lawyer again only this time I'm going to insist on talking to him directly.

For Wednesday, Wyrm and I had both signed up to take the TABE test. The downside to this was we had to be there at 8:30 AM. Of all nights to toss and turn, I went in to take the test on only 4 hours of sleep. Ugh. I left feeling confident over the reading, mathematics, and language sections. The applied mathematics section was a different story. I was sure that I had done terrible. At one point I threw down my pencil and was just going to give up, but Wyrm encouraged me to finish. We left from there and went on into work. Oh, did I say that I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before? I was really tired by the time Wyrm and I got home. I had no trouble falling asleep that night.

For Thursday, I had an appointment to get my prescription for my Zoloft. The doctor that I was seeing previously went to another area. After using up the refills I had left on her slip, I then had to get busy and find someone else that would fill my prescription. After that visit, Wyrm and I left to pick up our test scores. I was thrilled to see that I had done very well. I even did okay with the section that I thought I did terrible on. Even Wyrm did well on his test.

There were no appointments scheduled for Friday so I got to sleep a little longer, and I plan on catching up on sleep this weekend.

That's my week in a nutshell

Later

Here's a quick rundown...

of how things have went this past week. Wyrm and I finally got over being sick and returned to work on Thursday just to find the posting that our shift would not be working on Monday. Makes for a sucky paycheck. Right now I'm having to juggle bills since they've started garnishing my check for my bankruptcy. Ironic how everything wants to just hit me all at once.

Right now I believe that Wyrm is looking into a management position at another plant near where we live. I've typed up his resume for him and we're working on getting the phone numbers and addresses of some people that we think would be good references. We also have scheduled to take the TABE test that they require on Wednesday. Bad thing is that we have to be there at 8:30 AM. Ugh. Not good time for testing, but what can we do when that is all that's available to us.

Have an appointment to pick up my meds today at 11:15 AM before we head into work. We are going to be two tired individuals for two days.

Later

Ugh. Wyrm and I...

have had a rough weekend. It began Thursday night on the way home from work. Wyrm was having to run to the bathroom and it only go much worse when we got home. Luckily for some strange reason work decided to let our shift off for Friday so Wyrm spent the biggest part of that day in the bathroom on the toilet and hugging the trash can. By Saturday he was starting to feel somewhat better but was still kind of drained. Late Saturday night I started feeling weird and by around 6:00 Sunday morning I knew what I was in for. I spent the biggest part of Sunday sicker than a dog until late that evening. Monday Wyrm decided that it may be best for us to visit Multicare and get documentation that we were off that day. As I got up to get ready I discovered that CR was still home instead of at school. Apparently he started the bathroom visits early that morning. So the three of us headed out to Multicare for an approximate 2 hour wait before we were called back. This ick is really going around. Basically it's a virus just as I had thought. The doctor wrote us off till Wednesday to give us time to rest up and hopefully get back into eating.

Today I spent resting. I am so tired it feels as if my legs don't want to hold me up. Tomorrow I will be home for a doctor's appointment so that will give me another day to get my strength back. So far we are all back into eating. Just nothing really greasy or fried. Hope your weekend was much better than mine.

Later

There is one question in my life...

that I have contemplated over and over and still do not have an answer. What is my life path or purpose in life? Do you ever think about this question? I have thought about it off and on over the years but have really been thinking hard these past few. I have the book The Purpose Driven Life and started reading it but never finished. I have a bad habit of that. You know the "starting something and then not finish it". It's a constant rumbling in the back of my brain that doesn't let up, "what am I supposed to be doing?" I don't believe that my life goal was to be working at a dead end job paying off a bankruptcy for the next five years. In fact I know that's not what I should be doing. Deep down in my soul I know that there is something that I am supposed to be doing with my life, but I just can't seem to figure it out.

They say that usually you should do something that interests you. Well, writing, reading, playing around on the computer and Internet, video games, and photography are what interests me. Now what could I possibly turn into a career with those interests. I've tried studying photography under the NYIP courses, but alas never finished. The same with web design under Penn Foster Career School. I blame my work for not having the motivation. It's extremely hard for me to concentrate with the hours that I keep. My brain usually stays clouded and exhausted which causes me to have problems concentrating. I enjoyed both courses very much. I actually enjoyed the web design course more so. That is one thing that I had thought of. I would very much love to go back to school and study web design. With my working hours though that is just not possible.

I love to write. Words often dance in my head and I must put those "steps" down on paper. It's normally in the form of poetry although I have tried writing stories. Again everything falls under the "I start something but don't ever finish it". It would be interesting to try something freelance, but I don't know exactly what that would be or even where to look. I've toyed with the idea of trying to come up with my own online magazine about blogging. Wow two interests that I love doing. I also feel that this could be something that I would feel passionate about. My lack of confidence in myself holds me back on this one. It would seem a daunting task for me to take on by myself and I could ask people if they would want to jump on the magazine bandwagon with me, but I don't have the funds to pay said people for their time and service. Also, what would I write about, how would I come up with the design, etc, etc, etc. Doubts surround me enough that I would not attempt this.

So what's left for me to do? Do I stay working at a dead end job that leaves me wanting so much more for myself? I don't know. I'm hoping that maybe the thing that I am supposed to be doing with my life will somehow just fall from the sky right into my lap, and if that happens I plan to grow me a money tree right in my back yard. So now I pose the question to you. Do you ever wonder what your life path or purpose in life is to be?

Later

Have you ever read something...

knowing that it would probably be in your best interest if you didn't click on a link but curiosity got the better of you and you just clicked anyway? Well while blogwalking the other night, I stopped at Caffeinated Librarian's to read what she had been up to. I read her entry on "The Freaky Side of Harry Potter" and just had to see what the deal was with those photos on Mugglenet (Click at your own discretion. Nearly nude photos of Dan Radcliffe) Ack! I will never be able to watch another Harry Potter movie or read another Harry Potter book without those images being embedded in my brain.

Speaking of Harry Potter. I am happy to hear that July 21 is the release date of Book 7 in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I have been eagerly waiting for the next book to read what happens. I'm also slightly disappointed. Once I am through reading the book I will be finished as this is the last book in the series. I've come to adore the characters that J. K. Rowling has created and will miss reading about their adventures.

Later

I am in...

a bum mood right now thanks to my hubby, Wyrm. I won't go into details with it cause it's a sore spot right now, but I wish there was some what that I could get my point across and be heard.

Geez it's cold. Right now it's 11 degrees outside. I just wanted some snow not freezing cold.

My sis is having some problems right now. She's been having some odd kind of dizzy spells and slurring her words. She went to her family Dr. who ordered an MRI. She called mom on Monday to tell us the results. The tests came back showing some abnormalities in her brain and she has already been set up to see a neurologist sometime in February. My poor sis is upset and scared.

Just wanted to jot something down. I wish I didn't have writer's block or whatever this funk is that I am in. I'm off to bed.

Later

It's that time of the month...

where I have been awarded my W-2s from my employer after waiting patiently. Now it's time for Uncle Sam to hold out his hand and I being the good little US citizen dutifully hand over my time and a few brain cells and file those annoying tax returns. This year I'm doing something totally different. Wyrm and I usually just head over to our tax preparers and just let them handle the hassle while we shell out about $200 of those precious dollars of our refund. Not this time. I decided to follow a link I found on my local news website about free filing for federal returns and bravely go where I have not gone before. Doing my own taxes. My eyes sincerely hate me for doing this. They are dry and really irritated. My federal returns were no problem. Whiz bang! I was done and proud of myself. Now my Kentucky state returns were not so simple. No. My state had to be difficult and cause me to have a brain meltdown. It wouldn't have been so bad if the website's software would have just simply added our state tax withholding to our KREDA. I shockingly discovered that it didn't when I got to the end and in red letters it told me that we owed the state. "What! I don't freaking think so!". Especially after so many years we have received refunds albeit small ones, but it's still money back in our pockets. After experimentation of where to put the KREDA amount and talking to an online CSR on IM (and even they couldn't help me, it had to be referred to their administrator), I decided to go with my initial idea of putting the amount in a certain area and just be done with it. In the end it came out with us getting that refund and all of my information that I typed in for the W-2s is correct. Hopefully I won't get audited. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Later

I'm just going to...

ramble a bit here before I head off to bed for the night. I don't know what has happened to my writing mood lately. It's as if it just got up and went. The fact that I honestly don't have anything to write about doesn't help matters either.

I am really wanting to see some snow accumulation before spring gets here. It seems like all of my snow has went to Texas, Colorado, and Arizona of all places. Mind you I don't want near as much as Colorado has gotten, but a few inches will suffice.

It's off to bed for me.

Later

Yesterday was the day...

of the dreaded bankruptcy hearing. Although in actuality it really wasn't that bad, except for the fact that for the next five years my paycheck will be seriously whacked. Only myself to blame there.

Wyrm and I rose to the sound of the alarm going off at 7:00 AM. Er, scratch that. We really rose at about 7:20 AM after me hitting the snooze button twice. We left the house at 8:00 AM to a wonderful surprise of our gray skies spitting snow flurries. On our trek I was bombarded with questions concerning what would be taking place once we get there, exactly how do we get there, who do we see, where exactly do we go? Huh? How was I supposed to know? Because this was my hearing was the response. Back and forth we went until I explained to him that all I knew was what was on the papers provided to me by my lawyer's office and that wasn't much. We arrived and what seemed like just a few minutes it was already over. Good.

We then left the federal building and headed our way to the mall. Sometime earlier Wyrm had reserved a copy of World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade expansion pack collectors edition and as luck would have it yesterday was its release. The reservation was made before all of this bankruptcy was taking place so I was wondering how to pay for this without having to just forget it. Luckily after some scrounging, I managed to find some Gamestop gift cards that I had put away and forgotten about. We left that store with his game, strategy guide for his game, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for CR without paying any money. Oops minus the $10 down. That was it. The cards completely covered everything. I was happy.

When we got home it was naptime for me. I only meant to sleep for just a couple of hours and be awake when CR came home from school, but that bed felt so good and warm after being out in the chill I ended up sleeping till around 5:00 PM. I then spent the rest of my time with him.

Yes, I am still being lax on posting. Here lately I just haven't been in a writing mood of sorts or even in a mood to sit at the computer like I normally do. All of my extra time is either coming home from work and going straight to bed or spending time with CR till late at night. I don't want to just call him a "mama's boy", but it feels good to know that he actually enjoys my company. It seems like most teens nowadays are desperate to be somewhere where their parents aren't. He's such a good kid. I'm so proud.

Later

Here is a "One Word Meme"...

that I found over at Tea and Bon Bons with Amy and decided to try it for myself.

You can only type one word. No explanations.
Yourself: negative
Your Partner: chaotic
Your Hair: brown
Your Mother: stability
Your Father: deceased
Your Favorite Item: photographs
Your Dream Last Night: unknown
Your Favorite Drink: milk
Your Dream Car: none
Your Dream Home: simple
The Room You Are In: living
Your Ex: unimportant
Your Fear: driving
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: accomplished
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: family
What You’re Not: extrovert
Muffins: okay
One of Your Wish List Items: monitor
Time: 12:25 AM
The Last Thing You Did: movie
What You Are Wearing: jammies
Your Favorite Weather: fall
Your Favorite Book: CSI
Last Thing You Ate: brownie
Your Life: limited
Your Mood: tired
Your Best Friend: T
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: movie
Your Car: Chevrolet
What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing
Your Summer: unlikable
Relationship Status: married
What Is On Your TV: unknown
What Is The Weather Like: cold
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: yesterday
Remember: only one word! Try it. It's harder than you think.

Will 2007...

be the year for changes for me? One thing is for certain. I am determined to change my mentality and negative way of thinking. So much so in fact that today at my therapy session was my first try with hypnosis. Yep. I'm trying hypnosis for gaining self confidence to help me with learning to drive and dealing with other people's opinions of me. That is my main holdback on alot of things that I would like to do. For some unknown reason, I am constantly being concerned about what other people think of me and the things I do. I know I shouldn't let what other people think bother me, but I do. I'm really working hard on trying to change this though.

A funny thing occurred during my session today. Here's how it went. Wyrm accompanies me during my sessions so we both entered the Dr.'s office and took seats. After the routine chit chat of how I'm doing, off go the lights and the hypnosis tryout begins. Here I am. Trying to relax and let my muscles relax, eyelids relax, and everything relax. Does it work? Not totally. I could only get so far until I became very aware of my irritating sore throat, the burning sensation in my nose (I still have this yucky crud thing going on), and every joint in my body starts aching including my problem ankle and foot. After a few minutes of trying to fight past this point in order to relax, I decided to just give up and go with it just concentrating on what the doctor was saying. So here I am trying to relax, joints aching, throat sore, burning sensation in my nose, just listening to the sound of his voice that is low and soothing and then what else do I hear? Zzzzz. Huh!? My darling husband is sitting in the chair next to me snoring. Of all things to reach my subconscious and get through that was the one and I got so tickled. Out I came of whatever state I was in (I don't think I was fully under) and started laughing. Even the doctor was laughing too. Poor hubby is sitting in the chair with his goofy grin saying, "What's going on?" I playfully slap him on his knee.

"You ding dong. You're over there snoring."

"I was snoring?" was Wyrm's astonished reply.

"Yes, you were snoring. He was supposed to be putting me under. Not you!" I answer amidst laughter.

And with that my psychologist excused us for the day making note of the awareness that I had of my joints for the next session to somehow incorporate it in. We made my appointment for the next visit and then it was off to home.

Later

If it's not one thing...

then it's another. It looks like this family is playing germball and the nasty crud bug is winning. I started with it first, then Wyrm took it Friday, and now CR has got it. He started feeling bad over the weekend, and we ended up taking him in to Multicare. This nasty URI is really going around in this area. CR's been written off from school till Wednesday. Even though I've yet to see a snowflake fall here in Kentucky I'll be glad when spring gets here. I'm really tired of the ups and downs with the temps.

While laid up this weekend, CR and I watched Lady in the Water. I was disappointed with M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, but I felt this this latest work from him was done very well. The story was interesting and the acting was well done.

I will be going back to work today since we were off Monday. Honestly I don't know what is going on with my employers. All I ever wanted was a 40 hour work week. We've went from being worked like dogs (constant overtime for pretty close to two years; Saturdays and some Sundays) to barely getting to work a full shift at night. I don't like ups and downs and constant changing. I'm one of those that has to have routine as normality.

Someone asked what idea it was that I had on my mind the other night. The answer is nothing special really. Just a story that popped into my head, and I didn't have pen and paper at the time to jot it down. I've got a little bit wrote now but more than likely won't finish. I'm bad that way. I'll start something at first being really excited about it and then slack off when my confidence wanes and I feel that it just isn't really that good.

Hope that you and yours are doing well with this mild winter.

Later

Now here I said...

that with the new year I was going to try to keep up with posting, and I have already missed a couple of nights. LOL. They had me doing something different at work and when I came home I was just too tired to try to write anything. Thursday night I had to sit and wait for Wyrm till about 2:45 am. I got home just in time to put on my jammies and go to bed. Friday Wyrm woke with that ick feeling and we decided to call in and head on into Multicare before it turned into something much worse. They treated him for an upper respitory infection and ear infection. He didn't feel like driving all the way to work, drop me off, go to Multicare, and then have to pick me up at work later on in the night. Honestly I didn't blame him. My points were low so I just called in with him and while we were waiting on his prescription I got the groceries taken care of. Such it is with me since I do not know how to drive and have a problem with trying to learn. Hopefully that may change soon. We'll have to see.

CR has been enjoying school so far. He's been having homework but hasn't been bogged down with it very much. He received the movie Hotel Rwanda from his Netflix queue Friday. We watched it together and I was totally engrossed in it. This movie ended up being better than what I thought it would. So sad what those people had to go through. If you can handle the violence this is an excellent movie to watch.

Later

It's always so...

hard to go back into work after being off for the holidays. I get used to sleeping in and waking when I get ready instead of by that old alarm clock. Instead of rising with it like I was supposed to do, I kept hitting the snooze button. "Just a little more" my mind kept saying. It was so nice and warm under the covers. Sigh.

Work wasn't too bad. That guy wasn't there again last night so I got to do his job. No worries. Just doing my thing until time to go home. It was peaceful.

CR's day went alright. He seems to think that his wordprocessing class will be hard. I don't feel like it will. We'll just wait and see.

I've been spinning an idea ' round and ' round in my head yesterday. Actually my mind was whirling with the idea when I was trying to relax and go to sleep. It always seems like I get great ideas for things when I'm in bed trying to relax. Irritating. Never pen and paper handy when I need it.

Later

It's hard for me to believe...

that another year has whizzed by me. I am also surprised that I have managed to blog for a whole year even though I was somewhat lacking on posting last month. My blog is officially a year old. Let's see. Do I have resolutions for this new year? No. I usually don't make resolutions cause I rarely keep them. I do feel that changes will be made this year and hopefully for my betterment. A couple of things in store for me beginning this month will be the beginning of my bankruptcy and possibly undergoing hypnosis during my therapy sessions. More details will come later.

CR is not looking forward to going back to school, but then again what teen is after a two week holiday. This semester he will be taking Political Science, Algebra II part B, Integrated Science, and Wordprocessing. I've encouraged him to enroll in his required classes as early as possible so that during his Junior and Senior years he should have a free ride with taking just electives except for his English classes that are required for 4 years. I think he will enjoy this semester. I know I'm not looking forward to his Junior year (I actually am) cause it will mean that I am getting older.

Wyrm and I are done for holidays now. We got back our two floating holidays with the new year, but we will not get back our vacation time until July. So far though with the way work has been I don't mind going now. I know it's strange for me to say that being this time last year I was hating having to go into work. What's changed? Well, I have been trained for a different job which allows me to move around much more that I usually do, and I'm not having to deal with people as much. The drawback is that I only do this job when another person is not there. I've been doing this for the past month and a half now and work has been less stressful for me while doing this certain job. Also, an odd thing that has been going on since about November is the overtime has been cut almost completely out. I haven't worked a Saturday since the end of October and no working over during the week either. It's very strange that for the past couple of years my employers have worked us nearly to death with overtime and now BAM! right here at the holidays we are doing well to work a full 40 hour work week. Not good with my bankruptcy hearing coming up, but I shall manage somehow. I'm looking forward to having that debt that's been hanging over my head cleared in about 5years.

Seems like with the new year there are some people that are making changes in their blogs as well. Liz at North Country Fire will be moving her space to another URL and Rachel at How I See It has finally gotten disgusted with Blogger giving her issues with uploading photos and moved her blog of the same name over to Wordpress.

More posts are to come and hopefully I will be able to keep up on a regular basis.

Later

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year!

 

Auld Lang Syne

 Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend
And gie's a hand o' thine
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne