IT'S HOT IN TOPEKA......

9:15 AM Posted In Edit This 3 Comments »
TODAY is the big 40 for the Mackeyster!! Heeeeheee!! She is still sleeping so I think I will let her be for now..... yesterday morning she woke up to the screaming sound of her house alarm - I tried to go out for a smoke and forgot about her having that thing - holy bajeeeezus!
So here I am - day three in the great white north of Canadia. I have never in my life felt cold like this ever. It is seriously staying at temperatures below zero, that if it were this cold back at home in Kansas, they would be issuing warnings talking about how if you went outside - your body parts would get frostbite and fall off. I am so not kidding here. I found out that it is physically impossible to smoke an entire cigarrette outside in Canada. Seriously. I also no longer own nipples. It is truly no wonder that the folks here have to have their Timmy's fix every day - you need something hot to keep your throat from freezing up when you breathe!!
Of course this hasn't stopped the Mackey family from heading out to show me around. Yesterday, we went to this huge mall in town - and they actually have a store in it that sells Ferrari parts. Oh my gawd. And the whole Ferrari should you have the cash!! (I have never even seen a car like that before now!) Of course I have been to Timmy's twice already, plus the liquor store for a little celebration liquid. It's much more expensive to buy things here - like A LOT!! But then when I changed in my cash for Canadian cash, I got way more of it. Kinda cool really!
So tonight we are headed to an Edmonton Rush game. I have never seen lacrosse being played - in real life or on the tv - so I have no clue really what to expect. I think it will be neat though. I am having so much fun getting to hang out with Mackey that I don't really care if we just sat at home and peed our pants to keep warm!! Canada is so freakin cool!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOPRISE!!! HAPPY 40TH MACKEY!!

8:18 AM Posted In Edit This 6 Comments »

If you are reading this - hopefully it is because I have arrived safely and soundly in CANADA!! AHHHHAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAH!!
(Or my plane crashed and I died - whatever...)

Mackey's husband Dave began planning this super-secret surprise for her months ago, and I am her 40th birthday present!! (POOR WOMAN!!) So at one point I think she suspected that I might be flying in for her big ol' birthday party, but hopefully she really had no clue. Today is Monday, and I am getting all ready to fly out there on Wednesday - the plan is for me to scare the beans out of her at her job. I am so insanely excited!! Soooo - I am writing this in advance and it should be auto-posted some time after the big jolly has already taken place.
It's funny because I am leaving my city in 60 degree weather, to arrive at her city in the below zero frozens!! I have rarely had to use a winter coat around here, but today I think I will go see if I can find a hat and gloves on the clearance racks somewhere.....

So Mackeys 40th Birthday is on Friday the 27th - so ya'll just gotta run over there and wish her the biggest happy birthday ever!! I will be at her kitchen window makin chikin sounds, waving my magic stuffy chikin around in the air, and baking her a big ol' birthday cake complete with q-tips on fire!!

I LOVE YA MACKEY D. OODLE!!!

IT'S GARDEN THIRTY AGAIN!!!

5:53 AM Posted In Edit This 5 Comments »
This weekend was full of simple joy for me. The weather is warming up here, and the ground is perfect for tilling and preparing for this years' garden! I spent some time on Sunday raking all the leaves over to the compost pile, and then making a few rows ready for potato planting. I bought about 15 pounds of seed potatoes, and this next weekend I will be putting them in the ground. Hopefully this year I can stagger them enough to have produce all summer long, and maybe even into late fall.
This year I have planned more carefully just what I will be planting and where. I drew up a little plan in my notebook according to the spaces I have, and now I know just how much of everything I will need when I order seeds and buy plants. I also hope to get some good plants out of seeds I saved from last years' crops. A friend of mine gave me a healthy root ball of asparagus, and I might get some this year. I am so excited to get back to playing in the dirt!!
I know a lot of people don't know how to garden, or just plain don't care to do it, but with the times the way they are, I just don't see how we can afford not to. I grew up in a family that most always had a garden of food to eat, because that is how we survived. Fresh food in the summers and canned produce throughout the winters provided nutrition we couldn't otherwise afford. I am thankful that this knowledge was passed to me - I love that I can use my hands to give life to the soil again....

R IS FOR RILEY

5:43 AM Posted In Edit This 2 Comments »

Rye got herself a package this weekend, and she wanted to tell her Aunty Va-JJ THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the awesome clothes and her big letter R!! I wish you could have seen her face when she got it! The outfits fit her perfectly too - she's wearing one to school today of course!! We loveth youeth!!

I had a trip to the doctor on Friday, as I have been in a substantial amount of pain lately. I don't know what I did to myself, but geez I have been suffering a little. I'm sure ya'll know that no matter what you go to the doctor for - they weigh you before you get to a room. To my astonishment - I have lost 20 pounds since about August!! I have not been on any kind of weight loss pills, nor any kind of real diet, just working my bum off really. I am actually back to where I left off when I had lost some weight in time for the Nickelback concert a couple of years ago! This time though, those jeans are too big for me!! I am more than a little excited about this for sure!!

In other news - the Daytona 500 was terribly disappointing this year. We have been waiting and waiting for it - got our beers and hamburgers going - only to have it called due to the rain! I like Matt Kenseth and all, but I really think they could have finished the race the real way. It was a big let down really - but I am completely glad that Brian Vickers got wrecked out - he sucks. Oh well, maybe next weekend will be more fun to watch!!

And now - I have to admit that I am insanely forgetful and wish everyone a Happy February Late Birthday!! Dave, Braeden, and Va-JJ all have had birthdays so far this month - So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ya'll and please excuse my lateness!!!

Have a great week everyone!!


ALL GROWN UP

6:08 AM Posted In Edit This 4 Comments »

In a little more than three months, my oldest girl child will be 18. Yesterday was the first time in her life I ever let her completely choose her own hair style - and I had to sit and watch as all of that hair fell onto the floor. I have to admit - I really like it. She's got a peek-a-boo red streaming throughout it - just enough to make it her own, but not too much weird to acquire a job. I'm so proud of her for the way she lives her life, the choices she has made that are so entirely different from mine at that age. I was such a stark raving mad lunatic who never thought about the future, and she has plans - big ones - that she is working on making become a reality every day. Sure she's had her issues, been a typical teen, and driven me to the point of ripping out my own hair occasionally, but for the most part she has been an obedient, respectful, understanding, and loving child. I have been so incredibly lucky to have her in my life. I can't take all the credit for the way I have raised her either. She was put into my arms as I was turning 19 years old, and I could only do what I thought was right by her. I have made plenty of mistakes as a mom, but somehow she forgave me for every one of them and just keeps on showing me every day what she is going to accomplish in this life.

With that said..... I have been so lucky with this first girl child....



I am a little bit worried about the youngest one!! AAAAAAAAYYYY!!!

I DO NOT HEART VD....

6:01 AM Posted In Edit This 14 Comments »

I think I hate Valentines Day. Yes I said it. I don't like it. Last night I had to stuff nearly 50 little cutesy treat bags for the kids to take to school and hand out to their friends on Friday. Another excuse to have a party for the grade school kids - so be it. But once you hit junior high it becomes one big yuck of embarrassment if you get nothing. Same with high school. In adult married life it becomes an obligation that if not fulfilled is a sentence to the dog house. PPHead keeps asking me what I want, and I keep telling him NOT to DARE spend a penny on crappy candy or flowers. If he really wants to say "I love you" on such a special freakin day, then jeez - find a more creative - and FREE way to do it.
I have to go shopping now and get the kids something so they feel loved.....

AT&T, UNITED TEL, LLC AND HBS - YOUR RIPOFF PROVIDERS

8:38 AM Posted In , , , Edit This 7 Comments »

I was paying bills this morning and noticed that my phone bill with AT&T was substantially higher than normal. Go figure - the back page was from a billing company called HBS billing services that billed me for another company called UNITED TEL, LLC - a recurring monthly charge of $14.95. I called the HBS company and told them that this was not my bill. They gave me the information the fraudulent party used to create the bill, and the IP address of the party. It was done in the Virgin Islands, they used an old address, half my email address, and my phone number to commit this fraud. HBS then told me that they would take care of the problem, but that it might take several billing cycles to clear it up, and that I should call the phone company to have this type of billing blocked. So I called AT&T and they told me there was nothing they could do about it. They said they cannot block this kind of billing, and that they could not remove the charge from my bill. I stated that I was not going to pay it, and the agent informed me that I would receive late charges and possible shut off if I did not pay it. Then he tried to sell me more AT&T services. This is ridiculous and I am left feeling like I have no recourse. I despise the cable company - so not really an option to switch. They are just as bad around here....

CHECK YOUR PHONE BILLS PEOPLE!!

*UPDATED*

OMG!!! I called the originator of the billing yesterday - UNITED TEL, LLC - and the woman who took my call was THE most ABSOLUTE BEEEEYOTCH I have ever spoken to in my life! I told her that the charges were fraudulent, to stop billing my phone, and never ever to bill my phone for anything ever again. She tried to argue with me about the charge of course, and I tried explaining to her that I did not authorize it, and that the IP address of the person who ordered it was not even in my COUNTRY!! I told her I wanted my money back, and the woman (named Melissa) said, "I'm not giving you anything." WOW! Then she called ME a bitch and hung up on me!! Holy cow...
So United Tel, in my eyes, is nothing but a fraudulent company set up to scam and cram on unsuspecting people using their phone bills. I had no idea that assholes like this can use your telephone like an open line of credit, and just bill whatever the hell they want to it. What I don't understand is why they have to bill through HBS, and then through AT&T. What is even worse, is that there are TONS of reports about United Tel ripping people off all over the place. Apparently this is standard business practice for these asshats. What I find the most screwed up is how in the world this can be allowed to continue - there should be criminal charges against this company at the very least. What a world eh?

I HAVE ISSUES....

7:10 AM Posted In Edit This 3 Comments »
I know that my mind is warped, probably far beyond the amount of others, but here I present to you a book that my first grader brought home to read.....
It is titled "The Dude Ranch Dudes"

Ok - issue one - LOOK at the cow/donkey/whateverthingy in the bed!! Oh. My. Gawd.
Immediately my mind goes to STD's. Is this a book about prevention??


Now the girly one is telling dude he has a rash.... while sitting by the fire in women's lingerie....gramma-ish but still....knitting....


Seriously - the rash is so not funny - but is in need of rubbing??


So why does the concert poster advertise the Dude Ranch Dudes - but there is totally a girl in the band. Isn't there? Or maybe not?! Hmmmmmm....


Dude is rubbing and rubbing while he sings, and everyone is watching him and wondering what the hell he is doing?? SERIOUSLY??


No freakin way??!!! So everyone saw that Dude has a rash - AND IT LOOKS LIKE FUN TO RUB IT?????! Holy mother.....

REMEMBER WHEN??

6:51 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »

Here's a little bit of linear motion for ya!! I was thinking to myself last night (dangerous as it may be...) that I can't remember what it feels like to run. Remember when we were little kids, and running across an empty field gave us so much freedom? It felt like flying surely must feel. In my now old and out of shape body, there is no more running. I can walk really fast - but I can't even remember the last time I ran anywhere. So my question is: do most adults just come to a point in life where they just stop running? I mean besides the folks that obviously do it for exercise or marathons and the likes? Even when I play soccer or baseball out in the yard with the kids, I walk fast - no running. I think for me it has to have something to do with getting an upstairs if ya know what I mean.... but then that's a girl thing.

IS ANYTHING SAFE TO EAT??

6:51 PM Posted In Edit This 3 Comments »

The list of recalled peanut butter products just keeps growing day after day. Last year it was the tomatoes, before that it was the spinach, and I really have to wonder what will be next. People shouldn't have to rush to compare life insurance quotes at Wholesale Insurance, just so they feel covered in the event that they die from eating a bad cookie. I am literally horrified of anything that has to do with peanuts now. To top it all off, the news has said that the factory that shipped out all of this bad stuff, has been doing so for months and knew it was bad. How can people sleep at night knowing they have tainted the food supply??
I just can't believe that the almighty dollar has once again proven to be more important than the lives of human beings....
I am thinking that I am going to increase the size of my garden this year. Maybe even to double the size we had last year. Heck, my yard is huge, so I could have one giant garden and some hormone free chickens. Now to find some chickens.....
March 2009
January 2009