TGIF!

So – aside from being sick, and after finishing the vacation wrapup – it’s like nothing exciting has happened at all, right?! Things are just so NORMAL around here! Except for the fact I’m still trying to figure out how it’s already November – I mean, didn’t we already JUST do the whole Christmas shopping thing? And now I gotta do it AGAIN? I swear, it goes faster and faster and faster…

The biggest excitement around here is the new automatic catbox. Yeah, after being owned by a variety of cats over the past 20 years, I finally got one! I was a bit worried that my fatass wouldn’t fit in it, but he manages just fine – it’s actually roomier then the old one, due to the basic design. I got a Scoopfree auto box, which had the best reviews of all I’ve seen, even though the refills are spendier. I’d been warned about the (not so) quiet motor, and that it might frighten the cats.

HAHAHAH! When it starts, Annabelle will run from wherever she is in the house to watch it move. She’s amazed – it’s like the concept is some miracle from above “I went in and did mah bidness, an it CLEANED ITSELF! I never have to step in Ace’s bidness ever again! HALLALOOYA! An’ all the cats sang AMEN!” (Apparently she went all southern baptist on me briefly and all. Haha.)

It’s also had the side benefit of her not pissing on anything else around the house like she would do before because she’d decided that the litter was too dirty for her precious lil paws. Thank you ScoopFree! (and the kids thank you too. hahahaha. oh the hatred for scooping and catbox cleaning…)

Ace, on the other hand is all blase about it. “…it’s a catbox. Gawd, Annabelle. Get ahold of yaself, kitten.” In fact, when he snuck out to the garage, where the old catbox is currently sitting empty, he nanchalauntly pissed in it. “See? This too is a box to pee in. Big freakin deal.”

And that’s the extent of our exciting life here. Oh, and we got some snow too. But well, it’s Alaska. That’s bound to happen sooner or later. Heh. How’s YOUR Friday going?

Mememememmeme!

So, I wasn’t officially tagged, but I’m stealing a MeMe from Zoot because I’m still braindead. However- I did NOT puke. I won’t go into any more details, but I am feeling better today, and even had enough energy to shower – thank god. The boy had a relapse though, and is home again today. I wondered if the pup was going to relapse, as she was feeling a little queasy last night, but she was bright-eyed and bushy tailed this morning, so off to school she went, while I did my best to catch up on two days of work. Heh. So – that leads me to this MeMe which I thought was cute:

“List one fact, word or tidbit that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your first or middle name. You can theme it to your blog or make it general. Then tag one person for each letter of your name.”

I’m going to use mah internet name, Lessa, because that’s what I’ve decreed. Hah. Here ya go.

L: low maintenance. I’ve never been one to primp – even in high school. While the other girls got up early and did the curling irons and hairspray and all of that (it WAS the 80s, after all!) I was enjoying an extra hour of sleep in the mornings, dragging ass out of bed with 15 minutes to spare, and getting to school on time. I was the bane of my early-rising mom’s existence back then, I think. Fortunately, she had my sister who was the primper and STILL gets up uber early. Not me – I’m a night owl, and I don’t do makeup or anything more then plop a bit of product in the hair and fluff it, or rock the ponytail when it’s long enough. S’all. I don’t need anything fancy, ever – though a maid would be nice. Hah.

E: easy-going. It’s right along the same lines as above – I don’t need anything fancy, I get along with most people (except for those that I don’t.. ha!) I don’t take a lot of things personally, I always give someone the benefit of the doubt (unless it’s a 4th or 5th round and then I get pissed.). Case in point – my entry a couple days ago about the whiners on a forum – people there start to bitch in 0.136 seconds after something is delayed. Me? Bah. They said they’re working on it, they’re working on it! It’ll happen sooner or later, why stress? I’m also the ‘cool mom’ because I am easier going then most parents. Life’s too short to stress about the little things, folks. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

S: strong. This one – well, it’s taken me a lot of time to own up to it. I never saw myself as stronger then anyone else (still don’t, really) or even strong in my own right. But at the same time, since being widowed, it’s been proven that I AM strong enough to raise my kids on my own, to keep going, to live again. That’s not to say it’s easy, at all. It’s to say that I can do it. Somewhere in me are the seeds of strength that I need to keep us going.

S: sassy, snarky and sarcastic! That’s me. No matter my size, my day, my life – I have a comeback for everything, and it’s almost always sarcastic or sassy. I spent my teenage years in trouble for sassing my mama, though somehow that never seemed to deter me. Still hasn’t. I love to snark on folks and stuff and life in general – it’s how I keep my sanity!

A: Alaska. Yeah, I had to go for the obvious – I’m what TBF calls his ‘lil ‘laskan popsicle’ and have been known to answer questions about Alaska in ways to further stereotypes. Yes, I live in an igloo, drive a dog sled, and hunt polar bears for a living. (see above sarcasm!) I’ve lived here most of my life, and will be here at least until the kids graduate high school, at which time the current plan is to move closer to TBF. We’ll see what happens then – we’ve 10 years to go still. I might just be too old and tired to decide to move by then. Hahahah!

So, there ya go. Day 14 of NaBloPoMo, finis.

I will NOT throw up….

…I will NOT throw up….
…I will NOT throw up….
…I will NOT throw up….
…I will NOT throw up….
…I will NOT throw up….

That’s about how I’ve felt all night. So far I’m winning the battle. I fear I may lose the war.

That’s the worst part about having kids bring home all these lovely bugs from school. (THANK YOU MRS. W – I know it was you who started this!) Eventually they catch up to mama – and we adults just don’t bounce back as fast as the kids. The older two are at Papa’s, quite possibly eating him out of house and home since they’ve not eaten much of anything in over 24 hours. *L* The little one’ll be headed down on time too. Then I’ll go back to bed and continue with my montra.

But well, you know MY mama likes to read these nice and early, so figured I’d get it up here.

Last night, we passed another Teenage Girl Milestone, btw. No, not that one yet. The girl has always had dry skin and dry spots (exema – though I dunno how to spell it. *L*), most especially on her legs. It’s been a constant battle to keep her moisturized and using a good lotion on a daily basis to keep it under control. She suddenly started making sure her legs were lotioned EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT – so I knew something was up…

Indeed, last night, the question came: “Mom? You think my legs are good enough now so that I can shave them?”

AHA! Of course, when she’s my age, she will appreciate the fact that her hair is EXTREMELY blond, and hard to see, and you can totally get away with not shaving EVER if you don’t want too. Last time I did was when I was pregnant with the pup, and you can’t tell. Ha! Anyway – permission was granted, and she bopped off to the shower after I told her where the razors were, and cautioned her to use a good lather, and also that she WOULD cut herself the first time, so expect it. She did much better then I did the first time! She only nicked herself twice in two little tiny spots – and she’s happily sporting hairless legs under her jeans today.

Le sigh. They grow so fast… (the girls, not the hairy legs. *L*) I fully expect the Pup to ask me within the week when SHE can, once she overhears the girl telling someone about it. Heh.

So, now? I must go back to bed and give my tummy a stern talking too – i WILL win goshdarnit! – and thus, I will leave you with pictures. Because you know you think my kids and animals are the cutest things EVER. It’s ok, you don’t have to admit it – we know. (grin)

There are few things cuter then a dog and his monkey (which he’s since completely destroyed, of course, in another case of Stufficide), unless of course, you find a girl to play with too…

The dog, of course, is pretty cute on his own – and completely shameless:

But he’s even cuter when he’s using the boy as a pillow:

And we can’t leave out the pup, who took time between bucket tossings, to prove just HOW BIG MY CAT IS, and why I was so shocked and thought TBFs animals were so small…

Meanwhile – Annabelle longs to go outside:

Until this morning, of course – we officially have snow on the ground. Heh.

And there ya go. I’ma go have that talk with my stomach now. Ya’ll be good.

Monday, monday…

Yes, mama, I know it’s Monday and I’m later then normal getting this up. You see, I been on puke patrol all night! UGH.

First, Friday morning, the pup said “I have a tummy ache, but I might just be huuuuuungry” so I said ok, and since she had no fever, I sent her down to Papa’s for breakfast. Only to get a call about 45 minutes later: “Um, she just threw up all over my garage floor. I’m gonna clean her up and send her home.”

Oh goody! She slept off an on all day, did develop a fever, and threw up and hugged her bucket, and then felt better. I have talked myself out of being sick for a couple days (PMS is plenty, THANKS.) and then last night, right after the kids finished their chore, the older two turned white, and then made a beeline to the bathroom within minutes of each other. I expected a pileup, truth be told. So buckets were duly given out, and I knew there would be no school for them today. Oh goody.

I’m still talking myself outa feeling queasy.

So how was YOUR weekend? Heh.

Last week, since I was writing my vacation recaps, I kept making mental notes of things to write about later.I should have made PHYSICAL notes, on paper and pen, cuz I’ve since forgotten all of them. hahahah! Of course, most of it probably revolved around some of my irritation about some people I ‘know’. Sure, I only know them via text, but as writers, we are pretty good at getting our point across, right? Well some of these people are the BIGGEST WHINERS I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I give the PTB huge props because just reading the forums (closed to public, for obviously good reason!) makes me want to quit more often then not. Thankfully I love what I do, and I love writing the way I write, and I know and understand that writing on the internet is a crapshoot – you won’t automatically make millions, or have gazzillions of hits, and hundreds of thousands of returning visitors. I write it because I enjoy it. If I were to make a living at it, I’d have to work much harder at it then I do. As it is, I’m perfectly content with my pay, and more importantly, with the content I crank out on a regular basis.

But mostly, i UNDERSTAND when sometimes, things don’t happen right away. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in management positions before, but sometimes, things just don’t go the way they’re planned, that sometimes it takes a little longer and there are kinks to work out. Bitching and complaining doesn’t make it happen any faster – if anything, it makes it take LONGER because you’re busy distracting them from getting things resolved!

Maybe I just give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when they come through EVERY SINGLE TIME in the end. Suck. It. UP. You’re adults for crissakes. GAWD.

Ugh. Writers.

Ugh. MONDAYS.

Ugh. PMS.

Stealing a line from Big Brother 8 and reworking it… “This INTERNET, these PEOPLE, this JOB!

And there’s ya Monday post.