One Ticked Off Cookie.

I took a sick day yesterday. Second time I've done that in TWO YEARS. The office called five times FIVE TIMES. And I took a sick day today. Only problem with that is that I'm here at the freeking office. "...just for an hour, I'm counting on you" kind of shit that never works out the way it's supposed to and you can be damn sure I'm breathing on all three of these idiots and gonna make sure they end up just as miserable and they're making me right now...

Go check out the mardis gras burbon street cams if you need some excitement. I swear I'm gonna take tomorrow off too just because I am sick of their stuff and sick of the sec.

Behind The Eyes...

Drat it. I don't know who in the heck breathed their nasty cold germs on my blog and left them for me in inhale, but whoever you were, you suck! Heading home to bed to try and kick this stuff building up in my head. Load up on airbourne and orange juice. Spring cleaning tomorrow is realllllly going to stink if I'm already sneezing before I get to the dust.

Oh. And not that you care or anything, but the dogwoods have started blooming. And the leaves on the trees out in front of the office opened up to be real live baby leaves today, and are the prettiest green. I hope you get snow and sleet and hair and ice and all that junk. Just for giving me your cold...

Have a nice weekend.
Later.

Friday Scorecard Update & Stuff

Sec is out again today! It is so darn peaceful, I wish she'd stay gone...

It's been one of those weeks. I don't do drama well and there isn't usually much of it around here. I think things are finally winding down a bit now, at least I hope so because life's too darn short to stress as much as has been going round the past few days... Sunday night we got back into town after vacation and DH and DS got into a wreck after a huge deer jumped into the windshield of one of our trucks. $4,300.00 worth of damage to the truck (sigh). I posted earlier that it was the same vehicle that got busted up during katrina. I'm sure my insurance co loves me at this point in time because we've had the truck less than 6 months. So DH has been taking my truck to work every day while his is in the shop. I should have known better. Last night we had to go somewhere and he wanted to cram all of us into the little rental car rather than into my truck. We ran into his boss who filled me in on the fact that Dh had hit ANOTHER deer in MY truck on the way to work YESTERDAY. (sigh) I still haven't gone out and looked. At this point, I don't even want to know. Period. Have I said I don't like drama?

Ms.MakingMeHoldMyBreathUntilITurnBlue is still on my list. Mr.NextToBeSwornInBlue still has his appointment to sign papers tomorrow. And BabyGirlDD is still flying under the radar and staying out of trouble.

I can't wait for the weekend to start. We are actually staying home. HOME! And the kids have been warned we're doing spring cleaning.

Y'all know this shit is still happening because of that idiot who opened his umbrella in front of me inside the office a few weeks back, right? At least there's no poker this weekend! Cleaning sounds like a healthy fix to all this silly stress!

I walked into work this morning and one of the attys asked me out of the blue, "How did you get here?" (HUH? Surely this is a trick question...) you mean, how did I get HERE? pointing to the floor where I was standing. "Yes. How did you end up here?" ...he did not, could not, cannot remember how my employment with them came to be. LOL. I remember the dress I wore that day. I remember the tie he & my boss were wearing when they interviewed me. I even remember what the sec was wearing. Heck, it's only been 3.5 years. ...it seems that he tried a case yesterday having to do with someone who has alzheimers. And when he got out of court he spent the rest of the night and this morning worrying because he couldn't remember how it came about that I started working for them! (giggle)

And On The Home Front... (HereWeGoAgain!)

Hmmm... I am not sure that I'm ready for this all over again. But it's here and it's happening (sigh).

It started two years ago when I drove Ms.Blue to have her senior pictures taken. I cried. The tears continued on through her entire senior year, graduation, being sworn into the blue, getting her driver's license, leaving home, up to present day tears over her finances. And somehow while this was going on I lost sight of the fact that it is going to happen again. ALL over again. Only this time, before we even get those senior portraits ordered...

Hooray for an on the ball recruiter. The wonderful lady who helped us get Ms.Blue signed, sealed and delivered. She called five minutes ago and said they were just told they are to start senior processing a month early this year. She's ready to sink her blue painted talons into my son...WHICH MEANS... That rather than still having five or six weeks with my baby boy, I have until Saturday when we have to meet with her to begin DS's paperwork. SATURDAY. That way he will become Mr.SoonToBeBlue and get his first choice of jobs, unlike Ms.Blue who is just stuck and will have to try to train into a different field if she doesn't like where they put her. OhMeOhMy oh crap.

I'm gonna see if I can go find a hole to hide in. I'm not ready to do this all over again and it's all he has talked about since we got back from Ms.Blue's graduation. (sigh).

Did I say here we go again??

Not Squeezably Soft After All...

Somehow between this morning when I got to work and 1 when I could finally get to the bank, Ms.NeedsToBeBeatenBlackAndBlue had some more charges added to her account which fueled the anger I was faced with yesterday. Those charges add up quick!! I managed to get her account out of overdraft but did NOT give her any extra for spending money. She better not swipe that damn card again before next Wednesday. Not that there's much I can do about it if she does. She just better not, that's all. I swear. I was sure that when your children grew up and moved away that they would stop making ya want to shake them hard enough to make their teeth rattle. Lesson learned. I can't be soft. Period.

Cream Puffs R Us...

By the time I got home yesterday I was so frusterated about Ms.Blue that I yelled at the other two kids about their future finances and told them to expect many discussions on the subject over the next few months. Won't be but a few more weeks and we'll have a Mr.SoonToBeBlue in our midst and I'll be danged if we're going to go through this again with him. Maybe if I start yelling now some of it will sink into his almost 18 year old brain dead brain...

So Ms.Blue finally called. She bought a blanket. And two pairs of jeans oon sale for half price. And 15.00 on sale tennis shoes. And a top. And a 15.00 hat. Spent 65.00 getting highlights put in her hair. Oh, and groceries. Gatorade and plums and poptarts. In my opinion thats a LOT of freeking poptarts. But hey, it's the first time she's ever gone nutziod and as hard as she's been working I guess once is ok. I talked to her about it last night. She did not realize that the ATM would keep giving her money even though SHE didn't own any more money in her account. I know we discussed this before she left home but once a brain-dead 18 year old, always a brain-dead 18 year old I guess. I stressed the importance of keeping up with her balance and making sure it doesn't happen again, stressing even more so the fact that she could lose her security clearance AND get kicked out of the service AND maybe even go to jail over it. Don't know if it got her attention or not. We'll see a month or so from now I guess. I asked her what she was going to do about the money she owes the bank (She's only 35.00 overdrawn but hey, I made it as serious as I could...) she asked me "I dunno. What can I do?? About that time, DH hollers across the room loud enough for her to hear, "We'll fix it for you this time but make sure it doesn't happen again." I swear, that man has been a marshmallow where she is concerned ever since she made it through BMT. She quickly insisted ok and she will pay us back. Yeah, well, we'll see. So... by this morning, I still don't know if she's going to learn anything from this or not. In fact, I'm not only going to put enough money in to cover her shortage, I convinced myself on the way to work that I need to also put in an extra 40 bucks so she'll have some spending money this weekend... because being stuck on base all weekend with no money would suck... oh I'm such an idiot. I know this is gonna bite me in the butt later. But please... No "I told you So's" from the peanut gallery. These growing pains and being away from my baby girl hurt enough as it is...

SCORECARD UPDATE The sec is off today and tomorrow. Which makes 12 days off PLUS HOLIDAYS in the past 3 months. ;)

Final Closing Sale!

I am putting this out on the internet for one and all to see in an attempt to get a grasp on this toughlove thing. BANKofMOM is CLOSED.

There's a lesson gonna be learned in the next 24 hours or so, and it's probably going to be tougher on me than it is on Ms.Blue. Concerned mommy that I am, I've been keeping an eye on her bank account while she's been gone. What pride I felt as I watched her high school graduation money accumulate to be followed by one, two, three paychecks. She spent a little while we were with her. When we got home, I put a few hundred in just because I love her. And somehow, in the past week, she has gone through all her graduation money. And One. Two. Three paychecks. And has just about dwindled through all that I put in there as well. Hmmmm... we've warned her to watch her spending. Politely. Without getting on her case about it. I just checked the balance and in the next day or so, the free money machine (ATM) is going to reject her card. Oh, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when it happens. I wish I could see the wheels turning in her pretty little head under the blue hat when she tries to figure out what is happening. Oh Dear! No More Money!? It is still a full week until her payday so I am dying to see if she's just going to tough it out or call and ask for money. Gosh I hope she has picked up enough of her drycleaning so she doesn't get in trouble with her supervisors... but that's not my problem, right? Honestly, I want to run to the bank and put some money in there to tide her over until her next check comes... but I'm trying my best to ignore it. (giggle) What on earth can she have spent it all on? We're talking a couple of thousand dollars in a WEEK spent by someone who has no bills other than freeking shoe polish and dry cleaning. No house payment or rent. No food bills. No utilities. No car payment. No gasoline. No cab or bus fare --in phase 1 they can't even leave base! She can't wear civilian clothes yet, so uh... however she pissed it off, I'm going to have to make myself be strong tonight and not mention it to her. It's her money and she's earning it and gosh darn. Bank of Mommy is closed.

Thanks for letting me rant. I'm concerned. I want her to learn to be responsible.

Bah Humbug!

What a cruddy end to a pretty darn nice vacation. But hey, at least DH let me drive the rental car while the wrecked vehicle is in the shop getting some new major work done LOL

I'm back. I have stories but I'm not feeling real spiffy today. Maybe this afternoon. Sorry.

It's Raining... It's Pouring...

Will be at work this afternoon.
Waiting on insurance claims adjuster.
When it rains it pours.

Remember the truck we bought a couple of days before Katrina? (sigh) Remember that we had to get it fixed after Katrina? Well... tell ya about shortly. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness.

See ya in a bit.

Blogmail... Better Than Voicemail, Really!

You have reached the desk of Kimdergarten... I will be out of the office until Tuesday February 21st. And this time I won't be answering my cell phone if the office calls!

P.S. Sorry to those of you who missed the picture of Ms.Blue. I took it down for her safety while I remain in the blogger’s witness protection program. The first week of my vacation was great. It was neat visiting w/ her at graduation week. We adopted another airman whose family couldn’t come and toted the both of them around for four days. It was great to hug my daughter again. I cannot begin to describe the smile on her face, she is so sure of herself and so proud. She should be, she’s earned it. At one point in the weekend, the two girls insisted that they could secure and defend the Alamo all by themselves just the two of them. LOL. She looks beautiful in her uniform and is truly happy. Her manners are impressive. She’s always been tidy, but now she’s immaculate. Unfortunately, the little shit still acts like she knows EVERYTHING (oh to be 18 again!!). We have had an ongoing conversation which has prickled both of us for the past week and still has me in giggles.

When she turned 17, DH and I bought her a cell phone. We paid the bill. When she left, the cell phone was recycled down to the boy, who is now 17 himself and has been chomping at the bit for her to get the heck out of dodge so he could have a turn at the cell. Anyway, now that she’s in tech school, she can have a cell phone. She did not want us to take her to get one while we werethere, and she didn’t want to get online at the hotel and order one. She also did not want me to order one for her. Not at all. She wanted to do it herself. I tried to offer advice on the subject, and she prickled so I shut up and left it alone. Fine, let her figure it out herself. So she called me the other day. “Hey Mom?” “Can you get online and order a cell phone for me? I can’t use the computer yet and really want to get one.” (She also can’t drive a vehicle at this point in time, cannot leave the base, she’s kind of in a pickle!) Since they won’t ship to PO boxes and she’s on base, I told her it would have to be shipped to the house and then I would send it to her. Hell, she doesn’t even have her address there yet, it will be tomorrow before she knows that LOL. ...so I asked her what kind of phone she wants. “I want one with a camera that doesn’t do text messages”. Yeah right good luck. Ok. So I asked her how many minutes she wants in her package. “Uh, ummm.... what do you think is a good number?” DUH child. How much are going to be talking on the phone?? Multiply that by thirty days, subtract the free nights and weekends and uh, yeah, that many minutes. Then I asked her how much she wants to spend a month on her bill. “Mmmm...uh, er... How much do you think is a good amount??” Oh Lord help me please. I tried so hard not to laugh. She was so insistant that she would get her cell phone all by herself when we talked about it. I’m still giggling. I ordered her what she wanted ... But you know what? At the rate she’s spending money, I’ll be kinda surprised if she has enough left in her account when it comes time to pay the bill. Gosh it’s gonna be hard letting her learn the hard way and make it on her own rather than just packing up her old cell phone and sending it to her and continuing to foot the bill.

Ok. Heading out shortly for the rest of my vacation. See ya next week!

Just Checkin In...

The office fell apart and I was only gone a week. Boss called yesterday losing his mind so I'm here today and tomorrow.

Let me get some things straightened out and I'll be back to tell you all about the first part of vacation!

Blogmail... Better Than Voicemail, Really!

You have reached the desk of Kimdergarten. I will be out of the office until Tuesday February 20th in search of blue skies and my blue daughter.

Oh! If you totally miss me, send me an email! (new email addy in profile)

P.S. Just a reminder -- don't send anything to my work email the next 2 weeks (Jaye and VAL!)... boss will be using my computer and most likely blow a gasket ;) I'm not taking my laptop w/ me the first week of vacation so don't expect to hear from me but during the 2nd week off I'll be checking in when I do homework.

P.S.S. You have 7 days left to get that shopping done for your Valentine! Don't forget!!

P.S.S. I miss y'all already!

Famous Last Words...

Finally.
I'm 38 today. That will be dealt with at some point later on when I don't have so much on my mind. Not quite sure yet if it bothers me or not. :D ...Ms.SoonToBeBlue called last night. She made it. She is no longer Ms.STBB. My trainee has become an Airman! So... I've decided to reserve the right to come up with whatever sassy new name I'm going to call her until after I spend some time with her. I'll let you know when I get back. Definitely. I absolutely cannot wait to see her, hug her, and mother her. I could hear in her voice last night that she's about ready for it too. I am so darn proud. Which reminds me, I still have to stop and get a couple more boxes of tissue because I've been crying about her so much this week that I've run out again...

On the home front, things are moving along nicely. When we get back from vacation there will be about 5 1/2 weeks left until DS starts processing and becomes Mr.SoonToBeBlue. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right? Right.

Allrighty then. I'm here until 4:30 today but dont' be surprised if I turn on my blogmail a little early and cut out of here. I've got stuff piled up but nothing packed yet and I have an exam in one of my college classes at 5. What a way to spend a birthday, huh? Packing and tests, blech.

Gosh it's going to be a wonderful weekend!

It's 5:00 Somewhere...

Another teary day. I'm going home to pack. See you tomorrow.

We're In The Money!!

Oh boy. I thought for a while there it wasn't going to work. Whatever it was that guy hit me with when he opened the umbrella in front of me last Friday stuck with me for over 24 hours. But you did it! YOU DID IT! Thanks to Mel, Pebble, Val, Mike, Jaye, Linda, Michael & Poopie who walked around their chairs and broke that bad happening! I could kiss all eight of you!!

I was sure things would be all better Friday night when I sat down at the hold-em table. Yeah right. I sat there for five hours and won three hands and lost, well, let's just say if y'all had put the cash up for me to buy in that game I'd probably be wearing cement shoes at the bottom of the ocean right now. It was ugly. Plain and simple. But hey, it was poker and that's the way the cards fall sometimes. Thank goodness it was DH who put up my bankroll and not y'all. Oh. And of course thank goodness that DH won enough to cover my losses and about 2x more ;) . I blame it all on the umbrella event. Definitely.

I didn't want a repeat of Friday night so I decided not to play on Saturday. Oh heck. I could not resist. I figured if the cards were falling the same way they had on Friday, I'd just get up and go watch the game. But hey! You guys sent enough positive energy that I won a nice pot early on and that set me up for the rest of the night. There was only one spectacular hand. I've got to tell you about it cause it's the first time it's happened to me and I'm convinced y'all had something to do with it... I was sitting there with pocket 8s. One diamond, one club. I was just to the right of the small blind so I had really good position at the table. The guy to the right of the big blind raised 200 before the flop. Ok. He's got either AA, KK, or AK suited. This guy never plays a weak hand. it went around the table fold fold fold fold, then the guy to my right called. He's gonna be a wild card in this because he'll call with just about anything. Ok. Only 2 players? I'm gonna call his 200 and hope that I catch a third 8. Then came the flop. 6 7 10 clubs. Oh Wow. I know I flinched and still cannot believe that neither of the other two caught it. Them not noticing my tell let me know that most likely, one of them had caught a flush and the other one probably had the A or the K, or possibly holding a straight. Now, I almost folded. Honestly. What are the odds of making an inside straight flush draw? Slim to none. The night before I'd had two opened ended straight flush draws and didn't catch the card I needed either time. But hey. I'm a sucker. The guy to my left bet 200. The guy to my right called and I stayed in as well. The next card wasn't any good to me, and I can't even remember what the darn thing was other than being red. The guy to my left bet the same again. Ok. He definitely made the flush on the flop has to be holding AK club. The dude on my right, still not certain about. The bet came around and we both called to see the last card. I don't know what on earth I was doing still playing that hand. If I hadn't had such a large stack of money in front of me I never would have risked it. The dealer turned over the last card. 9 clubs. Oh NO WAY! Gosh how am I not going to blow this one?? I watched the guy to my left. There was a brief look of puzzlement on his face. Recomposed he looked at the guy to my right, then to me. He was fishing for a tell himself and asked me, "Do you have the eight?" I never get money out of this guy. He's as good as I am or better. I knew he had the nut flush and I had to make sure my eyes didn't sparkle and my hands didn't shake and I answered him naturally. "Nope." Almost sadly. At least I hoped it sounded natural. He thought for another moment or two. Then he bet, certain that he had the best hand. 200. The guy to my right raised another 200. I didn't hesitate and called their 4 and raised another 200. Then I almost froze. I was afraid I wouldn't get any more money out of either one of them. The Left guy raised it again! We both called and he flipped over AK club and puffed up like he had just won the best pot of the night with a nut flush. I didn't even look at my DH because I didn't want to give it away. The guy to my right checked his cards and mumbled something about a Q high flush. Hmmm.... I picked up my cards and slowly pulled out that 8 and flipped it over with a spin, 6 7 8 9 10 club. Straight flush wins. Oh man when I started stacking my chips up after that one my hands were shaking so bad! I knew at that second somebody had walked around their chair for me. Oh! And Dh did almost as well the 2nd night as he had the night before. Nice.

So. No more poker for 2 weeks. Then I think we have a couple more. I played in both of these upcoming tourneys last year and won them both, so not sure how I'm going to approach it this year.

Oh heck! I have to get some work done...
Thank you. I really mean it!

NO NO NO NONO NONONONO!!!!!!

Y'all know I'm only superstitious about 2 things. Hunting and poker.
And now that hunting season is over, there will be twice as many hold-em tourneys and games to get into. Every year, this is one of my biggest money making weekends. Between the football boards & pools and all the drunk idiots thinking they are poker champions, I usually score pretty good. I like to think of it as being birthday luck or something. Anyway.

This IDIOT just opened an umbrella right in front of me INSIDE THE BUILDING with the door closed!! EEK GADS! YIKES! This is NOT how I want to start off this next week, for sure!! I saw him take it out of his coat pocket and headed towards the hallway so I wouldn't see it, but he was too quick for me. Now I need your help changing things up. I cannot leave here today with things the way they are, I just can't!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get up right now and walk around your chair. Doesn't matter what direction. Just walk around it at least one full turn all the way. That way, you can help me make sure this all comes out right. Ok?

Yes I'm SERIOUS! Just walk around the damn chair and leave your name in the comments. Maybe if enough of you can send me some good vibes, the weekend won't be a total disaster and I'll be full of stories to post next week before I leave on vacation.

Thanks. Wish me luck. I'm afraid this year I'm gonna need it.
Oh, and have a good weekend.
;)

NOT Happening.

Just FYI... Mike

LOL

Can you believe it?? Almost time!!

On The Road To See My BabyBlue!

Scorecard Update II

The plot thickens.
Everybody left for court and the sec cornered me.
She is leaving at 11 and will not be back today.
She turned in her notice and no longer cares
(uh, like she ever cared in the first place?LOL)

...as for me, I just got a phone call from one of my girlfriends who's coming into town for the parties this weekend. She informed me in no uncertain terms that she's bringing her poker face and we're going to kick some booty in a hold-em game tomorrow night. Doesn't that sound lovely? Mmmmm....

Friday's Scorecard Update!

The sec came in at 8:40 and was in tears by 9.
She was planning on leaving at 11 and take the rest of the day off.
Her boss told her nope. Ouch!

Have a nice morning! :)

Thanks Val!

When Val sent me this earlier I knew it was just what we needed to end the toilet paper war here at the office! Had to share...

6 Extra Weeks? HAH!

Hey Idgie! we had a big storm blow through during the night and it's heading right for y'all. I woke up at 3:30 and stayed up the rest of the morning performing MississippiTribalRainDance trying to avert it around you. Sorry hon, I tried!

Don't y'all believe one itty bitty word they said about that nasty fat ole ground hog and 6 more weeks of winter coming. The Japanese Magnolia's bloomed yesterday. Spring is here. There's so many buds on the trees already another week or two and they'll be green. Somebody made a big boo-boo on that one today.

Have to run. Ta-ta!

P.S...

P.S. Because the sec is still pocketing the expense money she gets paid to pick up toilet papers and paper towells & such, the cleaning lady took pity on us and brought more toilet paper in over the weekend. The sec showed up on Monday w/ a 4-pack she brought from home grumbling loudly something about not having any Friday afternoon (LMAO). I think there is just about enough to last until halfway through my vacation when she's going to be stuck here all by her poor hardworkin' little self. Isn't that the funniest thing you've heard all day??

Rabbits! Rabbits!

...don't forget if Rabbits Rabbits are the first words you say on the first day of the month, it will bring you good luck!

Sorry, still swamped at work.
Kinda getting excited about taking vacation next week. Almost wish I could spend it home cleaning house, Lord knows it needs it. But definitely glad to be headed where we're going.

I have been having some funny dreams. We usually work/play so hard all of the time that I just drop into bed and sleep really hard. But I've had two that I remember vividly. The first one was Saturday night. It was weird because I was exhausted and hungry and my feet hurt really bad when I went to bed. I dreamed I was packing a small black suitcase which was sitting on my bed. Only problem with that is, I was only packing for myself and we don't have a small black suitcase. I haven't packed for just me in over 19 years. Very strange. I don't know where I was going or what I was packing for, but I was taking down work clothes and lying them across the open suitcase. Strange. The second dream was night before last. Again, a strange dream. I was running all over the house picking up pairs of Lil'DD's socks. I was packing, again, except the regular suitcase in the middle of the living room floor like I always do. I picked up clean pairs of her socks out of the kitchen. The bathroom. All of the bedrooms. All over the house. And every pair I picked up had holes in the heels of both socks! Every pair!! My problem with that dream is that I had just bought her a dozen new pairs of her favorite socks a couple of weeks ago and even the brand new socks had the exact same holes...

Anyway. That's about all that's going on. Between working both jobs, the volunteer work that is really terribly demanding right now, my college classes and trying to keep up with hubby and the kids, and now finding out yesterday that the reason I've been feeling so bad the past few weeks without really being sick was because of the Pleurisy, I'm only a couple of weeks into the semester and feeling so overwhelmed again that I'm ready to run away where nobody knows my name. I'm gonna give it a couple more weeks and if things don't let up I'm gonna quit school. I've also given my notice at that place where I spend all of my volunteer time that I'm not running for office again next year. I've given them so many hours of my life the past four years and while I will be glad to help in a past officer's position but that's all they're gonna get from me for a while... So Anyway, I'm hoping things will slow down eventually.

Counting the days and soon just the hours now. Spoke to Ms.SoonToBeBlue a couple a days ago (how I treasure those 3 minute conversations!!) and she has passed everything so far. This week it's crunch time for exams though so we're praying hard for her still. This time next week we'll already have crossed 2 states and into TX! I absolutely cannot wait to hug my babyblue!!


On The Road To See My BabyBlue!