Ahhhhh Peace & Quiet

Things are nice and quiet in the neighborhood this morning, at least until all of the hellions come out to play. I live in a trailer park, and for a long time the row I live on had no small children and so it was very quiet and peaceful back here. Then my former next door neighbor got her small children back from Protective Services, and the other next door neighbor moved out and the new one had two smalls. Eventually, almost everyone moved and were replaced with people who had children that love to play, sit, lie and jump around in the street.

I guess that's ok. I never let my kids play in the street, as a matter of fact, I taught them that it wasn't a place to play. These parents never seem to be watching what their kids are doing, and they certainly never hear the cars going through here speeding. Its dangerous enough for them when I drive the speed limit of 10 mph, especially when they dart out in front of the car, but some people race through here at 30 mph, gabbing on their cell phones or arguing with the passengers in the car. They aren't looking for little kids. They aren't really looking for anything.

But anyway, it gets really loud back here from about 2pm to 10pm or later, then the parents realize that their small children are still outside, wandering around the trailer park somewhere & start to call them all in for the night. Again, that's their business and all, I just wish they'd play outside their own homes and not mine, you know?

Noisy Neighborhood

I got up at about 9:30 this morning, turned on my computer & sat down to do my usual morning stuff. At about 10, I heard a woman screaming something hysterically. It was so full of profanity, I swore I was back in Pueblo, in my old Bessemer neighborhood on a Saturday night. She was screaming names and crying her eyes out. Finally, Rhi, who was sleeping, had enough, at about the same time, my neighbor got fed up with it & they both started yelling at her to be quiet. Then she started in on the neighbor, calling him terrible names and then back to her husband, who she was accusing of cheating on her. It was sounding, for awhile, like a little Death insurance would be a good idea, cause she was mad enough to kill him for awhile there.

I'm not sure if he left or if she ran out of steam, but she did eventually shut up and I saw him out at another neighbor's house a little while ago. Who really knows, but she was really upset and I really felt bad for her, having been in her shoes before, and I'm sure she was really embarrassed when it was all said and done, too. I hope things work out to where she's happy and her kids are taken care of, too, because she works and he stays home.

The Drama!

I swear, Rhi gets more dramatic every day. Kris called her earlier, saying he was done with his chores & could leave so they could go swimming. We went out there to get him and his mom had decided he needed to do the dishes before he could leave (she decided this AFTER she found out we were on our way). So we got there and he couldn't leave. We came back home and it was a couple of hours before she heard anything at all and of course by then, she was already assuming she was being stood up. Now mind you, Kris has never stood her up or even lied to her as far as I know, but she assumed that had to be the case and of course got herself all worked up over it, too. I just wish she'd start to understand that sometimes things come up that can't be controlled, and it isn't always about her, you know?

Happy Summer!

School's out here, the Seniors have graduated and the lazy days have begun. We've had kind of a trying weekend so far, but we're moving past all of that & attempting to make the best of what's left of it. I'm trying my darnedest to convince Rhi that she CAN have a boyfriend and a family at the same time, but man, its slow going, let me tell ya. She just doesn't seem to understand that we like to spend time with just her sometimes. I mean, we like Kris just fine and we're happy that he's so good to her, but we miss spending time as a family occasionally. It seems like we've fought with her every day for the past week & its really getting old.

Then there's Kris' situation at home right now. His mom & stepdad adopted her nephew a few months ago, because he was getting ready to be placed in foster care. He's 5. They now expect (and demand) that Kris will take care of him. There are days wen he makes the kid's breakfast, lunch and dinner, watches him all day and puts him to bed at night. His mother is at home during all of this. She claims to have "no energy" to deal with him and that he "grates at her nerves." She 38 years old, in good shape and has no energy? I'm sorry that she has IBS, but this child isn't Kris' responsibility. He didn't adopt him, after all. Its ridiculous.

Oh. They caught/found the guy that tried to run Rhi & Kris over. All they cited him with was reckless driving.

I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain Has Gone...

The sky is so blue right now it looks like it was never gray & rainy today at all. Its still windy and very likely cold, which is fine, I just don't want rain that could turn to a hard frost or snow in the middle of the night. I'm tired of Winter already!

I got my shower taken care of, and it actually warmed up enough in the house that I wasn't freezing afterwards, so yay!! The dishes are soaking for a little while, just to make them easier to wash and to let the water cool down enough for me to put my hands into.

Its clouding up again, of course, but it was nice to see the blue for a little while.

*shiver*

O.M.G. Its May 23 right? Its supposed to be warm and some junk, after all, school ends in 2 days. For Summer vacation. So, why is it 36 degrees? Wet, gray, windy and cold. I'm just hoping at this point that my flowers didn't freakin' freeze last night. I really wish it would warm up a little bit, I'm so cold. My ankle is killing me And? I need to take a shower, but right now the thought is making me even colder.

Tonight we get to go and see Rhi get her award for being the outstanding IT student of the year, she's really nervous and excited all at the same time. I'm just excited for her, and so very proud of her.

In other news, the people in that trailer are still nowhere to be seen. I'm wondering if they were illegals and got scared when the police went over there the other day, because they left a little while after the officer left their house & haven't been back since. It really doesn't matter to me, as long as that idiot leaves my family alone.

Well, I guess I'll go take that shower & then clean a bit, have a great day!

Trying to Move On

Apparently, the police still haven't found the guy who tried to run Rhi over last night. Everyone that lives in the house he was visiting have disappeared, as well. They all seemed pretty freaked out when the police showed up down there last night, and of course they all either claimed not to know who he was or that they didn't speak English. We did manage to get a license plate number, and he left plenty of tire marks on the road to show where he was and how he'd been acting, not to mention all of the witnesses. After the police left, the people from that trailer all took off and haven't, as far as I can see, been back.

I seriously doubt they'll ever find the guy, because he knew when he left that he had messed with the wrong people, he saw Rhi pull her phone out & call the police. The really weird thing was that I didn't even hear his car until Rhi crossed in front of him & started laughing at Kris. It was like he was sitting in front of the house, idling, and getting ready to do this really obnoxious thing he does every time he passes my neighbor's house - he gets to the corner, throw his car in neutral & revs his engine up for about 45 seconds & then he throws it in gear & spins out & speeds out of here - he does it just to piss the neighbor off. As soon as Rhi crossed and she was laughing he started revving it up like crazy, which was part of why I looked out. Why do people get so angry about such small things? It was obvious to me that she wasn't even looking at the driver when she was laughing, but I guess he must have thought otherwise.. and gotten really, really angry - not that it excuses his behavior.

Freakin' Psycho

So some ass tried to run Rhi & Kris over tonight. Right in front of my house while I was watching. They were leaving the house to go & meet up with a friend of their's and didn't know a car was coming. Kris was chasing Rhi, so he could catch her & tickle her, so she was in front. She ran out, saw the car & ran across the road. Kris had to stop & wait, so Rhi was standing there laughing at him. The guy started giving Rhi dirty looks so she crossed the area she was in & went up to stand near Erin's van, and the driver motioned for Kris to cross, which he did, running up behind her as the car screeched its tires and turned around to where they were and skidded to a stop right next to Rhi, (he was within a foot of her) she asked him what his problem was and then he backed up trying to hit both of them & them raced out of here.

At that point I was already headed out the door with my phone, the neighbor was headed out his & Rhi was calling the police. I could not believe this guy did that and I'm also very nervous at the same time, because the people he comes to visit are tweakers and we're here alone at night.

But we got some good news, too. Rhi won an award at the tech center where she has some classes. She was named the Outstanding IT Student of the Year. There's a ceremony Wednesday night that we need to go to. She's super excited about it. Troy's friend's wife called him at work tonight to tell him. Anyway, I need sleep.

A Good Job is Priceless

I'm so thankful that Troy works for such a great company. The wages are very good, and they'd pay more if the city hadn't put a cap on what they could pay when they first came here (they were afraid other employers couldn't compete - so what?). The benefits are good for where we live, although I'd prefer a copayment rather than a deductable. They give him really good training for lots of other things, has a good retirement plan and paid vacation increases with the years he spends there (he already has 3 weeks a year).

They used to have a great incentive program for people so they wouldn't miss work, called the President's Club. If you made it a year without missing work, you got dinner at one of our expensive restaurants (it was a company party) with a date, a gift from the company and a personal day, with 2 years you got all of that plus a night in Las Vegas with dinner and a show, complete with a room in one of the casinos. That stopped when they bought several other companies & couldn't afford to do it for everyone.

We get really nice engraved pens and datebooks every year, too, plus a lot of other things like personal first aid kits, toothbrushes, cups, mugs.. a bunch of stuff. It really beats struggling on $6 an hour with the cable company. Congratulations on 12 years honey!

Sleepy

I really wish I could get over being so tired & sleepy all the time. I know I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I have an excuse today, but I got plenty the night before & was tired all day yesterday, too. It makes it so hard to get anything done because all I really want to do is sleep. So, I'm getting ready to go force myself to do the dishes and at least sweep the floor in there, then I'll finish a project I'm working on so that maybe I can have a short nap this afternoon.

*Yawwwwwwwwn*

Smelling Yummy

Something most of you probably don't know about me is that I absolutely love incense, I almost can't resist buying it anytime I'm anywhere its being sold. I'll be at our renaissance faire and can smell it, so I search out the booth that's selling it & have to buy some.

I've never bought any online, but this place has an awesome selection of fragrances and really great prices, too (I think its $1 for 20 sticks). They also offer incense burners and holder, awesome perfume oils (again at a super price - 1/2 dram for $2!) and Dead Sea salt aromatherapy bath salts.

The store also offers a free sample if you send them some stamps and your address, which is almost unheard of anymore. Check them out, I did and I was very impressed. I hope you will be too!!

Weirdness

So, this is the last few days of school. It seems strange to me that when Rhi goes back in the fall, it'll be her last year. We're both pretty excited for the school year to be done, because it means we can sleep in for awhile and have some freedom, too. I need to take her shopping for some sandals and a couple of pairs of shorts, since she asked for them & owns none at all.

The ex boyfriend that hurt her so badly last fall, posted a big, whiny blog on his MySpace about how miserable he is over a girl that he lost due to his own behavior and still has feelings for, but at the same time, he's talking about another girl that he thinks is amazing and wants to take the relationship where ever it goes - sounds like him, never satisfied with anything. Apparently, he joined the Marines (I guess he didn't get all of those scholarships he thought he would) and leaves for boot camp on July 30, but he's starting a job at Walmart this week, too, so way to be reliable. He also thinks he graduates on Friday, when its really Thursday.

Anyway, I need to eat breakfast & get started on my day.

Father's Day Shopping

I swear, my dad and Troy have to be the hardest dad's inthe world to shop for. Its bad enough trying to find Christmas and birthday gifts for them, but I'm usually at a loss when it comes to Father's Day Gifts. GourmetGiftBaskets.com has some really great ideas for all different types of dads. They have a fishing themed gift basket, that comes in a creel with smoked salmon, a nice fish-themed mug, crackers and some gummy worms in a container that says "Fish Bait." My dad would think was an awesome gift, because he loves to fish. They have one that Troy would love, too. Its a Popcorn Lover's/Night at the Movies themed basket. It has gourmet popcorns and seasonings, a stovetop cooker, a misting oil applicator and grape seed oil. They even had a great Bloody Mary themed basket that I'd love to have and I'm not even a dad! So, if you have a hard-to-shop-for dad in your life, like I do, check out GourmetGiftBaskets.com, I'm sure you'll find the perfect gift!

Wedding Craziness

The wedding we went to today was a very small one, but it was very pretty & seemed to be just what the bride wanted. The really sad thing was that there was way too much stress for such a small, uncomplicated wedding. Yesterday evening we went to the rehearsal (Troy officiated & Morgan was a bridesmaid), and the bride's little sister threw a screaming, down on the ground kicking tantrum. She's 10. It took 45 minutes to get her calmed down enough to actually move on with the rehearsal, she was throwing rocks (she hit both Troy and Dawn), screaming, pretty much just going crazy & her parents just sat there and didn't do a thing. They left it up to the bride to try to deal with. It was just crazy.

Then today, the two bridesmaids who cared enough to get money to the bride for their dresses looked beautiful and did what they were supposed to. The other two? One of them bossed everyone around and started rumors about the bride, Troy and anyone else she could and the other looked like a brunette Pippi Longstocking, but a lot more bored & disinterested. I don't know, the other wedding was about 4 times bigger and had way less drama and stress I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Prizes are Fun!!

Apparently I made it to the finals to win a camera at WhoGets. I'm gonna need a lot of votes to win it, so, if you like my reasons please vote for me (dyanemcs) to win at http://whogets.com/contest.php?id=46:

I really need a new camera & I never seem to have the money to get anything nice for me. My daughter will be graduating high school next year and I'd love to be able to take some great pictures of it.

You do have to register to vote, but its free. Once you get registered, you can enter contests to win great prizes, too. If you make it to the finals, make sure you let me know so I can vote for you, too.

Stay Golden

Have you ever thought about investing in precious metals, like gold, silver and platinum? By going through the Monex Deposit Company, you can purchase gold and have it delivered directly to you in either coin or ingot form. Don't have anywhere to keep it safe? They'll also arrange to have it delivered to a safe and secure, independent bank or depository for you. MDC has been in business for over 30 years and have long been America's gold & precious metals investment leader, so you can trust that they know what they're doing and how to answer all of your questions.

Did you know that investing in gold has been recognized for hundreds of years as a way to preserve your wealth and purchasing power? Gold bullion is a unique investment that requires a specialized team to help you through the process, and MDC is home to a large staff of dedicated professionals who can do just that.

The Weight "Loss" Saga

So. I ended up not losing that much weight, in spite of all of my good intentions. I pretty much stopped being able to afford to buy the stuff that was on my menu every week. I haven't stopped trying, I'm just not eating very much these days. Its probably not the best way to do this, but I'm at my wits end, and don't know what else to do anymore. I swrear there are days when I feel like I ought to be on ionamin or get something done like a lapband.. but you know what? Our insurance probably wouldn't cover any of it & I can't afford that either. What are you supposed to do when you can't seem to manage weight loss on your own, but can't afford to get help, either? Just give up? Starve? What?

Yes, Back to Work.

The work offer Troy & I got from our friends, R & C, who we used to work for, was to go back to them in a limited capacity, setting up and tearing down birthday parties (they own an inflatables company), just pretty much when we have the time and such. Its not too bad, we get $20 each for every party and it involves about an hour & half total. Between that, Troy's regular job and everything I do, we should be able to cover all of our obligations and take care of everything that will come up next year with Rhi getting ready to graduate. We agreed to it & they'll call us in advance & let us know when they need us & we'll let them know when we can go. Its really nice to work for people that understand its a part-time thing, and you have other obligations.

Back to Work?

If you've been reading me for awhile, you'll remember that I used to work for an inflatables company until last summer, when I quit. I broke my ankle last May moving a couch, here at home & I didn't know it was broken for about a month, so every time I went to work, I'd twist it & re-injure it. I finally realized what I was doing by the end of June, and I was also tired of Troy griping about never having any time off and told them I was quitting. They called this morning, really needing us to come back, because they're so booked up this summer, already that they aren't sure what they're going to do. I'm pretty sure I'm going back, but I don't know about Troy, he was pretty noncommittal about it. All I know for sure is that I feel a lot better when I'm contributing to the family finances than when I'm not, which made my decision a little bit easier.

College in the New Millenium

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Have you ever thought about going back to college? Did you miss out on it entirely when you were younger, like I did? If so, have you stressed out about where and how you'll ever find the time for it and then decided not to? What about online courses? Capella University is an accredited university with over 19,000 adult learners. They even offer a course to help you learn how to use their online courses, just to ease your mind about it if you've never done anything like it before. They make it super easy to communicate with your instructors, too, by using email, the telephone, online discussion threads and more.

To me, this seems like the perfect option for someone who's too busy for the traditional approach to higher education.

Yuck.

I've had a bit of an upset stomach and headache since yesterday, and it doesn't really feel like its getting any better. I really hope I'm not coming down with something, I so hate being sick. Rhi's boyfriend stayed home from school sick today, and while he's claiming its just his allergies, you never really know, especially with kids that insist they "never" get sick.

Other than that, its been a calm day again. I went over & trimmed Morgan's hair earlier & visited with Dawn for awhile. Morgan is so ready to have the baby, she's tired and its hard for her to sleep now. She's due in 21 days, and I'm sure she's hoping she'll go a lot sooner than that.

The Calm After the Storm

Yesterday was pretty calm and quiet round here, surprisingly. Generally, if Rhi has to wait to see her boy at all, she gets grouchier and meaner every hour, but she did really well yesterday. And Troy was home all day, too, and stayed up after work, so there was the potential for some issues in the house, but he behaved too. Maybe they're both starting to get the idea that I'm not digging the strife and its making me crazy.

Rhi has already told me what she wants for Christmas, she wants a PSP. Since she's given us so much notice about it, I don't see a problem with getting it for her, especially since she isn't asking for anything else. I'm thinking I'll get her one of the bundles they have with an accessory and a couple of games.

Anyhow, I have stuff I need to get done.

Move It!

I remembered to talk to Erin about his van the other day. I feel like, since he doesn't live here, his van ought to be moved elsewhere and he agreed. The big problem being that its not registered, so they can't move it until it is, and that involves them being able to pass inspection with it before anything else can happen. I need to remind him to get a car insurance quote or three, to try to find the best deal. It shouldn't cost a whole lot, its a really old van.

I guess he & Alisha plan to convert it into an RV eventually and have already started buying things to do that. (I'd think it'd be smarter to get it registered and legal, first, but hey, what do I know? All I care about is getting it out of here before my landlord starts to complain.

Getting By

I had written out this big letter to Troy & Rhi about how I feel like they're acting lately and what its doing to me, then I decided to just let it go. I kept the letter, I may still need it, but Rhi is aware of how I'm feeling and what she needs to do about her behaviors to change it, and I'm fairly sure that Troy knows that I'm tired of it. If they start in again, I'm stopping it with my letter, I can't live like that anymore, I just can't.

I haven't been sleeping much over the past two nights, I'm tired when I go to bed, I fall asleep, but I'm awake 2 or so hours later, tossing and turning. For hours. I fell back to sleep sometime after 5 this morning. It made the alarm feel like hell at 6:20. Now, I'm afraid to take a nap, because I may not be able to sleep tonight again.

*sigh*

When do you just give up on having peace in the home? I'm about top, let me tell ya. I've decided that I can't change anything anymore and I'm tired of feeling like its my job to keep the peace in my house, especially when all Troy & Rhi seem to want to do is be grouchy and angry all the time. If I try to calm either one of them down, I'm "not letting them talk" or I'm "not taking their concerns seriously." Apparently there is no such thing as a conversation in this house, only people taking turns saying whatever they want and other people waiting until they are certain the talking is done to be able to say whatever they want to. There is no letting things go when they're finished, only being angry about everything for hours & hours and taking out the anger on everyone around, even if they had nothing to do with whatever caused it in the first place. It doesn't even matter if what caused it was trivial and lasted 10 seconds.

I just can't take it anymore, I feel like I'm losing my mind most days. I just don't know how to change anything, or protect my own sanity anymore, I just feel like giving up.

Whew!!

Everything for Morgan's baby shower is bought & ready to go.I still need to gather her gifts together and put them in a basket or something. I also got her a couple of bags of diapers. We're cooking the little smokies in sauce in the crockpot & meatballs, too, then a veggie tray & a fruit tray with cookies and punch, and cake. I hope it all turns out and everyone has a good time, I'm not sure about games and such, Vicki was taking care of most of that, and I don't know if she remembered or not.

Anyway, I'm going over early tomorrow to help Dawn finish with the house & get food started and ready to go. Another busy weekend, maybe things will mellow out someday!!

Can We Get a Hallelujah?

Rhi is finally passing all of her classes! Woohoo! In not-so-great news she failed the math section of the UBSCT again, and she can't graduate if she doesn't pass it. I have the tests saved to my hard drive, and I'm planning to print them out so she can practice on them this summer. She really thought she had passed this time, and was pretty upset to learn she hadn't. She's staying after the next two Tuesdays to make up History stuff she failed last quarter, and hopefully they'll figure out a way for her to remediate the English class she failed last quarter, too.

I can't believe that school is out in 2 weeks. Even more unbelievable is that Rhi is a Senior next year.

Just Stuff

So. Erin came over last night. He claimed it was to see when Rhi's birthday party was happening today, and since he found out we'd already had it, he said he wanted to make sure she was going to be home this afternoon. I'm pretty sure he really just wanted to see us and talk to us about what had happened, and try to work some things out.

Apparently, he's living in a tent somewhere and working at KFC. He says he's happy, eating and staying as warm as he can. And that he isn't angry with us anymore. I guess they plan to spend the summer here & then move to Portland in the fall. I guess the SLC trip fell through when Erin's friend broke up with his girlfriend the other day, but I guess he plans to move to Oregon with them.

There are other things going on, with Rhi, but I'm just too emotionally wrung out to really go into it right now.

Its Spring, Right?

Man, its freakin' cold this morning! Its only 36 degrees right now and cloudy. I wish this storm would just do its thing and get out of here, really. I just don't understand why Rhi's parties always have to be on weekends with horrible weather, really. Its been this way, every year since we moved here. This year, we plannedto have it out of town, further south where the weather is almost always nicer & they have thunderstorms forecast, too. I just can't win, I tell ya. I guess we'll have all of the guests prepare for hot AND cold temperatures and just hope for the best, its all I can do at this point.

Arghhhhh!

I have the world's WORST headache right now! I'm so tired of this pollen blowing everywhere & aggravating my allergies. I have never had a spring where I was this miserable. Ever.

My friend Vicki is a mom of two & a college student. Today, she found out that our University is closing their daycare center forever. Now she has no idea how she'll even be able to finish school with no daycare. She can't afford to take them anywhere else, she has cut her work hours so she can go to school. Her husband works full-time and can't take care of them during school hours either. I feel so bad for her and really don't understand what the University President is thinking by doing this.

Stress

I'm starting to worry about Rhi's upcoming birthday party. We're having it about 30 miles away, at a state park, outside, with no shelter. We have thunderstorms in the forecast now. I really have no idea what we're gonna do if the weather is too terrible to go. We have no backup plan, at all. Right now, the party consists of going down there to cook food, play in the water & have fun. There isn't anywhere else to move it to, the whole southern part oft he state will be having the same weather, unfortunately. It never fails, every year, the weather is bad for her party, no matter how beautiful its been up to that point.

A Little Nervous

While we were at the wedding Saturday, a friend of Vicki's decided she wanted to meet me and talk with me awhile. Well, I never came up with the time while she was still there, so she told Vicki to invite me to lunch for tomorrow when she was having a bunch of other (as she says) mystic types over. I am a very shy person, so meeting someone for lunch that I've never met isn't a thing that I do. I emailed her & told her that and that I'd prefer to get to know her first. She wrote a nice email back, but for some weird reason, I feel like I'm being "collected" for her collection of mystic people, you know? I'm not intellectual, at least not about my religion or beliefs. I don't feel the need to explain or discuss them, they just are. I think I'm going to be a disappointment to her.

Crazy, Hazy Days

Things have been kind of crazy around here lately. The weather is hot, the swamp cooler is hooked up, emotions seem to be running high & overtime this week, but we're trying to deal with it. I think there's maybe just too much stress right now. I'm worrying about paying for our insurance, worrying about getting Rhi's fees saved up for next year & still being able to afford to buy her Senior portrait package, trying to get my stuff started, done or caught up in time for Faire - its craziness, I tell you!!