Sunday, May 28, 2006

Mmmm....

Hey Jack,

We work together Monday and Wednesday. So, don't forget that I want some of your meat*.







*moose meat, that is.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

A Quickie.

Grad ceremonies are long and boring.

Cherry is now saying "Cat", but it sometimes comes out as "tat". She also may or may not be saying "Ma Ma". (yay!)

For the third "event" in a row, I've forgotten my camera at home.

I now have to go watch The Godfather, because Ellen told me to.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

May long, house update, Cherry update, and CeCe has some thoughts on evolution.

This past week has been pretty nice. I've had so much time off lately, and I have really enjoyed it.

I had the whole May long weekend off! I haven't had a long weekend off since I was fifteen! (and I only had the weekend off when I was fifteen because I got kicked out of my house and moved two towns away and wasn't ABLE to go to work that weekend.)

On Saturday we just lazed around, and on Sunday we went down to Victoria to go visit with one of the good SILs. We did some shopping and went and checked out some cool highschool marching bands that were performing in front of the parliament buildings. I forgot my camera at home. :(

On Monday, we were again lazy, but did do a short shopping trip in our own town.

I've also been really sick this whole time. Which sucks. And I have these gross little red spots all over my face from blood vessels bursting when I puked.

***


ANYWAY...

It's almost the end of the month, and we've decided that if the house doesn't sell in the next few days, we're going to take it off the market. Although I really do want to move, and I'm scared that we're going to lose out on some cool houses, I'd rather KNOW what's happening than keep on playing this stupid guessing game!

It has been suggested that we could lower our price to get a buyer, but the point of us selling was so that we could make a big enough profit so we could pay off some bad debts and get a cheaper, bigger house. If we lower our price, then there's not much point in selling at all.

So we're going to take it off the market, do some upgrades, and re-list next year sometime.

And, in the meantime, we're planning some changes for the kids' rooms!

We'll probably keep the nursery the same, but update the paint. Cherry's getting a new room soon though, probably around her birthday. She's going to go into the middle sized room, which we just moved out of. We already have a bit of a "hibiscus" theme going on in there, but the paint is hideous. We're going to paint it a light pink, and do the ceilings white. We've picked out a junior bed from Toys R Us, and some bedding from Walmart. I can't wait to get it all pulled together, but we're going to wait until we have a little more cash.

***


I was getting a little upset a couple of weeks back that I just wasn't home enough to really hang out with my family. I was upset that I wasn't really connecting with Cherry as much as I would like to, and about the fact that I really didn't have anything to say about her here, but had lots to write about work.

Now that I'm working 3 and a half days and I'm home 3 and a half days, I really feel like I've been able to get more involved again.

So, here are some updates on Cherry:

~She now has four teeth.
~She always splashes a lot in the tub and throws all of her bath toys, full of water, onto the bathroom floor.
~She purposely throws her bottle and soother out of her crib just so that I'll bend over and grab them again for her.
~Along the same lines as above, when ever she's done with something, she'll just totally huck it across the room.
~She's super strong! When she grabs onto anything, you can just let her go and she'll hang there, holding her own weight. It's pretty funny!
~She seems to like to knock things out of my hands. Tonight she gobbled her whole bottle down during story time, so I went and got her some more formula, and as I was pouring the warm formula from the cup into the bottle, she reached out from the crib and knocked the cup almost right out of my hand, causing me to spill a bunch of milk.
~She loves to make people laugh. Her funny things to do are her "pug face" and making raspberry noises.
~She's taking a couple of steps at a time, but isn't quite walking.
~She says "dog", "hi", and "dadda". She used to say "duck", but has seemed to have lost this word.
~She loves to feed the dogs. She'll take bites of her food, then hold her food out to the side of her high chair in order to drop it for the dogs. If the dogs aren't there, she'll say "Dog?" and look around. It isn't very often that the dogs aren't there, 'cause they KNOW she's going to feed them!
~She loves to pull my hair. HARD. And she laughs.
~She yanks on Armondo's ears and uses them as handles when she rides on his shoulders.
~She's a big fan of Peek a Boo and sneezes.
~She rocks back and forth in the stroller to try to make it go faster.
~She "roars".
~She likes lasagne.
~She's shying away from mushed food.
~She's drinking from sippy cups pretty well.
~She cuddles up to the cats, and is slowly starting to become cuddly with us again.
~She LOVES going out, 'cause everyone always pays attention to her and tells her how cute she is. She smiles at everyone and makes faces to make them laugh.

***


I wasn't raised in a Christian household, so I missed out on learning a lot of bible stories. I became a Christian when I was 15, but I haven't really read a lot of the bible. Esp not much of the old testament. A few months ago, I bought a bible for kids that has all the bible stories condensed and told in a format that kids can understand. I read Cherry quite a few of the stories, but have since put the book down for a future time.

In the story of Adam and Eve, it talks about God punishing Eve and all women for her sin by making child birth painful.

That was something I had never read or heard before, but it brought me back to what I was thinking/saying when I was in labour with Cherry.

I was saying something to the effect of : If evolution is supposed to be about "survival of the fittest" and evolving to make things easier, and if we apparently evolved from being on all fours, to standing upright... then why is it that childbirth is so much more painful and difficult for humans than apes, if humans are supposed to be more "evolved"? Why is it that humans have more difficulty than most other mammals? Well, it must be due to the fact that we were CREATED. Hmmm?

Argue with me if you want, but it just makes sense to me!

And that is all for tonight.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Spring cleaning + nesting + "How Clean is your House" = Bad house keeping + nasty words flung.

A message to all of you married people out there: communication is KEY!

Today I sent Armondo and Cherry out to do some shopping while I did some cleaning around the house.

You know those horizontal plastic blind thingys? Do NOT ever buy any for your house! And, if you're moving into a house with them, REMOVE THEM. Pronto. They SUCK!

My blinds have been very dirty for a long time. Dusting them wouldn't work, because the dirt was almost oily. Usually, I just pull them "up" if anyone comes to the house, or if we're showing the house so that no one can see the dirt. So, after watching some episodes of "How Clean is Your House" where they showed washing the blinds either in the bathtub or out on the lawn with a garden hose, I thought it was time to give it a try.

After Armondo and Cherry left, I took most of our curtains and threw them in the wash, and then filled the bathtub and threw two of the blinds in. While I let them soak, I washed some of the windows in the house and washed some of the walls in the bathroom. I then went back to the blinds. They were still nearly impossible to clean. It was obvious that I was going to have to wash each and every horizontal strip separately if I continued in the bathtub this way. So I decided to wash them on the lawn.

All four blinds went down onto the lawn and I got out my hose and hosed them all down. The dirt did not budge. So, I got a tooth brush and some Mr. Clean and went to work. Two and a half hours after I started, I had ONE blind clean. I took it back into the house, set it up, and then realized that perhaps washing blinds on FRESH CUT GRASS wasn't the best idea. My now somewhat cleaned blind was now covered in grass clippings, and because the blinds were wet, it wasn't coming off very easily.

So, out comes the hair dryer. I'm not kidding. I WISH I was kidding.

The rest of the blinds didn't make it back into the house. There are the "shed", which really is code for "They are on their way to the Sally Anne, or the dump."

I did the math while I packed them into the shed.

1 blind = 3 hours of cleaning
4 blinds= 12 hours of cleaning.
12 hours x $8 an hour (minimum wage) = $96

$96 could buy me some nice curtains to replace those blinds!

Anyway,

Armondo got home soon after I finished cleaning the grass on that one blind and pretty much flipped out on me for the house still being dirty.

This is where the "communication" thing comes in.

When I said "While you're out shopping, I'm going to clean."

He heard "Get out of the house, so I can clean it and you'll come home to a nice clean house."

Where what I really meant was "I need to go shopping, and there's some special cleaning I need to get done, so can you go out and do the shopping while I do these cleaning things that don't normally get done such as cleaning the blinds, washing the curtains, windows, and walls? Oh, and I have every intention of cleaning the whole house as well, but AFTER I do all this other stuff, so I'll still be working on things by the time you get home."

Yeah, so I've learned my lesson to avoid fights. Talk to the men like they are children. Don't leave out any steps. Give them every detail. That way they will understand, and they won't have any grounds to get pissed off. And if I do all that, and it works, then I don't have to get all snippy and say things like: "You're mad a ME, because *I* didn't clean the house by the time you got home, even though it's YOUR job?!?"

We're pretty mature when we fight.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Morning, afternoon, evening, night, sickness!

I'm sorry to say, but I spoke too soon about not being sick with this pregnancy. Nothing serious has happened yet, but I did end up leaving work early yesterday due to a major headache and some nausea. I still haven't vomited, which is good, but I'm not enjoying the pregnancy flu.

This may be the last time I get pregnant. Not because I don't want many children (I do), but because two pregnancies in a row I've felt crummy. We'll see though, it may just be temporary. And women tend to forget these things afterwards.. something to do with hormones.

I'm sorry, this is probably going to turn into a "I'm pregnant, listen to me talk about my pregnancy" blog. Here, let me just throw you a virtual spoon to gag yourself with!

Monday, May 15, 2006

A message for Jack.

Dude, you need to either lay off the asparagus or start drinking more water.

Your pee really stinks up the washroom at work!

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Why am I so bitter in general?

Here are just some little snipbits of reasons why I'm a little bitter. These examples are not meant to be totally inclusive, but are just some highlights.

My Father~Left me twice with incompetent women. The first time he left me with my mother who, among other things, snorted cocaine in front of me, and abandoned me for days at random people's houses. The second time, he left me with the mother of his son (my stepmother) who emotionally and physically abused me for years.

He and I have gotten along well for years now, and I love him dearly but find him very hard to deal with when this is the response I get when I email him to tell him I'm pregnant:

Dear Mutley,

Don`t people just practice anymore??? I guess congrats are in order I don`t know what else to say??? Go forth and multiply...lol I guess you figured out how it happens.

Luv ya ta bits,

Dad



Sure he says "Luv ya ta bits" and I know he does, but I'm just so sick of the sarcastic, tough guy act!

He visited for two weeks and held Cherry maybe five times. He just hung out in the guest room the majority of the time and it seemed like such a huge chore for him to have family time with us.

My Mother~Lived with her on and off until I was five. Been in and out of jail for as long as I can remember. May or may not still be using drugs, but is completely screwed up from past drug use. Hasn't phoned me or seen me since I was eight months pregnant last time. I'm not too worried about that though, because it was around that time that she got someone to threaten to beat up my grandparents if they didn't give them (her) $600.

Stepmother~ Lived with her from 5 1/2 to 16 years old. Slapped me around, destroyed all of my belongings on several occasions, grounded me FROM SCHOOL because I had a boyfriend and had made out with him. The grounding included banning me from using razors so I couldn't shave my armpits, thinking that would make it less likely for me to be "felt up". She also told my doctor I was sleeping around when I had basically only french kissed a guy. She got wasted the night before Easter one year, and didn't wake up early enough in the morning to hide the eggs, so I went and found them all in her closet and hid them so my brother and the family friends who were coming would have an Easter egg hunt. I later got in trouble because I had forgotten to take the price tags off of the candy. Got kicked out once because I said I wanted to VISIT my father, got kicked out a second time because I refused to quit a job she had forced me to get in the first place.

Half-brother~Six years younger than I am. I lived with him until he was 10. I loved the kid, and the only reason why I stayed living with his mother was so I could stay close to him. After years of brainwashing by his mother, the kid totally hates me and is more than nasty to me when I have had the occasional contact with him over the past few years.

My Mother's mother~Love this woman, but am starting to loathe her due to the fact that she constantly rags on me for having pets, and she does nothing but complains. (I think I got that trait from her!)

My Father's mother~A wonderful lady, but she seems to be able to visit Scotland, Chicago, Florida, and Vegas in a year, but doesn't take the time to come visit her first great-grandchild.

My Husband's mother~Lives an hour and a half away, yet has only come and visited Cherry three times. Promised to babysit Cherry 3 nights a week so I could work while Armondo was away, but backed out. Went to sister-in-law's house 24 hours away to do the exact same thing.
Dislikes the fact that we have a relationship with some family that she doesn't like.

My Husband's father~apologized recently for bad behaviour. I have forgiven him. I can move on.

Some of my husband's sisters~Accused me of: "corrupting" their brother, stealing from another sister, being MEAN to said sister, lying about their mother.

Husband's Aunt #1 (mother's sister)~ Told one of my husband's sisters that she didn't want to come visit Armondo and Cherry if I was home too.

Husband's Aunt #2 (mother's brother's wife)~No longer talks to me because of something cryptic I said about her in my old blog. It was nothing nasty, and it was disguised. She flipped. Her daughter flipped. Also, asked Armondo questions about her husband's behaviour while the two of them were away together. Armondo told the truth. No longer talks to us.

Husband's Uncle (husband of above aunt)~Has been saying to other relatives that Armondo was a spy "sent" by his wife to keep her in the know about his bad behaviour. Has refused treatment for his problems and no longer talks to us.

Yeah, so there are just a few things that I'm a little pissed about. I realize that it's MY problem and that none of these things should really bother me, but they do. And it makes me very defensive and cocky.

Happy Mothers' Day!


Today was my first Mothers' Day. It was great. I love being a mother!

Being a mom has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am truly blessed.

I take my job as a mother very seriously. I want to do my best to give my best to my child(ren).

Both of my children (I'm including the one in my belly in this statement) were planned and wanted.

I researched the job and continuously do so. I talk to other parents and read other parents' experiences in order to have some insight so I don't go into things blindly.

I am a very opinionated mother. And in my opinion, I am better at being a mother than I have been at doing anything else. (So far).

Being a mother is the one thing that I always knew I wanted to be and do. And I always wanted to be good at it.

It might be wrong for me to think I'm a good mother, and to think that I might be better than other mothers, but isn't that my prerogative? I mean, if you work really hard at being an artist, or being a lawyer and you think you're better than other artists or lawyers, is that so wrong? (Sorry, just trying to justify some nasty things I said in my last post.)

I hope I don't fail my children!

***


Armondo and I are horrible at keeping gifts a secret. Usually by October, we've given each other our Christmas gifts. Birthdays, we can't help but give too many hints. And I'm just plain good at guessing.

Anyway, for mothers' day I gave a bunch of suggestions, 'cause Armondo didn't even know where to begin. I guessed one of my gifts. I didn't know I would be getting more than one gift, but when I came home last night from getting a movie (Fun with Dick and Jane-darn good), I walked into the bathroom and saw empty bags from Ben Moss (jewelry) and Lush (body products).

"Armondo!? You might want to go into the bathroom" I say.
"huh? What?" He walks into the bathroom and sighs. "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!"

It's impossible for us to give gifts secretly! Even when we TRY, we still screw up!

So, this morning, I was allowed to sleep in, and was awoken by the smell of a beautiful breakfast of eggs benny on homemade bread, sausages, fried potatoes, PRAWNS, and a beautiful fruit salad.

For gifts, I got the Timex watch I had wanted, some cute little diamond stud earrings and a massage bar (Which, of course, comes with the unsaid promise of a massage!!) I also got two cards. One from Armondo that said a bunch of mushy cute stuff, and one from Cherry, where Armondo guided her hand to say "It was very nice of you 2 bee my mommy, I love u, Cherry."

We then all had a nap, and went for a 6 km walk. It was a very nice day.

After we got home, we put Cherry down for bed, and Armondo made me a nice dinner of bbq chicken made with homemade bbq sauce and potatoes, veggies and salad.

I am so spoiled!

Happy Mothers' Day to me! And to you!

Friday, May 12, 2006

Clarification.

WARNING WARNING WARNING.

I HAVE WRITTEN SOMETHING JERKY HERE. DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE RELATED TO MY HUSBAND OR ARE GOING TO SPEAK TO ANYONE RELATED TO MY HUSBAND. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY HARD FEELINGS THAT COULD ARISE FROM YOU READING THIS. THE ABOVE MENTIONED PEOPLE ARE NOT WELCOME AT THIS BLOG. PERIOD.


This post is mostly for me, I'm sure none of you would find this interesting, but because this is my journal, I figured I should write this in here, so I can look back and remember...

I was really bitter this year that I totally got ripped off for my birthday. One grandmother sent me clothes that were a bajillion sizes too big, and the other grandmother didn't send me ANYTHING. This is the first time that they did this. This was the year I could have really used the money.

ANYWAY, two months late, I got a package from my other grandmother with my birthday money in it. AWESOME. It was a little late, and it didn't come in the month when I had THREE mortgage payments, but it did, eventually come. And it paid for the shopping spree I had just gone on when I bought a bunch of things for our new poodle.

The other thing is:

Armondo's dad basically phoned to appoligize to me for being a jerk in the past to me. He told me that I was an awesome mother and an awesome wife and he really enjoyed watching our family interact. That was pretty cool. When he was visiting, he had also said that Armondo and I were probably the only parents these days that are doing things right. (Referring to bed times, feeding schedules etc.) And he basically told me we were better parents than Armondo's older sister and her husband. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but WE TOTALLY ARE better parents. Ok, that was a little rude. But... sometimes the truth hurts. And now, my kids are going to be meth dealers and hers are going to be straight A students. Just because I said that.

***


Oh, and nothing makes me randier than my husband being all "Handy-man". Usually, I'm the one who does the fix-it things, or instructs how to do the fix-it things, but lately, he's just been so HOT being all handy! (I only know stuff 'cause I work in a hardware store, and have off and on for over 5 years.)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

About pregnancy, baby naming, work choices, flying kites, dead rats, photos and a cat in a crib.

***


Warning! Slightly graphic content here.

So, I'm still not sick. With Cherry, I was sick for the first FIVE months. And I mean, REALLY sick. Every day sick. Buy REALLY expensive medication sick. Not able to get out of bed in the morning sick. But having to get out of bed anyway, because puking in a bowl isn't very nice.

I never puked at work though. I only worked three nights a week at the restaurant, and was usually ok by nighttime. One time I ALMOST threw up there, but was able to get off easy with just a little wretch.

So, needless to say, I'm pretty happy about not being sick this time. I have felt a *tiny* bit nauseous when my stomach has been completely empty, but besides that, I'm pretty good.

***


We've been going through baby names lately. We haven't gone through ALL of the letters yet, but so far, this is what we've got:


(girl) ABIGAIL ("Abby" is just too cute!)
(girl) ANNABELL(e)(a) (I really like this one, but it's probably a "no" because our dog's name is Annie.)
(boy) CALEB (I've loved this name for EVER.. well ever since I used to watch American Gothic the TV show.)
(boy) DOMINICK
(girl) CHARLOTTE
(girl) FARREN (Armondo is really warming up to this one.)
(girl) GWENDOLYN (This one is in my top three for sure!)
(boy) ISAIAH
(girl) ISABELL(E)(a) (This is a favourite, but probably a no-go, 'cause Armondo thinks I only like it 'cause Belinda's kid has some form of this name.)
(boy) THEODORE (I love the short forms of this name: Ted, Teddy, Tad.)
(boy) JO(h)NATHAN (I think if we named the kid this name, I'd call him "Nathan" for short, as opposed to "John")

We still have a bunch of letters to go through, and I'm up for suggestions, but the first name can NOT start with a "B" or an "H". Because our last name starts with an "O". I don't want my kid being called "B.O." or "HO".

***


Armondo might be getting another job on a fishing boat. We won't find out for a couple of weeks, but if he DOES get the job, he'll be gone for another month. I am NOT happy about this. I said to him: "I didn't think I was marrying a fisherman!" His response: "No, but you DID marry a cook, and I'll be COOKING on this boat."

It's tough. I miss him a LOT when he's gone, but the big money is such an attractive draw. And he feels like he has to "provide" for his family, and in his mind right now, this is the way to do it. Apparently, if he gets this particular job, he'd probably be able to get steady jobs on boats for as long as he wants. Weighing out the pros and cons here, just like I always did in high school:

Pros/Cons:
Big money/I'll miss him lots.
He really ENJOYS the job./He might miss major baby milestones.
He'll get time off for WEEKS instead of days/I'll be pregnant and alone for weeks, and I get paranoid when I'm pregnant!

***


Armondo said or did something really funny at breakfast today, and I told him I was going to blog about it. But I can't remember it. At all. Sucky.

***

We went to the park with my buddies C+O today.
It was Armondo, Me, Cherry, Jacy, Annie, O (5 year old), his mom C, and Baby G.
O. brought his kite, and at one point, Armondo got it flying pretty good, and handed it over to O. After O. had flown it for a little while, I said "Whoa, O. you're a PRO!!"
"Yeah!" He says. "I'm a pro! 'Pro' means 'Good kite flyer!' "

Later, as C. took O. to the bathroom, Armondo was holding onto the kite, making it do tricks and stuff, and he accidently let it dive bomb into the playground almost taking a kid out with it.

When O. got back from the bathroom, he started asking Armondo why the string was in so many knots and what had happened, so Armondo started explaining how he had it dive bombing here and there and he lost control.

O. replies: "I don't want to HEAR about any more of this 'DIVE BOMB' business!!!'

***


My other rat died. Armondo was here to deal with it this time. I was less than impressed with dealing with it last time. Rats are really good pets, but they just aren't made to last long! No more pocket pets for awhile. Not until the kids start asking for them.

***

Pictures? You want pictures? I've been forgetting to post pictures lately, haven't I? It's the stupid Flickr thing. You get so darned lazy when you put them there, 'cause you just think to yourself "They can just click on that thing if they want to see pictures".. but REALLY... how
many people ACTUALLY click on those things?

Armondo found this frog when he was cutting the lawn. Pretty cute, eh?











And this is Cherry making her pug face, or her "I'm done" face.


***


Cherry goes to bed every night at 7pm, unless we've messed up the schedule due to company or shopping trips or whatever. Tonight, we put her down to bed at 7 as usual, but she just kept on babbling and talking to herself until, finally at 8pm, she started sounding upset. I figured she had lost her soother, so I popped into her room to find it for her when I found the problem.

Ozzy was in her crib. Cherry had been babbling and talking to OZZY for an hour! No WONDER, she wasn't sleeping! She had finally got too tired to deal with the cat, so she started crying (I assume) so I would come in and take the cat out! So, I did, and I grabbed her soother off of the floor, and now, 15 min later, not a sound to be heard!

One day, Armondo will learn to check for cats before he leaves her room!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

You know you're CeCe when..

You know you're sexy when your three favourite and best fitting bras were purchased from Wal Mart and had pictures of Star Jones on the labels.

You know you're a circus freak when you can just clap your hands and catch and kill two flies in one try mid air.

You know you're lazy when your most favourite activity ever on a sunny, warm, spring morning is sleeping.

You know you're a wuss when you start crying after your husband rips the wax strip off of your upper lip and you refuse to let him do it again, even though most of the hair is still there. (and not to mention, run away while crying saying "no, I CAN'T do it again!"

You know you're a little insane when you're watching a commercial with talking, drawing, costume wearing animated turkeys, and the thing you point out as being ludicrous is the fact that the turkeys have teeth.

You know you've been made up of left over parts when you sneeze everytime you pluck your eyebrows.

You know you take your cashiering job a little too seriously when you catch yourself putting your hand on your heart and telling the new girls at work that "Counting back change properly is a very important part of a job as a cashier."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Recap for the last week or so.

House Guests

After my dad left, we had one day without guests, then Armondo's dad Popeye arrived. He was here during that awesome seafood dinner we had. In fact, he purchased the majority of the seafood. I worked most of the days that he was here, which was a good thing, 'cause although that guy is really nice and funny, it's sort of like hanging out with a 15 year old in a 55 year old's body.
I'll have to tell you a little more about that guy someday.

***
More about babies.

There's a new guy at the hardware store. He's my age and has a fiancee who is 20, and they have month and a half old twins. Boy and a girl. I'm so jealous. I want twins so bad!

***

A New Obsession.

We just finished watching the first season of Twin Peaks on DVD and "Fire Walk With Me" which is the movie that is the prequel to the first season.

The prequel basically told us who murdered Laura, but still left a lot of mysteries. The last episode of the first season shows Cooper, the FBI agent getting shot, so I guess that starts a new mystery for the second season, which we may or may not be able to obtain from local video stores. ANYWAY, I recommend watching the series if you haven't already. It's pretty cool. And I swear I have a lot of the craziness figured out, such as all the weird people in the dream sequences. I think Laura has multiple personalities, and, although it might just be a Hollywood thing, it seems that whenever the personalities come together and meet eachother, things seem to get nuts, which I think is what was happening to Laura in Twin Peaks. I think the multiple personalities were brought on due to the extreme sexual abuse she suffered from her father. And her father had a split personality too, and Laura caught on to this, seeing "Bob" instead of her father when she was getting abused.

***
American Idol.

I love Katharine McPhee. I don't think anyone else is even slightly as good as her! In the early days of this season of Idol, I thought that there were a lot of good singers, but as we get down to the crunch, it's seems obvious that Katharine is going to be the winner. I think her voice is as good as Xtina's, but she's so much more wholesome, making her much more lovable!

I was a little surprised that Paris was voted off tonight though. That girl's got some awesome pipes! I think that she'll be getting a recording contract for sure!

***
More Problems with THE server.

The past couple of weeks I was having problems with Lisa from the restaurant again. Alana, another server at the restaurant was taking some time off last week and hadn't got people to cover all of her shifts yet. I went to John, our boss, and told him I'd take the Tuesday shift after I checked with Alana if she had promised it to anyone else. Alana had told me that she had asked several servers, including Lisa, but no-one said they could take it, and Lisa said that she wanted it, but couldn't commit because she wasn't sure if she'd get the new job she had just had an interview for.

Not wanting to step on anyone's toes, and not wanting anyone to get really pissed off, (servers are so cut-throat about shifts sometimes) I went to Lisa to double check if she had wanted the shift. Her response?

"Tell you what, I'LL take the shift, but IF I get the other job and need to work that night, then YOU can take it."

I tell her that, no, that wasn't going to work, because I had to arrange my schedule at my other job, so it had to be a "yes" or "no" with me, no "maybe"s.

She told me how much she needed the money because she had car payments, and was in debt from her trip to Alberta, and such.

"Well I need the money to support my FAMILY. But that's fine, you take it. I can commit and you can't, but that's fine, YOU take it." And I walked away.

Later, she called me over and told me that I could take the shift.

On Monday she phoned me to "confirm" that I was taking the shift. grrrrrrr....

***
Some People have all the Luck.

On Wednesday, Lisa and I worked a shift together, and Lisa got this totally crazy guy. He flipped at her for lighting his candle, swore at her for bringing him garlic bread, and totally lost it when she brought the hot butter (butter sitting atop a lit candle), and demanded she take his food away and put it in a to go container. I think he was off his meds. He kept on shoving $20's at her and begging her not to call the cops. His bill was $82, the tip was $80. I suggested she try to give some of the money back to him, and the guy refused. I then suggested that she give some of the money to charity. I doubt she did.

When I got home and told Armondo about the whole thing, he's like "Why HER?!? Why couldn't YOU have gotten that table?!?"

I don't have an answer for that. I mean, I had MY crazies last week.

***

Some Work Plans.

I'm going to cut back my shifts. I want three shifts at the hardware store, and one at the restaurant if possible. (Or two at each, but I doubt I can get a second regular shift at the restaurant.) If it does work out that I get 3/1 then, it means I work three and a half days, and get three and a half days off a week, which would be AWESOME! With the raise I recently got, I can justify not working quite as much now too. It's not a HUGE raise, but it sure seemed to make a difference this last paycheque!

I'd like to have more time for the family, more time for the yard, and more time for the blog. It seems like I never see Cherry anymore. Just half an hour before work, and half an hour after. And she's always grumpy just when I get home!

And I want to start drawing again, which I've been threatening for awhile, but haven't actually done. I'm also trying to hang out with my friends more often these days too.

***


Time with Friends.

On Monday, I went out for a bit with my friend C. and her little eight week old daughter. It was a nice afternoon, with lunch and window shopping. I'm worried about C., as when she was screened for post partum depression, she was considered borderline. I know she didn't actually want a second child, and she often talks about how the arrival of her child has messed up all her plans, so I'm worried, to say the least. I wish I could spend more time with her and her family, but I have my own family to worry about. (Her son is the boy in this post.)

Tomorrow night, I have a possible date with my friend L.B. I hope it works out, I miss her!

Last Friday, I went to a friend's house where she held a cosmetic party. The brand was called Arbonne. I wasn't overly impressed, and I didn't buy anything. We started the party off by going into the bathroom and having our hands scrubbed by some product that ACTUALLY hurt my hands. And then it left this really oily residue on my hands. We were then wisked into the living room, and were given little tubs full of hot water, marbles, and oil to put our feet into. My tub was too hot. And the smell of the stuff in it plugged me up right away! Watery eyes, runny nose, tight throat. It was gross. (I also had a cold, so this irritated the cold more than anything.)

Then the rep gave her speech, trying to tell us that a) anything our skin touches gets absorbed into the bloodstream in 26 seconds. b) And that petroleum jelly and baby oil can kill us by not letting our skin breath. c) that bat faeces go into some mascaras. d) that rendered animal fat from euthanized animals and road kill goes into making lipstick and mascara. e) the average woman eats six pounds of lipstick in her life.

My responses? (I didn't say any of this at the party, 'cause I wouldn't be this rude, but HERE, I can say ANYTHING!)

a) If this were true, then we would never have to drink water. We would absorb enough water from washing our hands, bathing, and swimming.
b) *ahem.. bullsh*t*
c) So? It's "natural"!
d) Is this really all that bad? I thought recycling was a good thing! And besides, haven't you seen "Fight Club"?
e) I have only worn lipstick MAYBE 25 times in my life. And I used that particular number because I know I've worn it once a year for the past few years on hallowe'en, and I wore it for prom. And there were a few times when I was a kid that I wore it too.

Needless to say, I didn't buy anything. Some of the girls there were totally sold on this stuff though, and a few of them had already been to SEVERAL of the parties, and had bought the $35 "discount" card.

***


Dreams.

Being pregnant has brought back the weird dreams again. I've had a couple lately. In one, this 20 something guy was destroying some of the ornamental trees on the road side, and I beat him up, kicked him to the curb and left him within an inch of his life.

In another dream, Armondo and I broke up, (but we were only dating in the dream), and I was so upset that he wasn't phoning me to work things out, then Bruce (his friend) calls me up to talk to me about the whole thing, and it's so obvious that Armondo's sitting next to him, coaching the conversation, that I just freak out and tell him to tell Armondo to call me himself.

***


More about work. I know, it's my whole life. I'm trying to change that.

I had a rude customer today. I got a little snippy. I told Jack about it. I think he's worried that he's going to have to fire me. (Only half joking here).

Jack paid me a pretty nice compliment today. He told me that I'd be a really good (personnel) manager. He said I have a lot of patience with the two new people and that I handle them well. I asked him if he was going to promote me, and he told me he didn't like me THAT much.

***


Yet another obsession.

I'm getting sort of hooked on Su Doku. I've been ripping pages out of a coworker's book at work and trying my best. I have yet to finish one without screwing up. I got SO close today!

***

What's the WORST thing a customer has done to you?

I was remembering today the time I had a customer at the hardware store in the town I lived in a few years back who just got plain violent with me.

She was returning a furnace filter that was the wrong size and needed one that was the right size. She didn't have her receipt with her for the return, so as I was on a ladder, reaching above my head to try to find the right size for her, I was telling her that I couldn't authorize the return without a receipt, and that I would have to get a manager to approve it (which wouldn't have been a problem, really). She started arguing with me about how it still had the sticker on it, and it was obvious she had bought it there etc. I basically told her that was all fine, but I still needed to get a manager, which wasn't a big deal. She continued to argue with me about it, even though she had nothing to argue ABOUT, because her return was going to be approved ANYWAY, when she finally yelled at me saying "I don't like your attitude!" and she THREW her furnace filter at me and stomped out of the store.

She made me cry. I felt like *I* had done something wrong. I was only a kid.

Recently Kathy, a coworker at the hardware store I work at now, had a rude customer. As she was finishing up his sale, she said "Thank you, have a good evening." And he replied YELLING "You are very RUDE! When I worked retail, we always said 'thank you for your business, please come again!' " and he stormed out of the store, still yelling various things, leaving Kathy angry and crying with fury.

People suck! Again, I ask, what's your worst experience with the "public"?

***


Whew, I'm tired, and I'm sure you're bored by now, so I'll ttyl!

~CeCe