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1/27/11

Welcome to the new Millennium!

I just found out I can post from my phone. So, I'm testing it out.

Pretty cool that I can sit here, watch American Idol and write a blog post.

All from the comfort of my thrift store recliner!

Why I don't Blog everyday

My life is pretty boring.  Same ol' routine day in and day out.

To give you an idea of just how boring, here is what my day was like yesterday:

4:45am: get up, shower, dress, blow-dry my hair, grab a bagel, read my emails.

6:00am (or there abouts): wake the girls if they're not already up.  Straighten my hair.

6:30am: read my emails, check Facebook, browse my Flickr stream, and basically play on the computer until it's time to almost go.

7:10am: make a lunch.

7:20-7:35am: leave to take the older 2 to school and get myself to work.

8:00am: work, work, work and more work.

12:-2:00 (depending on how busy I am): take a lunch break. Read the latest news on Yahoo.

4:00pm: head home.

4:10pm: cuss at a few dipshit drivers on the freeway

4:20pm: At home.  Check in with D, ask how her day was and help me decide dinner.

5:00pm or so: make dinner

5:30pm: do dishes with D, sit and watch some TV

7:30pm: get R from practice/game

9:00pm or so: get S from practice/game

9:27pm: go to bed

Then start all over again the next day.

Exciting, huh?

Don't let it throw you for a loop!

1/24/11

While taking S to practice at 5:30 this morning

S: It's freezing out!  

Me: It's only 41°.

S: That's freezing.

Me: No. 32° is freezing.

S: Well, it's almost freezing.

Me: Ya know, in some places it's -6° or colder.

S: Well, it's really cold and feels like it's freezing.

Poor  baby....

1/19/11

Sneezy, Dopey, and Doc

I don't know what it is; the weather, dust in the air, flowers blooming, something.  But the past 4 days my allergies have been acting up.

I haven't been sneezing so much as I've had an itchy, runny nose that's bugging me.

Like right now.

I want a little elf to crawl into my nostril and scratch all my itches. Sounds gross, I know.  But I'm telling you, my nose itches so bad it's driving me up the wall.

Which brings me to something that really bugs me.

Whenever I start sneezing, especially a lot, people always ask if I'm getting a cold.

In all of my 43 33 years in existence, I have never sneezed when I've had a cold.  I get a runny nose, or a stuffy one, I sound like I'm coughing up a lung.  

But I don't sneeze.

I do, however, sneeze when my allergies hit me.

So, who started everyone thinking that sneezing means that person is getting a cold?  I'm pretty sure it wasn't someone who suffers from allergies.

Or a doctor.

It just irritates me when I hear "Bless you.  Sounds like you need some tea, chicken soup and rest."

No, dipshit.  I need a good dose of Claritin!

And for you to stop moving away like I've got the plague.  Or the flu....

1/18/11

Picture of the Day


john cena
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Going on my 3rd straight week of work. Things may start to not make sense.

We had back to back home shows this past weekend, and the weekend before that.

So, the house is messier than usual and my head is buzzing with a million things I have to get done at work.

The first home show we had (Jan. 7-9) was at the Phoenix Convention Center.  

Way down in the bowls of the building.

Not only was it way down in the basement with horrible signs to find it, it was really small.  We really weren't expecting to do all that well.  

Turns out, we did okay.  21 leads set for the weekend.

Then we had to gear up for the home show this past weekend at the Arizona State Fairgrounds.  It's typically one of  the biggest shows of the year, and this one had all the buildings sold out and full of vendors.

So, we were thinking, it'll be busy and if we set 21 leads at the previous show, we should set at least double that at this one.

Our best show to date was 46 leads for the weekend.

This past weekend we set 94!

From the time the show opened each day at 10AM until it closed (6pm Friday & Saturday; 5pm Sunday) we were non-stop go, go, go. 

We're booked into the second week of February!  And I still have a stack of lead slips to call!!

On top of getting 94 leads entered into the computer (it took me all morning yesterday), answering the phone, setting up installs, scheduling more sales calls, and any other paperwork I have, I also need a design to get out today and another for tomorrow.

Lately I get home from work, crash on the bed, watch TV for a bit, then I'm out for the night by 8pm.

But it's all a good busy. 

1/13/11

My new scha-weeet car

Maybe one of these days, I'll tell you about what's been going on the past week or so.  All the events that led to a sleepless night and this post.

But for now I'll just tell you about my new car.

Which really isn't all that scha-weeeet.

But saying it's scha-weeeet, sounds so much better than saying it's a clunker.

Then, again, it's not really a junker.

Or clunker.

I'm actually proud of it.  It has character.

I am now the proud owner of a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria.  And if Sean was looking over my shoulder right now, he'd be saying, "It's an Interceptor.  Tell them it's an Interceptor!"



To make him happy; it's a Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.


That's right. A former police cruiser.

And former taxi cab.

As our family all know, Sean is a cab driver, and to make a long story short, the cab company owed him a cab.  So they gave him me this one. And this puppy has some power!

It has hail damage, so the hood, roof and trunk are all full of dents.

See?  Character.




The dirt left from where the cab phone number was adds even more character. 

But it really, really bugs Sean.  So he'll probably scrub it off soon.

Like tomorrow.



I'm not in anyway a car person.  Sure, a new luxury car would be nice.  But then I'd have to be sure it was always clean, and that no one I don't dent, scratch or maim it. As long as it runs, has heat and AC (this bad boy does!!) and good breaks, I'm fine.

You see, I'm the one who parks in the grocery store parking lot, then swings the door open, dinging the car door parked next to me. With a car like my "new" Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, I'm not worried about the paint scratching.  Or dents.

In fact, I'm not worried about the dents I put in the car next to me.  Especially if they're ass-holes and park really close to my driver's side.

Bad, I know.  But that's life.

I also tend to hit walls....What?  You don't know that story?  I'll have to tell you about it one day.  Anyway, I tend to bump into things with my vehicle.  So one with some dents already in it is perfect!

 Oh!! It has a spot light. That WORKS!!!

I have no clue what I'd use it for.  I'm not running down bad guys to Intercept them (Get it?? Intercept??).  But it looks interesting and has people looking twice.

Besides.  I think it's probably illegal to use it.  Or something.


And most drivers in AZ know the police department uses the Crown Victoria, so it's so funny to see them slowing down when I'm close by.

It's like I have some sort of super power.  

Ooooh!!  It also has a mysterious magical little red button on the dash. Don't know why. I've pushed it and all it did was make a little clicking noise.

I was waiting for something amazing to happen.

That's why it's magic.  The magic will only happen under certain circumstances.

I just don't know what those circumstances are!


Ignore all the dirt in dust you see in the vents by my mysterious magical little red button.  It's bugging the hell out of Sean.  So while I'm at the home show tomorrow, he's cleaning it.

When we got the car Sean & I had a conversation that went something like this:

Sean: The car needs detailing.

Me: Okay

Sean: Do you even know how to detail a car?

Me: Sure. You throw out all the wrappers, papers, and what not that have collected on the back floor.

Sean: I'll detail the car.

So, yeah.  I have a "new" car that was a police car then a taxi cab and has character in the way of dents, mysterious little red buttons, spots lights, rattles in the trunk (No, it's not a body. I checked), and a funky smell.

Yeah me!!

1/10/11

Picture of the Day

john cena
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1/9/11

Picture of the Day

john cena
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1/8/11

Picture of the Day

john cena
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1/6/11

Picture of the Day

john cena
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1/5/11

Be Okay

It is currently 11:32 PM, Wednesday night & I can not sleep.  My mind is buzzing with a hundred different things and it won’t turn off.

Just a few hours ago, life threw me the mother load of curve balls.  I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say, as I sit here babbling, wide awake, I have my iPhone plugged in with Pandora radio playing and Ingrid Michaelson comes on with “Be Ok”. 

A song that is so very fitting right now.

I am convinced there is a higher being that is testing me right now.  

Testing me big time.
 
But I refuse to fail.  

I refuse to let the shit that has hit the fan, dirty and stink me up. 

Many years ago I read a book whose title I can no longer remember, who the author was, or even the main plot.  What I do remember is that the main character had a theory that when things got tough and answers were difficult to find, he would “throw it out to the Universe” with the hope that the Universe would throw back the right solution.  Or at least a decent one he could work with.  

Maybe, while I’m tossing and turning, running things over and over in my mind, trying to find the best solution to a current dilemma, maybe, just maybe,  I could toss it out to the Universe and see what comes back.

And I hope to God it isn’t some more shit to hit our already cruddy fan…
.

1/4/11

Picture of the Day

john cena
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1/3/11

2010 in Photos

Some of my favorite photos I took over the past year ~


Song is "Across the Universe" by Fiona Apple.

1/2/11

Our year in review

Here are just a few of things that happened at the Insane Asylum in 2010 ~


Sean found out that sometimes doing the right thing can be a big hassle.

For the first time since I've had kids in school, we had such a bad rain storm, there was the possibility of schools closing due to flooding.


I found a poem by S that clearly shows what she goes through as a Cheerleader.


While I worked a home show, the girls commandeered my camera and made a video.

I began an attempt to improve the state of the backyard at our current rental house.

I took a break from the dirty backyard and did some painting to spruce up the kitchen.

S and her co-ed varsity cheer squad won the National Championships for Cheer & Dance.


We spent most of the summer out by the pool.


Jan & I went to a local cemetery, so I could take photos, where I lost my cell phone.

Jan, the girls and I took a day hike up in Payson.  It was a blast.

Our 2 cats, Piper and ET, had 5 kittens each with-in 24 hours of each other. (Unfortunately, we lost 2 of them)

There was a Kitten Report with tons of pictures and stories.

I showed off a piece of my old artwork I found from high school.
We get moved into the condo, unpacked, settled in and Sean brings home a monstrosity. (Which turns out is produced by an expensive furniture maker!  Who knew!?)

To save even more money, I decided to shut off our cable TV.  Indefinitely.

I discovered there's a nice park with-in walking distance of the house that's perfect for taking photos.

And from that point on, my blogging was very sporadic.  Basically because we didn't do anything!!  Work, school and cheer practice pretty much consumed our days.

I'm leaving you with a little slide show featuring some of my favorite photos of the girls, and a few of myself, throughout the year.



Song is "Welcome Home" by Radical Face.

Be sure to check back to see my video "My Favorite Photos of 2010".