Disoriented

I HATE when this happens!

When I got home from work Wednesday, I was beat, exhausted, starting to feel like I was getting sick. I laid down at 6 pm for a little nap.

I woke up to the sound of a knocking at my bedroom door. I looked at the clock,
8:10!! It was light outside, and I realized SHIT, I HAVE TO BE TO WORK IN 5 MINUTES!!

I jumped up and tried to figure out why my alarm clock didn't go off at 5:30am, like usual, and grabbed my phone to call my boss to explain that I'd be there ASAP. As I am frantically trying to do all this, Emma opens my door (she was the one who knocked) and asks me what the problem is. I screamed at her that I was late for work (DUH!)

About that time, my mom comes walking down the hall, and peers into my room "What's up?"
(wtf is wrong with these people, can't they see that my alarm didn't go off this morning, and I am late for work!!?)
I tell her that, and she says "Nik, what day is it?"
(DUH! What?)
"Thursday morning," I say, just exasperated, as I start calling my boss's desk at work.

"Um, Nik, it's Wednesday night"

oh. ok. nevermind then.

Good Afternoon, Sir

Tuesday at Camp Ripley was good, really really good.
I didn't realize how much I missed JP til I saw him. After all, it had only been a week and a half. So the family day stuff was OK, but what I loved was walking around with JP and having this little grunts walk past and say "Good afternoon, Sir" and "Hello, Sergeant" and sounding all ass kissing to MY hubby.

PLUS, I got to play with a .50 cal machine gun! It was mounted on a Humvee, and I got to climb in and a grunt taught me how to load it, and how to rotate the full 360 and it was SO COOL. No, I didn't load it with actual ammo, he just showed me how to, IF I had the ammo.

We hung out there for the day and then drove home. We got home and I got to relax for about an hour before I went out to the bowling alley. It was a good night, my average at the end of last season was something like 128. I bowled two games, got a 126 and a 134. It was a fun night, and bowling starts for real the Monday night after Labor Day.

That's all for this post of catch-up...

Multiplicity, please

Remember that movie with Michael Keaton? He had so many things going on, so many commitments, that he (I forget HOW) got these clones of himself to get everything done.

Just for tomorrow, I would love that.
There are 4 things going on tomorrow that I SHOULD go to.
1. Family day at Camp Ripley, visiting JP during his 2 weeks of camp. Starts at 9:45 am, 2 hours away. Lasts into the afternoon.
2. My bank's employee picnic, held at the lake house of the branch manager. Starts at 5:30 pm.
3. My husband's employer's family picnic held at the Pavilion in town. Starts at 5:30 pm.
4. Fun-night, the start-up of the bowling season. It's free food, free booze, free bowling and lots of drawings for cash and prizes. Starts at 6:30 pm, lasts until 9 or 10 pm.

Now, I already don't have to go to work tomorrow, I had requested today and yesterday off over a month ago. I THOUGHT at the time, that I would have a nice long relaxing weekend, with not much going on, just vegging and relaxing.

Today was spent running and running. Got up this morning, had an Ortho checkup appointment. Came home and Alex and I ran to the dump with a load and so now the garage is clean, and can fit a vehicle again! Showers all around, and then it was off for Eric's haircut. Then all three kids and I grabbed my mom and went to Fargo and did all the school clothes shopping. Not the supplies, and only got shoes for one of the three. But $710 later, everyone is clothed from their socks and undies to nice fall/spring hoodies to keep them warm, and everything in between.

The rest will wait until JP gets home. Two of the kids need shoes, and those same two also need eye doctor appointments and new glasses. That will be next week, too.

As for tomorrow, I had to make some tough choices.
Do I make the (expensive) drive down to take the kids to see JP, when he'll be home on Saturday? Yes, I do anything for him.
Do I bust ass to get back home to suck up to my boss' bosses? No. An explanation that we spent the day with JP will suffice.
Do I go spend the evening with my husband's coworkers and their spouses, when he's not even there? Hell no, no explanation needed.
Do I reward myself for the extensive driving with a night of drinks, laughs and bowling? Hell Yes!

Now it's time for vegging before I fall asleep. Because it's Tuesday, and I go to the gym Tuesday through Friday...even if I have the day off work!

Meat forks and MANGOES

Last night got pretty interesting. I think I found out that I may be allergic to mangoes. Mom and I got a veggie tray and a fruit tray for supper last night. I tried mangoes. I have never had them before. They're really good.

But mangoes do not like me.
I started getting... itchy. My palms and my neck and then up my arms and my torso...the roof of my mouth and my tongue... it was just like when I found out I was allergic to penicillin, only not as bad... I didn't have too many pieces of mango.

I took some Benedryl, and after about half an hour, when that didn't seem to be helping, we went to the ER. I wanted a shot of benedryl, or adrenalin, whatever it was they gave me when I had the penicillin reaction.

They were pretty backed up in the ER, and after about an hour, I was feeling a bit better, the benedryl I had taken at home was kicking in (and kicking my butt, I was almost sleeping in the waiting room!) so I let them know that I was going home, and if it got worse, whatever, that I would come back in.

This morning I got Alex up and let mom sleep in. I dragged him to several rummage sales. I got myself some nice work clothes, including a DRESS, which I have never worn to work... damn prissy women are starting to rub off on me! The dress still had the tags on it, the woman had never worn it, and it was marked $98 from the store. I paid $6... nice bargain!

I also got a Newton's Cradle, always wanted on of them, very cool. And a bowl & pitcher set for my dry sink. Got Emma a pair of jeans and a couple of cute tops. I got a silver serving platter. Not that I use them, I have a few, I just like silver platters, I display them on the big shelves in the living room.

And I got two meat forks. These have become the Holy Grail of my existence lately. I needed a meat fork. I have looked in every store, all over this town and Fargo and never found one, I remember as a kid, we had one. You stab the big hunk of meat, roast, whatever with the fork, and hold it while you cut it with the big knife.

I got two meat forks today, and I paid $1.50 FOR BOTH!
All in all, it's been a good day so far, and it's only noon.

Make up work out

I am on alert with my gym. For the month of August, which, as of tomorrow is officially half over, I have slacked a bit.

Generally, I go Tuesday through Friday. I take Mondays off because, honestly, aren't Mondays shitty enough without adding in getting up earlier AND sweating like a pig? With WE Fest last weekend, I only went Tuesday and Wednesday last week. I have some serious make up time to do.

See, my insurance company reimburses me $20 per month of my membership fees IF I go a certain number of times per month. Something like 8 or 12 times per month... I'm not really sure, but it's in the fine print book the insurance company sends out that everyone reads from cover to cover. Yeah, sarcasm.

So my usual gym membership is $32 per month. If I go enough (which I should anyway, fat arse) then it only costs me $12!! I am more motivated by money than fat, although that has been nice lately, too.

So I'm doing the usual Tuesday through Friday this week and I am also going in on Saturday morning. I figure it will be interesting. I'm so used to and OVER the people I see on my regular days. Maybe the scenery will be better on a Saturday morning.

When I get back from the gym, around 7 am on Saturday, I am taking mom (and Alex, for surveillance purposes) out rummaging. We went through the paper tonight to mark the ones we want to get to early, cool thing is, 2 of them are very close to our house.

Busy weekend full of not much going on, JP is still gone, he won't be home until a week from Saturday. I talked to him tonight, and he said that by the time he gets home, there's a good chance that his snoring problem will be cured: he's been losing weight being out in the field, and all the PT he's been doing. Well, I guess Guard camp does have it's perks!

Who stepped on the duck?

I got an email fwd today at work, and it was amusing and perfectly clean (of course it was, prissy ladies)

Three women die and go to heaven, where they are told by St Peter that there is only one strict rule: Do not step on the ducks.

Of course, they notice that there are ducks everywhere, it's going to be hard not to step on a duck. Within the first few hours, one of the women steps on a duck. St Peter is there in seconds, dragging a horribly ugly man with him. He tells the woman that her punishment for stepping on the duck is to be chained to this ugly man for all of eternity.

The other two women, upon hearing this, vow to be very careful. A week passes, and eventually, one of the two remaining women steps on a duck as well. St Peter makes his appearance, again, dragging a hideously ugly man. He chains the woman to him, repeats his whole "eternity" speech, and off he goes.

The last woman is on alert, very careful of the ducks. About a month later, St Peter shows up out of nowhere, leading a gorgeous hunk of a man. He chains the hunk to the woman and walks away.
The woman is happily stunned, "Wow, what did I do to deserve this?" She wonders aloud.
The hunk says "I don't know about you, but I stepped on a duck"

It was a slow day at the bank. Plenty of time to think. I got to thinking about many of the couples I know. Not all, of course, but MANY of them are like the chained couples in heaven. One of them definitely stepped on the duck, and one of them had a beautiful person dragged over to them.

Ever see a good looking (insert one sex or the other here) and then get a load of their spouse? Ever wonder "How the hell did s/he end up with THAT??"

too tired

bad Alex, no London, details later, I'm too tired

WE Fest Friday night

Well, I don't have much to report about the acts that played last night, although I can tell you who we MISSED. Kenny Chesney, yes, Mr Yummy Pants himself.

We got to be out there for about 2 hours before Mom got a phone call, trouble at the bar, so she and I left. I went along to help out, and I actually got to do some bar tending. It was a bit nerve wracking, but we got through it.


Plus we got pretty good tips for the short 4 hours we were there, AND when taking some garbage out the back door and seeing a downpour of rain that rivals a cow pissing on a flat rock, well, I felt better about missing Kenny. Besides, I have seen him twice before.


But, lest you think we had NO FUN at WE Fest before we got called away, I submit these photos... it may have only been two hours, and we may not have even gotten to sit down in our seats, but MY MOM did the coolest thing EVER.

Here she is... getting cinched up and ready...

OK Boys, let 'er buck!

She rode that bull LONGER than guys half her age, and she looked better doing it than silly drunk fat girls in bikinis. I was so impressed and proud of her. This has been the highlight of my WE Fest for the year.

OH, and btw, her shirt? It says "You say BITCH like it's a bad thing" She got alot of attention for that, too.

The first night

Last night was the only night that JP was able to go to WE Fest, he left at 7:30 this morning for Guard Camp for 2 weeks. We had a good time last night, not TOO much drinking, since everyone (except me!) had to get up early for something this morning (everyone else was not able to get Friday off work, like me!)

Tonight I am taking Mom out for her first WE Fest experience... gawd, I hope she has fun.
I may post again on Saturday with pics from tonight, but no promises!

Pictures to burn

That's a title of a Taylor Swift song... who was one of the performers we saw last night.

She put on a great show, very high energy, and wow, such a beautiful girl... think I may have a little girl-crush on her... she's fabulous!

C'mon Nik, tell us how you REALLY feel!

I am so sick of hearing about this dumbass and his soap opera. What a completely UNclassy way to "end" his career. A career that, as much as I hate to admit it, because I am a Packer-Hater, was pretty stellar... until recently. He has only succeeded in soiling his legacy.
Plus, he's a dumbass.

Getting ready

Tomorrow is my "Friday" at work, since I have Thursday and Friday off. I don't really NEED Thursday off, yeah, I'm going out to WE Fest but that's not until Thursday evening.

I WANT Thursday off... I am still going to have to get up and go to the gym Thursday morning, and I will be escorting Alex on his dog walks, too. Then I have to color my hair... roots may be the perfect redneck accessory, but no thanks, I'll pass.

I have to do some shopping Thursday, too. Mom and I are providing dinner Friday night out at Gina's parents' place, and I have to get groceries for that... and I have to get my booze, too.

Oh, yeah, and air mattresses for the tent. Must have that.

shopping tomorrow

I am doing a little shopping tomorrow, seems as though I need a few little things!

I need a new belt. One that cinches tighter... that will have to do until I can afford to replace all of my work pants.

I need new underwear... yeah, I've lost enough weight (or rather, inches) in the hip region that my drawers are actually getting baggy! teehee

I just have a list of "stuff I need that I never seem to remember when I'm out and about"

spatulas, salt & pepper shakers, a new bathroom scale, crap like that.

We are doing this shopping in Fargo tomorrow after I spend a few hours helping out at the liquor store. I've been doing that quite a few weekends lately. I get a little paycheck occasionally, I'm on the payroll. I'm actually thinking of applying for a position over there, but not exactly at the bar. That would mean working FOR my mom, and I don't know how that would work, or if it would.

But IN the bar, they have a booth selling pull tabs. I would be able to do that Saturdays and Sundays, put in a couple of decent shifts, and make a little extra money.

Since it seems we are unable to decrease the outflow of cash, so the only way to fix the situation here is to increase the inflow.

What a tool!

I overheard a couple of the ladies I work with today talking about the tools they own. I rolled my eyes and of course, they noticed.

When pressed for a reason for the eye rolling, of course, I had to open my mouth.
J. was talking about her wonderful tool set, it comes in a cute little PINK tool box, the handles of the hammer and wrench are pink, and it's just cute.

So then S. pipes up that she's got a great one, too, the hammer is about half sized, and just adorable...

WTF? Really?

Pink tools?
It' s like ALLOWING men to pat you on the head and say "it's OK little lady, here's a set of tools that maybe you can handle" Like we aren't capable of using "real" tools...

When I explained this to J. and S., their big comeback was stunning.
J.-"Well, they're not really "pink", more of a mauve... "
S.-"Kind of a dusty rose color?"
J.-"Yeah, that's it, exactly, they're really pretty"

Silly little women just proved my point.

Also greed, sloth, lust, pride... um... what are the others?

confession:
I did something bad today. Well, not BAD bad, but not great.
Envy.
Yeah, I know, I am not exactly what you think of when you consider the 7 deadly sins... some of you may be in shock that I even know that envy is one of them!
Well, chalk that up to a great movie starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.
ANYWAY... yeah, me and that envy thing.
I know, or I guess you could say I 'found out' how much someone gets paid today. Someone that I THOUGHT I was not envious of anymore. Someone that I thought had a life I would never really be comfortable in, were it my life. Does that really change now that I know that she makes A TON more money than I do? Shouldn't.

Does.
dammit.

Expensive weekend

Well, shit.
I go blabbing about how we need to 'fix' our finances, and buckle down and behave ourselves.
It's SO HARD to do that when we cannot be a united front, when one of the "adults" is just as bad, IF NOT WORSE, than the kids. Worse in the aspect that it's easy to tell my kids NO, but it's tougher to say it to my husband. After all, he makes the majority of the money that gets spent willy-nilly around here.

Friday night there was a retirement party for a guy that JP works with. Fine, that didn't have to hurt as much as it did. JP didn't (read: couldn't) drink too much, he had to get up at 6 am Saturday for Guards. I got there late, had to work late. So the bar tab wasn't exactly what killed us. What did, you may ask? Meat raffle. What's that, you say? You've never heard of a meat raffle? Well, let me tell you, you are really missing out if you've never experienced a meat raffle. Of course I am being sarcastic and obnoxious.

A meat raffle is exactly what it sounds like. You buy raffle tickets, they draw a number, if your number is called, you get to go up and choose a package of meat. It's not mystery meat, they're all labeled, you KNOW what you're getting. JP decided that since one of the packages was prime rib, and he really LOVES prime rib, he should spend some money to "win" some "free" prime rib. Well, the first drawing came along, and JP did not win (surprise) but his buddy Adam did. Adam is also a fan of prime rib. First win gets first pick.

Now, you'd think that since the prime rib was literally off the table, that JP would stop. But no, that would have been the responsible thing to do. JP kept buying tickets for each subsequent raffle. In the end, he did get a package of pork chops. And yes, they were good. But just how many tickets did he buy before he "won" the "free" pork chops? It's like asking how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop... the world may never know.

My entire night cost me about $20. I know this because that's how much I walked in to the VFW with, and JP bought me ONE drink, and at $3.50 each, it was not much over $20 that went down MY gullet.

Saturday JP got up and did his Guards thing. It was a one day deal, he was home by early afternoon. Then he proceeds to bully me in to taking Emma and Eric to the county fair. It's about 6 blocks from our house. He had already given Alex permission to go down there with a friend... and unbeknownst to me, he gave the boy $25 cash.

JP's argument for taking the younger two to the fair, was twofold. One, Alex was already there, and Two, it's a once a year thing. I gave in. Dammit. I have GOT TO STOP DOING THAT WITH HIM!

So we get there, and we are looking around the midway. Of course, Em and Eric were begging to go on this ride and that ride. So we go to the ticket booth. Each ride costs between 3 and 5 coupons. Coupons are $1 each. Or, here's the bargain (sarcasm again!) you could just buy a wristband for unlimited riding for $25.

NO, YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT A FRIGGIN BARGAIN IS??? STAYING HOME!!

So, $75 for wristbands (Alex spent the $25 that JP gave him on that) plus we took Em and Eric to see the Demolition Derby, and it was $24 for the four of us. PLUS the food, because, as JP says "You have to eat at the fair, when else are you going to get funnel cakes and foot long hot dogs and cheese curds and cotton candy?"

So I figure between the two nights, we spent about $250. Yeah, that's right, and that's about the same as we spent total on the pool and filters and chlorine tablets etc a couple of weekends ago, when I originally had this rant.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!

JP leaves for Guard camp on the 9th. Maybe, just maybe, I can have 2 weeks of no blowout spending while he's gone.

No more swimming pools, from now on, we live like we got nothing!

JP and I had a quick conversation tonight before he left for his ballgames.

We made a plan, and I fixed the budget to accommodate our new plan. It will include saving in several forms. One saving for the trip to England, one savings just because we have so many plans that we cannot afford to do within one paycheck. Of course we will not go hog wild on the savings until certain things are paid off.

My first 'target' is our Menards credit card. Thanks to JP having Guard camp in the beginning of August, that will be gone by mid to late August. He will get his regular City paycheck AND a Guard check. The $200 that we had been sending to Menards will be lumped with the $100 that was already going to the Target card. That will then become my second 'target'. Everything else will receive the minimum payment amount rounded up only slightly. Once Target is gone, I will hit the AAFES card, which is the military credit card.

Not only is this plan killing the ones with the lowest balances first, but also the ones with the highest interest rates first. It just works out nice that way. Quick results, kicking the lowest balances, but also getting rid of the high interest rates right away.

And of course, in December, I will have to start paying back my student loans. Luckily, that total is not nearly as high as it could be, and with student loan rates being so low, it won't take much rounding up to make pretty short work of it.

JP and I just have to try very hard and watch each other and ourselves to keep on track.

In the greater plan, once the credit cards are gone, I would like to pay off JP's truck early. As long as our savings can be built as we go, we should never have 'need' of credit again. There are several things we want to do, remodeling and such. If we save as we pay things off, hopefully we can use that for the projects in the future instead of going in to debt again.

This is a post I will need to come back to, visit often, to keep myself on track...

Religion and Politics

these are two things that have so much in common.

One, they should not, EVER, under any circumstance, be mixed with each other.
Two, they are things that should not be discussed with coworkers.
Three, they are both subjects that I LOVE to debate.

The bad thing is, the only people I am around, to talk with (read:debate) are my mom, and my husband who feel roughly the same as me, and my co-workers, who most decidedly do NOT agree with me. I have found this out with subtle little partial conversations, and reactions to emails that we pass around amongst ourselves.

I would LOVE to talk politics with some of those women... but I can't.
And THAT pisses me off.

I would LOVE to debate religious beliefs with a couple in particular... but I can't.
Again, pissed off.

That's what I've been thinking about today. I miss a good debate.

We Fest Advice

For those googling "we fest" and such, I have some valuable advice for you, being a local and all.

You're going to want to go in to town to get booze, hit the local liquor store at one point (or several points) over the weekend. Well, that's easier said than done this year, since we have renamed the town "Detour Lakes" for the summer road construction season.

Here's my advice: As you're driving North, on Hwy 59, as you people do every year, instead of taking Hwy 10 East INTO D.L., take a left turn, head West. There's a little town just down the road with a helluva liquor store. The prices are better, and the total lack of road construction makes it worth the extra 5 miles.

Have fun, be safe, and say "Hello" to the manager of said liquor store, tell her Nik sent you.

I have four children, or "think you're in control? You're not!"

JP and I just got back from Menard's.

We bought something.
Because (these are JP's words, NOT mine!)
"I just feel like we get so much stuff for ourselves, and the kids just don't get much"

WTFFF?

Let's see, last thing we got for the kids? Wii
Last thing I bought JUST FOR ME? hmmm, this may take a minute... oh, yeah, now I remember: WRINKLE CREAM!

It's a pool. Above ground, 15 foot in diameter, 42 inches deep.
(can you hear that? Listen... it's the sound of me rolling my eyes)