I can weight for the holidays this year.

Usually I am very much in the spirit at this time of the year. My Christmas tree is usually up and my shopping is usually started. Not this year. I just cannot seem to get "going".

One of the things I dislike about Christmas is the question from my loved ones "so what do you want for Christmas?" I don't know. Really I try to give suggestions because I don't want to be stuck with a lot of "junk" that I have to pull out whenever they come for a visit. This sounds terrible. I love my family but honestly if you don't know me well enough to get me a "gift" then don't bother.

I have some great ideas for my family and I spend time thinking about each and every gift that I have to buy. I do not just go shopping and pick up "something". I have to have the gift in my mind before I even leave the house.

I have given my husband a few suggestions of things that I want. What I should do is give suggestions of things I don't want.... Don't buy me food/candy. I am 75 pounds overweight and I don't need or WANT "goodies". A couple of years ago my wonderful husband bought 4 boxes of Whitmans Sampler and put them under the tree. After the second box I was ready to KILL him. It made me so angry that he thought I was such a PIG that I would want 4 boxes of candy. Oh but that was NOT the only candy he bought that year. Everything was food related. I just reminded him of this Christmas and also reminded him that if he ever did that again I would be a single parent.

I don't need to gain a single ounce right now. My pants are getting very tight and too short. There is nothing worse than pants that are too short. I think I will try the Holiday Survival Guide that Dr. Roger Gould has to offer at his site ShrinkYourself.com. I think most of us would love to shrink instead of expand this holiday season. I have read several blogs recently of people very concerned about those holiday pounds. I won't name any names, you know who you are. Try this site. Dr. Gould customizes his plan for each individual. The Survival Guide is an interactive online tool that gives recommendations to help with emotional eating, overeating, and reduces overall stress. Hey we could all use some help with those three issues.

I am sure most of you have seen this but...

You have to see this video posted over at "From Chaos to Serendipity". It is so funny and boy that kid can really dance. Go take a look but remember to come back now ya hear.

Christmas Past

My husband is fascinated with planes, trains, and ships. When we go to the beach he insists on taking the Binoculars every time. He loves to look at the huge cargo ships that pass by. The beach is also very close to an old air force base and they still have some pretty big planes land, so every five seconds he is grabbing the Binoculars to look at something. It gets quite annoying. (as a side note here. My husband complains that I lose my sunglasses every time we go to the beach. Don't tell him but I usually lose them long before we ever get to the beach. I just thought I would throw that bit of information in because he thinks losing my sunglasses is very annoying.)

Every year for the past several years I have tried to find the perfect pair of Binoculars for what he thinks his needs are. I have a compact pair in the Jeep for road trips. I also have my favorite pair that we bought at the Big E a couple of years back.

My biggest complaint with binoculars is that you see something you want to look at and then it takes you several minutes to find it with the binoculars. The Bushnell X-tra Wide 900' field of view allows you to scan the "field" and find what you are looking for quickly. My only complaint is that they are not very powerful. I also paid the full price of $91+ for these. This site has these binoculars at 50% off. They also have a gift guide that I found incredibly helpful.

I am open to suggestions and recommendations from others for great Christmas gifts. I hope that my readers are too. Yes I was paid for this post BUT I really think these binoculars are a perfect gift.

Damn that Jeopardy

We are sitting here watching Jeopardy. I am not answering very many questions. CAL has answered a few. Hubby is doing really well. Then the category of Computer History came up and I thought to myself, I am goin get at least one right. So I sat here and screamed "AL GORE" after every question. I knew that I had to be right on at least one. I mean, come on, how can you have a "computer history" category and not have a question be "Al Gore".

I worry

about this person who is an acquaintance of ours. We really don't know the person that well but he is a very good friend to some of our family. I will call him "George". I have never met George in person but I have talked to him via the computer several times and my husband has met him once.

I have known George for about eight years. When we first met he weighed about 350 lbs. Yes he was a big boy. I recently saw a picture of him and I cried. He must be pushing 500lbs now. I know he has tried diets but really when you are that heavy you need intervention. I am so worried about his health. He cannot continue to live like this. He is a great guy that is very well liked and his friends love him to death.

I have thought about calling in a Dr. Phil or an Oprah in order to get him the help that he needs but frankly I doubt if he would want the whole world to know about his situation. I don't know if central florida weight loss surgery would help George or not but... honestly someone is going to have to worry about more than his feelings real soon or we won't have him to worry about at all.

Web Site

Our new company web site is up and running. I am very excitied now all I need are orders. We had one order very quickly but nothing since. I had a few bugs to work out and I have to work with godaddy to get it listed on the search engines. I had a little trouble with our pay per click advertising. Because we re-did the "campaign" we had to start from scratch at the bottom of the list. If you know anyone who needs semiconductors point them to my web site: www.syracusesemiconductors.com I am sure that there are several "bugs" that we don't know about yet because we have not received any orders yet.

Where do you Travel for the Holidays?

Tis’ the season for travel. We don't travel much, or far away. I have not been on a plane in over eleven years. My husband and son have traveled to TN two times but that is the extent of our world travels.

We do however (or have in the past) travel quite a bit closer to home. We travel to meet my mother half way several times a year. We either meet in Albany NY or Windsor Locks CT. I honestly prefer to stay in Windsor Locks. One it is closer to us and two the hotel that we stay in is much nicer.

I don't know if we will be meeting for Christmas (we didn't for Thanksgiving) but, when we do I have to rent a hotel for both my mom and us. She pays for her own room she just counts on me to find the best rate and make the Hotel Reservations. I noticed that this site has very competitive rates and great rates on national and world wide destinations. The hotel that I love to stay at in CT has cheaper rates that we can get directly from the hotel (even with being a rewards member). I know the next time I am planning my trip I will check this site first.

A Bonus

I am sure I have mentioned it before but..... just in case..... my son cannot leave his hands off himself. When he laughs he immediately grabs the front of his pants. It has been this way since we took the diaper off. He is almost eleven now. When he is nervous, bored, happy, sad, you name it, he grabs the front of himself.

He loves to take long baths. You guessed it. He is constantly grabbing and pulling on the poor thing. I keep joking with my husband that maybe he will encourage it to grow, because if he is anything like his father he will need all the help he can get. My husband didn't really see the humor in this statement. (as I am sure WB and Jason really could do without this information)

You might remember me telling ya'll that we had the talk with my son before Thanksgiving. Well I have notice that after the talk he is not touching himself quite as much. I didn't want to scare him but I told him what will eventually happen while he is touching himself.

Maybe the talk will solve a nine year old problem. Gosh if I would have known this I would have had the talk with him years ago.

Family Ties

I have mentioned before that my neighbor has a strange "family" attachment. They do everything with their parents/brothers/sisters. Each and every vacation they take is with one family or the other. The same vacations each year for the past 9 years. They go to the same places, at the same time each year.

My friend has an older brother and sister. The sister is the middle child and she is in her late 40's. The brother is the oldest and I think he is over 50. Neither has EVER left home. NEVER. They have lived with their mother and father since they were born. I have met the sister several times. She is a very nice lady, funny, attractive, smart, and a great personality. I don't understand why she is still single. I know her main problem is that she lives for everyone else. Maybe she should hit this link to try Smooch.com.

The brother is just a loser. He "hurt" his back "skiing" about 10 years ago. He is suppose to be in so much "pain" that he just cannot hold a job. He has not had a job in the 9 years that I have known them. The sister supports him. It is just a sad case. I have met him and I understand 100% why he is single.

It amazes me that my friend ever left home. Well I guess that a good case could be made that she has physically left home but definitely not mentally.

OK the wait is over

OK, I hope that VW Bug is not eating breakfast right now.

This is a hairball that was removed from an eighteen year old's stomach. It weighs 10 pounds.

Did she eat a cat? You know **singing - I know an old lady that swallowed a cat, imagine that she swallowed a cat **

No, it seems that this charming young lady liked to feast on her own hair.

The official name of this object is a bezoar. Her condition is call trichophagia. If you are interested in learning more....... You can click here and read the entire article.

When I first saw this article I thought that is one big cat poo. In reality that is what it is.

This also made me remember.....

When CAL was in preschool, we had to go pick him up during the day and take him to a different school for his speech. There was another child that had speech the same time CAL did. His mother would sit out with us and we would all chat. She also had a little girl. This little girl would pull her (the mother's hair) hair out and then wrap it around her little fingers and suck on it. I thought how strange. It was so weird to see this little girl grab a handful of her mother's hair and yank. Mom didn't seem to mind.

We took CAL for the entire school year. Towards the end of the year the mother decided (probably because we made comments) that it was time for the little girl to stop pulling her hair out. The next week she came and the little girl was almost bald. The mother made her stop pulling her hair so the girl starting pulling her own. She had pulled all her hair out in just a week. I gasped when I saw her and the mother said "I know doesn't she look horrible" and was on the verge of tears. The speech teacher (a much older lady) came out and noticed the little girl and demanded that she take her to the doctors immediately. It was so scary.

When we returned to school in the fall this little girl started attending CAL's preschool (we gave it such rave reviews that the mother enrolled her) The little girl had a Sinead O'Connor haircut. Months later she was still pulling her hair, when it was long enough so their solution was to cut it so short that she could not pull it out.

After seeing this article I wonder if she has stopped. She would be about 7 or 8 years old now.

I think I need....

a tutor. I am so bad at sentence structure, spelling, and proofreading. I should call Score to see if they can help an old coot like me. I know they specialize in kids but I am sure if I paid them enough money they could "try" to help me.

Maybe if I had an Innovative Tutor, my writing would improve and I could tell a story like Rachel Lucas or some of these other bloggers that have hundreds of readers to their site everyday.

Well it is just my luck Score helps kids age 4-14 with their academics. CAL falls into the age group but frankly he has better skills than I do in some areas. Don't tell him that though because he is already too big for his britches.

It's the little things

that send me over the stinking edge. We went to Sam's the other day to pick up a few things for Thanksgiving. We always get our paper products from Sam's but had a limited budget so I requested that we only get the essentials-aka TP. Hubby noticed that the Bounty paper towels were the holidays towels. I looked them over carefully to make sure it was not just the plastic wrap that was decorated. It was very difficult to tell, the outer package was covered with Christmas pictures. So I relented and said he could purchase the 12 roll pack. I would have preferred to just purchase the few rolls to hold us over. We didn't really NEED 12 rolls right now.

When we arrived home I immediately opened the package and put the towels away (noticing the other four rolls in the cupboard). The next day we needed a new roll so I opened the "holiday" towels first.

My blood pressure went through the roof. Again it is the little things. The towels are decorated but NOT with a holiday motif. They have these UGLY "spring time" flowers on them. So Bounty and/or Procter & Gamble if you are reading this, that is dirty pool.

Wait, wait, wait. I just checked the package. It does say holiday and assorted. There is ONE holiday print in the package of 12. The outer package is covered with holiday decorations. If you ask me that makes it even worse. I have a funny feeling that P&G might get an email today.

You might remember

my posting "OM Gosh I almost fainted". (just in case you don't here is a recap) My husband and son went to TN for a few days. During that time I had to deal with the bills and finances. Upon opening the mail and seeing our bill for car insurance I almost fainted. I had no idea that we were paying that much.

Well it seems that I have my head in the clouds. I made a few phone calls to less reputable companies and found that we have cheap car insurance. I guess I didn't stop to figure that both of our vehicles were purchased new only a few years ago (before things went terribly wrong).

I was appalled at some of the rates that I received. They were higher for one car than what we are paying for two. I guess it helps that we have our business insurance, home insurance, and car insurance through the same company.

So the next time that I want to open bills I better know what I am talking about before I pitch a hissy fit.

Does anyone have a guess as to what this is...

I will give you a few hints:

1. It was removed from a human

2. It weights ten pounds.

3. The official name is a bezoar.

Give me your guess.......

Are you working today?

I have a few things to do today at work but hopefully I won't be here all day. How about you? Are you working? Shopping? Chillin? or something really exciting. Today is the day that we usually get our tree. I don't think it is going to happen. Frankly I don't want the stress involved with the tree this weekend. You know what I am talking about.... getting into the attic and having your house tore up for weeks (at least that is the way it is here.) My husband will do a little decorating each day and he is usually still going on Christmas Eve. In the meantime everything is all over. I HATE IT. I think you should put up only what you can in one, possibly two days, and then call it quits.

Live Free or Die Hard

Those guys over at AAMCO have a great promotion going on. You can win a Live Free or Die Hard trip to Hollywood and spend a day with the movie stuntman from the Live Free or Die Hard Movie. Maybe the stunt men could give my husband a few driving tips. For any of you who have driven with my husband you know that he is the most cautious and conservative driver in the world. He will NEVER drive more than the posted speed limit. EVEN ON THE HIGHWAY.

Plus this trip would be perfect for anyone in NH because as y'all know we are the Live Free or Die State.

When I was much younger I had this blue Mazda car. I loved that car. I drove it into the ground. I was such a dare devil I am lucky to be alive. This movie makes me think of that car. Why? Because I could flip the car over and still be alive, No. Because as I drove on the street things exploded all around me, No. Have you not been paying attention: I was a DARE DEVIL in the car. Gosh people why do I bother blogging if you don't pay attention.

Anyway, I had to give up the car because it stopped running. My dad could not figure out what was wrong with the car so he made me sell it. My dad always fancied himself to be a car mechanic. After I sold the car the guy came back to brag that all that was wrong was the distributor cap. He changed a $30 item and the car ran fine. If I would have taken that car to AAMCO I probably would have died in that car. Oh wait.... That is probably a good thing.

I almost forgot to tell you how to enter: simply go to their web site and enter your email address. You will then receive coupons for services, such as oil changes, and be entered in the contest.

National Treasure 2

We allowed CAL to stay up late the other night. To reward us we had a wake up call at about 11:30 to 12 o'clock pm. CAL was so excited, he had just seen a commercial for National Treasure 2 so he had to wake us up to tell us about it.

National Treasure is CAL and his father's favorite movie and they have been waiting for a sequel for years.

Normally I would have gone berserk, but I was so tired I just shooed him away. The next morning when I woke at 7 am I really wanted to run in and tell him about National Treasure 2, but that would have just been a punishment to me. Waking him up that early in the morning. That just happen to be the day he slept until noon. Good choice on my part.

I love personalized gifts

If you know me, you know that I love to give Personalized Gifts. Last year I bought my mom a throw that had a picture of CAL on it. I was so afraid it was going to be cheap, but it was anything but. It was spectacular. I have given my husband ties, mouse pads, coffee mugs, and other items that have been personalized. These are my favorite gifts to give.

I have not done it yet, but each year I torture my son by taking a picture for these gifts. I take him with several different backgrounds, positions, clothes, and any other variation I can think of. I have been very lucky. The past two years I have taken a picture that is "professional" quality. He is so handsome but doesn't always take a good picture because he forces his smile.

One of the web sites that I will be shopping at this year will be PersonalizationMall. I need to get my act together and order by 12/16/07 in order to receive by Christmas (without rush fees). The items usually ship within one to two days. Personalization is free, high quality, and accurate. Hey WB, remember personalization is unique and it cannot be re-gifted....

One of my favorite items were these stockings. My favorite part of Christmas are the stockings.

Go me!

When I first starting blogging I was 1,000,000,000 on Alexa. I am pretty sure that is the poorest ranking you can be. Yesterday I broke the 999,999 number. I also now have a RealRank now.

Hopefully that will open up more opps on payperpost.

On the down side I received a "Ban" on my account. They will not tell me the advertiser or the reason other than I am a Moron. Yes that was the advertisers reason.

I have been having a problem with payperpost for over a month now. It will not accept my posts. I get an error when I try to submit the URL for the post. The only way around that is I cut and paste their opp details into my blog and then submit it. After it has been accepted I go back in and put my real opp in there. I think one of the advertisers may have seen that cut and paste job before I had a chance to fix it. I have requested that payperpost remove it but they have declined. I am still in the process of arguing it with them. They admit that the reason "because I am a Moron" is inappropriate but it is the advertisers "right".

Now it could also be a post that I did very late one night that WB recommended I rewrite. After I reread the thing I realized that it was not the most flattering post. It was only up from 10 pm until 8 am but maybe they saw the post before I rewrote it. If it is them then they have an argument but I did rewrite the post and they should at least remove the Moron comment.

Because of that ban, and they gave me a very poor tack rating, I have been missing out on a few opps.

My new website

is up and running. I don't know how well but it is up and running. I am sure we are going to have a ton of bugs to work out but... all in good time.

What has been the most stressful part of this entire process? Dealing with the numerous customer service departments. During this entire change I have had to deal with three different companies that pass the buck back and forth. If I had a problem it was never with the company that I was talking too, it was always the other two. Right now I have an issue with company XYZ. I have called them three times today. The assure me that they have resolved my issue with each phone call. It is still not done. I give them and "A" for courteousness but they are receiving a failing grade for performance.

My other issue (which is just little tweaking problems) is with the company that I purchased my storefront from. ABC company has been rude and unhelpful. They offer a do-it-yourself service and a complete package. I cannot afford the complete so I am trying to do-it-myself. With each answer they give me a "if you bought the complete package" response. If they answer another questions with a DUHHHH attitude I am going to reach through the phone and wring their neck.

Or maybe what I should do is log onto Measuredup.com and give them the rating they deserve, keep myself out of trouble, and have The last word in customer service. This site allows you to vent without the risk of arrest.

CAL has hit the Wall

You know the wall I am talking about..... When things start to catch up with you. CAL went to TN on Friday and came home on Monday night. We had to leave the house by 5 a.m. on Friday. Now in this house we see one 5 o'clock and it is not the a.m. 5 o'clock. On Thursday night he was so excitied that he couldn't fall asleep and when he finally did it was time to wake up. I am sure he was up early and to bed late while in TN. On Monday they didn't arrive in Manchester until almost 11 and then he could not get to sleep when he got home. Today he slept..... and slept..... and slept. He said the clock read 11:58 when he woke up. Of course he had to stay up last night and watch the Spider Man 3 movie that arrived from Blockbuster Online. Today he has spent most of the day in his room chillin.

When we first moved to NH

we would pack up CAL and go to the sledding hill. WB went tubing with us one year. It was so much fun. The best mode of transportation is the tube by far. Those things fly down the hill faster than the other types of sleds.

After a year or so our town decided to put in snow making equipment. I was so awesome and that encouraged us to go more often. I would get CAL up first thing in the morning and we would head out tubing. The hill was usually so packed by 10 o'clock that it was no longer fun.

I think it was 2001 when I took my last trip to the hill. The kids had built several ramps to accommodate the snowboards and to make sledding more fun. Now, as adults we know that sleds and ramps should never be in the same sentence. I was sitting up on the tube with CAL sitting on my lap. My husband gave me a nice push and I was flying down that hill. Half way down I realized that we were heading for a ramp and I could not avoid it. I wrapped both arms around CAL and braced myself. We went up the ramp and the tube came out from under me and down I came (in a sitting up position) on my bottom. I honestly thought I broke my back. I could not move. I laid on the hill for a few minutes trying to catch my breath and also wondering if I was going to have to be carried off on a stretcher. I was finally able to crawl off the hill. I mean that literally. I crawled on all fours.

Ever since that time I have had back problems. The next two years were the worst. There were times when any position, sitting, lying, you name it would bring tears to my eyes. It has improved since 2001 but I don't think I will ever be 100% again.

As everyone knows, when you have back issues, there is not much that can be done. I tried every creme known to man. Now there might be hope. Freeze It Gel is suppose to help me with my back and muscle pain. If I were to win a supply of freeze it that would also help with the pain in my wallet.

If you have been reading my blog for long you know that I have a ton of aliments. I am getting old and falling apart. I think I have the onset of arthritis (I should try Freeze it) in my pinkie fingers. My mom suffers from the same aliment. I also have these "attacks" and cause me to have severe back pain in the middle of my back. That seems to be an unusual spot for the back to hurt. Usually it is your lower back that suffers. The muscles in my back become very sore. According to their commercial Freeze It will help me with all of those issues.

So let's recap.... Freeze It Gel will help me with my sore back muscles, arthritis, my "attacks", and the neck and shoulder pain that comes with all the stress that I am under.

What aches and pains do you have that Freeze It Gel could help you with? Come on you know you are getting old and those aliments seem to be coming out of the woodwork. If you were active or involved in sports when you were younger you are now paying the price.

It finally happened....

My husband and I had "the talk" with our 10 year old son. I saw an opportunity to have the talk in the car today and immediately took it. We discuss EVERYTHING. I thought the car was the perfect place because we didn't have to look at each other. (bad I know)

I have to say that I rather enjoyed "the talk", my husband and son, not so much so.

CAL was begging me to stop telling him things by the time we were done.

The funniest part was when we pulled into the grocery store parking lot. I had just finished telling him exactly what s3X was, how it was done, and what the end result can be.

I get out of the car and CAL screams in a shocked (the rest of the world does not exist) voice "so are you telling me that Dad has stuck his penis in your vagina" The poor kids was horrified at that thought and that is when he starting begging me to stop.

He has not looked at the us the same since. He also asked "so after you have a baby do you ever have to have s3X again" I laughed. At some point he assured me he would never have s3X. I quickly asked if he could give me that in writing.

Custom T-Shirts

I have had the pleasure of being responsible for creating t-shirts several times in my life.

When we first started our company 17 years ago, one of the promotional items that I created was T-Shirts/Sweatshirts. As a matter of fact, I am wearing my 17 year old sweatshirt right now. I had so much fun designing a custom t-shirts, you can really let your creative juices flow.

Another occasion was when I got involved in the school store at my sons school. We had a contest to choose our mascot. They decided on the bobcats. Then I (with the help of Sherlock) took it from there and came up with two different designs for t-shirts.

The biggest "problem" is that you really cannot have more than a couple designs because you have to purchase such a large quantity of each design.

I cannot wait until my next custom t-shirts project. The next time may be for a reunion, team sport, or and special occasion, I will use this new web site called Bluecotton.com. On this site, which is so awesome, you can create your custom t-shirt with so many options.

How many times have you seen those "cheesy" carts at the mall that will put a picture on an even "cheesier" t-shirt, and wished it wasn't so darn "cheesy"?

You can add text, pictures, clip art, just about anything. You can give your items special effects, the possibilities are limitless. I for one am very excited and can guarantee that I will be using this site in the near future. I have been dying to make a t-shirt that reads:

SAY NO TO:

Osama
Obama
and Chelsea's Mama

You might remember this blog

SEVERAL QUESTIONS I took some criticism over this posting. That was OK everyone has their own opinion and it was nice to "spar" with a few readers.

BUT now this report has been issued. I guess it gives a little credence to what I was saying.

I also remember a case not too long ago, about an officer that was in a crash, someone innocent was killed, and come to find out the officer didn't even have a license (it had been revoked). How does something like that happen?

OM Gosh I almost fainted.

With my husband and son out of town for a few days, I have become the "head" of the household. My husband deals with all banking/bills/finances. That has not always been the case, but for the past several years he has taken over. Good. I hate dealing will all that junk.

On Saturday the mail arrived so I opened all the bills and placed them in the "to pay" file on his desk. When I opened the bill for Nationwide (our car insurance) I about fell over. I had no idea that we were paying that much for insurance.

After the holidays I am going to start making some calls for car insurance quotes. I know that I have to be careful. Nationwide is a very reputable company and I don't want to give up the quality for a slightly cheaper price, but I also don't want to pay them double what I might be paying someone else.

I had a speeding ticket about 12 years ago, and an accident (2) when I was in college 19 years ago but that is it. My husband has never had a ticket or an accident.

My pinkies hurt

That is not a good sign. My Mom has arthritis in her pinkies, it so bad that they are deformed. She is not "old", but she has had this for years. I don't think she has it anywhere else just in those little fingers.

I hope it is not hereditary but with they way mine hurt today I might have to face that fact real soon. Gosh I am only 38 but I am starting to feel real old. I guess stress will do that to you.

I don't have many hobbies

but my biggest is gardening. We have turned our yard from the worst in the neighborhood to the the one that everyone stops to look at. A couple years ago I looked out my back yard and there was this lady standing there. Our backyard is very private and it scared me to see someone standing out there. I went out and asked if I could help and she said that she lived in the neighborhood and just had to see the gardens, because we had done such a good job with them. Weird. I think she was starting to lose it....

We have spent more in our gardens that we have in improvement to the actual house. My favorite garden backs up to our bedroom on the back side of the house. We buried posts and then attached rope to the posts for the border. Then we built a walk way that snaked around to a bench in the back. That was the focal point. Well the bushes have just grown so much in the past couple of years that you can no longer get to the bench. I trim and trim but we decided to pull the bench out. Now CAL uses that space to hide.

Now that the focal point is gone I would love to stick a Wall Fountains on the house in that corner. I have some roses planted there now but it just is not a good place for roses. Someday I will "bless" y'all with pictures.

Honestly some people wear blinders

I have known my neighbor friend for nine years. Her mother is a retired teacher from MA. She is incredibly close to her family (sometimes it gives me the creeps how close she is, anyway that is another post) Needless to say she is a STRONG democrat. Over the years she is slowly starting to sound like a good guy (you know a Republican). I tease her that she sounds more like a Republican each and every day. She is quick to say that she will NEVER be a Republican. I always tell her that she is going to have to come out of the closet sooner or later.

When that test "Select a Candidate" came out I immediately asked her to take the test. She didn't want to....??? I worked on her and finally the other day she agreed. She came to my house to take the test because her husband has her computer totally messed up (he is a engineer).

I left her alone to take the test because some of the questions are very personal. When she was done it told her that she should vote for Rudy Giuliani. Yeah a Republican. Not necessarily my choice but a republican nevertheless. I danced and sang and she was borderline angry. Her second and third choice were some obscure Democrats. But her choice for President, Hilliary, was next to last. Most of the Republicans were at the top of the list while the democrats were all at the bottom with Hilliary. She didn't want to hear it and immediately left. As she was leaving I told her that I was going to tell her mother. Ohhhh that put her over the edge. She told me I better not and gave me the evil eye. She was not kidding. She has not called since. I think she is afraid I am going to rat her out.

All I want for Christmas is a.......

During the past 18 years together my husband and I have talked numerous times about getting a spa. I love the idea of a spa. I just don’t know if a spa would be like an exercise bike. Great when you first get it but the fun wears off quickly.

When we lived in Syracuse we actually had put a deposit down on a spa when we thought we would be purchasing a house there. You know, buy the spa and then look for the house. Well it just was not meant to be.

Now that we live in NH we just don’t have the room. We have a four bedroom house but the square footage is small. As a matter of fact, I don’t see how you could even have a bed, dresser, and night stand together in one of the rooms.

Now there is hope once again, (well the spirit is willing but the wallet is weak) I saw these building that are free standing. You can set them up as a gym, garden offices, or anything you want. They would be perfect for a spa. They are like a detached sun room. We have been talking about a sun room on the back of the house for years.

My “dream” is to install a second story sun room. Our house is only one story. Just take off the roof and make a sun room on the second floor. That would be the only thing up there. I personally think it would be all the rage.

What would you like for Christmas?

What is wrong with people?

This is the second time this has happened in less than a year. What the hell is wrong with these men in MA?

Lowell Man Bites Off Young Boy's Lip

(WBZ) LOWELL A Lowell man was under police guard at a hospital Saturday after he allegedly bit off the entire lip of a 22-month-old boy. Lowell police officials said 26-year-old Thy Chan bit off the lip of the little boy and is now being evaluated at Lowell General Hospital. Police said they were called to 1370 Middlesex Street around 9:30 a.m. Saturday on a report that a child's lip had been bitten off. They said they found the boy covered in blood and were able to recover the detached lip. The boy was rushed to Children's Hospital in Boston where he was being treated. It's unknown if doctors were able to reattach the boy's lip. Police haven't said what relation Chan has to the boy. Chan faces charges of Mayhem, assault and battery on a child and domestic assault and battery. Police said he will be booked as soon as he is released from the hospital.

What a bargin!

Yesterday I went to Shaws to get soda. Four for $10 is pretty good. While I was there I noticed that they had chicken on sale, $.99 a pound for split breasts. We do not like dark meat so this is a GREAT deal for this family. I didn't have an abundance of funds so I picked up four packages and other items that we needed.

Today my husband decided I need to run an errand. I thought as long as I am out I would stop back at Shaws to get more. Today the chicken is still on sale at $.99 a pound and then they had $2.00 off coupons on each package. The packages were about 4lbs each. So I ended up getting a 4 pound package of chicken for about $2.00.

Why so cheap? I don't know. It was not expired and it looked good. I think they had a surplus that they needed to move quickly. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. That doesn't happen very often for me.

What an exciting life I lead........

Looking for that someone special?

Are you single and looking for your soul mate? Oh and are you on the dark side? There is a fresh on-line dating site called Darkyria.

As with the rest of the world, goth, dark, fetish, vampire, extreme music, and alternative culture have their issues with dating and finding soul mates.

If you are interested in Gothic dating this just might be the site for you. Finding that person that has the same interests, concerns, and life style is an uphill battle and we all struggle with. Online dating seems to be more popular each year.

You see commercials for on-line dating all the time, but I have never seen one that is for a certain "type" of individual. I am sure that the idea is fresh and greatly appreciated. Membership is free (how often do you find that) and you can view thousands of profiles (including pictures). If you see someone you like you simply "send a wink". Darkyria is your "Dark Cupid". The site offers several features associated with a dating site, video chat, forums, and a world map seeker.

So whether you are looking for a partner, friend, companion, or spouse Darkyria could be the place for you.

Click over to Darkyria today and you might be spending the holidays with that someone special.

shhhhh don't tell.

I have a lot of things that I am going to do while I am by myself for four glorious days. Here a just a few off the top of my head.

My husband refuses to listen to the cable radio. He said that he doesn't want to waste the electricity to have the tv on for just a plain screen. My two favorite types of music are Christmas and Christian. We have Sirius radio but the Christian radio is not that good. The cable radio is much better but as I said we are not "allowed" to listen to it. For the next four days I shall listen.

I just made a pan of brownies that I intend to eat tonight.

I might not even put the garbage out of collection in the morning (I am a wild animal aren't I)

I'm getting nuttin for Christmas

cause I ain't been nuttin but BAD.

I have a unique way of Christmas shopping. I look for items that I want. My theory is that if I like it so will they. If I try to think about their likes and dislikes it just is too much. I love snowmen so chances are I will purchase several "snowman" items for my friends and family.

Sometimes I really get stumped for gifts. I am ALWAYS up for suggestions and recommendations. WB sent me several suggestions the other day and I think that I am going to purchase one of the items for my boys. If you need some help with your holiday shopping I have the Top 10 Christmas Gifts.

This year shopping is going to very light. I don't know if I have warned friends and family yet but..... This is your warning.

We will most definitely be shopping for my husbands grandson. Little kids are so much fun to shop for. We recently purchased a few items for him for Thanksgiving. We purchased items that we can "build on" for Christmas. I was so pleased with the choices. I must confess that I was worried about this whole lead issue.

I found some great ideas for my 10 year old on the above site. CAL would love the Live-Action Vinyl Wall Graphic. Heck who am I kidding I would love the Wall Graphic. I know WB and Sherlock would really enjoy the ScanCafe.

My husband is the most difficult to shop for. We have everything we need.... each other.

What will he do?

**singing ** will he stay or will he go ohhh. Mike Lowell that is. Here is the offer. The Red Sox have a firm offer of a three-year contract worth $36 million to $40 million.The Yankees have offered the World Series MVP a four-year deal, worth $50 million to $55 million.

I would like to say that I would stay in Boston because I would never play for the Yankee's but heck you are talking about a difference of 14 to 15 MILLION dollars. That is huge.

I would like to think that sports are not about the money but about honor and rivalries. But time and time again I see the Yankee's "buy" our talent in their prime, and our guys go pretty willingly.

Promoting my blog!

One of the biggest obstacles that I have found regarding my blogging web site is attracting new readers. I read other blogs and leave comments at nauseum but I still don't seem to be increasing my number of hits. As we all know the number of hits means a lot when you are trying to earn a few extra dollars off your blog.

Now I (and you) have a great opportunity to promote my (your) blog. Ooprint offers a "Business Card 2.0" that you can distribute in effort to gain new readership. You can even personalize the card.

Now is the best part of the whole deal, Ooprint.com will give you 100 Free blogger cards (you pay the shipping)

The deal gets even sweeter (like that is possible) if you are a payperpost blogger the shipping is free.

Why, Why, Why, does he DO that?

My son just called. I could tell the moment he said "hi Mom" that there was a problem.

Me: "What's the matter pal?"

CAL: "I threw up on the plane"

Me: "Did you throw up in a bag?"

CAL: "No"

Me: "Where did you throw up?"

CAL: "All over me, and now Dad is really mad at me."

Knowing full well why is dad was mad....

Me: "Why? Because you just sat there and didn't say a word"

CAL: "Yep"

The kid drives me CRAZY. He will NOT say anything when he throws up. He will just sit there and make no attempt to move. He just throws up. I have no idea why he does this. I have told him a million (no exaggeration) that he has to get to a bathroom, or find a bucket, trash can, or anything that he can throw up in. He cannot just sit there and throw up. He is 10. He is not getting it. I don't understand. Can someone explain it to me? You might remember me ranting and raving about the time he threw up on the living room floor because he thought he saw a mouse turd. That is only one out of hundreds of times. He has allergies and has a lot of nose drainage. He gags a lot and when he gags he tends to throw up.

I feel sorry for my husband and everyone on that plane because he had McDonald's before he left Manchester.

Just another reason....

NOT to vote for Hillary.

Senator Hillary Clinton recently tried to spend $1 million taxpayer dollars to build a museum on the site of the 1969 Woodstock music festival.

Do we really need a museum?

I certainly could think of much better ways to spend $1 million dollars.

Do you have reasons for not voting for Hillary? Let's hear about them.

The noose

Just for your information:

1.a loop with a running knot, as in a snare, lasso, or hangman's halter, that tightens as the rope is pulled.
2. a tie or bond; snare. –verb (used with object)
3. to secure by or as by a noose.
4. to make a noose with or in (a rope or the like).
[Origin: 1400–50; late ME nose < ?]

Now tell me. Do you see the word black or colored anywhere in this definition. The origin of the noose is 1400-50. It does not say in the 50's - 70's in America. I am so tired of this noosense.

I don't know about you but I don't think black when I see the following:

As a matter of fact the first thing I think of is good ole' Saddam. heheheheh. The second thing I think of is cowboys (and they are not even black).

When did the noose become the symbol of black America. Go back in your papers I don't remember it being an issue last year, last five years, or even the last ten years.

What is your opinion. Has black/colored America taken this noose thing to far?

Wanna save some money?

I have become so cheap in my old age. I REFUSE to purchase (non-necessity) items that I don't have Coupons for, or are not on sale.

I have yet to start my Christmas shopping. Honestly I have an extremely small budget for the holiday. I will be spending less money on my entire "list" than I have spent on one individual in previous years.

The item I want to get for my husband NEVER goes on sale. It is more than my budget so that item will have to wait. I will probably pick up a few small items and call it done.

I have no idea for CAL. We were talking about a "big" item but have decided that we just cannot swing it this year. I refuse to purchase, Wii games even with using Best Buy coupons, any video/computer games even with Targets coupons, legos (or anything like legos), or DVD's. We have to get back to "family" activities and these items are not "family friendly" I have no ideas. But with the way he has been acting, maybe this is the year Santa doesn't visit. You know the naughty and nice list.

Out of Control

I am so angry with my son right now. I understand how Richmond feels. I just want to throw my hands in the air and say "go live somewhere else". As a matter of fact last night I did.

He becomes totally out of control over the smallest issues. Last night it was the fact that he (our team) was losing at football. He started crying and being ridiculous so we ended the game. It just spiraled out of control from there.

I asked him to go get drinks for dinner. He willingly did but neglected to get a drink for me. His dad told him you forgot Mom and he said "oh I'm sorry", so I said it was no big deal just eat. Then he admitted that he didn't forget that that was "my punishment" for whatever it was he felt I did wrong. So I promptly reached over and removed his dinner plate from the table. He went berserk.

The rest of the night was just a blur. All I know is that in an attempt to put him in his room the little monster punched me in the head. You have no idea how badly I wanted to call the police and have him taken away "to live somewhere else".

Of course, everything is our (my husband and myself) fault. We obviously have not done a good job at being parents. We have allowed him to feel like he is an equal (he feels he has the right to issues punishments).

His trip to TN is on the line. I don't know what to do at this point. Frankly I need a weekend without him.

He has been very bad like this for several months. I removed him from his allergy medicine, took care of a situation at school (he was being severely bullied - which I think has a lot to do with our situation - he needs to control something), I have tried everything I can think of.

My husband and I have talked about counseling. He is so against it. I understand how he feels. I personally think the counselor is only going to look at us, tell us where we are wrong, because you know how society thinks: If I child is a monster the parents HAVE to be doing something wrong. I will admit at school I think the same way about kids/parents.

Speaking of school, he is basically an angel at school. Well at least in the classroom. On the playground he is a boy that has gotten into his fair share of trouble. As I mentioned before (which is a different post) he has been bullied at school for sometime. I thought I took the appropriate steps but found out that I had not. The reason he is bullied is his own fault some of the time. He gets upset very quickly and so some of the kids love to push his buttons. He is very easy to cry, throw punches, and get out of control.

I will ask that WB and Jason PLEASE not discuss this matter with their father. If my husband knows that I blogged about this he will have a fit but.... Frankly I consider you my friends and I just needed to talk to someone about this.

Video Games

I don't know about you but I do NOT play the new video games. BUT you put one of the consoles, from when I was a kid, in front of me and I will play for hours. I love the classics. I don't need fancy graphics to impress me. I have been thinking about try to get an old Nintendo NES (used of course). I remember the super Nintendo and the games like Super Mario.

I would need to purchase the Nintendo NES used Consoles and Games, and I would not have to spend an arm and a let to get them either.

Some of my favorite vintage games were: Donkey Kong, Qubert, Pac Man, Centipede, and Space Invaders. How about you? What were some of your favorite games. Would your kids be impressed with the Nintendo NES?

Back to Work/School

The three day weekend was great. I cannot tell you a single thing that I accompolished. I know that I gained the weight, that I had lost playing football, back. I don't even care. I needed a weekend like this. I did do some grocery shopping on Sunday other than that I didn't move off the coach. I didn't even read. This coming weekend the hubby and son are off to TN. That will be my time to read.

Let someone else do it for you.

I have lamented (a WB word) on my site several times about my inability to write. I went to business college so I didn't have to worry about Research Papers.

I went to college for two reasons - one to get away from my father, two to drink. It was such an expensive way to do it. I paid to drink non-stop for two years.

There have been many times since then that I have thought about going back to school. I almost talked to my husband about going back to get my teaching degree. That would mean talking about it out loud and that would be a huge step.

There are several things that have stopped me. I am NOT a student. It wouldn't look good for a teacher to graduate college with someone else writing their term papers. That would be my only hope.

So for those of you - like me - who need extra "help" with those papers, let someone else do it for you.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Dustin Pedroia. He has won the American League Rookie of the Year award. If you are a Sox fan you know just how valuable he has been to his team. Little Big Man - as we call him in our house - has been an inspiration to every little league player. He is a very small guy, with a huge desire to play for the good of the team. He is NOT an A-Rod (only looking out for himself) he is a team player. I can't wait until next year.

What is my house worth?

When we refinanced our home several years ago, one of the expenses that we had was an appraiser. The guy came out and looked at the exterior of the house. He never asked to see anything interior. For that I was thankful. Our house needs some improvements. We desperately need new rugs. We also have this wall of mirrors in the dining room. It is horrible. Someday we will tear that wall down and open the kitchen and dining room up to make one huge room. It is very difficult to heat our house because of all the walls.

That expense could be eliminated with a new site. This site also can give you a very good idea of your property value even before you start to search for the perfect mortgage. It is always nice to have that information so that you know how much equity you have. I know I will be looking up my home.

Tis the Season

OK one of our local radio stations is playing all Christmas all the time. After listening for a few minutes they are lying.... It is not all Christmas. They are mixing Christmas in with other songs. If you know of a station online that is playing all Christmas please leave their address in the comments. I love Christmas music.

Oldies 103.3

Several Questions

There has been a horrible accident in Boston. An innocent driver was hit by a Boston cruiser on the way to a "call". The cruiser was going fast enough that the woman in the other car did not make it. Her car is just a pile of scrap metal.

Now for my questions. Exactly what "type" of call was this officer responding too? How fast was this officer driving on city streets to flip this ladies car over?

Regardless of the type of call, these are city streets. You cannot drive them at this type of speed. The police have to slow down at these intersections and make sure they are clear and then proceed. Just because they have sirens blaring and light flashing that does not mean they don't have to drive with care.

I for one know how hard it is to determine where the sirens are coming from. Just by reading between the lines you can tell a huge cover up is in the works.

I have seen police cars driving at very unsafe speed through the streets of Boston before. Yes I know that they have emergencies that they have to get there quick, however, you cannot put the rest of the city at a risk.

Driver Killed In Boston Police Crash Identified

(WBZ) SOUTH BOSTON The woman who was killed Saturday when her car was struck by a Boston police cruiser has been identified.The cruiser, operating with active lights and siren, struck 36-year-old Annemarie McNally's Saab while responding to an unrelated call Saturday afternoon in South Boston.McNally, who was from Braintree, was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where she later died. State police detectives and accident reconstruction specialists are investigating. Witnesses said the woman had the green light at the intersection.No charges have been filed. The police officer's name has not been made public."Our thoughts and prayers are with (the family) right now," Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said.

Toothache

I have mentioned several times in the past that I need to visit the dentist, but it is just not in our budget right now. I have a couple of old fillings that need to be replaced. The last time I visited the dentist he wanted to do it then but I am a firm believer that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It was not giving me any trouble so I decided to leave it alone. About a month ago one of the fillings became sensitive. Now the tooth is very sensitive to both cold and hot, and air

Last week I received a free sample of sensitive toothpaste. I immediately started using the paste to see if it would help with my problem. I brushed with Biotene toothpaste every morning and night. I am please to announce that a week later the problem is better. I have used Sensodyne toothpaste in the past but it just didn’t seem to be worth using. It didn’t make a difference and I did not like the taste. Biotene Sensitive Toothpaste has a very pleasant taste. I would describe it as a very clean, adult bubblegum flavor. It is not overpowering and you don’t feel like you are using your kid’s paste.

There are other benefits of using the toothpaste; dry mouth protection, prevents canker sores, prevents cavities and it fights bacteria, plaque, and gingivitis.

My Hubby

My darling husband is very sick. He has been sick for a few days now. Yesterday he slept most of the day. Hubby NEVER sleeps during the day. He takes sickness very well. He rarely complains and tries to put on a strong front. Me I am just the opposite. If I am not feeling well, you will know it.

He does take meds like they are going out of style. Yesterday he drained a new bottle of Nyquil. That is his medicine of choice. He takes Nyquil and Vicks Vapor Rub for everything. They are his cure all. Please think happy thoughts in his direction and hope that he is better in time to go to TN on Friday.

How often do you get paid?

I know several people that get paid monthly. I understand employer’s reason for this move. Payroll is expensive. We run payroll every two weeks for two people and it costs over $100.00 per month. I cannot image how much money some companies, that are not big enough to have their own payroll department, spend. I also do not know how the employees mange their budget. I know that I would hate getting paid monthly. I am sure that is why Payday Loans are so popular these days. A couple times a year you have these unexpected bills, a flat tire, a leaky pipe, a broken window, or even an illness that is not coverage by insurance – If you are lucky enough to have insurance

If you need a payday loan (a small short term loan) or cash advance this web site, Faxless Payday Loans , offers aid to consumers with a loan fee calculator with multiple quotes. These loans help out when you have that unexpected bill that has to be paid immediately. PayDay loans can range from $100 to $1500.

One of the helpful advantages of these loans is that you can have the money deposited and then repaid directly from your checking account.

OK... Tell me what I am missing.

I have been reading all the blogs in my side bar for about thirty days now. I am looking to add some new blogs to my reading list. You tell me.... Who am I missing? You know those blogs that you just have to read. I have picked up a few that I didn't steal from WB because if you don't know this already she is my blog Mother. Now most of you will understand just how funny this really is. For those of you who don't........ I married WB father 15 years ago. I am a few years younger than her father. OK, OK I am several years younger than her father. This is why she is not my step daughter and I am NOT her step mother. Anyway I digress. Tell me... Who should I read?

I am so pleased.......

I saw this over at Tinks. I am very pleased to see the results. I tested my son's blog and it came up elementary and I also checked a few others. I won't tell you who, or what the results were but I LMAO. Go over and check it out. I would love to hear what they are looking for because I checked a big site that I assumed would have ranked quite high and it came back elementary. Again I am pleased because all you have to do is read a few postings to tell I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Get a Cash Advance

I cannot believe that no one had a guess

Well if I had money
Tell you what I’d do
I’d go downtown and buy a Mercury or two
Crazy ‘bout a Mercury
Lord I’m crazy bout a Mercury

Mercury Blues by Alan Jackson

Now my version would replace the Mercury would a 4 door Jeep Wrangler. It would not be nearly as catchy.

Right now we have a Jeep Cherokee and a Wrangler. We have a lease on the Cherokee so we will need to replace that car next year. We have had problems with the transmission so it is not a car that we will try to buy out.

With the way that our credit is taking a beating, we might be a little limited when shopping for Auto Loans. This has been an issue of stress for me lately. You know because I need to stress about what is a year, possibly two, down the road. I don’t have enough to worry about regarding tomorrow or next week

Poor, Poor Oprah

Oprah’s Heartache, Oprah is Devastated, Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. We have all read the headlines. I for one am getting really sick of hearing about it. Do these “journalists” realize that Oprah is NOT the victim? Those children are the victims. First their lives were stolen from them due to poverty. Now their lives have been destroyed due to wealth.

What did Oprah expect? She threw millions of dollars into this “project” and then was totally hands off. She didn’t look hands off during the “grand opening”; she didn’t look hands off as she was hugging all those girls. As a matter of fact no one heard anything about Oprah being hands off until the scandal. Before that you would have thought Oprah was there hammering nails, and laying floor tile.

I personally think that Oprah in incapable of being generous unless there is a movie camera present.

Do you realize that she could have built one hundred very good schools in that same area for the amount of money that she spent on just that one? Why so extravagant? If her motive was truly to help out a group of poor children she should have spent her money more wisely.

There are plenty of very generous people in this world that do not need a press conference every time they donate something. Oprah should try being one of those people.

What would you do with a Personal Loan?

**singing** If I had money I tell ya what I'd do, I'd go downtown and buy........ Can you name the song and the artist?

If I were to received a personal loan with the restrictions that I had to spend the money on something besides paying off higher interest loans I would (in no particular order) buy a new couch, spend a week in FL with WB (oh and visit the rat), put new windows in our house (these are the original windows that came when the house was built in the 70's-i think), buy my husband that thing I want to get him for Christmas that I cannot blog about, go to the dentist, get new glasses and contacts, take CAL to Washington DC (he has been begging us to take him there for about two years), get CAL that thing for Christmas that we just cannot afford this year, spend a week in Wildwood (in July, of course), and install a gas insert in our fireplace both upstairs and down. (they look so romantic don't they)

Wow, that would have to be one heck of a loan wouldn't it? What would you do with a personal loan? Remember you cannot pay off higher interest loans. Personal Loans can help you get those things that you just cannot seem to live without. Any Questions?

Marlboro Man meets Brokeback Mountain

I found this ad a couple weeks ago when my neighbors daughter needed cigarette ads for a class at school. I didn't even look at the ad I just printed it. I was about to hand her the ad when I glanced at it and saw what it said. Her teacher is a very good friend of mine so I decided to take the ad in. By the end of the day several teachers were making off the cuff comments about the ad. It was a huge hit. This was before the crap hit the fan. Do you know of any funny current or old time ads. Let's see them.

I love watches

My weakness for home furnishings is clocks. My weakness for jewelry is watches. The funny part of it is, I cannot wear a watch. I have a very high wrist bone. It is very painful to wear a watch because the watch constantly rubs and when I bend my wrist it pinches. That being said I love watches. I buy them all the time hoping that this particular one will be different.

I saw some very beautiful watches at raymond weil watches. I would love to be able to wear this one.

The good news is my husband can wear a watch and does. I have purchased some very nice watches over the years for him.

Someone once told me that a good watch is an investment and it will increase in value over the years. If that is the case I would love to invest in this watch.

My father will only use a pocket watches. This is the perfect Christmas gift for him. He is just a good old country boy and doesn't like anything fancy.

Great Schools

I mentioned in a previous post about the town that I grew up in, Addison, NY. When I was growing up I always said that I was going to leave and NEVER come back. So far I have be able to do just that. We have moved three times during our marriage, and each time my mother has suggested that we move back to Addison.

You have no idea how thankful I am that I resisted each time. Addison is no place to raise a family. This point was confirmed when I found this site: Great Schools. According to this site the elementary school that my son would attend rates a 3 out of 10. Now for the staggering fact 64% of the student population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. This site was recently updated because a few weeks ago that number was 87%. The Valley elementary school has 74% that qualify for free or reduced. That is the school that merges with Addison elementary when they attend the high school. Now for the high school number 51% free or reduced, with a 97% white population. Can you say white trash. Yeah and then I wonder why I am so dumb.

The school that CAL attends is a 9 out 10. 13% of the population has free or reduced lunch and the white population is 74%. This last number is off. I would say that the white population is more like 51%. We are almost the minority.

Gee what do you think? Where should I raise my child? Try your school and see how it rates.

Sell Sell Sell that is my best option

Sometimes I become concerned that I talk about money or the lack thereof too much. In my defense, when you are under as much stress about money it consumes you. I am becoming more consumed by the day. I have been looking into mortgage refinancing. We have a sizable amount of equity in the house if we could just get it out. Plus I am positive the mortgage rates are much lower now than the home mortgage that we currently have.

This is not an easy task because as I have stated before we are self-employed and at this point cannot cover that fact up. When we obtained the last mortgage, they were practically giving them away. They didn't care that we were self-employed, they didn't care about the fact that we have a TON of credit. Now that the mortgage industry is under fire THEY CARE! I will have to become really creative in order for refinancing to be an option. I need to try to work with a Mortgage Broker. Let him do the work for me.

My best option is to sell our inventory. Our company is inventory rich. You might remember that I talked about our new web site. Well we are still working on the inventory. So far (and we are about 1/2 through) we have priced out a resale value of 1.2 million dollars. Now I just need to find people to purchase this stupid stuff. We have the best inventory that we have ever had in our 18 years in business. During the past couple of years we purchased several extremely good deals that we just could not pass up. The problem is the sales side has come to a grinding halt.

So if you know of anyone that needs 1.2 million dollars worth of capacitors, diodes, transistors, integrated circuits, or any board level components, do not hesitate to send them my way.

28 Degrees

OK winter is rapidly approaching New England. I woke up earlier than usual today. Stress, bad dreams, cold, whatever the reason I am awake. The house is a very cool 59 degrees. That is find by me I don't mind a cold house for sleeping. I know at some point in the middle of the night it was too warm because I was shedding blankets. The sun is not quite up over the hill yet but it is daylight. The frost is definitely on the pumpkin this morning folks. My computer reads 28 degrees. I am not going outside to find out. Be safe today and have a happy Friday.

Clocks, Curios, and Coffee Tables oh my!

I have never been known for my interior decorating. My house has very common but functional items. I love my beanbag chair.

The only items that I have, that have a little class, are a corner curio, and a wall clock. I don’t know why I don’t have more stylistic home furnishings, probably because there has always been more important things to spend our money on.

That is not to say that, if I had the money, I would not want classier pieces. When we remodel our kitchen I want an island that has bar stools. We need a new TV stand for the living room. The one we have is actually a printer cart. My biggest vice when it comes to furnishings are clocks. I love clocks. I have two cuckoo clocks, a huge clock above the fire place, a broken wall clock that looks so nice I just cannot take it down.

I need to learn to love other things besides clocks, right now I have enough clocks.

Several years ago I spent a fortune on a wicker set for my screen room. What a mistake. Wicker is higher maintenance that I am used to (set it and forget it). The wicker didn’t last that long before it started breaking and becoming uncomfortable to sit in. Next time I will purchase the resin wicker.

In the News!

Are you kidding me. I cannot believe that the residents from a local town think the dump is the place to hang out. Hollis is a fairly "rich" area. Now if this was published in my hometown paper I would believe it.

No More Hanging Out At The Town Dump

(AP) HOLLIS The operators of the transfer station in Hollis, New Hampshire want residents to find another place to hang out. The town's board of selectman adopted an ordinance this week limiting trips to the transfer station to one 30-minute visit per day. It also banned rummaging in the town's scrap metal pile. Selectmen say the new rules prevent accidents and allow transfer station employees to work with fewer people milling around. They'd also like the town to retain more of its scrap metal, which it sells to a recycling company. Residents say the transfer station is a social outlet for many, and the metal scrap pile allows people to reuse things, which is good for the environment. But board member Mark Johnson says the transfer station is not a social center and safety is his biggest concern.

Sirius Radio Country

We recently started listening to the country station on Sirius. Shortly thereafter the stationed changed to the Garth station. I don’t know if this is permanent or temporary move.

I liked the station when we first started. I do NOT like the GARTH station. He has to talk in between songs and he is so pompous and self absorbed. He is constantly referring to this song or that song as a GARTH song. Like GARTH is some type of genre. It is not country, rock, or easy listening. It is GARTH. The man is an idiot.

Today he made a statement that has caused me to change stations. He said, the Bible is not about God or Jesus or any type of religion, it is about loving one another. I didn’t put that in quotes because it was so stupid I cannot remember his exact words.

I hate to break the news to GARTH but the Bible is about God and the New Testament is about Jesus, and the entire Bible is about RELIGION. Does the Bible mention loving one another? Sure…… But it is not the entire basis for the Bible.

**singing** V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

I have stated before that my favorite place to vacation is Wildwood NJ. I love the boardwalk and the ocean. We have not been in a few years. The last time we went was right before one of the big hurricanes hit (i cannot remember which one) and the next year when we went to reserve our hotel (the hotel we have stayed at for 6 six years) we found out that the hotel no longer existed. It was funny. We had tried calling the number and kept getting an entirely different hotel. We asked about ours but the person was not willing to give us any information. I decided to contact a bike shop that was in this little garage right next to the hotel. When I called and asked the little old lady about our hotel she just kept saying "It's GONE, the hotel, the pool, the cabins, they are all GONE" After repeating this two to three times she just hung up. I don't know if the hurricane had anything to do with the hotel being torn down but... We were not able to go that year anyway. My point is the next time we are able to go we have to find a new hotel.

I have looked at vacation rentals by owner in anticipation of our business taking a 180 degree turn and making me so money. They have several condo rentals in Wildwood Crest and Wildwood. As long as it is near the bike path and within comfortable walking distance to the ocean, I am happy. If anyone out there would like to "donate" a vacation to my wonderful family just leave your information in the comments.

I am not feeling good

about a trip my son and husband have planned. You know when you get that feeling in your gut. You cannot put your finger on it but it is there. The flags are up and I am not comfortable. We will have to see. Things are not falling into place like they should.

CAL'S Birthday

is right around the corner, and I always think about my pregnancy at this time of the year. Basically CAL is lucky to be alive.

The pregnancy was a disaster from day one. I found out I was pregnant and immediately went to the doctor because I had suffered a miscarriage months before. The prenatal vitamins that they gave me made me sicker than a dog, but of course we didn't realize that for months.

In NY state they run this test on you. It is called the triple marker test. CAL's came back extremely abnormal and I had to have an amino done. The amino test ripped the sack and I lost all my fluid. I was only 5 months pregnant at the time. I was admitted to the hospital and on strict bed rest for two weeks. Long story short, CAL was a very small baby. The amino test disaster basically never let him grow to be a big strong baby. He was fighting for his life from the very beginning. I had weekly ultrasounds for five months looking for growth and signs of distress.

I was in my eighth month that the doctor finally decided to tell me there was something wrong with the baby. He was VERY small. Needless to say I did not get very big. The ultra sound determined CAL was about 5 lbs 9 oz. They said the test was accurate to within a couple oz. WRONG. CAL was 4 lbs 9 oz when he was born. He was not a preemie.

On the positive side I never required stretch mark cream for this pregnancy. However, I gain a ton of weight. I fell into the trap that I was eating for two and frankly ate for eight. There is nothing more unattractive (at least in my case) than a FAT pregnant woman. Of course you gain weight but it should be baby weight.

I know that CAL is a miracle baby. He is my one and only. We have tried for years to have more. No luck. Because of my age (almost 39) and my husbands age (I won't say) we have given up hope. I originally wanted four children. Oh well.

If stretch marks are a concern for you try this blog that I found, Divas-blog, they have tried multiple products and give you a review. I found some of the results very interesting and informative.

Attacks

For years I have had these "attacks". I can feel them coming on after eating. Usually it is only a few minutes after I have finished a meal. Nine out of ten times it is dinner.

They start with pressure in my stomach that goes to my back. The most painful part is in the back. It is a high back ache. Basically it feels like I have not stopped eating.

In the past I have kept a journal trying to figure out what might trigger the attacks. NOTHING. Apparently it is not food. The only "trend" seems to be if I skip a meal I tend to have more of them. Basically if I skip lunch then I have more of a chance of an attack. NOT ALWAYS. Truly there seems to be no rhyme or reason with them.

Last night I started getting the attack feeling later than normal. Tonight I knew within five minutes of dinner ending. Oh they also tend to come in clusters. I won't have them for several weeks and then I will get them two to three nights in a row.

They are extremely painful. Again the pressure on my stomach and back is unreal. I cannot sit, stand, lay down, or sleep. The pain becomes increasingly worse as the night wears on. I usually sleep in 20 to 30 minute intervals. MOST of the time the pain peaks about 3 to 4 in the morning. Then I get a few hours of sleep.

I have tried every type of antacid, I even tried drinking vinegar (thinking maybe I might now have enough acid), I take Tylenol (like it is candy), but NOTHING helps. I have not found anything (medicine or behavior) that makes it slightly better.

I have been to the doctors and they did an ultrasound. That was several years ago. They didn't find anything wrong. Someday I know the pain is going to be bad enough that I am going to have to go to the emergency room but until then I guess I will just live with it.

Last year I bought this huge beanbag chair just for my attacks. I toss and turn so much I feel bad for hubby. I usually sleep in the beanbag for 30 minutes, the spare room for 30 minutes, back to my room, and the circle starts over. Most of the time I try to sleep sitting up.

I want a 4 door Jeep sooooo bad!

I want a new Jeep Wrangler 4 door with a soft top and half doors. We looked at them several months ago. Right now we have a yellow Jeep Wrangler soft top with half doors. I will never (unless forced) give up having a Wrangler. I love it. It is my dream car. Most people would have a dream car of a BMW or Porsche. But not me I am just a country girl at heart.

We purchased the sliding glass door windows for the the Jeep that we have now. That was the best add-on we have ever purchased. It makes it quieter and much easier to open the window for fresh air, or to pay the tolls on the roads. In New Hampshire almost every road you use is a toll road. But that is ok we need to get the revenue from somewhere. Anyway I digress.

If you are looking for a new car try this web site that offers Honda Car Quote. They will give you up to two free competitive quotes. Never pay full price again.

The Day Off

Kids have off from school in NH today. Why? Well elections, of course. I had never heard of such a thing until moving here. They use the schools as their voting places. In NY you went to your town hall. I remember in Loon Lake it was this little one room building that was boarded up 364 days a year. On election day the boards came off and it was alive.

We had made plans to have a huge neighborhood football game but it is raining and is suppose to rain most of the day so that is out.

Hubby and I still have to work. What little there is to do. We still are trying to get our web site up and running so hopefully we will get a lot accomplished on that today.

Have a good day and remember to go vote.

Stephen King's new movie The Mist

My favorite Stephen King movie/novel is Dolores Claiborne. I watched the movie first and then read the book. That is the only way to do it. The books are almost always better than the movies. So if you watch the movie and then read the book you won’t be disappointed.

Dolores Claiborne is about a young girl that goes home to Maine when her mother is accused of murder. There are many secrets, and many reasons why this young lady wants to settle the matter and get back to her life as soon as possible. I don’t want to give away too much of the movie. The detective that is working on the case is very interested in learning how Dolores’ husband died several years earlier, and opens a can of worms that the daughter would like to keep closed and hidden forever.

Now Stephen King is releasing another movie The Mist. You can view the trailer for The Mist by Stephen King here. Scary movies are not usually high on my list of “must see movies”. The Mist looks like it would scare the CRAP out of me. I have seen the “fog” roll in like that here in NH and it is just too real. As with all Stephen King movies this movie will be a huge hit at the box office. I encourage you to visit the site and view the trailer. You might want to get your Depends on before you do. This is one scary movie.

I noticed that this movie has the same screenwriter and director as Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile. Both of those movies are in my DVD collection and are watched quite often in this house.

I cannot believe my husband said that.....

I had heard that Ron Paul was a doctor so I wanted to see what kind of doctor. He is a gynecologist. A crotch doctor. I am sorry but I don't think I could ever vote for a crotch doctor to be our next President, republican or not.

I said to my husband. OM Gosh he is a gynecologist. We cannot have a crotch doctor as our next president we would be the laughing stalk of the world. My husband without blinking said "yeah so it would be much better to have a cunt as the next president" Now WB will understand how shocked I am at this statement. My husband NEVER talks like this. I am not even sure if he has ever used that word before. Frankly, I was shocked he even knew the word. I am still in shock as I type this.

It scares the CRAP out of me to think that she might be our next leader. I just cannot understand how anyone could vote for her. SCARY.

That being said. I am voting for FRED. I encourage you to do the same. But...... take the test and find out which canadiate is best for you.

Ohhhhh It worked

My plan worked all I have to do is root for the other team and I am all set. My husband is a colts fan. He likes the PATRIOTS he just doesn't like Brady. I get very angry. It is not a joke. Boston has the chance to be the sports capital. The Sox won the series, the PATRIOTS have a very good chance of winning it all, the Celtics finally have invested in some talent, and the Bruins..... I have not a clue. I don't watch the fights. Speaking of the fights.... That is another post that I have been meaning to blog about. Thanks for reminding me. I am sure you will be sitting on the edge of your seats until I write that one.

Favor

I just received the following email from a teacher in the district. I cast my vote and I am hoping that I can get my readers to do the same.

Hello All:

Last spring, on a whim, I entered the Expo Marker Classroom Makeover Contest on behalf of the Special Education Team at Main Dunstable School and we have been chosen as one of the semi-finalists. We have already won $5000.00 in product. Please help us win the Grand Prize.
A $25,000.00 classroom makeover.
Follow this link to vote. http://www.expoclassroommakeover.com/main.taf?p=2
we are entry # 4, scroll to the bottom of the page and choose my name, "Mrs. Chisholm", enter the code they give you and your e-mail address and hit the submit button.
If that link does not work please go to www.expomarker.com click on the Classroom Makeover Contest and choose "Vote Here" we are entry # 4, scroll to the bottom of the page and choose my name, "Mrs. Chisholm", enter the code they give you and your e-mail address and hit the submit button.

Flowers for Butterfly Wife

I am sending the following flowers to one of the bloggers that I read quite often, Butterfly Wife. If you have some flowers you would like to leave take a jog over and leave your own bouquet. I am a little out of the loop and I am not sure if there is any special reason we are leaving flowers but ...... I heard the call. And this is so much cheaper than actually purchasing them.

Saturday

The hurricane passed through our section of New England leaving just a light rain and some high (but not damaging) winds. Other areas did not fair so well. Today the sky is the most beautiful shade of blue.

Because of the rain, yesterday I spent the day holding down the coach (I was very concerned because of the high winds). Today I do not have an excuse. I have some housework to do, and then I have to get outside for some fresh air. CAL has to rake some leaves so I have to find a yard that needs raking and offer his services. (we don't have many leaves in our yard thank goodness).

The most important thing that has to be done today is FOOTBALL. No not playing in the street with my son's friends, but the real kind on TV. The Colts vs the PATRIOTS. I am going to say that the Colts are going to stomp the PATRIOTS. (I am only saying this so that the jinx effect that I have will work. If I say the PATS will win the Colts are sure to win. So I am going to say the Colts will stomp the PATS and hopefully the reverse will happen. Make sense. ) Actually I should call my bookie and place some money on the Colts then the PATS will surely win.

We are skipping church again this week. I am not sure why but..... There is just a lot going on in our lives and church seems to be a stressful situation. See.... There are a couple of teachers that attend that church. One of them is CALS first grade teacher. I know she is mad at me (one of two teachers so far) because she has not spoken to me in several days. BUT.... there have been some recent developments at school (nothing to do with me) that have me angry and she is a target. (I had this long story all typed up and then I thought better of it. First CAL reads my blog so we won't go there. Second a teacher at school recently approached CAL because she had seen his blog. If she knows about his she probably knows about mine.)

I have to get some work done. I will be back....

Looking for help!

I have written often about trying to make money off my blog. I don't have many computer skills and I definitely do not know what makes one site incredibly popular while others remain unknown.

Right now my site is unknown. I don't have the skills be become a Rachel Lucas. That lady is an incredible story teller, but I would like to have a site that is a little more popular. I dream of being a 5 on the Google rating.

I may have found an answer to some of my questions. If you are looking for help with your site, or have the skills to help someone with freelance design there is help on the web. I have looked at the site and when I have enough money to spend I will be looking for help with creating web traffic. I will also be recommending this site to both WB and Sherlock. WB they are looking for people in the field of writing. Sherlock I am sure that you can make a nice second income in almost every catagory with the talents you have.

Reading

I think I have mentioned that I love to read. I have taken a break from "adult" books and I am trying to read all the books that are up for the Great Stone Face award in NH.

So far I have read 15 of the books, while CAL has read 14. Don't tell him but I am only reading the books in an effort to motivate him. It is working.

Right now I am reading The Sacrifice. OM GOSH. What an awesome book. I personally believe this story is a little "old" for kids in fifth grade, but then again our kids need to know about "this type of thing" so that we don't repeat it again. The topic is witchcraft. Two young sister are accused of witchcraft. They are thrown in jail without hope. If they deny they are witches they are hung (or is it hanged), if they admit they are witches they are condemned to life in horrible prison, or they can be set free if they accuse someone else. I am not finished with the book yet. I have one more chapter. I wrote this before I finished so that I wouldn't be able to give away the ending. If you have an opportunity to read the book I encourage you to do so. It is not an easy book to find. The authors name is Kathleen Benner Duble. It is based on actual events that happened in the author's own family history.