Superior Court Judge Richard Moses

UPDATED: Here on February 29, 2008

You Sir are SCUM. Yes you heard that right. You are scum. It is judges like you that allow these criminals to prey on our children. You should be arrested and charged with aiding and abetting, because that is exactly what you did. You allowed this ANIMAL to be on our streets.

This story scares the tar out of me because last night CAL and I went to the public library. CAL said he had to use the bathroom which is downstairs. I told him to make it quick and I would be in the section at the top of the stairs. I waited and looked at some new releases while I waited.

Somehow CAL slipped by me when he came up. After a few minutes I went down stairs to stand outside the men's room. I didn't hear anything so I opened the door and yelled "CAL" no answer. I went back up stairs and looked in the children’s room. I didn't see him; I started to panic because sometimes the people that hang out at the library are not the most trustworthy people.

I waited just a few seconds more and then I entered the children's room and saw him in the back on the computers. Usually if he uses the computer it is the one in the front. Anyway..... I walked/ran over gave him a hug and then told him to NEVER do that again.

I will show him this article tonight and we will have a long talk.

Now back to my rant. When are judges going to be held accountable for their poor decisions? When are victims going to be allowed to address the judge and tell him how he has ruined their lives? Victims are sometimes given that opportunity but NEVER with the judge. When are these STUPID judges going to realize that sex offenders CANNOT be rehablibate? When is society going to demand accountability from our system?

Superior Court Judge Richard Moses I hope you never have a restful nights sleep again for the rest of your life, because this poor little child probably never will.

After doing a little research on Judge Richard Moses. It appears that this guy is in favor of the criminals. He ruled against a sheriff who had ordered his inmates to pay a $5 fee to stay in his jail. Sounds like a great idea to me. The sheriff stated that the program had raised $726,000 to help offset the costs. What the hell is wrong with that.

I need your help.

Does anyone know where I can find a "form" maker. What the heck am I talking about. You know those forms that you have to fill out when visiting a business website.

There are times we do not have what our customers need, in stock. I need a form so that they can request a quote from us. I had one on my old site but it will not let me access the html for it.

OH and did I mention that I need this to be a "free service".

And the award for the worst friend in the world goes to

ME! I have been bitch'in about my neighbor recently. She told me yesterday that she has breast cancer.

She has been driving me nuts regarding various things and now I know why..... She has had a lot on her mind.

I am such a bitch I was only concerned with my problems, my deadlines, my crap.

I guess I should be telling her all of this and not you.

This may seem petty.....

I saw this on Fark a few days ago and it reminded me of our last snow storm.

We didn't get much snow but it was enough to hide all the "junk" on the ground. My husband loves his John Deere. He snow blows seven driveways including ours. Ours is always last. He starts with the widow next door and works his way around.

For some reason he decided to do our driveway next to last. I thank goodness that he did because in the driveway across the street was a "free newspaper". He is driving along and suddenly you hear this loud clunk and the Deere stalled. He hops off with a look of terror in his eyes. I am not sure if he was more worried about the noise or the "evil eye" that I was giving him from our driveway.

That newspaper was jammed so bad.. He pulled the tractor into our driveway and started "working" on that jam. It was horrible after an hour he was not even close to having that thing removed. He was so upset because he could not tell if there was any real damage.

I took over and had to take a pair of pliers and rip that paper apart piece by piece. I was pretty upset and threaten to give the "free newspaper" delivery man a piece of my mind.

It took us almost 1 1/2 hours to get the thing fixed. I hate "free newspapers" and I agree with this ridiculous bill.

Attention: Democrats!

Which Presidential Candidate Is Most Like JFK?

ReportingJon Keller BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Caroline Kennedy, who was with Sen. Ted Kennedy Monday, compared Barack Obama to her father, former President John F. Kennedy. But who of the 2008 presidential candidates has the best claim to continue the Kennedy legacy?

Many voters recall the JFK era as a time of inspiration.

Several of Bobby Kennedy's children are backing Hillary Clinton. But while this may surprise you, consider that if you really look at the policies of the Kennedy administration, the answer to which Democrat best embodies them may be -- none of the above.

Keep in mind, John F. Kennedy was a staunch anti-communist who never shied away from deploying U.S. power abroad.

Kennedy tried to overthrow Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs, escalated covert and overt military action in Vietnam, and even backed a coup in Iraq that helped bring a young Saddam Hussein to power.

Would any of the three remaining Democratic candidates bring back Kennedy's foreign policy? According to them, no way.

JFK was a big fan of so-called trickle-down economics, who slashed tax rates on the wealthy, famously declaring that, "An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues…jobs or...profits."

All three Democrats want to end major tax breaks for the wealthy. No JFK prototypes here.

But there's one area where the Democrats evoke JFK - sort of. He was the last president to oversee a military execution and strongly backed capital punishment.

All three Democrats support the death penalty but with extensive restrictions and safeguards.

John F. Kennedy was also an advocate for scientific exploration, immigration reform, and expansion of civil rights, areas where Obama, Clinton and Edwards can all claim some common ground. But if it's a JFK sound-a-like on economics and foreign policy you're looking for, you might have to take a Republican ballot on primary day.

OK I am going to take the heat for this one.

I am so sick of the Tampax commercial that talks about the poor little girls in Africa that cannot go to school when they get their period.

Give me a farking break. They have had thousands of years to come up with a solution to this "problem". If they are that stupid maybe we are wasting time trying to educate them anyway.

What did you do today?

The "family" (well hubby and I and CAL for about 10 minutes) cleaned the "play" room today. This is the room that we have had the door shut for almost two years. It was such a mess. The reason we had the door shut is because if you opened it the toys would literally fall out like you see in the movies.

I am not kidding when I say this room has needed to be cleaned for two years. I have never seen so many silly toys. Oddly enough we only threw away a garbage bag full of "junk". We still have two huge buckets to sort through. The Lego's, K'nex, and those type of toys are so small and hard to sort.

Attention: Nintendo Wii Owners

Nintendo is giving away free padded remote covers for Wii. Nintendo is now including the Wii Remote Jacket for the Wii Remotes in all new hardware being shipped. For Wii owners who purchased their systems prior to this addition, we are offering to send free Wii Remote Jackets for their existing Wii Remotes. You can get up to 4 covers.

My neighbor sent me an email telling me about the Wii covers.

I especially liked the part where he writes: They are made of soft clear gel-like plastic and will help soften the blow if anything gets wacked when the remote hits something or someone.

You may be asking yourself "Self, why does she like that part so much?" Well this is the parent of the little boy that had to bring his own remote to my house when he played because he became upset with CAL about something and threw the remote on the floor. CAL said it was really hard..... The little boy said he "just dropped it". "Kinda on accident."

His mother called me all upset because he was not allowed to bring his remote to our house because he forgot it one day. (She made him retrieve it at 9:30 one night - without a phone call.) She wanted to know "exactly" why he had to bring his own. She was hot. I told her the story.....

Several days later she told me that he would not be able to play Wii at my house because he was not going to bring his own remote. What could I do? The boys are friends and love to play.

ANYWAY back to the free offer. Go to the following site:

Bloggers Beware

I am having an issue with PayPerPost right now and I just want to warn my bloggin friends. I accepted a "Business/Entrepreneur" opportunity that was available to me. I posted, what I thought was a pretty good post, Have my prayers been answered. About a week after posting I get a message that my blog does not qualify for that post and it has been rejected and I cannot resubmit.

I looked at my "categories" and Business was checked but, because you only get five, Entrepreneur was not checked, . I checked the box and gave my side of the argument, heck I have been self employed for 18 years, and resubmitted.

A day or so goes by and the post was accepted. I thought that was good because it was a $10 opp. Late last night (two days later) I noticed that my number of accepted posts was down by one.

You guessed it.... They deleted the opp off my listing. No $10. Nothing to even show that I accepted the opp.

I personally think this is very dirty.... The opp was available to me and I read all the fine print of the requirements and fulfilled each and every one. I know that in some opps that are available there are requirements that might make the opp not available to you. There were no such requirements. The category was Business.

Bottom line is this I guess... If the advertiser is not happy with the way that his campaign is going (and not necessarily your post) Payperpost has offered to return their money. They can reject for ANY reason. They can reject after a post has been approved.

PS. I love making money off the blog and PayPerPost has given me opportunities when other paid blogging has not. I just want to warn y'all to be very careful when accepting an opp. Even if the opp is available and there is nothing in the "requirements" that stated you don't qualify they can still reject you.

I am working

On around the bloggin world but honestly it is very slow going. I will try again tomorrow. I spent the day at school helping the photographer take all the "groups" for the yearbook. It went quite well. A few crabby teachers with a contract bug up their butts. Honestly people get over it. Most people are happy to have a job. A raise is an extreme luxury.

Out of my mind.

Yes I think I am going out of my mind. Between the hubby, son, yearbook, and work I am losing it. I am waving my white flag God. When you are going to come and rescue me? I give up, I give in, just make it all stop......

Valentine's Day is only a couple weeks away.

I have several purchases in mind and hopefully I can justify them by then. I want to use a Barnes and Noble coupon for something for the hubby and his grandson. When CAL was little, father and son LOVED Poppleton books. They have all of them. Now you can only buy a few, the rest are out of print. Grandpa thinks that "E" might also like those books.

CAL needs some shirts and sweats from the Old Navy deals. I have been putting things in my shopping cart for almost a month with them. I love their clothes and if you get them on clearance it is quite the bargain.

I must confess I love the CouponChief for their coupon codes. Whenever I have an online purchase I check the site first for a coupon. I am the coupon queen.

Why do we need men?

My husband can be such a (oh I cannot even think of an appropriate word). Last night he went on a RAMPAGE because I was on the computer longer than he thought I should be.

He ranted and raved about my blogging, my surfing, and the yearbook. I immediately became defensive and said that it was more productive than the hours he spends on solitaire, and that if he was playing solitaire he wouldn't mind me being on the computer.

I then reminded him how much I make from my blogging, and surfing. That didn't matter to him. He was tired of me being attached to the computer.

Now on a normal night we both have the computers on our lap watching TV. Last night he just wasn't interested in being on the computer. That means that I am not allowed on.

So today his daughter called (this is the daughter that got me involved in blogging). He asks real sweet "so honey how is your blogging going". I went ballistic.

Calling all bloggers.

Help CAL with an assignment. He needs to write a paper on someone he thinks should be person of the year. I cannot think of anything. Help us out. Give him some suggestions in my comments.

I have a secret.....

are you ready for this....... I have always wanted to ride a bull. Get your mind out of the gutter. I mean a bull (like as in a cow). I grew up on a small farm in Addison, New York and we raised beef cattle. Most of the time we only had females but every now and then they would bring in a bull to stud. They are a fascinating animal. We never "got close" to the cows because we knew that eventually they would be on the supper table.

I remember several times, as a kid, thinking that I would try to ride the bull that we had. I would grab them by the horns thinking that I could just flip myself onto their back. I was a very daring kid my family used to call me Evil Knievel. I was also very dumb. I never made it on their back. Frankly the minute you grab the horns they shake you so bad you could never get on their back that way. What???? I was a kid!!

Because of this secret fantasy, I like watching "bull riders". The Super Bowl of Bull Riding is in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tickets to the Professional Bull Riders are a hot commodity. I would love to be able to attend this year but ... like everything else, things are on hold.

It's official.....darn

Fred Thompson has dropped out of the Presidential Race. I really liked what Fred was all about. I think he would have been a good choice, but I am not sure he was ever really interested in running. I don't understand why he chose to run his campaign they way he did. Oh well...... Who to support now?

Video Classifieds.... What a great idea. Where do I sign up?

Several years ago, we tried to sell items that we no longer wanted in this publication called the Want Ad's. It was a total bust. We didn't so much as get a phone call. One of the items was a walk behind slow blower.

We held on to that snow blower for a couple more years. Moving it from this storage, to that storage. Then someone turned us on to craigs list. We decided to advertise the same snow blower (2 years older now) and it sold with a few days. We even received what we were asking. If we had know about that service two years earlier we probably would have received a much better price.

The snow blower was not the only item that we tried in other avenues first. I had a digital camera, toboggan, and coal.

Now I see that there is an upgrade to craigs list. Listasaurus.com is a video classifieds site. What a great idea. This could really come in handy to prove that your item is in good working order. That was one of the questions that several callers had about the camera. "Does it take good pictures". With the video classified site that would not be questioned. A video is worth a million words.

This idea would be great for us bloggers. I would love a little widget in my side bar listing ads, especially if I get paid to do so. I don't know about you but I love making money off my blog. It saved our Christmas.

Are you working today?

We are in the office but not really working. We had to get a few orders ready this morning and make a few phone calls that appear to be a waste of time.

Now we are going to watch the Celtics.

CAL decided to honor us with a major temper tantrum this morning so now he is being punished and cannot play with friends all day. I think it is more of a punishment for us than him. Now we will drive us nuts all day long.

So much for our stress free 3 day weekend.

I need to make a purchase

Because money has been so tight lately, we have only been making absolutely necessary purchases. The husband pointed out to me last night that Barnes and Noble has the movie HELP with the Beatles. He has been bugging me to see this movie for 18 years. We had Netflix/Blockbuster for years and the stupid thing was NEVER available.

He also wants to purchase some books for a gift for someone very special, I can use the Barnes and Noble coupons and with the credits that I receive with MY POINTS, it should make it a worthwhile purchase.

It will have a wait a week or two, however, because I just cannot force myself to buy something that is not absolutely necessary. Easter is right around the corner and then the books will be necessary.

Guilty or Innocent

This is the third installment of my Guilty or Innocent posting. Here is the drill, I have listed five names along with the crimes that they have been accused of. Voice your opinion. Google the names if you have to.

The LA Police – The beating of Rodney King
Albert DeSalvo -- The Boston Stranger
Michael Jackson – Molesting Children
Sen. Larry Craig – Soliciting Sex the men’s bathroom
Gary Condit – The murder of Shandra Leavy.

Many Moons Ago

The hubby and I decided that we could afford to go on a cruise to Alaska. We booked the trip, put our deposit down, bought travel insurance, and started dreaming about our cruise.

This was going to be the vacation like no other. The cruise was a week but we were planning on getting off the ship in Alaska and taking a week long train excursion.

We started setting money aside each month and making payments to the travel agency. Then the best news ever rocked our world. We were pregnant. After receiving the phone call from the doctor the second call was to cancel the trip. Sounds strange doesn't it. Well......

The previous year we had this business vacation planned. We were going to Virgina, New Jersey, then to New York. We found out we were pregnant and talked to our doctor who told us not to change the plans. We didn't. It was on that vacation that we had our miscarriage. I remember the day like it was yesterday.

I couldn't "wake up". I was awake but couldn't get out of the "fog". My husband thought I was just being lazy and got quite upset with me and a huge argument ensued. He insisted that he was on vacation to "do" things and all I wanted was to lay in bed. We did everything as planned and when we returned home the bleeding started.

It didn't take us more than two seconds to cancel that trip.

My first job.

was at T&C World of Video in Corning, NY. My sister worked there before me and she was such a good worker he decided to hire me. I don't think he liked me as much as Dee. See Dee is a very outgoing person. I am not.

I basically loved the job. My boss however, was a very moody guy.

There are a couple things about that job that stick out in my mind. He sold this yearly membership and with the membership the customer would receive a free rental each month. Some customers received this as a gift and the only time they would come into the store was for their free rental. This would make him so upset. He insisted on waiting on these people. He would interrogate them as he was checking them out. "Where do you rent your "paid" movies from." "Have you ever paid for a movie in my store." and on and on. He would get really nasty. Then at the end of the transaction, he would throw the card across the counter and say "Have a nice day Moose Twit." Some people would just stare in disbelief and walk away. Some would say "I want to talk to the manager", only to find out he was the manager/owner.

I worked there for two years, during the summer and weekends. I was not a full time employee like most of the others. I would see my co-workers around me get raises but because he knew that I was not going to "stay", I worked for minimum wage for the entire time.

I even drove home, from Syracuse, every weekend for minimum wage because I loved the job so much. Stupid kid.

A couple of the perks of the job was free movie rentals, (as long as the boss didn't know about it - yes he was such a cheap bastardo that he didn't like us to take home rentals - but he would get angry if a customer asked us about a movie and we didn't know the answer.) Another perk was that when he was done advertising a movie he would let us take some of the original movie posters. Everyone at college love my dorm room. I had every inch of wall space (which was not much) covered in posters. I even had a life size cutout poster of Michael J. Fox.

I think that is where I picked up my love for movies. I would much rather rent a movie at home than go to a theatre.

I always told him husband that my dream was to someday own a video store. I laugh at that tought now. I would NEVER deal with the public on a daily basis.

Something happened in our house today

that NEVER happens. I won't allow it. That being said......

MY HUSBAND IS AN IDIOT. You might think I am being mean but I am NOT. If you need proof of what I say, please take a cyber walk over to his site.

If you can manage to read the entire thing without falling asleep you are a better person than I.

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.

Honestly, I really do feel good. We had a very good business day on Friday. This will be the first weekend, in I cannot remember how long, that I feel "stress free". I feel so stress free that I am very emotional. I feel like I could cry with joy.

It amazes me how much my moods and emotions revolve around our business. That is a major down side of being self employed. When you work a "normal" job you don't have to worry about finances. They are someone else responsibility. Even if you are the bookkeeper. It is not your job to create the money it is your job to distribute the money. When you are self employed everything falls onto you.

Anyway back to my my good mood. I am in such a good mood it feels strange. We have to run some errands this morning and I am actually looking forward to getting out of the house. This family is a bunch of home bodies and we hate to leave the house. Today I am going to go purchase some items that we have needed for months but I didn't feel we could afford. Yea....

I might even go purchase a few corsets, oh wait, my husband might view that as more of a punishment than a reward. Have you heard of the new show on Lifetime "How to look good (I won't use the word because I don't wait p0rn0 freaks on my site). I have not succeeded at that task yet.

Inspired by Blogoram

Blogoram inspired the following post.

We bought a new computer a couple months ago. It has Vista. I HATE it. Perfect example. The other day the email started asking for a password. We did everything. Systems Restore didn't help. You could tell that it was a Microsoft problem. We called Microsoft and the guy insisted that it was NOT a Vista problem and he could not help us. He kept telling us it was a server problem.

I suggested to my husband that we just call GoDaddy because they are so helpful. Finally he gave in and called. They laughed and said they get this all the time from Vista users and told us within 30 seconds how to fix it. It is some bug in Vista where it resets every now and again for no reason whatsoever.

This is not the first problem with vista. Frankly I think we have had about 10 bug type issues with Vista. The biggest (most costly) item was our old printer didn't work with Vista, no it was that Quickbooks didn't work, no it was the fact that Microsoft doesn't install all their software on their new computers, no it was that more than half of our business software didn't work with Vista, no it was ............. this could take awhile.

I am in total shock.

I just opened by browser to have the following headline:

Children Hit On I-495 Were Killed By Aunt

This is a story that broke last week sometime. This lady was traveling with her twin sisters children. She had just picked them up for an overnight stay. Somehow she got on I-495 going the wrong way. It was dark and the family thought she might have been distracted and just made a mistake. Well she pulled over took the kids out of the car and tried to cross the interstate. It sounds like a tragic "accidental" story.

Now we are finding the truth. A truth that the police kept very quite. I give them a lot of credit.

"We believe that Ms. Thibault took her niece and nephew and walked with them into oncoming traffic on Route 495, tragically resulting in the deaths of the two young children while taking her own life in the process," District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement

When I read that I thought "how do they know that". I wanted to believe that she was confused and made a poor decision in trying to cross the highway. Then......

Investigators said Thibault stopped on the right side of highway after driving the wrong way down 495 the night of the accident.Thibault then got out of the car and removed all her clothes and the children's clothes. She held both children in her arms and walked out onto the highway.

Yep. That would be a dead give away that she did it on purpose. I wonder if she was strung out on drugs or she was so angry with her twin sister that she wanted to punish her. I mean really she could have made this look like a "total accident". She wanted everyone to know that she did this on purpose.

Honestly though I am in shock.

Have my prayers been answered.

I have been struggling with our online store. I just don't seem to be getting enough business from it. It is paying for itself but I want it to do more.

I am getting some traffic but I need more and I need profitible traffic. I don't want the lookers, I want the buyers.

1WebImage, Inc. has recently released a site that is designed to help small business with their online presence. This program appears to be ideal for our company we cannot afford the luxury of having our own SEM team.

I like what this company is saying. Click here for more information One, their goal is to meet all your online needs. Two, they will help custom design a web site and keep it running. Three, (I see this item as the biggest selling point.) they will attrack "qualified" visitors and turn them into customers.

I cannot tell you how interested I am in this product. I am very excitied.

A blog meme

I posted this meme several months ago, but I didn't have any readers then so I thought it was worth the repeat.


1. How often do you blog? Most days I blog several times a day. I almost always blog at least once a day.

2. How long have you been blogging? I started several years ago and then stopped. Then I had a secret blog for about 2 years. I have been public with this blog since 2006.

3. How many family members have a blog? List with links. My husband’s daughter and her husband, my husband’s son, my husband, my son, and myself.

4. How many blogs do you visit on a regular basis? 50

5. What are your five favorite blogs? (excluding family) List with links Walking On, Reflections by Kris, Pamibe, One Happy Dog, Boudicca’s Voice. This was very difficult for me. I enjoy all the blogs that I read. These people tend reciprocate more than others.

6. Do you check certain blogs multiple times a day? Yes A hour? Yes Mostly Pereiraville, but it depends on how bored I am.

7. Do you have a secret blog? yes! and it will remain a secret.

8. How many blogs do you leave comments on during a normal day. 15 or more.

9. Have you ever posted “anonymous”? Of course, but NOT often. I want the "link love" But I have in the past, I don’t want people to think I am a whack job.

10. Have you ever been “afraid/uncomfortable” because of a comment on your blog? Yes just recently as a matter of fact. I hate when people respond "anonymous"

11. What blogger, that you visit, blogs most often? That would be Pereiraville, but I think Pamibe is a close second. I love people that post often.

I think this would be a good investment.

I may have mentioned once or twice that I am working on the yearbook for our school. It is my responsibility to do all the computer work. I am the only one (besides the teacher that cannot work on it due to a contract dispute) that knows how to work the program.

Right now I need some help. The deadline is rapidly approaching and I still have a ton of tweaky things that need to be done. I would love to "train" someone on this program but.... You cannot work on it at the school. Their computers are so slow. Half of the time I wonder why they have a computer system at all.

They have an IT guy that gets paid a fortune to keep their out-of-date system up and running. When I say a fortune, I mean a fortune. How much does he make, he makes so much that he hired his son to "help" him for the same ridiculous pay. He makes more than the highest paid teacher. He just drives around the city fixing problems at the different schools. Our city has about 25 different schools.

I would think the school could greatly benefit from Network Monitoring by Uplogix.com. Uplogix manufactures remote management solutions for companies with multiple physical locations. I would assume that 25 different buildings would qualify. If the school system would purchase this application they would get rid of one of their IT guys, and decrease the pay of the other. This program allows network administrators to monitor connectivity, fix problems, automate maintenance tasks, and log changes for the entire network from one location. He would no longer spend half of his day driving from location to location.

Sounds like it would definitely pay for itself over a period of only a few years.

Answer me honestly.......

what teacher has not thought about doing this to one of their lovely students.

Teacher Accused Of Duct Taping Girl's Mouth Shut

BROOKLINE, Mass. (WBZ) ― A former science teacher in Brookline is accused of duct taping a 12-year-old student's mouth shut.

I know that I have not only wanted to tape the mouth shut, I have dreamed about securing the child to the chair that way.

The difference is that I/we have never done that.

Sometimes you would like a news story to have all the facts before they report. Was this a joke that went wrong. Did the teacher in a joking manner tell the student to be quite or face being taped. The student could have encourage the teacher to tape their mouth shut. Then when the student went home and told his/her parents they saw $ signs.

If it was done in anger the teacher should have been arrested on the spot.

What do you think? I know that we expect our teachers to make good decisions but honestly do you have any idea how frazzled an "unruly" child can be. That student can have a classroom of 23 out of control in seconds.

My neighbor cracks me up.

This is the neighbor that lives directly across the street from us. Her husband travels for work, a lot. Because of this he gets frequent flier miles up the wazoo, and they travel on "family" vacations regularly.

It never fails that when they are away they will have a delivery of wine. The UPS/FED EX driver cannot leave the package without a signature so they leave it here.

When we deliver it to them, the wife will always say "Oh, so and so's wine is here". It is NEVER for them. Frankly I don't believe them for a minute. I have seen their recycle bin on Friday and let me tell you all that wine is NOT for someone else.

WHY would you deny your wine club delivery?

I was shocked at how expensive a wine club can be. When I went to the wine tasting last week that is what they wanted you to buy. This wine of the month club is much cheaper than the one that hosted the tasting. I have to be honest. I didn't really care for the wine at the tasting, it was from some place strange. I cannot remember exactly but it was not a place that you associated with wine. The wine club that I spoke about is from California. I would trust a California wine to be a good wine.

Hell has frozen over.

Last week while I was at my wine tasting party, the husband and son decided to watch "The Celebrity Apprentice". We NEVER watch this type of CRAP. I don't do "reality" TV. When my husband had talked about watching it I was shocked.

They just turned to watch the show. Now I know why he wanted to watch it. Big Pussy. Yes you read that right BIG PUSSY.

My husband and I watched the entire season of The Sopranos in 2006. We became quite hooked. Big Pussy is an ex-Soprano mob captain.

Aghhhhh the itch Omarosa is on this show. I HATE that "lady". She was on The Surreal Life and she showed the world she had perfected "itch" to an art form. Did you know that she was voted the most hated reality star of all time.

I think we watch too much TV

in this house. There are days that the TV is turned on at 4:30 and stays on until 9:30 or later. Last night (because we had a homework nightmare with CAL) the TV didn't get turned on until 8:00 it was wonderful. We eat dinner in front of the TV. This is a very bad habit. We say how much we enjoy eating at the table and then seem to forget that the next day. I think that if we had a plasma lift our TV would be out of sight.... Things might be different.

**singing** I've been working on the yearbook...

all the ding dong day. I hate the little tweaky things. This is going to take me forever. I am going to have to swallow some pride, deal with my control issues, and ask someone for help. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but I have a deadline of February 11th for the first 48 pages. We have a professional photographer coming on January 25th to take pictures. It will take me about a week to get those pictures back. That will give me about 11 days to insert all those photos and finish those pages.

I love living close to Boston

We don't take advantage of it nearly enough, however. My husband and son are fascinated with planes, trains, ship, and other large modes of transportation.

Several years ago Boston hosted the "Sail Boston 2000". We went down the Black Falcon Pier and saw several of these beautiful ships. Some were modern and very fancy and other were more like pirate ships. It was amazing and if you ever have the chance to see the "tall ships" event, I highly recommend you do.

We have seen the JFK twice and a few smaller aircraft carriers. When the JFK was in town the last time, we took a water taxi out to see the JFK it was very interesting.

The Queen Mary II was in town several months after 9/11. It was so strange to see so many guns drawn and ready to fire. We have seen many cruise ships, so many that I cannot really remember them all. I am sure that one of them was the royal caribbean.

The wharf is a wonderful place to hang out. In the summer time we love to spend the day smelling that "dirty water".

Guilty or Innocent

This is the second installment of my Guilty or Innocent posting. Here is the drill, I have listed five name along with the crimes that they have been accused of. Voice your opinion. Google the names if you have to.

Neil Entwistle – killing wife and young child
Ray Lewis – killing two men after a party.
Phil Spector – killing a female in his home
Brian Mitchell & Wanda Barzee – kidnapping Elizabeth Smart
Patrica & John Ramsey – Killing their daughter JonBenet

Baby Pictures

The other night I was on a search for CAL's baby pictures. I had a particular one in mind and could not find it. I found every other picture just not that one. It makes sense, because that was my favorite I probably didn't have many extras laying around.

Going through all my photo boxes was weird. I looked at photo's of when my husband and I were both thin and good looking. I feel bad for CAL. He deserves the people we were back then. Not the fat lazy people we are now. Any who that is for another post.

I found many interesting things in those boxes. I found the baby pictures of me, pictures of my husbands children, pictures of my husbands family, and I found pictures from when I was in college.

That made me think about all those student loans. I went to a business college. I was trained to be an "executive secretary" I looked at all those papers. Back in the day Executive Secretary's" were projected to earn $18,000 a year. OM Gosh even 20 years ago $18,000 was not that much money. I cannot believe that I went to college to earn a job with such little pay.

I have often thought about the "what if's". What if I went to a real college and majored in something real. The bottom line. I would not have had those two years of drinking under my belt to learn from. I would have flunked out of real college because we drank every day. I don't dwell on the what if's but sometimes it is fun.

Don't tell WB

The Makers Of Scrabble Want To Shut Down Scrabulous

PROVIDENCE (AP) ― The companies that make Scrabble are trying to shut down Scrabulous, an online version of the game that is one of the most popular applications on the social networking site Facebook.

If you have read WB's site recently you know that she is addicted to this site. I don't even want to think about how she is going to react to this news.

I personally HATE scrabble. I am not a good speller (oh don't pretend like you didn't know that) and when your fifth grader is better at the game than you are it is time to stop embarrassing yourself.

Are you stuck,

with a hosting contract? I hate contracts. You have to agree to the service that the company promises (without proving) and then they make you sign a contract that locks you into a payment for months sometimes years. The only thing that contract ever states is that you have to pay. They never state that if their service stinks you don't have to pay and are released from the contract. They always promise you wonderful service but the quality of service they provide is NEVER part of the contract.

Now there is hope. Lunarpages has a coupon for $40, and they will add up to 9 months of paid time the customer has spent with their DreamHost contract. I wish Lunarpages also dealt with cell phone service. I would love to get out of the contract that I have with my company. You know that commercial "Can you hear me now?" Well I find that I say those words more than anything else. "Can you hear me now?" NO ok then I move to another location "OK how about now, Can you hear me now?"

If you are a DreamHost customer Lunarpages has special offers just for you. They can be found at the following location, Lunarpages Offer for DreamHost Customers

Lunarpages just increased their basic plan and it is ideal for bloggers. They offer beginner, basic, business, windows, Linux, VPS and dedicated hosting services.

You can also make a little money by having Lunarpages as your hosting provider. They pay a generous affiliate commission of $65, and if you sell one of their dedicated hosting plans they pay $180.

Who couldn't use that extra money? I don't know about you but Christmas was several weeks ago and I am still broke.

You could just advertise on your site and when people see how reliable your site is, they will be sure to sign up.

There are thousands of idiots in the world....

a goodly portion of them live in Indianapolis. What in the world could these people have thinking when they booed a 15 year old girl because she wore a Patriots Jersey? She was fifteen and had just won an award for the kick, pass and punt contest. She is standing in line to hear clapps and cheering for all the kids in front of her. She was next to last. When they came to her thousand of Indianapolis Idiots booed her.

She claims that it didn't bother her and she just laughed. OK? She is fifteen, how could it not bother her.

She will get the last laugh however. First of all the Colts are sitting home while she will be at a game in Foxboro. (And here's a happy ending for you: The Patriots have stepped up and offered Anna Grant free tickets to this weekend's playoff game in Foxboro, where the welcome will be a whole lot warmer, even if the temperature is not. )

I hope all those fans have lots of time to think about their actions. They should... it is a long time before their team plays again.

Our lawmakers hard at work.

I love stories like this. State Senator Looks To Ban Metal Basketball Nets

An eleven year old girl was injured by a metal basketball net and now the Senator from Boston want to ban them.

Let me tell you something.... I worked on the playground committee for several years at my son's school. Every year we had to hear about how the basketball rims and backboards were being damaged after school and on the weekends. 90% of this damage came from older kids hanging from the nets and rims. I recommended these metal nets because I knew that these little angles would hurt their fingers trying to hang from them.

Guess what? We had not had a single rim/backboard that has needed to be replaced since then. The metal nets help to deter vandalism.

I would be very interested to hear how this eleven year old received her injury. Dollars to donuts she was trying to hang from the net or rim, or she was jumping up to touch the net.
If NOT she must be a VERY tall eleven year old.

I would bet that she was NOT using the equipment correctly. Can companies really protect people that are using the product incorrectly and should they be held liable?

A very worthy cause

This goes hand and hand with the previous post.

As I stated before I think one of our "jobs" is to spread God's word. I will support a Christian company over a "regular" company if possible.

I just noticed this very worthy non-profit company. Car Angel - www.carangel.com uses your car donations to make free videos for kids and teens.

I do not have a car to donate at this moment but in the past I have had several cars that I could have donated. I wish I had known. My husband had this stupid little MG. I hated the darn thing. I would have given that away in a heartbeat.

I urge you.... If you have a car that you can donate please think about this organization.

These videos are really cute. CAL has several "Christian Video's" that he watches regularly. I think he just needs to renew himself every once in awhile. He also listens to Adventures in Odyssey and his new favorite Johnathon Parks.

My Beliefs!

After taking the religious quiz over at WB I thought this would be a good time for this post.

What do I believe. Obviously I cannot answer that in one post. I am not sure that someone could answer that in a lifetime.

One thing I honestly do believe in, is spreading God's word. I think we were put on this Earth to multiple and bring God's children home to him. If you know "the truth" and you don't share that with someone you are not walking with Jesus. Now I am not talking about being a preacher, or someone standing on the street corner yelling at people. You don't have to force feed anyone. You just plant the seed.... God will make it grow.

The best way to plant the seed is by our own behavior. This is an area that I am HORRIBLE with. I am very opinionated, easy to anger, and sometimes I am just not a nice person. I know this about myself and try to change this each and every day of my life.

One way that we (as a family) try to spread God's word is through booklets that we place in each and every order that leaves our business. I have struggled with this practice since we began several years ago. To be honest I am not sure if this is the "way" that God wants us to pass the word.

We have received many phone calls and emails in support of this practice. We have received about ten phone calls and emails from some very angry individuals. That is not bad over a five year period. One night we received a phone call from a young man. It was about 11:30 to 12:00. He was very angry for the insert. I think it took him about five to six beers to become this angry. My husband answered, and oddly enough, talked to him. Normally if someone calls that late he would not even consider carrying on a conversation. They talked for about an hour.

After phone calls like that I am very glad that we send the booklets out. I will admit, however, that I question this practice quite often.

Back to my original point. I think we were put on this Earth to spread the word and help God save as many souls as possible. Again we plant the seed and God monitors its growth.

Guilty or Innocent:

Here is a chance for you to voice your opinion. I have listed a few names below with the crime(s) they have been accused of. I will take them five at a time. I didn’t realize how many cases there were until I started typing these. I think one serious question we have to ask is home many times will OJ’s name show up on this list.

OJ -- killing his ex-wife and a male friend.
Drew Peterson—killing his wife
Ted Kennedy – killing his pregnant girlfriend
Joran Van der Sloot – killing Natalee Holloway
The West Memphis Three – killing three boys

So tell me what you think. Guilty or Innocent.

We almost had a disaster

in our house on Saturday. CAL was doing his report for "extra credit". This was the report I mentioned in Above and Beyond.

It was the last few minutes of the game. CAL was on the floor typing in a play-by-play of the game. He was on page three of notes. During commercial he had to "step away" for a few minutes. After several minutes, my hubby yelled to him that the game was back on and he better hurry up. CAL quickly responded "I need more time" (he had only sung three songs and that was not nearly enough for a single visit to the "room") He asked if "MOM" could please take notes for him. Of course I was busy and yelled back "just hurry up". Dad trying to be the good guy that he is, reached down and picked up the computer. Out came the power cord. We both just stood there staring at each other. See this computer does not have a battery.

I asked CAL if he had saved his work. "NO". Two and a half hours of taking notes down the drain. I could not believe it. I was angry for hubby because he did not take more care in picking up the computer. I was angry with CAL because he didn't save his work, and he was now on song five. Oddly enough I was not angry with myself. Go figure.

The husband broke the new to CAL who immediately had a mental breakdown. I don't blame him. The only thing I could think about was his poor teacher who watched a game for three hours for nothing. He was so angry with his father.

After CAL calmed down he said that sometimes it will "recover" the document. I looked. NOPE. That caused a bigger breakdown. He went to his room and had a royal temper tantrum. Several minutes later while I was still playing with the computer I notice that several word documents were open on the bottom. His report was one of them...... YEA.....

Bottom line: I have to buy CAL a battery for his computer. Once I have enough money in my pay pal account I will be heading over to AllBatts.com. They have the battery for his computer. They even have a cell phone battery and WB knows that he is going to need one of those real soon. I love it when you can get all your needs from one store and do not have to place multiple orders.

News worthy Knuckleheads!

This guy has to win something. He grabs a bottle of gas instead of alcohol? What kind of container did he have the gas in, and what was he doing with a "bottle" of gas inside his apartment?

Man Spits Gasoline On Lit Cigarette, Burns SelfBERLIN (AP) ―

A German man in the northeastern town of Gross Godems was being treated for serious burns Monday after accidentally setting his apartment ablaze when he mixed up a bottle of gasoline with alcohol, police said.

The 56-year-old apparently grabbed the wrong bottle and took a swig from the gasoline flask, then spat it out when he realized his mistake. The gas hit a lit cigarette, sparking the fire, police said. The man's name was not released.

Twenty Two

We have a little birch tree in our backyard. This morning when I was making lunch I looked out and counted twenty two Morning Doves (aka country pigeons) on this tree. You can see about twelve of them in this picture. I know this is really exciting news but I was fascinated.

The World Wide Web Advertising

How do you get the right people to visit your site? My company currently advertises on Yahoo's pay per click program. It has been rather successful, but we always want bigger and better results. I do not have the knowledge to deal with the world wide web. It is very confusing and mind numbing.

Google is worthless (in my mind). We do not have the budget to be successful on Google. They take the auction mindset to a whole new level. It is never ending.

I need to concentrate on getting our site to show up on the "free" listings. So far I only appear when I pay for it. I need a company like FirstRate working for me. They specialize in Search Engine Advertising and concentrate on Search Engine Optimisation, SEM, Email Marketing, Website Design, and so much more. Honestly I am getting excited typing about it. The possibilities are encouraging. I am almost afraid to find out how much is costs. But as the old saying goes "you need to spend money to make money"

After looking at this site for only a few moments I feel like I have learned so much. The different Web Advertising methods that are available make more sense. I am going to spend sometime today researching this company and hopefully they will fit into our budget. I don't think I have seen a site that has been quite as helpful and clear as this one.

I know that I have a fuse that is only millimeters long but....

the phone just rang and it was our neighbors son. He wanted to know if CAL could play. I told CAL that his room had to be cleaned first. CAL told him he would be over in about thirty to forty minutes. The friend said "oh no we need to play at your house because my Dad is working from home today"

Did anyone catch that. First he invited himself to our house and SECOND we run our business from home. We are not just working from home TODAY we work from home every day.

This child also has no respect for the phone. When I call over there her kids are screaming at the top of their lungs during the entire phone call. She will tell them "I am on the phone" but they do not stop. Several times I have told her "I cannot stand to listen to that call me when they are not screaming at you." I speak my mind.

When CAL hears the phone ring he knows that he needs to be completely silent. This child does not and will not. I have talked to him several times about it. He doesn't care.

Additional Income

For years I have been trying to find an additional income. When CAL was in second grade I worked full time at the school. It was difficult but the child I was with was wonderful and I so looked forward to going to work every day. I have not enjoyed working at the school since then. He spoiled it for me. The "income" was laughable. I could have stayed home and "created" one additional order per week and made the same money. My husband insists that is what caused our business to go south. Yes you read that right. It is all my fault. I was not "here" helping him. Mind you I was working full time at another job but I guess it doesn't count.

I have researched about 100 different ways to make money during the past four years. You name it real-estate, medical billing, stuffing envelopes, telemarketing, customer service, and many more. Just as long as I can do the job from home and still work at our electronics business. Nothing clicked and every thing appears to be to good to be true.

Every one always says "real-estate is where the money is". Unfortunately I don't have that much money to start. I cannot afford to try to "flip a house". Plus you have to know how to do some of that work yourself in order to make some real money. I wish I had that talent. I wish I was a carpenter. Now that would be a money making job.

Maybe I should be looking at the bigger picture. Stop trying to narrow it down so quickly. I should also be looking at both the physical and mental side of the situation.

Bill FitzPatrick.com is web site that I am looking into right now. The have several different courses to help you decide what is best for you. Some of the courses they offer are Master Small Business, Master Real Estate, Master Self-Defense, and Master Success are just a few. They courses help you in several different ways. Bill FitzPatrick, the founder of the non-profit American Success Institute will help you with the philosophy of self-improvement and service.

Human Billboard

We had to run some errands this morning. When we were coming out of the shopping plaza I noticed a very cold looking male holding a "going out of business" sign for Comp USA. I said to hubby that the other day when I was out running errands in a horrendous rain storm, that included lightning, that same person was there in addition to three other people standing at each outlet from the parking lot.

I think this is horrible and I will NEVER shop at a store that does this to people. How humiliating for these people to stand there holding a silly sign. I am sure they are so desperate for a job that they will take just about anything, and I am sure they are thankful for the paycheck.

I just think that if a company has so little respect for human feelings, they do not deserve to have my business.

Above and beyond

I have been very pleased with CAL's fifth grade teacher this year. When he was in fourth and I was still in good standing with the teachers I stated that I would be happy with anyone but this teacher. (it mostly had to do with a personality clash that she has with my friend teacher) I am very happy to say that I was wrong. She has been a pleasant surprise. I wish the contract issue was not going on because I could see her and I becoming friends. (like his teachers of past)

The contract issue has caused several obstacles. One of those is homework. I don't think he is getting enough. There are weeks when he has one math sheet a night and that is it. That worries me because next year I think he is going to be hit with a Mack truck when it comes to homework. Another issue is the topic of my last post.

On the positive side, CAL's teacher has been very quick to notice his weakness in writing. As she should. This weekend she suggested a challenge. They both have to watch the Patriots game and write a review. She wants details, and she thinks that the subject of football might bring out the writer in him. She has been suggesting this "project" for a couple months. I am very happy that she followed through with it and if I had to fill out an employee performance evaluation I would give her an "A" for going above and beyond.

This is going to be a difficult project for her because as she states she is an equal opportunity hater when it comes to sports.

Teachers

I know that a few of my readers are teachers so I have a problem that I would like to discuss.

When my son comes home with his weekly work there are usually several corrected papers. I ALWAYS go over these papers with him. I want him to see what he got wrong. I will ask him "did you go over this in class?" the answer is almost always "no". Together we will look at the work and I will ask him if he understands why his answer is wrong. Usually he will see his mistake and hopefully learn from that.

Now my problem: Sometimes he does not see his mistake. If it is math my husband can usually help but if it is a test about a story that was read in class or something similar we have no idea what the correct answer might be. Why don't teachers right the correct answer in when they mark it wrong? That way the child and his parents can see what they did wrong. The other question is why don't teachers go over these tests in class?

Yesterday he came home with a math test. He has a couple questions marked wrong. CAL thinks those answers are right and my husband doesn't see what could be wrong with them either. I hate to correct the teachers work and I know that some teachers get upset with parents if they "question" them.

A couple years ago I questioned a teacher about a problem and she wrote back to ask my son why it was wrong. Obviously I did that even before I sent the paper back. He didn't know and she basically refused to answer. It might of been something that she went over before the test started and was frustrated that he didn't listen. I understand that but........

What is your opinion. Should teachers go over the tests with the students so that they can see their errors? Should the teachers write the correct answer in when they mark it wrong so that parents can be an active part of their education? Should I relax and stop complaining?

Shopping

We HAVE to go food shopping this morning. We have been putting it off for two weeks now. That should give you an idea about how bad it is.

I hate food shopping, and I will hate it even more today. They are calling for a big snow storm tomorrow so people will be out in droves "stocking" up. These people make me laugh. They are calling for six to twelve inches of snow and they are stocking up for Y2K.

We also have to get bird seed, or in our case squirrel food. I love my squirrels and they are currently eating off the ground. "Oh the horror". About the only thing we did not have to shop for today is truck accessories. Good thing I don't want to be gone long.

OK I must go. I am really tired of being on the computer. I worked on the yearbook from 4:30 until 10:00 last night.

The police will catch the heat for this one.

You might remember me blogging about an accident in Boston several months ago. I blamed the Police and some of my readers really gave me a tongue lashing. There has not been a single word regarding that accident since then.

Now there is another. This time I have flipped sides. See, I look at each case individually and form an opinion.

In this case a 15 year old stole her parents car in the middle of the night. She was riding without headlights (classic mistake for a 15 year old) and speeding. The police attempted to stop her. She sped away, crashed, and was killed.

Now guess who they are trying to blame. You guessed it right.... The police. Why? Because the 15 year old was driving fast and that caused the police to drive faster in an attempt to stop her. Apparently there was a witness (at 3 am walking her dog) and she said the police car was driving "very fast". Of course he was, he was trying to pull over a speeding vehicle that didn't have their lights on. Now if the police would not have caught up to this speeder and she hit that little old lady walking her dog, the outrage in reverse would have been plastered all over the morning news.

In some cases the police are damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

The thing that caught my attention the most regarding this story. Wareham High School Principal Pat Clark said "She was one of those kids who wasn't afraid to speak up when there was an issue, and that's something that we'll miss," That was the best he could come up with. I took this statement to mean that she was a pain in the backside girly teenager that loved to cause problems.

That being said --- That does not mean she deserved to die at the young age of 15 and I feel very sorry for her parents. I don't think there could be anything worse than burying a child. I hope and pray that I never have to find out.

Head Injuries

I guess I was quite the daredevil as a child and I remember several head injuries. Only one of those required medical treatment but I had several. Actually my parents never took any of us kids to the doctor so maybe more of them would have required treatment they just didn't take us.

When I was about 3 or 4 I fell down a flight of stairs at a local store in Corning. I remember spending a few days in the hospital. I think my mom was forced to hospitalize me then.

Another time I was playing on this truck rack that my dad had in the driveway. The thing was huge and I was using it as a jungle jim. It weighed several hundred pounds. It feel over and I was pinned underneath. I remember my mom trying to keep me awake for several hours afterward and I know the hospital was mentioned several times.

For those of you who know me, I know you are just sitting there shaking your head and saying to yourself "it all makes sense now".

I love the Patriots

but I am sorry, I do not think Tom Brady is a good looking guy. I don't care for the dimple in the chin look. It doesn't look good on Michael Jackson and it doesn't look good on Tom Brady. Granted one is by choice and the other is by God so you really cannot compare them. The Patriots are having a great year but I am very worried about these playoffs. Every team has an off game and I hope they can play a few more games before they have their off game. I will be watching the game on Friday at 8 so don't even think about disturbing me during that time. This includes my wonderful husband if you are reading this. If you and CAL do not think you can behave you will have to leave and go to a movie or something.

Technology and MY Family

just do not mix. EVERY TIME we purchase something new we have trouble. I don't think we have every purchased a computer that has worked 100% out of the box. We are just unluckly when it comes to technology.

We bought a HDTV about 18 months ago. We could not get our Bose to work with the new TV. So we had to purchase a new DVD player. The problems seem to be never ending. The other day the TV started acting funny. There was a delay, so everything was jumpy. I thought "great what is wrong now." It was that way for a few days. I thank goodness it ended up being the HD feed through the cable company.

I recently saw an ad for HDMI. I had no idea what it was but I knew that it was something that we were going to need. I was correct.

My blogging might suffer

I will be helping with the school yearbook this year. Because of the teacher contracts (or lack thereof) the teacher that worked with me last year will not be helping much this year.

That means that I am going to be doing most of the computer work myself. It is a HUGE project and I am very glad that I will have "helpers" doing the leg work (most of the things I did last year.)

Any who.... I am going to be very busy and I am sure my blogging will suffer. Please don't abandon me. I have a big deadline on Feb 11 and then April 14 and then I will be done.

I need new glasses and contacts.

I have needed new glasses for several years now. I bought a new pair and then lost them so I had to start wearing my old ones again. My glasses are about eight years old. They are so worn and out of shape I am lucky that I don't have a headache 24/7. I normally wear contacts but ran out so I went back to my old stand by.

I just don't have the extra funds at the moment to spend on eye wear. I found aGreat Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com they have a huge selection of frames, single vision lens, sunsensor lens, tinted sunglass lens, bifocal lens and more. They sell direct saving their customers money.

I am hoping that I can find something that I like for the right price. I am very excited. I have to go now.... I might be getting new glasses.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

It looks like we might get more snow on Sunday night. I hope we get a couple of feet. It is ugly outside. The past few days have been in the 60's and most of the snow is melted. It is just ugly when all the road salt is showing and there is not a spring feel.

I am not ready for winter to be over yet. Call me crazy.... I don't now why we love the winter, we don't ski, skate, or any other winter activity. I think I just enjoy the rest and relaxation that winter brings.

Making new friends is hard

especially when you are 40+. I have a friend that moved from NH to NE last year. We were not exceptionally close but we did talk and email a few times a month. This is the same friend that I climbed Mt. Monadnock with a couple years ago. We would ride bikes on the 24 mile path that is near our town. I have spoken to her more now that she has moved than before. Why? She is having a hard time making new friends. Here in NH she was a VERY popular person. She never had to worry about doing things "alone". She had more friends than I would ever want.

Before she left for NE she had a going away party. She had 25 ladies show up for an afternoon of fajitas and margaritas. When she was on the phone with me she was very upset and said that she would never have that many friends again.

I feel so bad for her now. She thinks it is because her kids are in middle school and you make your friends through your children in elementary school. I think she might be right. She was the president of our PTO and that is how I met her.

I have thought about recommending a Free social dating network for singles and friends. I think that she could benefit from this. She has also been so popular for so many years that she may have forgotten "how" to make friends. I took a look at the site and it was very interesting. It is not just a "dating" site. The nicest thing.... it's FREE

Date-o-Mat is a new world wide social dating site. They have both a traditional service along with a social networking feature that allows you to find your soul mate and your best friend in one location. Again this site is 100% free for everyone.

Wine Tasting Party

I went to my first wine tasting party last night. We had a pretty good time. I have come to a couple conclusions. One, I basically do not like wine. I don't like the alcohol burn as it goes down your throat. Two, I do enjoy dessert wines. Three, after sampling six different wines I didn't mind the alcohol burn. Heck I didn't even notice it by the end of the evening.

As I said, we sampled six different wines. Three red and three white. I think I prefer white over red. The one red had a hint of chocolate and I didn't care for it at all. The other red tasted like pepper. Oddly enough I liked that better. But again I will stress that by the end of the night I was finishing off the bottles and it didn't matter, chocolate, pepper, red, or white. I didn't even notice a difference. I was trying to decide which red I didn't like at all and I could not figure it out. It was quite funny. When I first tasted it I was adamant about the fact that I didn't like it. Later someone asked me which one I didn't like and I couldn't tell them. I TRIED believe me I tried.

This was my first buzz in 18 years. My neighbor/friend was shocked at how much I had to drink and was not a laughing fool like her. I was the only party goer that continued to drink after the tasting was over. Hey I guess I am just a hick.

Upon arriving home I tried to talk to my husband. I soon realized that I was not making any sense so I just stopped talking in the middle of my story and pretended to fall asleep. I knew he would be upset because he is so afraid that I will turn into an alcoholic.

I drank a lot when I was in college and basically I am a terrible drunk. I get mean. I know he is very afraid of that. When he met me I was as close as you can come to being an alcoholic without being one. Did that make sense?

Difficult Decision

A couple of years ago I had to come to grips with the fact that my husband and I would not have another child.

In 1994 we suffered a miscarriage. CAL was born in 1996. He was my miracle baby, that is a topic for a different post. We have been trying to have another since then. We had several obstacles in our way.

I am positive that I suffered from post pardum (or is it partum) depression for YEARS. I had absolutely no "female desires". The only time that I wanted to ying yang was when I thought it was a good time to get pregnant. WOW what a turn on that was. I would actually become VERY angry if my hubby would so much as touch me. That lasted for about five to six years.

The next obstacle was my husbands age. He is several years older and was very worried about having another child.

The nail in the coffin however, was when my husband's son had a baby. We have a weird relationship/family but that would have put us over the edge.

In the past couple of years it has been hard coming to grips with the facts. I will never have to shop for maternity clothes. I will never have the joy of being pregnant again, and about 10,000 other emotions. I start to feel sorry for myself and then I think about those that cannot and/or will not ever have a baby.

I am one lucky lady. I have a wonderful son and he is my pride and joy.

Beware of Passengers Without Pants on the T in Boston

Yes that is the headline on my homepage. Below is the article, I have highlighted the question that I would like answered.

They also request that you don't wear a thong or anything else that might offend passengers.

So they are saying that a thong might offend passengers? I would think that their wing wang hanging out would offend me. A plea to all of those people who might participate, if the choice is thong or no thong..... Go with the Thong.


BOSTON (WBZ) ― If you're on the Red Line Saturday afternoon, you might see something unusual on the train - hundreds of passengers without pants.

The New York-based group Improv Everywhere is encouraging people to sign up for the stunt in Boston and nine other cities January 12.

The Boston event kicks off at 3 p.m. at the Alewife station on the T.

The group says there are only two requirements for participation. You must be willing to take your pants off on a subway and be able to keep a straight face while doing it.

They also request that you don't wear a thong or anything else that might offend passengers.

More than 300 people have reportedly signed up for the event, which is being called "No Pants 2K8."

Adam Sablich, the Boston-area organizer, told the Patriot Ledger he expects a "mixed reaction" from passengers who aren't in on the joke.

"I think they'll have a good sense of humor," he told the paper. "College is out; so there will be less students around. But overall I think it'll go well."

If I had a nickel for every cable.....

I would be rich.

I have been trying to clean out our attic. It is a huge job. We have so much business “junk” in addition to our own personal items that our attic is filled to the roof. I have been trying to sell the “unwanted” items on Craig’s List. I have been pretty successful.

One of the items that we have three huge boxes of is cables. We have never thrown a cable out in our entire 18 years of marriage. We have cables from computers, printers, and other electronic items that we have not owned in 17 years. I wonder if there is an “after market” for cables.

My Points

I signed up for My Points back around the holidays. If you have not heard of them yet, you earn points for reading emails, doing surveys, and responding to their "advertisers" offers.

Now My Points is not for everyone. You will get a ton of junk mail but I just set up a special email just for them. I hate the surveys. I find that I will spend 10 minutes doing a survey only to be told on question 25 that I do not qualify and therefore do not get paid.

You can also earn points when you place online orders with stores like Target, Barnes and Noble, Netflix, Old Navy, and more. Most of the time it is 2 points for every dollar you spend. This adds up quickly.

There were more opportunities to earn points around Christmas. They have slowed down dramatically but I personally think it is still worth my time.

I do enjoy their paid emails. A few clicks and I earn 5 to 10 points. You cash your points in for gift cards. Some of their sponsors are Panera's, Barnes and Noble, JC Penney, and more. I have already earned a $10 gift card but I think I will save that and build up more points.

As I said before, you should set up a special email account just for My Points. If you interested please let me know because I do get bonus points for referrals.

Tornado

My husband's desk is a disaster area. Several times I have thought about filing for "disaster relief".

The funny thing is he knows that if he leaves me alone for more than an hour, when he returns that desk will be as good as new. Then of course, he cannot find anything for weeks. It is difficult to find things that are in their proper place.

A couple months ago when he traveled to TN for a few days he begged me not to touch his desk. I complied.

Now if he had a modern desk I would insist that he keep it clean. They are so professional looking.

Around the bloggin world

Once again I have to send you to Pamibe. She blogged about a crack-head and is now paying the price. Will she ever learn her lesson? You don't criticize crack-heads who are turning tricks with old men. I have become quite obsessed with this entire exchange. I know I say this every week but.... This site is one of my favorites and I highly recommend that you visit and stay awhile.

Vitamin Sea got my feathers ruffled with some fightin' words regarding my beloved Patriots, and if her father was not having medical issues (which could probably could use your prayers) I would put on the boxing gloves and show her what Patriot fans are all about. Now I hope I didn't jinx myself. I hope they come home with number four. Oh and I hope that her Dad is OK. He sounds like quite the fighter. Maybe I better keep my boxing gloves in the drawer, he might have passed some of those genes on to her.

Reflections by Kris has been concentrating on giving those nasty Democrats their verbal lashing. She hits the nail on the head.

Say No to Crack shares my love of Knuckleheads in the News!

I prayed that Technicalities was correct about the Hillary "crying/acting" incident but.... I think it helped her not hurt her. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN. I think the only thing that will stop Hillary now is a stake and some garlic.

OK did I miss anything exciting. If so let me know about it in my comments.

Apparently Hillary made quite a scene

I don't know all the facts and the local Democratic RAG didn't report anything about it but...... Hillary decided to make a stop at the local middle school during the election yesterday. Her entourage pulled up into the bus loop and blocked the school buses that were trying to unload the kids. Several bus loads full of kids were stuck on the buses for quite some time. They would not allow them off. Then the parents that were trying to drop their kids off to school were not allowed to do so. It was a HUGE mess and there were some very angry parents. Her selfishness caused several parents to be late for work and delayed the start of the school day for about 2,000 students.

But hey it is all about Hillary right? I have 110,000+ idiots in NH that think so.

It's official

I am surrounded by idiots.

























At least 216,047 idiots that is. My guy didn't do that well but he didn't campaign in NH either. According to this chart there are only 2,849 intelligent people in the state of NH and apparently I am not living with one of them.

Some People

Maybe some people should spend less time criticizing my blog and more time posting on theirs. Haaa take that.

Special Note to that person: I will not name you and the only way that people will know who you are is if you comment. I highly recommend that you do not comment. I have some pretty loyal readers who might send you hate mail.

Are you as tired of the drug commercials as I am?

Drug companies advertising their latest and greatest drugs on TV has gotten totally out of hand. The companies "encourage" people to see their doctor regarding the slightest ache or pain. I am sure some of these "problems" are real, but I think this type of advertising is causing a huge burden on our medical system.

Now you have men begging their doctors for the latest and greatest ED treatment. You have people complaining because they have this "new condition" RLS. RLS is also known as too much caffeine intake.

As patients we should not be asking our doctor for drug XYZ, the doctors should be telling us what is the best drug. Some will say that we are a more informed consumer. I don't see this as being the case at all. Prescription drugs should not be a consumer product.

Now for the worst part. Ever since we had the "talk" with our eleven year old, we cannot watch TV without being asked every commercial "what is herpes, what is ED, what is this, what is that. Honestly I just want to sit down and watch TV without the questions.

On the up side, however, I do love to hear the side effects of some of these. Case and point. There is a drug for toenail fungus. The drug companies convince you that your toenails are ugly and a HUGE embarrassment, they want you to cure it with this internal medicine. Then they proceed to tell you the side effects. Liver damage, heart defects, and even death have been reported. HELLO, are you willing to risk death to have pretty toenails? These people/relatives will be the first to stand in line for a lawsuit when they experience one of these side effects.

What are you thoughts? Do you like this type of advertising? Does it effect your TV watching time with your children?

Uno's Chicago Grill

Several months ago we were given a gift card to Uno's. We have one very close but didn't really visit all that often.

We were very thankful for the card and decided to use it before Christmas. It was excellent. I am a creature of habit and usually order chicken. If I am going to spend $20 on a meal I want to make sure that I like what I am eating. The hubby and I both ordered the baked stuffed chicken. CAL ordered shrimp (i thought I blogged about this before but cannot find it). The three of us enjoyed the meal so much we agreed that we would be back soon.

Now I am (recently) a coupon person. I love coupons. My problem is that I NEVER remember to use the stupid things.

A few days ago we decided that we wanted to go to Uno's or Olive Garden. We couldn't decide which, so I suggestion that we go to the restaurant that we had a coupon for. I logged on both web sites and found a coupon on Uno's. Actually what I found on Uno's was better than a coupon. They have something called an Insider's Club. When you sign up you receive a coupon for a free appetizer. Of course I signed up and immediately printed my coupon. Then...... something came up and we couldn't go......

Yesterday I received an email from the Insider's club and it was for $5.00 of my next order of $15 or more.

yea.... I love coupons. Now we just have force ourselves to get out of the house and not forget to take the coupon.

In an attempt to get more traffic

I have installed BlogRush on my site. It is in the side bar and I am hoping that my traffic will increase. So far I have not noticed a difference. I do have to make sure that my site is listed. I was having some trouble with my RSS Feed so hopefully I have that solved.

I think the pressure is starting to get to her.

Clinton Gets Emotional During Campaign Stop

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) ― Hillary Rodham Clinton's eyes welled up and her voice broke repeatedly Monday as she talked with voters in a restaurant about her campaign for the presidency.

I think the pressure might be getting to good ole' Hill. We can hope and pray can't we? I hope it is pressure and not just a good acting job. We all know what a con job this lady (i use that term very loosely) can pull over on us.

I have thought about switching to a Democrat just to vote against Hilliary and then switching back for the Presidential election.

I hope you are not blinking today

There is some money to be made a PPP if you are quick. I guess I am not that quick, by the time I type in the "code" (that do you call that thingy again) they are gone. There were several that I really would have enjoyed doing but, I don't think I did too bad. NO FINANCIAL postings YEA!!!! Now I just need to keep up with my other non-paid posts. The hubby is becoming grumpy about the blogging again. He goes through the stages. When he gets like this it becomes very difficult to blog. He seems to be lurking.

Employees

In our 18 years in business we have had only four employees. What a pain in the backside. Two of the four were OK but after a few months they didn't seem to be worth their paycheck. The other two turned out to be total wack jobs. Oh My Gosh the one had a 4.0 average in college but she was as weird as they come.

One thing that upsets me about employees is the fact that you cannot assume anything. I run into this a lot with the school store. BUT you have to remember these kids are fifth graders. I should start blogging more about the school store. The material these kids provide is endless.

Case and point. Last month I had trouble with two of the three kids in regards to giving change. If the total was $3.00 and the person paid with a $10, they would give them 7 ones. If the change was 70 cents they would give them 7 dimes. This happened several times during the month. These are some of the little things that you would NOT think you would have to tell the kids. Each month the kids come up with new and exciting things.

This month one of my kids has done something that no one has done in the four years that I have run the store. Honestly though, I find myself saying that every month. Anyway, we have a snack cart and the kids get their $.50 snacks and then pay the person behind the cart if that is the ONLY thing they are buying. I have a bowl behind the cart that holds the change and money that they have collected. This child decided today that it was going to be self serve. He would hold the bowl and request that they put their money in and take their change when necessary. You have to remember that most of these kids are first and second graders and don't even know what their change would be. I asked him several times to please stop this and take the money from the customer and give them their change. He kept doing it. Finally I had to become very firm. He stated that he was nervous and didn't know why he was doing it.

Again I will state that it amazes me, the things that you have to tell people/kids. Things that you take for granted, like when giving change don't give it all in ones.

I just thank goodness that I don't have adult employees. It is easy to say to a kid "hey what are you doing, you need to think" how do you say that to an adult. One way that I suppose you could do that without causing bad feelings, is through animated software that is designed to motivate, train and communicate with your employees through short cartoons. I should look into this for my school store kids. I really should train them better but how much training can you do with only 20 minutes a day. Maybe I should set up a call center training course and let them watch some of these cartoons. That way we can have fun while, I am telling them the obvious, and they don't get offended.

Around the bloggin world

I have a lot to tell you about in the bloggin world but I am very busy and will have to fill you in later. Let's just say that Pamibe has some very interesting communications going with a physcho mom. WB has some beautiful pictures, At My Witz End might have finally blessed us with a posting.

Jeep

Back in 2006 (when business was OK) we wanted to get rid of a Pontiac Montana Van that we had bought in 2004. We hated it. It was suppose to be an upgrade. We had owned a Montana before and loved it so we thought, "hey let's get the newer model". BAD CHOICE.

We had tried in 2005, to trade the van in. It was impossible. That stupid thing had gone down in value so much. We owed more than double the blue book value, in just a short year. We were stuck.

In 2006 we went to a Jeep dealer. We had received notice in the mail about the new Jeep Wrangler with a more powerful engine. We loved our Wrangler but the thought of something a little more powerful was tempting. We knew that as long as they had the features we wanted (1/2 doors, rag top, and standard) we would purchase the Jeep on the spot. We did.

While at the dealership waiting for our Wrangler, the salesman gave us a Jeep Cherokee to drive to the mall (because they were running behind) OM Gosh we fell in love with it.

After falling in love with the Cherokee we wanted out of the Montana and didn't really care what it cost. We were very lucky. We were able to lease the Cherokee and our payments didn't increase "much". SOLD. I could not sign the papers fast enough. The Cherokee had 4,000+ miles on it. Our salesman was using it as his car. The thing was loaded and there is no way we would have been able to afford the car had it not been a used car.

It was kinda embarrassing. We go to purchase a new "toy" car and come home with two new cars.

The lease on the Cherokee will end next year. I am starting to panic already. There is no way in heck we are going to be able to afford to purchase or lease the Cherokee again. We will either have to start looking at Used Cars, or go down to a simple "car". I have never purchased a used car for my primary car before.

Hopefully our life will be back to normal by 2009 and we will get the car of our choice.

If we have to get a used car, I am thankful for the web sites that take the guess work out of the transaction. BuyYourCar.Co.UK is one of those sites. They offer so many features to help you with your decision. They offer some great advise so that you are less likely to be scammed.