New wood stove

The price of corn has really sky rocketed this year and that is how we have been heating our home. We do have propane, but the price of that has gone up also so we use a little tank for our stove. We did not know how we were going to heat without going totally broke. Ken had put in a nice wood burner outside of his home a couple of years ago, inside he had a cute little wood stove that was in there originally. He took out the wood stove in October since it took up most of his living room and gave it to us. We put it up just in time because the snow has really been coming down since Halloween... and it doesn't seem to have an end!

I had asked Chuck to put up our Christmas tree this year because we did not have it up last year. He said that he threw it away and he can't find our decorations. The next day I went to church and was telling Ken how we could not put up our tree again this year. A lady at my church was looking for someone to take her extra Christmas decorations, which includes a tree! Brenden was out of school the other day... a snow day. So he came over and decorated the tree. It looks really good for now, I can't seem to get Lilly to stop taking off and chewing up the tree decor!

My two beautiful dogs

Here are a couple of pictures of the dogs taken sometime last week. I wanted to scan that picture that Maggie took of our dogs in June, but the printer will not turn on... I think it needs a new power cord.

The weekend of my hospital stay

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Mine was alright, had dinner at Chuck's dad and Maggie's. They were supposed to have the big Taylor family Thanksgiving get-together but most of the people celebrated with their other family and not many people were there. I really do not like this time of year myself. Christmas and Thanksgiving are the big family holiday's and it makes me want to be with them. I get really homesick at this time!

There is a lot I did not remember from my hospital stay, like when exactly something happened. They kept me so doped up I slept most of the time. I do remember that on Saturday, June 28, I was visited by Ken and his family (that includes Kelly and all four of their kids). They gave me a rose bush... with very pretty pinkish red roses on it... and a helium get well soon balloon. Now the only question is if I can regrow the plant... I do not have much of a green thumb!

Sunday morning I had many visitors, like my pastor and his wife and Chuck's aunt and uncle. His aunt and uncle brought me a basket full of silk flowers, now those I can grow... LOL! Then I went to sleep and awoke to the best surprise ever! My parents :)!! I hadn't seen them since that previous July and I was really starting to get homesick. They flew in on Saturday and were flying out that following Saturday. So they were going to be here for the fourth of July.

They had gone back to their hotel later that afternoon and Maggie had came. They all had just missed each other again. I have been trying since last summer to get them to meet, but a few days before my parents were scheduled to arrive for a visit Maggie and the dad had gone to New York to visit Maggie's family. Anyways, Maggie wanted to check to see how I was doing. She told me that the dad was on call that weekend so they planned on stopping by Monday evening. She had brought me a picture that she took of our puppies since she was watching them while I was gone. She also gave me a butterfly that Carrie had made for me, she told Maggie that she was making a pink one because I like the color pink!

Sunday school sayings

STORY OF ELIJAH
The Sunday school teacher was carefully explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet and the false prophets of Baal. She explained how Elijah built the altar, put wood upon it, cut a steer in pieces, and laid it upon the altar. And then, Elijah commanded the people of God to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the altar. He had them do this four times
"Now, asked the teacher, "Can anyone in the class tell me why the Lord would have Elijah pour water over the steer on the altar?"
A little girl in the back of the room started waving her hand, "I know! I know!" she said, "To make the gravy!"

LOT'S WIFE
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted,
"My Mummy looked back once, while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"

GOOD SAMARITAN
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama.
Then, she asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?"
A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."

DID NOAH FISH?
A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?"
"No," replied David. "How could he, with just two worms?"

HIGHER POWER
A Sunday school teacher said to her children, " We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?"
One child blurted out, "Aces!"

MOSES AND THE RED SEA
Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school.
"Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved." "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked.
"Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible; Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Rick was excited about the task -- but, he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly,
"The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know."

Church Smiles
There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country..
"Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk.
"Only the Ten Commandments," answered the lady.
While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign ... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust.
Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about.
The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt."
Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about.
He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."

Give me a sense of humor, Lord, The grace to see a joke, To get some humor out of life, And pass it on to other folk.

My hospital stay part B -- my first visitor

*I had voted for the very first time Tuesday, and now am so happy that the person I voted for had won! Yay, no more Bush!!*

Because I was so dehydrated and was really wanting something to drink, they had given Chuck some ice chips and sponges that I could suck on for water. I was doing just fine with this special diet, I wasn't getting sick or anything. A couple of hours later a male nurse came up to me and asked how I was doing. I told him how thirsty I was and that my lips were extremely dry! He disappeared for a few minutes and came back and put something in my IV. He then told me that he wasn't supposed to give me anything but he had some more ice chips to give me. He gave me one spoonful of ice and I threw it up. He took the ice away and had a bunch of different other nurses come in to help me clean up.

I was also having trouble with my heart/pulse rate beating too fast during this time (which was causing a lot of confusion because my blood pressure was extremely low and all of the medicine they could find me to lower my heart rate would also lower my blood pressure). They had found some medicine to lower my heart rate wich also causes nausea, but the nurse didn't put two and two together and instead took away the ice chips saying that is what made me throw up. So here I am thirsty as h*ll and I couldn't have any water. The one thing I really didn't understand was that for the past several hours Chuck had been giving me ice and I hadn't gotten sick! A couple of hours later a female nurse came in and put some more medicine in my IV. A few minutes later I started having dry heaves, they finally looked into it and found out that it also causes nausea so they gave me some water and never gave me that medicine again.

While I was in the ER Chuck had called his family and mine to tell them what had happened and where I was. They then moved me to a room in the intensive care. The room was very familiar and I asked Chuck if this was the same room his mother was in after her suicide attempt. He had left to talk to the doctor and call his brother. The doctor didn't know for sure what was wrong they thought maybe I had had a stroke at first but I was moving around, so they just figure I had some sort of virus... I keep telling Chuck that I must have had West Nile! Chuck had come back and told me that his mom was on her way up. I was not really thrilled over this news, but hey what could I do? I do not know how she knew I was in the hospital, I think Ken had told his mawmaw (Sharon's mom) and she in turn called Sharon.

The visit went just fine. She had come with a friend of hers... I didn't know nor have I ever seen this woman before... but her friend spent most of the visit in her vehicle. She also thought the room was the same room that she was in. Chuck had told both of us that she was in the room next door, right across from the nurses station and my room was across from the door. Sharon left to go home after visiting for 30 minutes. I am so glad that she didn't say something stupid and start an argument.

Day one of my hospital visit -- part A

I felt fine all day on Thursday, the 28th of June. Then Chuck made us pizza for dinner and then minutes later I threw it up. I was throwing up so much that I was starting to vomit up nothing but stomach acid! Friday morning I was extremely dehydrated and when Chuck got me some water I threw that up too! That is when we checked my blood sugar and it was really high and we decided to bring me to the ER.

My husband and I live in a really small town and there is no hospital around here. The hospital is in the next town over, more than 13 miles away. Since my sugar was super high, I was really tired and kept nodding off (whenever your sugar is high sleep is the best way to lower it) but Chuck wouldn't let me sleep. It took me a while but now I understand the reason why. He was afraid that if I fell asleep he may not be able to wake me back up... as has happened before. Man, that drive seemed to have taken forever! I kept telling him to drive faster because I wanted to go to sleep.

Once I arrived they put me in a bed right away. The bed was one of those that takes your weight at the same time and I thought that was cool because I had had no way to weigh myself before. Chuck would weigh himself and then would hold me and figure out my weight that way. We did it that way sometime in January and we figured that I was 119lbs. and since then I am sure that I have put on some more weight. After the doctors had asked me some questions they looked at my weight and said aloud "Wow, only 105"! Boy, talk about losing tons of weight!! Just takes throwing up everything all night long. They did ask me when I had my last period and I honestly told them that I hadn't had one since early May, so when they took some blood they also did a pregnancy test. It was negative of course.

I am back... miss me?

It has been a really long time since I have written a blog. But I am back now, so quit worrying about me...:) I was in the hospital from the end of June until the beginning of July. It was only for five days, but it feels like an eternity! I also lost my voice and it had taken almost 3 months to get it back a little bit and now I can start using my voice program again. Leaves you wondering, what good is a voice program if you don't have a voice?

Why did you go to the hospital and how did you lose your voice, you ask ? I had started throwing up at around seven o'clock Thursday night and I just kept getting sick, like every 30 minutes, until seven o'clock Friday morning. I could not hold anything down! Chuck checked my blood sugar and it was 449! Really really high, practically comatose level. So we decided that I should go to the hospital. A couple of days later is when I lost my voice and we all figured it was because I threw up so much that it had irritated my throat.

Since my voice isn't fully back yet (it is 90% better), I will have to take my time when I write about my hospital visit. This little post took me since nine o'clock this morning and my voice is starting to get hoarse. I do want to let you know who came to visit me!

My weekend fun

This post is about my boating fun I had on Saturday. I would have written this sooner but on Sunday I was gone, Monday I didn't feel too good and Tuesday the Internet was down all day. A couple of weeks ago Ken had bought a used boat (a speed boat). He mainly was thinking of fixing it up to sell it for more money. He has taken the kids out a couple of weekends now and I have been asking when Chuck and I could go. It only seats 6 people (which is how many people are in Ken's family) so Chuck and I could only go every other weekend... Ken's two kids go to their moms and Kelly's two go to their dads -- which happens to be married to Ken's kids mom! This past Saturday Ken had asked if Chuck and I wanted to go boating. He picked us up at 11 o'clock in the morning and drove about 15 to 20 minutes away to a lake called Little Long Lake. Ken had also brought along an inflatable tube so he and Chuck could go tubing. Chuck went first... after Ken had informed us that neither of the kids would try it until after their uncle Chuckie did it. He had fun and was only flipped out twice! Then Ken went but he stayed on. Then everyone tried talking Kelly into going but she didn't want to. Not really expecting to be able to go nor even really interested in going, I said "I'll go". So I went and had fun! I didn't flip although it sometimes felt as though I was going to go... LOL! Chuck was telling me Ken had it up to 25 mph! After I went Kelly finally decided she would go. We all had fun, hopefully we can go again soon! Ken said he may trade in his boat and get a bigger one so all of us can go.

Our new pride and joy

Boy, I haven't been on here in a while. I am sorry for this. I do plan to write a short update on what's been going on today and let everyone know that I am still here. I have been spending a lot of my time on Facebook lately and went camping on Memorial weekend. Had lots of fun and cannot wait to go back again! We stayed in that campground with the Little House on the Prairie cabins only this time we slept in the big, extendable camper with my father-in-law and his wife. Last Saturday (June 7) Chuck and I went grocery shopping, but instead of groceries we ended up with a new dog. I know I know, we were stupid and naïve to get and another one when the one we have isn't quite a-year-old yet (her first birthday is July 1). But she is so dang cute! On our way home Chuck said that we have spent all of our grocery money for the next two weeks on the new puppy. So I told him that we could just throw her on the barbecue and eat her for dinner tonight because she is just so cute I could eat her! LOL!! Anyways, she is an 8 week old Cocker Spaniel (a purebred) puppy that even came with AKC registration papers for us to fill out if we want. Her name is Lilly and her and Gracie gets along wonderfully! Gracie has turned out to be such a great big sister... she has grown-up now to be about knee-high and is even taller then all of her brothers and sisters from the same litter! We are not sure if we want to breed her or have her fixed. We know Ken and Kelly would love to one. But I do not know if I want to go through all of the hassle that comes with a bunch of puppies. Here are a couple of pictures that we have taken so far (they were taken June 10).

In these next two pictures Gracie and Lilly are playing. The last one is of her napping on Chuck's slipper. She actually pitches a fit whenever she cannot find them!

Sunday School Humor

STORY OF ELIJAH
The Sunday school teacher was carefully explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet and the false prophets of Baal. She explained how Elijah built the altar, put wood upon it, cut a steer in pieces, and laid it upon the altar. And then, Elijah commanded the people of God to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the altar. He had them do this four times "Now, asked the teacher, "Can anyone in the class tell me why the Lord would have Elijah pour water over the steer on the altar?" A little girl in the back of the room started waving her hand, "I know! I know!" she said, "To make the gravy!"

LOT'S WIFE
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, "My Mummy looked back once, while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"

GOOD SAMARITAN
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama. Then, she asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?" A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."

DID NOAH FISH?
A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?" "No," replied David. "How could he, with just two worms?"

HIGHER POWER
A Sunday school teacher said to her children, " We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?" One child blurted out, "Aces!"

MOSES AND THE RED SEA
Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved." "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never believe it!"

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible; Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Rick was excited about the task -- but, he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know."

Church Smiles
There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country.. "Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk. "Only the Ten Commandments," answered the lady.
While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign ... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust. Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt." Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."

Give me a sense of humor, Lord, The grace to see a joke, To get some humor out of life, And pass it on to other folk.

The continuation...

*I'm sorry that it took so long for me to write the continuation of what happened with my mother-in-law. The Internet has been working fine for the past couple of weeks (my husband found out that it was his computer that was messing with the router which in turn was screwing up the modem so he spent a weekend working on it), but my friend and my brother had sent me some games on Facebook a while ago and I have become totally addicted to these games! So the fault lies on me this time.*

Then on Sunday I had gone to church and Kelly told me that all the letter was basically asking for was the boys' forgiveness. She could have a least talked to the boys in person instead of writing them letters. Chuck already forgave her a long time ago, he just hasn't had the opportunity to tell her yet. When Church got out and as we were piling into the van Carrie asked her dad when their mamaw would be coming over. He had told her about 12:30. When I got home Chuck had told me that his mom and Joanne had stopped in while I was at church. She didn't know that Bebe had died about a year ago and when Chuck had told her he said she looked as though she were about to cry. I found this weird because I know for a fact that I had sent an e-mail to Joanne and Bill a few days after it had happened. She was disappointed because I wasn't there (I just started going back to church about a year ago) and she did not like Gracie at all, but she did like all of the work that we have done to the inside of our house (she loved the carpet and our new accessible toilet with the bars that we bought). I saw the letter that she had wrote to Chuck lying on my desk and I was getting ready to open it, because I was dying to know what she had written. But Chuck had seen me and took the letter from my hands and threw it behind my monitor (where I can't reach). I told him I basically know what it is about but I want to read it anyway, and Chuck told me that his brother read his and he said that it was no big deal. That she was leaving again... but where? We do not know.

Then we sat down to watch a movie when there was a knock on the door. Chuck had opened the door and Sharon and Joanne had walked in. They had said that they had wanted to come back and at least say goodbye to me. She looks a lot different now, healthier, thinner and even tanner. She says that she works out every day by lifting weights and doing stretches... now why didn't she do this while she was married to the dad? She mainly stopped in earlier to see Bebe and was very disappointed to learn that she had died, as she was saying this Joanne just stood there like a bump on a log and acted surprised when Chuck and I had explained what all had happened to Bebe. She also told us that she had paid off that entire bill for the credit card machine and doesn't understand why we still receive phone calls from the debt collection agency, she figures that Carol must still be using the credit card that they were given and not paying them back. That does seem very possible, so I definitely believe her on this one because I can see Carol doing this.

She had stayed talking with us for quite some time it was nice to be able to see her and talk with her instead of hearing and relying only on what other people have said about her. She was saying that she wanted to see everyone one last time because she was getting ready to leave and will never see anyone again. It took quite a while and then we finally got it out of her where she was going. She is going to Bangladesh because her husband is losing his job and doesn't know what he will do (so she is going over there to make it harder on him because he will need to feed her also because she cannot possibly help out by working until she at least understands the language), also because Rassell's parents are pushing him to marry someone over there since he cannot be with Sharon. So Sharon wants to go over there so they stop trying to make him be with someone else. We all kept saying that she can't keep doing this to us, entering our lives again and then boom saying goodbye and leaving again. That is not fair to us because we are (Chuck and I) willing to accept Rassell into our lives, I kept telling her that she could at least come to visit both her and Rassell or else they could send us a letter or even e-mail us. After saying this she nodded her head and then left. So I do not know if she got what we were trying to say or if that was the last time that we would see her. Although, she did say to Chuck right before getting into her van "see you later". Leaves you wondering?!

She's back... again

I haven't been able to update my readers on what happened last Sunday. The snow and is all gone now and I have been spending a lot of my afternoons outside in the warmer weather. My friend sent me some information on different websites that offer free surveys the other day, so I have been spending a lot of my mornings looking at these sites. I was interested in filling out surveys to be paid, Chuck is not making as much now that he is working only 40 hours a week and we desperately need some extra income. But I was not willing to pay a fee just to join and become a member of a certain site. I found some websites that offered some good sounding, legit surveys, but since they are free websites they have no money to pay you and you have to register with their partners site in order to get paid. The problem with this is that you are required to enter all of your personal stuff like your full name, address, phone number, etc. on each site, and some sites will not let you request a payment until $100 or more is in your account. So if you want $100 you will need to register with about 100 partners sites and then once you get your $100 you will be required to register for 100 more. I do not think so! I have given up on this idea but I do not know what I will do for extra money.

Well anyways, on to last Sunday (actually it was April 7 ) with my mother-in-law...
After she left she had started telling the kids that she had moved to Tennessee. We had still been talking with her brother Bill at this time, so we knew this was false because she was still living with them! She even went as far to tell them that she had a house of her own with a pond out back and a couple of dogs. She had two vans and was working on trading them in and getting a pickup truck instead. Then she even gave them her "new address" so that they could come visit her. We tried pointing this out to Brenden because he had wanted to write her a letter on a couple of occasions. At first we would tell him no, but he would still insist on doing this. So we eventually told him that his mamaw was still living in Michigan with uncle Bill, he did not want to believe us at first kept calling us liars. He finally figured it out after a while that his mamaw was the one that was lying to them.

Last summer (probably around April or May) Chuck and I were in the kitchen and he said that his mom just drove by. My heart went to my throat and I thought I was going to puke. I was still... and even am still... upset with her. Mainly because of what she did to her very own children, disowning them. However I really did want her to stop and come in because she is Chuck's mom after all, but she didn't she just kept on going. I could tell that he was kind of hurt by this though and he started getting into a really bad mood as a result.

Then last Saturday (April 5) she drove by while Chuck was outside barbecuing and this time she waved. He came inside and told me that his mom just drove by and I was like "so?". Because she didn't stop and I didn't want Chuck to get to his hopes up and then be hurt and then be in a bad mood again. He did talk to his brother that night and Ken told him that she pulled up in the driveway at their house to talk with the kids since they were already playing outside. She also left a couple of letters, one for Chuck and the other for Ken. He had read his and said that it was fine, but he didn't say what was in it.

To Be Continued...

She is packed and gone!

*We have been experiencing some difficulty with our power (the electricity) and the Internet here this past week. So I have not been able to post as many blogs as I would have liked, so instead of being done with this story about my mother-in-law this week it will probably be done sometime next week.*

Wednesday morning came and I was getting very nervous. Getting so nervous that my stomach was starting to ache and my blood sugar was starting to drop. I am diabetic and have been since I was 17 years old, I do alright managing it because I am not that bad yet and I only need to take one shot in the morning. I even have to eat some type of candy everyday because sometimes it ends up going to low! Maggie (the dad's new wife -- but at this time the girlfriend) also has trouble with her sugar level so I called her to bring me over a candy bar because I could not find any. I admit I would have called her to come over even if my sugar was okay. I was just so nervous about having to see Sharon that I needed someone to be with me in case something happened. It was nearly 1 o'clock in the afternoon by the time they showed up. I heard them rummaging around downstairs before coming up (Sharon was storing some of her bigger items in our basement, so I do not think it was any big deal she was down there especially since the most expensive items that Chuck and I had down there was the washer and dryer). When she came up the first thing she said to me was, "It is a good thing that you have somebody here with you, now I can't bash your head against the wall." I didn't say anything to this, I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders then turned and walked/rolled away.

She then went to the front door and opened it to let a man in. I couldn't believe this, the man she had invited into my house was a known enemy of the family! This man's daughter was married to my brother-in-law and had been known to try to run Sharon off the road on a couple of occasions. Not only that but he had also beaten Ken black and blue because of an argument between Ken and Chandra. He almost caused Chuck to get in to an accident with his car on the road while I was with him, by speeding up to go around us and then slowing down to a crawl all of a sudden in front of us and the roads were icy. When Chuck got control of the car once again, the guy (Larry) flipped him the bird. So that is why I didn't want him to see not only where I lived, but especially the inside of my house. But anyways Sharon had invited him in to help her move some stuff. That makes me wonder two things; 1) why she is all of a sudden asking for his help and acting as if Larry and his wife are her best friends?, and 2) does this mean that he was also in my basement? What really makes me angry is that she had him go through our house in to the room that she was staying in and unhook her computer and carry it out. Once he did this he had left. If this was all he was needed for, Sharon could have asked me over the phone that previous Monday to get her computer ready for her and we would have done this without a problem!

She and Joanne finished packing up her things and Joanne put them in the vehicle while Sharon said her goodbyes (mainly to Bebe) and they left. She had lived with us from January until May of 2006 and told us every month... sometimes even twice a month... that she will be leaving by the next month, and she never did! I am glad we gave her that little push out the door or else she would more than likely be here even now.

She is gone... well sort of

So she left. On the day I happened to have Candy and her kid over. After she had disowned Chuck, he had left and she told Candy that after she leaves that I will lie about her and call her a b**ch and Candy should not believe anything I say! Then turned to me and said since she is still working at the motel in Clare and will be staying with her friend (a fellow worker that she works with), and will work out a time next week to come get her stuff. Then she walked out the door and I thought to myself, "Good riddance!"


I still had Sharon on my Yahoo messenger friends list, so I knew whenever she was on or not. I tried to message her a couple of times, but she wouldn't respond so I figured she must have me on ignore. She left on a Wednesday afternoon and that following Monday late morning I received a phone call from the motel in Clare looking for Sharon. She had been on the computer that morning, but I did not know for sure where she was logging in to from. For all I knew she could have taken the day off and was using a library computer. I told them that she did not live here anymore and I had no way to get in touch with her (I nor Chuck knew her cell number). Then five minutes later she had called me and told me she was in the break room at her work, I said "Well if that were true then why did the front desk just call me five minutes ago asking for you?" She told me that the front desk must not have seen her come in. "Then they could have seen that you punched in on your timecard." I didn't say this but I thought it and now I think I should have said it. Anyways she had told me on the phone that her and JoAnne would be here Wednesday morning to get the rest of Sharon's stuff. Then she had hung up before I had a chance to ask her how she kept logging on to Yahoo even when she was supposed to be working. But Joanne called me later that afternoon and I got a chance to ask JoAnne. She told me that Sharon would sometimes login while she was at work on the work computer. I felt something fishy going on at this point... I mean, here is a woman who is so against any type of a lie and I actually caught her in a big, boldface lie because you cannot possibly login on a work computer and the work not know you are there... unless you have a Harry Potter invisibility cloak.

Back to my mother-in-law...

I haven't written about my mother-in-law in a while and I figure it's about time I did so. Okay on to where I left off... the eBay try.

Sharon was doing odd "habits" that were just driving me nuts! Like watching a movie with me or my husband and getting up right in the middle and leaving for her bedroom to talk on the computer, burning stuff in my brand-new microwave that I still haven't been able to get clean, or giving the dogs "people" food (all of our leftovers in the refrigerator) making our dogs so fat that they had rolls! She and I got into a couple of altercations during this time. She was always talking negative about my husband, his dad, his brother and his family (the extended family), as I said before I do not like to keep things from my husband that will affect him in some way or another. So I would tell my husband what ever she had said about him. This would cause her to get very angry with me and she would start yelling at me. We did this a few times and the last time she actually called me a lying b***h and slammed the door on her way out (she would leave several times and stay gone for the weekend but this time she left and was gone for a couple of weeks). The worst habit was whenever my sister-in-law would come over, she would disappear into her bedroom for the whole time she was there. Chuck would literally drag his mother out of her room and tell her to quit being rude and to at least say hi. She would say hi to Ken but totally ignore Kelly and go back in to her room. Can we say rude?!

Now this is funny!

The Pastor's Ass


The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.

The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The Local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey.

The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted.

He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.

The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.

The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE

The bishop was buried the next day.


The moral of the story is....being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery...and even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life... Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!

Have a nice day!

My upcoming birthday and Easter

I would have written this tomorrow but Chuck has the day off (they chose this day as their floating holiday), so I am posting this today. Tomorrow Chuck and I have to go grocery shopping and maybe we will go to Pizza Hut for lunch. I have always liked Pizza Hut but there isn't one in this small town, however there is one about 30 minutes away so we do not eat at it very much. Not like I did when I was in Kansas, I practically ate there once a week. We already did our grocery shopping last weekend, but Saturday I am having a couple of friends over for my birthday and the stuff I got to barbecue Chuck cooked it the other day! Hope you all have a happy Easter Sunday!


glitter-graphics.com

He still has it!

I have got some really good news! We found out yesterday that he still has a job. They were supposed to interview both Tom and Chuck but never did, but come to find out Tom was given the decision whether or not he wanted to stay in the office. I am so proud of his dad (Chuck's dad... I would go ahead and use his first name, but his first name is Chuck also and to avoid confusion I will continue calling him the dad.) He finally grew that backbone and was telling Tom who Tom actually worked for -- him! The dad was also starting to get tired of this ordeal with Tom (he has actually been in trouble with the job before, but it was all left up to him to decide if he wanted to stay or not) so he told Tom that it was only 40 hours and he could not be a hand on the trucks on the weekends anymore. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, he needed the extra pay so he gave up the office job to become a full-time truck driver. Now here's the bad news. Since Chuck already has a CDL he was going to drive on the weekends, now his dad has kind of closed the door for a while on that idea. So now we were poor to begin with but we are now facing a big chunk out of his paycheck each month. Chuck says we are at the poverty level now! He also not only is in charge of the paper work and stuff but now he is also in charge of the dispatching side. But I am so happy that things worked out and he still has a job, thank you to everyone who's kept us in your thoughts and prayers!

A sweet and thoughtful poem

*This poem was e-mailed to me a while ago and I really liked it. I hope you like too.*

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No. His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No. I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No. You must grow on your own! , but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No. I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.

I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said...Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.

THIS DAY IS YOURS DON'T THROW IT AWAY,
May God Bless You, "To the world you might be one person, but to one person you just might be the world"

A birthday surprise!

I have been wanting to write about what happened to me this past weekend, but Monday I got sick with diarrhea so I had to keep going to the bathroom (seems to happen every time I start), and Tuesday the Internet was down all day.

I had a long weekend but an exciting one! My friend had graduated from college in December and was having a graduation party in March. I do not know the full reason she wanted to wait so long, but I think it had something to do with her being on spring break. She got a bachelors in biology (I think in Environmental Studies) and couldn't find a job, so she enrolled in mid-Michigan Community College into the Nursing program. A couple of weeks ago I got an invitation to her graduation party in the mail, I did not want to go at first because I saw that she was having it in the Mormon Church. There is nothing wrong with the Mormon Church, I know that for a fact because I have been there many many times before. I just do not agree with their religion, I especially did not like the way they separate the congregation. They were together during the service but right afterwards all of the men went one way and the women went the other way to do a type of Bible study. I just didn't understand this because the Bible clearly states how all people (men and women ) are children of God and will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven, so I do not understand why separate them? Shouldn't they all learn together? The children were kept together still in their own type of Bible study... but that's how a lot of churches do it nowadays. However I do know a lot of Mormon people and I think they are really cool individuals! Anyways, I was afraid they would have some type of Mormon service and I didn't want to have to listen to Chuck complain about it. But after learning that they would have it in their back rooms I decided to go. It was on Friday and started at 4 and went until 8, but because it was on a weekday and Chuck has to work we did not get there until 7. It was fun, I hadn't met her husband yet and I finally got the chance! I invited them over for my birthday in a couple of weeks, I do hope they can come though since she is such a busybody she may have made plans already.

Saturday we didn't do much at all, I just hung around the house and played my game while Chuck plowed the driveway. We had been invited over to my brother-in-law's house on Sunday afternoon to celebrate his wife's birthday. I was disappointed and felt somewhat left out because we usually celebrate our birthdays together. But I figured that since she is turning 40 she may be wanting to celebrate it with her family because the weekend they are to have the kids again (which is my birthday that Saturday) is on Easter weekend and their mother/stepmom may want them for the holiday... like she has every single holiday in the past several years! I went to church with them that morning (Sunday morning), and my niece asked her dad if Chuck and I were coming over for dinner. I was thinking

"I am right here, you can always ask me what my plans are",

but I didn't say anything because her dad said to her

"Yes and remember what I told you?"

Her brother started whispering something to her but I could not hear him, then she said,

"Oh yeah!"

Right then I knew something was up, but I didn't know what for sure. Then coming out of church Kelly asked me if I liked cheesecake with cherry topping and I thought

"It's your birthday why does it matter what I like?"'

Then I went home and we went over there a couple of hours later. People started arriving (her parents and my/her in-laws) and she wanted to have the cake and ice cream first... my brother-in-law said it must be a 40-year-old thing. She got out two cakes and put them on the table and was getting ready to put candles in them, while she was doing that my brother-in-law turned to me and said,

"Oh by the way, we are celebrating your birthday too."

Everyone knew about it and brought me gifts to, even in my own husband knew about it! I told my mom on the phone about the party and that I have always wanted a surprise party and I finally got one! I only had to wait 33 years to get one though. That was a very cool birthday!

And the president is...

Every morning my husband watches the weather on the news and when he leaves for work I continue watching The Early Show that comes on after the mid-Michigan news. I have been watching the primary debates that are going on right now. I have registered to vote for the first time in this next presidential election, I have never voted before so I am pretty excited. I mostly registered because I am sick and tired of the horrible job that Bush has done! The first time he was running, I don't know how to explain it I just know there was something I didn't like about him so I did not want him in the office. He was doing a poor job so the second time I did not want him in the office anymore at all, after hearing he won I said to myself "and now our country is going to s**t!"... it's amazing how right I was (guess my instincts are right after all!). So I decided to vote this next time hopefully to keep guys like Bush out of the office.

These presidential debates were really exciting at first, but are now getting really old. Mostly because of who is left running, especially on the Republican side. Yes, I agreed with Giuliani and his views on abortion, but that is where the similarity ended. I really didn't care that he dropped out at the beginning. That other guy, the actor from Law & Order, I knew nothing about and I do not feel bad that he is not running anymore. Then there were three Republicans left; Mick Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee. I just loved Mike Huckabee. He stood for basically every thing I believed in, I so wanted him to be our next president! I am still very disappointed that he has lost. I was telling my mom a couple of months ago that Romney is throwing fits like a little two year old, always blaming Huckabee for taking his votes that he needed and telling Huckabee that he should drop out. When debating here in Michigan I was for Huckabee all the way but this state voted for Romney, no wonder Michigan is in the s**thouse! They are the biggest bunches of idiots I have ever been a part of, this state even voted for Bush! I guess the main reason they voted for Romney was because I guess his Dad was Governor of Michigan or Something. But anyways, Romney dropped out after trying to convince Huckabee to drop out. So then there were two... McCain and Huckabee. I did not know anything about McCain only that he looks really old so I looked him up on the Internet to read what his views are. , he is just like Bush! I kept telling my husband that Bush is going to back him! The debates took place in the southern states so I did not hear much about Huckabee anymore, I mostly heard about McCain. Well Huckabee did lose and McCain ended up winning the Republican side. Now on the news is talk about how Bush is giving McCain his full endorsement and is backing him 100%. That scared me because I do not want to suffer with another Bush as president! I find it weird that my instinct told me Bush was going to back McCain and now he is!

Now the only Democratic debaters I know about are Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. These two have been going at it for a while now. When I registered I had a slight feeling that Clinton would run but I had no idea that this Obama guy was going to run. I knew absolutely nothing of Obama, and I still don't! I have never even heard of him before. I don't understand him nor what his views are but I do know that his policies are geared to a change, but what kind of change? I do not want any kind of change, I just want an improvement. Mainly to clean up the mess Bush has created. That is what Clinton says she wants to do. For a while there we all thought Obama would win but Clinton surprised us by winning the bigger states. I was happy about this, I want her to win , I do not want Obama and McCain to be on the ballot, I would rather have an experienced women who will get the job done! That is one thing that makes me very angry with Obama, he keeps whining and complaining that Hillary does not have any experience. She has a lot more experience than he does! We all know that while Bill Clinton was in office Hillary was the one basically running the country. Why do you think everyone knows Bill as "Billary"? Anyways Hillary, you definitely have my vote. If she does not win I am definitely voting for an independent.

Just stuff in general

No news yet whether Chuck gets to keep his job or not. His dad, talked to his boss on Monday but didn't bring up the proposal instead he basically said that since the Beckman office is bringing in so much money they can easily afford to keep Chuck on. I guess there has been many complaints about another office that keeps track of the brine wells (the salty water found mixed in with the oil in the ground), so that they may quit keeping track of them. Chuck's dad brought up the fact that Tom could very well keep track of the brine wells and if he does this Chuck could continue working there. His dad also brought up the fact that once Chuck loses the office job he is gone for good because he will not go back to driving. Chuck says his dad plans to hold off on the proposal until it deems necessary for him to use it. The boss is going to think about it for another week or so. *sigh*I wish they would tell us soon!


Gracie is doing great. She is such a pure joy to have around... especially when Chuck is in a bad mood like he has been since finding out his job may go down the toilet! She may be potty trained now but she still has accidents every now and then. She is not a barker (usually all little dogs tend to be an annoying little barkers) although she will bark when she is playing. Whenever she does need to go out, she will not tell you that she needs out instead she just stands a few feet in front of the door and if you're not watching after a bit she will give up and pee somewhere. That in itself is very annoying! She is still in her puppy chewing stage right now and has totally destroyed one couch and has been caught chewing a whole in the other one. BTW, Dawn I have a couple of the chicken flavored rawhide chew bones that are too big for Gracie. Once you get through this trial period with Reba, would she like to have the unopened one? That is if she can still have chicken.



We are to go over to my father-in-law's tomorrow to celebrate his birthday which was Wednesday. They are having a dinner which is great because we can have a "free" meal I think Maggie is an excellent cook! It is nice to have a good cook in the family (well except for Kelly... she is a wonderful cook). You can tell Chuck's dad enjoys it also (He is a little fatter every time I see him... LOL), especially after Sharon who could not cook even if her life depended on it! I mean this woman would burn popcorn in the microwave! We also may end up with a kid or two... but we'll see.

Management Lessons

*I got this in an e-mail from my dad the other day and I had thought it was funny and very accurate!*

Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.
The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.
When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour.
Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'
After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.
The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.
When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'
'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies.
'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift.
She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
The priest nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'
The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone.
'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'
Puff! He's gone.
'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:
A turkey was chatting with a bull.
'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.' 'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.
The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story: (1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

Lesson 7:
A very hungry fly was almost out of energy when he spotted a pile of cow dung in a barn He immediately swooped down and ate until he was so full he could no longer fly. He spotted a pitch fork propped up against the wall He thought about his circumstance for a while and then decided that if he could crawl up the handle of the pitch fork he could then fly since he would already be in the air. After a long and arduous climb up the pitch fork, he jumped off the handle only to plummet to his death.

The moral of this story:
Don't fly off the handle if you are full of shit


THUS ENDS THE FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE

No job update

No word whether Chuck gets to keep his job on not. Last Saturday his dad had said that he was going to run an option by his boss that Monday. The option, well it wasn't really an option but more of a "what if we did this...?" kind of thing. If they get rid of Chuck the office will need to put in a $10 secretary to replace him. The only difference would be the pay, he gets a little more than the $10... oh yeah and of course, the secretary would more than likely be a female that 95% of the males would prefer because they are mostly males that work there (come to think of it there are no females at all! His dad is going to propose that Tom and Chuck both work 40 hours a week in stead of 50, Tom will work from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. every day while Chuck works from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Chuck has been really sick this past week so for now he just gives up and no longer cares, but I do. I haven't been able to eat or sleep very good lately. The boss wasn't in his office on Monday nor on Tuesday and now Chuck is saying that his dad is probably waiting until next Monday to offer his proposal. If his boss does accept this plan, Chuck and I will get to sleep for another hour... yay!

No job

My husband just called me to tell me he may be out of a job soon. It is a real confusing high school drama that is going on at his job. It goes like this:

A couple of days ago Beckman Production Services that my husband works for (Beckman is an oil and transportation service which my father-in-law is a production manager for, my brother-in-law drives the crude oil truck side for, and my husband used to drive the water side for but now works as a "secretary"... which he likes a lot better and so do I) sold off the crude side and is only keeping on the water and hot oiler side. They are keeping most of the drivers that are working now, so thank God my brother-in-law still has a job. One of the guys that works in the office along with my husband has been saying that when crude goes he also is going to "jump ship" and go along with them. More than half of his work load will leave anyway since he is the dispatcher for both sides besides no one really liked him anyway, his personality is really bad and he is very hard on people... not just the drivers but the employers as well. When he said he was going to go, that got me my husbands hopes up because then my husband's job would be more secure for he would be dispatching the water side also. Chuck's dad was talking to one of his bosses yesterday and asked about Tom's position and where he stood. His dad was told there was no room for him to stay on, yesterday evening he asked his boss once again about Tom and was told there was no room... Chuck witnessed this conversation even! Well this morning the crude division found out the new office would be located about 30 to 40 miles north of here. Tom does not like the idea that he will have so much farther to drive just to get to work every day. He mentioned this to Chuck's dad and his dad told Tom there will be no room for you here. So Tom went above his dad's head (straight to his bosses) to complain and they basically lied on Chuck's dad and told Tom that they never said that and that Tom would always have a job. So Tom told Chuck's dad what they said and that there may be only room for one in this office and he knows the computer and what Chuck does anyway. So it is all up in the air right now but it is starting to look like Chuck maybe out of a job.

Please help me pray that he will get to keep his job because here in Michigan the job market is really really bad, that is why he had to go straight for working for his dad right after college. We could not find him a job right after college for a year!

And she gave up

She eventually gave up on the eBay venture and told me I could just keep the all of the money whenever I sold an item. She also told me that I could have everything that was left over to sell for myself. I liked this idea, I figured she owed me something for all of the work I had done for her. She did ask me to write an affidavit about her relationship with Rassell and e-mail it to her lawyer. I did this mainly to stay on her good side even though my husband told me not to.

I really had no idea what to say because I had never met him. I did, however, IM with him a lot on Yahoo messenger and would ask him a bunch of questions of why he wanted to come over here and why he married someone so much older then him. So I wrote this affidavit behind my husband back. I feel she owes me for that too!

She is doing well

Gracie is back from her surgery. She came home Thursday morning... I was hoping that she would not come home until Thursday afternoon, but no, Chuck had to bring her home Thursday morning. They told us to try to keep her from all jumping and running around for the next five to seven days... yeah right! The first couple of days with her was a big pain. She could jump up on things but she could not jump down off of things with out causing her a jolt of pain. So I would end up keeping an eye on where she went, or else I would have to listen to her whine all day! She is doing a lot better now than she was, is really active and is back to stalking and chasing her brother (my cat) around.

EBay and her do not mix

OK, onto where I left off about my mother-in-law... that dreadful phone call asking if she could move in. I did not want her to move in, I figured that the past 8 years was long enough. I knew that once she moved in, I could not get away because I was no longer in school nor could I drive. But on January 1, 2006 she moved in. She put me through a lot during this time that she lived with us, but since it was a couple of years ago I do not want to bore you with the details. Although I will say that she sold the new house... well actually she did not sell it, instead she gave it back to the original owner... and then she got herself a part-time job as a housekeeper at a motel up here, so she could have the income to put in the income box on the Visa form to get Rassell over here. She then asked me to sell all of the items (mostly bridesmaid dresses) on eBay that were left over from a big sale we had scheduled.


They (Sharon and Joanne her sister-in-law) had rented a hotel conference room at to have the sale in. Joanne wasn't going to be there so Sharon had asked me to go to help her with the money and things. She didn't do much for the decorating of the room, all she did was match up the dresses by their colors and throws them on a table... so all the blue dresses were all scattered in one pile and all of the red dresses were in another pile but thankfully all of the wedding dresses were hung up. When the doors had opened we were busy with a lot of onlookers and some buyers but not a lot of buyers.


Joanne showed up later in the afternoon, I should have gone home then but for some reason I didn't. After she showed up we didn't get any more shoppers... not even browsers! At the end of the day we were packing up the dresses that were left for me to put on eBay. Joanne knew that I was going to put the items on eBay, so she folded up the dresses and put them in boxes that was labeled blue dresses, red dresses, green dresses, etc. and she wrote down the size of each dress like kept the list for herself.


I had never sold anything... heck I never even bought anything before... On eBay before so I did not know what I was doing. I was going to sell the simple items like the flowers and the gloves first. I kept getting e-mails from people asking me for pictures or a more thorough description especially when I was trying to sell the dresses. Since neither of them knew the specific sizes or description of each dress, I had my friend Candy come over on a weekend that Sharon would be gone. We opened the boxes and took pictures, when we opened the boxes all of the dresses were really wrinkled and some were not in a proper labeled box. There were black dresses in the box labeled purple dresses and none of the dresses looked the same... so it is a good thing we opened the box or else I would have sold a box of the purple dresses and that person wouldn't have gotten what they pay for and I may have gotten in trouble or even sued by the person! When Sharon returned all she could do was blame Candy for not folding things when she put the dresses back in to their boxes. That made me very angry because I know for a fact that Candy folded the dresses carefully and took some good shots! She wouldn't believe that Joanne (her precious sister-in-law) was partly to blame.

I then sold a couple of the dresses on eBay, the pictures and a better description helped out a lot (plus too I was selling the dresses individually instead of in bulk... selling about 10 mismatched dresses in a box... like I was told by Joanne to do. So Sharon decided to take all the wedding dresses down to Joanne and model the dresses and take pictures for me. They also wrote down a description of each dress. The pictures turned out really good but the descriptions were bad so I ended up rewriting them, the only thing I had trouble with was the sizes. I could say if the dress was a size 10 or a 12 but I could not give the answers to the bust size or anything like that.


Since I was working with Sharon on this eBay venture, I was really starting to see that she had absolutely no concept of money. She did not understand that you have to pay some seller fees regardless if you sold the items or not and that's why he she was not making the same amount that we had put down for she knew nothing about eBay either. I was starting to get a big headache every time I tried to explain this to her so after a while I just gave up and started paying the seller fees out of my share, so I wouldn't make any money but I was doing all of the work!

I am back...

My microphone wire was loose and sometimes it would work but sometimes it wouldn't. What was really annoying was when I would be writing (saying) an e-mail and it would all of a sudden stop working and wouldn't work for the rest of the day. So I Had to order a new one from walmart.com a few weeks ago and it finally came. I like it a lot better than any of my other ones, it blocks out background noises so Chuck can be watching his TV and I do not get a bunch of gibberish across the screen. Gracie went to the vet this morning and will not come home until tomorrow. She's in there to be spayed and have her teeth checked (they want to make sure all of her teeth had come out all right, to make it easier on them and her they wanted to wait until she was under anesthesia already). Since she is gone for a couple of days and I have my new microphone that works I can update my blogs and maybe finish writing about my mother-in-law.

Actor, Heath Ledger, found dead in his NYC apartment

*This news totally caught me by surprise! He was one of the best I thought and for him being the only 28 (younger then me) he was way too young to go.*

NEW YORK -- Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, facedown at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.

There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

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Heath LedgerHeath Ledger moviesHeath Ledger photosLedger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the "Brokeback Mountain" actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's vengeful father in "The Patriot," in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Outside the Manhattan building on an upscale street, paparazzi and gawkers gathered, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black bodybag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a medical examiner's office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video and said, "He's coming out!"

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain." During filming, he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale," his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001's "Monster's Ball."

Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement: "We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident. This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."


Video: Stars react to Ledger's death
In the Australian city of Perth, where Ledger was born and raised, his father called the actor's death "tragic, untimely and accidental."

"He was (a) down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual, extremely inspirational to many," Kim Ledger said, reading from a prepared statement. "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life."

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he became one of the borough's most famous residents. "Brokeback" would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" and Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," both released in 2005. His 2006 film "Candy" now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

But Ledger's most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the "Batman" villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which worked for only an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children's store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter — carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's so sad. They were really close," Vella said. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 to a mining engineer and a French teacher and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 in a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You." Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'"