Ahh, big sigh of relief. It's Friday!

The house is all decorated for Christmas, the tree is up, and although I'd planned on coming home today and putting the boxes and stuff out in the shed I didn't have to because my sister had already done it. Yay! Every room in the house, with the exception of our bedroom and the utility room has some kind of decoration in it; even my sister has a decoration in her window.

Very weird, strange thing going on at work. Lillie has been nice. For most of the last month. It's making me uneasy. I don't know if it's just the holidays bringing out the best in her - or if she thinks me and the Big Boss are friends because our men work together (we really aren't friends, just acquaintances) and I have some major influence over her position. Or... and this is really going out on a limb...  maybe she noticed how badly she was treating me and knew if it continued I'd beg to be transferred (she's already chased out a dozen or so workers and might finally realize it's HER, not them, who is the problem) and doesn't want to lose any more employees. Whatever the reason, it's scary as Hell.

This is how scary it is: she used to berate me and criticize nearly every thing I did; now she jokes with me if I do something not quite up to her over-achiever-standards. She's called me "Kimmie". We have civil conversations about stuff not work-related. I can ask her a question about something and not worry that she's going to look at me like I just fell off the Moron Bus and use a condescending tone when she answers me. And here's the scariest of all: I can joke with HER.

I know it sounds stupid, but it really is making me uneasy. I'm constantly waiting for the bottom to drop out and for her to lose her composure. She's going to explode one of these days and the shit's going to land in a heap on my head. I just know it. This can't last.

As far as the weather goes, we've had a bit of a mixed bag this week. It started out chilly, then got up to 60 a couple days ago, and we're supposed to be in the mid 50s with rain on Sunday. Monday morning I had to scrape a nice thick layer of frost off the windshield. Good news is that it hasn't snowed. Yet.

It was nearly a year ago that we had a nice winter storm hit us. Rain, ice, sleet all topped by nearly a foot of snow. I remember that for a week it was kind of tough getting in and out of our parking lot. Then it all melted. I could live quite contentedly if we didn't get any this year... as long as it doesn't get bitterly icy cold.

A few weeks ago I checked into prices for the bus for my boys to come down. At that time Greyhound was offering a discount if you booked at least 14 days in advance. A week ago I checked again and now all of a sudden the discount isn't available. Pisses me off! So I checked the airlines. When I checked a few weeks ago, again, the price was lower. So, I looked at train prices. So far the train wins...but I'll bet when I look again today those prices will be higher, too. Grrr. I know sometimes the closer you get to the date you want to travel the price sometimes falls, but that won't happen with it being the holiday season. Dammit.

Anyway, y'all have a great day and an even better tomorrow!

*update*

just bought the tickets on Amtrak. No price increase! yay!

*Sigh*

Head back to work tomorrow. I don't want to, but it has to be.  These past five days just flew right on by, and I'm not even sure if I remember what I did on any of them.

Wednesday: the plan was to sleep in. Every morning when I get up for  work, Bryan is there in the bed all snuggled up, looking cozy and making me regret I have to go out. So, I wanted HIM to feel some of that. Ha! Didn't work. His stupid alarm clock woke me up.  Then the dog was there at my side, panting and dancing, begging to be let out.  I was up.  Once I'm up, unless I'm sick, that's it... I'm up for the day. Don't really recall if I did anything productive, other than get the goodies ready for Thursday.

Thursday: no sleeping in allowed. We were all up by 7:30 and out the door by 8.  Stop and get some donuts and hot cocoa, drive to the train and head downtown for the parade.  Freezing cold out there. I was bundled up like a friggin' Eskimo and was still numb by the time we walked back to the train. Get home, pop the turkey in the oven, eat dinner,  veg out for the rest of the night.

Friday: up again by 7. Me and Bryan took a trip to the hardware, bought some stuff we needed for the upcoming re-inspection.  I stained the baseboard and put some of it myself, then B helped with the rest.  The afternoon was quiet - B went to get his daughter and they went out for dinner and a movie.

Saturday: up by 8am. Didn't really do too much until Bryan left to take his daughter home and go to work.  Then my sister and I re-arranged the den, cleaned everything, finally hung stuff on the walls.

Sunday: slept in till 8 again. Did not get dressed all day. Washed and dried a load of laundry. That was the extent of what I did.

And now I have to be up in the morning and go to work. Yay.  And as soon as I get up it's going to be the same thought going thru my head that goes thru it every morning I get up for work:  what will she bitch at me about today? I can hardly wait.

Monday... the 26th... is my baby's 18th birthday.  I can't believe it. My baby... eighteen already. Damn.

Ah well, four more weeks and I'm off for two full weeks! Yippee! And hopefully my boys will be here then.

Y'all have a great day!

Hope you all are having/did have a great Thanksgiving. We just got back from freezing our arses off at the parade, turkey is in the oven, and I'm already ready for a nap.  My plans for these days off was to sleep in... two mornings down and I've yet to sleep past seven. Okay, that is technically sleeping in, but not as much as I wanted.

Anyhow, my wish for you and all my other family and friends, is to have a warm place to sleep at night, enough food in your belly's to hold you through, and to be safe from all harm. May God bless you all.

Okay gang, for this one you're going to have to keep an open mind. This is something I gave a little thought to at work, then expounded upon later. It's a theory of sorts, and rather randomly put together... you might call it a work in progress, even.

I truly believe "man"* evolved from monkeys...  and monkeys may have evolved from fish-type things in the ocean as the evolutionary chain of events is sometimes thought/believed to have begun. Whatever. But for the purpose of this "theory" let's just stick with the monkeys.  Above all else, though, I believe beyond a doubt that God (or whatever else you would like to call Him) created all living things. Again, though, let's just stick with wherever monkeys fit in to the beginning of all this.

1.) There are monkeys.

2.) Monkeys give way to a sect of Apes/Gorillas

3.) Apes/Gorillas begin to evolve and become "man" as in the evolutionary chart - but not ALL of them do which is quite obvious by the fact there are still Apes/Gorillas. We'll call this new sect "ape/man"

4.) Ape/Man starts to get restless and roam the world, some winding up on different continents and climate zones

5.) More progression and evolution. Most of these Ape/Men begin to get smarter as they're brains begin to morph and they develop new ways of doing things. I'm sure there are scientific names for what I'm describing, but who cares? I'm no scientist and if you're reading this, you probably aren't either so it doesn't matter.

So we have this group and it's various sub-groups roaming around, settling wherever they can find comfort and food and make lodging. Their bodies and brains are morphing, becoming what we know as "man" today. In the process, the fur mostly leaves their bodies. Mostly - but some remained for aesthetics and hygiene. Whatever. With the fur gone, leaving skin exposed to the sun, some of these sub-groups developed more pigments than others resulting in darker skin to protect them from burning. Others also developed ways for their eyes to not be as exposed to the bright light. Then, too, there were obviously some groups that decided to not branch their family trees too far, which resulted in various different "abnormalities" and what-have-you.

Not all of the Ape/Men continued evolving at the same rate. And, too, due to various incestuous unions, some completely stalled at various places along the way so their progression is far behind other groups.

Thus we come to "man" today. We have different skin tones, different body types, different IQ's, but we all began the same way. We are all of the same ancestry. How we look and how we  act is all dependent on whichever way our "sub-group" went at the beginning of the evolutionary migration, and how each subsequent "sub-sub-group" was forced to adapt.

Now, you might be asking yourself this question: "How in the world did Kim get her thoughts stuck on this subject?" And this is a good question, although if you've been reading my blog long enough you know how my mind tends to ramble and stumble upon stuff, once in a while getting stuck on random topics. Anyway, all this "theorizing" was brought about because of a teacher at the school where I'm working. She's a very nice woman. However, she looks like she could have been an extra on "Planet of the Apes" and not needed make-up.

And that, my friends, is all it takes sometimes to set me off on some wild tangent.

* "man" refers to both genders

Not real sure where to begin.  Good news is that we've all survived the first week, ha ha. And it's been nice to come home to the dishes washed.

We worked in the yard this past weekend. There's a big ol' bush thing in one corner - when we  moved in it stuck out past the shed. It has limbs on it similar to a grapevine, but thicker in many places, and has these little red berry type things on it.  Anyway, it's a royal pain. I'd been working on trimming it back for the past month or so, but the three of us went out and gave it hell this weekend.  I cut a lot of branches and whatnot off, then my sister and I broke them up into smaller pieces that would travel better to where we (Bryan) dumps them. Bryan cut off the taller, bigger limbs. It's looking a whole lot better now. I took pictures but haven't uploaded them yet, going to wait until it's all cleared away.

Been doing little things here and there because the re-inspection is almost upon us and I don't want the inspector to yell at us for not getting the few things done that were on the list. Me and Bryan are definitely the King and Queen of Procrastination, but kick ass when the deadline is near.

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Ah, the work thing. I want to say it's improved, but I know it's only temporary.  Louise called off all last week and I guess she's gone indefinitely. That means we've all been working a little harder. And last week the entire school district went to a circus on Friday, which meant we had to make and bag over 200 sack lunches for our kids.  That meant that Victoria and I stayed an hour later two afternoons. I was exhausted. Anyhow, the big deal is that Monday I wasn't really treated any differently than I've been.... you know, like a whipping post, but starting Tuesday it was like Lillie took Happy Pills where I'm concerned: she treated me nice, was friendly, laughed with me. Almost too scary.

Oh.. back up to Monday. I was totally exhausted from the trip. When I'm that tired, I get emotional really easy. The second-in-command boss was at the school and caught me alone on her way out. She asked me how things were and I just shook my head. "Is Lillie picking on you?" she asked (not the word I would have used), but it was enough to send me to cry-ville. So I just kind of nodded and continued on, got myself together and went back to work.

Then on Friday, the Big Boss was in. Prior to her arrival, the janitor and I had been talking. He's not real fond of Lillie... of the way she treats the cooks, anyhow, because we're all adult enough to know that just because she treats the cooks like shit doesn't mean she's a bad person... just a bad boss. I found out that about 3 years ago, when everyone came back from Christmas Break, none of the cooks returned. I really think this is the longest any one set of cooks has stayed in that kitchen. Anyhow, we were talking when Big Boss got there.  Mr Janitor laid into Big Boss about getting rid of Lillie, and Big Boss agreed that something definitely has to be done; there was reference to her being transferred and Big Boss said "I should have let her quit last April." I did mention to BB that until last Tuesday I had been severely tempted to go running to her office, crying, begging to be transferred out and she said I wouldn't be the first to do that. The thing is, I feel better having talked to her about the situation now and have a gut feeling things will get better. Just knowing I can go to her without coming across as a whiny baby helps. Really.

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Y'all have a great day and a better tomorrow!

can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving already? wasn't Halloween just yesterday?

Because the wireless USB thingy doesn't want to work on my laptop, I'm forced to keep it hard-wired and sit at a desk right beside where the desktop computer is... the one where I just saw that Bryan has posted an entry about our trip last weekend. So, before I read what he wrote, I guess I need to tell it all from my perspective. Which will, naturally, be not only shorter but from a much better place.

First: Nigel made it there! Yay Nigel! It was a little cramped and we stopped every couple hours so B could stretch, but the car did fantastic. Going up we got slightly better gas mileage than once we were there and on the way back... gas! Whew! When we left it was 2.85 here, where it stayed all week until two days ago when it went up about .12 cents. Anyway, point is, it was over $3 everywhere else.

Okay, we get to where Alex is living. Hang out, all is good... I see both my boys. Oh! Kicker...my oldest son, who is living in a tent in a small woods area, got a FREE Sony Vaio 17" laptop computer! He's not even sure who it's from. "Somebody I chat with on a forum, not sure who it is." Whatever. I told him what they should have given him was a place to stay if they wanted to give him something he could really use. So - it was a nice visit. The parents of Alex's best friend, who I never really got to know when I lived there because of Mr Wonderful, are great people. We slept on a double-bed size futon that was extremely uncomfortable, but do-able.

We left Detroit Friday afternoon, drove up to Caro. I saw my brother and sister for about an hour, which is about all I can handle at one setting unless there are several other people around. Then we went to see my buddy Pat and his daughter. His daughter is five. Her name is Alexandria, and I've always called her Alex. However, Pat has a grandson named Alex and there are issues... anyhow, Alex told me not to call her that. "Should I call you Lexi?" I asked. "No." "Alexandria?" "No." "Then what would you like me to call you?" "You can call me Princess," she answered with a straight face. Anyhow, it was a nice visit. The only downfall to the Caro visit was that Judy had to work early Saturday and it was almost ten before we got to her house, so we didn't get to visit much.

Saturday morning we get up and Judy takes the three of us out for breakfast. Very nice. Then we drive around town for a bit, go to Walmart to get a couple things, sit at a park for a little bit before going back to my brothers to fetch my sister. We decided to buy her a bus ticket to St Louis because there was no way her and all her stuff was going to fit in the car. So we had to go to the library to get online and check out prices and schedules. Blahblah.... we take her and whatever will fit in the car and head to Bay City.

First stop: bus station to buy a ticket. Then to my aunts. Very nice visit. Had a great time.

Sunday morning, breakfast then I take my sister back to the bus station, make sure she gets on the bus. Back to my aunts where we visit for a little longer. Then back to Caro to fetch the rest of my sisters things. Then back to Detroit to drop the boy off. Then we start the long trek home around noon or one EST... my sisters bus is getting to the terminal in St Louis at midnight, CST. We get home to the house at elevenish. Unpack the car and head downtown.

The end.

Not really, but that's it in a nutshell. Had a great time, was exhausted all day Monday and some of Tuesday. Glad to have seen everyone I did see, but glad to be home again.

I had a dream the other night that we got almost to Michigan and I realized I had not packed anything for myself.  All I had was what I had on at the time, whatever that was. Probably pajamas, lol.

We've still got some last minute stuff to do, but for the most part we're ready to hit the road in less than 12 hours.  This is where I need all of you reading this to cross your fingers and toes that Nigel is a good boy and gets us there and back, and all the running around we'll be doing, without any troubles. I have faith in him.  Really, I do.

When I came home from work yesterday I made a pan of brownies and some no bake chocolate cookies to take up to the boys. I also put some left over Halloween candy in ziploc bags for them.  Yes, I like to fatten my boys up, lmao.

Today I cleaned up the house a little, mopped the floors, got some laundry in the wash (it's ready to go in the dryer but I'm not ready to get up and put it there). We're having Bryan's cousins' daughter come over a couple times a day while we're gone to take care of Mac, but I'll still worry about him.  Anyway, don't want her coming into a pigsty house. Of course, my other motive for cleaning was that  I want my sister to realize that I keep a clean house and her messy/dirty/cluttery ways won't be accepted. So, to make sure she doesn't think I'm putting some new rule into effect just to make her life miserable, it has to look good when she arrives.

Aargh. Still not sure how I feel about her coming to stay here. It's just that... I know what she was like living with when we were growing up, when we were young adults. It wasn't stuff you write sentimental Hallmark cards about. I've seen her apartments, I know what kind of housekeeper she is(n't).  I know what she's like when she comes to visit, if just for a couple hours... like having a lost puppy around, following everywhere. I know what she's like. Okay, she says she's changed, but I haven't spent much time with her in a very long time; the last time I saw her was at our uncles funeral and even then I didn't spend the whole time with her or around her. Ah well, we'll see how it goes. If nothing else, it'll give me material to write about here and it'll give Bryan some good comedy material, too. And, like I wrote earlier, maybe I'll get some positive Karma points out of it.

That's about it.  Won't be around again until Monday, and possibly not even then. Might be Tuesday before I'm up for spending time on this little piece of equipment.

Y'all have a great day and a wonderful tomorrow!

Three more days until we go to Michigan! Yay! We were all set to rent a car to drive up, but then we discovered that because we are NOT flying or taking the train and there is NO return "ticket", that we have to have a HUGE deposit. And a credit card. Sure, they'll take a debit card for the actual payment for the rental, but not for the deposit. It sucks. Sooo...  we're taking Nigel.

That's right, kids. We're taking the little car. The car that looks like it shouldn't be on the road. The car we've put so much money into that there is no way we could ever sell it. We'd already decided that we're gonna run him until he completely dies and there is no more hope. That better not happen for a few more months. Please. And most certainly, let's hope it doesn't happen on the road somewhere between the time we leave and the time we get back.

Y'all know I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends I haven't seen in quite some time. Well, it looks like one more person has been added. My sister. And not only will we be seeing her, we're bringing her back with us. She has some mental issues she has assured me are under control, but there is no way she could be just put on the streets. She wouldn't make it a week.

Part of me says "hey, it'll be nice to have her around. Someone to do stuff with, family around." Another part of me says "Are you completely insane???" I have had to do a lot of rationalizing in the last couple days. I'm looking at this as a "good deed". Build me some karma points or whatever. I feel like I need them... if only to even out the bad.

Anyway, everything is pretty much set for the trip now. I've packed up quite a few things for the boy to take up to him. We're going to see The Last Comic Standing on tour tomorrow night... it's the 5 finalists from the show, so I won't be able to do much after work then, but Tuesday I'll probably do some baking of goodies to take up, too. Wednesday there won't be a lot of time for too much because we'll have to go to bed early so we can get an early start Thursday morning. About the only thing left is making sure we have someone to come over and let Mac out a couple times a day, make sure he has food and fresh water... there is no way we can take him with us in the little car, especially with my sister and her things coming back with us.

On an unrelated topic: if you use Mozilla as your browser, make sure you add on Stumble Upon. It's great. Highly addictive, but a whole crapload of fun. You can customize it to browse for things that you choose. You will see things you might otherwise never see.

That's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a good day and a great tomorrow!

One week from today we'll be in Michigan. I can't believe how fast the time has passed.Seems like it was weeks away and now it's almost here. Wow. Gonna be busy, busy, busy. Lots of people to see, places to go. Or maybe it's the other way around? Either way, busy busy busy.

I'm going to see my oldest son, whom I haven't seen in since last November. I'll see my best friend whom I haven't seen in nearly two years; my brother and two of my aunts I haven't seen since April of '06. Haven't told my brother or my friend Pat that we're coming up. Gonna surprise them.

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I need some advice. I still like my job, but my boss is driving me crazy! She tells me to do something one way one day and when I do it like that the next day she tells me to do it a different way. She expects me to know absolutely everything just because she does. Two of us can do something the exact same way, but she'll find fault with the way I do it. If I take initiative and do something on my own, I've either done it the wrong way or I shouldn't have done it; if I don't take initiative she bitches because I have to be told what to do. If I ask her how to do something she looks at me like I'm an idiot, but if anyone else asks her how to do something she politely explains it to them. And it isn't like I'm asking ridiculously stupid questions. If I mess something up it's the end of the world, if anyone else messes anything up it's "well, things happen". Argh! How do you deal with someone who is so inconsistent? And the worst of it is, I like her. She's a decent person. It isn't like she's some psycho bitch from hell. It's ... I don't know what it is! But it's driving me nuts.

I'd say it's me, that I'm doing something to make her think she needs to treat me like she does, except that another co-worker told me I'm not. And this person is a complete brown noser who wouldn't say anything bad about the boss if her life depended on it. In fact, she doesn't have a problem telling you to your face if you've messed up. So I asked her. She said she's noticed the boss's behavior toward me, too, and she doesn't understand why.

Then there's this whole peri-menopause bullshit making things worse. I have moments when I'm an absolute emotional mess. You look at me crosseyed and I cry. I take everything personally- things that rationally I know might have nothing to do with me. It's horrible.

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I didn't really elaborate too much last night about our trick or treaters... just that we didn't really have too many and I have lots of candy left over.  We had fun with the few who stopped, though. Bryan made the bigger kids either do a trick or tell a joke. So, we had kids doing cartwheels and backflips in our front yard.. or attempting to, lol. We also had kids attempting skateboard tricks on the front patio. Then there were the jokes, and some of them were entertaining. I don't know which was more fun: the little kids in their adorable little costumes or giving the big kids a hard time.

Ghost Hunters did a six hour live show last night. We recorded it and one day may even watch it, lol. At least we'll be able to fast forward through the commercials. And the boring parts. I like that show because it isn't hokey like a lot of ghost shows with psychics and mediums; these guys go in ready to de-bunk stuff - sometimes they can, sometimes they can't. It's fun to watch at any rate.

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And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great day and a better tomorrow.