insert witty blog entry here

I'm completely worthless today and I don't care.
I haven't eaten healthy. I haven't eaten UNHEALTHY but I haven't done my 5-9 servings of fruit and veggies. And I don't care.
I woke up at 5am and realized there had been an earthquake in Chile.
I have been watching CNN and Fox News almost continuously since then. And I don't care.
I mean... I don't care that I've been news obsessed today. Not that I don't care about the earthquake. Obviously, if I've been watching the news for 13 hours, I have a mild interest.
I thought about going out for a biscuit and gravy for my usual Saturday indulgence.
And then I realized that I had been indulgent all week so I didn't get a biscuit.
I also realized that getting a biscuit would involved putting on clothes. And shoes. And so I didn't.
I thought about making a grocery store run but I remembered the whole clothes/shoes requirement... plus having to brush my hair... which I wouldn't have to do in the drive thru.
I'm totally in love with Toby on The Office. I love how calm he is.
Of course, I'm also in love with Jim... cracks me up how he makes those goofy faces.
Michael Scott just makes me feel sorry for him. Bless his heart. (which is southern for "why are you so stupid?")
People who are socially unaware are so sad.
It's getting dark and I need to turn on a light. But I don't care.
Today is a real essay in apathy.
I did, however, sweep the kitchen floor. That one act was the only thing that has separated my behavior today from the cat's behavior. Well, that and thumbs. And the fact that I use a flushable vs. scratchable waste disposal unit.
How's that snow working out for y'all?
We have forecasted snow on Tuesday and so I imagine that I'll get into my anxious snow watch mode some time tomorrow. Ugh. Can we do spring already? I'm ready for North GA BBQ to open up again.
The bakery is supposed to open in the next week. I had planned to be down 10 pounds by the time they opened back up. Maybe I should just avoid the bakery until I've lost ten pounds?
I'm sorta wanting Captain D's for dinner.
I'm not going to do it though, partly because I've indulged too much in the past week.
I'm also avoiding runts... which you can buy by the pound at the Ingles in town.
I'm thinking about having leftover soup from last week. Only. I'm not sure if it's still good after a week.
Aren't you glad I took the time to bore you today?
Have a great evening! Watch out for shaking earth and high water! And snow! The sky is falling!
Love and hugs!

my life is average

My life is average….

I was walking into walmart today and the wind was blowing strong. My thick, carefully straightened hair was blowing in my eyes. I crossed paths with a lady who had obvious issues with baldness. I felt guilty for showing off.

I was drying my hands walking back from the restroom and my wedding ring – which I wear on my right ring finger – slipped off. I thought it might be a sign.

My car wouldn’t start this morning. I brought the phone outside, called my brother and let him listen to the sound the car was making. It started. I was relieved but felt like my car was making me out to be a liar.

Was it impolite for me to correct the sandwich artist at lunch today when she put vinegar on my sandwich but not oil? Do you think she was trying to tell me I didn’t need the oil?

I rushed to my desk after lunch to answer the phone and was out of breath. I made sure the caller knew I had rushed to answer… worrying more about them thinking I was a heavy breather than them worrying about us not having enough people manning the phones.

I complained this week about NBC saving the marquee Olympic events until last and teasing throughout the evening. Last night they explained why they were doing it. Do you think NBC producers are reading my blog?

I wish I was in NYC to enjoy the snowstorm. Unless they lose power. I can’t imagine climbing 39 floors to my brother’s apartment. He had knee surgery a month ago. I bet he can’t imagine climbing 39 flights of stairs either.

That’s it for now.

sick thursday

Austin mentioned on Tuesday night that Devyn had gotten sick at school.
Yesterday morning Austin called my office at 9:45 to tell me he was sick. I left work, drove like a crazed woman to the high school to get him, ran the errand I needed to run on lunch and was back at work in one hour and ten minutes. I skipped lunch to make up for the lost time.
This morning I was all dressed and ready to go. The car was warmed up. I was putting my bag in the car and I felt a wave of nausea hit me. Great. I spent my work day... feeling pretty gross.
That was my day. How was yours?

A family in our church lost their home to fire last night. It's odd... I've been working on trying to get their insurance business moved to our agency. She's been putting me off. So... from a claims experience standpoint, I'm glad they didn't move their business yet. From the standpoint of being able to be there for them in a way that I know our agency would have been... I wish they had moved their business already. Our church, not surprisingly, has responded by gathering furniture for them, providing meals for them, giving them money, helping them to find a place to live. The local elementary school is holding a clothing drive. It's tragic... so sad. I don't know them that well but she's one of my farmville neighbors and she gifts often. *smile*

I'm still feeling sorta yucky and having trouble stringing together intelligent sentences...

Hope you guys are having a great day. Love and hugs!

more about freedom

Ive been battling a headache all week. So far, today, I'm winning. It was a challenge yesterday... but I stuck it out, took some naproxen and went to bed early.

I'm worried about Andrew Koenig. He played Boner on Growing Pains. He disappeared almost two weeks ago. He was battling depression. People who are depressed need to be with people who LOVE them and who can help them keep going.

I fell asleep before seeing more than one of the women's figure skaters which is my very favorite Winter Olympic event. I hate NBC's coverage... they fill their broadcasts with random events that no one cares about and spend the whole broadcast teasing of the marquee events coming up... while complaining about losing money. I don't know much about television production but I do know that you need to know your audience and give them what they want.

Had a lot of hispanic clients this week. It's odd... my spanish is improving.

We're expecting NONaccumulating snow today. Where Ryan lives in Pennsylvania, they're expecting a lot of snow. I called Ryan yesterday to see where he was.... so I would know how high my mom-worry-meter should go. He's in Tampa, Florida for the next few days. Next issue...

Got to start the glam routine. Well... finish it... I just have to straighten my hair and put on war paint. Other than that, I'm good. Just had to share that awesome verse that the Lord led me to this morning while I was drying my hair:

Psalm 118:5, "While I was in anguish I cried out to the Lord and He answered by setting me free" (paraphrased from memory). Perfect timing. I needed to be reminded how I discovered this incredible freedom I've found. Christianity is not restrictive... it's liberating. No fear.

Gotta dash. Love and hugs.

free from creeps

It was a happy Monday that flew by for me today... I took a late lunch so I could take my sweet nieces to dance class and it was a lot of fun. I miss those days of sitting in the car riders lane at the school... getting kids into tights and leotards.... the excitement of those fresh moments right after school! I love those baby girls. Jamie wanted me to stay and take class with them.. but alas, Aunt Heather had to get back to work.

I had a weird weekend and I wasn't able to talk about what happened WHEN it happened... but it's all out of the bag now so I'm free to speak on the subject.

I have a couple of photo storage websites that I use... one that I rarely ever use is picasa. It's a great editing site, I just usually never make it to the point of storing my pictures anywhere other than facebook. But occasionally... every now and then... I do.

I was in my 12th hour of playing farmville (sadly, I'm not kidding) when I notice that I had an email notification from Picasa that someone had added me as a favorite. I clicked on the email and it was someone named Michael. I thought that it must be my friend Purple Michael in Chicago, as he takes quite a lot of pictures and doesn't mind looking at mine... so I clicked on the link to HIS picasa page and ... it was my ex-husband's page.

And not only was it HIS page... but he had used that page to store about sixty photos of Andrea (you know, the woman he cheated on me with) in various stages of undress. Mostly completely undressed.

My first thought was... this is an incredibly mean thing for him to do to me. My second thought was, "why is he even LOOKING at my pictures?" This is the man who screamed at me to move on and leave him and Andrea alone barely a month after we split up and were still legally married. Yet here he is... two months after our divorce is final, 15 months since I last saw him... and he's searching my photos online. Which almost creeps me out more than the fact that he's posting pictures of his naked girlfriend on the internet.

The other creepy thing is that he had pictures of her kids in between the pictures of her naked. I'm sorry... maybe this is a puritan way to think of things but it creeps me out to see naked mom and then see mom holding her sweet little babies and then see another naked mom photo. I mean... give the kids their own folder or something. Creep.

The ADDITIONALLY creepy and really scary thing is that he added a picture of Andrea's drivers license - including her very easy to read address - to the same folder. It was almost an invitation of - go to this address and you can have this mom and in the bargain, molest these three children. This was all in a very public internet photo site. ANYBODY could access these photos. Fortunately for her poor kids, those photos are no longer public, which is why I am not worried about talking about it.

Of course, this is the man who took photos of my naked, unconscious body and texted them to this same woman. She can't say she didn't know he was capable of this. I had enough sense, however, to never CONSCIOUSLY allow him to take nude pics of me. That's the problem with being someone's mistress... once you become his main girl, the position of mistress is open again... and you can be pretty darn sure that whatever he did against his wife (like cheat), he also will do to you.

I feel bad for her to an extent. However, I have been praying for justice for Dean. She has been trying to reduce him to only supervised visitation because she doesn't think the kids are safe with him. How safe are they with her with her sick boyfriend posting her nude pictures, name and address on the internet? WITH the kids NAMES listed on their photos! And up to this point they've never actually had to live with her boyfriend so they can get beat up, humiliated and abused like my kids did.

I know how y'all hate for me to be all bitter and stuff. I keep it light as much as I can but I also keep this blog as real as I can as well. I couldn't help but think how devastated I was a year and a half ago when I realized Michael and Andrea were on the dirty... and how easily I laughed this off. I let Dean know that this info was out there so that he could take appropriate precautions for his kids. And I checked out the rest of his pictures to see how Bobby is doing (apparently at some point he broke his arm). And I thanked God... out loud... for sparing me from the lifelong burden of being yoked with this man.

Ultimately... at best... he was stalking me on the internet... at worst... he was being malicious to me and to Andrea. Certainly she can't have agreed to him posting those pictures and getting them in my hands. I'm so glad to be free from him. I pray for Andrea every day for that moment when she finds herself in the same place I was... when the dreams that he convinced her to buy into shatter like glass between her fingers... when she wakes up and realizes that she has forever scarred her children for nothing. I pray for her kids, for their lack of security. I pray for Dean - that truth and justice will prevail and that he will be allowed to be the kind of dad he was destined to be. I pray for Michael... that whatever demons are driving him will let him loose... and that he'll be able to love and be loved without having to destroy everyone who loves him.

I'm going to go have a bowl of soup. Love and hugs, y'all!

happy Sunday!

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood....

I don't have firsthand knowledge of this because for me it's been pj and ponytail Sunday. Yes. I skipped church. I just couldn't get motivated to go through the semi-glam routine. I just wanted to stay put. So I did. Without guilt. I just needed a whole day off.

I did manage to clean out my closet and put away the mountain of clean clothes that had accumulated at the end of my bed. I even dusted and rearranged my Barbies and they haven't been moved since I moved in.

Yesterday I did my big cooking chores... made a huge pot of this awesome soup... and our usual turkey/veggie meatloaves. If I get extra motivated I'll type the recipe for the soup... actually.. I emailed it to my sister-out-law Candice. I'll just copy and paste:

sautee 1/2 an onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 a yellow pepper, 1/2 a orange pepper, 1 poblano pepper and 1 stalk of celery in olive oil
then add 2 cups of collard greens (or kale) and wilt it down a bit
once those are translucent, add 8 cups of water and 2 packages of onion soup mix
once that is heated, add 1 cup of lentils
after about ten minutes add 1 cup of sliced mushrooms, 1/2 cup of sliced green onions and 1 can of coconut milk
sautee one chicken breast - slice and add to soup

It was sooooo good! The coconut milk gives it sort of a thai flavor. I love thai food and haven't had any in sooooo long!

There is enough junk food left over from Austin's party to last us a month.. which means it will last a week. I'm doing a good job of staying out of it. I really just prefer the good stuff.

Austin was so burned out on junk food that he asked for tofu for dinner last night. So there you go.

I'm excited about my tv watching tonight.... Jeff and Jordan on the Amazing Race... the olympics (what little bit I'm watching of it)... and I've had fun playing online today too.

The Lord reminded me this weekend just how far I've come. It feels good to feel strong. it feels good to know that I was destined for much greater things than I had thought. Life is good!

Happy Sunday y'all!

randomness

Evander Holyfield and his wife are turning to Dr. Phil to help save their marriage. I'm obviously no expert on marriage but it seems like the Jump The Shark phase of marriage when you go on Dr. Phil.

We're forecasted to have beautiful weather today. I'm excited. Inspired almost. I may even clean out my closet. Which ... of course... isn't exactly an outdoor activity.

Stasha - we probably won't be going into town today... Austin's guests aren't staying all day so we won't be playing putt-putt, etc. I imagine Austin will sleep all day. And when he wakes up... he's got a mess to clean up.

I would love to see Coppelia (it's a ballet) while it's in Atlanta. Of course... it costs a lot and is on a weeknight. But I love the story. I love ballet. So glad my little red-headed angels are getting their dance on! Can't wait until Monday!

I finally got my gravy biscuit from Glenda's for breakfast! Woohoo! It was every bit as good as I thought it would be and I'm totally satisfied. I pigged out with "junk" food last night so instead of my usual free-eating day today... I ended the feast with the biscuit. I'm back on track for the rest of the weekend.

I bought sausage biscuits for the three little pigs who stayed up eating and playing Wii all night. They're on the counter. For whenever they wake up. Lunchtime or whenever.

Aren't the Russians SORE LOSERS about the whole skating thing? When you watch the top two finishers in that men's competition that Russian guy looks stiff and sloppy. I think his remarks should cost him his medal... that's not at all what Olympic competition is about. Cry baby.

I adore Apolo Ono.

I'm sneezing this morning... a little stuffy.

I didn't sleep much last night... only about five hours. But I'm wide awake. There's always time for a nap later if I need one.

The Today show has a segment about Vancouver beers... the guy doing it is looking like he's got a buzz. Isn't it like... 5:30 in the morning there? Goodness.

I'm a huge believer in supporting local businesses, much more so since we've moved here to the mountains and have had the opportunity to plug into our community. There are only two degrees of seperation around here... if I don't know the owner of the store, my brother knows them or their sister delivered my niece (true story) or their daughter went to high school with me (another true story) or my niece is in their daughter's class at school (another true story). Around here business is personal. So... I try to, as much as I can afford to, use local businesses for the things we need. Austin has been asking me to stop at the little coffee market at the edge of Helen for a few weeks... and Wednesday night we had a few minutes before supper at church so we stopped in... go to www.jumpingoat.com . We had a nice chat with the owner and bought a few sample bags of coffee. I'm not a HUGE coffee drinker, especially since we don't live near Starbucks any more but this coffee is awesome. Austin said, "Mom... I'd rather have this than Starbucks!". High praise indeed! The only problem I've had is that my keurig single cup coffee maker does better with espresso grind. WELL... today I went to the website and found out that they can do espresso grind for you! So if you want a taste of the beautiful life we have here... order a pound from Jumping Goat! (this is not a paid advertisement!)

We had a busy week... had to run errands during the week as we were out of EVERYTHING but the cool flip side is that I don't have to run any errands today! My kid is fat and happy and sleeping. I can do as much or as little as I want today! Including nap... and although it's just nine am... I think a nap is coming up on the agenda pretty quickly...

have a great day!