hmmm… what now?

can I think of anything to rant and rave about??? sure… but the key here is nothing NEW…

It is hotter than hell here…

Hubby is a man.. (and that covers SO much ground!)

the kids are being, well… kids..

my sister is a viper I refuse to be around…

I hate the town I live in…

that about covers my life right now… so I have decided, that as a coping mechanism, I will start kniting lace and reading.  Oh, wait, neither of those are new either.. maybe I will start drinking.. that may not turn out very well, but at least I would have fun doing it!!

Conflicted

my family has been trying to plan a group trip for about a year… where my mother, sister and her family, and me and my family all take a trip together. We have yet to manage to schedule it. Then, in January, my sister, the drama queen, and I had a difference of opinions. She felt she got to treat me like shit under her shoes, and I felt I didn’t have to put up with being treated like that. Anyway, I had about determined then that said “family trip” would probably never happen.

In March, because my father asked, we called a truce, and have been getting along since. No big problems…

Last week my mother called me, tells me that Sis is telling her that I am just not interested in going on the family trip, but would I let the two of them take my girls, (not all 3 of my kids, just the two oldest, grrr.) Or I was welcome to go, and if we wanted, we could all (mom, my sis and her daughter, me and my 3 kids) pile into my truck, and share gas and motel rooms. I was considering both, till today.

This afternoon I called my sister, for the first time in a couple of weeks, to see how things are going with her, she didn’t have a lot to say to me, but while I was on the phone, she proceeded to have a screaming, cursing shit fit at her husband. This only served to remind me why I have no desire to spend more than 30 mins to an hour in her company, much less days.

Now I am trying to figure out how to tell my mother that despite my desire to go, not only will I not be making the trip, but I am unwilling to expose my children to the disrespect and general anger at the world that surrounds my sister.

Carseat Police.

drive me up the wall. Another message board encounter… As long as your seating method is legal where you are, it is fine by me, but I have recently encountered some people who are militant about ‘correct’ car seating. Even to the point that a friend of mine was told that she should have her 8 year old, yes, EIGHT year old, daughter, rear facing, cause she is a small child and still under the rear facing weight limits.

By the time a child reaches a certain age, you have other things to consider as well… like, you can face your 8 year old rear facing, then bandage all the wounds from having the shit beat out of them at school every day.

I will be the first to admit, my 8 year old is in a car seat… a booster, and she wants it, especially for long trips, she says she is more comfortable, and can just lean against the side of the seat to sleep, and she sits higher in it and can see out the window better. I understand this, plus, I like her in the seat. But really, she is 8, and over age and weight limits to be out of a car seat according to my state, so if she really wanted out, I would let her be.

You have to find a balance… really, which is worse? The germs and possible sickness from using a dirty hand rail, or falling down the stairs and breaking your leg, because you were so afraid of the germs you wouldn’t touch the hand rail?

Busy morning

I got lots accomplished before this morning before it got hot. Kiddo ready and off to school, house picked up, time on the elliptical, kitchen cleaned, and dishes done, 2 loads of laundry done (including put away!!)

Balled up some yarn, and somehow misplaced one of the balls (fark it all!) cleaned up my desk some… now I just have to run one child to school and drop some things at the cleaners…and other than getting the kids from school, that is about all that will be done here today till it starts to cool off… as it is pushing 100 already and I am thinking that is just evil.

love the effects

of cinnamon on ants. My middle daughter told me this morning that there were ants in the sink of their bathroom (after the little bits of toothpaste in the sink), so I grabbed my industrial size cinnamon container. and went and sprinkled their sink with it, closed the door and left it for a couple hours. Went back in, wiped up the cinnamon, with not an ant in sight. So easy, and 100% safe for kids and pets.

Finally Friday

not a lot going on the home front.  The never ending battle of the cat. Hubby called the humane society again, they asked him if we were on the waiting list for the traps… um… what waiting list, the woman I have been calling DAILY, has NEVER said anything about a waiting list… then she suggested that we could just buy a trap. I did a little research, the traps are only $30 at the local Harbor Freight!! The Humane Society wants a $50 deposit to borrow theirs… so I just went and bought the fricking thing.

it is Friday… this means at least 2 days of no alarm… not that I am allowed to sleep to the alarm.. but the concept is what counts.

My hand is healing from my incredibly stupid move of the week. While building the science project, I managed to cut my  hand on the drill bit. (don’t ask, I don’t want to admit how stupid it was, especially since I knew better when I did it.) It got really sore, and a bit festered the next day, but I slathered it with my spiked neosporine (lavender oil, love that stuff) and bandaged it, and 2 days later it is fine. Not even sore to prod at.

yarn is an addiction.

and it is amazing to what lengths we will go to for it.

I recently bought a ball winder for my yarn, which is a great improvement, but only half of the problem, you also have to figure out how to hold the hank, so that the yarn can be wound from it, while keeping it from tangling. The solution to this problem is a Swift. it holds the yarn and spins freely for the string to be fed off of it onto the ball winder. Problem is, swifts run from $60 up, and tightwad that I am, can’t bring myself to pay that. My solution… Build one. So, for $10 in materials, and an hours work. I have this.

I used 2 8′ 1×2’s, a 4′ dowel, a bolt, a wing nut, a couple washers and a couple nails. It took about an hour, and it works well, but I have a couple small modifications to make.

I need to pick up a wood chisel and deepen the grooves that make the top cross pieces nest together and stay in position. all I had was a screwdriver, so they are rough and not deep enough. other than that, it works excellent. And was SO much cheaper. Now I have much more $$ to spend on yarn!! LOL, like I need that!!

I have come to a conclusion

I am miserable, for a variety of reasons..

#1. I hate where we live. Granted the house is nice, but I hate the town. It may be the 3rd largest city in AZ, but it is ass backwards in a lot of ways, and most of these ways make me batty.

a. The school system here SUCKS ASS.  The teachers and principal flat out lie to me and they refused to do anything to actually educate my children. They recently sent home a notice for a science fair… 7 days before the fair and to a grade they don’t actually teach science in.

b. Dry Cleaners. What real city has only 1 dry cleaner in town? and charges over $8 to launder and press one shirt and one pair of pants?

c. Recycling, there are no recycling facilities in this town… not do they just not pick up for it… they don’t even have a place you can take things to be recycled.

d. Cat problem, see several recent posts.. and the city refuses to do anything.

e. Television and Internet. um… First, i can’t get networks unless I get local cable. can’t even get coastal networks through my satellite co. cause of some bullshit with the local stations not allowing it… Second. internet. only one company offers cable internet. that is typical. what is not is the price. I am paying twice for cable internet in this ‘city’ than I did in the last town I lived in… that had a population of only 600. something is wrong with this picture.

2. Temperature. it is not yet May and we have broke the triple digit mark at least twice already. I feel trapped in the house to keep from heat exaustion.

3. My weight. I have been working on losing weight for the last 4 months. Walking daily, watching what I eat, and it is not working, I have not lost an ounce. I think part of it may have to do with being miserable about life at the moment.

yarngasam, table for one!

last week I ordered a ball winder for my yarn. I have wanted one for a long time so balling wool would no longer take hours. but they are expensive. usually running around $60. and all i have been able to think is how much yarn I could get for that much money!! Well, last week I found it on sale at Joann.com for $30 and free shipping for orders over $35… and then there was the reason I was at the site to begin with, I needed to order some charms for making stitch markers. So I got the winder, and the charms and didn’t have to pay the outrageous shipping fees either!

Since it has gotten here this afternoon, I have been winding yarn. Any and all bits and balls that are worth winding have found their way to my winder… It is not great for larger quantitys (over one skein) or a thick yarn, more than worsted weight.  But since my preferences lean towards fingering, and lace weights it is great. Especially since the last skein of lace weight that I wound by hand took me almost 4 hours!! now they take like 5 minutes!

Rearranging Day.

I spent this morning rearranging my living room. See…. when we first moved in, I decided how I wanted things arranged, and told my husband so that things could be put where I wanted… he proceeded to tell me why that was wrong, and how his way would be better.  So, I let him put things where he wanted, instead of arguing, cause it was just easier, and I try to pick my battles. (What is it with men thinking that furniture must be arranged for optimal viewing of the idiot box from all seating options?)

Last night my husband offered to start an exercise program, and we could “motivate” each other. Now… Skinny people should NEVER give weight loss advice. His idea of “motivation” is condescending and insulting. But at least him getting up off his ass will help me to too, I will probably put my headphones on and ignore him so that he can keep his teeth, and his life.

Anyway, I re-arranged the living room this morning, the way I wanted it to start with, and that makes room for my treadmill and elliptical in the front room (as opposed to the garage, which is about 5 million degrees during the day) where they can be used.  I have the elliptical here… now I just have to fix the treadmill and haul it in.