Exciting news!!!!

I don’t think I’m authorized to say who, so I won’t.  But when our new offices have their grand opening, I will get to meet one of my big all time sports heros.  It is so exciting.  So if you know me, and you know my favorite sports team and then think about the greatest names associated with it, you will be able to have a good shot at guessing it.

It comes in 3’s

Death always comes in three’s.  At least in our family it does.  We are all at the 2nd funeral, eyeballing the crowd, taking bets on who is the last one to go in this round.

Death #1 – Distant but I’m going to claim it because I need to make sure I have three to count.  A distant cousin that my grandfather had great memories of being a kid around.

Death #2 – A former co-worker’s grown son was killed in a car wreck on Wednesday.  His wife was driving recklessly (passing on the shoulder at high speeds), lost control of the car and hit an oncoming car.  He is the only one who died.  They have a 3 year old daughter who luckily was not with them at the time.  How is my friend going to deal with her daughter-in-law, always knowing she was responsible for his death?  How difficult will be as the wife goes on with her life, probably remarrying at some point in the future, for my friend to keep contact with the grandchild?  I can’t go to the funeral because it is Monday, my first day at the new job.  But this death is haunting me, a life cut short, a mother’s breaking heart.

Death #3 – My great-aunt, the last of my grandmother’s sisters to go.  She is 91 and has late stage Alzheimer’s, so the passing is sad but time.  I can deal with that.  But I will go tonight with my Mom out to be with the family.  This great-aunt (who has a beautifully unique name but I can’t use on here because it is so unique that if it was Googled, my family would find my blog instantly, something that is best avoided) never had kids of her own, so the neice and neice-in-law have been taking care of her, a task their mother had been doing before she died last year.  I have a lot of great-aunts and uncles, more than most so I have a lot of funerals in the last few years and still to go.  But I also have many memories of a great big extended family.  You would think we were a big ethnic family, with how close we are, all the family gatherings we do.  Sometimes family is a chore, but mostly it is a blessing.  My X’s family was not very close at all, and one thing he told me is that he is grateful that the kids are learning about family through mine.  I will not put them through this weekend as they don’t really remember this aunt before she went into the nursing home.  They know I’m dealing with it and they understand that when my sister gets old, they will be expected to look after her since she has no kids of her own.  Luckily my sister is much loved by the kids and is always there for them, on all of the occasions of their lives and sometimes just for kicks in between.  I don’t think they will see my sister as a burden, but a part of being family.  I hope they do, if I raise them right.

 

KC’s Meme

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. Present an image of martial discord from whatever period or situation you’d like.

1.  I won’t because she will be by to read shortly.  KC’s reliable like that.

2.  Random facts about me…

1. I was a religion major when I got pregnant “out of wedlock”.
2. People say I’m an extrovert but actually I see myself as shy and afraid of being around people I don’t know, so I just try to get to know them as quickly as possible so I won’t feel so awkward.
3. I have a grid shaped scar on my right leg from falling on a hot floor heating grate as a child.  I had just escaped my mother after a bath, so I was wet still when I fell on it.  Can you hear a sizzle?
4. I originally wanted to be an archaeologist until I found out they often work in hot dirty areas and then I decided I didn’t need to be an archaeologist.
5. I can dream of spreadsheets and then go to work and design them to work perfectly.
6. I truly believe I have a ghost or two in my house.  We seem to live together ok so I think she is ok with me living in her house.
7. I can’t reach around my back and snap or unsnap my bra.  It isn’t my size, I have been like this always.

3.  If you have a link to your blog on the right side of my screen, consider yourself tagged.

4.  I’ll think about it. 

Texas style burglar alarm

1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men’s work boots, used, size 14-16.

2. Place them on your front porch, along with a copy of Guns & Ammo Magazine.

3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazine.

4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

Hey Bubba, Big Jim, Duke and Slim:
I went for more shotgun shells and to pick my check up from the slaughterhouse. I should be back in an hour. Don’t mess with the Pit Bulls–don’t know what got into them, but they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up real bad. I don’t think Killer took part in it but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all four of ‘em in the house.

Better wait out here on the porch.

“Cooter”

After the fire

Supposedly this morning my parents will sign the contract and the building process will begin about an hour later. The price is less than they have in the bank after the insurance paid off, the mortgage company took the balance on the old house (that was a huge hassle) and they have paid to have the lot cleared and prepared. This is also because the builder is knocking some off of his profit and negotiated with the subcontractors since my parents are homeless. Apparently the homeless, almost retired and partially disabled cards all got played by the builder which I am uncomfortable with but in the end my mom is happy with the price and what she is getting, so I guess it is ok.

My sister is still working on the content claims as replacement insurance has a lot of hoops to jump through.

The house could be ready before the end of August so just under 5.5 months from the fire. I’m pleased to think that they are getting a much better house than they had, out of the mortgage and they are helping a lot of local businessmen in this less than ideal economy.

And the really good news? My father and I haven’t strangled my mother yet.

That sounds horrible.  She has been through a lot.  But even before the fire, she was very self-centered.  She is a hypochondriac of the first water.  She enjoys a good pity party more than most people (as long as she is the hostess of the party).  The fire has just exacerbated her issues tremendously.  I have tried to get her to see the positives of the fire and there are really a lot (no one died, the old house was a disaster and wasn’t getting the maintenance it needed, she will have a house suited for the aged) but she wallowed her in her grief.  And yet when I suggested a grief counselor might help, she bit my head off.  She is no longer crying daily but that is more from being on two depression meds at a time than from having dealt with the issues. 

I’m like my dad.  We can’t change the fact that their house burned down.  What we can do is to move forward in the best way possible.  Unfortunately that doesn’t give my mother nearly enough attention. 

Two of my oldest friends in life (friends from grade school and high school) are wanting to throw my mother a shower.  Isn’t that sweet?  So I will be instrumental in planning that.  And I planted an idea to have a thank you open house to invite all the people who helped out right after the fire to come and see what has been built out of the ashes.  I imgaine, especially for the fire fighters, they don’t often get to see the reconstruction of lives after a fire.  Of course many people move away but my parents want to stay in their little neighborhood.  But I think it will be good for the fire fighters to have that moment of being invited into the new house and see that something good came after that day when they fought the fire.

I love these quotes

“only way the victim’s foot could have been where the video indicates it to be was by the victim placing it in that location.”

And that is what a DA decided in not pursuing charges against Britney Spears.  Sheer genius.

Oh wait, I got another off of a news service today too (it is a rich day for these).

Former ’80s heartthrob Corey Haim says kissing Victoria Beckham felt like “a girl gnawing on your lip.”

 

 

Random thoughts after last night’s games

KB finished her season last night and her team is 1-9.  Sounds disappointing but considering the league just about forced a parent to coach, we only had one pitcher (so no relief) and many other factors, it wasn’t bad.  The girls had fun and of course that is what matters the most.

CT’s team is still undefeated.  They won 4 games in a preseason tournament, 9 games so far in the regular season and will be definitely in the district playoffs.  He has awesome coaches and a really great team, who have been exceptionally nice to the rookie.

Neither kid has had a hit at the plate but that’s ok.  Life goes on.

The X pissed me off.  He has not been to all the games, meaning it has been my pocketbook funding our kids’ trips to the concession stands all season long.  Last night he was there and he refused to buy food for KB, who was hungry.  But that’s ok, I pointed her in the direction of a smart guy who had free puppies to give away.  She kept begging him for another puppy.  Now mind you, we have one at our house and he has 3 at his house, so honestly the kids have not been dog-deprived.  She carried one toward me in the stands and without her saying a word to ask, I said NO.  The parents around me just died laughing.  Its ok, because sooner or later, all of their kids did the same thing.

WT started football conditioning camp.  I guess it went ok, he only threw up 5 times.  But he will definitely be in better shape for it when two-a-days start up.  He told me last night that he does like working out, just a lot more with others.  I really hope he can feel this way a lot longer than just during his school years.

 

Vow of celibacy

That’s it.  The worse date possible.  I won’t go into the details because they are just too humilating for words.  Let’s just say, he is so not it.  Physically repulsive in the worse possible ways.  No wonder his pics were too far away for details.  The worse part is, he likes me.  So now I have to say thanks but no thanks in a nice way. 

So I’m now swearing off of dating.  I will focus on kids and career.  Because honestly if I tried again, I’m afraid I would find that he wasn’t rock bottom.  And that is just one scary thought.

Wow, great words where I least expected it

Sportziemom did a bad thing to me and got me hooked on watching Top Chef.  I did really enjoy it, even though she knows I’m not the type to eat fancy foods. 

Being a true fan, I like reading the site’s blogs with insights into the show, especially Tom’s blog, since he seems to be such a genuine and like-able guy.  So imagine my shock to read these words

Tom’s Blog

Women are reluctant to enter the culinary world because they believe (and this is not unjustified) that a cooking career is incompatible with raising children, which leaves those of us who want to hire, promote, and mentor women with a slimmer field to choose from than we’d like. And to an extent, they’re right: The bottom line is our society does not yet provide women in the workplace with the type of social supports, like high-quality subsidized child care or extended parental leave, that allows them to fully go for it, and the impact this has on the scope and depth of a career is profound. Right or wrong, men plunge into their careers without much thought about how they’ll navigate the work/family balance. They assume someone — spouse, parent, paid caregiver — will materialize to take care of it (and usually someone does.)

I bolded the part that really spoke to me.  Those two sentences summed up so much of where my marriage failed.  He never has or will think about where someone to pick up the kids will come from.  Either I did/do it or I arrange for it to happen.  When he isn’t paying child support, it doesn’t really bother him, I will make it work so the kids are fed, have clothes, etc.  And this happens in households all around the world every single day, not just by single moms but just from moms.  Yes some men get this and break the stereotypical mold but until it happens regularly, this is where the chasm of sexual inequality will lie.

Tom Colicchio is much more than a food genius. The title of this post is not to imply that Chef Colicchio is not a wise man, I just didn’t expect to find some a worldly gem of information in a reality tv blog.

I love when I get an email that says it all

‘We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.
 
On one side, you have a lawyer, married to a lawyer, running against a lawyer who is married to a  lawyer.
 
On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good looking woman who owns a beer distributorship.
 
What are you lads thinking over there?’