Needing smiles, getting tears

I'm going to list all the awesome costumes I've seen stopping in here today. I bought candy to have at my desk for all the little ones that go trick-or-treating on my high-profile block, and the cutest kids have been coming in.
So far I have seen: (I will add as the day goes on)
Lion
Cinderella
A baby tiger (in his carrier-adorable!)
3 Brides
2 Incredibles (one was the sister, one was the brother)
Peter Pan
4 fairies
A non-descript princess (but cute nonetheless)
Nemo
Bob the Builder
Soldier
Witch
A two-week old Cow. Cute kid, sleeping through the whole Halloween thing.
3 Darth Vaders
A Bat
A Mommy (Yes, she was pushing her baby in a stroller and had her 'mommy clothes' on)
A Cat
A Butterfly

We got a letter from the Welfare Dept. today. They must have thought they were sending me good news, telling us that we qualified for daycare assistance, only having to pay a co-pay.

The co-pay is $100 A WEEK.
My paycheck is $276. Daddy's differs weekly depending on the hours he worked.
We can't afford that. They think we can, but we can't... I may have to end up quitting after all. They base our income on gross pay-before taxes are taken out- so they feel we make lots-o-cash, but I get a hundred taken out in taxes a week, and Daddy gets the same plus $45 in child support for Little Daddy. So after rent and gas and insurance is paid (on the car, thank God we don't have payments) and groceries and diapers, the daycare will just end up putting me in a big hole that I've already struggled to get out of. Barely.
Whatever.
I'm trying to concentrate on the cutie patootie kids and getting excited about going out with my boy tonight.

*Deep Breaths...*

I just don't get it.

I don't think I ever will.

Every time I read a story like this one my heart breaks into a million pieces, while simultaneously feeling raging anger.
I have read about stories like this one too many times.
Why, oh why can't these people just kill themselves instead of hurting these poor innocent children???
I do not condone suicide, but I'd prefer it than have them kill their children.

I'm not perfect, my life is not perfect, but I'd rather kill myself than ever do something to hurt my son.

I just don't get it. Can it just stop? How bad could it have been? I don't know their story, but FUCK!!!!!!!! the kids had a full life ahead of them...

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those parents whose heads are spinning with all the preparations...

And the ones who are preparing feasts for kiddies to come visit....


For the ones who want to scare the crap out of Trick-or-Treaters...

And especially for the kids going out in their costumes...


ENJOY!




***And many, many apologies to the 114 people who have come here looking for Elmo Pumpkin Templates, you won't find any here. Sorry. Really. Maybe Tony could help you find one??? I mean, he DID do the Colonel...

Will I be STUCK forever?

So the costume has been brought out of the closet and hung out in the open, waiting anxiously to be worn by my excited son tonight.
As I was taking it out of the closet I wondered how long exactly I'm going to be stuck in this world...I thought he had gotten over "Lala", or at least pushed him off to the side so he wouldn't consume every conversation and every DVD/VHS we watch at home, but it seems that since we got the costume, heeeeeeeeee's baaaaaack!
I wake up in the morning to my son pointing towards the living room saying "lala! Melmo!". I get dressed in the morning to the boy riding my ankles holding one of his tapes or dvds asking me to put it in for him. (Thank you Daylight Savings Time, now my son wakes up when I do. )

So it's coming to the time when my son will inevitably the the new TMX Elmo on t.v....and I will be hearing more "Melmo!" in my house.
Don't get me wrong, I think the little guy is cute just like the next person, but I know it's going to be such a hit like the Tickle Me Elmo, it's not even going to last one milisecond on the shelves. Who knows if the store employees will even be able to get them out of the boxes in an attempt to get them on the shelves. Can you picture it? The waiting outside the stores? The hundreds of Mommies and two or three Daddies causing a stampede as soon as the doors to the store open? The laughter and technology is much better this time around, so kids are going to want to keep making him laugh, just to see him bend over and fall down from laughing so hard...
I don't know. I'm still trying to keep him away from the t.v.....

Who's with me?

Yeah...I'm not liking this pitch black-ness when I get out of work...
I HATE WINTER.

*also- look at the time...why haven't I left yet?

*Peeking in from the corner*

I'm back in my office.
It feels awesome, but I must say that I actually miss being at The Other Office already. Not because of too much, but I kind of liked being there constantly doing something. I may be a little busy here today finishing up some projects I commited to for The Other Office that I haven't finished, but the rest of the week...what the hell am I going to do?
Blog....catch up on some PPP Posts because I've fallen behind and soon I won't be getting anything from there...reading...
OH! READING! I started reading again this weekend! Can you believe it? Like REAL reading, as in A BOOK. My sister does nails part time, and one of her clients gave her a bag full of books. I was rummaging through the books to see if there was anything worth stealing in there, and among all the romance and mystery novels there was one that caught my eye. The Devil Wears Prada. I had seen previews for the movie, but never watched it. So I took the book and told her I would be renting the movie (it is out on video isn't it?) after I finish the book. I thought it would take me forever to finish the book, as Little Man is very time consuming and doesn't like to see Mommy 'just sitting there'.
I'm already halfway through the book.
Has anyone seen the movie or read the book? Liked or Hated it?
I was going to bring it with me to work today, but figured I would never finish my projects so I'll just bring it tomorrow.
Okay, so I will be catching up.
Adieu.

A decision has been made

*DEEP BREATH*
Are you ready?

I'm going back to school.

*YAY* Clap, clap, clap, cheer, cheer, cheer...

Okay, so not technically going back in the physical sense, but I'm going to sign up for some on-line courses. The college my mother works for offers several courses I can take from 'home' (work, in my case) and I don't even have to show up in person to take the exams, I do those on-line, too. The thing I'm rather nervous about is if I'm busy at the office and I don't finish an assignment by the deadline they give me, and I still haven't put the internet on at home...I'll start panicking. I'm going to have to find a way to put the internet on at home, I have a computer all ready to go it's just the COST of internet. The cheapest for high-speed here is about $45. I've been told not to even bother with dial-up...
I don't know.
But whatever, I was talking to Head Admin and she is actually taking an on-line course on Excel Spreadsheets right now (good info for us to know here in the office) and she does her 'homework' here in the office when it's slow or when the bossman isn't around to see. She told me since I'm usually alone at My Office I should do it, it would get me some college credits that I need and prepare me if I ever need to find another job. (Is that a hint? LOL.) I'm also worried about Stoopid's nosey ass, if she would be searching my desk (which I swear she does) and she would find evidence that I'm using 'company time' to do other things not-company-related she would rat me out. Or the Shitter who is always trying to see what I'm doing on my screen. Those two are the only ones I'm worried about.
Well, I get the course book on Monday to see what courses I might be interested in and see if I'm going to start in mid-November...
Let's see.

Throwback Thursday

Daddy stayed home from work yesterday, sick as a dog. Poor guy, he always goes to work even when he's sick so him needing to stay home was a big deal, I was worried. But we couldn't both stay home, so I left him with enough Dayquil to get through the day and some chicken soup. He slept most of the day, and by the time I got home from work the poor guy had no energy. I cooked some dinner and we settled in to watch one of our favorite movies; The Italian Job. Little Man was coming down from his cupcake high (yes, they ate the cupcakes yesterday!) so he sat quietly with us to watch the movie.
Is there anyone else out there that absolutely loves this movie as much as I do? I mean, besides the obvious advertisement deal they must have had with MINI Coopers (which I fell in love with when I saw this movie), the movie was good.
It always gets me and Daddy talking about what we would do if we came across (stole, whatever.) 35 MILLION dollars in gold bullions. First off, obviously we would have to get someplace to store them. Steve (in the movie) was keeping them in his house and trading them off for cash with a Pawn Shop on a weekly basis.
I would want to be featured as a smart investor in the news for having a single bullion worth $240,000. But that would only happen if I didn't steal it, right? Hmmm...
I wouldn't trust a Pawn Shop to trade in the bullions like Steve did, I would rather find somewhere secure that would give me the best value for the gold. Show me the best prices to trade them in for, and I'm there.


We can never sit through that whole movie without discussing the possibilities. Last night was no different. Except the movie was interrupted more by Daddy's sneezing than our conversation, LOL. Only thing is, maybe I shouldn't have sat next to him because now I'm feeling rather sneezy...

Cupcakes- Round 1

Okay, so I didn't make the cupcakes last night. My headache turned into a full-blown migraine before I could take any meds (don't have any here at this office) so my sister valiantly volunteered to make the cupcakes. She called me as I was hiding beneath the covers (stay away from the light!) to tell me how cute they were coming out, she was getting all artistic with the frosting drawing cobwebs and ghosts.
Cute.
So she brings them to me this morning, and decides to come with me to drop Little Man off. When I walk in the youngest teacher (I don't know her name...bad mommy) gives me a strange look. "I brought the cupcakes today..." I said. "Oh. Um, the party is Tuesday." "What? The other teacher told me I could bring them in any day this week." "Oh, she must have not known that the party was set for Tuesday. But we could put them in the fridge until then..." Five days in the fridge? Ummmmm, NO. I left the cupcakes anyway, but my sister just told me "Hey, then you could still make the ones you wanted to make for Tuesday!" Yeah. Whatever. I felt like an asshole, I had asked the teacher four times what day to bring the cupcakes in, and four times she told me "Bring them in any day."

Ugh. I'll tell them to just give the kids the cupcakes today or tomorrow as a snack, and if I feel like making them for Tuesday, then they'll get made.
So disaster on the cupcakes.
And my sister didn't take pics of them. So let's just pretend this never happened.

Morons.

They are everywhere.
Unfortunately the people in The Other Office think it's me. When they ask me to do something, they stop right in front of my desk, tilt their head a little, and ask "Do you know how to..." and proceed to ask me the stupidest question ever. Then they give me a funny look when I say yes, like I have just been thrown into this desk without knowing a thing. Then they hover to watch me do the task, unsure whether to trust me or not, and that's something I hate. I know they don't know me but damn, trust that I've been with the company long enough to know how to write the name of a street on a label.

There are morons in this office. One guy just called to ask me to look up a file for him. He says he wants Shell Drive. I repeat Shell Drive back to him to make sure I have the right name so that I don't fuck something up, and he says "Yes, Shell." So off I go in search of the file, which I do not find. I come back to the phone and say "You're sure it's Shell Drive? It isn't in there." He says "It has to be in there, Shell Drive, M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E, Shell."
Um, that's Michelle, you idiot.

I have a massive headache.
My son had a blast on his hayride trip, he got to ride a horse. He won't be bringing his painted pumpkin home till Friday. I can't wait to see what's on his pumpkin. I'm bringing the cupcakes to his class tomorrow morning, if I can muster up the energy to bake tonight. Pictures will be taken, I promised, though I know they won't look as good as the Kraft picture. So don't be disappointed when you see photos of lopsided cupcakes...again, I have a headache.

My hair is super short. I forgot to tell you guys, I washed it and it's curly again and it's like two inches below my shoulders. *SIGH* It's super short, and I really don't like it, but what can I do but wait till it grows back? It's not like you can pump my arm and it grows...(does anyone remember that Barbie? You would 'cut' her hair and then pump her arm up and down and the hair would 'grow' back? No? Just me?)

I was looking to change my template, but blogger's templates suck ass. So I guess I'll just stay with this one for now, until I get really tired of it and put something equally as cheesy up.

Yeah, big headache, left eye is shrinking...leaving now. Ta-ta.

Barely alive here...

Been super duper busy. I miss my office. Have a few minutes, so I wanted to say hi and take a moment to check in with ya'll. Don't hate me if I don't comment, it's hard having to hide my screen from the nosey fucks here...

I'm thinking the Head Admin is leaving early today because she has a company event to attend (ha, I don't have to go!) so I may be back to tell some stories.
Ciao.

Ahem.

I'm at The Other Office.

How are things, you ask?

The day has been flying by. I like that I've been busy learning new things so I'm not sitting at my desk ready to pull my hair out from boredom. Lunchtime came so quickly, had it not been for my stomach growling I would not have thought to look at the time. I was super hungry, since last night I ate a cup of soup and then had an Exorcist episode soon after, and I ate nothing this morning. (Cup of soup must have been bad, no other explanation for the Exorcist episode...)

I'm learning everything that the Head Admin does, as Bossman wants me to be able to cover for her if she needs a day off or decides to take a vacation this year. Cool stuff, I wish I could do it everyday, it would keep me busy.
Poor Other Admin, though, has already had a few moments with Stoopid. I feel bad, but I'm glad I'm not there...

Little Man has his first field trip tomorrow to a hayride and pumpkin painting farm. They asked me to volunteer to be a chaperone, but I can't take the day off. I'm in training right now, but if I had been at My Office, I would have taken the afternoon off to be with them. It sounds like fun. My sister may go, she thinks she's free in the afternoon. Still no word on the State covering for all this...those assholes avoid phonecalls really well. Four messages have been left by me, two of them not-very-nice but civil enough so they don't get pissed and stamp a giant red REJECTED on our application...
That's all for now. I'm going to use Head Admin's lunch hour to catch up with ya'll.


***Edited to add: OOOOHHHH! I almost forgot to tell you, WE GOT HIS HALLOWEEN COSTUME! (Latteman, do I have you beat?) He picked it out himself, it just happened to be the last one and in his size, what are the chances?...can you guess what he picked??? Look at the title of this blog...I'm STILL STUCK. He's going to be Elmo. But, dammit, the costume looks sooooo cute on him. Pictures will most defenitely be posted right after Halloween!

Soaked

It's raining over here today...pouring. I was getting Little Man out of the car in front of the day care and some idiot (who already saw the car in front of him splash in the puddle) comes flying through the puddle, soaking me and Little Man. There was no way I could have moved out of the way fast enough to avoid the splash.
Thanks, asshole, I appreciate the chill I'm going to get now that I'm sitting at my desk in wet clothes.
The only thing I'm grateful for is the decision I made to wear dark colors today, because at least I won't have visible mud stains all day.
I just hope no one comes in while I still have wet spots all over my shirt...

Opinions. Pleeeease.

I'm thinking on making these for Little Man's class next week for their "fall" party. (So as to not offend those that do not celebrate Halloween in his class...)
I found it here but I think I can cut the prep time in half. (yup, that's me, always looking for the short-cut...)
Do they look good?

As opposed to making cupcakes, just putting orange frosting and chocolate sprinkles on them like I was planning to do before I found these?
Thoughts?

I'm taking FUUUULL credit, thankyouverymuch!

Yesterday after work, Daddy went to go help Choo with a job (on a car) so it was just me and the little guy at home. I haven't been feeling very well (again) so I wasn't hungry, I made some Mac&Cheese for him and let him eat it on my bed.
After his dinner he got his bath and he laid next to me, stroking my hair. Or tangling it, whatever. None of his books were around and you know I didn't feel like getting up, so Hey! Let's sing the alphabet! He makes it up to E before just sitting there, eagerly waiting for me to get to the part where I say "next time, Little Man, sing with me." He dissolves into giggles hearing his name in the song and makes me start all over.
What I'm taking full credit for is the new counting he can do all by himself. My boy can count to five without hesitation. I know there are kids out there that have been counting to ten since they came out the womb, but let me enjoy this. I always count steps, cups, plates, anything that I do during the day that can be counted. And last night he did it by himself. I was so happy.
He fell asleep before Daddy got home, so we couldn't share this awesome new thing with him, and of course he refused to do it this morning. But I know he did it. And I couldn't feel more elated...I remember feeling this way when he said his first word and took his first steps...
*sigh*
Growing up....

Good-bye! So long! Adieu!

I'm going to spend the week at The Other Office next week. My boss took me to lunch yesterday and sat down to talk about him wanting to still make those changes. (Me going to The Other Office. Can't seem to find the old post...)
So we order lunch (he had a glass of wine with a tuna sandwich. LOL!) and he starts to ask me about the daycare sitch. He actually got out a piece of paper to total up how much Daddy and I have left over after normal expenses. It was quite embarrasing for me, telling him what we bring home and what we are left with, but he wasn't being judgemental, he is trying to help. He actually asked me "How do you guys do this?"
I could just shrug.
Somehow we survive.
"Unacceptable. They can't deny you help..."
They could.
They haven't yet, but they could.
So he took down the number of the social worker and told me he wanted to speak to her and perhaps their supervisor...
My boss...
gotta love him.
So anyway, I shall be at The Other Office and perhaps posting will be sporadic. The desk there is in a more open area and there is a door behind the desk to get to the second floor, so anybody can see my screen and we can't have them knowing I'm 'socializing'!

The greatest thing is being away from Stoopid. A week without her? And soon no more of her at all!!! How will I be able to hide my excitement???
I have a post I have to dedicate to her, in the past two days alone she has given me a week's worth of Stoopidity that I must share with you...
check in soon.

Want a new President???

(((DOESN'T EVERYONE???)))


I say, let's bring back some of the old Presidents. Why not? Compared to our Shithead leader they couldn't possibly do any worse, right? Lincoln? He got slavery abolished, great job. Yes, it got a Civil War started, but there was an accomplishment after it all. What is the accomplishment going to be after this war? Seems like things are just getting worse...
Let's conjure up the sprits of the past and get them to run for the Presidential Race in 2008!

I found the funniest T-shirts online, and just in time for Halloween/Election time. I do wish it were time for the presidential election, because these would be peeeeerfect to wear tot he polls!
Presenting: The Zombie Presidents:


Nixon. Famous for saying "I am not a thief". Well, he's famous for other things, but still...I like that line. I also like the mask they have made for him for Halloween costumes.


Kennedy. He did nothing wrong, right? Wasn't he one of the most loved Presidents, ever? I mean, yeah he slept with Marilyn Monroe, but who didn't? I say he would make a great President right now.


Reagan. Wait, he's still alive, isn't he? Well, bring him in! I was born during the Reagan reign so I don't know of anything scandolous...

Right about now I think anybody would be better than the Tard. I wish we could bring Clinton back, he was smoking everyone up, that's why everyone was so peaceful! LOL. (joke)

I know...

There's going to be an accident at the intersection outside my job today. With the rain (drizzle) the intersection seems to have gotten a little slippery, and cars are not stopping in time...I've been here about a half hour and already there have been three people sliding halfway through the intersection...
These are the people that think they can beat the light and realize at the last moment that they can't...
It's going to be an interesting day.

It's frickin raining part2

What I AM upset about with this new moist weather we are having today is:Dammit! i just got my hair did!
For those who know, my hair is (WAS) down past my ass. Veeeeeery long. Well, yesterday my dear sister decided she wanted to blow dry my hair straight, which is not an easy feat for anyone. (For God's sake, my regular hairdresser ended up with arthritis and everyone jokes that it was because she had to do my hair) Now this was all pre-baby. I haven't had my hair professionally done since I got pregnant. Sitting down for four hours under a hair dryer and then getting it blown straight...No. Not for a pregnant woman who couldn't even sit through a whole movie. So- my sister was all "Let me cut your ends, you have a lot of dead ends."
No.
Hell no.
See I have this problem that when people say "I'm just going to cut your ends." I end up with half my hair butchered off. When I say "I just want an inch off." it somehow translates into people's minds as "Cut as much as you want, i don't mind." Fuck that, I DO mind. The reason my hair is so long is because when I was a 14 I went to a hairdresser that I didn't know (mistake #1) and trusted her (mistake #2) to just cut my ends. I ended up with my once-halfway-down-my-back hair right below my ears. I guess she heard me say "Leave me with the ends." Needless to say she didn't get paid, I left there in tears, and there was nothing I could do but wait till it grew. And I haven't cut it since. (Except for the inch I would cut every six months with my trusted now-arthritic hairdresser.)
So last night found me sitting on a chair in the middle of my living room with a towel wrapped around my head turban-style arguing with my sister on why I didn't want her near me with scissors. Daddy found it hilarious, he was sitting on the couch with Little Man watching us like a sitcom.
"FINE. Just the ends." I tell her.
"Well, you have a lot of dead ends. You haven't had your hair done in ages... I may have to cut a few inches."
"Inches? NO."
"Di, it'll grow back. It's only hair."
"NO."
"Look, I'll show you where I'm going to cut." and she grabbed a chunk of my hair and showed me.
"That's too short." I said.
"Di, OMG! What is wrong with you? It's not like you do anything with it anyway!"
Huge sigh.
"Fine. Just the dead ends."

My hair was snipped (butchered, massacred) and she blow-dried it.
While it's straight it reaches the middle of my back. I'm afraid to see what it looks like when I wash it and get it curly again. I told her if one strand touches my shoulder I would cut all her hair off in her sleep.
So now it's raining and curly hair blown straight doesn't mix well with rain. I'll end up with a serious case of the fuzzies you see in the commercials...

It's frickin raining

Movie night!
That's right a trip to Hollywood tonight is in store for us so we can veg out in the house with some popcorn and homemade smores. (ask me about that if you're interested.)
Now- I already saw The Break-Up. I'm thinking The Omen??? Has anyone seen that, if so was it any good? Those are the only New Releases I'm interested in today.
Or maybe we should take it Old School and join the National Lampoon's DVD of the Month Club. I hear that they have a movie-a-month release that brings comedies to your home that have probably been released ages ago, but nobody gave it any hype. Did anybody watch that Harold & Kumar go to White Castle? Well, that movie was actually made a long time before anybody ever 'discovered' it, and it was actually about to go straight to the dollar bin because it didn't make any money at first. Then it blew up and everyone wanted to see it. So the DVD Club brings those unappreciated comedies right to your home...I should look into that because God knows I hate driving to the video store now. Crap, come to think of it I have a movie that's due today...
See if I did Netfix or was part of the DVD Club I wouldn't have to worry about getting the movie back on time...