Absolute torture!

My husband REALLY wanted to torture me this evening. I mean, in the worst possible way. We left the house with no destination in mind. Just me and him, no children arguing over who's touching who or which one is being more annoying. Just the two of us, a half a tank of gas, and the city. Where does he take me? He takes me to Borders. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I could live in a bookstore like Borders or Barnes & Noble. Then, when I'm running around drooling over everything, he walks up to me slowly -- gets really close -- runs his hand along my side -- gives me "that" look -- and whispers ever so softly in my ear -- "You know we can't spend a lot of money."

Arrrrrrggggggg!!!!!

Thankfully, there were quite a few items in the store marked 75% off. I bought a beautiful, leather-bound journal for only $6.25, a gorgeous gift box for $1.50, and a really cool stationery set in a decorative box for only $3.25. Yeah, that's only $11.00! So, I guess it wasn't complete torture. Especially since I've been wanting a leather-bound journal for twelve years. :-)

Oh, I finally have a photo of the kittens to share. They are so precious that it's hard to leave them alone... but Pumpkin gets upset if you mess around too much with her little ones.


In a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to scan in some old photos from the 80's and do a little flashback here on my blog. Well... I don't see that happening any time soon. I went downstairs to gather the photos and the box they are in is now buried beneath two large, heavy boxes and all of those boxes are sitting behind three other large storage bins. Sigh... I guess right now is just not the right time for reminiscing. Still, I was really looking forward to it. It sounded like such fun.

Until I can do my own 80's flashback, here's a compilation of 80's music. (I think I have EVERY song in this video. Yeah, even Safety Dance! LOL)

If you can't say anything nice...

My mother used to say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I suppose that's why I'm so quiet online these days. I'm not sure if anyone wants to hear about all the craziness that goes on in my life. Seriously, someone should be getting all of this on film. :-)

I have a two teen daughters and the oldest (who will be seventeen in two months) skipped school twice this week and has been drinking alcoholic beverages. Egads! Yes, she is grounded... but that alone isn't going to magically change her behavior. It's time for mom to put on her counselor hat and talk about some core issues, consequences, the future, and all of that deep stuff. Talk, talk, talk. Do words make an impact on a teen?

I know I haven't mentioned this before... but my ex-husband has been living in our home for over a year now. It's a long, long story involving fraud, lies, divorce, and felony charges filed against him (which still haven't been resolved), all involving his third wife. She basically took everything, left him with thousands of dollars of debt she ran up, and pressed bogus charges against him as she walked out the door.

Anyway... yeah. It's been over a year. You know how little, insignificant things start to get on your nerves after a while? Like... someone not rinsing off the sugar spoon after stirring their coffee -- or drinking the last of your favorite beverage -- or using your special sticky notes that you thought you had placed in a safe place? It all sounds so trivial, and it is in the grand scheme of things -- but I still feel so annoyed at times. I really just want my home back to the way it was before he moved in. You know... so I can walk downstairs in only a nightshirt, so I can put my office supplies back into the office/guest room, and so his furniture and other possessions aren't in my living room, office, garage, on my back patio, or on the side of the house. I'm becoming territorial. :-)

To make matters worse, my husband works with my ex-husband and they were friends when I was still married to my ex. (It's a tangled story -- really.) So, my husband not only spends hours away from home working with my ex, he also spends hours hanging out with him in the garage. (What is it with men and garages??) This can't be good for a marriage. In fact, I know it's not. Actually, I have talked about this issue with my husband several times... "Just because he's living here doesn't mean you have to "entertain" him for hours every day."

Then I tell myself that everything happens for a reason. That everything is in divine and perfect order... blah, blah, blah. You know, trying to stay optimistic. Some days it works. Other days I scream, "Everything is NOT in divine and perfect order for, if it were, he wouldn't STILL be here!" Then I feel bad... because I should just be grateful that I'm not in his situation. "There, but for the grace of God, go I." I slump back up to my bedroom and try to console myself. I tell myself that it's okay if I feel annoyed from time to time. After all... I think I'm human... right?

Okay... so I need to remind myself of something...

It's in this song...




Oh, and yesterday was my "baby's" eleventh birthday. Before I know it, my little boy will be a teenager. God, I hope boys are easier to deal with as teens than girls are! If not, I'm moving out! ;-) He's such a joy, though. A real sweetheart. He has Asperger's Syndrome (an autistic spectrum disorder) and he's struggled a lot with socialization and reading -- but his vocabulary is advanced and he does wonderful in math. I always imagine him as becoming a scientist when he's older due do his curiosity with rocks, astronomy, and theoretical physics. (He loves to talk about black holes and parallel universes -- and you should see his rock collection!)

Okay... that is enough for today. I feel a little better after that bit of purging. Now I need to get back to dealing with life. :-)

Sleep Aid?

When I was fourteen years old, I fell asleep listening to this song by Air Supply for months on end. I'm getting ready to go to bed now... I thought it might help. It surely can't make matters any worse. :-)


***yawn***

From Sickness To Kittens

The weather has been very unpredictable here. Warm - cold - warm - cold. That's what I'm blaming for the cold I had last week. That combined with a lack of sleep. Yeah... lots of trouble sleeping. The amount of sleep I've been getting has ranged from one hour to six hours -- the average of the last 17 days is 4.27 hours per night.

Perhaps I'm hallucinating due to a lack of sleep... but I think not. See... I swear something is waking me up. I'm normally a heavy sleeper. My husband used to joke that a herd of elephants could stampede through the room and not wake me. Lately, though, I will awake from a deep sleep for no apparent reason. Then, when I try to go back to sleep, I will hear something move on the table next to my side of the bed. I sit up and look -- there's nothing moving and no explanation for the noise.

I'm a reasonable person. I look for logical solutions. There isn't one. Well... unless I really am hallucinating. But how many people hallucinate sounds generating from one particular area without hallucinating anything else (visual or otherwise) to accompany those sounds? Hmmm... I'm perplexed but I will continue to search for a logical solution. However, to be honest -- I'm no stranger to these kinds of things. Perhaps I'm haunted?

There is some HAPPY news! Pumpkin, the cat who adopted us (a stray who wondered into our lives), had four, adorable kittens today! Little Pumpkin is really still a kitten herself so I was very worried about her... but she is doing fine. The little kittens also seem well but I know that it's still too early to tell. I suppose we'll know in a few days whether or not they'll all survive. I certainly hope so. I'll post some photos when they get a little bigger. Right now, momma and kittens are inside of a medium size moving box with a hole in the top just big enough for Pumpkin to get into and out of. Not enough light for a photo shoot. :-)

Okay, it's late and I'm getting sleepy. It's time for me to try to get some rest. I hope to catch up with everyone's blogs tomorrow. I have a feeling I've missed out on quite a bit.

I shall leave you with this...