Remembering Scooter

Beloved Scooter
November 16, 1994 - October 21, 2008

A week ago last Friday, we said goodbye to our beloved Scooter. We knew this time was coming and we figured we had until the end of the year. In just a short amount of time she rapidly declined. Although she didn't pass away in the presence of her family, the vet assured us she went in peace.

Scooter would have turned 14 years old in November. We were not fortunate enough to have had her the whole 14 years. We found her in a pet shop that the owner rescued from a kill shelter. She was the only dog there that did not bark. She coward in her pen and she looked so pitiful that I had to check her out. Chris and I fell in love with her immediately and we made her a part of our family. She was five years old. That is somewhat middle aged for dogs but we didn't care. It took her almost a year to get used to us and she had several bad habits that we broke her of but she was the best dog we have had in my opinion.

She loved us unconditionally and she always demanded our attention. She would wrap her paw around my leg when she wanted some loving. When we brought the puppies into our home she was a bit miffed but she took to them like a mother and the puppies absolutely adored her.

For a week Reese has been in mourning. She has taken over the blanket that Scooter had and will defend it from Bentley and the cats. Bentley took to whining at night and scoping the house in search of Scooter. They have gotten used to Scooter not being around but they are taking over in the affection department.

I have had many dogs in my lifetime but Scooter holds a very special place in my heart. I will never forget the big baby.

Is Barrack Hussein Obama really eligible to be the President of the United States?

I would never be comfortable allowing any one to be the President of the United States(POTUS)if he was not a natural born citizen as it states in the Constitution.

There are three requirements to be able to run for President.

#1. He must be 35 years of age.
#2. He must have at least 14 years of residency in the United States.
#3. He must be a natural born citizen.

That is surely not a lot to demand of one who would want to run our country. Apparently Barrack Obama thinks so...

There is a lawsuit now brought into play by Philip J. Berg a democrat and attorney in Pennsylvania. This lawsuit is demanding that Barrack Obama show proof of his citizenship. John McCain was required to show proof. He was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father was stationed there in the military.

Please watch this in its entirety..


I want to thank Shelly from The Mom with Brownies. She did a lot of research to find the information she has posted.

I will not vote for a man that will not produce the necessary documents to prove that he is eligible to run my country. We have a lot at stake here and we do not need a shady, dishonest, self seeking individual to muck it up even more.

Lost and found in Katie’s room.

Little by little I am accomplishing more in the packing up the house department. While I was cleaning my daughter's room, I notice she has accumulated many objects that I thought were gone. I have been missing a necklace that my boss and his wife gave to me from their trip to Italy, nail polish, nail file, double A batteries and Chris' crank flashlight. Actually Chris forgot he allowed Katie to his flashlight. He did so she wouldn't run down the batteries in his Mag Lite. Now I understand why the cats are always rowdy around Katie's bedtime. She uses the flashlight to get the cats hyped up. Geez….

The kitchen is in disarray and I am limiting the family to just the basics. One plate, cup, bowl and silverware. Which means the small remaining dishes will have to be washed by hand instead of the dishwasher. This should be interesting, seeing as how my family, mainly the kids, think that every time they get something to drink they need a new cup.

We heard from the new landlord, she told Chris that we officially get access tomorrow. The carpets will be cleaned in the morning but we may move in boxes and little items tomorrow evening. The furniture will be moved on October 25^th. I am rather relieved that we get to take our time moving rather than having to hurry up in one weekend.

 

 

Pimple problem at my age…. OY!

Just how many acne treatments is one supposed to put up with before any results are proven effective for a long period of time? Since I started going through pre menopause, my skin hasn't been kind to me. I still get my monthly visitor and though it may not be predictable when it's coming every month, my breakouts tell me the time is getting close. I don't want to be reminded in that way though.

I have been using store bought brands for well over a year now. They will work in the beginning and then lose the battle as I use it daily. I really need to find a product that will work on a more consistent basis. I never had a real problem as a teen and young adult. Even though my skin would break out every now and then, I was able to bring it under control. Now… it's like fighting a useless battle. It's also embarrassing being a woman in my late 30's having to worry about what my face is going to look like the next morning. I never had this much stress as a teenager.

I don't want to use a fad skin program, I want one that is actually going to work and keep working in the long run. Does anyone know of a good skin regimen?

I cannot wait until the moving nightmare is over

Chris has decided to hold a garage sale this weekend. Let me rephrase that. Chris has decided that I should hold a garage sale this weekend. He and Jeff will be over Kat's house installing drywall. I love how I get roped into this stuff. Thankfully I will have my mom to help me since I hate doing garage sales on my own.

I have been sweating my butt off organizing the house and knowing what items will go where. I have been cleaning like a fiend and moving heavy boxes by myself and I don't know why but, my appetite has increased significantly and I am gaining weight. I can't understand it. I have been watching what I eat, drinking loads of water and being way more active and I am gaining weight. I was going to swear off diet pills altogether but I think I need to find something that will just give me a boost in the energy department. I am guessing I need to be more active than I have been. Although my levels of activity increased…so… I am not sure what to think about that.

I can't wait until this whole moving nightmare is over. I hate moving. I hate everything about it. It's just so tedious and time consuming. Plus it has ruined Katie's plans for a birthday party because we just won't have the room to accommodate her friends so we told her that on Sunday we will do just something together as a family. See a movie, go out to dinner and of course probably visit Build A Bear so she can get another one for her collection. I suck as a mom big time. ..sigh…

Still packing

My business is launching off the ground nicely. I have two more clients to schedule on a weekly basis. So far my Tuesdays and Wednesdays slots are almost full. I have avoided Fridays for the time being since my children are off from school this coming Friday and I am not quite sure I want a heavy scheduled Friday just yet. I still want to keep some time for my own house. I absolutely hate to clean on the weekends because I do not get any down time as it is on the weekends. One thing I am thinking of adding to my expenses is a cell phone that will be used strictly for business calls. So I am now on a search for unlocked cell phones. I already have a business line hooked up with voicemail that will accommodate calls when I am not available to answer the phone.

I know that we are moving but it was vital to go ahead and set up the separate phone line so I could get my business started. I am not extremely busy that I cannot handle doing a few houses during the week and have time to pack the house. So far the whole downstairs with the exception of the kitchen is pretty much packed. I have neat rows of boxes stacked up along the back wall. Once I get more boxes the kitchen and bathrooms will be packed with the exception of the last minute necessities. The upstairs will be the last to pack. I will keep 7 days worth of clothing out for my family and pack up all the rest.

I am excited, anxious and stressed all at the same time. I hate moving but when it needs to be done, I try to make it as smooth of a transition as I possibly can. Chris and I rearranged the garage to accommodate what is being sold in the garage sale this coming weekend and what is being moved with us. On Saturday, my parents surprised us with a whole family room set of furniture. Their neighbors who have made their Florida residency permanent, have bought new furniture for the home and needed to get rid of their old but still looks like new furniture. We received a Queen sized sofa bed, a loveseat and two nice and plump chairs. Chris then informed me this morning that his co-worker and his wife want to give us another sofa bed and recliner. I seriously do not know where I am going to put all this but Chris insists we take it all. He is determined to find a place for it all. Whatever….

My eight year olds shoe addiction.

I have been going through the family's wardrobe to see what still fits and what is going to be a huge pile for the Salvation Army and/or Goodwill. Now, I know the kids and Chris have a lot of clothes but the amount of shoes they have compared to how many I own is ridiculous.

I have one pair of nice dress shoes, one pair of sneakers and one pair of Crocs. Three pairs of shoes to my name. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less.

Chris has two pairs of sneakers, three pairs of dress shoes, and two pairs of work shoes.

Jeff has two pairs of sneakers, two pairs of dress shoes, two pairs of sandals, and one pair of Crocs.

Katie has the most pairs of shoes and this girl is going to be the teen from hell if she doesn't break away from the "Gotta have shoes to match every outfit phase". It is so amazing how much an eight year old girl knows about shoes. I told her that we need her curb her shoe addiction when she told me she wanted a pair of Asgi shoes. I told her when she gets a job she can buy all the shoes she wants. But, until then, not gonna happen.

Know the FACTS!

Florida Issue Alert Senator Barack Obama's latest television advertisement doesn't tell the truth about John McCain's health care plan. Senator Obama falsely claims that John McCain's plan will cost Americans more for health care than they are spending now, and will leave more Americans uninsured. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PCWZEYZO4) THE FACTS Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently lied to Americans about John McCain's plan. Their claims have failed every fact-check - from CBS to the Washington Post. John McCain is not going to raise taxes on middle class families. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the only candidates in this race that plan to raise taxes. John McCain will reform the tax code to offer more choices beyond employer-based health insurance coverage. While individuals will still have the option of keeping employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Senator Obama claims that Americans will spend more under the McCain plan, but the truth is that your employer could provide you with health insurance as good as a Member of Congress, and you would pay no more in taxes - regardless of your tax bracket. In fact, you would have some additional money left over from the McCain tax credit to put in a health savings account. Call to Action John McCain knows that Americans are worried about health care costs, and he believes we can and must provide access to health care for every American. Senator Obama continues to air misleading advertisements about John McCain's health care plan in Florida, and we are depending on you to help to share the truth about John McCain's message. With less than four weeks until Election Day, we need your support more than ever. Can you help the McCain-Palin ticket by volunteering at your Local Victory Office for a few hours each week? Your efforts to share John McCain's message of real reform and real change will make all the difference on November 4th.

Carry My Cross

Carry My Cross by Third Day

As long as I remember, I've been walking through the wilderness. Praying to the Father And waiting for my time. I've come here with a mission and soon I'll give my life for this world! I'm praying in the garden and I'm looking for a miracle. I find the journey hard but It's the reason I was born. "Can this cup be passed on?" Lord, I pray your will be done In this world. So I'll carry my cross And I'll carry the shame to the end of the road through the struggle and pain. And I'll do it for love. No, it won't be in vain! Yes, I'll carry my cross and I'll carry the shame.

I feel like I'm alone here and I'm treated like a criminal. The time has come for me now even though I've done no wrong. "Father, please forgive them." They know not what they've done In this world. So I'll carry my cross And I'll carry the shame to the end of the road through the struggle and pain. And I'll do it for love. No, it won't be in vain! Yes, I'll carry my cross and I'll carry the shame.

Three more days and I'll be coming back again! Three more days and I'll be coming back again!

I loathe packrats!

As most of you know already, I am moving in just a few short weeks. So… I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure what we are taking with us and what will be going into the moving sale next weekend. While I have been slaving away in the garage yesterday, I came across this box of cable wire and connections. Chris is known for collecting mass amounts of junk like this. His packrat disorder has gotten way out of hand. Before we moved in to this place I made him go through all his clothes and donate to the Salvation Army what he didn't wear anymore. He had clothes from back when we were in high school! I know his own mother harped on him all the time to get rid of things that he hasn't used in over a year. His philosophy differs from "normal" people though. Once he gets rid of it he will need it.

Anyway, when Chris came home from work to find me still in the garage making a somewhat organized mess, he mentioned something about a CAT5e box not supposed to be in the trash pile. I thought I heard him say that it looked like a CAT 5. And I got upset with him. Sure it looked like a hurricane went through here. I have been sweating my ass off all day trying to tackle the garage and organize shit all by myself what the hell did he expect it to look like? I think he about peed his pants laughing as he picked up the stupid cable box that I threw in the trash and put it into the pile he knew we were keeping. Grrr….. Stupid packrat!

I hate packing!

It's been a very hectic few days. And no end is in sight in the near future either. Oy!

On Saturday, Chris, Katie and I went over to Kat's house to remedy her A/C problem The one that we gave her was not working right and eventually started to leak and spout water all over. So… Chris took that unit out with the help of Kat's son, Mark (My son, Jeff, worked earlier than normal because he was going to the Homecoming dance that evening). They put back in her old one and it wouldn't even blow any air. The fan bit the dust. Kat had to have a brand new one put in. Now, because of all the donations and support she has received she was able to buy a new one and she is also able to take that off the rent. So it worked out for the best all the way around. The new one is working great! Chris wanted to have it run all week to make sure no leaks would occur and we will be going over this Saturday to finally tear down the old drywall and replace it. Eventually we would like to repaint the entire room for her but that will take some time that unfortunately we will not have the time for in the immediate future.

We are moving this month to an exact model house that we are in now for $300.00 less in rent. We tried to work something out with the landlord (the one that never likes to return calls). Just last month the landlord called us to see if we would be interested in buying the house from him. After he and his wife got a divorce, their settlement left them owning all their property (one house and two trailers used for their landscaping employees) 50/50. Except for the house he bought shortly before we moved in here. He wanted to get out from underneath her. Chris told him then that there were way too many structural repairs to have to deal with and that there would be no way we would pay more than $100,000.00. Chris told the landlord that he would have to take a bath on the sale of the house. The landlord told us he would get back to us on that and that he understood exactly what we were talking about. Never called us back! Surprised? I'm not. However, Chris did mention to him in that same conversation that either he could consider selling to us (which for the record I did not want the house) or seriously consider coming down on the rent and that seeing how the economy is now a lot of places are coming down on rent. He straight out told us that his ex-wife has the say in that and because they have to pay an additional $100.00 dollars a month to pay the mortgage, (Hmmm… I am pretty sure they took advantage of the subprime market) she would probably tell us to look for another place. Chris told him if she was not willing to come down then they have our last months rent and we will look somewhere else. That is exactly what we did.

We will be moving out of here by the 22^nd. Sooner if she has the carpets cleaned earlier. And as I mentioned before it is the same exact house except for a few modifications. Jeff will no longer have to deal with the utility hookups being in his bedroom closet. The Utility room is down stairs where there a third bathroom is where we live now. I am 100 percent fine with that. Jeff is really fine with that. Although he will lose access to the bathroom from his bedroom, because a huge closet is there in the new house. And we also have a linen closet in the new house. The lanai in the new house is actually a sunroom and deck area. We like that better and they also have converted one half of the garage into a lounge room. We don't need the garage for the cars, just our bikes, my dad's motorcycle, Chris' tools and my cleaning products. We don't use the double garage now except for storage. So we can deal with the garage just being for storage.

So… when we informed our landlord of our intention of leaving, he became upset. He asked if we were unhappy with our neighbors. WTF? Chris told him that we were very happy with the neighbors. He then asked if we could hold off on the whole moving gig because he and his ex wife were in the middle of refinancing and possibly could match what we would pay the other landlords. Uh… NO! Sorry… Can't do that, we have already made a commitment to the people. He actually told us that we were being very selfish because he was very willing to negotiate if we just let them know.. Can you see the type of people we are dealing with? We DID discuss this with him a month ago. He never got back to us on anything we previously discussed with him last month. When Chris' repeated back to him word for word on what he said about his ex wife not willing to negotiate and we told him that we would find another place. The landlord's response? NOTHING! What I really find amusing is that when I came home from taking Kat to the doctors and picking my kids up from their grandma's house, there was a FOR RENT sign already in place in the yard. UNFUCKINGBELIEVEABLE!!!! Seriously this guy is a douche bag and a half! Within in an hour of me leaving and Chris coming home for lunch, he already put up a sign. Yes he certainly has the right but I just can't believe how quickly he got to that when he has never and I mean NEVER responded to anything that went wrong with the house. The whole huge ass tree branch situation, the leaks from the A/C that also leaked into the garage and that section of the ceiling coming down, which did damage to our stuff in storage and the leaks from the roof causing ceiling damage to the front of the garage. And last but certainly no least the whole tick debacle. It just amazes me how he was like Speedy fuckinggonzales with the For Rent sign.

Chris seems to think that we will lose the deposit simply because the landlord is mad. I say he can fuck himself if he thinks he is keeping any of it! But of course Chris' just wants to get away from the Looney shits and may very well let them keep it just to get the hell out! What do you think?

Introducing..... Mindy's Green Solution.....

That is the official name of my cleaning company. I will be using all natural cleaning products from the Melaleuca Company. The only way to get these products is to become a preferred customer. They do not sell in any stores. I have used their products in the past (Oh... about 12 years ago) when I worked for a cleaning company. The products are like no other and I love the fresh citrus and melaleuca plant smell. No harsh abrasives, ammonia or bleach are a worry in these products. Now because they are all natural hence the the "Green" in Mindy's Green Solution!

It's just me at the moment doing all the work. I would rather have it that way than have to hire on people. I don't want overhead and I don't want to have to run background checks and drug tests. If I ever get to the point where it would be reasonable to hire people I may.

I have set up a new phone line exclusively for the business and Chris has made fliers, brochures and business cards and I have already set up appointments. My first test run was with Kat's house, shortly after she came home from the hospital. When she feels up to it she will write up a letter of recommendation. My grandparents have already "hired" me to clean their house twice a month and they are spreading the word in their neighborhood.

I don't think I will need to do much advertising in the way of paying for promotions or mailings. I have always believed in word of mouth advertising. Hopefully I will be up to at least 10 customers in a few months. I am hoping for more weekly customers than bi-weekly or monthly. It will be so much easier to schedule that way.

You have the RIGHT to know the TRUTH!

If we as Americans are to make an informed choice to decide who is qualified, experienced and not one to hide where he actually stands with this whole housing and economic fiasco.... I suggest you think long and hard before you cast your vote. Look for the facts yourself!

I have searched every link in this video and found the facts to be true!

Now I am MAD!

This is why we need regulation! Accountability people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We need to stand up as Americans and make our government let these corporations and Big Executives fail and take responsibility for the crisis we are in now! PERIOD!!!!!!!

Hormones stink

I give up. I have tried relentlessly to find the best acne treatment for my son. For years he has battled acne. I don't get it though. I didn't have bad acne when I was a teenager, nor did his father. So I am at a loss where he gets it. I know his doctor has said on more than one occasion that his hormones might play a very active role and if he follows a cleaning regime and avoid harsh chemicals he should clean up in no time. That didn't work. Jeff showers daily, washes his face daily, he is conscious of not touching his face and we have restricted his sugar and caffeine intake and still nothing. I am tempted to try all those supposedly sure fire cures or treatments but they are out of our budget at the time being.

I just feel so bad for him having to live with this. I will give him credit though… he doesn't allow it to hinder his life. He has many friends and he does get a lot of girls that call the house so I know that department isn't lagging but man… he deserves a break.

Time to show your boobies!

I just want to thank everyone that participated by nominating Kat for the first $359.00 of the BoobieThon money raised to go to her. I say that because she has been awarded the money. I truly believe we had a hand in the outcome and I am sure they felt she deserved it since she has put forth many hours of volunteering with the BoobieThon in the past. Again, everyone, Thank you for making this a reality for Kat.

Speaking of the BoobieThon, this month marks Breast Cancer Awareness and the BoobieThon runs every year to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation. So, if you haven't already why don't you submit a photo your girls to the fund raiser and help them raise money for a very worthy cause. Men… you are not excluded… all are welcome!