In A Mood

As I'm out on the front porch watering my flowers this evening, I see this little lady hanging around. Maybe she'll bring some better luck tomorrow cuz this week has kinda sucked. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I'll get my referral soon. LMAO most sarcastically.
I spoke to my 21 yr old goddaughter on Sunday. We hadn't spoken in more than a year.... which has been par for the course the older she's gotten. She caught me up on all the news with her family. Most of it was truly disappointing. The news of her brother (my godson and my namesake) broke a little piece of my heart. The path his life has taken is one that completely contradicts with mine. The more I've looked into the situation this week, the more my head just can't really process it. No... I take that back. My head can understand why things ended up this way. But it hurts my heart. Bad.

And it brought on a major case of guilt. Guilt that maybe I should've been there more for them these last 5 years or so. I separated myself from their mother because I just couldn't deal with the drama and dysfunction. I tried to still be available for the kids but it became increasingly difficult. Especially as they became teenagers and weren't as pro-active in maintaining contact with me. Now that drama and dysfunction has clearly marked every one of their lives in a negative way. And it makes me feel like I should have done more. I need to figure out a way to let that go.

I'm upset with my sister. She knows why. Quite frankly my feelings are pretty hurt. She knows why. I don't really understand the dysfunction within my own family most days either. And I really hate being lied to. Guess there should be no surprise as to why I have trust issues.

The jackasses in my neighborhood have already started with the firecrackers. Which sets my dog off on the most annoying, barking, pacing, general freaking out rampage. I really hate it. And July 4th is still 9 f*cking days away.

The job has been killer this week. I'm so far behind on paperwork at this point it's ridiculous. I hate when it gets this way. It's overwhelming. I'll dig out sooner or later. At least until I'm back to a more normal level of work that needs to be done. I'll always have an open case load. Always. I'll never have one day where every complaint will be closed. Just the nature of the job. Constant and steady. But I really hate when I get this far in the hole. Things start to slip through the cracks..... and in my job, they shouldn't.

I started out this morning by stubbing my toe on the bathroom wall. Because I'm a clumsy idiot apparently. I mean, it's not like that wall hasn't been there for the last 12 years I've lived in this house. I ripped it open pretty good and it bled all over for a few minutes. I thought I'd broken it... but as of right now I think it's just sore. Oh and then I started my period. TMI? Sorry. Told you it's been a crappy week.

I heard Farrah-Fawcett and Michael-Jackson both died today. I watched her special last month and was very moved by her battle with cancer. And no matter how anyone feels about MJ's later in life eccentricities and his unacceptable relations with young children... he still was a major part of my tween/teen years. Just feels weird that he's gone at such a young age. And Farrah was part of that same era of pop culture. I idolized her flippy hair and loved loved loved Charlie's-Angels. Wanted to be just like them when I grew up. Uh... wait a minute.... ;)

But I did have a little laugh as I pulled the ladybug pic off my camera. I found this one from when Maryellen and Sophie were in town. It's actually a business in Cincinnati that's sole function is doing paternity tests. Catchy name, eh? Is that not hilarious? But what does that say about where our society has gone? That a business can survive and profit from men who don't trust their woman is only having sex with them and women who have had sex with so many men in about a 28 day cycle they're not even sure which dude it could be. Ridiculous. I especially like the "Who's the Daddy" slogan on the door though.
PS. It just occurred to me that I'm clearing suffering from major PMS. But I'm thinking you may have already picked up on that. LOL!

Stupid Names

We'll all heard some of the dumb ass names that celebrities pick for their children, right? I'm not even gonna run down the list cuz we all know them. But it might surprise some of you to know just how many stupid names I've heard in my line of work. No .... I mean every day people with really stupid, like was your mother high, what the hell were your parents thinking kind of names. So I've decided I need to share some. Go ahead school teachers, nurses and midwives and throw yours out there, too. Cuz I know you've also heard some doozies.

A recent suspect in a crime was D'alcap0ne Alpaccin0. First and middle name. Were his parents watching "Scar-face" when he was conceived? How could he possibly become a productive member of society with that name? He was doomed from the start.

How about the siblings named Pizza, Apple and Frenchfrie? No... I'm not kidding. But wait... it gets better. They're pronounced more French sounding their mother says. So let me try to explain it phonetically. Pizza is not pronounced peet-zah. Try it as Pi-zay. Apple is actually Ah-pell. And Frenchfrie is Fraun-say-free-ay. Totally true story.

These are actually nicknames but just as funny. Two of my suspects in a case once were brothers Tylen0l and Baked Bean. When I went to BB's house to pick him up, he'd just left. I'd asked for him by his nickname when I'd knocked on the door. His auntie said I should be able to catch him cuz he couldn't of gotten far. I asked her what he looked like and I swear on everything sacred in my life she said "Well, he looks like .... uhhh... welllll... like a baked bean." It took everything I had not to pee my pants right then and there. When I finally got a hold of him and questioned him, I asked how his brother got to be known as Tylen0l. He said cuz the teachers in school always said he was a "headache". I couldn't make this kind of stuff up even if I tried. And yeah... the kid really did look like a baked bean. LOL!

You've all heard the urban legend about a mom who named her twins Lemonjello and Orangejello, I'm sure. Pronounced Leh-mawn-je-lo and Or-awn-je-lo. But I'm here to testify to the fact that they really do exist and live in our city's 5th district.

There's a local thief named Jesus-Christ-Superstar. Ironic, huh? But in all fairness to his mother, I believe he legally changed his name to that one.

Another set of brothers named Da'Baddest and Da'Meanest. I may be spelling those wrong. Can't remember. But that's how they're pronounced. A school teacher friend of mine gave me that one. It should be quite obvious that she said they were little assholes in the classroom. How could they not be? They had to live up to their name. LOL!

All of the above is totally and completely true. Real people and their real names. I might make this a series of posts cuz there are a TON more and they're hysterical. Who are some of the crazy named people you know? But don't give me urban legends. We've all heard those. I'm talking real live (or dead) people that you know or someone credible actually knows of. Those are the ones I want to hear.

Happy Father's Day!

To my Dad out in WyomingTo my brother who has stepped into that role so wellTo my brother-in-law who juggles 5To my grandfather in WisconsinAnd to all the fathers and fathers-to-be in the world.

Enjoy your day!

Quick Catch Up

I think life is finally starting to get back to a more reasonable pace for me. Maybe. Hopefully. The last couple of weeks have been a flurry of activity. All kinds of things have gone on around here. Some days I didn't know if I was coming or going. It's already starting to blend together in my head.

So here are some highlights to help keep it all straight for my own sake. This is really just a post for me to look back on and remember. Journal type stuff, ya know. It might be a little boring so feel free to skip it. LOL!

I went out and watched my nephew, Travis, play at a few of his ball games. He played in the outfield. I love how this pic shows how focused he was on the batter. Isn't he the cutest? My dad flew into town on June 5th for a week long visit. He came in for my grandma's 100th birthday party. It's always nice to have him home for awhile. My grandparents from Wisconsin were also supposed to come in over the weekend of June 12th. But they cancelled... which turned out okay since I don't think I had the energy to squeeze one more thing in. LOL!

After work on Tuesday (June 9th) I headed to the airport for what was supposed to be a quick flight to NC. Instead I ended up on a 2 hour weather delay. That sucked.... and my bar bill reflected it. Airport alcohol costs so much more than regular restaurant alcohol. LOL!

Wednesday morning Maryellen, Sophie and I jumped in the car and drove back up to Ohio. Not a bad road trip. All the gabbing between Mare and I made the time fly by. Plus Soph kept us entertained. She really gets into all the trashy celeb gossip. :P
I had to snap this pic when I looked over my shoulder and saw her with her foot all tucked up, totally relaxed and comfortable, just snoozing away. Adorable!
Mare and Soph spent the weekend at my place. In the middle of that I made a short trip out to Tatum's ballet recital Saturday morning. She was a kitty cat (with very big ears apparently). I asked her to give me a ballet pose. Does the girl have it down already or what? I can't believe how grown up she looks.
Just a random pic of the cute Chinese tornado that blew through my house all weekend.
Saturday evening we headed over to Robin's house for a party. They were celebrating her daughter, Sarah, as she graduated from Ohio State. (Go Bucks!) Maddy and Sophie spent some time in the pool before the temp unexpectedly dropped. It turned into a chilly evening so they got a bonfire going and brought out sweatshirts for bundling up. Then Marty whipped up some of his fabulous margaritas. It was lots of food, fun, friends and cocktails. The best of everything. I had a really great time!
Sunday was my 3 year LID-versary. Some days it's hard to believe I've been waiting *3 YEARS*. Other days... I totally believe it. LOL! To celebrate (or commiserate... depending on your perspective, I guess) , me and the TBG girls went to lunch at The Cheese-cake Factory.
Ohhh .... yummy yummy cheesecake can make you feel better no matter what. Me likey.
I decided to treat myself to a new bead to mark the occasion. I chose the "Key To My Heart". I thought that was appropriate for my 3 year anniversary. BTW.... I've added a few more since I started my bracelet in February. I've actually bought a bead every month and rationalized that it's my little monthly LID-versary treat. LOL! I'm about halfway full.
And just one more pic for me to remember who I was and what I was doing on June 14, 2009.
It was hot and humid as hell that day. I tried to edit the pic to soften my sweaty shiny face and frizzy hair. But all it ended up being was a black and white pic or a sepia pic of a sweaty shiny faced, frizzy haired ME. So there it is.... true to life in that moment. But I must say... I did a fantastic job with that upward angle to eliminate the double chin. Bravo to me! LOL!

3 Years Later

Still waiting.........

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today is my paternal grandmother's 100th birthday!
That's right, y'all.
I said 100!!!

The family had a big party for her on Sunday. We heard that Willard Scott was supposed to announce her birthday this morning on the Today show. I forgot to set my DVR so I'm not sure if that happened. She also had someone from the House of Representatives come to the party to present her with a special certificate. My grandparents were huge Cincinnati Reds fans. I have a lot of memories of the games always being on the radio or TV when I visited as a kid. So they're supposed to give her a birthday shout out at today's game. The pic below is my dad's branch of the family (minus my half brother, sister and stepmother out in Wyoming).

Gotta scoot. Off to catch a plane to Maryellen. My flight leaves at 3:04pm and it's right now 1:50pm. I like to live dangerously. See ya soon, Mare!

Another Dream Come True

It makes my heart so happy to see these two wonderful women
*TOGETHER IN CHINA*
holding their beautiful daughters. Finally!

For those who may not follow their blogs.....
there had been some delays with Pug Mama's travel approval because she fell under the new Hague rules. If you're not current on adoption stuff you won't understand... just trust me when I say it's complicated. Anyway, she had pretty much given up on the idea of traveling with her LID group. Which was devastating not only because it meant more time before she could go get her daughter ..... but it meant she wouldn't go with Luna.

Luna and PM were logged in on the same day with the same agency .......... and even planned on naming their daughters the same name for awhile. LOL! They met in real life for the first time back in 2006 and developed a really great friendship over the last 3 years. They were both so sad to not be able to finish out this journey together.

But at the very last minute, the agency called PM and said she could go to China with her travel group..... IF she could get it together in the next TWO DAYS!! That's right. She had two days to get prepared, packed, make arrangements at home for her kids and everything else in her daily life and get her butt to China. As you can see.... she did it!!!

Congrats again my friends.
I'm so very very happy for you both!!
(Peaches and Big Daddy, too! LOL!)

A Little Hectic

Y'all may have noticed an obvious lack of blogging recently. Unfortunately, that will continue for another week or so. Life is busy. What can I say. It won't be until about mid month that I can really take a breath. There are lots of good things going on.

• I picked my dad up from the airport last night. He's in town for a week long visit.
• Tomorrow I have to work and then pop over to my grandmother's 100th birthday party. Yep... I said 100!! That will be a huge family event.
  
• Tuesday after work I fly to North Carolina. For all of about 12 hours or so. Then I'm jumping in the car with Maryellen and Sophie to drive back to Ohio on Wednesday. Why, you ask? Cuz I'm a little crazy (well, maybe a lot crazy) and Mare needed some company on her road trip.
  
• Speaking of those two, they'll be in town for awhile. Staying with me a few days and then popping around to visit some other bloggy friends, too. In between their hospital stuff, of course. So the next couple weeks will be busy for me with some socializing and visiting around town.
• Next weekend my grandparents from Wisconsin are coming in for a high school reunion. So I'll have to squeeze in some time with them.
  
• That will be in between Tatum's ballet recital, a graduation party for her daughter and maybe even trying to get to Travis' last baseball game. Oh did I tell you Mare and Soph will be here during that time, too. And I'll also be squeezing in time with my dad throughout the week. LOL!
  

Not to mention all the things I've had on my mind recently.....

• Stuff going on with my mom's job loss. I won't really get into it here but I'll just say this is a very bad economy right now and things don't look promising.
• I've been getting estimates to possibly finish my basement to add more living space and another bathroom.
  
• Still fighting with worker's comp over my on-duty knee injury from OCTOBER!! It needs surgery. I've hired a lawyer. Now I have a doctor's appt next week (in between all the shit listed above) with their doc for an independent evaluation. Praying for a positive outcome there so I don't have to spend my $2000 deductible and burn my own sick time to repair the knee that I damaged AT WORK!
• Thank gawd the bad guy in the trial I had scheduled on Monday plead guilty. One less stressful time consuming thing off my plate.
• Many thoughts are in China as two of my girls await their babies tomorrow.
  
• Many thoughts are with with her as she adjusts to life at home with her new daughter and several of my other girls as they struggle with issues with their daughters, too.
  

So I'll be laying low in the bloggy world for a bit as I juggle all the plates I have in the air right now. I probably won't be making my normal rounds to everyone else's blogs either. I'll catch up eventually but for now ..............
Peace out
:)

What?!

When did this happen? Wasn't she just born last week?
In Tess' early pics, she looked A LOT like MY baby pics. Lately, she's been looking more and more like her mother.... my sister. But this particular look on her face... I swear I see both Carla and I blended together. Weird. Guess there's no denying we share DNA.