Work went well today. We had a steady customer flow, and I wrote a couple of nice deals, which made me a happy camper. Right now my mind is on next week, when I'll have almost a week off. I'll actually have six days off, but that's fine with me! The following weekend, we (Hubbs, Nick, Amanda and myself) go to New York City for my nephews wedding. So I'll have two lovely weekends without bullshit! It just doesn't get any better than this, folks! *does the happy dance*

Note to self: Always remember, it's the struggles that make you strong. Strength is not found on an easy path. Nuff said.

I gotta tell ya, I had a really nice time on my little getaway, and I got the impression that my parents enjoyed themselves as well. The drive down was really relaxing, and the Vettester ran like a dream. She sure loves the highway! I got in around 3:15, and we had coffee and talked awhile. My Mom told me that if I didn't mind, we were going out to my Aunt Pats house for a visit. Hell I didn't mind at all, as I haven't seen her since last year at NIcks graduation party. We discussed dinner, and decided that we were going to eat out at Old Country Buffet, which is up near my Aunts house. Dinner was good, and I made a second plate, which I haven't done for months. I skipped dessert though, and it was a bit rough going, as my Mom had a wonderful piece of cheesecake for her dessert, and it was hard for me not to go and get myself a piece too. But I hung tough, and went outside for a smoke instead. We went into a few small shops in the plaza there, which was nice. We drove over to my Aunts house, and when we went in, she screamed, "Barbie!", and gave me a huge hug and kiss! Wow, that was nice. We visited for about 2 hours or so, then drove back to my folks place, where I hit the sheets around 11:30, exhausted from going to bed too late the night before.


On Thursday, I got up at 9A.M., as we had to be at the fire hall by 10:30 for lunch set -up. My folks belong to a seniors group that has their lunches every weekday at the fire hall, and when I'm in for a visit, I love to go have lunch with them. They are all so sweet, and very entertaining! The only thing is, the meals are mediocre to say the least, but I eat it all, smile and say it was great anyway. I figure it wouldn't be very nice to say, "damn, lunch sucked again!" For some of them, it's probably the best thing they eat all day. Well, we left there around 12:30 and headed to a re-sale shop a few minutes away, where we browsed and had a nice time looking at some pretty decent things, I must say. I ended up buying a nice black and white houndstooth print skirt, (brand new with tag still on!) for $2.00, and a cool pair of earrings. My Mom got a pretty heart bracelet and Dad came away with a pair of dress slacks. A nice time, and I didn't spend alot of ching. ( I wore the skirt to work today, and it looked great!) We headed back to the house after about an hour in the shop, and just kinda got my things together and gabbed a bit more. I was pissed because it was raining and it just wouldn't let up at all. Shit. Well, I headed for home at 4:15 P.M., driving in the rain till I was almost half way here. By the time I got home, my car was almost dry, (thanks to a good wax job, that water just blew off!), so I didn't have to wipe her down when I got in. Amen for that, because I was a bit "road weary" and just wanted to unwind a bit before doing laundry and getting things ready for work today. I had a really nice time, and I'm so glad that I made up my mind to just do it. I need to do this sort of thing more often.

You know how every once in awhile, we have those days where everything seems out of our control, and no matter how hard we try, it just doesn't get any better? Well, I've had two of those days in a row, and thank god I'm off tomorrow. And my solution to keeping my sanity, (or what little I have left), is to get the hell out of Dodge. Yupper, I figure a little road trip will do the old psyche alot of good, so I'm heading down south to pay Mom and Dad a little visit. Short and sweet.......long enuff to be enjoyable, but short enuff as not to cause further brain damage. Just me and the Vettester and the open road.......sweet. I'll be back thursday.

I know I'm gonna pay big time tomorrow for staying up so late, but as I was flicking channels earlier, I came upon Disturbed live at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I've never seen them live, so I was glued to the set for the last half hour or so. Damn they put on one hell of a good show. The lead singers voice is just mezmerizing to me. Very talented group. I like!

I really enjoyed having the day off today. I slept in 'till 11, then got myself together to go out and spruce up my cars a bit. I swept out the New Yorker, dusted and polished a bit, and I must admit, it looks 100% better with minimal effort on my part. Then I Tackled the Vette with some detail spray, window cleaner and Armor All. I gave her a good sweeping, and she was all prettied up. Hubbs and I were gonna go for a little cruise, but it turned ugly dark, and started to rain. Needless to say, we'll have to go some other time. :( Right now I'm kinda beat, so I think I might take a little nappie poo.

Well, I met with Diane on Thursday, and I'm officially selling Avon again. Love it! In fact, I got my first order from Donna at work today. Only problem is, the office manager, Michelle, told me to keep my Avon stuff on the "down low" from the boss, because he wasn't happy that the office girls had brought in some kind of garden party stuff. Whatever. I just told all the ladies to keep the books hidden, so I don't get my ass in a wringer, and put a damper on things. Hopefully, I won't get "found out", and this will all work out wonderfully, as planned.


I'm pretty happy to be off work today. I mean it's my first Sunday off in 4 weeks! I hope it's decent out, as I want to give my cars a good cleaning. Especially the New Yorker, as I've pretty much ignored it all summer, and it shows! I did take it to the shop on Thursday as planned, and Dave was nice enuff to weld the exhaust pipe for me so it don't sound like a ghetto car anymore. Amen to that! I was tired of getting those "fix your car" looks from people. Although I just gave em the"mind your own fuckin' business" look right back. Works for me. Nite.

Yesterday went by in a blurr. I hate that, because I long for my days off, and when they kinda just fly by, it annoys the hell out of me. Diane, the Avon district manager called me yesterday, and I'm meeting her at Perkins today to get my ass signed up to sell again. I also put the bug in her ear that I want to do alot more than just sell. I think she got my point, as she mentioned that she does need people to help her sign on new sales people, being she has 2 districts now and the pressure is on. I'll see her today, get my stuff and see what happens. But if I know me, I'll be zinging along in no time. If I want something, I get it. Always. I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't. So this should work out fine. the only thing that is gonna be a bit tough is fitting it in with my already filled work schedual. I'll figure it out as I go, I guess.


It sucks that I have to be at a meeting at 9 AM on my day off. Asshole managers. The good thing is that I can sleep in a bit on Friday morning, because I don't start till 2:30. Thank goodness for that! After my meeting, I go to meet Diane about the Avon stuff, then I have a 2:00 appointment to get my exhaust pipe welded on my New Yorker. So there goes my day today. Shot....to....hell. But it's better than any day at work!

Today was one of those days, when I was wishing it was over, before it even began. I was physically tired, and my brain was like Jello. I drank coffee, and even had one of those "energy drinks" to help boost me along, but I was getting frustrated and tired no matter what I did. I felt like busting Jacob in the mouth when he said' "Look, only 8 more hours to go!" Instead I just muttered "shut the fuck up" under my breath. He didn't quote the time again the rest of the day. I'm home now, and I feel like I got run over by a steamroller...........twice. I need major zzzzzzzz's and I think I'm gonna head in that direction now. Nite.

Ya know, every year I see it, but I still can't believe it..........Christmas stuff on the shelves in September. Gimme a break! Do people really need 3 &1/2 months to buy decorations for the holiday? Really. In one stop, you can pick up your Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. I think it's plain stupid, and it takes all the fun and anticipation out of it all.

I picked up a little treat for myself on the way home tonight. Kit Kat has two special edition bars out, one with white chocolate and one with dark chocolate. I tried both........dark chocolate was a winner with me!


I had a neat idea while I was at work today. I think I'm going to sell Avon again. Just the other day, I was wishing I still had my Avon Rep around, as I used to buy quite a bit from her, and I really like their products. Then it hit me..........I should just sell it, even if just at work and to friends. That way I could get it whenever I need to, and make a bit of change on the side. Even if only enuff to pay for my own stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll even try for manager like I did before I moved up here. We'll see about that, but as for now, I e-mailed the company and said I'd like to be a rep again. Now all I have to do is wait to hear from them.

Update on Ryan: He finally was able to go home on Thursday, after mucho bullshit. I haven't talked to him, but I'm sure he's very happy to be back home. Now the legal battle begins, with a hearing and such. I'll give the details as I get them.

As of tonight, Ry is still in the County Jail, and really scared. Poor guy. He's just a sweet , big hearted country boy from Arkansas, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could happen to any of us, ya know? Picture this. He's in a business suit, walking to a sales call, and mother nature calls. So he ducks into an alley, discretely goes behind a dumpster, and takes care of business as fast as possible. Well, some woman was walking by, spotted him behind the dumpster, and runs and gets the cops. Four squad cars come, and arrest him in the alley, and off he goes to County, where he can't even make a call till he's arraigned. He was arrested at 11am, and it took till midnight for him to get a call out. Today there has been alot more red tape and bullshit. Hopefully he'll be out of there tomorrow.......poor guy. Why couldn't that bitch just mind her own friggin business? And 4 squad cars!!! Please! And aren't there drug dealers and felons out there that they should be paying closer attention to? If he were getting mugged in that alley, would that woman have run and got the police? Would 4 cars have come in seconds? I think not.

Well, after a long night of no information, we finally got some news this morning. Good news is Ryan is fine, bad news is he's in the County Jail. Yeah, it seems he was arrested for pissing in an alley. Can you believe that shit? Now why he didn't or couldn't call anyone is beyond me. I mean aren't you supposed to get one phone call when your arrested? Naturally we were all thinking the worst last night, and that could have all been avoided if he had just called his wife and told her where he was. At least we wouldn't have spent the night thinking that he might be lying dead somewhere. At least he's okay physically. Now to get him out of the "klink"!

I'm really nervous right now. My sister-in-law Maureen called a bit ago, and she's worried because her hubby Ryan has like, disapeared. He left for work at 7A.M. this morning, didn't call her all day, (which is unusual), isn't home yet, and she gets his voice mail when she calls his cell. I'm really worried, as Ryan is a pretty responsible guy, with two little kids at home and one on the way, and he's not gonna just go out and do stupid shit like not call or come home. She's going to drive to his office, and see if she sees his vehicle there. She said she called the police and hospitals, and they told here that ther have been no accidents in the area. That doesn't mean diddly though, because you can go off the road ond over a hillside and no one would be the wiser. Please be okay Ry. I hope they call and say he's ok. Damn.

See "Nuckin' Futs" for todays post!

Well I'm pretty pleased. I got Nick an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Spine Center on Monday the 9th! I was really surprised that they were able to see him so soon. Now I just hope that they can help him in a non evasive way, as I feel that surgery should be a final option, and we really haven't persued all the avenues that are out there yet. Well this is a start, and I guess I'll know alot more on Monday night.


I started my work out tonight. Not too much to start with, just some stretching, a few push ups and a few leg and stomach exercises. I need to start out slowly, despite my good intentions, as it's been years since I've worked out, and I don't want to get up tomorrow feeling like I got hit by a semi! It feels good to be getting back in the groove again. I know I can see this through.......yes indeedee!


So far my sales this month are great, and if I can keep it up, September might just be a great month for me. God knows I need it already. Moolah is a bit scarce with itsy bitsy commission checks, and I hate it when the check book is tight. No fun there. I need to get some new work clothes soon! Damn , most of them are so big now that I look totally stupid in them..........like I borrowed someone elses clothes. I'm not complaining, it's just that I have alot of clothes that I can't wear now, so it's like I wear the same three outfits to work everyday. Sucks. Good news is........yeah you got it...........shopping trip! See, there's always a rainbow! I better get to bed. I'm starting to sound dorky. Nite! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I swear, if smoking doesn't kill me, my job sure as hell will. Today was "balls to the walls" for 7 hours, with only 4 of us sales people on the floor. Damn it was brutal. As I was waiting on one customer, I had at least three more waiting for me to help them. I am so friggin' tired, that I can't even think straight. Ugh! I think I'm gonna hit the sheets soon here, as I have an 11 hour day ahead tomorrow, but then two wonderful, (and well deserved!), days off! Can't wait.

On the weight topic.....I'm pretty excited, as I feel I can now begin my "abs training". So far my stomach hasn't been achy for about a week or so, and I figure that means everything is healed up in there. That's a green light for me to start "crunching", and doing various stuff to hopefully trim the "chunky monkey" and the ole hips. The gals at work have been cutting out articles pertaining to ab work-outs for me, which I thought was a sweet thing to do. They're rooting for me big time!

The other day on my dinner break, I found a great dress for my nephews wedding in October. It's a sheath dress with a jacket, in black, with a ton of little white dots all over. Sharp. And it's slinky, but not too clingy. I think it's perfect, except for the fact that it's too long and needs hemmed to cocktail length. So I have to call a seamstress and get it done soon. I would also like to get a pair of sexy shoes that I saw at DSW Warehouse, if they still have them. They have a neat ankle strap, and I've always wanted a pair like that, so here's my excuse to get them! I love shopping way too much for my own good!