Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

How was '08 for you? Mine started out very hopefully. I was alone on New Year's Eve but had been given the promise that it would be my last like that. This year: I got to go to Vancouver to see my love. My stepgrandparents died. My son graduated high school. My boss got fired. My love dumped me out of the blue for someone else. I lost 20 pounds because I was physically unable to eat for two months (depression diet - highly effective but NOT recommended). There's more, but I've written it all here before. I've written more than 300 posts, so it's all here if you really want to go looking for a recap. I'm starting the new year with the hope that this will be better than the last...

My Internet connection problems have been a bit of a nightmare for me lately - meaning it's down now for HOURS at a time. It's been odd though. I've picked up books to occupy my idle mind when I can't do my usual web surfing. I've read three books in their entirety, in addition to finishing one that I've been reading in bits and pieces for several weeks now. It makes me want to buy more books, but when I go through one every day or so, it really adds up. Besides, I don't have any room for any more books. I have stacks and boxes of them all over the place as it is. You see? I need the infinite resources of the Internet to keep my mind occupied. It is constantly in consumption mode and must be taking in information at all times, it seems. I have forced myself to have some quiet time each day though. I'd gotten away from my meditations for too long, and now I'm having to ease back in. I'll have to just have my quiet time for a few days before I...

As we spend the holidays with our families, it's easy to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle that we might tend to forget those who can't share this time with their families. We are all struggling, but our military heroes and their families are sacrificing even more so that we - and others around the world - can enjoy a life of freedom. This year, Sears is sponsoring the Sears Heroes at Home Wish Registry, so that those of us here at home can give thanks and help fulfill the wishes of those brave souls serving in the military and their families who have sacrificed so much that their loved ones may serve for the good of others. You too can help Sears in its partnerships with various nonprofit organizations to help fulfill our heroes' holiday wishes. Donations to the Heroes at Home Wish Registry are not tax-deductible. Gifts are given to military families in the form of Sears Gift Cards, which are distributed equally among all registered military families. More than 30...

The weather's been crazy lately, hasn't it? We've had ice storms, rain storms, snow showers, bitter cold, brutal wind... Friday we had a deluge, complete with thunder - actual thunder on Dec. 26. That just seems crazy. The temp was just at freezing when it first started, cold enough to put down a glaze of ice. I know - I wiped out on it at work. Saturday, the temp went into the mid-60s. We didn't even need a jacket. Overnight, the wind kicked up, blowing the branches out of the trees and causing the temperature to plunge again. The rivers are running bank-full, and there's standing water all over the place. Just a couple more degrees' drop, and it will all be frozen again. I'm predicting 8-foot snowdrifts in February. Yeah, that would be just my luck. And in honor of the holiday season culinary indulgences..... As you're resisting those holiday treats, consider this: Are you able to appreciate a tiny, perfect moment? Consider what I got for a measly 60 c...

This week's Flashback Friday is one of my all-time favorites, and I'll never apologize for it: Tainted Love by Soft Cell.

Well, Christmas is over and done with, and even though this was a lean year, somehow it still looks as if a toy factory exploded in my living room, and we've no idea how all the new stuff will fit in a room that didn't have room for all the old stuff before. Christmas Eve the girls and I wrapped the last of Book's gifts and stashed them away before heading off to pick him up for the night. As we drove past Wal-Mart at 7:30 pm, Gin piked her sister and said, "Take a look, Munch. That's the last time you'll see that. Wal-Mart is completely empty." I looked over and she was right. The parking lot was empty, as they'd closed the store already. I was a little surprised that it had closed so early. I expected they'd want to pick up the last-minute Christmas Eve shoppers. Anyway, I pointed out to Gin that we would indeed be seeing the same sight the next morning when we brought Book home. We spent the late evening at my parents' house, opening gifts a...

We had more freezing rain tonight, so well-stocked with junk food, Munch and I spent most of the evening watching some of my old favorite cartoons. They're now her favorites too. Here's a sampler of some of the ones she liked best: Marvin's my FAVORITE!! This had her giggling. :) This one had her laughing hysterically.....and as soon as it was over, she even asked to watch it again!

The wind and cold has been brutal today. We've had a little snow, but it's come in tiny little pellets, and the fierce wind is blowing it all away. I always wonder where it's collecting. I was listening to the wind all morning before I had to go out. It sounded as if it would tear the roof off the house, it was gusting so strongly at times. I hoped that it would die down a bit before we had to go out, but no such luck. We took Book home to his dad's, as per our usual Sunday schedule. I've arranged with his dad to pick him up on Christmas Eve, so we can do our Christmas at my mother's that night. Then we'll open presents Christmas morning at my house before I take him home again. That way, he gets to be with his siblings for all of the Christmas festivities and isn't excluded from any of it. After dropping him off, the girls and I went out to my parents' house, and then we all went into town for lunch. That was a break from the routine, but we had an ...

Bonus Flashback because HEY! It's Friday!

Oh boy, have I been neglecting things around here! So I guess I should provide a little update.... Well, we've been having some nasty weather around here, and I've seen by the news that there's been some weather weirdness all over. Some friends in New Orleans sent photos of SNOW there last week. Most of the comments were along the lines of, "What the hell?!?! How do you drive in this sh*t?!" I even saw that Las Vegas - you know that city built in the middle of a DESERT - got 3.6 inches of snow yesterday. Here in my little hamlet in Ohio, we got ice. Lots and lots of ice. I went into the office Monday, as per my usual schedule. All was well then. Tuesday morning, I couldn't access the Internet from home, so I was forced to go to the office again, even thought that's my usual day to work from home. I finished up around 1 p.m. and headed home, because I've had to keep my days as short as possible these last two weeks. Use-it-or-lose-it policy for vacation...

Today I'm offering a little seasonally appropriate cheesiness for Flashback Friday - Wham's Last Christmas. Enjoy!

The live version - not the "adult" video - of Duran Duran's Girls on Film

I took the day off work today and spent the better part of the time sleeping. I woke up to get the girls off to school, then I climbed back into bed. I woke up about three hours later, but I was still feeling tired, so I lay back down, expecting that I wouldn't fall asleep again. I was wrong. The next thing I knew, it was 1 in the afternoon. I don't regret it in the slightest. I probably needed the rest. It's certainly been long enough since I've gotten much good, uninterrupted sleep. And it was wonderful just waking up on my own rather than to an alarm clock or a child knocking on the door or kids arguing in the hall outside my room. When I finally did get up and moving around, I managed to get a few things done that needed to be done. Then I got online and did a few things there, including some Entrecard dropping that I've been neglecting lately, I must admit. I also got a welcome message in my inbox on Facebook that a friend of mine in Europe is planning a trip t...

As each day passes, it seems that life is weighing more heavily upon my already overburdened shoulders. And even the little things I had to bring me a shallow and temporary moment of escape or joy are being lost to me one by one. At least I have one small thing to look forward to - or I might anyway. And even that is still months away, if I really have it to look forward to it at all. I don't know what to believe anymore. But I need something to believe in. I need something to hope for, and I need something I hope for to actually come to pass. Every day I wonder how I will manage to get through to the next. And then get through the next. Each day it gets harder, and I wonder if it will ever end. I wonder if I will ever get to a day when I won't fear the next and the next. If there will ever be a day that I can feel warm sunshine and loving arms and soft kisses and know that I am safe and loved and finally whole.

This week's Flashback Friday is Scritti Politti's Perfect Way. Enjoy!

It struck me this morning as I was adding up my hours for my timecard at work: I have almost four days of time off that I somehow have to work into my schedule over the next two weeks. The only possible way that I can do that is to take at least one WHOLE day off. A whole day off. It's almost too good to be true. I've decided that I'll be taking Monday or Wednesday of next week, depending on what works best for my backup person. That way, I'll either have a long weekend (since this is my weekend off), or I'll split up next week into two mini-weeks (although I'm working next weekend, so that "mini-week" will still be nine days long). Either way, it's one less day at the office. And I still have almost three more days' worth of hours to shave off, so I'll be keeping my work days as short as possible. I can use the break right now, and maybe I can use the opportunity to find some new revenue sources.

Life gets a little crazy and sometimes we just want to get away. What better way than to hit the open road and feel the wind blow and cleanse away all the stresses of life? But does your car have the power to make that drive really effective? If not, you might want to consider turbocharging it. Turbochargers force air into the fuel system to boost horsepower. If you're looking to boost the power in your car, take a look at turbochargerpros.com. You'll find an Acura turbocharger, Volkswagen turbocharger , and everything in between. To get that extra boost out of your car - and put that extra pep in your step - turbocharge it.

I woke up this morning to an unusually warm bedroom. What this usually means is that my son Pooh, who works early shifts at McDonald's, turned up the heat before he left the house and forgot to turn it back down. When I say turned up the heat, what I mean is that he's pushed the thermostat all the way up to the top to try to quickly warm up the house. I couldn't believe that this could have happened, as just two days ago he did it, and I made it clear - in no uncertain terms - that he was not to touch the thermostat again unless he plans to pay the heating bill. Well, I opened the door to my room, and rather than being struck by a wave of warm air, I found myself in a freezer in my hallway. It seems he'd neglected to pull the door shut all the way, and as usual, he did not lock it. The latch on my front door doesn't work properly since my ex-husband "fixed" it a couple of years ago, so it blows open rather frequently if it's not kept locked or properly...

It's holiday shopping time, and this year we're all more pressured than ever to get the most out of our holiday dollars. We're looking for practical, durable gifts that won't break the bank. Not just for law enforcement anymore, "tactical" clothing has gained popularity in the general population for its incomparable practicality and durability. Naturally, with this increase in popularity, cheap, low-quality knock-offs are showing up all over the place. It's not enough to have the look of tactical pants with a clay or khaki color and a few more pockets than ordinary pants. What makes the tactical pants used by real law enforcement personnel special is their careful design and heavy-duty construction. If you want the tactical gear used and trusted by law enforcement professionals and outdoorsmen across the country, you want the genuine 5.11 Tactical label. If you're looking for pants, they've got more than 20,000 pairs in stock. Available in a dozen...

I've become a pretty big Mac fan since I got my laptop for work about a year ago. I didn't realize how high a pedestal I'd placed Mac on, though, until today. I was home from work, surfing some blogs and all was going well. Then suddenly, when I was in the middle of typing a comment on a blog, my screen went black. The screen on my MacBook Pro...just...went...black. I was dumbstruck. I was in shock - I mean, to a degree comparable to seeing a stranger shot dead in front of me. I sat staring at the black screen, thinking, "What the hell?!?! This is a MAC! This doesn't happen!" I've worked on Windows PCs for years and years, and frankly, whenever one crashed on me, my response was something like, "Damn it! Typical! Piece of crap!" But when my Mac just went black, I was ... stunned ... bewildered ... speechless. Even now, I'm typing away just perplexed as to what happened and wondering if it will happen again. I have to laugh at my reaction even...

Flashback Friday brings Pictures of You by The Cure, as performed live at Wembley Stadium in 1991

I hate the current commercial campaign for Glade air freshening products. Every time I watch, I cringe. This woman lies to her friends and family to make herself seem more wealthy, important, sophisticated, cultured, whatever. But she's a pretentious phony liar. She's sitting in her bathtub - but claims she's at the spa. She invites her pals over for yoga and claims the scent in the air is some exotic aromatherapy. She dumps a box of hard gingerbread cookies onto a plate and tries to pass off some canned fragrance as real cooking. I see that all the friends think this stuff smells great. And clearly the lying society wannabe thinks the stuff smells good. But what kind of ad campaign has the person using your products ashamed to admit she's using your products? And who are these friends who just laugh it off every time this woman lies to their faces? Is the humiliation funny enough that they don't mind she's a complete fake?

The girls are out of school today - the first day of Thanksgiving break. My mother was unavailable so I had to work from home today, rather than go into the office as I usually do on Wednesdays. It was all working out fairly well, at first. I got up and made my coffee. Munch popped her head into the room a few minutes later, but I told her she didn't have school so she could go on back to bed. Which she did, for a few minutes. Gin was still sleeping, so Munch went downstairs and made herself a bowl of cereal then entertained herself quietly for a while. When Gin got up later, she went downstairs and got a bowl of cereal, then headed back up to her room to read a book. So the house was quiet. Gin was reading. Munch was eating, again. Mom was getting to work undisturbed - while also running downstairs periodically to work on the brine for tomorrow's turkey. Then what did I do? I took the quiet and decided to spoil it. I suggested to Gin that she might want to get one of her chore...

It's almost universal that the giving of flowers is one of the most romantic gestures a partner can make. The most romantic gesture of all is putting real thought into those flowers - not just the aesthetic arrangement, but the secret messages those flowers convey.  Back in the 1800s, men and women used flowers to send  secret messages to each other. Since the propriety of the day would not allow lovers to express their feelings verbally, the Victorians developed an intricate language of feelings and emotions using flowers.  If you want to say - Use these flowers I am thinking about you - Asters I love your innocence - Baby's Breath I'll be faithful to you - Bird of Paradise (given to a man from a woman) I send you luck - Bells of Ireland I long for you - pink Camellia You're adorable - white Camellia I'll never forget you - pink Carnation My heart aches for you - red Carnation Wish I could be with you - striped Carnation I'm disappointed - yellow Carnation I se...

Here's another of my '80s favorites for Flashback Friday: The Promise by When in Rome.

I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse. Everyone in the house now has officially been sick. (That's the curse.) But no two were sick at the same time. (That might be a blessing.) Last Friday night, Gin came into my room and said she had a stomachache. Not two minutes later, I hear retching sounds coming from the bathroom. I called Book's dad and told him I would not be picking Book up for our usual Saturday visit because Gin was sick. It was a good thing I did, too. Gin spent half the night hanging over a bucket in her bed, and even though she didn't feel sick Saturday, whenever she tried to eat anything, it came right back up. By afternoon, she was actually getting angry about it. By Sunday morning, she was perfectly fine again. Sunday night, you guessed it, Munch said, "I have a stomachache." Replay Gin's scenario, except Munch got a day off school for it. A few days passed, and we thought it was over, then Pooh got it too. His lasted a day lo...

With more than 375 million copies of his books sold and 11 thrillers reaching # 1 on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list, Dean Koontz is known for his middle-of-the-night-sneak-up-behind-you literary surprises. But what you didn’t know is that he is quite the comedian! Koontz is currently promoting his new book Your Heart Belongs To Me in a special video blog at Barnes & Noble.com. Readers and fans have posted questions online, and Koontz is answering more than a dozen of them in a series of videos that began this week. Koontz says, “The questions are lively and direct, and my answers are mostly true, though occasionally evasive and deceptive.” A new video will be posted every weekday through November 26th, the day after Your Heart Belongs to Me is released. The videos can be seen here , and in the Fiction Book Club .

A sixteen-year-old girl has just become the first female in professional Japanese baseball's all-male league. You go girl!

I've been waxing nostalgic lately, so I've decided to institute a new feature I'm calling Flashback Friday. I'm a child of the '80s, so I'll be offering each Friday a song, video, news item or some other '80s memory. This week, it's one of the best songs ever - Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill

Gin was sick all weekend, and it hit Munch last night too. So Gin went off to school today feeling better, but Munch spent the day in bed. It did mean that I didn't have to go into the office. A sick kid means work at home for me, while for anyone else it would actually be a day off. But at least I got to stay home. And I did not volunteer to trade it for tomorrow in the office, so I'll be home then too. No footie on tomorrow though, I see. Great. I'm depressed, and I don't even have anything to look forward to. There's good proof to my theory: hope is the quickest road to disappointment. I dared hope that I'd have a footie match to cheer me up tomorrow, and I don't even have that. Yes, I am depressed today. I'm 36, twice-divorced with four kids in a crappy job that keeps getting crappier. I'm alone, but even if I had someone I could really love who really loved me back, how awful would it be of me to inflict me and my life on that person? It seems l...

I haven't taken the time to outline this post, so it will probably start to wander all over the place. Consider yourself warned. But here's my rant on California's Prop 8 and the two other gay marriage bans that were enacted by the voters on Tuesday. Let's go over the standard arguments against gay marriage, and I'll address them one by one. (Thanks to the jackasses at nogaymarriage.com for making this easier.) Maybe it'll help keep this a little more organized, but I still don't promise not to stray a bit. * God says it's bad, according to the Book, anyway. We have no business legalizing behavior prohibited by God. Alright, I'm going to get the God argument out of the way right now. We're not talking about church doctrine, we're talking about law - as in man's law. The church doesn't apply on a legal issue. Each church has the right to decide whether or not they will bless the union of a same-sex couple or a heterosexual couple, but ...

Munch had her second swim lesson this evening. She came home from school and immediately asked if she could change into her swimsuit. I told her that she could, but it was probably a mistake, because then she started asking every 20 minutes if it was time to go yet. Two hours later, yes, Munch, it's time to go. "Okay! I'll be waiting in the car!" She's so excited. After swim lesson - and picking up our Thursday night pizza - I had to race to get the girls back home to drop them off so I could go to a parent/teacher conference for Munch at school. They schedule these things for 10-minute sessions. I was there for 40 minutes. Surprise, surprise - Munch is flighty, disorganized and unfocused. I know this. Every parent/teacher conference I've had has been the same. In fact, I've already gotten at least five phone calls from her teacher about her work habits this year alone. Funny thing is, we just got her report card, and it was four A's and a B, plus thr...

I think it's safe to say that we're all hoping somehow, some way, this economic nightmare we're facing is going to turn around soon. Remember the "It's morning in America" message that Ronald Reagan offered when we were seeing double-digit inflation, double-digit interest rates and double-digit unemployment numbers of the late 1970s? I was only 8 years old when Reagan took office, but I remember the factories closing down in my town, and my mother being forced to take a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant just to keep me fed and a roof over my head. Things slowly began to turn around. New businesses came into town, and my hometown - which was fast becoming a ghost town - recovered and even grew. Those businesses are now laying off workers, cutting back shifts, and we're all back to tightening our belts after the salad days. Every expense is getting to be too much, so we're all getting a lot more creative in how we save money. Some of them are complicat...

May I pause to take a breath, please? Today, I finally could, and it was wonderful. Just to stop and breathe. Lately, I've been so busy, waking up every morning with a long list of things that must be done and not enough time to do them. The last two were the worst, I won't get into Monday, but the insomnia set back in Monday night. I watched the hours tick away all night, until finally at 4 a.m. I gave up on the attempt and just took a shower. Afterward, I spread a towel over my pillow and managed to squeeze in about an hour and a half of sleep. I had to wake up early Tuesday morning so I could get the papers' homepage news up before I had to run to a meeting at the girls' school. After that I had to drive in to the store (it's in another town - we only have a little tiny market here). I came back home to find that Pooh had just arrived home from work, so we went over to the church hall to vote - it was his first time. :) He's a bit of a political junkie too. F...

My friend L at work had a party yesterday for her husband's 40th birthday, and she invited me and the kids to join in the festivities. I took along Gin, Munch and Book, hoping that Book would be able to manage with the crowd. It was my first party since all those graduation parties back in May and June. Those weren't a lot of fun for me, since they came immediately following my break-up and I was kind of a mess. (Ok, if anyone remembers back that far, clearly, I was a lot more than "kind of" a mess.....) First thing when we arrived at L's, Book decided to take a seat in the kiddie pool sitting on the front porch for the apple bobbing. "It looked like a chair," he told me, so we did the best we could drying the back of his jeans with a hair dryer. Once all the kids arrived, they started into the apple bobbing in the kiddie pool. I had to laugh at Munch as she critically assessed the pool and stated, "There needs to be more water." It didn't ...

My top droppers for October: Politi-Gal Communique by Ivanhoe WindMill on the hill Hong Kong, iPod and Joomla New Dilemma Thanks for reading!

I had work in the office today. Long day, at least compared to my usual work days in the office. The server was really slow, so everything was taking forever. After work I had to run to the store to pick up a witch hat for Munch's costume for trick-or-treat. I hurried home, so I could do Gin's makeup for her costume. It included some wholly unimpressive creepy flesh that took forever to dry. I finished her up, and she headed to the neighbor's house to go trick-or-treating with about 14 giggling fifth-grade girls. I think I'm glad I missed it. Here's Gin in her zombie mid-1980s secretary costume. :) With a scarier angle below. I took Munch to her very first swim lesson today, and she was so happy and excited she couldn't stop smiling to hold her breath. She chattered her instructor's ear off, too. She did pretty well though. Trick-or-treat started at 6 p.m. but her swim lesson didn't end until 6:10. She threw on her costume in the car for her abbreviated ...

Ok, I see on Fox News (oh aren't I just eeeeevil for actually watching the political coverage on ALL the cable and network stations) tonight that there is a Halloween display in California that includes an effigy of Sarah Palin being hanged by a noose. Apparently, this display has been up for three weeks, and this is the first I'm hearing about it. Law enforcement officials have said there is no legal recourse, and they have no legal reason to ask the homeowners to take it down. It's not a hate crime, they've decided. The media - at least the national media - haven't mentioned it until now. Hmmm....... Do you suppose that would have been the reaction if it had been an image of Obama?

My son Pooh and his buddies are doing a podcast , and I hadn't gotten around to listening to it until today. It's a comedy podcast, similar to a morning radio style. Good stuff! Check it out!

I'm not posting as much as I had been, and I think I'm feeling a little uninspired. I can also use the excuse that my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of the election next week and Halloween this week and...other things. For Halloween, I know what I want my costume to be, but I haven't gotten what I need yet. And we have makeup for the girls but haven't yet chosen the appropriate clothes (they're both going scary this year). We should probably wrap up the prep for that today. I'm slow starting this morning, too. It's nearly afternoon, and I'm not getting much accomplished at the moment. There is much I could be doing, but I'm putting it off. I already know that I'll be leaving in two hours, and that's when my busy day begins. I just don't feel adding to the list of things I have to do already. I probably should though. Nothing is getting accomplished without me, so I guess I haven't much choice. Ok. I'll get started. In a minute.

I did get my football today, but it wasn't what I'd expected. My TV directory had said the broadcast would be Chelsea - Roma, but instead it was Liverpool - Atletico Madrid. I didn't really want to watch Liverpool, but I realized that I'd never seen Atletico (I'm still a newbie, remember?). I was pleased to discover that Giourkas Seitaridis plays for them. I discovered him during the Euro Cup. And he wasn't the only one I noticed today. Oh, it is definitely worth expanding my horizons in the football world. :) I still got to watch most of the Chelsea - Roma match too. I was watching it online at the same time I was watching the broadcast. Not easy! That reminds me. I've got to find team roster photos for Roma. Some of those fellows definitely warrant closer attention.... Really! I DO love the GAME! I've just been single for a while now...... Well, that's all of my footie fixes until next Tuesday most likely, so I guess I'm back to politics tomorr...

I got to spend time in my happy place today. :) I watched TWO soccer games. The first was the Arsenal-Everton match from this past weekend. My cable service shows one Premier League game from the weekend on Tuesdays. The second was Man U-Celtic. 3-0. My boys are doing quite nicely. Hehe. I'm glad to see that my sports curse apparently cannot reach that far over water. Or something. Actually, I didn't quite get to see all of the second match. I saw the first two goals then I fell asleep. The match was anything but boring, but I was soooo tired. As an added bonus gift from my cable service this week, I see I get another Champions League match tomorrow. Chelsea-Roma. I'll have to be home by 2:30 to catch it from the beginning, but I can probably manage that. Yay! I love Italian footballers. Yummy! And Michael Ballack...double yum... I love watching the game - the skills, the strategy, the sheer artistry of it - but isn't it nice that they're just so damn good to look a...

I swear I have been so busy that I have just not been able to post as I feel I should be. Just don't corner me to tell you what I've been doing. It's all the usual, typical family thing. I mean, there's been nothing particularly outstanding or eventful, but every moment of each day seems to be fully caught up in it lately. I did get a nice little break today, though. I got to know better one who'd been a distant acquaintance for quite some time. Of course, nearly every contact we'd had up to this point centered on politics, so naturally this one was dominated by the topic as well. I can't help myself. I'm a political junkie, but I am trying so hard to stay out of the hate game going on with this campaign. So, we talked politics, but we kept it general. I suppose I don't have to apologize. Just about everybody's talking politics these days. But there's more to me. There really is. :) Talk to me after the election.

*This was supposed to go up yesterday, but encountered a computer error and didn't realize it hadn't been posted until just now...... I got a letter today. No, not a letter. I got a subpoena today, ordering me to appear next Wednesday on questions concerning my village taxes. I called the tax office and informed the lady who answered that I had zero tax liability in my village because of the credit for taxes paid to the city where I work. I asked if I could just send the form in again to show my zero liability, and she said, "That's fine. All we need is the form." My liability has been zero for the six years I've lived here. Why the sudden issue now? Anyway, at least I don't have to drive the 40 minutes to the tax office (our village taxes are administered by another city). It was resolved with just a phone call and a quick trip to the post office. I just made copies of my forms and sent them in again. But if a cop suddenly shows up at my door because that...

I love Boston Legal. I was so thrilled when the new episodes started up again. I wasn't sure if I would still enjoy it, because Boston Legal was kind of an "our thing" with P. Each week I'd watch the show while chatting with him and make various comments here and there, with a time frame for him. Then, because he was three time zones away, he'd watch it three hours later and have to watch for the moments I'd commented on. It was a little game and the next best thing to watching it together. I still think about P sometimes, but it doesn't make me sad anymore. More often than not, I find myself a little ticked off when I think back . I deserve someone who can give me more of himself, and he sort of strung me along, knowing that he'd never be there. But anyway... life goes on. And so does Boston Legal. Excellent episode tonight, by the way. Gas was $2.71 when I left work today, and Pooh told me that it dropped even further later in the afternoon. It's...

It's a quiet day at home now that I've done my morning and early afternoon Saturday running around. I've got a big enough chore to tackle today at home that I think it will succeed in filling my whole day off. Surprise, surprise. I'd like to just relax and enjoy the time off, but I'll be sorting through clothes to get rid of and figuring out what we need to buy for the winter season. The girls have both gone through growth spurts, so it seems that everything they own is suddenly too short. And of course, I need to sort through my own closet and drawers and plastic tubs filled with clothes. With my recent weight loss, I was pleased to find some clothes I've had for 20 years that fit me again. Some of them are even fashionable again. But those items that are horribly out of fashion, out of shape or just age-inappropriate now have to go, and I've got the huge task ahead of me. I'll be sorting, washing, ironing, photographing and packing items up for eBay, p...

I've done enough blog hopping to know that I'm not the only one out here still trying to find that elusive thing called love. It's nice if you have the freedom to get out and do things with your friends and put yourself in a situation that will allow you to find that special someone, but some people - like me - just don't have the time or the energy or the life situation that will allow them to "get out there." So how do we find that someone special? Well, we all know there are now a few more options available to us. We've got the Internet available to us. And some of us spend practically our whole lives there, so why not use it to find that love? If you're looking for love, try the search for free available at True.com. True has millions of members, and registration is absolutely free. It uses scientific compatibility testing to match couples, and it even has criminal screening, stating "We can't guarantee criminals won't get on the site,...

I was sitting in the office just after lunch this afternoon, and I started adding up my hours for the week. I discovered that I should have been gone 15 minutes earlier, so I jumped up, punched out and packed up for home. It was such a good feeling to just shut down and walk out and get to relax at home for a couple of hours before the kids got home. This is my weekend off, but now that I'm officially the moderator for our papers' online forums, I'll be working anyway. But at least I won't have to get up too early tomorrow morning, and I won't have to wake up to an alarm at all on Sunday. Ahh... I feel better already just thinking about it.

A lot of people are doing genealogy research these days, because it's become so much easier thanks to the internet. Still, genealogy research - even online - can be expensive, so it's nice to find a resource to lead you to the cheapest option for the information you need. If you're trying to find a death certificate , you might want to check out this site . Their database contains death certificates recovered throughout America, and they'll help lead you to the information you need in the quickest and most cost-effective manner.

I made yummies tonight! It's an original recipe, but I'm sharing it with all of you. Anyone who tries it, please give feedback! Chocolate Molasses Biscotti 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (real butter, NOT margarine) 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup molasses 2 large eggs 1 large egg yolk 1 tsp. vanilla 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup cocoa powder (use the best stuff you can - Hershey's works in pinch) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.  Set aside. With electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).  Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla extract and molasses.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.  Add to the butter mixture and beat until incorporated.  Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and divide it in half (it will b...

The plumber never showed up yesterday, and he didn't come today either. I'm thinking that he might show up tomorrow, since I mentioned that I work at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On a related note, my daughter informed me that the village council will be fining the company doing the road work $1200 a day if they don't finish by Friday. See? EVERYONE in town is completely sick of it. It's taking entirely too long. We're a tiny little town. They don't have that much road to do. And yet, they have left every road in town a complete mess. Not ONE road is fixed yet. The dug it all up...half-ass filled it....and didn't finish anything. In the latest road fallout, Pooh's car lost a hubcap. Divinely touched as he is though, he actually went to Goodwill and found a box of four of the EXACT hubcaps on his car - for $10. I was definitely ready to get out of the office today, as they were decorating yet another desk for a birthday. It seems that balloons and stre...

If you're shopping for home air purifiers , you might want to check out the Air Cleaners/Air Purifiers Guide at www.aircleanersguide.com. The site lists a wide variety of HEPA air cleaners, ultraviolet air cleaners, ionic air cleaners, carbon air filters, electrostatic precipitators and car air purifiers. It includes descriptions of the types of air cleaners available, along with links to purchase when you've chosen the one that best suits the needs of you and your family.

Terms I am completely sick of hearing: heartbeat away from the presidency - yes, we know...president dies, vice president takes over. We get it. Stop pointing out the obvious. change - every presidential candidate since the second one has promised change. You started it, Barrack, but did you catch on to how tired and lame a slogan it is? NO!! Instead, your opponent picks up the same damn lame tired slogan. maverick - this is just stupid. If you want to say that you went against your own party - fine. You want to say you worked with those in the other party - cool. But stop dishing up this stupid term. reach across the aisle - like the change thing. We all have heard it before. It won't ever happen, at least not anything that matters. No miracle worker in the world is going to make more than 500 people agree about anything that really matters. Wall St./Main St. - business vs. you common joes. We get you common folks out there. We feel your pain. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I don...

Bloggers have been buzzing about it. Radio personality Clark Howard raves about it. And what really got my attention was all the great unpaid, unsolicited comments raving about Zenni Optical . This place, I kept hearing, has eyeglasses for as low as $8. I doubt they could do much for Gin, because she's going to have a very special - and I'm sure quite expensive - prescription. I'll check on that one though - imagine the fortune I could save there. But even if I can't use them for Gin - and I've already had Lasik, Pooh wears glasses (and loses them on a regular basis). My mother wears glasses. My stepdad wears glasses. Book wears glasses. How much do you want to bet Munch isn't going to get through this family with perfect vision? We've already gotten the letter from the school saying we might want to double check her vision. Yep - we go through a heck of a lot of eyeglasses in this family. Pooh's checking it out right now. He needs to replace the presc...

I worked this morning to the sounds of the school marching band playing in my living room. OK - they weren't actually in my living room, but it sounded like they were, or at the very least, that they were playing on the street in front of my house. (Which, btw, would make no sense as I live on residential cul-de-sac at the edge of the village.) It was clear and close enough, in fact, for me to go downstairs and look out the front window to see where exactly they were. I couldn't see them. We're two blocks from the school, so I expect to hear the band practicing. I actually grew up in a house a mile from my high school and I could hear the band practicing in the distance. But these guys SERIOUSLY sounded like they were right on my lawn. By the time the band stopped, the excavation work had started. All the homes along my street are having their lawns torn up this week to connect the houses to the new water lines being installed. I get the home invaders this afternoon. I'...

If you're trying to find someone in the United States or Canada, you've probably used most of the free "white pages" sites and come across a lot of sites that tease you with a number of results but then want to charge you to see them. There's another free people finder available now that you might want to give a try. It's called LookupWho.com . You enter the name, city and state - or as much as you know, with only the last name as a required field - and it provides a list of matches, up to 50. Add more information to narrow down your choices. The results bring up addresses and phone numbers. LookupWho.com also offers a reverse phone search, useful for when you get an unknown phone number on your caller ID - or when you find an unidentified number on your phone bill.

I worked at the office today, and I've got to say, I'm getting used to it again. It's pretty uneventful over on the editorial side. I never hear any good gossip, but it's quiet and mellow, with the occasional polite conversation, so it's not altogether bad. I get to work at home tomorrow, but that's not going to be a stress-free day either. They'll be coming to pull up the carpet in my hall closet to get to the crawl space underneath to install the water pipes for our new municipal water. Right now, we're on a well. All the homes in my teeny, tiny town are on wells. But we just got a water tower, and we've been driving over horrible, mangled, gnarled roads like minefields for months now. My water now is rusty and a little smelly. I only drink it filtered. And my shower's always orange. I buy CLR in multipacks. All my whites are dingy. Still, it had better be damn good water we're getting. Estimates say the muni water won't be flowing unti...

Have you ever seen all that Charleston, SC, has to offer? I've been looking around at vacation areas and stopped by the Charleston visitors bureau site, and I have to say, that place looks pretty cool. I've never been there before, but if I wanted to relocate, I'd consider it. And if I relocated, I'd need a real estate agent, wouldn't I? Well, I already know where I'd go to find Charleston Realtors . I'd visit ClickSmart and check out the listings for Realtors in Charleston . ClickSmart lists experts in not only real estate, but also contractors, florists, home and office services, massage therapists, mortgage brokers, and weddings and events. And ClickSmart experts are pre-screened and certified, so you don't have to be an expert to find an expert.

Book called Friday to tell me that he was sick and wouldn't be coming for his usual Saturday overnight visit. I miss him when we don't have our weekend together, but it did give me a lot of extra time to things that needed to be done and saved me the gas money from all the driving around. I had work this weekend, but at least I was able to finish everything all at once in the mornings. That left my afternoons open to spend time with the girls. We spent the whole weekend at home just cleaning things up and reading and playing and cooking. All in all it was a pretty uneventful weekend, but I think I needed some uneventful time. I have a feeling things will be getting hectic again pretty soon.

If you're looking to buy an air mattress, whether for a camping trip or for guests in your home, be sure to check out the air mattress ratings on the Air Mattress Guide. This site includes ratings for air mattresses, plus price lists, information on air pumps, guides for finding sheets that will fit your air mattress and lots more useful information on air mattresses. Find out before buying if the air mattress you want will suit your needs with detailed reviews.

It was pretty much an average, typical Thursday around here, with my work from home, Gin's swim lesson and pizza night ('cos I'm not even trying to cook a meal after we get back from swimming). Munch has a field trip tomorrow to the Columbus Zoo. It works out perfectly, because we were supposed to go to the zoo this summer, but my schedule and budget never allowed for it. She's a fanatic for giraffes, so she's super excited to get to go. And she gets to eat a packed lunch and ride on a bus. For her, those are special treats. I watched the vice-presidential debate tonight. I hope all of you Americans out there took the time to watch it, too. Personally, I'm not a supporter of this early voting drive that's going now. I think people should take the time and effort to learn as much as possible before making such an important decision, and frankly, we haven't learned it all yet. Get through the debates and listen to the candidates THEMSELVES - not the pundit...