Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

So here's a pisser: My Sunday started off as it ordinarily does, morning hanging out at home while the kids play, then take Book home to his dad's then out to lunch with the girls. It was a good lunch. Munch was a little sulky, but overall, it wasn't bad. Then the check comes. I reach over and pick up my coat for my purse underneath - only.... IT'S NOT THERE. I give Gin the keys to the car to go get it. She comes back empty-handed. It's not there either. For the first time EVER, I've not only walked out of my house without my purse, but I didn't notice when we got out of the car, I didn't notice when we sat down to lunch, and I didn't notice the whole time we were eating. I caught the waitress and told her, "I left walked out of my house without my purse. Look, I'll leave the kids up front and run home and get it." Add in several highly embarrassed statements there as well. She said, "That's fine. They can stay right there (at ...

My quitting-smoking campaign is still going strong. I'm nearing two weeks without a normal cigarette and don't miss them at all. The transition to the e-cigs has been the easiest thing in the world! And considering I started at the mid-level nicotine, I think I'll be stepping down fairly easily from that as well. Thanksgiving was interesting with them. EVERYONE in my family smokes, but my mom was kind enough to send them to a table in the garage to light up. (When I walked in the house, I told her that I could smell it already. She said, "No problem, everyone can smoke in the garage when the get here.") Very considerate of her, I thought, especially since she and my stepdad smoke too, and it IS their house. So I sat at the table and vaped on my Blu cig, and everyone had to stop and ask about it. How was it? How much did it cost? How's it working for you? Etc. I repeated the pitch so many times, I thought I should be on the payroll for Blu! Everything else is g...

*This is NOT a paid post! This is totally ME and MY EXPERIENCE!* Saturday morning, my Blu e-cigs arrived. At noon, I smoked the last cigarette in my pack. I haven't had another one since, and I never imagined it could be so easy. Honestly, I quit smoking for real once before. I stopped for almost a year. Then I went through the "bad time," and I was feeling so miserable, I started again - not because I felt the need for a cigarette but because I felt the need to do myself some measure of harm. (It should be noted, I used to refer to smoking as "a slow, socially acceptable form of suicide." It's since - obviously - become far less socially acceptable.) Anyway, for quite a while now, I've been wanting to quit again, but I just didn't seem to have the nerve. I used the nicotine patches last time - and a whole lot of sugarless chewing gum. It really wasn't all THAT hard, but I was very happy at the time, and lately, I don't feel like I have quite...

As I sit and look at this giant bowl of candy comprising leftovers from the candy I bought to give out for trick or treat (only two kids showed up at my door) and candy my kids didn't like and thus gave to me (that includes all of their Reese's cups and Snickers bars. Score!), I realize that Halloween is the beginning of fat season. Next comes Thanksgiving, which includes a day (or two in this modern world of split families) of overeating from morning to night on turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, three kinds of pies, cheese balls and crackers, noodles, baked beans, cheesecake ... and anything else the family happens to put on the table. After that is the whole Christmas season. That's assorted candies and chocolates, hors d' oeuvres galore, drinks made with cream and rum, and probably another big dinner. Then there's New Year's Eve, and about 120,000 empty calories' worth of drinking. Moving on to February, we wrap up the fat season with Valentin...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo . All opinions are 100% mine. I went downstairs for a cold glass of water. I don't really like the taste of our water from the tap, but I've got a great water filter pitcher that makes it taste fantastic. Oh, there's nothing wrong with our tap water. I've seen the water analysis reports, and it's perfectly safe. A lot of people aren't so lucky. Have you heard of Charity Water ? It is a favorite charity of Will and Jada Smith, and it provides wells for safe drinking water for areas of the world in need. How big is the problem? Well, 4,500 people die EVERY DAY from water-related illnesses. Is that big enough for you? iNetVideo.com is getting involved to help Charity: Water by donating $1 for every purchase of selected items on their website. Just look for the items marked with a water drop , and $1 from your purchase will go to a great cause. You can also donate directly to iNetVideo's campaign . On...

My daughter Gin (age 12) and I spent about an hour tonight just sitting and talking about the time her eye got injured and what it means for her future. It started when she sat down to tell me about a silly game they'd played in gym class today, which involved bumping a volleyball to a player, who then had to hit it and then run around the bases while the other players passed it, then one player had to throw the ball into the basketball hoop to get the runner out. Gin said she was designated to shoot into the basketball hoop, and out of 15 tries, she didn't make it once. I told her, "That's no surprise. You can't shoot into a basketball hoop if you have no depth perception." I might have told the story of her injury before, but I'll tell it again anyway. She was five years old, and it was the summer after kindergarten, shortly before her sixth birthday. She'd just gotten a new kitten early for her birthday that week. Unbeknownst to me, she'd gone ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PlayStation MOVE . All opinions are 100% mine. Winter's coming, which means the holiday season as well as cold weather that keeps us all cooped up inside. The kids occasionally venture outdoors. They also occasionally find quiet activities, such as reading, to occupy their time in the house. But more often - and I think all mothers know this - they get cabin fever, and need some physical activity. For two girls ages 9 and 12, that often means yelling and screaming at each other. This Christmas, I might just have found the perfect outlet for them - something that will keep them entertained and physically active even while they're cooped up indoors - the new PlayStation Move . I've been thinking about getting something like this for quite a while. It's something we can do together, have fun with and keep the kids entertained (kids this age are always "bored"). My youngest loves to play her video games, but that...

Yesterday was my usual slow Monday at work. Mondays are always the easiest day at the office because we don't publish a paper on Tuesdays, which means we don't have any pages to build. It's catch-up day for everyone, and I usually cut it short, because the rest of the week gets pretty hectic. This week is even more hectic than usual though. Today, our lifestyles editor is taking the day off, so I'll be doing her pages. The other day-shift paginator is working the evenings this week doing the front section because our news editor is working on building the annual cookbook, so I'll be doing his pages too. Yes, very busy day. The rest of the week, I won't have the lifestyles pages to do, but I'll still be picking up the rest of the inside pages. And there will be more of them, thanks to extra space needed to run election letters to the editor. Oh, then there's Election Day on Tuesday, which means working day...and that night. Ugh. I should be getting more s...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of BH Cosmetics . All opinions are 100% mine. Most of the time I go for a pretty natural look, but sometimes I want to play with my look. I'll glam things up, or go sexy, or play rocker chick - or sometimes just play around with the make-up tricks I've seen on TV. I'm a former model, and I find myself sometimes just locked in my bathroom experimenting with different looks. But we all know how expensive cosmetics can be, and getting a great variety and huge palette can really break the bank. A lot of times I'll shy away from a new makeup color if it's something I'm not sure I'll be using a lot. But I've just discovered something that will let me play with my look all I want, without breaking the bank. You can find huge and amazing palettes of eyeshadow at BH Cosmetics for less than you ever thought possible. These shadows are blendable - so you can experiment with all the latest techniques - and highly pig...

I'm keeping so busy I've barely had time to breathe lately, but I took advantage of the "extra" day off I got by working the annual cookoff recently by taking that "comp" day and a vacation day to jet off to Las Vegas for a mini vacation. No, I'm not suddenly rolling in the cash. The trip was a treat provided by F, who generously offers to fly me to wherever he is when he comes stateside. This is our second trip to Las Vegas. We also had one to Tampa. I had the opportunity to go to New Orleans last February, but I passed it up as I was still looking for work and feared being away if something should come up. This trip was much better, though all too brief, certainly. F and I have had our tensions in the past, but it seemed to be a much smoother visit this time. I avoided being oversensitive, and he curbed his occasionally sharp tongue. Really, it's always been about misunderstanding, but I think as we've grown more accustomed to each other, we...

Do you mind terribly if this post has no particular focus? "So what else is new?" you say. Yeah, I do tend to ramble and wander sometimes, so if you're here, you're probably used to it. What's up? Well, if you recall, my daughter Gin had a trip to the emergency room a few weeks back. She slipped on the stairs and turned her ankle. There was no real injury, but I guess she was feeling particularly fragile that day, so she insisted on going to the hospital. The bills are in: $1,026 all told. How's that for ya? Pooh's getting a new car soon - new for him anyway. My mom's decided he needs one, since his 1998 Toyota Corolla has been through some few levels of hell. She's giving him her 2000 Honda CR-V. I've got a 1999 CR-V. And she's replacing hers with a 2004 CR-V. Have you noticed, we love the CR-V? Yep. We do. It's the perfect car - except for a frustrating audio system with a PITA volume control (PITA=pain in the ass). Seriously though, ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile . All opinions are 100% mine. Boost Mobile . You know it's cool. You know it's fresh. You know it's what you want. And they make it easy. Did you know how easy? With Boost Mobile's Re-Boost you can add more minutes whenever you want, however you want. You can pay in person. You can pay online. Or you can even add minutes right over your phone wherever you are. If you don't even want to think about it, you can even set up automatic payments using your credit or debit card. Honestly - it just doesn't get any easier. And of course, Boost Mobile is more than just a phone. Who's willing to settle for just a phone anymore? Boost Mobile will keep you connected with your social networks. Facebook and Twitter don't need to keep you tied to your computer anymore. You can take them with you wherever you go. Got a craving for an awesome sandwich and find yourself stuck in the world's slowest driv...

It's amazing what can get accomplished in a long weekend if you actually set your mind to it. Some weeks ago, we had a pile of clothes suddenly appear at the bottom of the stairs. Miraculously, about the same time, the carpeting of my daughters' bedroom suddenly appeared as well. I started tackling the pile, then it suddenly disappeared. The carpeting in my son's room appeared about the same time. I later discovered the storage room below the stairs filled about halfway with Mt. Laundry. I informed the children, we would be scaling Mt. Laundry this weekend. First thing when I got home Friday after work, we started into a continuous cycle, and as things came out clean and dry on the other end, they got sorted to remove anything stained, damaged beyond repair or too small to wear anymore. Saturday, we got Book and went to my mom's for lunch. We decided it was time to break down her pool for the season, so in our quest to figure out how to drain it without flooding the nei...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC . All opinions are 100% mine. As many of you well know, I'm in the newspaper business. I work for a community newspaper in a rural county, so naturally, the school systems are a big topic in our paper. More than once - in fact, more than a dozen times, I'm sure - I've looked at the stories and said, "I should have gone into teaching." From the standpoint of a journalist, it starts to look like a pretty good deal. Now you can get your Master of Arts in Teaching from the prestigious USC Rossier School of Education online, with the privacy and convenience of working from home - around your schedule. The program includes a highly interactive online course combined with real-life field experiences. There's also a tuition reimbursement program, and you can complete the accelerated program in as little as 12 months. Scholarships are available, and you have the opportunity to become a part of the elite USC Trojan...

Ding dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The one that liked to shove its broomstick up the backsides of its employees for fun and giggles. The one that continually made bad business decisions, bringing the misery upon its employees. The one that went off half-cocked and half-assed pushing through poorly thought out get-cash-quick schemes while refusing to consider ideas that would genuinely increase profits and serve customers better. The one that..... Oh never mind. They're not worth the effort of trying to itemize their acts of utter idiocy. In sum: my paper's under new ownership, and I don't think there's a broken heart to be found in the office anywhere about now. Nor would I expect to find one in any of our sister newspapers' offices either. Suffice it to say, the old company saw its ruin in unrestrained greed and selfish tyranny. I, for one, am more than happy to have been around to see it get its comeuppance. It's overdue. I welcome our new ownershi...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA . All opinions are 100% mine. No two people with disablities are exactly alike, and they don't have the same mobility needs. The National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association understands this and can help you find an NMEDA qualified dealer to provide a safe, reliable vehicle with the modifications and enhancements you need. NMEDA doesn't sell anything. They're a non-profit trade association that will help you find a dealer you can trust to get the handicapped-accessible van or vehicle modified as you need it. NMEDA qualified dealers provide an in-person evaluation to be sure you are getting the right driving solution to meet your needs - as well as any training you might need to learn to use the modifications of your vehicle. NMEDA not only can match you with a dealer, they also have the Quality Assurance Program. This is the only nationally recognized accredited program for the adaptive mobility equipment industr...

Ok, maybe I don't really do the "fretful mom" thing. If the cat scratches Munch and she comes running to me, I don't give her, "Oh, you poor baby!" I tell her, "Go wash it with soap and water, and stop picking on the cat." I got to spend this evening in the hospital emergency room with Gin. She fell down the stairs and twisted her ankle. Personally, I thought it was an overreaction. We spent two hours there. (Surprisingly brief, I know.) She got an x-ray and an air cast and has to get crutches. Why? - because they're not going to say, "You're fine. It's a little owie. It'll go away." However, by the time we got home, she was walking around on that air cast like it was nothing. Seriously, there wasn't even any swelling. I took a much harder spill down those stairs a month or so ago, but I dealt with an achy hip for several days, watched the massive bruise change colors over the course of a week or so and moved on. Life ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels . All opinions are 100% mine. This summer, Hampton Inn is giving you the chance to win AN ENTIRE HOTEL for a weekend in the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes ! That's right. I said, an ENTIRE HOTEL. Not one room - 100 rooms! For two nights! Imagine the possibilities. That's just the grand prize though. They're also giving away a daily prize of a weekend stay for you and three friends. It couldn't be easier to enter. Just visit the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes page and complete the simple form. You know - all the usual stuff - name, address, phone, email - that kind of thing. Who doesn't need a little weekend getaway? If you're one of the daily winners, you get to grab your three closest friends for some much-needed rest and relaxation. And if you're the grand-prize winner of the whole hotel? Well, that's a party, isn't it? :) Where would you go? Well, Hampton Inn's got...

How strange it is that we can spend a year living in the same town, going to the same high school, even sharing some of the same friends with a person, but we never meet. Then one day, 20 years later and 2,000 miles apart, we should discover each other. Technology at work again. I suppose it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to me. Indeed, when I think on it, it doesn't strike me as much of a surprise at all. The circumstances of my life have distanced me from everyone who was a part of my life in my youth. And I've had no real opportunity to develop new relationships, outside my interactions online. Perhaps living in the isolation that I do - in this village of 600 tight-knit Catholics all intermarried, and working in a job where my single colleagues are 25 or 80 - it's not a surprise my friendships all live their lives in cyberspace. So my new friend, from my old life, might be coming to Ohio for a visit, and we'll see each other in person. We'll have t...

Well, tonight's the final performance episode of this season's So You Think You Can Dance, and here in Shelby County, Ohio - HOME OF KENT BOYD - we've been watching with great pride as our little hometown boy has overcome the perceived "disadvantages" of growing up in a small town and attending a small local dance studio as his only training. He's certainly given us reason to be proud, hasn't he? I haven't voted for the past few weeks - though when things started, I was putting in between 450 and 500 votes each week. I'll be back to dialing tonight for sure! There's a parade planned for Kent this Saturday, as he'll be returning home to Botkins - presumably not for long. The kids and I will be attending. What an exciting development for our little corner of the world! Naturally, also in my mind and boosting my adrenaline levels is the start of the Premier League season this weekend. I got to see that great 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Communi...

The fact that I haven't blogged about my trip to see Man United in Kansas City on Sunday yet just goes to show you how severely overworked I've been lately. But here goes - How do I describe something that is beyond words? At work today, I kept being asked, "How was it?" I answered, "It was a religious experience," which always got a laugh. But it wasn't funny. It wasn't an exaggeration. It wasn't even adequate. I started out with my daughter in tow at 4 a.m. on Sunday. We drove 12 hours, and for a lot of it, I didn't know if I was going to make it. I'd only managed to get about 4 hours of sleep, so I was exhausted even as we began. We made it, with little time to spare, and since I couldn't get an early check-in to my room, my Twitter friend Dee said my daughter could hang out in her room during the match. Upon arriving at the hotel, I immediately got a burst of energy. There were people in the parking lot tailgating, and everywhere ...

I am a firm believer in fantasy fulfillment. I believe that life is made up of your memories, and if you have a chance to make a memory, you should go for it! We all live our day-to-day lives, and yes, there is purpose and meaning there, but what do you sit back and recall on quiet nights? What do you tell stories about when you're with your friends? What do you tell your kids and your grandkids about when you're old? What just makes you smile when you think about it? It's not going to work every day, doing housework, etc. It's those MOMENTS. Sometimes the moment is just a minute. Sometimes it's a night or a weekend or a once-in-a-lifetime or just a first-in-a-lifetime event. But it's all about the MOMENTS. I get to make another memory this weekend. I'll be hitting the road in just about 10 hours to drive to Kansas City to see Manchester United play live for the first time. It's not Old Trafford, and it's not the way my first Man United game was su...

I got to take two days off work Monday and Tuesday to "pay" me for the work I did before I got on payroll. (Corporate said they couldn't pay me for the last of my freelance work since I'm on payroll now, so the boss said take the time off as time worked to make up for it.) It's a good thing I took the time when I did, because it's getting busy for me now. We're in the midst of the big vacation blitz, so people are taking days off every day, and I'm in to pick up the slack for them across the board. I guess that's what happens when you've done everything in the department. My crunch is getting worse though, because the webmaster who replaced me when I left has gone off on maternity leave, so I'm left to fill in the web duties for my paper, in addition to my regular work... and filling in for vacationing people. I won't be able to breathe for a while. Yesterday was her first day off, so I started the web duties. I didn't get any slack...

After getting only five hours of sleep Friday night, I took the kids to the Cincinnati Zoo yesterday. We got to see Burned Jesus , formerly known as Touchdown Jesus or Big Butter Jesus, officially known as King of Kings, now known as The Monument to Our Robot Overlords , along the way. If we'd gone when I originally planned, we would have seen it intact. Funny sort of irony that it was thunderstorms that kept us from going then, and it was a thunderstorm that destroyed it. It was raining throughout the entire drive. As we got about halfway there, I started to feel a little odd. It was similar to a couple of weeks ago when I was driving Book home and my heart suddenly started racing and my head went a little dizzy. It wasn't as extreme this time, but since I was driving with all the kids on the interstate through a construction zone in the rain, I thought it a good idea to pull over and see what happened with my head. It eased up and I didn't experience anything else odd thr...

I've been wrapped up in So You Think You Can Dance for the past few weeks. I am every season, but I have extra motivation this time. One of the contestants is a boy from the county where I live. And as if that isn't cool enough, I interviewed him for the paper when he was 11 years old. And as if THAT isn't cool enough, he just happens to be one of the most beloved dancers of this season. That's right. I'm talking about Mr. Adorable himself - Kent Boyd. :) And you can see here, he was adorable then too. One clarification though - he's from BOTKINS. His address is Wapakoneta, but really he's a Botkins boy. The package on him during the show where he auditioned is all shots from Botkins, not Wapakoneta. Apparently, the whole Wapakoneta-pronunciation spin was too irresistible for the producers, so they don't plan to clarify it as it should be. My understanding is that the mayor of Botkins actually called the show to explain it, but they said they're stic...

Okay, I've been pretty busy, but not quite busy enough to really justify my absence here. I probably could have - should have, even - squeezed in a couple of posts here and there. But I didn't. Catching up: I helped my mom put up her new pool a couple of weeks ago. I spent four hours in the sun without sunscreen while doing it, so I got more than a little scorched. It stung for a couple of days, then itched, and it's been peeling ever since. I haven't actually gotten to swim in the pool yet. I cut off more of my hair,so it's actually only about an inch long all over now - and blonde. I'm hoping it doesn't turn green when I do take advantage of the swimming pool. It's pretty cool. I've gotten a lot of compliments - and one or two glares or raised eyebrows. So what? I'm still a rock star. ;) This weekend I picked some cherries, and I've started a batch of cherry liqueur. This is my first batch. I usually make wine. The liqueur will take much lo...

All day yesterday I kept thinking that I was forgetting something. The date kept repeating in my head. May 25. That means something. I should remember something. I thought it was something I was supposed to do. Maybe a bill to be paid or an assignment that was due or a meeting I was supposed to go to or something for the girls' school. May 25 was something. But I couldn't quite place it. This morning I remembered. It was two years ago. May 25 was the day of my son's graduation. That's not what made the day stick in my head though. On that day, P left me. He left me devastated. I won't bother to replay the situation. It's all be chronicled here before - too much. It was months and months of misery for me - so naturally the date stuck. I felt a little better when I remembered what it was. What felt particularly better was the fact that I HAD forgotten - that I'd managed to forget. No matter how I felt that day two years ago, the fact that I could ever forget t...

I'm going through the early stages of Man United withdrawal already, but it hasn't set in too hard just yet. I staved off a little of my symptoms by watching part of the Inter Milan match. I was quite happy to see them win the Serie A, but I have to admit I had a little hope for Roma as well, since of course my favorite player, Luca Toni, plays for them. Either way, I would not have been unhappy with the results from today's matches, I think. Roma did win their game, but much like United's final win, as far as the league title went, it was largely irrelevant. A bit sad, really. Now that Luca's no longer with Bayern (thank goodness), I won't have any conflicts at all for the Champions League final. I will be pulling for Inter all the way. Of course, I have been ever since Man United were knocked out of that one. By Bayern, no less. Kick their asses for me, Jose. :) After that's over, my footie fixes will depend on the World Cup. First match June 12 between th...

The girls returned from their trip to Illinois this evening. Both of them got sick while they were gone, and Gin's still feeling pretty lousy. When Jen returned the girls to me, she told me she was disgusted by my ex. Join the club. She said he slept the whole time - which I expected. He took Friday off work - even calling me at 7:30 a.m. to tell me that he was taking off and would be spending the whole day with the girls. Jen tells me that he slept the whole day. (Jen is married on one of his coworkers, btw.) She said they went to a family fun center, which is like a Chuck E. Cheese, and he even slept in the booth the whole time. Then, after having told her that he would split the bill with her, when she handed him the receipts, he asked her what the hell those were for. She even bought each of the girls a Webkinz toy and a pair of socks, and he told her he wasn't paying for it. She told me the girls were great and he was lucky to have them and was disgusted by his behavior. S...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC . All opinions are 100% mine. If you're an educator - or an aspiring teacher - you know the importance of education. You also know that applies not only to your students but to yourself as well. Let's face it - the money in teaching isn't great, but the job is one of the most fulfilling you can have. Still, higher pay is a good thing, but the only way often to get that higher pay is by having advanced degrees. Problem - you're working in a career that takes up a lot of your time, and maybe you also have a family to take care of as well. (They probably want to see you sometimes too.) So how can you do both? Fortunately, these days, it's become a little easier. You can pursue your advanced degree while continuing to work and have time for your family too. The USC Rossier School of Education has been ranked #22 in the U.S. and #9 among all private universities by US News and World Report. And you can get your Mast...

I figured out who was lurking here, and finding their way via my full, unfortunate married name. It threw me when I saw the curious searcher was in Dundee, Ill., but apparently my stupid ex-husband doesn't know the difference between Wisconsin and Illinois. He told me he was in Wisconsin, but he said the girls would see Chicago this weekend. Stupid moron. He said I could come along and I told him no. When he asked why, I said, "Because I would have to be around you." When he asked why that was a problem, I said, "Because I don't like you." When he asked why not, I said, "Because you're a loathsome person." Then he asked what that meant. How about a list? (Feel free to skip the rest, if you're not the one this is directed to.) * You're stupid. Honestly, you're one of the most stupid people I've ever known. You don't read. You didn't finish high school. There is absolutely no topic in existence on which you can have an int...

Well, I certainly got an interesting start to my weekend. In fact, I'd planned to write this yesterday, but I was catching up on my sleep after being up all night Friday. I got home from work a little before 2 a.m. after doing the Friday night shift on the desk at work (that was interesting enough, but that's for another time). I got on my computer for my usual "wind-down" time before attempting to go to sleep. About 3 a.m., I hear a knock at the door, but in my room, I can't tell the difference between a knock at our door or the neighbor's (it's a townhouse with four units). The neighbors moved out a short time ago, but they were three college-age boys, so my thought was - it's a drunk friend of the neighbors who doesn't know/remember they moved, or it's a drunk friend of my son's who wants a place to sleep or to convince him to go out. I ignored it the first time, then it came again. I pulled on some pajama bottoms (I was just in a cami a...

What a hectic week! I thought I'd be able to manage it, but I seem to be slipping further and further behind! We've got a reporter on vacation, so I've had to pick up his court duties. I fear I'm failing miserably at it. I got all of two minutes of "training" on it, and it's the court that I've never done before, so I've got no experience at it. That's eating into my hours quite a lot and ensuring some long days. And of course, there's no overtime allowed, so since I haven't mastered the art of bending space and time, I'm falling behind rapidly. I also had a political banquet to cover last night. It was originally thought that it would take about two hours of my time, but then they had to rearrange the speaker schedule, so it took four. Four hours out of my 40 for the week. That's a pretty precious investment. And to top it off, I'm working the night desk tonight. That's always a longer-than-normal day, but I have to go ...

Gin had to get a little tough love tonight. I told her we needed to talk as soon as I got home this afternoon, but she avoided me after, even sneaking off to bed and then saying that she couldn't get up, she didn't want to talk, the OAT is tomorrow (Ohio Achievement Test). Too bad, I told her. You avoided me all day. We talk NOW. I had to stop by the store this afternoon after work, and on my way out, I ran into my friend Ang. She also happens to be the mother of both my daughters' best friends. Or was anyway. Her family's going through an extremely tough time right now. About six weeks ago, her marriage ended. It had been going down for a while, but this time was the end. (Although, he's now having second thoughts and asking her back. Isn't that always the way?) Anyway, he sent Ang and her two daughters, R and C, packing, and they've been staying in a little hotel room ever since. C is Munch's best friend. And R is (or was) Gin's best friend. Ang is...

So I got to have a little bit of excitement yesterday. Another "almost" brush with fame. My history with fame is fairly sweet, really, for a chick living in the middle of nowhere. I dated Sarah Jessica Parker's brother in college for nine months. (Well, dating might be a stretch of definition, but, ahem, I'll leave it at that). I got to party with the rock band Slaughter one night after a show back in my modeling days (was told even that the guitarist was planning to ask me out when he got back to Ohio, but unfortunately, he got married - then died). I even spent three years in a relationship with a bona fide television actor of some niche renown - that was the famous "P" of the early days of this blog (you know, the one who crushed my soul when he dumped me out of the blue) whose name I have not ever and will not ever post here. Yesterday, my boss came out of his office and asked if I'd have a little time to write a story - nothing major, he said. Oh by...

According to Wikipedia (sorry, I'm not researching any harder than that, but I'm going to assume I can take their word on this one) "The principal components of volcanic gases are water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur either as sulfur dioxide (SO2) (high-temperature volcanic gases) or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (low-temperature volcanic gases), nitrogen, argon, helium, neon, methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Other compounds detected in volcanic gases are oxygen (meteoric), hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur hexafluoride, carbonyl sulfide, and organic compounds. Exotic trace compounds include methyl mercury, halocarbons (including CFCs), and halogen oxide radicals." This makes me wonder - where are the environmentalists protesting this beast in Iceland? Will the Icelanders be charged massive fines for this pollution? After all, it was quite recently that a per-cow tax was proposed on farmers for the methane g...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Dermajuv Skin Care Products . All opinions are 100% mine. I'm at that awkward age. With an awkward skin type. Or awkward hormones. Or whatever it is, I get to deal with the beginnings of wrinkles (maybe a wee bit more than beginnings....) as well as acne (which decided to reemerge with a vengeance after giving me a decidedly easy time of it during adolescence). As a result of this brilliant joke by Mother Nature on me, the skin care products industry is reaping the rewards. I'm not completely random about it though. I try a lot of different products, but I generally refuse to shell out the big bucks if I haven't at least had the opportunity to try it. However, if I have had the opportunity to try something, and it seems to offer some improvement, I will absolutely lay out the cash for it. (Little tip to the marketers, those sample packs WORK for selling your product if your product WORKS). And if I find something I love, I...

It was another flashback for me, as I headed out to another newspaper office for a little refresher course on posting news stories to our websites. As it turns out, nothing has changed there, so even though I haven't done that job in a year, it was instantaneous for me to pick back up again. In fact, in posting the first story, I found my fingers automatically doing the things they needed to do without even thinking about them. After I got back to my office after "retraining," I immediately checked the schedule. It was a good thing I did, because I found out I had a meeting to attend just half an hour later. I had time to do no more than copy down my schedule for the week before I had to head out again. Once I sat through that meeting, I went back to the office again, entered my schedule into my Google calendar, wrote the story - and it was time to go home. I got to leave early because I've got another meeting to attend tonight. It should be dreadfully exciting - the ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of CryoCell International . All opinions are 100% mine. Science is continually finding new ways to help us stay healthy and new ways of treatment for those illnesses and injuries that befall us. The latest news is that menstrual blood can be used as a source of stem cells. We've all heard of stem cells and the controversy surrounding the harvesting of stem cells from human fetuses. This exciting development means that your moral issues are safe. If stem cells can be extracted from menstrual blood, imagine the possibilities in medical science! The April 2010 issue of Stem Cells and Development features cover story about stem cells from menstrual blood and its potential to help victims of stroke. In testing, scientists found that the stem cells significantly reduced cell death and significantly reduced behavioral and histological impairments. Read the 'Stem Cells and Development' article and find out more for yourself. Menstr...