Domino Effect

My pc is finally good as new and back to normal.

Wish I could say as much for everything else these days. C’est la vie, though. Onward and hopefully upward since time doesn’t stand still.

Hello, I’m a Mac...

And I HATE pc!!

Brand new pc fucking died this evening!!!!!!!

I really wanted an Apple.

I may just go and find my old rock and crawl back underneath it. Wish me sanity...

Reality and TV

The new car is great so far! Even though I haven’t had the opportunity to drive her much, she is treating us real nice. We’ve already used the warranty because the door handle was broken when we bought it. There is a mildly entertaining story that goes along with getting the car fixed at the dealership (not the one we got the car from).

After handing over keys to the attendant that took the new car away to be fixed, we were led to a little waiting area with TV, coffee, snack machines, etcetera. There was a family already in the waiting area, a beautiful woman with her husband (?) and child (toddler).

This woman was GORGEOUS, despite her beach attire at a car dealership which might be considered a bit trashy; a tight tank-top that matched her booty shorts with the word ‘Jamaica’ just above the bottom of her ass cheeks which were clearly visible. Beach wear at a dealership? Sexy! But still inappropriate. But also some very nice eye candy. You can see how I go back and forth with this.

Anyway, while her husband was dealing with the child, she was on her laptop and her cell phone at the same time, paying no attention to either of them. She was definitely the alpha in the relationship since her man was all over making sure that she and that child were happy; and he wasn’t bad looking himself (little fine azz). I couldn’t help but to listen to her conversation since the waiting area is so small, and I got an earful!

She was talking about a recent trip to Jamaica and how this one girl’s runway walk was “stank” and that the competition was “fixed from day one” and she’s going to sue. Si and I were both cracking up… Si had to nudge me because I had started looking at her intensely to see if she was one of the girls on Top Model with Tyra Banks, which is one of my DVRed shows.

You know how people on TV can look totally different in person, I just had to look closer to make sure, plus the face recognition area of my brain is not the best. Anyway, I didn’t recognize her, and Si also pointed out that there is more than one model show on TV. I decided to go outside and wait; I didn’t want to be that creepy girl that stares although I may have already blown my cover there. lol

Anyway, the car is fixed and in ‘like new’ condition once again.

A lot and nothing much has been going these days; I feel like I have been neglecting everyone lately, and please let me send out a big apology to everyone that does feel neglected and/or rejected.

School has been a real pain in my brain lately and is taking up most of my time these days; I can’t seem to get the math to soak in, I may even fail this course… It took me four years to pass pre-algebra in school growing up; I really don’t want a repeat of that here. Please wish me lots of luck and brain power or else I’m in trouble.

Really though, what was I thinking when I chose Finance?! It must have been my insanity showing up in big places where it doesn’t belong. I’ll make it work though; I still love money, math, not so much.

My wonderful sister-in-law had her 30somethingish birthday recently and on that day, before I even had a chance to call and wish her a happy birthday, I got a gift from her in the mail! It’s HER birthday and she’s sending me gifts?!

I am overwhelmed by her generosity. I know how hard things are for everybody these days. She is so sweet! And she knows what I like! Thanks again. I love you sweetie! XOXOXO

I almost didn’t get the package though, thankfully I’ve been on a long ‘day walker’ streak and was awake for the mail. I heard him come up on the porch and watched him through the window. I had two packages that were too big to fit into the box and instead of knocking on the door, or leaving a note for pick up of these items at the post office, he throws them on my porch swing and walks off!

So then I had to hurry and change out of my house clothes so that I could run after my mail while it blows away in the wind. Those two packages were very important; one had the jewelry that my sister-in-law sent me, and the other had my new car papers in it! I am appalled and called to complain even though I know it has no effect.

Thanks a lot USPS… :-/

American Idol –

OMG!!! Congratulations to Kris Allen!!! Adam, Allison, and Danny were my favorites for a long time, but Kris tore it up last night!!! Apparently America agreed. Tonight’s season ending show was the best ever! I was thoroughly entertained! I also love that they had the idols singing with and introducing the major stars. Awesome show American Idol!!

Now it’s time for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’!!! Yay!

Molasses Asses

After weeks of phone calls and a day and a half of serious frustration and time wasted at the dealership I am happy to announce that I am no longer carless.

Car buying is the most irritating, frustrating, time wasting experience ever invented by man. Salespeople are the most frustrating, irritating, dismissive people that the general public is forced to interact with. I’ve had the car for a few days now and I am still mentally exhausted.

I really did try to keep an open mind going into this; most of the deal was supposed to have already been worked out over the many phone calls that took place with our original salesperson, it was supposed to be pretty much ‘sewn up’ with picking the actual car and signatures being the only detail to be worked out. I did my homework, I knew what I wanted/needed financially speaking, and I was not moving an inch.

When we arrived there was an eager predator holding the door open and asking “How can I help you?” I told him who we had been dealing with over the phone; this person was not at work yet so we were stuck with this particular vulture for a while. I should have just waited but was assured this salesman could get our paperwork that the original salesman had worked up already.

It’s almost as if dealers make their salespeople take a reverse lie detector test at the interview to make sure they can properly screw people while appearing to be as friendly as possible to their victims. I was not fooled (I am naturally cynical) and insisted that Si call the original person and leave a message of “urgent help sorely needed” just in case he was already there and this new guy was stealing his sell, or for when he did arrive at work so that hopefully he would be quick to hurry over and make this sell.

The vulture that grabbed us at the door refused to listen to anything that we told him. He kept trying to make us raise our financial limit, brought car after car that he was told from minute one that we could not afford or were not interested in, making us sit in them and drive them. If it were not for Si going along with this asshole I would have walked away and directly asked to see someone else that would actually listen to me. I think Si was having fun with all the test drives; I was obviously not amused.

Sometime well after noon our original salesman finally calls; he had just arrived, apparently working the evening shift. Less than five minutes later he arrived to save us from the vulture trying to steal his sell.

What was really funny is that when I saw our original salesman in the flesh, I realized that I knew him from somewhere. It took a few minutes to figure it out but then I remembered that he used to date my sister way back in the day. I think we were still teens back then, things get fuzzy after so many years, but we were definitely still just babies in the dating world.

I asked him if he remembered her and at first he thought that he did but said that he wasn’t sure. Even if he wasn’t sure, I was; I remember the name, his profession, and his face. He was totally not her type back then; he had to be the most disgusting guy she ever considered, I remember that every time I saw him back then he had on a dirty, holey t-shirt.

When I asked her what she was doing with this guy she would say “You have to see him in his suit”. She had met him at his job while she test drove new cars, one of her favorite things to do back then. Seeing him again now I still thought he was gross, maybe because he still wasn’t wearing a suit! lol At least he seemed cleaner these days. Anyway, I just thought it was funny to have had him sell me a car; ah… memories.

It was a much better and smoother experience after he arrived; he already had a few cars for us in mind that thankfully met all of our demands and was within all of our limitations, this took less than an hour and we were then sent to the financial office to close things up which took more than an hour.

I did read over everything that I put my signature on; the finance guy was very nice, he explained everything clearly and confirmed every deal in writing. I think it was a fair deal, but we were told we had to come back the next day for more paperwork that couldn’t be finished that day.

I cannot say that I was happy overall. The first salesman was evasive and dismissive, it took way too long to get down to business and complete paperwork, and the fact that I am adding to my monthly expenses is not something I am happy about, it is not something to be celebrated and something I had been fighting against for years now.

I am grateful to be on wheels again though. Even though it is cheaper than owning a vehicle, public transportation in this city sucks a big one. I can’t deal with the unreliability of public transportation here; it takes forever to get anywhere even if you call a cab, sometimes the cab shows up quickly, sometimes takes more than an hour; it’s impossible to plan anything or show up on time anywhere.

Anyway, goodbye to my wonderful Red; she will always be remembered…

Hello to the new girl…

She doesn’t have a name yet because she hasn’t earned one yet… I’ll let ya know.

Angels Always Get Us Through It

Hello my loving internet stalkers. Dark clouds have been gathering around Red for a long time now; she has sadly and finally passed on to be spare parts for a still live and running relative (bless its old tired engine). A moment of silence please, in remembrance of good ol’ Red…………

Ok, enough of that. She died in the middle of traffic today and pissed me off so I have little respect left for her right now. Thank God for a kindly and beautiful woman with her cute little Chihuahua in a lovely white jeep that pushed us out of the road. That woman is an angel and I need to thank her on craigslist, MySpace, and any other free local classified that I can find because she left as soon as we were clear. All I could do was wave thankfully…. Thank you kind beautiful lady with the cute Chihuahua in the lovely white jeep! Bless you, your pets, and all of your children and your children’s children and their children too! May you all have the best forever! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So now that we know that Red is dead and gone, coming back to life no more, I hope to get another car soon, this week soon. I emphasize the word hope here because I have no idea what is in store for me at the dealership; I may run away screaming in frustration if they don’t throw me out for belligerent behavior. Car shopping is number one on my Shit List of Things To Do. Salespeople are among the most immoral creatures that the public is forced to deal with; they are in the same category with HMO’s, bill collectors, and telemarketers. They are not even good enough to be called scum, always and only working for their own betterment and gains. I’m going to have a hard time keeping an open mind with a low tude level.

I’ve been doing my homework though, I have the consumer reports list of best buys (I should get the list of worst buys too, now that I think of it), and I think I know what to demand as far as payments and options, but I am still scared to death. They really do have all of the power in the end; I am no good when it comes to kissing ass, bowing down, or taking what is just offered. I am that anal person that reads every unreadable line of the contract to make sure that I am not being screwed, or at least to make sure that I agree on what I’m getting screwed on. The car buying process takes all day and sometimes two, I think that the time it takes is the second most annoying thing besides the salesperson themselves; and after having dealt with all of that they may not even find me worthy of having a car. That would really piss me off.

Everybody wish me luck and another great car that will last at least six years like Red did. If it’s just not in the cards then I’ll be walking and cabbing for a long time to come. The cards…. Yes… I must do the cards on this issue….

Anyway, among the terrorizing car stuff, and other general life issues, I swear I would be popping pills to meet my maker by now, but I logged onto my school tonight and saw that my latest grades had been posted. They were enough to make me rethink suicide and keep going another day. I got an A in ethics and a B in math; proof that my brain isn’t mush and that I may actually be useful to someone that will pay me money to do something someday. And to prove that I am not just delusional, I took pictures of my grades! (obvious bragging)

I got that A last minute and overnight; I honestly did not start on my final until the night before it was due, and before that I had a middle of the road B. Can you believe that I made a 100% on that final? I can’t believe it… I’m still trying to soak it in. I better not let it go to my head though, this cannot become habit; but at least I know I can do it when I need to.

I really gotta give myself props for this though… I am the shizzznit ya’ll (Doin the happy dance)!

Oldies? Goody!!

You know how some of your favorite performers lose their voice when they get older? I mean maybe it’s not necessarily their fault, but for whatever reason, you start to wonder why they’re still touring, kinda like Mick Jagger. Well, let me tell you… Ray Stevens… still got it baby!!! Lol I was very impressed since he is as old as Moses; he even sang the Tarzan yell in ‘Guitarzan’ with apparent ease and he does all the voices the same still.

My dad was as giddy as a teenager, I’m not sure if it was his new set of teeth or the fact that he hasn’t been out in 100 years, but something made him smile ear to ear.

We took pics with him before we went in.

The last time I saw a show there I was told no pictures (and they said anywhere in the casino) so we left my dad’s good camera in the car thinking we couldn’t use it, but when the show started they announced that people could COME UP TO THE STAGE to take pictures during the first two songs. WHAT?!!! I wish I had known that before because now I can’t leave and come back in.

I curse “damn it” as I squat and run to the front of the stage with my cell phone. And to prove that I am not the only weird fan of this oldie’s icon, I took pictures of the people taking pictures with me at the foot of the stage. You may not be able to tell, but we are all sitting either cross legged or on our knees.

As they left one by one back to their seats, I stayed and took each better place to try to get a better picture with my faulty cell. I tried and tried for two songs to get a decent picture with that thing but it was like he was running from me. I know I’m a bit insane, and I realize that they can’t really see anything because of the lights, but I swear, every time I held up my phone to get the ‘good one’, he looked my way and he turned around before it clicked. Damn it again! This is the best one I got, the rest were worse if you can believe it.

His backup singers are pretty clear in this one. They had nowhere to run I suppose.

After crawling around on the floor for 10 minutes, I went back to my seat where poor Si looked so bored, and my dad was holding his phone up so my mother could hear (I roll my eyes). The show was pretty good, he sang all of the old classics that he is known for and sounded great while doing it.

After the show I made my dad gamble a little bit.

That’s Si behind him trying to strike a goldmine. After just one drink and a few dollars lost, it was getting past my dad’s bed time so we took him home. The luck angel wasn’t with us, but we had fun anyway.

Ciao babies!

Casino Night II

I’m having Casino Night II this weekend! I hope the weather is nice, and I hope to win more money.

I bought tickets to see Ray Stevens this time; I used to love his music when I was kid and my dad was a fan, he had several of his tapes. So I thought that it would be nice to take my dad to his concert.

I tried to do my nails extra nice for the occasion (which takes a few layers of polish applications and days to completely dry); this is a picture of them before I ruined them by doing the dishes.

It’s not that I don’t have those little yellow dish gloves; it’s that I always forget to use them. Can we say DUH? I swear I don’t know where my mind is these days. So anyway, my nails are ruined but on the upside my hair is starting to grow and resemble something almost normal.

And school is going well; I hope to get another A but I know I’ll get at least a B anyway which is still good. I may get off track and get distracted from time to time, but I think I’m doing ok so far since I keep going back to the schoolwork and working through the frustrations.

That’s it so far peoples; no news is good news right?

Have a happy Passover, Good Friday, and Easter everyone!

Me and the Royal Sasha Love-Smith loving, relaxing, and watching tv together; and that’s the Royal Angel Love-Smith knocked out on the top of the back of the couch behind me.

Casino Night

Casino night was great! We had dinner, saw a show, and gambled to our favor; we left at a nice profit.

Dinner was ok; here’s a blurry shot of the buffet…

They said not to take pictures so I hid my cell in the palm of my hand and got a few blurry shots.

Here's Si, concentrating on a win…

Here's me, getting a good buzz…

And finally here’s a picture of the security people that kept telling me not to take pictures…

So that’s casino night. I didn’t get to dress up because of the weather; it was just too cold for a dress. :-(

Shopping Therapy and More Fun to Come

Well since the hellish haircut from the second rate Rudy look alike I have been sporting pony tails and head bands as predicted; so not attractive these days especially on the rare occasion when I want to look extra nice. And since my hair is so short I’ve had a few curling iron mishaps and am now forced to sport beauty battle wounds on my forehead (so embarrassing). That damn BITCH!

I decided that I needed some shopping therapy to make myself feel better. I’m so excited because I found not one, but two dresses at Ross's dress sale that actually fit and look good on me! Actually I found a few more than that, but unfortunately I have limited funds and decided to get my favorite two out of the group that I wanted. It has been years since I have been able to find an affordable, well fitting dress… so happy.

Pretty sliver shoes…

And, happily I have a place to wear them now! Well one anyway. A couple weeks ago Si was watching a local morning news show that was featuring a cook and his signature dish from a local casino; they announce that the first whatever callers to call in and say the name of the dish, “Hasenpfeffer” (which I think means rabbit), would get two free dinners and a show. So he called and was within the number of callers (they probably gave it to everyone that called in. lol). Yay! I finally get to dress up and go somewhere! So now we’re having casino night this week and I just hope I can do something with my nappy mane. That damn bitch… >:-<

What else?

Books and music that make you dumb… Hilarious, you have to check them out here:

http://gawker.com/349173/these-books-will-make-you-dumb

http://beatcrave.com/2009-03-03/music-that-makes-you-dumb/

That’s it for now; hope to have casino pics soon!

Rudy Can’t Cut Hair

You will not believe what happened to me today. I’m kinda proud of myself and the way I handled things.

I decided that I needed a haircut but I wanted to keep some length so I couldn’t use the Flowbee ; and plus, I could help to stimulate the economy by paying someone to cut it for me. I went to the Belle Isle Super Cuts because that’s where I had been going for years from time to time when I needed and could afford a cut where I was introduced to a seemingly nice person that would cut my hair. She asked me what I wanted and I told her, nothing fancy just a layer with bangs, no more than an inch off the length unless absolutely necessary. I KNOW that’s a pretty damn basic and easy cut; should take about 15 minutes tops.

She takes the water bottle and barely sprays around my head for about five minutes before she decides to use a comb, this was so annoying that I should have told her to stop before she picked up the scissors. When she combed my hair she acted like she was afraid to follow through, pulling the comb out every time she hit the slightest tangle; at this point I’m getting down right angry because I’ve been in the chair for about 10 minutes already and she hasn’t even started to cut. This is when I notice that she looks a lot like Keshia Knight Pulliam, you know, Rudy from the Cosby show and the new Tyler Perry movie (which was awesome btw), like they could be twins if it weren’t for this woman’s horrible weave that I unfortunately didn’t notice until much later (more on that later, too).

When she did finally pick up the scissors I wondered if she was cutting anything, I mean I couldn’t see or feel anything she was doing besides running the comb through my hair; I could hear the scissors working but not a sound that indicated that they were cutting anything. She does this all over my head and I begin to see that she is NOT cutting anything off of my hair at all, for some reason she is acting or pretending like she is cutting my hair. Yes, VERY SRANGE, I know.

I swear, my inner voice was screaming, “Get up; do not let her touch your hair!” but did I listen to my inner voice? No, unfortunately.

She asks “Where do you want your bangs?”

I tell her, “Just below my eyes.”

I was kinda wondering if she was actually going to make a cut and when she finally did, she cut my bangs almost off! She didn’t even listen to what I told her! The she says, “Oh, No… I’m so sorry.” I think she did it on purpose for some reason though I do not know what reason she would have to do something so malicious to another woman’s hair. Her name is henceforth ‘Bitch that looks like Rudy’ or ‘Bitch Rudy’. I wish I would have gone bipolar on her ass right then…

I think I was still in shock over what she had just done when she began cutting more of my hair in what she called layers. I don’t know what to call it, chopped screwy maybe. I was so pissed off and afraid that I was about to pull a Madea when she was through that I actually paid the Bitch and left. I got home hoping that I might be able to fix it somehow, maybe the Flowbee could help but I’d have to go shorter again.

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I was LIVID! I called the salon to talk to a manager and hopefully they would stop this Rudy lookin Bitch from ruining anyone else’s hair and give me my money back but she wasn’t there. I couldn’t just leave it alone, like Si was telling me to do. I can’t really blame him, he was afraid of me going buck wild on her ass too though. My attitude has been known to be rough when I’m provoked; I’ve been thrown out of a few places in the past. But I was so damn upset that I could not leave this alone, this Bitch would have to give me my money back and know how bad she did me.

When I got there everyone was busy cutting hair, even Bitch Rudy, she was giving a child a buzz cut, poor child. So I waited for someone, anyone to get done and talk to me; it was then, while staring down this heinous hair ruining Rudy looking Bitch, that I noticed that her weave tracks were showing and she had what looked like bed head. I wish I had noticed that first, maybe I would have saved myself months of ponytails. How does a hair salon employ a person that looks near homeless and cannot even care for their own hair? Anyway, she was done first and happened to be the one that I was going to talk to on this matter.

I told her “I went home and looked at my hair and tried to see if I could fix what you have done, but I can’t do it; and the more I think about it the angrier I get. I’m going to need my money back so that I can find someone else to fix this mess you made.” I felt that I was as polite as possible and I kept my voice low so as not to make a scene in front of the other customers (but they could hear me anyway).

She was understandably taken aback at first, then tried to explain that she was doing what she had been trained and blah blah blah. I stopped listening after she said “trained”; I have never had this problem at this particular salon before and I assumed that their techs were from a tech school at least, I didn’t think you could work at a place like that and not be from a school; if so, I could do ten times better than Bitch Rudy without the proper schooling.

She called her manager on the phone and begins to go into her explanations to her boss; all she says is “I did exactly how I was trained…” She was neglecting to mention that she butchered my bangs as well so I said “Don’t forget to tell her that you cut off all of my bangs, too.” With a shocked look on her face, she actually told her boss that on the phone.

I didn’t say anything else while she was being told how to refund my money. Another tech had to come and help her, a guy this time, handsome dude too but that’s beside the point here. He successfully refunded me with nothing but one’s… lol At least I got my money back and I didn’t go crazy in public.

When I got back home I broke out the trusty Flowbee; it did what it could do considering all of the uneven chunks. My bangs are still almost non-existent, I am still stuck with ponytails for months and it’s a lot shorter than I had hoped for. This is what she did to my bangs…

That Bitch! I will be calling her that every day until my hair grows out.

I wish I had taken a picture of the butchering that I received today before I put the Flowbee to it, but I just needed to do something before I started crying. I had more than a few clues and irritations that told me I should have never let her touch my hair. I so regret not listening to myself. Fuck offending someone, next time my little voice says not to do something I’m going to listen.

So in closing, I hope that people google this place like I never did. It is the Super Cuts hair salon on Belle Isle Blvd in Oklahoma City. The Asian lady that is there is usually awesome, I like her, she has done good by hair before, but if you walk in and see a woman that looks like Rudy from the Cosby Show run. Run away or ask for someone else.

I’m going to look for a place to leave a review online. I don’t want anyone else to suffer like am. Messing with a woman’s hair is one of the cruelest things one can do… : (

QuadraMom!

My oldest friend, KK, often referred to as my sister, gave birth to her fourth child, a girl named, Zakharra Nevaeh Ingram, last night at 10:17 pm. I have no idea her weight and I think they said she was 19 inches long.

It was all so sudden because she wasn’t even due till the middle of next month; I was expecting her visit today when she called to tell me that she was in labor and wouldn’t be able to make it. lol She said she was at a five (those that have children know what that number means)so I left to run a couple of errands thinking that it would be a few hours.

I was only busy for a couple of hours when we finally arrived; when I walked into the room I saw Chris already holding his daughter. I was about 20 minutes late!! Damn! I shouldn’t have made that last stop. I’m a little upset that I missed this one because I’ve been there for all the others, but everything happened so much faster than the others. I guess it’s true when they say they come faster with each birth.

Here’s the proud momma and daddy…

She was so understandably tired; she said this was the worst one but don’t mothers usually forget the pain after a while? Or is this just a vicious rumor?

I posted more pics on my myspace page here, myspace.com/bastet74, because I didn’t want to load this page with all the pics that I took. I took a lot of pics, like I usually do, but this is a rare occasion that most of them turned out decent despite the fact they are cell phone pics.

This picture makes me laugh… It just screams ‘Arian Nation’! LMAO

Forgive my strange humor, world (you really must know me to get me), I think it’s just been a while since I’ve seen a caucasian baby…

So anyway, I’m happy for them on thier new addition. Happy birthday Zak!

Love and Possessions

Hello again. I hope everyone had a love filled Valentine’s Day. Si came back home just in time last week, He has been resting and relaxing and the Royals are clearly happy to have him back home too.

My V-Day was full of wonderful goodies and gifts that keep on giving. I woke up to fresh 7-11 coffee (my fav because it is way better and cheaper than Starfucks), roses, chocolates, earrings, and a card that contained a one hour massage redeemable anytime I want it!

I got him some new slippers that he can wear outside, some night britches, and some nice Nike’s; you can’t tell by this picture, but the contrasting dark color is a deep hunter green. I love that color!

An added bonus to his and my V-Day was that everything I got him actually fit and he liked everything! I am shocked myself; I suppose that I’ve finally gotten to know a little bit about him over the last 14 years or so. Lol

The Royals had a good V-Day too, they love the shoe boxes! I don’t know how, but Cracker managed to get his whole fat ass inside to take a nice long nap.

So yeah, Valentine’s Day was pretty good this year and made even better with all the material possessions meager money was able to buy…

And moving on, I started classes again after a much need break recently. I hope that I can keep my focus up and maintain my GPA, I’ll be busy trying to keep up for like the next year or more, so I really shouldn’t focus on unimportant things like blogs… lol

That being said, I just wanted to post a few pics and show off my Valentine gifts. I’ll close with a picture of Tiger laying on my sister-n-law. Love was in the air… or maybe he’s just a whore; he’ll cuddle up to love on anyone that lets him!

It's Gonna Be OK?

Things are really looking up these days. And as far as school… I got a do-over!! I just called my counselors at the school and explained to them the problems and road blocks that I’ve been running into and they granted me a onetime only do-over for this most recent and hellish block of (thankfully, only two) classes. Needless to say I am ecstatic!! I guess I got lucky this time, but it can NEVER happen again.

School seems central to anything good that may happen in my future. I’ve been waiting on my school money so that I can fix Red once and for all (and it just came in today). Everyone has been advising me to get another used car but I REFUSE! Some of you may even think that I am crazy, but I do have logical reasons for holding on to Red.

Her body is not my ideal in a vehicle, I mean, I’m like any other American when I say I LOVE a sporty body on a car; something small and sleek. But what Red lacks in outward beauty she makes up for in her functionality. She has great mileage per gallon because of her small engine; for more than five years now she had been low maintenance and had gotten me from place A to place B and back again safely and for the most part, reliably. I have known her for a long time so I know how she has been treated and maintained. I vow to maintain her better from on as well.

Another reason for keeping Red alive has recently crossed my mind; my sister, bless her heart, locks her keys in her car from time to time, so when I asked her why she didn’t just make a few copies to keep around she informed me that one key to her vehicle would cost her almost $100 dollars!! I was flabbergasted at this amount, and then she says that a copy without a computer chip inside, a valet copy, would cost only half that. I am amazed that she said “only half”. A copy of my car key costs me about $1 dollar, and $5 if the shop is booshi (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=booshi urban dictionary for those that just don’t know). So, the low cost of an extra key is just another plus on Red’s side.

And not to leave out what I think may be the best reason I can give in these trying financial times… Red is paid for, I bought her with cash and have never made one payment further, I own her outright. Also, since she is an older model, she is very affordable when it comes to insurance, tags, and tax. I’m taking her in for a diagnostic check up as soon as possible; let’s hope she can be brought back to her prime soon.

Si is still ill and away; the Royal Love-Smith’s and I miss him. But there is good news here, he will be back home next week, the doctors have fixed the issue he was having with his arm and they are just holding him for a few more days for monitoring. When doctors say that, I usually translate it to mean that they aren’t sure what might happen next or don’t know what is ultimately wrong. Either way, it’s minor and besides feeling lonely and imprisoned, he feels well; he just wants to be home of course.

I’ve been spoiling him to death for some reason; he just deserves it I suppose. He has been whining about needing a Snuggie for months now, that and a Ped Egg. I found both at Walgreen’s for him. He loves that damn Snuggie… Lol. Then I got him a couple of games for his PS2 to help pass the time. Anyway, he will home soon.

The Royal Love-Smith’s have a local enemy cat that lives outside. This cat comes around all the time and taunts them, driving the Love-Smith’s crazy so that they hiss, hit and scratch at the windows. I finally caught the culprit sleeping on my porch.

He or she is just too cute!

But I still had to shoo it away for the sake of the Royals. I think it has home nearby somewhere, it looks well fed.

Peachy Keen

Well, this school stuff is really pissing me off; but I don’t mean school itself, I am still really in love with learning, doing the work, and love the environment (the way it’s all done online). It’s the circumstances of life these days that is getting me down; every time I have time to sit and study, something comes up or messes up, something always seems to come along and ruin what concentration I have and then that something takes up all the available study time I had. Sometimes the school site is down, or my cable connection is having issues, or someone comes over for a visit, or someone is ill or hungry and needs my attention, or the housework has fallen behind, or the freaking sky has fallen and I need to pick it up and fix it. I feel as though I can’t win because of all the road blocks that keep popping up.

I’m not giving up on school yet; I’ll get it done one way or another. I have to find a way to push through and keep going, right? I am so trying to push those damn blocks out of the way, I gotta think further ahead than usual, I suppose. The car is broke down again so it’s no good for pushing; I wonder if it will ever get fixed but if it doesn’t I’ve been trying to learn the bus routes and taxi costs. Also, looking at car rentals in case I need a car for a few days or something.

I just keep thinking that using public transport will end up saving money in the long run. No more gas tank, no more insurance, no more maintenance. But along with those come no more freedom of movement anytime I want or need it, which doesn’t sound like a lot but is tremendous when I think that I have to give up garage sales in the summer and midnight fast food runs; and the option of always being able to make a quick getaway out of almost any location. I’ll just have to try it out for a while and see how it works out, it’s not like I have a choice now anyway. lol

It seems like there has been more company than usual around here these days. My sister came by a couple of weeks ago and then again the following week. It seemed like it had been ages and lifetimes since we last spoke; and maybe it has. She says that she’ll be moving back to the metro area in the summer and, by the way, she is seven months pregnant with her fourth child! “OMG!” is all I can really say about it.

Tiger really enjoyed their company; he loves having new warm bodies to sleep on.

What else is going on? Si is doing ok, he’s in and out a lot these days, but he’s doing well despite this. I think I’ve become a real hermit since the car broke down. I just stay indoors and most of the time I have to figure out if it is day or night; my schedule is all screwed up. I really gotta get out more often. I miss my Sinn; I would always get out with her.

So, that’s an update thus far. Life is peachy keen as usual. : l

Happy New Year World

Hello again, all. How is everybody’s new year going so far? It’s about a week and a half in and I’d like to think that mine is going well at this point, or at least better than it was a couple of weeks ago.

I may be able to revive old Red! Yes, it will cost more to fix her than she is worth, but I cannot find the money for a new vehicle. However, I can find enough money to fix what is wrong with Red, worth it or not. I think at this point she is totally worth it. The mechanic has been flooded with repairs lately, but says he can try to get to work on it sometime next week. No word yet on how long he’ll take to fix it.

Let’s talk New Year resolutions… Have you made any? I decided not to make any but admit that I do find myself needing to make major changes in my life as usual. So without calling them resolutions, I’ll say that I am working on my weight, like every living and breathing woman, still need to quit smoking, I need to get out of the house more and not just to Wal-Mart and back, and I continue to try to stay on top of my health. Pretty much similar to what everyone else in the world works on.

New Year’s eve was fun this year. We went to a bowling alley with some friends, Terrance and Tara, and their kids. They are the cutest family.

Both of their web pages are full of kissy pics and obvious displays of their affectionate feelings for each other. They have the kind of obvious devotion to each other that makes the rest of the world sick with some kind of envy or jealousy.

I know all of these pics suck and as you can see, the lighting is terrible. Here are the boys enjoying a drink.

I caught Si sneaking sips of my drink now and then. One drink I had was really good; it was called a strawberry long island iced tea; it had I don’t know how many clear liquors in it with a dab of strawberry daiquiri mix. It was delicious! My usual drinks while out tend to be 151 and coke, or a long island iced tea because I have such a high tolerance for liquor. My high tolerance has always baffled me since I am not a heavy drinker on the norm; it just takes a lot to get where I want to go on the rare occasion that I do have a drink.

This is a bad pic of me feelin a pretty good buzz after about three and half drinks.

I had a ball with the people we were with. Their children are so well behaved; I never saw them get into trouble or attempt anything that may get themselves into trouble. And they are so helpful too! They helped by taking everyone’s turn at the lanes whenever one of us went outside to smoke. Lol They are truly the best behaved children I’ve seen in years. I don’t think anyone remembered or even really cared about any score, but Tara was the best. She bragged about being good because she was in a church league or something; she had every right to brag too. We all just wanted to be together and have fun; I hope they had as much fun as I did or more.

Here’s a better pic of a buzzed me after getting home that night.

Happy New Year world…