About Me

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Seminole, Texas, United States
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

Thursday, December 28

Christmas-in-Pictures

First look . . . grumbling Christmas Bear -



Lots of stuff!


. . . and some more stuff!



Tearing up some turf!



. . . and to all a Good Night!

Wednesday, December 27

Intervention

It was bound to happen. I should have seen it coming. But I had gotten so sloppy and careless. I should not have been surprised but surprise is still the emotion I felt when it all happened. When the walls came tumbling down and I had to face the harsh ugly truth:

I'm an addict.

It had gotten to where I would get so euphorious that I couldn't see through the haze - the sprinkles of powder on my clothes. Or maybe it was the tell-tale residue on my upper lip. It could have been my unusually high energy at 6:30 in the evening. That's not normal for any middle-aged woman. Especially one with a 2 year old. Ahhh, the idiocy and lack of functioning brain matter of an addict.


Damn ye to hell, sugar donuts! DAMN YE TO HELL!!!!

Back to Regular Scheduled Programming

I don't know about the rest of you but I am glad to have my butt back in my office chair at my office computer doing my every day job (okay, after I finish this post).

I love the holidays and sharing the true meaning of the season with my family and friends and enjoying all the festivities that go with it - - but quite frankly, I'm pooped.

I just had four and a half days off from work and now I'm at work actually relaxing for the first time since last Wednesday.

Once I get all the photos downloaded from the camera, I'll create a photo-post of the Bear's very wonderful third Christmas.

Hope all of you had happy Christmases, too!

My Christmas Song for You

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
You give us so much kumquat.

O Christmas Tree
from the Christmas Song Generator.

Get your own song:

Monday, December 25

The Greatest Gift

It's 9:15 am and I could really use a nap. The kind of nap that finds one drifting off peacefully and with a happy little smile.

I love Christmas on the weekend. It means that our family's holiday schedule is that much farther away from the hustle and bustle that the secular world would have us caught up in. For us, the cash and carry of days ended at 3:30 on Friday afternoon.

Our Christmas weekend included three special worship services at church, each with its own special focus on the glory and immensity of the Christ child's birth. The tremendousness of the greatest gift we have ever received:

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." - - Luke 2:10-11

Friday, December 22

No Spelling before 0800 Hours!!!

The Bear woke up at 4 am this morning. I went in to check on him to try and get him to go back to sleep. Apparently he woke up worried about Santa Claus and when is he supposed to come and does he know what he's supposed to bring?

I carried the Bear into bed with me and Daddy, hoping to snuggle up and soothe his concerns so we could all go back to sleep. No such luck.

The question and answer session continued for about another 15 minutes or so. By this time Daddy is trying his best to get the Bear to just "shhhh, closey eyes and Santa will come see us in a couple of days." The Bear felt the need to re-iterate at 4:30 a.m. that he wanted a big red bike (yes, the color has changed from blue to green and now to red) and he wants a big white dirty truck (?).

Anyway, I start spelling to Daddy that we need to encourage the R E D B I K E deal because that is the color we got and since we're going to Fredericksburg this afternoon do they have a T R A C T O R S U P P L Y because then we can pick up some more J O H N D E E R E stuff to put under the T R E E from S A N T A.

Daddy holds up his hand in the darkened bedroom and without lifting his head off the pillow says, "Whoa whoa - - it is too D A M N early to be spelling at me!"

Merry Christmas!!!!

Thursday, December 21

The Purina Diet

I was in Walmart buying a large bag of Purina and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog . . . . duh!

I was feeling a bit crabby so on impulse, I told her no I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care unit with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.

Her eyes about bugged out of her head. I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The package said the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall guy behind her. Horrified, she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital.

I said no . . . I'd been sitting in the street licking my butt when a car hit me.

har har har

The preceding joke was sent to me from a good friend who has taught me all I know about horses. Which ain't much.

Wednesday, December 20

I must be insane!

So we're right smack in the middle of the Christmas holidays out here: getting ready for the big night at home and with family, preparing for all the various and sundry events at work (church), baking every shape and size and flavor of holiday snack-sweet-bread-dish, etc.

Guess what I decided I need to do right in the middle of all this? I decided last night that I need to organize my "recipe hole." The "recipe hole" is one entire upper cupboard in my kitchen where, for the past 3 or so years, I have tossed countless scraps of paper and index cards and food 'zine pages upon which a recipe had been spied. It presented a very real danger to one's eyesight/nose to open the cupboard door lest the contents come flying out haphazardly. Opening the door has not been an enjoyable task.

Anyhoo, I figured now is as good a time as any to get it all wrangled and organized into some sort of order or something. Right now I am just trying to get it in one pile in one spot on my desk in hopes that maybe some time before next Christmas I can have it in a notebook or something that I can actually use on occasion.

I usually enjoy an exercise in organization but this is one that I fear is going to be somewhat painful.

Monday, December 18

Holiday Eating Tips 101

There's only one thing I hate about this time of year (besides the crass commercialism and forced frivolity) but because it's the season when the food police come out with their wagging fingers and annual tips on "how to get through the holidays without gaining ten pounds."

You can't pick up a magazine without finding a list of holiday do's and don'ts. Eliminate second helpings, high calorie sauces and cookies made with butter, they say. Fill up on vegetable sticks, they say. Good grief. Is your favorite childhood memory of Christmas a carrot stick? I didn't think so. Isn't mine, either. A carrot was something you left for Rudolph.

I have my own list of tips for holiday eating. I assure you, if you follow them, you'll be fat and happy. So what if you don't make if to New Year's? Your pants don't fit anymore, anyway.

1. About those carrot sticks. Avoid them. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt Scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt Scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnogaholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with Gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between Christmas and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table carrying a ten- pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. You can't leave them behind. You're not going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day? I don't think so.

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it all cost. I mean, have some standards, for pete sake.

And one final tip:
10. If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread the tips. Start over.

But hurry! Cookie-less January is just around the corner.

Friday, December 15

Legal Wranglings

Coming from 15+ years in the corporate litigation arena, my eye is always caught by any headlines regarding interesting lawsuits. Having been on both sides of the corporate litigation ball at one time or another, I cannot peg myself either "plaintiff" or "defendant." I consider myself relatively objective when presented with ALL the facts. But there has been occasion when my desire to win created a tunnelvision so as to preclude any reasonable arguments on behalf of the opposing side.

This article is in regards to a man in Alabama suing Merck Pharmaceuticals four years after he suffered a heart attack whilst he was taking the anti-inflammatory Vioxx. He filed his suit last year - one year after Merck pulled the drug out of circulation. Apparently this gentleman suffered from many health issues before the heart attack (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and was/is overweight). The jury found in favor of Merck and the plaintiff was denied his hoped-for payday of $5.75 million. (How this got to court is curious - - statute of limitations should have been somewhere in the neighborhood of two years.)

I have no problem with any part of the article regarding the lawsuits against Merck for what people feel are justifiable legal actions. You know where my problem is?? Look at the end of the article where it says: "A judge in one case ordered a retrial after jurors sided with Merck."

That tee-totally pisses me off!! You know why? Because that judge is essentially thumbing his nose at our jury trial system. In my book, there is no reason whatsoever that a judge should be allowed to order a retrial after a JURY verdict. I agree with the safeguards by letting judges order mis-trials due to any number of rights' violations, legal misconduct, procedural disqualifications, etc.

But if this judge (and I have no information as to specifics about the particular case) ordered a retrial for no other reason than he did not agree with its finding or he somehow felt that the jury was not qualified (and that's another argument for another day) to come to the conclusion that it did, he should be removed from the bench immediately.

That "good old boy" network crap PISSES me off!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Gloriously Interesting to Me!

I just got back from the post office and Hubby (the elected official in the family) received yet another Christmas card from a state government official. This time it was from Lt. Governor David Dewhurst.

So far I think we've gotten Christmas greetings from the Governor, two Senators, one State Representative, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, and various and sundry Sheriffs throughout the state.

You wanna know the BEST part??

EVERY SINGLE one of these greetings had a Bible verse and/or a reference to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I've been checking the addresses and postage. It looks like they all have personal return addresses and regular old .39 cent holiday stamps. Hmmm . . . I suppose the "separation of church and state" is not going to diminish the personal beliefs of our elected officials.

And I REJOICE in that!!!!

Cookies for Santa

Several years ago when I was single and childless with dreams of a very handsome wonderful Husband (check!) and adorable little ones (check!), I made some of my first "Mommy" purchases to be safely kept until needed. I bought six big Children's Treasury books: Bible Stories, Mother Goose, Fairy Tales, Christmas Stories, Peter Rabbit, and Bedtime Stories. These books were going to be critical to me reading to my children every night before I tucked them into bed. One of my other purchases was a plate and cookie cookbook set: Cookies for Santa. I have carried these items around with me from move to move, carefully packed in boxes until the blessed days came for me to utilize them.

The Cookies for Santa plate and cookbook are going to be used for the first time next week when the Bear and I work together in the kitchen to bake up his first batch of cookies. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am about this upcoming event. Of course, I may be singing a totally different tune once I have to clean flour out of floor tile crevices and dried egg white out of stove burners. But I am going to delight in every minute of it.

And by the way, I have it on good authority that Santa would very much enjoy these Chocolate Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies.



MERRY CHRISTMAS ! ! !

Thursday, December 14

Quote of the Day

"You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks." - - Will Rogers

Wednesday, December 13

I've got another term for the guy -

Pervert.

Maybe I'm being a prudish, uptight church lady but come on. That crap contributes NOTHING of value whatsoever to our society.

And the fact that he pulls in $40 million a year makes me wanna retch.

Slumbering Bear: A Retrospective

One of my very favorites things as a mommy is watching my baby sleep. He is so peaceful and looks so blissful that it gives me a wonderful feeling of maybe we're doing okay as parents after all.










Jesus tender

Shepherd hear me

Bless your little lamb tonight

Through the darkness

Be Thou near me

Keep me safe til morning's light.

Tuesday, December 12

Christmas Spirit, Smirit - GIMMMEE!

So the boss gets a package today from these people:



Said package is sitting on my desk. Unopened. For now.

Said boss is out of the office today.

hmmmmm . . . what to do, what to do.

Quote of the Day

"You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty." - - Sacha Guitry

Stealing Kisses

Gotta get 'em while he's still shorter than me.

Monday, December 11

New Moniker? Maybe. No?

I'm considering changing the name of my blog from "The Complaint Department" to something a little more catchy, trendy, linkable. I'm thinking my current title lends itself to more avoidance than curiosity.

I love names like Williams-Sonoma, Harry & David, Crate & Barrel. They're so uber contemporary (hee hee - I've used the word "uber" in my blog TWICE now!) and memorable. Although since I'm not offering goods for sale perhaps I should stick with catchy AND descriptive. But I still love my subtitle though - I wanna keep it.

So after some thought (and a couple of glasses of wine), I've come up with "City Girl/Country Living."

My subtitle is going to have to change - it's not a good match for the new title. So you may see some other changes to the blogface but the URL will remain the same so no worries for any kind links that have been generously added.

Any subtitle thoughts?? I'm all ears.

Another Picture of My Kid

We had a beautiful day yesterday here in the Texas Hill Country. There was a little breeze with some nip to it but otherwise it was 65 and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. We took the opportunity to get out and get some fresh air. The Bear was having a serious case of cabin fever over the weekend and the newly decorated Christmas tree barely survived.

Here he is on "Trigger" - his first horse. As he and Trigger are crazily galloping along, here comes Murphy (his second horse) with a look that says, "Hey, kid - - what's goin on here? I'M your horse!!"



Saturday, December 9

If I don't, will I get kicked out?

I just logged into my dashboard and a message was at the top: "Your new version of Blogger is ready."

It didn't say anything about "beta" but it said there were new features and blah blah blah.

Am I supposed to do the new version? Is it a choice? I've heard that if I do "beta" I can't go back to the old blogger style.

I'm so confoosed!

Friday, December 8

I'b Sthick.

I went into work just long enough this morning to get the necessities completed and then I came home.

Last night was miserable. I couldn't breathe, my throat was all itchy and scratchy, and I had an ice picking headache. I guess the worst part is the stuffed up nose. First it's the left side, then the right side, then left, then right, then left, then both. I'm officially a mouth-breather today. I can already feel my IQ points falling.

Hopefully by Monday I will be back to my old smarmy forked tongue self.

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful, phlegm free weekend!

Tuesday, December 5

So THAT's why?!!

I find this article hilarious. You know, cheaters will do anything, even write a magazine article, to try and justify their actions. The funniest part is that they are so dense as to think we are stoopid enough to buy it.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the whole purpose of being in a relationship to commit yourself to that one person? If variety is what you want, then steering clear of "relationships" should be added to the top of your 'To Do' list. And if you're in a relationship that you don't want to be in, then that's your own fault. Nobody knows you better than yourself so signing up for a commitment you had no intention of keeping can't be blamed on anyone else - not even the other person in the relationship (unless, of course, a shotgun was involved).

Back to the article, supposedly the four top reasons you cheater guys will cheat are:

1. It's in your biology - Hey! It was in my biology to choke the living crap out of the ex-wife-in-law but I didn't. It's a little thing called "self-control." All adults are equipped with it - use it!

2. For the attention - awww, poor wittle baby not getting any attention at home? Wifey putting too much energy into washing your clothes, cooking your meals, cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, holding down a full-time job?? You poor wittle neglected thing. SHUT THE **** UP! Maybe if you'd help out a little and relieve a little of her burdens she wouldn't be so dog-ass tired and you could get/receive the attention you BOTH deserve.

3. You want out - Yeah, it's too much trouble and why bother with dignity by actually breaking up with the person you don't want to be with anymore. Just cheat and they'll kick you to curb on their own. So you're a weasely little nertless wuss on top of being a cheating slimeball. Where were you when I was single? blech

4. You want variety - and how about a little STD to go with that? woo hoo You got yourself a real party going now!

What the article didn't bother to acknowledge is that choosing (and it IS a choice - it's controllable behavior) to cheat is only going to get you celibate and lonely in the end.

The article is hilarious to me for several reasons with the first being that no matter who a guy is cheating on - - he is ultimately cheating himself. So to try to explain it away with smartly worded bullet points really only eases the cheater's mind, no one else's.

The fool is sadly fooling himself.

YO! I'm a Rocky kid!

When the "Rocky 6" commercial came on tv this weekend, Hubby and I looked at each other with expressions of perplexion. "Really?"

"Is that for real?"

So I did little surf-vestigating yesterday and sure 'nuff - "Rocky 6" is coming out some time around Christmas.

Now I know there are those out there who are giving hoots of laughter that Sylvester Stallone is doing another Rocky movie, saying "Give it a rest already!" But for those of us whose earliest movie memories include Rocky slugging his heart out against Apollo Creed and NOT winning (what kind of jacked up movie ending was THAT?), we still have a tender spot in our hearts for the big goofball. I watched the first four Rocky movies with my parents (I'm sure Mom would have preferred to see something else but Dad was there so it was Rocky or nothing). And then I saw the fifth Rocky with the jerk I was dating at the time (whole other story there).

With the sixth (and final?) Rocky coming out, I am looking forward to seeing how things have been going for my favorite boxer.

Monday, December 4

It Happened. Again.

I couldn't find my new lip liner this morning. A perfectly good reason to be on the verge of tears. I was sitting in the DQ drive-thru waiting for my morning Diet Dr. P and I realized that my $2 lip liner was not in my tote bag where it belonged. And I knew where it was. It had been thrown away at a Wal-Mart in another town.

Once again, my multiple roles of wife/mother/full-time employee caused me to let myself down. And it's always something small. It's never anything big because the big stuff I can remember and keep track of and if I don't accomplish it then, oh well - I tried.

But the small stuff gets me every time. We stopped at Wal-Mart after church on our way to my mother-in-law's house. I needed a lip liner, Hubby needed eyeglass cleaner and cloth, and the Bear needed wipes and bubble bath. I got everything we all needed but once I got back in the truck I realized that the bubble bath seal had been broken and the lid was loose. Great, the bubble bath was leaking onto everything else. I told Hubby we would stop back by on our way home and exchange the bubble bath. So I put everything else in the Bear's tote bag and then cleaned off Hubby's eyeglasses.

On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart again so I could exchange the bubble bath. I just left it in the bag since it had leaked and gave it to the clerk. I went and got the new sealed bubble bath, did the check-out thing, and left.

You guessed it. My new lip liner was still in the bag with the old leaky bubble bath. I'm sure the bag hit the trash before I even got out the door.

Some times I put so much focus and energy into making sure that everything is just right for Hubby and just right for the Bear and just right for my employers that anything I needed to do for myself gets completely lost in the shuffle. And it's always something small.

Friday, December 1

I miss her.

I think a lot of my fellow bloggers (at least the ones I communicate with) will be able to relate with me on this issue. Or maybe not.

All day long I have my internet radio going (KLTY out of Dallas). They are playing Christmas music 24/7 this month. And they have a wonderful selection of Carpenter holiday songs that are played occasionally throughout the day.

Karen Carpenter's voice was kind of the background music of my life during my elementary years. One of my very dear friends even had a Carpenter's song played at her wedding several years after Karen's death.

I don't know why but hearing her voice makes me feel a little melancholy and wistful.

Sometimes vandalism IS funny!