I have a few things on my mind that I wanted to blab about this evening, go fill up your coffee/beer/whatever - I'll hang tight until you're back.

*starts tapping fingers*

Ok, ready? First just the misc updates... hung w/ Mithy, Addie, and Rex for some wingage last night. Good stuff, hit the spot! Today I realized "aw hell, it's the 30th and there is a game tomorrow night" so I hauled home and quickly pulled together a pile of stuff I still wanted to take to Goodwill under the 2009 tax year and hauled it up there. Yay! Not only does it feel good to get the tax refund increase and help a valuable community entity, but it feels good to purge. That opens this long weekend as time to put the Christmas stuff away and to rearrange decoration storage to the basement and get the upstairs further cleared up.

Now for something that's been irking me as I watch the news over the past few days. Why are we pointing fingers at the failure of the US President and US entities for FOREIGN airports? I'm sorry, I don't care how you cut it but we cannot govern the dilligence of screening outside the US - hell we have a hard time doing it within the US.

I think most people who are close to me know I am a "Bzz Agent", which means I get to try out some newer products, show them off to people, get their opinions, and share our thoughts with the company. Pretty cool, right? Well right now I'm using L'oreal's last boosting products, both their serium, which I've been putting on every night, and periodically their mascara.

I'm only a week into it and I don't see a noticable difference, but I did take pre-trial photos that I'll post in a few weeks and expect your comparison opinions. I'm not usually a mascara user as I have dark and (what I think are) thick lashes. I was impressed when I tried this that it not only lasted all day but better still with my squinty eyes is that it didn't glop all over me during the day - that's huge.

People, it is unacceptable if you don't know someone very well to semi-use them to try and snuggle up to their friend. I'm tired of it happening. Even when I am not interested in the guy, it still sucks to see another person who prefers my friends over me. I know I'm fat, I know I am not a talker, but I'm still a human not a means to an end.

Christmas day 2009 is almost over. The girls and I headed to mom's early yesterday to maximize our time after being forced to pile into the Tib. Surprisingly it went pretty well with three dogs crammed in there and all of the presents fit in the trunk without issue. Mom of course made some good grub today and started in itching to unwrap presents last night. With the exception of two she worked her way into we unwrapped everything this morning. Once again I cannot complain having gotten some things I had desired and a few surprises.

When the girls and I got back they opened their gifts with joy. I was pleased to see it was easy to get Saffy into the unwrapping fun. Merry first Christmas with us sweet baby girl!

I did already start reading my copy of Wicked, which looks like it will be a good read. For tonight, I'm going to sit here and chill with "Total Recall" on... just another one of those old movies I can easily watch over and over.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Being under about 7 inches of snow yesterday to the point where we had the cooking saga motivated me to pull out the snow blower last evening after dark. Fortunately, it fired right up and I was able to tend to a bulk of the snow before any packing and ice issues became a factor. Even yesterday the plows had the Tib pretty nicely packed.

Today I did haul out to grab some milk and other basics that I neglected to have here. I even ran to the mall, like an idiot, with the hopes of using a coupon I had for Penneys. Heaven knows when you have a coupon you can never find anything, so I left empty handed. What a mess. Clearly they didn't plow those lots yesterday and everyone who skipped out on shopping Saturday went today instead.

I know I should have worked upstairs or did more cleaning today, but I opted for vegging. After all, I'll have a four day weekend coming up that I will need to fill since it's looking like the chances of having a vehicle to transport the beasts (as is necessary for an overnight stay) to my mother's is looking slim. Instead I feel like all I want to do is eat.

I've been having issues for that past month. I'll leave the details at that and note that I've gotten different birth control pills even to try and deal with the issue. Hopefully the need to grub like I'm PMS 24-7 will disappear with this change. I am also having my last accupuncture treatment tomorrow, while this seems irrelevant, they did say that some of the points being used in the study could be uterine stimuli, so it may be related. In the mean time at least the major craving is some bitchin sweet and large green grapes I picked up today. I guess it could be worse.

It's official. I no longer know how to cook for crap. I was just going to have a bowl of cereal when I finally rolled out of bed, but of course the milk is expired. I don't mean like yesterday or the day before, I mean the 8th. Strike one. Then I decided, since I'm trapped by the 6 inches of white crap out there, I was going to make some cookies. I did have everything I needed, but instead of regular chips I had chocolate mint. No problem, I like mint... but there is just something less than phenominal about them, even warm, and heaven knows there is little better than warm chocolate chip cookies. Strike two. So, how about some pancakes? I'll cut to the chase and just say gloppy mess. STRIKE THREE.

At least the dogs like it, I've got proof since Saffy keeps trying to steal cookies and cookie dough. So it's almost 4 and I'm still friggin hungry. Try four has to be at least edible, no?

So pleased that Autumn is alive and well. Bright and shiny this morning I got a call from Wagner that she was already there, that alone put a smile on my face. Later in the day I talked to the adjuster and the word is that thanks to...
- The low milage on her
- The good condition she's in
- The fact that she's not bent up underneath
- The ability to get some used parts (doors)
... she's salvagable. Now, keep in mind that at the 85% mark is where they'll mark a car totaled and the range of prices for her in KBB are around 8.5-10k. Do the math. That's a lot of boo boos.

I am starting to fill up my calendar for mini-christmases starting off tonight with Mithy and Addie. I really felt like I needed a nap earlier today, hopefully I can keep up.

First up, some developments... so my free tow from Chrysler took me to a dealership without a body shop. Uh, ok, that was useful. But, I've gotten lucky... after calling the insurance company to check in to see if an adjustor had it on their schedule yet (with the intention of wanting to move it to Wagner after they were finished) I find out that they'll do one free tow too, and are willing to get it towed there for me. So, it hasn't been looked at by an adjustor yet, but at least it will be on its way to folks I trust to make her better.

Now for the oddities list... have you ever seen a siberian husky who like to lounge in front of the heat vent? Much like Satin would lay on the vents when the AC was on in NC, I've repeatedly found Saffy in front of the dining room vent when the heat is on. Could explain why she doesn't mind when I put her under the covers! Goofy dog.

Wow. It's been a day. I'll start off by saying this: hopefully no one will be upset with me for not contacting them directly, to have done so would be to put more drama to this than is necessary for the gravity of the situation. That said, I am FINE, however, I wrecked Autumn (the Durango) today.

I was going down a 55mph road around the speed limit, it was pretty bright out, and I didn't see the turn signal on a lady fast enough. I put on the brakes, skidding a bit and realized I wasn't going to get stopped so I did what I had to to go right around her. I got around her and if there had been field I would have been fine, but instead there was nice deep ravine like gutter... at least for a little ways and then hard ground where that gutter came to an end. I dropped into the gutter, slid along it, smacked into the end of it with the corner of the vehicle, bounced back and came out facing downward into it. Somehow Autumn had the ability to back up out of that and I got myself up, out of the roadway, and into a market across the way where I gathered myself.

I've been driving for more than half my lifetime now. I'm happy to say this was my first accident. I'm not looking forward to the bills involved, but I am just happy to say I am okay and that praised be to God I managed to get around the woman in the little tiny Neon sized vehicle without causing her any injury. I know I'm blessed.

Autumn is pretty banged up, like I said, but she took that beating quite solidly and kept me safe, so I thanked her and patted her front panel when tears welled again before they towed her away. The passenger side headlight is busted out and every panel going back is frelled. There was a gap in the rear door where I could see some light, and part of the rear bumper is ripped off. She's got one flat tire and didn't seam to be leaking anything, the airbags didn't deploy *likely due to the side/corner taking most of the impact* and the tow man didn't think she looked like she had a bent frame.

I was pretty shaken and hated having people gawk at me like I was a side show. To those people who gawked, pointed, and commented to others... up yours. To those strangers that took the time to come over, verify I was okay and didn't need anything, and offer a kind word or two - God bless you, whoever you are.

Right now I'm just happy to be home with my girls, as they were one of the first things I thought of. It was not an accident that could have cost me my life, but it did give me some pause for thought. Thank you to my friends who took my call, even when I sobbed a little, to try and get a couple phone numbers I needed, and for calling to make sure I was okay.

Now tomorrow... I'm sure I'll be sore, I'll be shocked if I'm not, but I'm okay. DESPITE tomorrow being seven years since some of the most painful things I've ever heard uttered came my way... I'm okay. It was a bit of a rough reminder Lord, but I guess I needed it.

The Christmas cards are done now too, woohoo! It's hella cold out there today. I guess we were due, but I am still going to complain. Time to have a glass of wine and grub.

It has been an amazingly productive day. I just couldn't bear the thought of getting up and going into work for a slow day. Instead I emailed to call off and played hooky getting things crossed off of my to do list. Not only did I get the tree up with gifts around the bottom and the related boxes all back upstairs, but I also unpacked the artwork so those boxes could hit the trash pile, vacuumed, finished two loads of laundry and by finished I mean it's even away at this point as is another load that was sitting from a previous day's laundry efforts.

Heck, I even started moving things out of the smaller spare room upstairs so I can get my butt in gear and get the second spare bed set up. This is part of the purging process that needs to occur. I know I'll never have a yard sale, so I'll sort - some things will hit ebay at some point, but a majority of it will just get hauled to good will or the Salvation Army, I could use a write off as much as I can use the theraputic value of having that mess eliminated.

I also ran and picked up labels so I can print out addresses for my christmas cards, once that's implemented it should speed up the process in future years. Snagged stamps too, so now I have no excuse to not finish writing up the cards and get them in the mail. I just finished a shower and it's only 5pm, now keep in mind, I did roll back over for a little while, so I didn't start my efforts until near noon.

My reward is sushi and a couple drinks. Maybe I'll even get started on those cards!

Again today! "So, you were married? I just realized that after seeing your name on facebook." Geez. I know I should be able to ignore it, but I just can't at this time of year - go figure. You f'd me good buddy. Congrats.

Ya'll are killing me. It's been an incredibly long time, but I can still go somewhere and have someone say "what's your last name?" ... "oh, I thought I recognized you. How's Jason?!" If he didn't cross my mind or creep through my dreams still every day it wouldn't be that frustrating. At least I got my last couple gifts bought and/or picked up, so now I just need to wrap and ship.

The christmas party was nice, I didn't even get buzzed but I have a headache today, I suppose it could just be a caffeine issue. Now with my shorter hair I managed to do my hair with the chop stick looking things and it stayed in all night without an issue! Of course today I have this odd wave in my hair that needs washed out this evening.

Yay! Beff stopped after the game tonight and changed out my earring for me and it didn't hurt a bit.

In other news, I couldn't help but notice that they're putting money into that crap hole house on Scalp that we lived in... you know the one, where I curled up in the matress in an attempt to stay warm, the one where the plastic covered windows breathed in the bathroom? Yea - they're putting in new windows and front door, it also looked like they were replacing the roof. Personally, I think they'd be better off leveling it... shoot it was 15 years ago that it was on it's last legs. You'd think it would need insulation in every wall and totally reworked from plaster to outer wall.

Beff and I went to see New Moon tonight after what was the longest day most likely ever. I think I'm going to have to wait until a little closer to the next movie to read book three as there were small discrepancies I didn't come near catching like Beth did.

I'm into my Stephen King book right now, it's been a while, and I miss his writing. Perhaps this will spur me through a couple of his books that are still sitting in the to read pile.

For having things slow down at work it was a surprisingly frustrating day. This is going to be one long ass rant. I guess I'm overdue for one of those – sit tight!

I had to head home for the afternoon to meet the DirecTV guy (that's another story) so I tried to return a call from FedEx who announced their need to have someone sign for a package to see if they could do it today. If I haven't said it before, I hate FedEx. People, please stop shipping through them. You pay them to deliver things right? Well they don't, they just create a huge PITA situation every time. No, I can't be there waiting around at my house for you. Just put the shit on the porch – or, leave a paper today, I'll sign it, you leave the shit tomorrow. But, nooooo. I say I tried to return a call because, despite my loathing of the telephone, I tried calling him back at least 15 times (at the number he provided) where it just rang and rang and rang. I eventually caught him and the truck was already out for the day... without my stuff.

Now, as to DirecTV, I called yesterday because I still had not received the equipment I was expecting after calling them over two weeks ago to address the fact that I didn't have locals and their advertising said locals come with every plan. Hrmph. Well, turns out the chic a few weeks ago didn't NEED to change my plan, so I had no reason to lose NGC and a few other channels I watch regularly. Also, there was no order showing in their system, so here I was already getting charged for this other, more expensive plan, without the equipment to actually get the locals I was now paying for. As it turns out, I can keep my plan (which they switched me back to) and instead of getting just the new dish and one new receiver, now I am getting a new dish and BOTH receivers replaced and w/ HD receivers. Go figure since I just bought a new remote for the one off of ebay. Regardless, this is a potential grump situation resolved nicely.

Next up, Chase/JP Morgan and their stupid ass inability to process mortgage payments. Seriously, why do I need to call you every month to straighten things out when I am sending you more than my monthly mortgage payment. They consistently get my payment sent with plenty of time and consistently manage to receive and process it late. Just my two cents, but with stellar performance like that, it already seems like the government is running the banks.

That's on top of things still lingering on on one project with little information and another woohoo let's just change what we said we'd do again for shits and giggles. I was up late last night working on the gift and am still far from done. Then I had a small panic this morning realizing it was officially December and I don't even have my Christmas cards started. I really do dislike the pressures from 101 different directions around this time of year. Be aware, when my mom is gone you won't be getting a Christmas card anymore, you'll just get an email from somewhere in the Caribbean.

BAH FRIGGIN HUMBUG!

I'm trying to get in the right spirit though. It hit me today about the dogs' toys - yes, they have a ton. But I peeked at the humane society's website and yes, they'll take toys! So in the spirit of giving the girls and I dumped everything out in the dining room and stuffed a LARGE bag with dang near new looking toys that were never their favorites. We also pulled out the christmas toys so I am again hearing "ho ho ho... meeeeeerry christmas" and "oh christmas tree oh christmas tree how lovely are your branches!"