I hate at&t

I'll be at home waiting for Directv to come install our new dish today. Once complete we will have NFL Sunday Ticket and I will be hiding upstairs until football season is over! I HATE FOOTBALL. But on the upside we got a really good deal on it and ALL the channels. I am not sure how I will feel about it when it goes back to the normal price but for now I am excited. I also tried to change my Internet service to AT&T but it is becoming such a pain in the ass that I may scrap it and keep the cable Internet. I can't get a DSL connection and I have been holding for 30 minutes waiting for tech support. That tells me that they A. don't have enough employees or B. They have too much trouble with their connection. I am sure they are going to say it's my phone line and since I didn't get the insurance they will charge me to come look at. I am going to call back in about ten minutes (since I am still holding) and ask how to return this crap.

School is school. James still can't keep his mouth shut, I still HATE the "card" system, and J still hates having to deal with us both about it ;) James' teachers are nice enough and actually write in his planner when he has to flip. His other teacher didn't do this even when I asked her what happened. She would just go into an explanation of how the system worked. I understand that completely but I wanted to hear from her what was going on. We'll see how it goes. DAMN AT&T I am still on hold.

Christopher is up on all fours crawling but when he wants to get somewhere fast he still reverts to the army crawl. He is pulling himself up, sitting up and is all over the place. He's pretty cute to watch but not at four in the morning, which is when he wakes up screaming and inconsolable. I don't know what's going on with him but I am starting to lose it. It's hard to go from sleeping through the night to crying for an hour or two. J has come to my rescue a few times but only when he realizes I am at the end of my rope and will soon hang myself. I don't know why but my nerves can not do that type of crying, which makes me feel like a bad mother in the end. OH MY GOD AT&T. They just came on the line to say that the systems were down and to call back in 30 minutes. I had been holding for 45. That's it, I'm done.

Tropical Storms and NO school

J has been out of school since wednesday for TS Fay. Wednesday was mild and nothing really happened but they needed to get all the schools ready to turn into shelters. Thursday was rainy and windy and today was terrible. There was a lot of rain and 40+ mph winds. St Augustine and the Riverside area flooded out and more than a few roads were underwater. There were tons of accidents because most businesses did not close and people were required to work. Wind is no joke in our beautiful city of bridges and expressways and the result was people losing control of their vehicles when they shouldn't have been on the road in the first place. Of course J had to work and today I was very concerned. The only way to avoid using the bridges was to go into the parts of town that were very flooded. I did not think he'd make it but he hasn't called to say he's stuck. There was some tornadic (I love that word) activity in our area but nothing touched down in the projected area that is 5 minutes from us. I was not nervous until they said they expected a tornado to touch down so close to us and am so glad it didn't.

James only had two days of school and had to flip a card for talking too much. He has been restricted from the tv but decided he needed to be a smart mouth to me so he has no toys either. Luckily I still have some Summer Bridge workbooks so that's what we've been doing the last three days.

Christopher is 7 months old and sitting up on his own. It's very cute. He also says da-da all the time. He holds his own bottle and sleeps throught the night. He caught his very first cold and has been cranky and off his schedule. Hopefully it will clear up soon because I am going crazy between the two of them.

I guess that's all the news.....

You've been warned

I was mad and now I need to vent.

First of all if I don't sit within two feet of the thingy (anyone know what it's called) for my wireless keyboard/mouse they don't work. Anyone have any idea as to why. Forget new batteries, that's been done. It really pisses me off because I am staring at a 32 inch screen. That's hard on the eyes.

So I know I never went into detail about Circuit City and as I am no longer in the heat of the moment there will be less curse words. We ordered a TV online to be picked up at the store. The computer "knows" what's in stock and where. So 45 minutes after we place the order we get a phone call. It's a really good thing we didn't go to pick it up in the 24 minutes they say it will be ready. They don't have the TV so James inquired about the $24 gift card they offer if the item is not ready. The "manager" said it didn't pertain to this situation. J inquired further because he had the fine print right in front of him. She got snippy and I called online customer service trying to resolve the situation. We REALLY wanted the TV. There was already a hold on my debit card for the amount. I did not want them to run it a second time, even though we had the money for it to hold twice the card had been authorized already so why do it again. Customer service assured me it wouldn't happen, that they would make an exception and hold the TV at another store, etc, etc. So J drove 45 minute to pick it up and guess what? they have to swipe my card again. Not such a big deal. Because I work(ed) at a bank I know how these things work and how to get around it. I had the temporary hold deleted. Now for all of you who are thinking of how to get a hold deleted I will warn you that it will NOT be done for you and if by some miracle you too "know" someone at the bank it will only delete the hold. If the merchant presents it for payment the bank will honor it. So if you spend the money you're screwed, now back to Circuit City. Guess what now? Those idiots presented it for payment. Bastards. I called and disputed the charge and they refunded it but damn! I will NEVER shop there again. PS. The customer service supervisor was a total bitch about the whole thing. I guess no one has ever taken $4000 out of her account for a $2000 TV......

OK so today I was finishing up my shopping for the big party tomorrow. At 4:45 I get a call from BJ's saying the don't have the right color icing for my cake. WTF? I ordered it more than a week ago. So I call to find out what's going on and the woman says all she has is baby blue. The cake is a Dallas cowboys cake. Baby shower blue ain't cutting it. So I asked her what they could do, if they had grey, anything. She offered to do the trim in white, again WTF? and then she was stumped on the writing. I asked if I brought royal blue coloring could she add it to her icing and of course give me a discount. "Sure," she said. So when I get there shit hits the fan. The cake is already trimmed in white and they refuse to give me a discount. I asked for a manager and I got some 12 yr old named Tad, who just happened to be another bakery clerk. He called the manager, whispered behind the bakery door, and came out to say "unfortunately we can't discount the cake because we have that color in stock blah blah blah." I bit my lip and restrained from using the f word and grabbing him by the throat. I ranted about wasting 45 minutes, gas and money buying the stupid coloring. He said "well you can return the coloring" Is that the point I was trying to make you dumb little shit? I asked for the manager again and he said that the manager was who he spoke to. And that's when I told him to keep his fucking cake and I would go elsewhere. I was so mad I was shaking and decided to go to the front and ask for the manager. I got a very nice lady who offered to take care of the situation. When I went back to the bakery and told them little Tad looked at me with contempt and then walked over to the manager that wouldn't do anything before. That bastard came over and said "we normally don't discount cakes if you want a special color" Woahhhh buddy back up. I snapped "well if you had come over here and spoken with me when this started you would have known that the problem wasn't a special order color." I yelled the whole story, including "I still have the fucking voicemail" and he apologized and said he had been misinformed on the situation. That's what happens when the manager tries to hide out. Hell I have done it plenty of times at the bank. But anyway. In the end I got the cake for free, free pizza for dinner, and an apology. But I won't renew my membership. Oh and the cake is ugly as hell and if it hadn't been free I would not have paid for that they gave me. The writing is worse than a 2ND graders. The girl whispered, I am so sorry but I am new. Hmmm explains the shitty cake decorating skills.....

IN GOOD NEWS: My sweet baby James is now seven (08/15) YIKES! I really can't believe it and it makes me kinda sad. We had school orientation today and I left feeling excited about the upcoming school year. His class is what they call a "mixed" class. Meaning they have 36 students and 2 teachers. The single teacher classes have 26 kids, so we get a much better student/teacher ratio. I have heard mixed reviews on these classes but I don't think it will be an issue for us. James is in class with his bf John and I LOVE it. At the beginning of 1st grade I thought John was a trouble maker, but I was so wrong. He's a sweet little boy, a lot like James. The teachers seemed so confidant and I think we'll be OK. The first order of business will be explaining who James is and how he reacts to things. I am pretty sure that this will help any future situations. So far this summer there haven't been that many tantrums. Hell almost none, and it's not just because it's summer. he pulled that tantrum crap at home too. School starts on Monday. Expectations are high. Keep your fingers crossed.

We are having a joint party for Jx2 tomorrow. Family and a few close friends. I am going to take cupcakes to school instead of having a kidd-do party for James. It's a good thing we decided not to do a school party. I had no idea that he would be in such a large class. Can you imaging a party with 36 kids, YIKES!

Christopher said Da-Da today. and then giggled hystericaly. Now he will say it once and then grin, giggle, and say it again. I am not sure if it will last but it's damn cute!

I guess that's about all. Thanks for reading.....

if only he were here

J always tells me I need to let my sneezes out. I am not sure why I hold them in. Maybe it's because I am not a big fan of spit spraying everywhere. Well anyway.... I just sneezed and of course I held it in. Didn't work this time. Not only was there spit but there was snot too. Oh GOD, how gross.

boy oh boy

I never realized how much weight you gain during your period. I have never stepped on a scale during mine but I made the mistake the other day. The scale took my awful 20 pounds and turned it into 30. I spent the night curled up in a pitiful fat ball. Today the scale is back to 20, which is still terrible but not nearly as bad as 30. Hopefully cutting back on junk and going back onto the eating plan I had during pregnancy will help. How come I had so much self control while that little boy was in my belly then now? Before I didn't dare eat more than a recommended portion for fear of hurting him but now that it's just me I don't give a crap. I need to work on that!

My burn is much better and the scarring isn't too bad. I don't think it'll be noticeable and besides it's on the inside of my wrist. But now I am having a lip issue. I misplaced my 20 tubes of chapstick and lip gloss and my lips are screaming for moisture. I was tempted to put butter on them awhile ago. They are cracked and dry and ugly. Bahhhh.

J and James are celebrating birthdays. My husband is getting old and I don't like it. And James is 7????? What's that about? We are having a party for them this weekend. I try not to speak ill of his family but no one RSVP'd. I mean how hard is it to acknowledge the email invites I sent out. Is it too much to click "reply" and type "we'll be there" And to top it off not a single one of them called to wish J a happy birthday. Well except his out of town Aunt. And they wonder why we're not all lovey dovey and inviting everyone to everything. Ignoring birthdays hurts my heart. Birthdays, and all major holidays, are important and a big to-do in my family. It's hard to adjust.

We got James' school info today and the teacher sent a list that is completely different then the one they sent at the end of the year. I ended up spending $30 more just to get what was on her list. I was a bit mad but what can ya do? But now we're DONE. No more supplies, no more clothes. School starts in a week and we can't wait. James wants to get back to riding the bus and seeing his friends, who care about learning!

And that's all folks.

Things are a little crazy around here.

So first. J FINALLY got his bonus check. 18 months late. He drove as fast as he could to the local electronics stores to price humongous TVs. Then we priced them on line and found one that was a really good deal at circuit city, who screwed up terribly and I will NEVER shop there again. (the rant is a post in itself so I will save that for later). We purchased the t.v. and moved the other one into the middle room (it's between the two bedrooms, a landing I guess, but not a den)

I had the genius idea to hook my PC up to it and get rid of my ancient monitor.




Well, it's huge and I have to sit FAR away!



We've searched hi and low to find the perfect sofa/love seat/chairs but can't find a thing I am in LOVE with. So this is what I am sitting/typing on.


Yes it's an old writing desk. My sister found it in someones trash. I don't know how I ended up with it, since they are in Ohio, but my dad refinished it and brought it down. For some reason my wireless keyboard/mouse aren't working too well and it's driving me crazy. Not to mention that my butt is numb and the keyboard is all over the place without a proper tabletop. But I guess it's better than the squeaky folding chair I was sitting on.

The room was wonderfully clean and then all of a sudden a laundry hurricane and a cat hit it.









These two are thick as thieves.




This one crawls now and has to be watched like a hawk.



He also enjoys getting my hair.




And this one sneaks my camera to take self portraits.



He also likes taking pictures of the cat.





This is the burn I got while searing a pot roast. Me cooking? Crazy I know, and this is what I get for trying.




J was on vacation and we did nothing, which is fun and boring at the same time. It wasn't planned. The company said if you don't take it we're not paying it out to you once the sale is complete and the new company isn't going to roll it over.




I've gained 20 pounds and hate myself. These are my new best friend and they are quite delicious!





I am sure the extra weight is from eating ice cream every day. Thanks J. I really appreciate that you were so thoughtful and bought me my own half gallon on several occasions. I am entertaining the idea of working out. I don't want to be Ms. Fatty McButterpants (king of queens) So I bought some new shoes and have grand ideas about hitting the treadmill or maybe the pavement once school starts again. It's nearly impossible to do with the boys, I have tried.

And now I must get back to the thieves. One is crying and the other one is ignoring him.