This Car Makes my Brain Hurt

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blue car

+ license plate: TRU BLU

+ bumber sticker: I'M PRO LIFE AND I VOTE

+ partially scratched off, religious radio station promoting bumper stickers

________________________

What are they trying to say?

Merry Christmas Eve to Ye

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Friends, it is officially Christmas Eve. I have managed to get all of my gift-wrapping done, and have nearly finished off the giant box of cookies I received last night from the delicious treat-making factory that is the kitchen of Sarah and Carolyn.

I do believe I left a shopping bag at the check-out at Target and need to go back in the morning and see if there is an "unclaimed bags at check-out" section in customer service. If not, I get to debate with Natalie again tomorrow about which clothes are the best choice to bestow upon Mason as part of a Christmas gift.

Kevin left for New Jersey to be home with his family for Christmas yesterday morning and Natalie is with her dad so it's just me and the wolfins at home tonight. I keep making them go down to the basement with me and I think they are just about tired of my scared behind. I had this awful nightmare the other night involving a basement and it's just been on my mind ever since. I plan to spend a portion of Christmas day turning that nightmare into an action-packed comic strip and hopefully, that will have some sort of therapeutic effect.

Aside from comic-ing, I would like to finish an acrylic painting, polish up my teaching portfolio and narrow down some New-Year's resolutions by the end of the weekend or, perhaps by the end of next week. Also, being the GIANT NERD THAT I AM, I Cannot Wait! to fill in my new 2011 planner pages. I got a new starter kit for my Franklin Covey. I think it is time to create some new goals for myself and that is always exciting. What can I say - I am a quintessential Capricorn (goal-oriented, mountain-climber, winner, nerd-fest).

Reality Bites

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It's after 2. I just got out of bed, although I have been up since 10:30. I am drinking my morning pot of coffee and although I should be on the phone with my phone company about my $600 phone bill, or with the mortgage company about my $5000 past due balance, or bathing and brushing my mangey-looking, shedding dogs, I am blogging. I hate dealing with real life things. Nathan moved in. He is being his messy, selfish self. He is not thrilled about living with me either. He was just informing me that he wants to hang himself from the ceiling fan every time he walks into the house. I'm not completely sure, but it may be the fact that I just finished off the rest of the laundry detergent washing Natalie and my clothes for the week and now he may have to go by his own. Natalie graduates from Kindergarten tomorrow. I will probably cry. I am working at Saia again. I wish that I could, like so many people, feel content with life knowing that my bills are paid, my credit is good, and my errands are done. I would rather write short stories or take up painting. My parents are still pushing me to go back into the Navy. I would like to give it a year and see if I can't get a teaching job by then. It's hard not to worry about having a retirement plan or making enough money. I just don't think I could go without seeing Natalie for that long though. I cringe to think about how she would turn out if she were raised by her father. I need to go make my bed and all of those other things that should satisfy my existence so I'll end here.

Misery

Quitting smoking sucks. Period.

Today's Car Conversation on the Way Back from the Grocery

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Me: Oh, Look! Someone won the lottery!

Nat: Darn it?!

Me: What if it was us?

Nat: Then I will take back my darn; otherwise, I'm putting it back up.

Me: Okay.

Nat: Look. There sure are a lot of people at Walmart. 

Me: Poor bastards.

Nat: Well, let's pretend you are an adult.

Me: Okay, hypothetically, let's say I am an adult...

Nat: Well what if you needed something? And you could only get it at Walmart. Then what?

Me: Then they would have it somewhere else or else I wouldn't need it.

Nat: Well what if you really did?

Me: Like what? Like, if I needed a snow shovel and they were the only place in town that had them?

Nat: Yes, like that.

Me: Then I would borrow a snow shovel from someone: a neighbor, a friend, someone.

Nat: What if they didn't have one?

Me: Then I would drive to my parents' house and haul their snow shovel home and haul it back to them.

Nat: What if they didn't have one?

Me: Of course they have one.

Nat: Well, what if they didn't? 

Me. Natalie, if nobody in town had a snow shovel, and the only ones available were at Walmart, then everyone would have snow on their walkways and I wouldn't care. 

Nat: Oh.

Glad You Stopped By - Here's a Rant and a Whine.

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Today I was reminded of why I am glad I do not have a television. I spent the evening at my sister's house, helping her with her new hobby, puzzles (shh you), drinking cocktails, laughing, catching up, having a great time, all while her television was fiercely competing in the background, parading around its crappy American Idols, its horrible fake actors, and its mega rich superstars reminding the commoners that they are in fact superior because so many people allow them to be. I think I need a shower to wash away whatever filth may still be lingering from that piece of trash.

Tonight I spent my weight loss competition dues on pizza. I bummed out cigarettes to my newly quit sister and gave her the same lousy b.s. excuses I have been giving everyone else as to why I started again after three years. I am sucking. I need someone to come over and yank my behind out of bed in the morning and make me go for a run and stop wrecking my health. I feel panicked like I know myself less than ever before. I'm leaving my job in two months, I'm about to finish school and either fight it out in a crappy job market or go right back into school and hide out until someone needs an awesome English teacher. Heh. I have never been without solid goals in my life. Ever. It's freaking me out. I don't know what I want in life anymore but I don't think smoking cigarettes and drinking all the time is really it. I want to do too much and absolutely nothing all at the same time. Perhaps I'll write a sob story letter to one of those bullshit famous people and ask them to send my sorry ass some money to support my new life in some European country. 

Oh, Walgreens

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Those of you that know me well, know that I LOVE Walgreens ;). I am so curious about the workings of their coupon generator's rationalization or lack thereof on which coupons to dish out to which customers. (You know, the coupons you get with your receipt). What about a pack of Orbit Bubblemint and a Cherry Coke says, $1.00 off any size Playtex tampons? What about a pack of Orbit Bubblemint and a box of Tampax Pearls says, "I'm in the market for some super-masculine Axe face wash?"