You know how when the phone rings at 3am every horrible scenario involving every person you know and love starts playing in your head? I hate that. Especially when my husband is working out of town. So when my phone started ringing, I jumped out of bed and ran to answer it. Turns out it was one of my friends, Crystal, and she was calling from jail. She’d been getting a ride home from her friend when they were pulled over due to a broken tail light. She had a $800 dollar warrant due to some back fines, so she was immediately taken to jail, of course.

So. What she wanted me to do was run across the street to her house and wake up her boyfriend and let him know what was going on. Apparently her 18 month old was playing with their house phone because it was off the hook and Crystal couldn’t call through.

Ugh. The last thing I wanted to do was go outside in Wisconsin’s December weather at 3am. It was freakin’ COLD! I ran as fast as I could and returned home in a couple of minutes. It took me forever to warm back up! But at least I was able to have him fix the phone, and she called as soon as he placed the phone back on the hook. Talk about good timing.

Today I’m doing nothing but trying to recover. We’re supposed to do our Christmas shopping today and tomorrow we have a Christmas party that Ian’s work is hosting. It should be fun, unless of course I’m still feeling this way…

Am I the only one that starts thinking suicidal thoughts runs screaming from the room when Wubbzy comes on? No? Thought so.

I’m convinced my daughter only likes it because she knows that I DO NOT. She’s sneaky that way.

I finally have my cable back after Mediacom decided it would apparently be fun to just randomly disconnect it on Monday. Finally, around Wednesday (it takes me awhile to do things, okay?), I called them and behold my lovely convo with the CSR:

Me: My internet and cable TV is out and I’m just wondering what’s going on? Didn’t you receive our payment??
Guy: Oh yeah, we got it on Monday it seems. Your balance is $59.00
Me: So.. I somehow owe $59.00 and that’s why you guys shut off my cable?
Guy: What? No, that’s your CURRENT balance. It’s due the 13th.
Me: Yeah, okay. BUT what do I owe to turn my cable back on?
Guy: Your current balance is $59.00..
Me: OKAY. So I pay that and get my cable back?
Guy: No…. (here’s where he starts acting like I’M the clueless one) That’s your CURRENT balance, ma’am.
Me: Can you just tell me how to get my cable back on? Why is it disconnected?
Guy: Your cable isn’t working?
Me: ….. No. My internet is in walledgarden and my cable box doesn’t work.
Guy: Wow, um.. Let me see what I can do.

So then he has me turn the box off and then back on. O rly? That fixes a disconnection? Don’t think so, buddy. I worked for cable technical support. YOU have to do it on your end first. Finally he figures it out and hangs up on me (or perhaps we were ‘disconnected’). Well, my internet still was in walledgarden, so yet AGAIN I call in, get “transferred” (aka hung up on again) to internet tech support.. Call back ONE MORE FREAKIN’ TIME and finally get someone who knows what they are doing. One minute later and I am DONE and have my beloved internet back.

Seriously. Mediacom? You suck. Train your employees better and oh, teach them how to LISTEN. We take our cable seriously in this house.

Without it I had to do all these horrible things:

- Clean my house.
- Do a billion loads of laundry
- Spend time with my husband (that one hurt the most)
- Go on a baking rampage that my butt JUST CAN’T HANDLE
- Force my daughter to do something productive like PLAY with those things in her bedroom? Called toys? Yeah, just dust those off and PLAY WITH THEM. NO, WE ARE NOT WATCHING SPONGEBOB. SPONGEBOB IS BROKEN.

Sometimes I wake up at night and still hear the screaming.

Mediacom, you owe me counseling.

Anyway. Thanksgiving dinner was okay last Saturday night. My SIL was bitchy like I figured she would be. I found out she was 8 weeks pregnant that night.. But then last night my grandma called and said she lost her baby. This will be her second or third miscarriage. While I don’t like her, I certainly feel really bad about her losing her baby. I remember being pregnant and frightened I might lose the baby. I can’t imagine actually going through it.

So, Saturday is Gabe’s one year birthday. We’re having his party at 1pm at Linda’s house because it’s a lot more spacious. I’m expecting about 30 guests for it, made up of family and close friends. For food, we’re doing simple: barbeques, macaroni salad, taco salad, meatballs and tiny weinies simmering in barbeque sauce, chips.. and Linda’s making punch. Then of course, cake and ice cream. Yum.

The only part I’m stuck on is what to get him. I honestly have no idea what to buy for him. Hopefully Ian will pick something out so I don’t have to! I wanted to find a cute little basketball hoop for him, but the ones I found were either too babyish or too tall for him.

Well, I’m off to do more training! I’ll start trying to catch up on blogging and reading/commenting other blogs this weekend.

Our Thanksgiving Day was okay. We spent it with my in-laws, brother-in-law, his girlfriend and her daughter. My mother-in-law also invited my friend Crystal and her little girl to dinner since they’re from Tennessee and haven’t had a real Thanksgiving dinner for almost 9 years! They usually just go to Country Kitchen or something. Isn’t that sad? So yeah, my MIL invited them over. It was nice because her daughter is 18 months and plays nicely with Gabriel, something the big girls didn’t want to do. Each kid had a nice playmate and it went well. We got home that night and I think everyone was sleeping by 8pm, although my husband did get up after a bit and stayed up for a few hours.

Tonight is the dinner at my Grandma’s house. I can’t believe how rude my sister-in-law is being, either… She told my grandma that she was going out to a movie so she’d only be there for an hour or so, and she’d be back for her daughter later! If I was my Grandma, I’d tell her to take her fucking kid with her if she was going to be that way. There’s no reason she had to go to a 7pm movie when we’re eating at 6pm. Why not go to a later movie or even an earlier movie? Why not go Sunday? Ugh.

This is the same girl that told everyone if they wanted to send a letter to my brother (he just left for Basic Training for the Air Force), they’d have to give HER the letter so she could “make sure we weren’t saying anything she didn’t want us to”…. um, what? I’m going to let YOU go through MY mail? I don’t think so! What the hell does she think we’re going to say to him? She refuses to give out his address to anyone, either. But I looked online and found the base he’s at. It includes a number to “get your Airman’s mailing address”. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I give it out to people!

Anyway, I have to shower and start to get dressed now…

So, here I am.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. I got hired by a very popular company to do Customer Service in a work at home job. I was supposed to begin training the 17th, but my trainer just emailed me and said that due to the fact I missed some orientation, would I mind starting the 1st? So.. I start the 1st.

2. The reason I missed some orientation is because my computer had a nasty virus or SOMETHING and I had to do a System Recovery. In some ways, it sucked. But in other ways… I love how clean it looks now.

3. One suck from the Recovery? I burned all my photos on a disc. All of them worked EXCEPT years 2005-2006 for some reason. So now I have NO baby photos of my daughter. Trust me, I cried. I’m heart broken. I feel like a failure. I want to cry right now just typing it. So yeah. I took it very, very hard.

4. I’ve been planning my son’s 1st birthday and finally have it all done!

5. Saturday, I went to a Tupperware party with my mother-in-law. I bought a Pick-A-Deli and this bowl set. The party was a Mystery Hostess one, which means that at the end of it, the hostess draws someone’s name from a bowl and whoever it is gets all the hostess credit. Well, she drew my mother-in-law’s name, but my mother-in-law gave me all the credit because she has a TON of Tupperware already. I’m so excited! I haven’t asked how much it is yet because I haven’t talked to the hostess, just my mother-in-law. Now I just have to decide what else I want…

Is everyone excited for Thanksgiving? I know I am! I wait all year long for turkey. We’re going to my mother-in-law’s on Thanksgiving Day and my grandma’s (my dad’s side of the family) on Saturday for dinner. I’m not attending any of my mother’s side of the family’s dinners. I haven’t spoken to her since September due to a conflict between us, so… that’s why.

Anyway. Turkey. My mother-in-law bought a 20lb bird! And that’s just for 6 of us! I’m going to STUFF myself.

What are YOU doing for Thanksgiving?

I LOVE the idea of moving to South Carolina. I’m COMMITTED to this plan.

My husband? Not so much.

So today we will be compiling a list of pros and cons for The Big Move To SC.

PRO
1. Um. Ocean!
2. Palm trees (Nikkie made me add that)
3. Warmer weather!
4. We already know people down there. I have relatives near Charleston, which is the area I want to settle down in.
5. Um. Ocean.
6. NO SNOW.
7. Adorable accents EVERYWHERE!
8. Ocean!!

CONS
1. The stress of moving 12,000 miles away.
2. Leaving family and friends.
3. Higher rent - but Nikkie moves in and that splits our costs in half.
4. Finding new jobs - but by then I’ll have be CNA certified and there’s likely to be a nursing job available!

Hmm.. thats all I have for now. Anybody got anything to add?

PS: IAN: Nikkie and I love you. We just want to be a big happy family in South Carolina. Is that so bad? IS IT?

PPS: This is Nikkie’s very own PRO/CON list JUST FOR YOU, IAN.

PRO
1: YOU GET TO SEE ME EVERYDAY
2: PALM TREEZ
3: NO SNOW
4: LIVE IN BABY SITTER
5: WE LOVE ALL THE SAME FOOD
6: WE CAN GET HOT BEACH BODZ
7: CLOSER TO MCDZ
8: MY LIBERTY CAN FIT ALL THE KIDS COMFORTABLY
9: JOOLEE AND I WILL SHARE CLOTHES. THIS MEANS YOU SAVE MONEY BUYING HER NEW ONES.
10: i hate all the soda you like so you don’t have to worry about me drinking it
11: i’m always bringing boys home so you will probably make new friends easily
2: I’M AWESOME
13. ill take joolee to the movies that you never want to go see
14: more christmas presents for everyone!

CONS
1: i take a long time to get ready
2: i’ll want you to peel the dead skin off my back when my sunburn is bad
3: joolee’s ass might stretch out my pants

WE LOVE YOU, PIAN.

So, we bid goodbye to Linda’s parents and headed off to the ER room. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else there so we got seen right away. The doctor took one look at it and immediately diagnosed it as cellulitis. If you’re like me and never heard of it before, here’s a brief description:

Cellulitis is a skin infection caused by bacteria. Normally, your skin helps protect you from infection. But if you have a cut, sore, or insect bite, bacteria can get into the skin and spread to deeper tissues. If it is not treated with antibiotics, the infection can spread to the blood or lymph nodes. This can be deadly.

The doctor drew a line on Mariah’s wrist with a pen and said the red streak could NOT get any higher than that or it’d be dangerous. Well, the line is about a quarter of an inch away from the top of the streak. I was so scared when he told me that! He prescribed antibiotics and told me to bring her back in right away if it got any worse. I’m also supposed to soak the area in warm water for 20 minutes 3-4 times a day.

After a quick stop by McDonalds to get Mariah some McNuggets, we headed back to Linda’s. Mariah watched a Barbie movie and ate her food while Linda and I made Apple Pie Rustica (recipe and photos coming tomorrow). By the time it was all over and done with, I had two sleepy (aka CRANKY) kids, so we returned home. Gabriel passed out right away but Mariah stayed up long enough to take a bath and a spoonful of medicine. Then I tucked her in with another movie to watch and let her cuddle with her puppy.

Oh did I mention the puppy? We got a teddy bear puppy from Linda. Expect a photo for Wordless Wednesday! A story will probably be involved, too. You KNOW I always fail at the ‘wordless’ part!

I totally missed the beginning to both NaNoWriMo and NaBloWriMo. But it wasn’t my fault. My keyboard decided to go on strike and refused to do any work for me. I refused to put up with such an attitude, so Ian bought me a new keyboard last night. So yeah, I now am three days behind and wondering how the hell I’m going to catch up.

Oh and along with the new keyboard? The one that makes delightful clacking noises as I type? The one that’s pretty and shiny and CLEAN? Along with THAT? My husband bought me an early Christmas present: an iPod Touch!! I’m SO freaking excited. I love love LOVE it. I’ve been playing with it and rearranging apps and having a grand ol’ time. It’s so shiny and pretty and sleek and DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE IT? :heart:

Okay. That’s as much as I could force myself to write. I HAVE AN IPOD TO PLAY WITH, PEOPLE.

Finally the doctor came in after awhile of waiting. By the time he arrived, Gabriel had already walked around the entire room and was growing bored. He was sitting on the floor looking around when the doctor walked in. He stood up immediately and toddled over to him hold up his arms to be picked up! It was so cute. Dr. Degan picked him up and brought him over to the table to examine him. He asked what questions I had and then asked some of his own. Finally, he gave me the info on the shots Gabriel was receiving and bid us goodbye. So then we waited yet AGAIN for the MA and a nurse to come back in to administer the shots. He received a total of FIVE shots. My poor little guy. They also wanted me to take him to lab for a lead paint poisoning test but I told them no way.

After the clinic, we went to Wal-mart to grab some things (hair dye, groceries, shampoo) and then finally returned home almost four hours since we left! Gabriel was getting kind of cranky so I gave him some baby Tylenol for his shots and a bottle and he went down for a nap.

Other than that, I’ve just been cleaning my house and sitting around missing my husband. He won’t be home until Thursday or Friday depending on how much they have to do. I sleep like absolute crap without him, so the nights are always long. It’s easier in the day with the kids distracting me. Mariah especially as of late. Everytime a commercial features a toy she has to tell me how much she wishes Santa would bring it for her, and oh, if Santa can’t bring it, why don’t we make Daddy buy it because Daddy has LOTS of money… etc, etc, etc.

Next Thursday Gabriel will be 11th months old. I’ll start planning his birthday party that week so everything is ready on the Big Day. Luckily, his birthday falls on Saturday this year, so that works out nice. Since its just (JUST? JUST?! I’m going to cry!) a 1st birthday, it’ll be an at-home party with relatives and friends. Then, every year after that we’ll do something special. Mariah’s choice is usually Chuck E Cheese but I’m getting a little burnt out on Chuck E’s. We went the last two years in a row. I can’t imagine going TWICE a year for each kid!

But anyway. Where was I?

Oh yeah. THIS year’s party. It’ll be really casual. I’m trying to decide what theme I want to use, but I still haven’t found any cute ones.

Anyone know of some sites to use?