A selfish moment

After reading my last post, I realized how totally selfish it sounded. My heart goes out to the millions of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who have lost everything including loved ones. My prayers are with you all.

Gas Prices!!!

Gas prices have gone through the roof!!! On the way home today I saw prices from $2.78.9 to $2.89.9. And, the people here have lost their minds! Every station I passed was full and some had lines of 10-15 cars waiting to get in. There were police officers at 2 stations. This is madness! I may be able to go a couple more days with what gas I have but, I don't know what I'll do after that. This is just crazy. If people would go about their normal business and get gas only if they needed it, things would run more smoothly and stations wouldn't be running out of their supplies. Come on people, THINK!!!!!

@#%*^ Joggers

Okay, I know jogging is supposed to be healthy. However, I don't see how jogging in the road before sunrise, even with your cute little glow vest, is good for your general well-being (life, that is). There's nothing like coming around a curve and meeting some jogging fool, in the dark, who thinks you should move into the on-coming traffic lane rather than him moving over into the grass. Now, I know they can see my headlights long before I can see their little glow strips. Wouldn't it be more conducive to good health (life and limb) to just get the @#%* off the road!!!!! Better yet, I have a MARVELOUS idea for the joggers in question here. There's a park about 2 blocks from here with a @#%* jogging track. Trot on down there and jog to your little heart's content. Just stay the @#%* out of the road!!! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!

Just my humble opinion

I saw this photo today in an article about "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan. Whether or not you agree with her is your own personal choice. However, I found it disturbing that the children in this photo are so very young. They have no idea, really, what this is all about. They are just following along with what their parents have told them. I don't believe parents should drag young children into situations such as this where they cannot make informed decisions on their own. If a parent wants to voice their opinion - fine. Don't trot your children out for this kind of thing. As I said, just my humble opinion.

Live feed from Africa

I stumbled upon something a couple of days ago that has completely captured me! It's on the National Geographic site and is a live feed from Pete's Pond in Botswana. It's absolutely incredible to sit and watch all of the different species come to the water to drink and, in some cases, sleep. Check it out. It's awesome! I've also added it to my Favorite Links. Don't despair if you can't get video as they do have problems occasionally. And, of course, the animals don't appear on command. They are most active early in the day, Botswana time. Keep trying. Believe me, it's worth the effort.

Wild Cam

Watch where you tinkle!

I must admit I was intrigued when I read the headline: Woman Finds Peephole In Tire Store Bathroom. After reading the article I have to wonder - were these guys just completely stupid!! It's bad enough that they had the peephole to begin with but to leave the sign after knowing they'd been found out!!!??? Some people are too dumb to be let out of the house alone! Here's the link:

Watch where you tinkle!

Another day in paradise

Well, well, well. Just another normal day. My father cut off the tip of his thumb with a power saw, my daughter-in-law found out she needs her gallbladder removed, my son who's away at college can't get his x-box to work, his telephone won't work, his cell phone is dead and he doesn't have the charger. Ah, it's nice when things go exactly as you think they will. Some things never change! CALGON - TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!! :-)

My grand-dogter

After the "whining and moaning" I thought I should post something nice. My grand-dogter's picture. My only grandchild. She's gorgeous!! Her name is Domino.

One of those people

Did you ever come across one of those people who could make you mad just by saying, "good morning?" I am unfortunate enough to work with one of them. In fact, she and I work directly together in my department. It doesn't take much, just the smallest thing can set it off. She's been working with me for nearly 8 months. There are some things we do just every other month. Still, you'd think she could retain some of it. I keep telling her to write it down if she can't remember it. Today, she wanted me to post it on the wall, just for her. Nobody else has a problem with this. Why should I make an exception for her? So, when I told her that I wasn't going to post it she said, "Well, I'm just use to working with companies that are particular." WHAT???!!! I quickly told her that we ARE particular about out product and she'll find out how particular when she screws something up. I was just steaming! This coming from someone who told me the other day that she was tired of trying to get her machine adjusted and that she just didn't care anymore. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!! The boss would crap a brick if he heard that. Oh, I could just scream!!!!! Well, so much for that. Felt good to get it off my chest. To anyone out there who might stumble across my little "whine and moan" fest - Have a great day!!

Silly signs

All of these are from Canada. Great sense of humor in the "great white north."

It's TOO HOT - Again!!!

Well, today promises to be another scorcher. With temperature in the 90's and the heat index between 105 and 108, it's going to be miserable. But, you want to know when the real fun starts? My middle son moves into his college dorm today. Now, I know he loves his school but I have a few problems here. His tuition is over $30,000.00 a year. This particular dorm, a twin to the one he was in last year and located right next door, has no elevator!!!! Of course, he is on the 3rd floor. And if that wasn't enough, last year the air conditioning wasn't on when he moved in. Come on, people!!! With all that tuition money you can't manage to have an elevator in a multi-story building???!!! And the air, geez, give us a break! Thank goodness there will be 4 of us moving his stuff in. But there's still the dorm-sized refrigerator, tv, computer monitor and hard drive, not to mention his clothes and various other items. This may well be my last post - I may have a heat stroke today!!!!! Wish me luck, I'm gonna need all I can get!

Catch 22 - the story of my life

As I said yesterday, I took my youngest son job hunting. What really gets my panties in a wad is the fact that everyone wants to hire someone with experience. I can understand that up to a point. How does one get experience? By getting a job, of course. However, no one will hire you without experience which you cannot get with out someone hiring you, which they won't do because you don't have experience, which you can't get with out someone hiring you,which they won't do because you don't have experience, which you can't get with out someone hiring you...is it just me or is there a pattern here? The kid is smart, very smart and yet no one will give him a chance to prove what he can do. It really pees me off.

It's TOO HOT!!!!

Geez, it's been SOOOOO hot today! You might know I would have to run all over town today with the temperature topping 90 degrees. Being cheap like I am, I don't like to run the AC in the car because it uses more gas. Of course, with gas prices the way they are today, it's not a bad idea to save gas anyway. So, after taking one son to the bank, getting "brunch", taking the same son to a doctor appointment, then it was off again with my youngest son on a job hunt. All in all, it's been a pretty crappy day! Time to lay back and relax!

It's Saturday!

Whoo hoo, it's Saturday! I love the weekend. No getting up at 5 am and dragging off to work. Just taking it easy. I do go see my Mom and Dad every Saturday. My 2 youngest and I always go over there and try to help them out every week. Andrew, the youngest, feeds and waters their dogs, gives the dogs their heartworm medicine, etc. Today we need to take the weedeater and cut the grass in the dog pen. That will be fun (ha ha)! But we do enjoy the time we spend with them. No matter what we do, it will never be enough to repay them for all Mom and Dad have done for us. They sacrificed everything to help us during a terrible time. They gave all their time and money to take care of my boys when I wasn't able to. Here's to you Mom and Dad. You're the BEST.

My boys tell me that no one will ever read this blog. You know what? That's okay. This is just my opportunity to have a place to get things off my chest and record my thoughts. I don't have a lot of close friends, really only one. So, I don't have anyone I can talk to and gripe to (believe me, the griping will come!). Rather than just sit around and keep it all inside, I decided to create this blog to kind of "let it all hang out" and put all of my feelings and frustrations into words. If you're out there and read this - THANKS for taking the time.

Can you say dumb?

I just came across this news article and I just had to post it. I've heard of dumb crooks but this guy takes the cake! How dumb do you have to be to take a picture of your pot stash and keep it on your cell phone??!!

Careful with those camera phones!

My parents are not ogres!!!!!

After reading my previous post again, I think I need to elaborate a bit on my parents. I fear I've made them seem like a couple of ogres who kept me chained in my room! Nothing could be further from the truth. They've always tried to do what they thought was in my best interest even though it would seem otherwise. If I had put up a fight I probably could have persuaded them to see things my way when I was in high school. But, not wanting to hurt them by going against their wishes, I went along with what they wanted me to do. I do regret it now. Had I gone in another direction and taken a different career path, I know things would have been entirely different in my life. I would not have gotten into a terrible situation that changed not only my life but the lives of my children and my parents as well. But, the blame for everything rests with me. I made my choices and they've come back to haunt me. However, without the love and support of my parents, my children and I would not have the life we've been able to carve out for ourselves today. As bad as the situation was, we've come through it. We've survived what I thought was "unsurvivable." We are closer than we've ever been and are more thankful for our lives that we ever were before. I love you Mom and Dad!!!

I could have been Jamie Marie

As my blog name suggests, my name is not Jamie Marie. It could have been. That's what my mom wanted to name me when I was born. My dad, on the other hand, didn't care for it. So, I wound up with my mother's middle name as my first name and my middle name is shared with about 99.999% of the women in the world!!

I often wonder who Jamie Marie would have been. Would she have taken mechanical drawing in high school and gone on to college and studied to be an architect or an engineer as I wanted to do? That was another thing my dad was against. I wound up taking secretarial courses. Not something I was necessarily happy with. Don't get me wrong, my dad is a wonderful person. Loving, caring and devoted to me and my mom. He was just from the old school that didn't believe women were supposed to do anything except be secretaries or nurses or housewives. Architecture and engineering were "men's" jobs not at all suitable for his daughter. Plus, we didn't have the money to pay for college anyway. But Jamie Marie, she would have found a way. She would have been, I believe, the rebellious sort. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!! She would have gone for it.

Would Jamie Marie have married the man I was engaged to? I rather think she would have. Another one of MY mistakes! I somehow managed to find an abusive, alcoholic drug user who thought work was for other people (me included) but not for him. He always said, "Why work for someone else and make them rich. Work for yourself and you'll get to keep all the money." He could just never leave the bar long enough to start anything! "Why did you marry him?", you may well ask. The crazy thing is that I didn't even know he drank until after we got married. But that's a very long story which I will reserve for another time. Back to Jamie Marie. I do envision her married to my fiance. She would have seen in him that which I did not. She would have married him immediately after graduation from high school. I, on the other hand, wasn't ready to make that commitment. He walked out of my life and within 2 years I married a man who can only be considered Satan's evil twin. The Great Deceiver, the Father of Lies. Yep, that was him! But good old Jamie Marie would be living happily in Florida with the one I let get away. She'd have the minivan and be the ultimate soccer mom/architect/engineer. Multi-tasker extraordinaire! Bummer.

Would Jamie Marie had have 3 incredible sons as I do. Of course she would. The one (actually 3!) good thing that came from the marriage made in Hell is the one thing I know for sure we would have shared. Her sons wouldn't be exactly the same as mine (I wouldn't trade mine for any others on this earth!!) but they would be the light of her life as my sons are the light of mine.

Ah, the elusive Jamie Marie. And they say, "What's in a name?" Maybe a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But if I were Jamie Marie, I know my life would have taken a different track. Come back for me Jamie Marie!!!