I’m wearin my tag like Minnie Pearl June 29, 2008

I thought that was a witty title… Anyway Toi tagged me which makes me inordinately happy as this is a first for me. Its been a good bloggy day all around as Dana added me to her bloggers block which also made my day! I feel like the new kid who is finally starting to make some friends and having been the new kid….. well more times than I like to count…. well its a very happy feeling. Picture me doing the Jim Carey scene from the mask …. ” You like me… You REALLY like me!”

Anyway I believe the tag is to tell in 10 bullet thingies about the last 15 years of my life i.e. 15 years in a Nutshell. I am a little embarrassed to say that 15 years ago I was 6 and so am a little (ok a lot ) young for this but as my young life was somewhat more eventful than not well I’ll do a mix of some things.

1. The year 1993. I was 6 years old and learning that happy families that stay together are rare. I saw sides of both my parents that were not good and learned that its scary when your daddy cries. The most helpless feeling in the world and there was a scene similar to the one in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robin Williams tells someone that he’s never been away from his kids for more than one night.
2. 1995 We moved to California. My mom, my two brothers, and I in our little Buick Skyhawk drove from KC Missouri to Santa Rosa CA in the worlds (seemingly) longest 3 day trip. I met some people who I am still friends with today and made my start at the 5th school I had attended in 2 years. (I went to 3 for 2nd grade and 2 for 3rd)
3. 2000 I moved back to live with my Dad in Missouri. I started my 8th school and again was the new kid. Kids in California who are smart are the cool kids. The bums and losers are the ones who are in the remedial classes. Kids in Missouri who are smart are a feared and mocked group because the average redneck in my school wasn’t going to do much besides farm and grope rope goats. I made it through anyway.
4. 2001 through 2004 I made some wonderful friends. Dated a guy who seemed like the one through most of this time period. Kicked some serious ass in choir competitions and decided to become a Choir Teacher because my high school choir teacher was that inspiring. Went to CMSU for 1 semester while breaking up with aforementioned boyfriend turned fiance who was more interested in boys than me. Worked as a topless waitress for about a month and then moved on to a seasonal position at Wal Mart. Met and started falling for my darling dearest.
5. 2005 Moved back to California. Started my second stint of working for Wal Mart and loved it. Sounds crazy right? But the store I worked at was a special one and they used my talents to their full potential instead of leaving me chained to a register. I spent a lot of time climbing around in Layaway bins and having a blast. Fell deeply in love with Jarell. Got my drivers license 2 months shy of my 20th birthday and moved back to Missouri just in time for Christmas.
6. Late 2005 to mid 2006 Lived in a junky old mobile home where none of the windows closed all the way in a druggy mobile home park. Had several dogs for short periods of time that dissappeared under mysterious circumstances. (Really sad because I tried to take care of them and loved them so much) Still working at Wal Mart but hating it with a passion because the idiots running the store had their heads up their butts. Made some wonderful friends there however.
7. Mid 2006 to early 2007 Bought a house 30 miles from my Wal Mart job and did that commute till October when I began a job 3 miles away at a Habilitation Center. I loved this job because the clients were so wonderfully sweet (well most of them were) but couldn’t handle being beat up by a couple of them or the horrible people I had to work with. Quit after 3 months without notice. (actually I just quit going in to work but thats neither here nor there)
8. March 2007 Moved in with and then married Jarell 3 months earlier than planned. His mom got mad that we were living together and we didn’t want to fight so we got married 3 days after getting the marriage license. Had a thousand dollar wedding in our garage and had the reception on the original wedding date in June. I was working as a supervisor at Dollar General and really loved the place and the people but it wasn’t enough intelectually to keep me from wanting to scream. Jarell spent 5 months from July to October in other states on jobs with his dads drilling company which made it even harder. We learned how important we are to each other early on in our marriage.
9. Late 2007 We moved to Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico for about a month. It was again for a job and it was forcasted to last much longer but due to the workers sabotoging the machines we came home sooner. THANK GOD! I never thought to hear myself say this, but Mexico is the Armpit of North America. Seriously I am not racist, but you’d have to have been there to truly understand.
10. 2008 Well I’ve been doing this since about February and January held little of note besides my birthday so thats really the last 15 years in a nutshell. I have met some wonderful women since starting this blog and in some ways you all are closer to me than my friends that I’ve met in person

So now I just have to figure out who to tag…. Hehehe! How bout Sherry, Diana, Melissa, Dana, and Wanda. Playing is optional ladies and anyone else who feels the urge to purge their past feel free to play. I think I’m off to make something. Wish me luck!

Good ole fashioned fun June 28, 2008

Well we went out to watch a mud run today in Bates City at some property belonging to J3. It was to benefit a little girl named Bailey who at almost 3 years old has a disease called Neuroblastoma which is a rare form of cancer. The local communities have really done something amazing in coming together to raise money to offset the astronomical medical bills that are involved with her care and it gives me back some of my faith in people. They’ve put together many different activities and people come out in force to help raise money. All of this provides for some good old fashioned redneck fun and boy they were out in full force today. There was lots of dirty fun to be had today and I took lots of pictures. I have some good ones tho including one of some idiot who jumped in the mud not once but twice so that he was covered front and back with mud. The water and mud were horrendous due to a huge rain shower last night late in the evening.

This guy thought he was swimming

She got progressively muddier as the day passed

Look at that baby go!

I love me some muddy trucks

This one got stuck and spun its tires till it was sunk good

Green with envy June 27, 2008

Well Miss Toi has  a couple of lovely lovely green bean pictures on her blog and I am, needless to say, green with envy. The only solution to my way of thinking is to show a picture of something harvested from my garden. Aside from weeds edible or otherwise, that category is currently limited to lettuce. Lots and lots of lettuce. So here for your viewing pleasure (drum roll please)

THE LETTUCE!!!

As you may be able to tell, it is very organic lettuce. This picture and others are available for viewing at my Arcsoft album if you’re interested.

Getting lazy June 26, 2008

I don’t know exactly what happened to my brain while we were away at the lake, but ever since I got back I’ve been behaving strangely. I’ve been going outside in the heat and working and playing and in general acting as if I were someone else. You all may not think this is odd behavior,  but you have to understand that Melissa and heat do not get along well. When I was little I got heat stroke and since then, I have not done well with high temperatures and I usually avoid them at all cost. But this summer has been really gently and not that hot. Even so I will be the first to admit that me choosing to be out in the sweltering heat bent over pulling weeds from my garden is out of character. Add all that weirdness to my lessened time spent on the computer makes me think the summer bug has bit me bad. But I guess thats alright. I have a nice tank top tan and a great big garden that should soon bear fruit. It has already given me wonderful gourmet lettuce and the peas, tomatoes, and squash are all blossoming. Hooray! I will take a picture when I get all the weeds removed… maybe…. or maybe I’ll use a mostly preweed picture cuz I doubt I’ll get all the weeds gone enough for my perfectionist side.

Its funny but the only Capricorn trait I have ever been able to recognize in myself is my obsession at times with perfection. I once had a teacher liken me to his pet bulldog. Affectionately because I was every teacher’s pet, but nevertheless, a not so flattering comparison. My mom said I am a 1 personality which made more sense than the sign I was born under. Oh well, thats neither here nor there. Heres that stock photo of the garden. Note the neighbor’s big ass barn in the background looking all quaint and countrified. I think a picture of his not so quaint cows is in order as well.

Finally after all this, I told Diana that I would help her spread the word. Literally the word absquatulate. It has a definition that is similar to that of abscond and personally I think abscond is easier to spell and say without milk flying out of your nose, but think of the possible other meanings for absquatulate…. just think ladies. I’ll leave you to that.

Just thoughts June 22, 2008

I think I must just have a really boring life. When I first started with this blogging stuff, I was just getting started on Etsy and still pretty new to being … unemployed. That word can have very negative connotations, but in this case it was by choice. I chose to leave a job that was emotionally unfulfulling and way beneath my mental capacity. I did it well using about 10% of my available brainpower and had the rest left over lamenting the fact that I was there having to let welfare bums tell me how bad an employee I was when they were chronically unemployed and living off of my tax dollars. Bitter much? you might ask and I would say not exactly. Irritated more truthfully. Riteously incensed.

I worked at Wal Mart for almost 2 years and in my time at the one in this state, I learned to hate people that I didn’t know. Thats so sad isn’t it? But as I worked my @$$ off for 7.15 an hour, doing everything but … well I actually did almost everything… I would have customers come through my register on a daily basis buying steak and lobster and many other expensive foods that I could never afford with their handy dandy EBT cards. I really got mad when they would then pull out a hundred dollar bill for booze and cigarettes. This made me a little crazy when I was lucky to afford Ramen noodles and gas for my truck so I could get to work the next day. When I first moved back to Missouri I was renting a ‘79 mobile home that had jalousy windows that didn’t close and a door that was easily kicked open if you locked yourself out. (Fortunately Jarell was the only guy who managed this and he was handy for the several times I locked myself out but others tried) It froze in the winter, literally and got to temperatures of more than 100 in the summer and I only had to pay 400 a month for it. Before utilities. This is not a sob story but a bitch fest.

I was explaining why I quit working for other people. Thats why. But I thought I would do something productive when I was home all the time. I hate cleaning but I rationalized that if I didn’t have to work I wouldn’t mind it so much. I was wrong. I thought I would craft more and do something with my work. I think I actually craft less now. I thought at least blogging I could do, but I find that I feel most of the time that I have nothing of value to say. Why is this? I lead a good life that makes me happy and is very fulfulling so what is it that makes it seem so dull? Is it familiarity breeding contempt? Or am I just in a funk.

 Its been years since I had a summer to myself to do with as I please and I find it incredibly liberating and restricting all at once. I love that I have all this free time, but I feel guilty about having fun doing the things I enjoy while my husband works too hard providing for the family. I also know unequivocably that if I were working I would be spending more than I make which is why I stay home away from temptation. That is the real truth. I was, I think, costing us money when I worked because I was always out running and finding things to buy that I really wanted and after all it was on sale or so cheap. And then I would think of my MIL who spends her days spending hundreds of dollars and I didn’t want to be like her. We didn’t need the income from my job– it was basically spending money for me- so when we came back from Mexico, I didn’t replace it. But now… I just feel directionless. Has this ever happened to you all? Sorry this is such a long and rambling post, I will space it out a bit before publishing.

So very sad June 22, 2008

I have really begun to wonder what exactly this world is coming to. I was on a new page on Yahoo today when I found this link and was a little appalled. For young girls to decide while they’re still babies themselves that they want to raise their own babies and to have the public supporting it… well I’m not sure what to say really. I feel for these kids who have decided that having someone love you unconditionally is the most wonderful thing in the world, but then what happens when they’re feeding the little one at 2 o’clock in the morning while still having to go to school the next day. Then what will they do? I have a 2 1/2 y/o nephew whose parents decided to have the child even tho they were just kids themselves and now they hate each other and he’s stuck in the middle of all the bickering and mess. His dad has him every other week and when I say his dad has him, thats only nominally- in reality, he is taken care of primarily by his 17 y/o aunt. This just isn’t right. I help out often as I love the little guy very much, but as he gets older, he displays blatantly the fact that he is not being raised properly. I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just get a little sad when I think of the lives that those kids (the parents and the babies) will have. I’m not trying to insult anyone who had children when they were very young, its just the thought that these girls are making a conscious decision to do this that bothers me.

What a mess June 20, 2008

Just thought I’d make a quick note. This rain we’ve been experiencing here in the midwest that is all over the news is pretty insane. My oldest sister-in-law lives in Cedar Rapids IA where the worst of the flooding resides and I just wanted to ask that everone keep her and her kids in their prayers.

This is whats going on up there.

 

Pretties June 20, 2008

I made a couple of bracelets today one to send out to Elastic Waistband Lady and one that I’m not sure what to do with. I get attached to my creations so my first thought is to keep it, but on the other hand, I will probably never wear it so why should I keep it hanging around like all the others I’ve made that never get worn. I’m gonna post pictures and see what you all think. List it on Etsy or add it to my pile of unworn pretties.

                                                                                

This is the bracelet

Sorry I’m not much of a hand model

Randomness June 19, 2008

Things I thought about today:

When I send out emails they go with my maiden name because I wasn’t married when I got th email address. If you haven’t received an email from me, you don’t know what that name is, but I will clue you in. You say why don’t I worry about stalkers? Well its simple really. All anyone has to know is that my husband owns lots and LOTS of big big guns and he’s taught me how to use them. So. My maiden name is Bacon. Yeah the next question was always, “Do you know Kevin Bacon?” To which I would reply, “Yes he’s my father and brother….” And watch their mouths dro to the floor. See my dad is actually older than the actor and therefore is the original Kevin Bacon and my little brother is a Junior so yes I know Kevin Bacon(s) and think mine are better anyway.

Random parte deux;

I was reading a post by the brilliantly amusing Dana and her remark about the hours of time seemingly involved in these situations where your life is in danger struck home. Here’s why. Two and a half years ago almost to the day, I had a very close call. I was on my way to Jarell’s house to pick him up. I was driving his 2004 Explorer Sport because the trip from California to Missouri had blown the headgasket in my little Toyota and it was having a new engine installed courtesy of my totally awesome dad. I had been driving on the freeway with the cruise control set to 70 mph to avoid any issues with the law. I’d had my license for exactly 2 months to the day and was still a little nervous. I turned onto his freshly coated gravel road. It was January but there had been no snow that year. As I accelerated to 25 mph, the cruise control had other ideas and jumped it up a notch to 70 mph all on its own. For decades of time I swerved across that road back and forth before the SUV jumped an embankment that was about an 85 degree angle and taller than the car and slammed into a telephone pole as it started to flip forward. My life stopped right there and I thought about how much I was going to miss my family and how I wished I could see Jarell one more time as the engine raced on and my foot held the brake pedal ineffectively to the floor.

The car slammed back down on the ground and continued to try to race its way through the telephone pole holding it stationary while I fumbled for the keys and shut off the ignition. I called Jarell who was less than a mile away and when he got there I knew he was the only one I’d ever love because as I sobbed out how sorry I was about his car, his baby, he told me he didn’t give a damn about the car, was I alright. My dad who used to investigate accidents for the army later told me that the whole thing probably happened in about 10 seconds.

There is a defect in Ford Explorers, Expeditions, and Excursions made between 2000 and 2004 that causes their cruise controls to do a couple things; either they stay on after the car is off, running down the battery and eventually catching on fire, or they restart themselves at the last speed they were set for and the throttle spring isn’t strong enough to shut back down once it is wide open. Ford told my FIL that he had no case.

Why do I remember the date so well? It was my 20th birthday and I was headed to Jarell’s house to pick him up since I had his car so that we could spend a romantic evening together. We ended up at Applebee’s instead of the date he had planned.

Gratuitous doggy pictures:

She almost looked at me

So sweet aren’t they?

She was barking at me because I wouldn’t let her out of the fence

Aww come on lemme out pweese

Pepper in the red collar saying let me in let me in

Let me out let me out!

I’m pooped

Picture perfect

Strange family resemblances June 18, 2008

We noticed a rather peculiar resemblance between several of the cousins at this year’s reunion. They been sporting some rather shocking facial hair and large noses that greatly resemble the Marx brothers.

They have no hair but cute smiles at this stage

Then it starts

It doesn’t discriminate by gender

Or size

or even age

Nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts all are affected

But it is easily replaced by a big belly…..

Little A thought I needed an extra but she forgot to put it in the back

Just plain cute aren’t they? Oh and all the pictures in this and the previous post are clickable for enlarging. 

This is me with my third eye signing off.