Man, that stinks!

This subject has been an ongoing series of complaints and commiserations between my father-in-law and myself... the subject of old ladies and perfume. There was a time that I actually enjoyed wearing perfume, of course this was before my first pregnancy when my olfactory system went completely whacko and I couldn't even be in the same room with someone wearing perfume or heavily scented lotion. Of course, when I DID use perfume, it was in a minimal way. I would spray the "flavor of the day" into the air and then walk through it. I NEVER sprayed directly onto the bod. After all, perfume should be subtle, just a hint, possibly to entice a sexy man into leaning in a bit closer! But this air of subtlety has been completely lost on the older generation! I don't know if it's the fact that THEIR olfactory system has shut down or if it's because, let's be honest, some older ladies don't bathe as often and henceforth use perfume as a cover-up. Either way, they're KILLING ME!

I cannot tell you how many times I have had to exit an elevator 3 floors down from where I needed to go, or walked into a public restroom only to be hit in the face with the reek of Emeraude, or had a meal at a restaurant COMPLETELY obliterated when Eau de Paree came lilting over the booth behind me! In fact, I had one of these nasal assaults happen at my local Schlotzsky's just the other day. There we were, minding our business, enjoying our yummy sandwiches, having a great time, then POW! This woman walked by and I swear the stench that she emitted was ghastly! And it was on a leash! She kept walking by to fill up sodas for her table and everytime she walked by, the smell would hit about 5 seconds later as it followed her like this great, green cloud of death! And you know it's bad when your 6 year-old son (he who delights in all things stinky and foul) comments about the "gross smell" that keeps coming by. Big Daddy and I were trying to pinpoint exactly which nasty perfume it was, "I think it smells like Jovan, no, it's Charlie, no, it's Tea Roses..." Then the Monkey Man interjects, "I think it smells like Gargoyles!" And really, how can you argue with such logic!

TP solution????

So, on Tuesday evening, Big Daddy and I had a discussion about the "Great TP Experiment of '08" and he flat out admits that he NEVER puts a new roll onto the roller! He says he doesn't know why, he just never does it, even at work! I am beginning to wonder if he had some sort of TP roller trauma as a child. Maybe he tried to put the TP on and the roller pinched his finger and subconsciously he has a fear of the roller! Or maybe he just doesn't like to do it. Either way, later that evening he went off to band practice and I went upstairs to bathe the children. To my surprise, this is what I found! Men are such turds. ;-)

The Great TP Experiment of 2008

Over the last month or so, I have been conducting an experiment, unbeknownst to my Big Daddy. Everytime I notice the toilet paper getting low, I grab a new roll and put it NEAR the toilet paper roller (in plain view). The experiment was to see if the roll would ever get replaced. In the last month, anytime he has used the last bit of TP, it has NOT been replaced by the new roll that is sitting less than 1-2 ft. away from the roller (in plain sight). So, based on this experiment, I have determined that Big Daddy either does not understand the complex workings of a TP roller OR he just chooses not to replace said TP. I am sure he would tell me that there was still some TP on the roll, but honestly, the hanging remnant of the last square just doesn't count! If the next person cannot get enough paper to accomplish at least a partial wipe, then that roll is toast and you should replace it with a new roll! And yes, I realize that as a female, I use more TP than he does, BUT usage should not determine who is the one to replace the roll! It is strictly the responsibility of the one who empties the roll to be kind and courteous and replace that roll so that the next person doesn't have to waddle across the bathroom in search of a new one!

Wow, gotta love that Texas weather!

Texas weather is so weird! Yesterday afternoon it was windy, but the temps were mild, in the mid-70's. It was getting a little more chilly and windy as I left for my White Elephant party, but nothing too bad. By the time I left the party, just before midnight, there was freezing rain and bone-chilling winds! Yuck! And not the kind of weather you want to be driving across town in after a party! Granted, I didn't have much to drink, but still, I was in Big Daddy's car and the weather really was terrible.

Funny thing about Texas, is Texans CANNOT drive in inclement weather! If it's not sunny, dry, and 100* they just don't know what to do! Now I'm not saying I'm great in the snow or sleet, but I am aware that this kind of weather makes driving difficult and dangerous and therefore I should decrease my rate of speed. Yeah, Texans don't seem to get that. It is perfectly acceptable to be driving 65 mph down Parmer Lane on slick roads because, by god, the speed limit sign says so! I flinched as multiple cars sped past me, only to slam on their brakes and skid through the intersections at stop lights! So although sleet and snow are dangerous, they are nothing compared to the crazy bastards trying to drive in it! Thankfully, I made it home safe and sound, but only due to my diligence, respect for the elements and SEVERE defensive driving! I think when the next storm hits, I'm just gonna stay home!

At odds with Christmas

It's that time of year, when I feel pressured to spend more money than we have to make Christmas memorable. My kids have been lucky and have had amazing Christmas mornings with gifts from Santa and endless presents under the tree, but it's a hard to keep up that momentum! How do you top the year before? And then I have all of my hippy, granola ideologies of not wanting my children to think they can have everything, not wanting to be a family reveling in the excess that is so American, not wanting to put myself in the poorhouse in order to fill my kids' closets with Wal-Mart crap that will be played with twice and end up in the never-ending cycle of garage sales and Goodwill donations! I long for a simpler time!

But how is this possible with the endless barrage of Fisher-Price commercials on the Disney Channel and every store having aisle after aisle of junk falling off the shelves to tempt the hearts of the young? Do I never go to Target, do I ban television? Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind! We have become such a disposable world. We seem to be wired to consume and dispose constantly! More is better and I'm just tired of it. It absolutely wears me down. I haven't even started my XMAS shopping and I'm, for some reason, not looking forward to it this year. I don't know if it's the money thing, or just being overwhelmed with what is out there and what the kids want that I'M alright with them having, or if it's the raging, rampant greed that I'm seeing in the general population to acquire as much shit as possible before December 25th? When did XMAS become all about trampling a Wal-Mart employee so you could get 20% off that crappy ass flat screen TV? Seriously?

So here I sit, reminiscing about the stories my grandmother told me of her Christmases as a child. How lucky they felt when their father was able to buy them candy (5 lbs of orange slices, 5 lbs. of chocolate cream drops, and 5 lbs. of coconut bonds) and some baskets of fresh apples and oranges. It was all about family, loving one another and having a couple of special treats to celebrate the season. Things have certainly changed! I am trying to keep things mellower this year, I want to get things I KNOW the kids will play with, I am planning on making many of the gifts, especially for the Piggle as she is still little and hasn't began to demand the Bratz dolls or My Little Pony's yet. It's definitely a thin line to walk, to make their day special, yet to tread lightly on the Earth and not raise entitled little brats that think they deserve everything they ask for. I'll be glad when it's over. Christmas used to be one of my favorite holidays, but now it just stresses me out. I think my new favorite holiday is Halloween!

HEB = HELL

Why is it I always come up short of milk and eggs and bread and toilet paper during the holiday week? I HATE going to the grocery store before the holidays! I was hoping that today would be sort of mellow as there is still tomorrow for last minute shopping, but the HEB was PACKED OUT! Swerving in and out of aisle after aisle of folks who are undecided as to which stuffing to get or whether they want pull apart rolls or the whole wheat kind... holy crap, it's rolls, just pick one! It probably wouldn't be so frustrating if I didn't have kids tagging along, but trying to navigate through a sea of people while the toddler is ripping crap off the shelves or dropping things out of the basket or throwing her new shoes on the ground (thanks to Monkey Man for catching that, otherwise some little girl would have had a new pair of pink fuzzy crocs!) and then the 6 y.o. swinging on the cart, dashing out in front of people or just standing in the middle of the aisle making it impossible for other shoppers to pass, it makes we want to pull my freakin' hair out! And I don't know if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon, but people get UGLY around the holidays. I mean people in general are fairly rude and inconsiderate these days anyway, but get within a week of any major holiday and everyone gets a severe case of Asshole-itis! Nothing aggravates me more than to politely ask someone if I could scoot by only to have them stare me down and give me the eye roll with the sigh. I figured, "Please excuse me." was alot better than, "Move your fucking fat ass!!!" Maybe I was wrong? But the topper was while I was in the Kleenex aisle, I was looking for Puffs and a gentleman in one of those scooter things drove up and was waiting. Since I hadn't yet located the damn Puffs, I politely backed away so he could get by. After he pulled up, I found the Puffs, they were right behind where he parked, so I reached to get the box and he backed up, damn near ran over me, then proceeded to tell me I should have moved when I heard the "beep, beep" sound! He better be damn glad he was sitting down or he would have had a size 8 foot up his ass! Seriously, what ever happened to courteous and polite behavior?

Just trying to help...

I was driving the kids to activity co-op this morning down a fairly busy 4-lane highway. I saw ahead of me two old Labrador Retrievers walking in the road. I could tell they were older as the were kind of droopy and really slow, they had obviously escaped from a backyard and taken a swim in a ditch bank or something and they were tired. As I drove by, I couldn't stand it, two good ol' dogs on a busy road. I made a U-turn and headed back, kids in tow. I pulled up behind the doggies, put on my flashers and attempted to get the old guys in the car. They looked like they were considering the lift, but not sure. I had my doors open, calling for them, all the while getting honked at, flipped off and yelled at. Eventually another mom in an SUV pulled over and she and I managed to at least herd them off the road and into an open field that looked like it might have connected to the neighborhood that they may have escaped from. At that point, they were at least off the busy road and had a chance of finding their way home. So I got back in the car and drove off, hoping I wouldn't drive back down that road to go home later and find 2 dead dogs.

Yet again, the lack of compassion in the general public makes me sick! All I was trying to do was get a couple of good dogs, who were probably well-loved by someone, off the road and only one other person stopped to help and the rest heckled, honked and yelled profanities at me... NICE! I mean what should I expect? I was blocking one of the two lanes in that direction and therefore people actually had to drive around me and they may have been 30 seconds late to where they were going! I am absolutely disgusted with a large majority of the human race! A bunch of ego-centric assholes with no concern for anyone or anything else on the planet and we wonder why things are so screwed up! Common courtesy, polite behavior, concern for others, all gone. It's all about numero uno and everyone else can go to hell. I personally don't like this arrangement and I have complete disdain for all those that are OK with this status quo. I'm sorry, but you still open doors for old ladies, you still give up your seat on the bus for a pregnant woman, you still let someone with two items ahead of you in the grocery line if you have a full basket, you still stop and try to help two old dogs off the road to keep them from getting mashed!!! It's the RIGHT THING TO DO! I can only hope that at least some of my generation is raising their kids to have better manners, because at this point, manners are all but obsolete and it is really driving me crazy! And all those people that honked and yelled at me today can just piss off, someday karma's gonna come around and bite you in the ass and I'm sad I won't be there to see it!

Amazing end to my day!

So if you read the previous post, you know most of my day yesterday involved cutting away that freakin' vine! I promise, I won't get started again! But after that whole fiasco, my day just got better and better! Hubby came home with a small chain saw, a new weed eater (ours died about a month ago) and lo and behold... a NEW garbage disposal! Ours pooped out after a thunderstorm knocked our power out! I think the stupid thing would still work, but the power surge did something to blow the GFC? Either way, it's not working and it costs less to buy a new one than it is to have someone come out to look at it and then tell me I need a new one! (I hate this by the way, how disposable everything in this world is, we really should strive to fix things and use them as long as possible, but it's unfortunately it's not financially feasible... alas, another post, another time!) Then, as if this wasn't all good enough, Big Daddy and the kiddos took me out for burgers so I wouldn't have to cook after slaving over evil vines! Nothing like a good burger to make a girl feel better!

After dinner I came home and was overcome with a need for some "Trina-time"! I went out to the garage, set up my easel, found an appropriate canvas, cracked open the paints for the first time in MONTHS, dug out my boom-box, plugged in my iPOD and set about painting something for over my fireplace. I opted to open the garage door to hopefully get a cool breeze and much to my delight a storm started rolling in! It was a good, hard rain with little wind, so I was able to keep the door open. Ironically, I went in to get a drink and when I came back out, it was raining like hell and "Riders On the Storm" was cranking out of the iPOD, that was so cool! So there I stayed for hours, listening to the storm and some great tunes, smelling the clean fresh air, enjoying the breeze and actually exploring one of my favorite hobbies! The painting, of course, isn't done yet, but when it is, I'll post a pic. But for now, I am just happy I had the opportunity. Sometimes I forget what it's like to be in my own space, alone in my own mind, especially when I have the constant chatter of children in my head all the time. Just what I needed and I REALLY need to make time for this kind of stuff more often!

Seeing red...

Anyone with a delicate nature or who is easily offended by use of excessive profanity need not read any further.

Whoever thought it was a grand idea to plant invasive grape-like vines all along the perimeter of my backyard fence was a SICK, SADISTIC, COMPLETELY PIECE OF SHIT HUMAN BEING! I have lived in this house for exactly 3 years and I have cut back these fucking vines at least twice a year. The problem being that they are so big and so invasive and the trunks and root structure are buried beneath a very rickety fence. Now if I had the cashflow to rip the fence down altogether, I could probably eradicate these damn vines, but at this time, that amount of money isn't floating around my bank account. So I cut these damn things down as far as I can go without damaging the fence. Then they grow back, bigger and faster than before! It's like they are some sort of crazy mutant vine that intends to take over the planet! And from what I've seen, if left unchecked, it would do just that! Block out our sun and destroy life on the planet as we know it (so you all should be thankful and praise my name that I am saving you AND the planet from certain death and destruction)! And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if this damn thing actually produced SOMETHING. I don't know, a fruit, a melon, hell, I'd even be happy with a flower, but NOOOOO!! It is a big, stupid, ugly, worthless bit of organic matter and a waste of carbon dioxide and I want it to fucking die! I mean seriously, you have to know this thing is a bitch if I, Queen of the Tree-Huggers, want to rip, maim and otherwise mangle this horrid thing! Not only did I just spend hours in the hot Texas sun ripping that thing off the fence, I had to tackle the Hackberry tree that was felled by the storm a couple of weeks ago. So a double whammy! Now that I have most of it cut down, I'm now trying to figure out how the hell to get rid of it. I swear, I'm going to hunt down the evil succubus that used to live here and dump all this shit right on her front lawn and let her deal with it! Then I'm gonna punch her in the neck and let my dog shit in her yard!

Now ain't that a bitch!

For some reason, my body and I have not been friends this year! Between that stupid virus, the cavity I need to go have filled, a weird lump in my knee and lately my stinkin' big toe, I have been a medical mess. The damn toe started a couple of months ago when I took off my nail polish and noticed a white spot in the middle. I immediately panicked thinking it was a fungal infection and raced to the doctor. She said she thought it was an injury and to leave it be until we get back from Mexico. She said if it still looked bad or worse, I should go to the podiatrist once I was back. Well, the toe was getting progressively worse and over the weekend I started to get unnerved when I could literally see space between my nail bed and the nail! And it was hurting! I bucked it up and made a podiatrist's appointment today. Figured I should get to the bottom of this crap BEFORE heading out of the country. To my great relief, this was NOT a fungal infection (hooray, no Lamisil for me!) but was an injury. An injury that had cracked the nail way back down beneath the cuticle. Anyway, I had two choices, I could wait around for Mother Nature to do it's job and basically have the nail fall off or get knocked off somewhere in Mexico (she assumed it would happen in a week to 10 days) or she could remove it. Since I didn't want to be pussy-footing around and worrying over a stupid toenail in Mexico, I told her to just yank the damn thing! Now I have a disgusting little nail-less nub! Here I go out and get my hair cut and colored, my eyebrows waxed, I've got cute clothes for Mexico and a beautiful dress for the wedding but none of that matters because I'll have this nasty, freakish toe with NO NAIL!!! I am so grossed out at the moment I can hardly stand it! And I know, vanity at it's worst, but seriously... the timing of this could NOT have been worse! Nothing makes a girl feel more sexy and alluring than a troll toe! So I get to spend the entire summer, when I'm normally parading around in flip flops or sandals with beautifully painted toenails, wearing closed toed shoes hiding my freakish deformation! Nice.

People have nerve... cont.

Maybe since I'm sick, I'm a little over-sensitive today, but I just came in from setting out my recycling and bringing the trash bin back from the curb. As I am shutting the lid on the trash bin I notice a tied baggy in the bottom. When I pulled the bin closer to the house, there was a little more light and I determined this little baggy was filled with dog crap. Not a problem if this were MY dog's crap, but I have not put baggies of dog crap in my trash bin today. So someone was obviously walking their dog, picked up the poop (which, for that I'm thankful) then decided it was too foul to cart all the way back to their own trash bin, so why not just dump it in my trash bin so I can enjoy the fragrant bouquet as it sits in the bottom of my bin for the next week in 80* weather? I wish I knew who it was so I could return this lovely gesture.

I don't know, it just boils down to the complete lack of respect people have for other people. Maybe it was the way I was raised, but I would NEVER toss my dog's shit in someone else's trash bin! I have walked many, many blocks with a reeking bag of poo, after Otis dropped a deuce, until I got home and disposed of it in the proper bin, MY bin. I figure your trash belongs in your bin! Like I said, maybe I'm just being sensitive, I'm tired and sick, and just annoyed as shit with people in general today and that was just the icing on the cake. I probably should just be happy with the fact that they actually cleaned up the poop instead of leaving it for me to step in the next time I mow!

People have such nerve!

My daughter has outgrown her high chair, so I'm wanting to sell it. It's one of the really nice ones, top of the line Peg Perego. I posted the high chair on Craigslist about two days ago and got a response from a woman wanting to know if it was still available and where I was located. So just as a note, on Craigslist, you have to post which part of town you're in, that way people know where they will need to travel to pick up stuff. But I wrote her back to inform her it was still available and to give her the specifics of my location. Then I got an email wondering when was a good time for them to see it as they had to drive from South Austin so they wanted to avoid rush hour. I said I was flexible with my time. Then this morning I get another email from her saying that she spoke with her hubby and they determined that coming up north was just very far with gas prices and all so would I mind meeting them halfway to show them the high chair. You have got to be kidding me! First of all, what is it with S. Austin people, if they have to drive past the damn river they freak out! Secondly, like I am going to load up my kids, interrupt my homeschooling and waste MY gas to drive downtown in the hopes of someone possibly buying this stupid chair? Give me a freakin' break! To buy this high chair new, you would spend $179 + tax, which would be $14.77, totaling $193.77. So let's work this out. It is probably 15-ish miles from there to here, most cars get about 18 mpg, gas is $3.50/ gal. So, a round trip for them would cost approximately $7, which is half what they would pay in tax to by a new high chair. So with the $80 for my chair and the $7 in gas equalling $87, they would technically SAVE about $106 if they would just quit whining, get in the damn car and drive up here!

It still annoys the shit out of me that they would even ask me to meet them halfway! That is why, when I post, I put N. AUSTIN in big, bold letters, so dorkos from S. Austin will know that they are in for a drive if they are interested in what I'm selling. I mean seriously, if they find something they like at IKEA, do they call them and whine that it's too far to drive hoping IKEA will send someone out to meet them halfway. And besides if the tables were turned, and I found an item I liked in S. Austin, I would be fully aware that it was my responsibility to drive down to see it. The nerve of people, I really don't need $80 THAT bad!

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?!?!

So, what I'm about to discuss is nothing new, I've heard about this kind of stupid crap for years, but everytime I hear about it, it just pisses me off even more. There was a shark attack in California. The shark attacked a swimmer, severed his legs and he bled to death on the beach. Now there is a huge search for this shark, so they can kill it. And this is where I get pissed off. Do I think it's horrible that this man had his life cut short while he was out enjoying a swim? Of course, loss of life sucks. Do I think they need to be hunting down and killing said shark? Absolutely not! This animal was doing what this animal does, it was feeding on whatever prey happened to be in its vicinity at the time. You think a shark has the capability to look and say, "Oh shit, that's a human, I better not eat him, they don't like it when we eat them!" This is a highly specialized predator, searching for prey in ITS environment! Once we set foot inside the ocean, we are NOT on our turf anymore, henceforth we must realize that by entering the ocean we are entering ourselves into the food chain! How can we blame a top predator for going after an easy meal?

And besides, do we not go into their environment and hunt them? Turnabout is fair play people. If we can go out and hunt them to damn near extinction and pollute their environment, why do we get so pissed off when one them takes one of us out? Believe me, even with all reported shark attacks each year, I am sure that number is less than one boat's shark catch in one week. You don't see them sending search parties on land looking for the fishermen that wiped out all their buddies. And if that isn't bad enough, what about us? We get so outraged that a wild animal kills a human, yet we hardly bat an eye at all the killing that is happening in Iraq and Darfur and all over the world. So it's OK for us to kill other humans in the name of religion, oil, politics, whatever, but DAMN that shark for eating that swimmer guy! We need to blast his scaly ass out of the Pacific!

It is just another blatant misuse of human power on this planet. Instead of trying to understand and peacefully co-exist with other species, we have deemed that we have the right to kill and plunder as we please, not at all holding ourselves to the standards we expect wild animals to adhere by. Absolute righteous human bullshit if you ask me. And like the old bumper sticker says, "The more I know humans, the more I like my dog!"

Solicitations ruin the fun

I recently took my family on it's annual excursion to the "Trail of Lights", a display of lights that the Austin Parks and Recreation Department puts up every year. You walk through with your kiddos, enjoy all the pretty lights, nosh on funnel cakes and drink cocoa or apple cider! It truly is a nice display and I look forward to going every year. However, the mood this year was dampened a bit.

In the midst of all the festive lights and Santa hats lurked a group of folks handing out "Christmas Cash". It was about the size of a dollar bill, had a nice little cartoon of Santa on the front and had the heading "The Republic of the North Pole". I pretty much ignored the ones I was handed but one of the people we were with had browsed through the fine print and brought it to my attention. It was several paragraphs of fire and brimstone, informing us that we were all, and I quote, "lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterers-at-heart"! We were also informed we'd be treated to an eternity in Hell for our punishment. NICE! Just the thing you want to read while you are out enjoying the beautiful lights, the sweet, little elementary school choirs, and dance troops, your innocent, wide-eyed children and your friends, family and community as a whole. While making our way through the park, I personally was given 2 of these little lovelies, and everyone else in my party also came away with one or two. They were being passed out at various locations throughout the display route.

Bottom line... this REALLY pissed me off. Not that I don't think people aren't allowed to speak their opinions, I'm a huge supporter of our First Amendment. HOWEVER, I really felt that this kind of solicitation, well really ANY kind of solicitation in this type of venue was terribly distasteful! In fact, I sent a letter to the Parks and Recreation Department in regards to this. I don't feel that ANY type of solicitation should be allowed at this event. This is a community event where people of all different cultures, races, creeds, religions, beliefs, etc... come to enjoy their families, to appreciate the displays and to enjoy the season. And I'd be willing to bet I was not the only person who felt uncomfortable after reading these little flyers. I am just so tired of everything on the planet that is fun and enjoyable is now falling prey to someone's agenda. Can we not just take in the pleasures of life without being harassed at every turn? I don't go to community events to be harped at about religion or politics! I just want to go and enjoy myself and go about my life! I don't feel the need to impart MY "wisdom" onto the other people who dwell in my city when I am at such events, so why do I have to put up with it from others? Sometimes I wish that people would remember that Golden Rule that we all learned in elementary school! Seriously, there are just times that "SILENCE IS GOLDEN!" That being said, I will shut up now and get along with my day. I wonder if I will get a response from Parks and Recs?

I'm kind of annoyed.

Several years ago I had photos done two weeks before I gave birth to my son, then I did another session two weeks after he was born. They are absolutely gorgeous photos, artistic and timeless and I love them! They would not sell us proofs and the portraits were EXTREMELY expensive. The only reason I was able to get the ones I did is because my very generous in-laws paid for them. I got as many as I could. But now, almost 6 years later, I have been thinking of all the ones I couldn't afford and I want them! I don't need 11 X 14's or even 8 X 10's, I just want small, proof size 4 X 6's or something. So I could at least have a scrapbook or something. I had these done while we still lived in Oregon, but I got onto their website and contacted them, wanting to know what my options were, or if they even had my photos any longer. They wrote back and said they will not do online viewing and my only option is to come in to view them and then pay $149 a piece for 5 X 7's. Well first of all, it's not like I can just drop into their studio next week, I live in Texas! And I don't need 5 X7's, mostly since I absolutely cannot afford $149 a pop! So I am just basically screwed! They have a little drawer with photos of me, my son and my husband, at a very special time in our lives, but can I get them? No, so sorry! And I realize that this is how most photographers work, but it still doesn't make it any better. My memories are sitting in a drawer doing no one any good. And although the photos are of ME and MY child, I still have absolutely no claim to them. But I can tell you something... I am considering doing some freelance photography and I have about decided that I will offer people 2 choices, they can either pay a lower sitting fee and buy prints from me, OR they can pay a higher fee and get a disk of their photos that they own. I think it's time for photographers to start allowing people to have ALL of their memories, not just the ones they could afford at the time. I think I would keep copies of the photos (or at least a CD) in case someone ever lost the disk or photos in a fire. It would be nice to be able to provide them with their memories again. Anyway, just thoughts, while I'm sitting here pissed off because MY photos are basically lost and I have no recourse save flying to Oregon and paying thousands of dollars to get them.

Trina's rant of the day...

What the hell is up with all the damn toy recalls?? I feel like I get recall notices on a weekly basis, most of them dealing with lead paint. WHY??? I'll tell you why, it is like I have said time and time again on many subjects, it's the almighty dollar! Distributors buy product from other countries that don't have the same safety standards because they can get the toys cheaper and then jack the prices up the wazoo and make a huge profit. Greedy bastards! I would think the recalls would be more expensive than actually buying and selling quality products, but I guess that isn't the case. After all, most people I know have just chunked the toy instead of being out the time and expense to send it back. So the company still makes money even if it's sold an unsafe, piece of shit toy! I am seriously considering telling every person I know that will buy my kids XMAS gifts to not buy ANYTHING with paint on it! Only natural wood and fibers please. But hell, I even had a set of soft fabric blocks recalled due to lead paint in the fabric! Buying toys is absolutely a game of roulette lately, a total crapshoot. OK, this looks fun, but will my baby die of lead poisoning playing with it, you know she can't keep anything out of her mouth because she's 16 months old and in the "taste-testing" stage of life. Good thing I have a table saw and a sewing machine, I may have to resort to making toys for the kids! I swear, do I have to do everything?? I can't trust the government to school them, I can't trust them to hold corporations to a higher standard to avoid lead paint and other dangers, shit, I might as well start making their clothes too and growing my own garden so I don't get E. coli poisoning from tainted spinach! Holy shit, I'm turning into a Quaker! Does that mean I have to give up the computer?

No more essay questions ALLOWED in school!

I received an email from my FIL over the weekend discussing a recent development in the small town that he lives in. Turns out that awhile back there was a history test, I think, or social studies test that several football players failed. This caused many of these football players to be ineligible to play ball. To be honest, I'm not sure if it was for that Friday's game or for the rest of the quarter. Regardless, since this small town is centered around it's high school sports, especially football (Friday Night Lights, baby!) this caused a HUGE uproar. As it turns out, the school decided to launch an investigation. Cause we all know that if some of the jocks aren't passing classes, it can't be from lack of motivation or knowledge on their part. When the investigation was complete it was found that essay questions were the culprits that caused these boys to fail. So it was determined that the TEACHERS were not qualified to write and/or rate such questions on a test. Therefore, at this time, essay questions are NOT allowed on tests!

I don't know what is more outrageous, banning essay questions or stating that your teachers are not qualified to grade them!?!? I mean really if your teachers are NOT qualified to write and grade an essay question, then you hired the wrong teachers! But we all know, it isn't the teachers that are the problem, it's the system. This school depends on money raised by the sports department. If these boys don't play, they don't win games, the attendance goes down, and the head honchos get antsy. It is a sad state of affairs. What is an action like this saying to these kids? I'll tell you, it's saying that we don't care if you learn anything, we don't care if you can organize your thoughts into a decent paragraph, we don't care if you are competent enough to get a job after you graduate, all we care about is you winning football games. Now do these boys see it like this, highly doubtful, what they see is that no matter how bad their test scores are, or how little effort they put into their academics, they will still get a free ride because they can pass a ball and make a touchdown. And yet again, that lovely thing called entitlement, these boys will believe they are "entitled" to a great life because no one ever held them responsible for anything. And does it just affect just these players? No, in fact I am sure these guys are heroes in the high school because they got essay questions banned! Now all of the students can thrive for the same mediocrity, if you can even call it that. So hooray for the school board! Way to keep our kids competitive in the global market!

What is up with drivers??

I was out running errands yesterday. I hate running errands, in fact, I hate driving period, especially here in Texas. These people drive like goddamn maniacs! I was leaving my local Sonic, as I needed a cherry coke in order to help me endure the duldrums of my errands, and I pulled into the far left hand lane to make my turn. There was a Beamer that needed to turn left out of another parking lot, so being the courteous driver I am, I didn't block the drive so he could pull in front of me. Yea, nice me! He waved a thanks and all was good. The light changed and we started to move and I guess the lady behind him in the driveway assumed that if I let him in, I should let her in as well. So she charged out in front of me, got into the straight lane and as I started moving forward, she swerved back in front of me to get in the turning lane, then and here's the kicker, slowed down so much that she was able to make the light and left me at the red! Son of a bitch! I had some choice words, but refrained as I had children in the car.

So the light finally turns green and in the second and a half it took me to lift my foot off the brake and apply the gas, some bitch this GINORMOUS Dodge Super-cab lays on the horn! I'm sorry, kids or not, I waved my middle finger high! I mean seriously, I could understand honking if I was sitting there with my thumb up my ass, not moving, but shit, it does take a second to get the car rolling! Anyhow, this chick FLIPPED out! She came screeching around me, hanging out the window flipping me off and yelling and she damn near ran into the curb, she was in a freaking rage! But why was it OK for her to honk and be rude to me, but not OK for me to flip her off? So she finally gets back in her behemoth beast of a vehicle and speeds off like a demon, cutting off at least 4 other people, swerving in and out of traffic, a complete menace to society. Well, as I was coming up to my turn-off, I noticed that she was in the lane going straight and sitting at the stop light, so I made sure that as I passed her, turning on my protected left turn, that I looked over, gave her an "Oh dear, how sad you're stuck at the light!" look and blew her a kiss. I could see her completely melting down in her big 'ol truck, hitting the steering wheel and yelling and probably cussing her brains out! Can you say "psycho"?!?!

That is what amazes me about these people. They drive like bats out of hell, cutting people off, being general menaces yet they don't get anywhere any faster than the rest of us that drive carefully and courteously. Go figure.

Excuse me!

I was at the grocery store today, buying various and asundry items to tide us over for the rest of the week. Anyway, while in the check-out lane, the guy behind me for some reason kept edging up on me. Now I've had people get closer than I prefer in line before (I'll admit I have a huge issue with personal space) and although my space felt encroached upon, I didn't feel like I did today. He was completely pressed up against my body, not necessarily in a sexual way, but I felt threatened, like I was losing control of my situation and I didn't like it a bit. I held my ground, because I'm like that. He may have been in a hurry or maybe he was just pushy, either way, he wasn't going to push me out of the way, I mean shit, I was paying for crying out loud. And about the time I was ready to enter my PIN number I finally got up my nerve and asked, "Is there any particular reason you're crawling up my ass?" He glared at me, folded his arms in front of his chest and didn't move. Then I informed him that the only man that has the privilege of getting that close to me is my husband and he that he needed to back the hell up. He backed up, maybe a half step, and kept glaring at me. The checker was visibly tense. I finished my transaction, gathered up my kiddos and headed out to the car feeling somewhat shaken and REALLY pissed off! A woman shouldn't have to feel intimidated by some moronic asshole in the check-out line! And I don't know, maybe I'm too sensitive, but seriously, unless I really know you, (and even still) I prefer an arm's length of personal space at all times. Anything closer and you better be buying me dinner and offering me a ring!

Anyway, it's a good thing I didn't have pepper spray!

To pee or not to pee, that is the question.

I received a forwarded email from my grandmother, this isn't surprising since, for some reason, that entire side of the family obviously does not have the capability to type, they can only forward crap! Anyway, I normally delete them since I really don't have time to bother with stupid jokes and political propaganda, but this one caught my eye. It was an email suggesting that the government require urine testing for people on public assistance. After all, most of us have to work and pay taxes, the taxes are therefore distributed however the government deems necessary. Many people have to pass urine tests in order to receive their paycheck, so why aren't people who are being helped with that person's taxes required to pee in that little cup? I fully believe that sometimes a person needs a little help to get back on their feet, and it is great our government can help them to do this. HOWEVER, it pisses me off (no pun intended) when I know alot of our hard-earned money is going to people who care nothing about getting back on their feet, they just want to kick back, get high and have the rest of us foot the bill. So I say PEE! We would certainly be spending alot less money on welfare if that were the case!