12:58 am

Last night we woke to the sound of cats. Our cats. Yelling at something outside the doorwall in the living room. If you are a cat owner, or have ever been, you know what type of yelling I'm talking about.

I got up and went down the hall. As I rounded the corner, I found Pumpkin & Charlie both camped out at the doorwall, with hair standing on end. All over the living room however, there was cat hair. Big tufts of orange cat hair that obviously came out of Pumpkin. I flipped on the light, looked out and saw a black and white cat.

The bottom of the doorwall is covered in muddy paw prints. Obviously the cats all got into a fight, through the window. But that still doesn't explain the hair in the living room. I scared off the outside cat, then picked up Charlie. Lifting him is like picking up a huge ziplock bag full of water. I carried him to the basement door and then went back for psycho kitty. When I picked him up, the back of his head was wet. WTF?! I nervously carried him to the basement too as I was worried he would sink his big ole fangs into me.

I locked them both in the basement, and went back to bed. This morning... tumbleweed of orange hair all over the living room. Can anyone explain that?

Turning Over a New Leaf

Ever get so crabby that you can't even stand yourself? I have been a total piece of work lately. So much so that I started thinking that I was on the verge of losing my witts. I recently snapped at a friend going through a hard time, and believe I have ruined the friendship. She just asked the wrong thing at the wrong time and that was it. I had no filter and just went off on her.

I felt like sticking a humongo "L" on my forehead because I can't find a job. I have my TS business, which I LOVE and continue to work with enthusiasm, but feel that I need to find something more consistant. I have applied and applied only to hear... "crickets".

On Sunday night, I decided I was turning over a new leaf. I'm sick of being upset. I'm sick of being in a bad mood. I'm sick of being crabby. Whatever is going on in my life, "is what it is". There are so many things that can not be changed, and I was wearing myself out trying to change them.

I am the luckiest person in the world to have such a supportive husband. Dennis has shouldered me through all of this, and held my head up high when I couldn't. He has said the right things at the right time, and now... I feel so much better. I am really thankful that I had him to lean on.

You PEOPLE!

Hey, have you watched any of those videos over on the right? The one with the man in the bed is my favorite. If you are a cat owner, I am quite sure you will find it pretty accurate, and flipping hilarious!

Watch them!! LAUGH OUT LOUD!!

Where does Barbie Live?

Mattel recently announced the release of limited-edition Barbie Dolls for the Greater Detroit market:

"Birmingham Barbie"

This princess Barbie is sold only at The Galleria. She comes with an
assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey
and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face
lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.
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"Canton/Farmington Hills Barbie"

The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Wind star Minivan
and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation.
Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.
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"Westland or Taylor Barbie"

This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife,a
Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only
available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable
bills) ....unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.
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"West Bloomfield or Bloomfield Hills Barbie"

This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2.
Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also
available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to
afford any of them.
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"Waterford Barbie"

This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too
small, a NASCAR t-shirt and twe ety bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud
light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's
butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag
bumper sticker absolutely free.
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"Royal Oak Barbie"

This collagen injected, rhino plastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit
and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends. Percocet prescription available
as well as warehouse conversion condo.
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"Downriver Barbie"

This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own
high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Butler
Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a
see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.

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"Ferndale Barbie"

This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair,
arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her
Willow . She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Point Breeze Barbies
and the optional Subaru wagon , you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.
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"8 Mile Barbie"

This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories
include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very
difficult to find since the addition of the infant.
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"Novi Barbie"

She's perfect in every way. We don't know where Ken is because he's always
out a-'huntin'.
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"Woodward Avenue Barbie/Ken"

This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply
adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.

Insert Depression "here".

Wow. I'm really getting the life sucked out of me here. I have a theory about women and school. I talked to one of our fellow bloggers today and this is what I said, "So a girl graduates high school, then goes on to college. She gets her degree and a great job. Then when she marries and has children, she becomes a stay at home mom. Then when it is time for her to return to the work force, she can't find anything in her field. In fact she finds she isn't qualified for half the jobs out there. Why did she go to college in the first place?"

I feel like such a loser. Literally. I can't find a job to save my life. I have NEVER had a hard time finding a job. I regret leaving my last job but I have theories that go along with the "find a neighbor to tuck your kids in at night" comment. I just couldn't work for people with that type of integrity. I LOVED that job. I took that job to a higher level than any other job before, because my doctor owned it. More than anything I wanted HIS company to be successful. While I had it up on a threshold, I was the company doormat. I just couldn't get past that. I regret that I cared that deeply about that job because it still bothers me.

Now... I am getting more and more depressed as time goes on. I can't find a job. I have even applied to the local coffee house. I drove by there today and there are NO signs of life as they haven't opened yet.

I keep trying to tell myself that it isn't me. It's the economy and the gazillion other people looking for the same jobs that I am. But still. I'm qualified. I can do all types of things. Maybe that is the problem. Even as I am known as "Queen Busta Chops" in this house, I had it thrown right in my face this weekend by a friend. The comment that she thought was so funny, cut me to the core. "You go from thing to thing". At this moment, I do feel wishy washy. I feel like such a loser. When YOU are the stay at home mom, you can't really have a career. Your job is to take care of the house and the kids. When you need to make some extra cash, you do what you can.

I'm debating on removing myself off Facebook. I need to find a job. I need to find something, and I am starting to become a bit paranoid about "what is out there" on me. How do I find it, and how do I remove it?

The good thing about my blog... when I search my name, the blog doesn't show up. So this... will stay.

Dear God...

Please don't let me ever get the brilliant idea to have another garage sale. It sucked the life right out of this weekend! Not to mention the amazing self control that you bestowed upon me when the woman in Versache sunglasses kept bartering for lower prices than we already had. I am thankful that I did not rip her head off, and bust up those glasses while still maintaining the pleasant smile that you have given me. I promise, I will not be doing this again anytime soon.

Amen.

Choices

So today I saw that my ex-sister in law is on facebook. She and my brother had a rocky and somewhat messy divorce. When my mom told me they were getting a divorce and thought I would be upset, my first words were, "It's about time". Not that I want any marriage to break up, but they NEVER got a long. Like EVER. I think they were probably even talking divorce before the ink on the marriage license dried.

Regardless, she is on facebook. And I am surprised by the number of family members that have become her friends. I really don't have anything against, her but I also am loyal to my brother. Which leads me to this...

Marks wife once told me (Mark is my other brother), that when she divorced her ex-husband for cheating on her, his family wrote her off. She LOVED that family and was devistated that they did this to her. I told her I could never do that and she disagreed. She said, "Blood is thicker than water. You will choose your family."

I never thought I would see that day where I would say, "She is right". While I don't have anything against my ex-sister in law, I also had nothing with her, aside from the fact that she was my brothers wife. I didn't marry her. He did.

I have been bugging my brother left and right to get on facebook. Now that I saw her on there, there is no way in hell he will get on there. And I might add, with the amount of family that have "become her friends" on there, if he were to get on there, it could become quite a mess.

I have been stalking my fbook all day. Sort of worrying that she will ask to be my friend. I have nothing against her, but really wish that she would move forward with her life. My loyalty is to my brother. I would do anything for him... again Mark's wife was right. What a sucky position to be in.

What is your spin on this my friends?

Because I am crazy...

I'm preparing for yet another... Garage Sale. Have I ever told you how much I HATE having Garage Sales? It is the drive for cold hard cash in this unemployed hand that moves me to do it. I have my TS business, but that is a side thing that I do. I wouldn't want to depend on that to make the rent. I have been applying for jobs that I am qualified for, but it is much harder than I ever thought it would be.

So until then... I'm taking my aggressions out on my house. I would love to get rid of 50% of the stuff in this house... before it suffocates me!

See Rock City!

I'm sure you've seen them! The "See Rock City" signs posted all over Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. After seeing about 600 of them on the way to Tennessee, we decided to...

SEE ROCK CITY!

Did you notice the bottom sign? lol, I did too. It totally jumped out at me!

Not only did we need to see Rock City, now we needed to find Starbucks! Please note that I was thinking about my blogger babes when I shot this photo.

Here comes a task... from now on... when you take a vacation, find a Starbucks, and take a photo of it. Post it in your blog. It will be interesting to see different ones!

Unless you know someone who has been there before, there is no way to know exactly what Rock City is. We had gone to Lookout Mountain and gone to the top. The view was captivating, and deserves it's own post. After doing that, we followed the signs to "See Rock City", just to "see" what the heck it was! After seeing the price, we had second thoughts! However after a few minutes of looking at the map, we decided to take the plunge. It was the best money we spent all weekend.

The scenic trip takes you through caverns, caves, and what appeared to be a rainforest. Could that be because it was raining the whole time we were there?

To the right in the photo is a waterfall. It is so big we could not get far enough away to capture it in a photo. The thunderous roar was incredible.

Dennis, Emily and Greg are much more brave than I am, by a landslide. They walked over... The Swinging Bridge without even thinking twice. I walked over the narrow stone bridge, with my hands and feet braced on both sides!

Rainbow Cave

Can you really see seven states? I think those states should put up flags saying "Here I am!"

This... should come with a warning. Clausterphobic people... go another route. I had the panic attack of a lifetime in this crack in the earth. When we started out, I turned around once only to have Dennis telling me, "You'll be fine". The second time I turned around, I wanted to run him over, however there were people behind him. By the time I got to the other side, I was hyperventilating, crying, trembling, and thought my heart would beat out of my chest. To say it freaked me out... is putting it lightly. He put his paramedic hat on, and got me calmed down quickly though, so we could enjoy the rest of the day.

After all was said and done, it was the best money and time we spent on Lookout Mountain. Plus after Fat Man's Squeeze, I didn't need a triple latte, for I had already reached my target heart rate for the day!

She couldn't have said that...

This weekend we are heading to Tennessee for a family reunion on my mom's side. We will be meeting relatives that I've heard stories about, but have never had the opportunity to meet. I don't know about your family, but it seems to me that families are falling apart. Cousins that we grew up seeing all the time, we barely know anymore. Some I haven't seen since 1986!

When you look at other cultures, many are VERY family oriented and some will not allow marriages outside of their own nationality. Can you blame them? This country has turned into a giant melting pot. Just throw everything into the mix, it will be ok. Well really? Cause it sure doesn't seem that way. People are busier than ever, and why is that? Why are we all working ourselves to death, just to live. Who wants to "just live"? I would rather be broke, living in a run down shack, and to have a life rich in family, and values, than to have all the money in the world.

One of my relatives recently said, "This will be the first and last family reunion. Our parents have maybe a year or two left".

"A YEAR OR TWO LEFT?" What the heck?! My parents are 66 years old! A year or two left?!
Then I started thinking about it.... she may actually be right.

How sad is it when people stop taking care of themselves. Is their outlook on life so bad that they can't wait to be 6 feet under? I look at my parents and think... they are a wreck. I won't go into details, because if you really know me, you already know the details. I'm just so sad that they don't veiw themselves the way their family does. They could easily have another 30 years, and healthy ones at that, if they only took care of themselves instead of throwing in the towel.

So this weekend, we are heading to Tennessee for a family reunion, I'm very excited about it, but her comment will be looming over my head for the next couple years. I just hope she isn't right.