Somebody Hand Me a Jolt, Right Now!

{mood: cranky}
{listening to: Peter Gunn by The Art of Noise}

Somehow I've once again developed this horrible caffeine addiction. I think it started when I switched over to diet sodas. Since it has gotten to the point where I can't function without it, I'm trying to seriously cut back. Gosh, I'd better not ever get addicted to anything more serious than this, because I feel like crap!

I gave myself the luxury of a nap because I was so wiped out this afternoon. I'm always a little uneasy about doing that because someday I'm gong to wake up and the house is going to be on fire or something. Little boys will put that kind of fear into you.

I've heard that it only takes a few days to kick caffeine though, so I think I will get through it ok.

Now for some shoutouts:

[Shoutout to mfhy2k: 1) Yeah, I don't know why Buffalo schools can't seem to get their act together. That whole thing about the attendance policy was really goofy too. 2) I'm not that concerned about not getting tips. it's just that I've started falling off the pace and I'm finally seeing people coming up from behind me. That's to be expected - I'm not an energetic (and skinny) teenager anymore. But I do have a rough timetable in my head, and right now I'm not meeting it. Ha! Maybe I'll get 3 tips in a week - I've done that twice already!]

[Shoutout to AZJade: It would be great if you got back to the poetry (when you are inspired to do so, of course). Pretty much all my stuff is crap LOL but yours was always good, and I'd love to see more.]

[Shoutout to Oni: Now you buddy, *have* to put up some of your poetry, because I know you are still doing it, and it's good, and what good is the Internet if you can't foist your personal thoughts and feelings off on the rest of the world? *grin*]

[Shoutout to Wendy: Hi Wendy! Didn't want you to feel left out! Hey, I put that sunset pic from you back up as my desktop wallpaper again. Makes me feel like I'm someplace other than here...:-)]

Blasted Internet Explorer!

[mood: annoyed]

I had almost finished up a lovely lengthy post of no particular consequence and Explorer freakin' crashed on me and ate the whole thing. Dammit.

Now I'm in no mood to post. Maybe later.

Woo Hoo, I'm Not An Idiot!

After much, much hassle, I finally got a slightly new look for the site. Yeah, it's still a boring old Blogger template, but at least it's not one of the standards, so I get to have a little bit of individuality.

I've still got a little tweaking to do, including getting the proper credit for the code, but I'm pretty happy right now.

I ended up having to move around large blocks of code to finally get a happy result. Once I even caused this funky loop that made infinite sidebars pop up offset from each other (I wisely closed that browser window).

Actually, it was very educational. I'm afraid my experience is pretty much limited to your basic hard-coded HTML, so it was good to go through the template line by line to try to figure out what everything was.

Let me tell you, if I had just been smarter about things and really pursued web page design while I was still at the cutting edge (yeah, about 15 years ago - scary)... well...ummm...actually, I'd probably be a stay-at-home mom, just like I am now. But just think of the possibilities!

Post #4 O'The Day

Well, I got my nearly 3 hours of sleep after all, so I'm functional. But today's plans got a little mucked up.

Track starts at 10 AM, and we have to leave by 9:45. At 9:00 AM, it started to rain heavily. OK, no track then. By 9:30 it was down to a sprinkle. OK, we'll go to track. Oh, crap, how could I have done all that laundry and Zipper *still* has no shorts to wear. OK, find *something*. Come on, come on, let's get the raincoats and umbrella and move, move, we're going to be late! Arrive right at 10:00 AM - hmmm...not many kids here, rain must have scared them off. Walk to the track from the car...flash! boom! Oh, crap, thunderstorm's coming in. No track, time to go home.

Ugh.

Arrrggh!!! OK! I'm still up!

I've reached one of those funky altered states of conciousness now.

Here's a (very) little something inspired by Oni:

3:22 AM

I awoke, and thought of you.
And rain.
And poetry.

Hey, I said it was very little.

Besides, it was the only one I could remember off the top of my head. I wrote some stuff a few months ago. Maybe I'll put it up if I can find it again.

This would seem to me like a good time to sit and write some poetry, but I think instead I'll make my wisdom check and shut down the computer. Really. Because if I'm not asleep within 30 minutes, I'll have to seriously consider staying up. Bad things, man.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

I just put up the "cast" photos of me and my family. Admittedly, my pic is a little old (from my sister's wedding last year), but it's pretty cute.

Today (um, I guess yesterday now, for quite a while now) was the first day of the Ken-Ton town youth track program. I signed both boys up for it. I was really quite surprised by the number of kids registered - about 250! There's only 3 adults and 6 teenagers in charge of all of these kids, so needless to say things were a little chaotic.

I figured out pretty quick that I am going to need to stay close and keep tabs on the boys. Zipper is too young to understand anything, and Rascal is willful enough to just walk off somewhere. Most of the parents of the younger children did the same. I'm ok with that - I wasn't really expecting to be able to sit on the bleachers and read my books. Besides, since I have both track and field experience and kid-wrangling experience, I figure that I should be offering my assistance anyway.

So far both boys seemed to enjoy the program. Neither one seemed to understand the concept of the long jump, however - they just ran right through it! But plenty of kids did that, even some of the older ones.

I was not happy with Rascal though, because as we were getting ready to leave, he ran off. I came around the building he went behind, and he wasn't there. So I'm out there yelling my head off, hoping that he's just hiding on the nearby playground. But actually, he wasn't - he had gone to the car and was waiting inside. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I yanked him out of there and gave him a good swat. I mean, not 15 minutes before I sat down with both boys and spelled out Rule #1: You do not leave the track without Mommy. Honestly!


Nobody seems to have been up to read my blog. I'm not surprised. Now it's nearly 4 AM. Ugh. I think it's time to try to sleep. Track starts in 6 hours!

Hell.

It's after 2:30 in the morning now, and I'm still up. That's bad.

Hubby is in Washington, DC now. His flight was delayed due to weather, so he got in late. Then he drove to his hotel to find that the neighborhood's power was out and, oh yeah, the hotel was overbooked. The hotel found another place for him to stay, and hopefully by now he's settled in for the night, but he is going to be so tired out for his meeting in the morning.

Then there's me. Sometimes I hate being home alone. Because it means being alone with one's fears and worries. Oh, what I would give right now to banish these horrors from my head!

It almost pisses me off because most of you know that the thing I tend to crave most in the world is a little time to myself. But no, instead of peace, tranquility, and freedom, what do I get? Nightmarish monstronsities!

When I get like this, usually the only cure is to keep awake with idle pursuits (the Internet's great for that) until I finally collapse from exhaustion. The problem with that, of course, is that I still have to be able to function in the morning.

Damn. There really isn't anything wrong with my life. No major issues, a happy marriage, sweet kids... It's as though I have to find *something* to be miserable about or my soul isn't complete.

I'm really wishing that there is someone out there reading this right now (well, right after I post it). If you are, drop me a comment, will you? 'Cause I really need it.

Well, maybe I'll put up another post or two about the good stuff that happened today. Maybe it will finally get me calmed down so I can sleep.

Slowly Turn Around, and Put Down the Newspaper...

Sometimes I think that I should be more careful about what I read in the newspaper. I'm terribly sensitive about some articles, primarily those about children who meet horrible ends or are abused. It's *awful*. I cry over these kids. It's the stuff of my nightmares. And while I can't quite say that there's *nothing* that I can do about these terrible situations, is it really worth the heartache and anxiety? I should stop as soon as I see the headline.

Dollz, Dollz, Dollz!

Some of you may be wondering where I've been the last couple days. Well, here's the answer: I've been playing with those darned dollmaker sites again!

I *love* making these custom dollz. It's so addictive! Being rather vain, I made lots (and lots and lots) of dolls based on myself, and a few of these I share with you now. I put links into my sidebar for the dollmaker sites that I used to create these and others.



 


 


 


 


 

Girls, Parties, and Other Such Nonsense

The teenagers we hosted left Wednesday morning. After their trip to Niagara Falls Tuesday they were rather tired out and weren't inclined to really do anything, so we stayed in and watched _The Matrix_, which only one of them had previously seen. Anyway, it was a pleasure having them, and I hope they enjoyed their stay.

This weekend I have three parties to go to. Three! And I turned down a fourth invitation! Why does everything have to happen all at once? In fairness, one of them is a birthday party for my son's friend. I shouldn't complain though - it's *awfully* nice to have a social life once in a while.

(And yes, guys, I very much enjoyed the campfire last night, I'm not leaving you out)

[Shoutout to mfhy2k: They canceled finals?! WTH? And people wonder why families don't want to live in the city, or they choose to send their kids to private schools. It's madness, I tell you!]

More posting coming right up! Stay tuned!

Slumber Party Central

Last night and tonight we were (are) hosting four girls from a church teen group in MD. They are on their annual summer concert tour. Last night was the concert at our church and I must say they are a very talented group. They brought a choir, an orchestra, a handbell choir, and a puppet troupe.

The girls that are staying with us are very nice, and they really like my kids. Surprisingly, last night we got them settled in and we all watched the end of the Stanley Cup final and talked sports! One of the girls was a die-hard Carolina fan (begrudging congrats to the Hurricanes). The kids are now off spending the day at Niagara Falls, but I still have to decide what to do with them tonight.

Miscellany for All!

{mood:tired}
{wanting to listen to: Hubby's new IPod!}

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there!

My little guys were up really, really early this morning (after I was up really, really late last night, of course). I headed them off from waking Daddy up so early by taking them to the grocery store, where they picked out donuts, and then they surprised Daddy with breakfast in bed and their presents. Later this afternoon it's off to the SIL's for a nice little BBQ.

I think I've found a balance here with my blogging and blog reading. I don't feel pressured to keep up anymore. I'll post when I want, and read once or twice a week, and by this method the entire world shall achieve harmony and peace. :-)

I really need to find some pictures to put up on here. The problem is that I can't seem to find any good recent pictures of myself! That's what happens when you are the one taking most of the pictures.

Let me tell you, I am *so* jealous of some of the good-looking blogs you guys have. Where do I get me some of that?


[Shoutout to mghy2k: Heck, I wish I could sign up for the Tae Kwon Do camp! Kids get to have all the fun... But actually I think that's probably not an option this summer. The 6-year-old (pseudonymed "Rascal" here) is in Little Tigers because he's a little focus-challenged. He's not ready for the camp. And the 3-year-old (pseudonym "Zipper"), well, he's only 3. I am looking forward to that track program though (although I'll be spending a fortune on sunscreen).]

Have a loverly day!

Kindergarten Babies, First Grade Snots...

(does anyone remember that one? :-p )

Yes, my "kindergarten baby" is becoming a "first-grade snot"! Yesterday was kindergarten graduation, was a little concert by the kids and a quick walk across the stage to get a "diploma" followed by a reception in the classroom. Thankfully, it wasn't anything that was overblown - after all, it's *just* kindergarten. But the kids were cute.

That was followed by the school's annual Field Day, where instead of classes there are games and shows, a bounce house and a picnic lunch. Parents are welcome as well and I came by for the afternoon. It was surprisingly well organized, with each class following a schedule of activities for the day, plus a little down time scheduled as well.

There's two more days of school still before the loooooonnnnggg summer. Honestly I don't know what I'll do with both boys home all day. I'm signing them up for the local track program (5 mornings/week, 7 weeks, and only $10/child - what a deal!) plus I've got a few other little things lined up, but I always feel like I should be doing more.

[Shoutout to Random: Yes, you're right - I probably have no business talking about karma in the first place when I don't *really* understand the concept (but I will soon, bwah ha ha yay Internet! :-) ). And yeah, it probably is the tae kwon do reflexes, although I steadfastly refuse to consider myself to be anything but a klutz.]

Everyday Strangeness

You know how toast always seems to land butter-side down?

I had a cinnamon roll on a plate to go into the microwave when, clumsy thing that I am, I dropped the plate. "Damn i-"

But wait! Yes, indeed, the plate is face down on the floor, thankfully unbroken. But the cinnamon roll...

unbelievabily, is in my hand. Somehow, without realizing it, I caught it on the way down!

I think I just used up my karma for the week...

I Had the Weirdest Dream...

I don't often remember my dreams, but this one was a doozy!

I was going to visit my mother, and apparently one of us must of lived far, far away because I had to travel through Vienna, Austria to get there. I get to my mother's home and she is visibly pregnant! She tells me that she has been going through fertility treatments and finally was sucessful, so now she is expecting quintuplets!

So right there I lay into her: "What are you thinking? You're 55 years old! You've already had 4 kids, why would you want to have 5 more, and all at once! Don't you remember what taking care of babies was like? If you're having 5, they're probably going to be premature, and they'll be in the hospital for a long time! And there's a fair chance you'll be dead before they're grown!"

I left without looking for her reaction, and hopped on the first plane home (through Vienna again).

Total, utter weirdness...

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

[mood: amused]
[listening to: nothing in particular]
[smelling: my slightly burned chicken LOL]

Not his own joke by his own admission, found in "Steve Allen's Private Joke File":

Mahatma Gandhi walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him frail, and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him what?

Answer: A super-callused-fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Ok, not trains, but the title's not catchy without them.

My mother was trying to make me feel better (I think) by telling me she was in a fenderbender the other day. Nothing major, thank goodness, but she was rather upset. Apparently this was caused by some idiot gigundo SUV driver trying to push their way into a parking lot through a narrow driveway that my mother's vehicle was already occupying.

Now the hubby is off to Roanoke, VA today. He calls me between flights from NC to let me know that things are ok, and he's got about an hour until his final leg. Apparently he turned on his computer to do some work, lost track of time, and missed his flight! Schmuck. LOL

Since the next flight wasn't for several more hours, Roanoke's only 150 miles away, and he was scheduled to meet up with his boss in a few hours, he rented a car and drove the rest of the way. See, we can't always blame it on the airlines!

Note to Self...

Do not mix caffeine, Dungeons and Dragons, spicy Chinese food, whiskey, and 3 hours sleep together. Especially when you have to be to church early in the morning.

Tae Kwon Do, My God!

Before I get into the Tae Kwon Do stuff, a little update regarding the accident:

The bicyclist called me the other day. Oh, the poor thing sounded so nervous and shy, admitting to me sheepishly that he didn't have health insurance! I apologized to him, expressed my relief that he wasn't badly hurt, and assured him that the auto insurance should be taking care of this. I guess that for his sake I hope that they don't give him any hassle.

Anyway, Tae Kwon Do stuff. Let me relate two incidents to you this week, starting with the more recent.

This morning at class we spent most of class kicking the big, cushy shield targets (big rectangular padded targets about 30" tall by maybe 16" wide). On my turn to hold the target we were doing back kick (one of my favorites, btw), and a rather large guy (who I am actually quite fond of) planted a really, *really* good one at and underneath my bottom ribs on one side. Shit, let me tell you, it *HURT*. Through the target! I ended up dropping the target and staggering off the floor. I could feel it all the way through to my back.

Master Chong came to me to see if I was all right. I believe this is exactly what I told him: "I'm ok, I'll be back out in a miunte or two, but *damn*, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that for real!"

I am just fine, thanks, and I got plenty of sympathy in the locker room from the other chicks, and plenty of apologies from the offending gentleman (who was gently chastised by Master Chong for a lack of control). Really not a big deal - you have to expect your share of bumps and bruises here.

Incident #2: Back on Wednesday during class we were doing "street-fighting" drills, which is something I like because it usually means lots of elbows, knees, and backfists (hee hee don't fight me or you'll get an elbow to the chin, a backfist to the nose, and a knee to the groin).

Anyway, we were doing something a little different for the end part of class. Master Chong had one line holding shield targets while the opposite line would attack those targets by any means for 10 second rounds, with rotations between partners each round. The target-holders' job was to make life difficult for their partner by literally shoving them around and being an in-your-face nuisance.

For the first seven rounds I was one of the target holders, and this job was surprisingly difficult, especially against some of the big guys who could basically just knock you over if they tried. By the end of that I was really very tired. But then, of course, it was my turn to be the "attacker" (ok really the defender for the purpose of this exercise) for another seven rounds.

Let me tell you, 10 seconds never seemed so long in my life. I was being harassed so badly that all I could do was throw elbows, knees, and shoulders into the target. By the time three rounds of this had gone by, I was panting, exhausted - ok, that's enough, time to go home!

I don't really know how I made it through the last four rounds - I tapped so deep into my reserves that there is nothing I can remember but this enraged, desperate, last-ditch fury. It was so surreal, hearing these strange screams coming from my throat, knowing that I was reaching the limit where there would no more left to give. I know that all the instructors took note, hearing and seeing this display from me that they had never witnessed before.

Gosh, I don't really know how to describe it well enough to do the scene justice. I think I revealed more of my essence than what I had intended, and not only to my fellow students and instructors, but maybe even to myself as well.

*Good Lord, it's 2:17 AM, what the hell am I still doing up? G'night!*

Business? As Usual?

The "regulars" know that I've been a SAHM for a while - almost 7 years now (since a couple months before the birth of my eldest). For the last couple years I've been tossing around the idea of taking my soapmaking hobby to the business realm - craft fairs and the like to start, plus a few more ideas floating around in that near-vaccuum I call a head.

I saw that SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) was having a seminar a few minutes from my home on Starting a Home-Based Business. So I went, and I found the seminar to be very informative. It's given me the confidence to believe that I can go through with this, although it will take a lot of thinking and planning to be certain. There's another seminar I want to go to in July, and I'd like to have some firm decisions made by late August.

I'm excited, and a little anxious, but let's get this party started!

Happy Oneweekiversary!

Oooh, boy, that's something to celebrate.

Happy Devil Day!

I could not resist this funny little tidbit from Rambled Musings by Michael Harris (who doesn't know that I read his blog because you have to use that stupid MSN Passport thing to leave comments)!


Numbers of the Beast

666 Biblical Number of the Beast
660 Approximate Number of the Beast
DCLXVI Roman Numeral of the Beast
665 Number of the Beast's Older Brother
667 Number of the Beast's Younger Sister
668 Number of the Beast's Neighbor
999 Number of the Australian Beast
333 Number of the Semi-Beast
66 Number of the Downsized Beast
6, uh..., I forget Number of the Blond Beast
666.0000 Number of the High Precision Beast
665.9997856 Number of the Beast on a Pentium
0.666 Number of the Millibeast
X / 666 Beast Common Denominator
0.00150150... Reciprocal of the Beast
-666 Opposite of the Beast
666i Imaginary Number of the Beast
6.66 x 102 Scientific Notation of the Beast
25.8069758... Square Root of the Beast
443556 Square of the Beast
1010011010 Binary Number of the Beast
1232 Octal of the Beast
29A Hexidecimal of the Beast
2.8235 Log of the Beast
6.5913 Ln of the Beast
1.738 x 10289 Anti-Log of the Beast
00666 Zip Code of the Beast
666@hell.org E-mail Address of the Beast
www.666.com Website of the Beast
1-666-666-6666 Phone & FAX Number of the Beast
1-888-666-6666 Toll Free Number of the Beast
1-900-666-6666 Live Beasts, available now! One-on-one pacts!
Only $6.66 per minute! [Must be over 18!]
666-66-6666 Social Security Number of the Beast
Form 10666 Special IRS Tax Forms for the Beast
66.6% Tax Rate of the Beast
6.66% 6-Year CD Interest Rate at First Beast Bank of Hell
($666 minimum deposit, $666 early withdrawal fee)
$666/hr Billing Rate of the Beast's Lawyer
$665.95 Retail Price of the Beast
$710.36 Price of the Beast plus 6.66% Sales Tax
$769.95 Price of the Beast with accessories and replacement soul
$656.66 Wal-Mart Price of the Beast (next week $646.66!)
$55.50 Monthly Payments for Beast, in 12 easy installments
Phillips 666 Gasoline Used by the Beast (regular $6.66/gal)
Route 666 Highway of the Beast (where he gets his kicks!)
666 mph Speed Limit on the Beast's Highway
6-6-6 Fertilizer of the Beast
666 lb cap Weight Limit of the Beast
666 Minutes Weekly News Show about the Beast (airs daily from
Midnight to 11:06 a.m., on Cable Channel 666, of course)
666o F Oven Temperature for Cooking "Roast Beast"
666k Retirement Plan of the Beast
666 mg Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
Lotus 6-6-6 Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 Word Processor of the Beast
Windows 666 Bill Gates' Personal Beast Operating System
#666666 Font Color of the Beast (the gray in this table!)
i66686 CPU of the Beast
666-I BMW of the Beast
IAM 666 License Plate Number of the Beast
Formula 666 All Purpose Cleaner of the Beast
WD-666 Spray Lubricant of the Beast
DSM-666 (rev) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
66.6 MHz FM Radio Station of the Beast
666 KHz AM Radio Station of the Beast
66 for 6 A Beastly Score for an Innings (in cricket)
6 for 66 Bowling Figures of the Beast
6/6/6 Birthday of the Beast (but in which century?)

What Do June Showers Bring?

Weddings, silly!

Yesterday I was at the bridal shower of a family friend. It was one of those things where you aren't exactly friends with them anymore, but you feel some strange sort of obligation to them, so you go. And if you don't, you'll be sure to hear it from your family. Of course, they probably felt the same way about the weddings of me and my sibs, so I shouldn't complain. It's about time this couple got married too, since they have 3 kids together and they've been living together for about 6 years now.

In all fairness, it was a nice shower, although I didn't really have anyone to talk to but my sister (who is the matron of honor, so she was pretty busy), but I spent most of my time looking after her kids anyway - while fending off the question "Why didn't you bring your boys with you?" - what I really wanted to answer was "Because you didn't say they were welcome on the invitation, you ninny! I don't bring uninvited children to parties, unlike you, who sprung a bunch of kids on my sister's wedding last year!"

Oh, sorry, was I up on a soapbox for a minute?

Thankfully, A Quiet Day

{mood: quiet}
{listening to: "Horses" by Tori Amos}

Things have been going ok. The campfire last night with the friends was really nice, despite the light rain. It helped my spirits a lot to get out and have a little fun. Although I did *not* appreciate that bit of the conversation about cars! Sheesh, don't you guys have a little tact? But thanks for not bringing up the accident - I didn't want to deal with it right then.

I'm no longer obsessing every moment about the accident (just occasionally). I know that really the worst that happens at this point is that my insurance premiums go through the roof. But I've got a clean record other than a fender-bender about 7 1/2 years ago, and no driving violations, so I suppose I shouldn't even worry too much about that. I haven't noticed the police poking around my house either.

I stayed in bed quite late this morning and didn't go to Tae Kwon Do class because I couldn't face the scene of the accident quite yet. Unfortunately that means that I've only been to 1 class in 3 weeks. I really need to get on the ball, but things have been so crazy the last couple weeks (and days...)

Yes, that means that I'm still doing the Tae Kwon Do thing. It's been 18 months since I started, and I still love it! I've progressed to the rank of red stripe now (between blue belt and red belt), so only 4 ranks to black belt! I'll invite you all to my black belt party in April 2008 (best estimate), ok?


I spent the day doing a little cleaning and some playing some Star Wars: Battlefront. Nothing like cappin' a few Wookie asses to make one feel better.

Slowly I'm getting back into the swing of the blogworld, so soon you'll see my comments popping up on your pages if you haven't seen them already. CYA L8R!

A Little Sunshine Never Hurts...

{mood: significantly better (for the moment)}

I looked at my blog this afternoon after sending the email out and found a lonely looking blog. After making my last post I checked again.

Thank you!

It's great to hear from you! Heaven knows I really need it.

BTW feel free to let others know I'm here if you think they would want to know (as I said, I don't have all the contact info that I would like).

I'm looking forward to spending time with friends this evening (and I got a babysitter yeah!). It will be good to get out of the house rather than sitting home moping and worrying.

Hanging In There with the Proverbial Noose Around My Neck

{mood: despondent}
{listening to: my kids playing Lego Star Wars (again)}

If you haven't read the previous two posts yet, please do so before reading this.

More talking to the insurance company today. And I'm expecting to have to explain it all again to a third representative from the company tomorrow. My neighbor told me that the police were outside my house this morning before I was up, but they didn't knock or ring the doorbell, and they haven't called me or been back, so I'm not sure what's up. I don't think they needed a statement from me, but I can't be sure.

As is my tendency when feeling extremely down, I took to the Internet for a while today and added a couple little things to the blog. This afternoon I sent out an email to RL and blog friends inviting them back.

I found that my address book is woefully out of date (I don't even have addresses for a number of them) and also woefully small (partially because family are NOT invited to this blog - no waaaaay not in a million years). It's my own fault for not putting in the required effort to maintain relationships. Damn my solitary tendencies!

Let's face it. Right now, I'm desperately in need of a little consolation. Terrible way to start things off. But there it is.

Starting Things Off With a Bang

Literally.

OMG, this is bad. Yesterday late afternoon I was the driver in an auto/bicycle collision. I won't give out details here due to potential legal liabilities, but please rest assured that the accident was minor. The bicyclist rode off without accepting medical attention (he had a scraped elbow but that was about it), but later went to the hospital to be checked, so an accident report was filed and now it's official. The bike is probably ok, though I'm not certain, and my car has a couple little dents (doesn't matter).

As you might expect, I am very, very upset about this. Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to "enjoy" the Game 7 playoff loss of my beloved Buffalo Sabres! (now that's saying something)

I started the paperwork rolling at the insurance company, and I hope that no major repercussions come of this.

Now, with your kind permission, I think I'll go off and cry a little more.

New Beginnings

Welcome to The Slightly Mad Housewife Rides Again!

So why is the Slightly Mad Housewife riding again, and why did she stop riding in the first place?

I used to host the blog Musings of a Slightly Mad Housewife, but I dropped out of the blogging world quite suddenly about a year ago. In truth, I can't tell you exactly why, except that it took up a lot of my time and, for a while, I didn't really miss it.

The one thing I do regret is that I had made several friends in the blogosphere, and I ended up dropping them like rocks. I feel really, really awful about this, because they are a great bunch of people and I miss them.

Special aside: I can't bring myself to read all the comments of people looking for me on my last Musings post :-( :-( :-( :-(

Why am I back? Because it was FUN, and blogging is a good outlet for me. Maybe no one will read now, but it will still make me feel better.

So what's this steenking blog about anyway, and should I care?

This blog is about me and my life and what I think. OK, it's really just a diary. And if you don't like it, don't read it, silly! There's plenty of other good content on the Internet, plus lots and lots (and lots and lots...) of crappy content to hold you without reading about my little corner of the world.

Should you care? Well, everyone needs a little love sometimes *sniff*, but if you don't, it won't hurt my feelings. Really. *stifled sob*

So what's next, kemosabe?

A couple of things over the next couple weeks:

1. Give you readers a little background about me, since I don't actually expect you to go and read my old blog.

2. Make this blog look a little prettier and not so generic (but I'm pretty lazy, so it might take a while).

3. Tell my friends and old readers and such that I'm back. And hope they'll take me back. :-(

4. Figure out how to make this blog thing work for me. No, no, I know how Blogger works! I mean that I need to figure out how much posting and reading of other blogs I can handle, because I was spending a couple hours a day doing this stuff before and that was *way* too much.


This length of this post has probably turned a bunch of you off already, so if you made it this far, congratulations! And thank you again for reading!