Well, I decided it was time to shake things up a bit and change the look of my blog. I still owe a special thanks to Rosie for turning me on to how to change up this thing with just a few clicks! Thank God for CSS is all I can say!

I'm also introducing Uncle Delbert. "Who the hell is Uncle Delbert?", you ask. Well, Uncle Delbert is like a lot of folks in this area that I live in. A know it all farmer with a lot of advice about nothing that he'll give to anyone within earshot. You'll find the link to his blog over in the section "Blogs I Like". Check it out and let me (or Uncle Delbert) know what you think. Oh, and don't be afraid to ask him for advice..I'm sure he'll be scouting around on here offering it anyway!

That's all for now!

Why is it that when you try to do the RIGHT thing…the KIND and DECENT thing…life bitch slaps you like a pimp would a non productive hooker?? Such is my life recently.

Of course, the first thing was what happened to me last week..but I don’t want to talk about that right now, for obvious reasons! As if that wasn’t bad enough, there is going to be a train wreck in my living room on Christmas day and there’s NOTHING I can do about it, short of dropping dead or being committed to a sanitarium (which is the more likely of the two!)…the whole thing started a few months ago when my cousin, whom I am very close to, decided that he was mad at my brother for not having kept in touch with him on a regular basis. Now, since my brother is getting married in a few weeks, he’s been more than just a little distracted for the last several months, but my cousin fails to see that. So, in order to not have a bad scene from Knots Landing in my living room between the two of them, I convinced my brother to have the family get together at HIS house this year. Well, that get together ended up being this past weekend…which was fine. Of course, the cousin didn’t show up.

So now, I’m slated to have the cousin over to my house on Christmas day…a fact that my brother and his fiancé know nothing about…I figured this was the best way to have Christmas with both my brother and my cousin without there being a whole lot of hard feelings. Well…my brother tells me this past weekend that he and the fiancé will be stopping by on Christmas day since I have nothing planned!! GAAAAAHHHHH!!! What am I going to DO????!!! I can’t very well tell my brother NOT to come over…and I can’t very well tell my cousin not to come over!!!

Hmmmm…..perhaps when they both show up, I will shout, “Oh my God, look at THAT!” and when they turn their heads, I will run out the back way!!!

Recently, I got a question from a family friend that over the years has made me cringe: “Why haven’t you gotten married yet?” Ironically, that same day, courtesy of my internet obsession “Stumble Upon”, I came across a website that is going to prove very useful the next time that I get that question. It’s a list of snappy comebacks when that ridiculous question is posed:

1. You haven't asked yet.
2. I was hoping to do something meaningful with my life.
3. What? And spoil my great sex life?
4. Why aren't you thin yet?
5. Because I just love hearing this question.
6. Just lucky, I guess.
7. It gives my mother something to live for.
8. My fiancee is awaiting his/her parole.
9. I'm still hoping for a shot at Miss/Mr. America.
10. Do you know how hard it is to get two tickets to Miss Saigon?
11. I'm waiting until I get to be your age.
12. It didn't seem worth a blood test.
13. I already have enough laundry to do, thank you.
14. Because I think it would take all the spontaneity out of dating.
15. My co-op board doesn't allow spouses.
16. I'd have to forfeit my billion dollar trust fund.
17. They just opened a great singles bar on my block.
18. I wouldn't want my parents to drop dead from sheer happiness.
19. I guess it just goes to prove that you can't trust those voodoo doll rituals.
20. What? And lose all the money I've invested in running personal ads?
21. We really want to, but my lover's spouse just won't go for it.
22. I don't want to have to support another person on my paycheck.
23. Nobody would believe me in white.
24. I'm married to my career, although recently we have been considering a trial separation.
25. (Bonus reply for Single Mothers) Because having a husband and a child would be redundant.
26. IT’S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!!

#26 Was my own personal contribution to the list! Seriously, why is it that once you reach the age of 25, if you’re not married then folks start questioning WHY??!! Of course, each year you reach OVER the age of 25, the questions not only get more frequent, but the eyebrow begins to raise just a bit. Once you hit 30, folks are “concerned that you’ll never be happy”…and God forbid, if you reach the age of 35 and don’t have a spouse, then two things start happening…1) you’re automatically assumed to be gay, and 2) people start to ‘set you up’ on dates. Personally, I think that it all goes back to the old saying “misery loves company”. It has nothing to do with your friends and family ‘not wanting you to be lonely’…they REALLY just want you to be as MISERABLE as they are! They’re jealous that YOU can go out anytime that you want and come home anytime that you want and not have to answer to anyone!

Once again, I was surfing around on my favorite browser add-on "StumbleUpon" and I, well..stumbled upon..the following. It's called "Cat Haiku"...having a cat myself (Miss Bigglesworth), I thought this to be SOOOOOO true of all cats!

You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you.

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail!
Behold, elevator butt.

The rule for today:
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.

In deep sleep hear sound
cat vomit hairball somewhere
will find in morning.

Grace personified.
I leap into the window.
I meant to do that.

Blur of motion, then --
silence, me, a paper bag.
What is so funny?

The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds --
your foot just squashed one.

You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
sitting on your hands.

My small cardboard box.
You cannot see me if I
can just hide my head.

Terrible battle.
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a 'term paper?'

Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
Fear vacuum cleaner

I want to be close
to you. Can I fit my head
inside your armpit?

Wanna go outside.
Oh, poop! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!

Oh no! Big One
has been trapped by newspaper!
Cat to the rescue!

Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in bed, then screams;
My claws are not that sharp.


Pretty cute huh? I'm sure Miss Bigglesworth will appreciate it!

In other news: My last post was about my dilemma over whether or not I should speak up about something that had been going on at work. Well, I chose to speak up. Turns out that it was both a huge mistake and a blessing at the same time. It was a huge mistake in that I got fired. It was a blessing in that in having been fired for doing the right thing, I realized that this was not the sort of company that I wanted to waste any more time with. Finances are secure for at least a couple of months THANK GOD!!!

And...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Yep..today (Friday, December 15th) I'm 37..another year closer to 40..another year closer to retirement...another year closer to...ugh..now I'm depressed.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

A few months ago, I made a major change in my life..one that I still do not regret at all. I need to make that clear from the beginning. I walked out on a job that I'd held for nearly 5 years, and I had many reasons for doing it....the biggest reason being that I NEEDED to be out of that type of environment for fear that I would go stark raving mad before I reached the age of 40! Since leaving that job, I've had a couple of unsuccessful adventures in the workforce, but believe it or not, I wouldn't change those couple of instances for anything because I learned some valuable lessons. One of those lessons learned was how to spot when I'm being scammed by a "less than honest" person within the company. Unfortunately, today, I have discovered such an event, and I'm torn as to what to do about it. Since I'm still technically in the "training" mode, I don't want to make a lot of waves, but at the same time, if I say nothing at all, I'm just doing an injustice to myself. And this IS something that directly affects ME....and possibly my having to make yet ANOTHER major decision...the third such decision in as many months. Yes, I'm being somewhat vague about the specifics because this is a publicly accessible forum. I found myself today asking, "why can't I just be like some of the other folks out there that I know...blindly accepting any and every situation that gets dropped in their lap without so much as a 'hey, what the fuck are you doing'??" My PROFESSIONAL life would be so much simpler if I were just another drone...but no matter how hard I try, I just can't be like that. I think it's the low tolerance for bullshit that I've developed over the last several years...I don't know where it came from..it was just there one day, and the 'final straw' always seems to come at the most inopportune times! So now I find myself back on the internet, updating the ol' resume, JUST IN CASE...just in case I DO decide to say something and end up on the bad side of the situation. The bad thing is that if I DON'T say anything, then it'll eventually eat away at me until I'm the bitter, nerve wracked shell that I was before I left my last job. GRRRRRRRR