The New Year

Reflection.

I know I'm not alone when it comes to this time of year, many people spend time reflecting on the year that has passed, and supposing what sort of things they can accomplish with a brand spankin' new year at their feet. This is a time when I think of all the possibilities, all of the things we can do. Sure, we could do this on any day of the year, but the coming new year is a good reminder for people like me who tend to procrastinate about everything.

I suppose I could start with not procrastinating so much, but we all know that is not practical, or ever going to happen. So let's just mark that right off the list. I think the biggest thing to accomplish this year would be to get our finances under control. We have become very lax on our spending, and we have bought things on credit which is a big no no in my opinion. Definitely going to tighten up the budget this year, and pay some things off.

Among other things, I would like to do some projects around the house. I really want to get a privacy fence installed in the back yard. When the weather is warmer, I can leave the dogs out more often during the day when I am at work.

I have a vision in my mind of our upstairs bathroom, I want to take out the funky 80's cabinet that the sink sits on and replace the sink with something more classic, and ageless, and less bulky. In doing so, I suspect that I will also want to replace the linoleum, and perhaps even the stupid toilet that has to be flushed 3 times to get rid of one little turd.

The tile in the tub/shower is some funky 70's stuff, but overall it is in good condition, I just don't care too much for the robin's egg blue color, but I see no need to replace it. It really just needs fresh grout and caulking. The point of tile is that it lasts darn near forever, styles and fads shouldn't necessarily be a good reason to replace it if it is not damaged. All that and a coat of paint would make it a much nicer place to umm, use. Oh, and I would like to put glass shower doors in, instead of having a nasty shower curtain.

Sounds pretty reasonable huh? Well, it will probably cost a lot, and did I mention we've let our finances go to the birds? But I will deal with that issue soon.

The other thing I would like to do, and I know it won't happen this year, or probably in the next few years, is get rid of this awful berber carpet, and put in either wood floors, which I don't care so much for, or nice new carpet. I just don't like wood floors, but I guess people do, and what I really want to do is sell this house in a few years and I think wood floors are more popular now than carpet. I would also like to tile the kitchen floor, well, really my husband and I would both love to tear the whole thing up and start over, but that's not practical.

One thing at a time here. I'm getting carried away.

We're still working on homeschooling, and making slow progress. I know we are doing the right thing, it just isn't always easy. We will continue with that and eventually I am hoping she will be able to work more independently with some of it, but we're not at that point yet. I would like to work more, and go back to full-time, but I just can't right now.

I truly cannot wait for warmer weather. When it is cold all of the time, I don't like to be outside at all. I really love something about each season, but lately I've been more drawn to the warmer seasons because I have really started to love working outside in the yard. When it comes to shovelling snow, or pulling weeds, I'll take weed pulling any day. Of course when it is 100 degrees on my back porch, I will be longing for snow flurries.

Honestly, I can't wait to see if my roses come back in all of their glory this spring, and I'm really wondering how my mums will do. I am hoping the trees we planted start to look a little less like twigs, and a lot more like trees. I planted them last year, now I just have to wait and see if it was a success.

Oh sure, I need to lose weight and quit smoking and cussing. I'm thinking of these things too, but I don't really want to talk about them. We'll just see.

Did You Have a Merry Christmas?

Ours Was Good.

This time of year when many people are taking more time off, are trying to get out of the office a little earlier, and are taking trips away from home to visit with loved ones, I am usually doing just the opposite, I am working more, I am spending less time at home, and there is no way I could get time off to go anywhere. Luckily most everyone is right here close by so that really helps. It is this time of year when try as I might, I have to fight really hard not to get too moody and blue. The truth is, getting Christmas off where I work is not an easy task, and so for the last 3 years in a row, I have worked that day.

I would be lying if I did not say this bothered me quite a lot. It does. In fact, it has completely affected the way my family, and I celebrate the holidays. I usually don't get any of the major 3 holidays off, that means no Thanksgiving, no Christmas Eve, or day, and no New Year's Eve, or day. This year I got Thanksgiving off, it was nice, but it went too fast, and we were all a bit more reserved as we are still feeling grief over losing my uncle such a short time ago.

As Christmas approached, I found myself feeling more and more resentful about working the day. I rationalized with myself, went over all of the arguments as to why I must not let it get to me. I reasoned that it is just a date, the spirit of things is what really matters. I told myself, I must do this, it is part of my job, and I like my job the rest of the year, so overall it is worth it. I convinced myself that we could do things a little before, or a little after, and that it will be just fine. All of those reasoned arguments meant nothing because I honestly resented the fact that I have to work the holidays.

I resented other's getting the holidays off to spend with their friends and families drinking eggnog and eating homemade breads and cookies while listening to Christmas carols, and laughing together while reliving old memories, and seeing the lights and the magic of Christmas reflected in the children's eyes. I missed that our little family did not all get up together on Christmas morning and sit in the living room in our pajamas while our daughter opened up her bounty of gifts, and then head over to my parent's house to spend the rest of the day.

I truly felt bad that I did not get a lot of Christmas shopping done, and was not able to get all of the gifts on my list because I just ran out of time, and/or money before the day rolled around. It was quite upsetting to me that I didn't get around to doing any baking, or making special things to eat without guilt this time of year.

The sad reality is, I spent most of this holiday season feeling shafted, annoyed, and disappointed. I know that is not how it is supposed to be. After feeling like that when the day actually rolled around, I was no longer upset about it, I just didn't care anymore. I had already given our daughter all of her gifts. Everything was done, all that was left was for me to go to work, and by that time, I went and it was like any other day, in fact, I even quite enjoyed working that day because everyone I worked with was extra special nice, and we all brought in little goodies to share so it was good.

The really ironic thing was, I got into it with my manager the day before Christmas Eve because they extended my schedule, and I went into her office and said, "Hey, I'm working Christmas Eve, and day, I don't think it is fair to extend my time here even more than that, isn't there any other way to do this?" We actually had plans to meet people for dinner right after I got off work, so I was a bit put out. Well, she snapped back at me, and we didn't have a pleasant exchange. I am usually not so outspoken with management, but I was really feeling emotional about it all. Later that night I felt bad for approaching her that way, and decided I would apologize.

The next day I went to her office and said, "I am really sorry for snapping at you, it is just this time of year, and working the holidays, and honestly, if you had just asked and said, "We really need you to do this for us," and shown some empathy about it, I would not have been so upset. She apologized for coming across as cold, and admitted to me that she has developed a tough skin because she has to hear it all the time about people working on the holidays, and that she wanted to be home with her family too. We had a good talk about it all, and I realized I was being a big baby about it all. I admitted that I had not really put myself in her shoes, and was only thinking of myself, and suddenly after that, I felt so much better about working that day.

It turns out business was going to be slower than projected on Christmas day, so on Christmas eve she said she was going to take volunteers of people to work on Christmas day first, and then she would decide who would get to be off out of who didn't volunteer to work. Believe it or not, after all of my fussing, and complaining, I went ahead and volunteered to work afterall. I realized that I didn't have any plans on Christmas day anyway because we had already given our daughter her gifts, and we would most likely just go over to my parent's house and eat when I got off work as originally planned.

And you know, I felt strangely good about doing that. One of my co-workers is a single mom with two children under 4, and she really wanted to be home with them, she was so excited that she was going to be off afterall, she said she wasn't going to tell anyone, but just surprise them when she didn't go to work. There were others who I am sure were extremely grateful that they got that call on Christmas Eve telling them they were off the next day.

So, all in all, it worked out fine. We ate with my parents when I got off, and it was a good day, and I think I have finally overcome that hurdle of resentment about working the holidays, which is a good thing because it is part of my job, and I have to accept it. Christmas is a happy and joyous time, that's what it should be about. I think it is hard for some people to put on a happy face and act festive when they don't truly feel that, and there are many reasons they might not. I've been a grinch the past few years because I couldn't do things my way, but I am hoping I have truly let all of that go. I know how to do it now I think.

Anyway, hope you had a good one, and had many reasons to be Merry. Let's all have a Happy New Year, huh?

I'm Still Here

Just Getting By.

I know, I am always apologizing for not blogging regularly. With Christmas and all, I have just not been in the mood to blog. I checked my email today and found that I had a drive-by comment from some major weirdo, so I had to go an delete it, it was quite nasty, and gross. Damn you Google. Please stop sending these strange people here. I wish there was a way to keep from getting referrals from random internet searches, without having to make my blog completely private, although the thought has crossed my mind.

I really don't care about traffic, and I don't get much anyway, but the fact that the very few I do get are still peppered with oddballs is quite disturbing really. The only way I can avoid that is to close up shop and move on which I have considered doing, but for some reason whenever I suggest this my friends and family members say, "Oh don't do that, we love your blog" which is quite funny really because they NEVER read it. I know this because I will ask them, did you see that picture I posted, or something, and they always say "no'' which makes me think, why the heck are they encouraging me when they don't visit it anyway?

In turn, I have to ask the question of myself, why do this at all? I don't know why either, and I am certainly not in the mood to get all profound about such nonsense anyway. There is one thing though I find peculiar and that is, I don't talk about anything that really matters most of the time because it is too personal, or would be a betrayal of someone else's privacy, so most of what is put down here is nothing more than fluff. It does seem sort of like a silly way to spend my free time when I get right down to it, but I guess I still enjoy this medium, so I will continue with it for the time being.

Well, I took down one of the posts that seems to get the most hits from weirdos, so hopefully that will help. Hey, I've still got a lot of holiday baking to do, I never got a chance to make Cherry Nut Bread, Pizzelles, or some of the other things I had planned, and I really wanted to do that. I bought all of the stuff, so now I have no choice, I have got to use the stuff or it will sit in my cabinets until next Christmas.

The bananas are finally ripe enough to make Banana Nut Bread, I made some yesterday, the recipe said it would make one loaf, well I followed that and made one huge loaf that rose a good inch out of the pan, and I was very disappointed to find that the middle of the thing did not cook at all, but the outside was very well done, so I don't know. I am going to try again today, but use two loaf pans instead of one. I think that will bring better results. We shall see.

In any event, I am still here, and I hope you are too. Hugs.

Miss Priss and The High Horse She Rode In On

You can bet your butt it wasn't a mini-van.

I don't think I have ever mentioned this before, but the reason I chose "that broad" as my handle, was because when I was growing up my sister always used to say, "Oh gosh, you're such a broad!" Well, I guess with all of my burping, farting, cussing and giggling she might think that. There was that time I went on an all fruit diet and discovered the joys of flatulence. Actually, it was my best friend and I, we both went on some fad diet where all you eat is fruit, and were overcome with superhuman amounts of gas. It was just too much. I remember walking up the stairs and stopping every other stair when one of us passed gas, and the laughing that ensued. Cut us some slack, we were 13 and therefore unable to resist laughing like hyenas at such noises.

Now, my sister on the other hand, she was and still is in many ways my complete opposite. When she was a little girl, our great aunt dubbed her "Prissy" because, well, she was, and always has been to some extent. She did not laugh at farts, and probably still doesn't. She never found the idea of someone accidentally letting one go with the shift of a leg hilarious, and frankly we firmly believed for quite some time that she didn't actually fart, EVER. Of course this myth was dispelled one night a few years ago at my mom's house when lo and behold Miss Priss let one rip at the kitchen table no less while we were playing cards one night, of course she didn't mean too, it was just all those years of holding it in, I'm sure.

My mom said what we were all thinking, "She hasn't done that since 8th grade!" and of course we all got to laughing, including Miss Priss, and that caused her to finally let loose a torrent of toots whistles and blows which made us all howl with laughter. You just have to know her. Now none of this means that Miss Priss doesn't have a sense of humor, she does, and she can get me to giggling like no one else can, and that is mostly because we share a mother, and therefore have many memories of the antics of our deviant mother.

I'm sure it is not nice to say ones mother is a deviant, and that might not be the exact word, but it is close. My mom might have the rest of the world fooled with all of her innocent pie baking, but we know better. Oh she's honest, upstanding, a good citizen, and absolutely one of the most generous people I've ever known, but there is a side to her that only we her family know, it is actually her strength, and an attitude she carries that has got her through some of the most dire circumstances. You just don't mess with her that's all I'm saying. She will jack a person up if they hurt one of hers. Anyway, it is hard to explain, and all I'm doing is making her sound like a psycho which is not the case at all, as I was saying, she's an absolutely kind person, a kind person who does whatever the hell she pleases.

The reason I brought all of this up is because I wanted to mention that my sister, Miss Priss has a blog. She finally got a blog. I waited a while to see if she put more than two posts up, and she has, so I will direct your attention there. She's a lot like me without all of the gaseous noises, and trucker talk. Check it out.

Beautiful Building

A few people might recognize this unmistakable monument that sits on ole Route 66. I'm thinking of you CG. From what I understand, this courthouse is made out of marble, obviously rough unfinished marble. The town used to revolve around this marble quarry, my grandfather and dad both hauled this marble all over the country. It is Carthage Marble, and they no longer quarry it I'm told, although there is still plenty there. My grandfather was a great lover of marble, and collected as many pieces as he could of all sorts of different marble from all over the world.

Good Stuff

Last Bits of Fall.

I love Fall in Missouri, although it is much better in person, I hoped to capture some of it's beauty with a $4 disposable camera. Not too shabby all things considered.

Good Things

Front Porch Sitting.

This is the front porch of what once was my great grandparent's house. Pretend garbage can is not in picture. :)

More Cheer

Spreading Joy.

I think I will try to spend the rest of December posting nothing but good things, and pictures that make me feel happy. Like this.

Who Needs A Little Cheer?

Me, That's Who.

I can't resist the desire to check the ole site meter thingy every so often and see who has been dropping by. This is how I know that what I am doing here has exactly zero impact on 99.9% of the population, but I love the 3 of you who do stop by regularly, and it is because of you I continue to hurl obnoxious thoughts with random regularity. I'm pretty sure I just made an English teacher somewhere out there cry with that last sentence, but it did seem clever when I wrote it.

Anyway, so lately I've been getting more hits which is to say in the overall scheme of things, two more than the usual drive by visitors I get thanks to google. Google, please stop pointing out my pointless points to total strangers on the internet. Why do you send them here? If I wanted everyone to know my business I would get a website and put it all on the internet, oh wait, I've done that. Well, I didn't really want icky strangers to read my stuff all right, at least not ones who do searches on seeing their mother's thong when she bent over to clean up a spill on the kitchen floor. Ok? Stop sending the freaks and weirdos here. I mean it.

With that said, I think this is the perfect opportunity to talk about referrals. I've been getting some good ones lately:

1. "Black yard boy statue"--I don't have one.

2. "Extremely bushy women"--ok, I'm somewhat insulted by this, and I promise as soon as they perfect that laser I'm going to take care of the leg hair problem, sheesh.

3. "A Christmas gift for people who love to nap"--personally, I like this one, I'm all about napping, and I think a great gift would be silence, without judgement. Nappers are NOT lazy, we just LIKE to sleep, that's all.

4. "Clock is ticking, want a baby"--this is not really something to make fun of, I understand this. Luckily I had one child, but if that is not possible, I highly suggest a puppy.

5. "Pot of chili, left out over night"--Oh my gosh, I can't believe someone else did that. I don't recommend eating it.

6. "Two fat ladies cooking"--Ok, you can call me fat, but my friend does not appreciate it.

7. "My husband got pepper in his eyes"--Hey, so did mine!

8. "Things to do in a snowstorm"--multiple searches on this one, my favorite thing to do is bake and clean house, and take a nice long nap.

9. "Pee on a Christmas tree"--it makes me wonder, is someone contemplating this, or have they already done it.

10. And there is, "Dog pee on the Christmas tree"--dogs do like to pee on trees, it is only natural.

11. "Cats taking underwear"--I think we could make a whole 'nother blog on this subject.

12. "Bikini tattoos for women"--I don't know.

There's more, but I don't want to bore you. This time there was no real weird stuff, which I'm always glad about.