Over the River and Through the Woods - to Circe's house we go....

I've thought a lot about this post; how I was going to start it, how I am going to finish it, things that I would like to write about in it... (Without sounding too B*t*chy) The purpose of this trip was to come to Indiana to watch the eldest graduate from high school.  This is a huge stepping stone - one that we are glad that we are not going to miss.  But, as I have planned out trip, planned to get together, texted, emailed, etc., I have found a mix of emotions about the events that got us here.  And then - then I started to struggle with how I was going to handle typing my feelings and thoughts about this event.

After all - There are multiple things happening here.
1) The Eldest is graduating from high school (Which is awesome)
2) The Ex Wives are both in one location (Which makes no sense to me)
3) The Eldest has not seen her father in 3 years (maybe 4, but who is counting)
4) The Blauthor of this Blob is feeling a great deal of anger towards the Ex's and the Eldest (regardless of being happy for the eldest, due to some past trickery on their parts - unbeknownst to the eldest and squiggly.)

I think to myself about my own Ex - how things could have turned out just like the situation I am about to find myself in this week.  If I had been (Or he had been) less than reasonable - less than adult - then we very well could have turned our children into little jerks as we fought over them, their time, their upbringing.  All to culminate in one day where we have to get together for their graduation and be awkward around each other.

In this circumstance I find myself... and oddly - it's not even about me.  It's about the Misses and how he was taken advantage of in a very vulnerable time in his life by a very manipulative ex who basically stole  his eldest away, 1600 miles across country, thus degrading his personal relationship with her.  In the meantime, the eldest found that her relationship with the Misses was highly strained - but she was convinced that it was due to the lack of communication on his part.  Never being told, or realizing on her own, that a lot of the reason that he did not reach out the way that she expected was due to her mother making it difficult on him to communicate.

Regardless of it not being about me though, I feel compelled to be angered by the lack of respect that either of the ex's have for parenting in general.  Why in the heck would you want to eliminate a relationship of your own child with their other parent?  Selfishness.  There is no other reason save control, manipulation,deviousness.... which all lead back to selfishness.  The second ex wife , squiggly's mom, she has no reason to even be involved here - she has no reason to even stay in touch the way that she has and to become friends with the first ex wife... other than manipulation - just another way to get back at the Misses.  To bring out the eldest, to your home, and then do family pictures with her - Ex number 2?  You are not her mom, or her step mother even.  Your live in boyfriend is not her father, or step-father even.  The only tie in your unit to the eldest is your child who is only a half child to the eldest.  so, to stand in the way of her father gaining a relationship, by bringing her to Utah- taking her all over the place, but never letting her see her Dad, well - that's the most horrible thing that I think I have ever witnessed other than the first Ex wife stealing away with the eldest to a state 1600 Miles away in the first place.

I have other issues with Ex number 2 - after all- if you could read some of the idiocy that this woman spews forth from her mouth you would wonder how it is that she ever made it in the civilized world. Seriously - lets let an 11 year old make decisions because she has so many problems and issues and we want her to be comfy in the world... BARF - Anyway - it will be an interesting trip, that's for certain.

So - Stinkin' - Close

To being done!  Do you all realize that the reason I am never here is not just because I am constantly at work, but because I am also going 100MPH with School, Soccer, and other activities.  I am toast, Ya'll, TOAST.  

Anyway, I got a new camera - my D7000.  I saved and saved and saved for almost 2.5 years to get this camera - and it finally is mine.  However, it does come with quite the learning curve.  I have had a heck of a time getting things to look right on this camera.  Everything seems to be fuzzy.  Everything seems to not turn out right.  

When I first got the camera, I had a slight accident with it.  I was at Mesa Verde when it slipped it's strap and fell - crashing - to the ground.  My 18-55mm lens was toast.  I continued to shoot with my 55-200mm but was disappointed -feeling like the pictures were just too blurry.  

I was so discouraged, that I didn't even attempt to pull them off of the SD Card that was on the camera.  Instead - I just left them there.  BUT - today I decided that I needed to clean off my card and see just what kind of cruddy photographs I had taken.  

And really?  They weren't very cruddy at all. In fact - most of them have turned out to be really nice.  

So, once again - maybe it's just me and not the camera?  I need lessons.  Anyone want to help out with that?

Lookie What I got!

It's  a Speed Queen - it's commercial - it is going to be amazing... :)

Shopping with the Sisters

Click here to view this photo book larger

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UGH - My Neighbor is a Pain

If I had a yard I would be so tempted to do this to my neighbor.  Not all of my neighbors, mind you - just a family in specific that lives next door to me.  The kind of family that makes me shake my head in disgust and wonder why in the world I haven't moved to another country.  The kind of neighbors that don't discipline their kids, that take advantage of others, and just are generally irritating.

I'll admit, I've been brooding a little.  OK - I've been brooding a lot.  It started a few months ago - The neighbor got preggers, again.  Also, pertinent to this story, she drives a Suburban assault vehicle, and in my complex - the covered parking slots are not very big (But she insists on parking under the covered parking with the vehicle anyway).  

I have several rants and I could go on and on about this family.  Like that one time when her kid just came into my house and walked down my stairs?  How about the many times that they just open my front door?  Of course, there are also the times when she asks me to pick up her newspapers and then doesn't even say "Thank-you" - or what about the time when she had her kids knock on my door at 10:45 at night to say that they just got home from looking at Christmas Lights and it was so fun.  *Um - some of us actually do go to sleep*.

Anyway, when this particular woman started to park her assault vehicle under the covered parking, I was fine.  I was driving my little car at the time.  But, she continued to park closer and closer to the center line... why?  Well, because the vehicle is really too large to be parking under the covered parking.  But, she continues to do it.

SO, The misses and I decided to trade up on cars, and I started to drive the van - also the weather is turning cold, and I am short - so I figured, "If she can park under there, I can park the Granny Van under there too."  And I did.  And she promptly wrote me a note about how it was hard for her to fit her vehicle in the spot with the way that I was parking.  Um, excuse me - i am in my lines - go park your assault weapon somewhere else.

She hasn't stopped, but she she continues to park very close to the lines and my vehicle.

So, I started thinking about it - and I think that she just thinks that she's better than anyone else.  She probably feels jaded at the fact that her architect husband is working a 2nd job as a Janitor and she's stuck with three (Almost 4) dumb kids. (And believe me, they are dumb - guess they get it from their parents).  Either way, I've decided that I might actually really dislike them - After all, I still have not gotten over the fact that she had the audacity to actually write me a note about parking.

So, I figured that I would vent here.  My Neighbor - I hope she moves.  She's an absolute pain.

I feel so much better now - I'd feel even more better if someone could get me a plant in a pot and I could make one of those bending over guys... Just suggesting!

So, Each year we start off with "resolutions" or promises that we don't really intend to keep.  This year I have decided to do something a little bit different.  I have decided to make goals instead of "resolutions".  I guess that it could be considered the same thing, but in reality - I always seemed to do better with goals rather than resolutions.  So, that's what this year is going to be for me... Goals.

There are the Typical goals - you know the ones.  I will Lose weight, I will eat healthier, I will get exercise, I will - I will - I will.  I have some of those - but this year I have some other's as well.  This year's set of goals I think are feasible - 

1) I am going to try more recipes from Pinterest, and then write down the ones I like on recipe cards just in case the power goes out and I don't have access to the internet to get the awesome recipe back when I want to try it out the most.

2) I am going to read at least 1 GOOD book each month.  Now, it's not to say that I don't read good books anyway.  It's just to say that sometimes I fill my head with things that are less than worthy of my time.  So, this year, I am going to read better books - maybe get mah-sef a leetle edumacation...

3) I am going to let things go - and with that I am going to a lot more upcycling.  There are things that I can't let go because I "Think that I am going to use" those things.  Then they sit around.  So, if I can't let it go then I am going to put it to immediate use.  I think that I can handle that, right?

4) I am going to learn to quilt - and I AM going to make at least 4 quilts before next Christmas.  I am.

5) I am going to not be so hard on myself about my weight. I recently read that -

Until abundant food and sedentary lives combined to form mass obesity, plumpness was often coveted, flaunted as an indicator of health and wealth.

To stone-age man, the Venus of Willendorf – a voluptuous sculpture with enormous breasts and a bulbous belly – was worthy of celebration. Today, she would probably be put on an NHS weight loss program.

Famously, Rubens, the 16th-century Flemish painter, preferred the fuller figure, depicting fleshy, large-bottomed women as the life-giving goddesses of beauty, sexuality and fertility in The Three Graces (1635).

Though portliness could be bad when it demonstrated other vices (cartoonists decided that George IV's extravagance was most easily shown in his girth), generally, the modern-age dislikes fat. The fashion industry sells its garments on skinny models: in 2009, Kate Moss was estimated to have a BMI of 16.

Yet not all societies, even now, accept this. Samoans, Puerto Ricans and Tanzanians still celebrate largeness and six out of 10 black South Africans are clinically obese. Even in Western societies, there are differences. In a survey by Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, white women were found to worry about their weight when their BMI hit 25, black women when it nudged 30.

So, with that in Mind I have decided that I really should not be so hard on myself -  I am going to work at it, in fact, I am going to be doing a new program with the help of my dad and my sweetheart.  BUT - I am not going to be so hard on myself if I do not lose the weight that I am looking to lose.  (I like how the Misses says "Why would you want to lose it" - maybe that is not the best word.  Maybe it's that I would like to get rid of it...)

Anyway, those are a few of the goals that I have - oh, I am sure that I will acquire some more goals as I go - but it has been said that if you have lots of rules and you can't live by them it is worse than if you had one rule and stuck by it.  5 is a good start.  Happy New Year Everyone!