Don't make me M'Bop someone!

So what is up with my Zoo Crew? I feel like I've missed so much lately. I am going to be catching up on blogs as soon as I can, although I don't think my Reader will ever empty with all of the awesome blogs I follow! For those who are new around these parts, I hope you make yourselves at home. There are cold beverages and a full bar most of the time.

Did anyone else find it disturbing to see Hanson perform on Dancing with the Stars last night? I didn't watch the whole show as my phone kept ringing off the hook, but there is something bizarre about seeing grown (I am using that term loosely here) men sing "M'Bop!"

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I must say, I didn't care for it... Not one freaking bit! Now I sound like a dirty-mouthed Dr. Seuss. I did not like that, not one bit. Okay, moving on....

Are you all sick to death of Kate Middleton and Prince William yet? I'm thinking that I'm glad we didn't have TV coverage like this back with Diana got married. At least, I don't remember them covering it this way. I remember watching the wedding, and I'm sure I'll watch this one. What girl hasn't dreamed of marrying a handsome prince and having the wedding of a lifetime? Not that I think William is handsome, and I definitely didn't think his dad ever was. I remember wondering why the hell Diana would marry that guy, but I guess it was a fairy tale even if the Prince wasn't handsome. 

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I'm sure Kate's wedding photos will be much better since she is marrying a Prince with Diana's genes.

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I must say though, that if I didn't truly like both of them (I mean, as much as you can like royalty that you read about in the press and see on TV) I'd want to rip her hair out and smack him around a bit for being all over everything I look at lately. Do we really need to know what underwear she's shopping for and about the idiot guard who said she snubbed him and got his dumbass self fired by posting about it on Facebook? And I need to know even less about Harry being back with his old girlfriend. Bless his heart, he is just not appealing to me whatsoever. I'm sure that breaks his heart. 

By the way... Remember when I told you I got a new mattress? Well, I went the next day to buy an entire bedroom suite. Here is a picture I took with my cell phone in the store, so of course it doesn't do it justice. 

But you get the idea. It's a really rich, kind of Southwestern looking wood. I'll take more with the REAL camera after they deliver it! (I paid $1386 for it when it was regularly $1848, by the way.)

Anyway, the salesperson who was there when I went to purchase the set (I had to go back the next day because it was 25% off), told me that the mattress I bought also would have been 25% if I had waited one more day. She also tells me that I could have gotten the box-spring as well for less than the mattress! Not to mention, the manager who rang up the sale and handled the whole thing for me didn't bother to tell me that I could lose a 10 YEAR warranty on the mattress if I don't buy the box-spring. What the ...? You are shitting me, right? Nope!

So the salesperson was majorly upset that I wasn't told all of this. She tells me to let her get with the manager and she'll get back to me. I go back yesterday for her to refund the sale on the mattress and ring up the set. Guess what this little swindler tried to do this time?! She tells me that I originally got 12% off on the mattress so she's going to give me the 13% off on the box-spring to make it right since that would total 25%. Ummmm... Lady, I don't know what kind of backwoods people you are used to dealing with, but that is SOOOOO not right.

For those who are a little bit math challenged, let me break this down for you. This is what she wanted to give me.

$599 (mattress) with 12% off=$527.12   

$399 box-spring with 13% off=$347.13

For a total of $874.25, which in her mind totals 25% off. Not hardly!

The complete set is supposed to be sold for $799, which is a savings off of what she was trying to pull right off the bat! What I ended up arguing for and paying for was this....

$799 at 25% off = $599.25.

Far cry from that crap she tried to pull, right? Anyway, I just had to share this small town math with you. I guess she thought I was an idiot who was willing to keep paying since I had spent $2000 in her store in two days. I may be blonde, but I did not fall off of the turnip truck yesterday, my peeps! It was the day before at the very least.

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The zoo, a flood, and new stuff.. Oh my!

I can't believe I haven't posted here since Friday. Wow! I don't think I've gone that long since I got going with this blog. I am sorry to have neglected you, my Animals. Surprisingly enough, it started with our trip to the zoo with my family Saturday. We had a blast, and I'll have to share some pictures with you. I got some great ones of the animals with my new camera. Let me know what you think.

I loved the way it picked up so many colors so vividly!

It wouldn't be a zoo trip without... Lions..

Tigers...



and bears, oh my!



For some reason, this gorilla keyed in on my niece A and spotting her was the only reason he came down out of the bushes. Then he ended up charging the glass right after this photo was taken, and he slammed his hand onto the glass right in front of her face! All of the adults jumped and she ran to my sister, but she was right back there staring him down in no time. That girl has zero fear level really, although if you knew her brother and her dad you'd probably understand why. They are tough guys through and through.

As I told you last week, I had friends come in from out of town Saturday night, and they stayed for several days. We really are getting old because we didn't go do much, but I have to say that we had so much to catch up on we were simply enjoying each other's company. If I had more warning they were coming, I would have planned for us to go to the beach or something. Oh, well. We had fun at least.

After they left, I changed the sheets because I let the two of them have my bed and I slept on the couch. Aren't I a nice host? I thought so! Good thing I had the new couch, but still you can only sleep on a couch for so long, ya know? When I was putting the clean sheets on the bed, I was so tickled I would have my bed back. Then I felt it...

The bottom of the mattress and the top of the boxspring were wet! Just so you know, my bed has water tubes in it. Not really like a water bed, but these water tubes fit into a mattress and you can't find those tubes anywhere anymore. So of course, I realized the bed was leaking. Just freaking great! I had to call my neighbor across the street who frequently comes to the rescue to come help me carry these heavy-ass tubes outside to drain them. This also meant Krissy was going to be sleeping on the couch again. I was not a happy camper, but I was more worried about keeping the carpet dry than anything at this point.

Once the crisis was averted, I called Mom who told me to run the ceiling fan to dry out the boxspring because there isn't a thing wrong with it. I went yesterday and bought a new mattress, and let me tell you... I had the BEST night of sleep last night. Granted, before going to bed I was so tired that my eyes were watering, but still. I had been sleeping on the couch since Friday for God's sake!

I figured I had needed a new mattress for a while because I was always waking up sore with aches especially in my shoulders and hips. Last night I even slept on my back for part of the night, which I haven't done in FOREVER without having trouble walking the next day. I felt thoroughly FANTABULOUS this morning. I honestly cannot remember the last time I felt that good in the morning. I even woke up before my alarm and I wasn't mad. Since I was used to sleeping on water that kinda sinks in, I did wake myself up a couple of times because I almost rolled off of the fluffy mattress. But that just made me laugh and realize that I'm a good bit higher off of the ground than I was with the old one.

I was in the furniture store so long that I ended up falling in love with this bedroom suite that goes on sale today. So I am heading back after work to buy it! She said she is going to throw in some lamps because she wasn't able to give me a bigger discount on the mattress, but I was desperate to leave with a mattress last night. I'm so glad I did it now. Oh, by the way, it's a Serenity pillow-top mattress that has lower lumbar support and individually foam wrapped super coils (or some such craziness) that helps those who like to sleep in different positions get support without the pain. I'm feeling it so far!

I'll take some pics of the new furniture with my phone for ya since they probably won't be delivered until next week. I am so excited! I really didn't want to spend the extra money, but I finally found a set where the drawers aren't so shallow that they only hold two shirts, ya know? I HATE that! Why don't they make them all bigger now?

Well, I better go for now. Sleep well, everyone! I know I sure plan to for the first time in years. Bailey will probably never get me out of bed Saturday morning.

Friday foolishness and 100 followers!

Well, another week down, folks. If you are like most people I know, it was a long one. I want to welcome my new Animals to the Zodiac Zoo Crew. You all helped me get over 100, and I'm so excited about that. Thank you! You are in a pretty awesome group here, and I'm tickled to have you.

For those of you who have been paying attention, I finally got my grades for the term I just finished in school. That slack professor actually gave me a 100 on my final research paper! Apparently, he gets to live to see another day. That's a good thing because I'm not sure they would let me blog from prison. Oh hell! I couldn't live without blogging now. You peeps have me hooked, I tell ya.

From reading his comments, I think it was because I happened to pick a topic that is important to him professionally. So go, Krissy! We all have to pat ourselves on the back every now and then. I get the joy of having him again next term, so if I can manage to finish with my 4.0 GPA still in tact after these last three classes it will be major party time! I cannot wait to graduate.

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We are supposed to be going to the Zoo tomorrow for family day through my company. Unfortunately, there is a 70% chance of rain. Wouldn't that be fun? I would be freaking the hell out about my new camera getting wet. I guess we'll find out what they can do for us if it does get rained out since tickets are already printed and paid for. It would actually work better for me to not go tomorrow since I have old friends coming in from out of town tomorrow night. I could spend tomorrow cleaning instead of tonight. Friday night is supposed to be for cocktails and sitting on my ass reading blogs, dammit! How pitiful is that? One of these years I'll get a life once someone shows me how to do that again. Being with D this weekend is going to remind me of what a life is actually like again, since I'm sure there will be a lot of old memories brought up.

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We used to be party animals. There were three of us who went through divorces around the same time, so we hit the bars pretty much every night after work. What night it was determined where we went. I really don't know how we did it, especially with the little bit of money we were all making back then. But we had a great time wherever we went, believe me. Of course, my ex-husband told everyone I was screwing the whole Air Force base, but who cares what the hell he thought? I wasn't screwing the whole base, by the way. But we had our share of fun with some GI's and they partied with us a lot. In fact, one night we met the Thunderbird pilots at the bar, and when they found out it was my birthday there was a steady stream of drinks sent to me for the rest of the night. I'll admit, I was a little worried about the air show the next day with as much as those boys put down, but they were very considerate of the clock and when it was time to get back to the base.

Ahhhh, the good old days. Man, I feel old! When the hell did that happen? Although, I feel pretty damn young when compared to the 114 year old man who just passed away. Can you freaking imagine? There are not many people still around who were born in the 1800's. Just think of all of the things he has seen in his life.

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Hey, maybe I'll use pictures of the Zoo animals to represent some of you Animals! That would be fun. I can think of a few examples that would fit some of you right off the top of my head. Ohhh, the ideas that are starting to form now. Look out, folks. I'm burning up some brain cells over here.

By the way, there is this new button over to the left that lets you enter your email address if you want this blog sent straight to you when posts are put up. Feel free to use it so you don't miss what's happening around these parts. I know you are dying to keep up with me and my exciting life. At least you know you'll get some cute animal pictures on occasion if nothing else. Hopefully, I can catch up on some of your blogs while I have a little break from school. I love reading what you guys write so much that I hate missing your posts.

Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone! I am homework free this weekend, and rain or shine there will be cocktails in my not too distant future. I'll have one (or 10) to toast you all.

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You didn't just say that on TV!

Now, I know I have mentioned that we always get the dumbest people on television to represent our state. Luckily, this didn't make national news, but of course, I'm going to share it with you. Because I really don't think I could give you all a worse impression of how the hicks in our state are compared to what you already think of them.

Not too long ago there was a bad wreck in Columbia, SC. I was watching the news and they were talking about how they had to reroute traffic around this fast food restaurant. The reporter was talking to an eyewitness who said the truck came barreling around the drive-through and flew into oncoming traffic. You could tell from the expression on the reporter's face that he hadn't had any prep time with this woman, and he was a little hesitant about even talking to her. If you had seen her, you'd know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, I can't even find a picture that does her justice.

So the witness goes on to tell us what she saw. She was very antsy throughout the whole thing, and she kept glancing over her shoulder looking at the scene where all the cops were gathered around. Then the reporter asks her, "So, what went through your mind when you saw all of this? Were you scared?"

The witness responded, "I don't know, man. I was stoned at the time." Wait, what now?

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Yes, you read that right. She was STONED at the time and just admitted so on television. The reporter looked like a deer in headlights for the flash of a second, and then he smartly sent the feed back into the studio. I know he wanted to kill someone, and he couldn't get away from her fast enough. I wonder how long it took for her to be arrested?

In other wonderful news, remember the professor I've been fussing about? Well, if you've missed it, I've had this one professor who has been nit-picking me to death and has pretty much been no help. I get the pleasure of having again next term! Isn't that fantastic? The school loved his work with me so much that they wanted to give him another shot at ruining my 4.0 GPA in my LAST term of school. Yay! By the way, he still hasn't finished grading my work from this last course, so the school is showing my status as incomplete at the moment. You gotta love that, right? I'm so excited I can hardly keep from beating my head into a wall.

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Finally, a friend of mine who I haven't seen in 14 years is coming to visit this weekend! I can't wait to see her and meet her significant other who she's been living with for quite some time now. I've talked to him on the phone before, so he thinks he knows me. Wait until he gets a taste of me and D in the same room together. I'm taking Monday off because she says she's getting here Saturday night, but they still don't know for sure how long they are staying. Now THIS news I AM excited about if you didn't catch my sarcasm earlier.

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And on a final note, just because I thought it was a cute cartoon...

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Skip in my step on a Monday?

For those of you who know me even just a bit, you know I am NOT a morning person. And Mondays are the worst! I don't usually sleep very well as I tend to wake up at different points during the night. When I dream, I usually have some really strange dreams. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I had a dream that Sister #1 was having a baby as a surrogate for someone else. Don't ask me why the hell I dreamed that, especially since she's *cough* a little out of the age range for birthin'. That dream was tame considering some of the bizarre things I have dreamed about recently. I mean, one night I dreamed Reggie Jackson (famous baseball player for those who don't know) stole my Jeep. What the... ?? Don't ask me where these things come from.

Do you ever have a dream that's so good that when you wake up you're kinda pissed that it was just a dream? I had one of those last night, and OMG did I want to throw my alarm clock when it went off. Some of you may recognize this guy...

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He's been on commercials, various TV shows, and he used to be on As the World Turns playing Mike Kasnoff. I happened to see him on a commercial yesterday (Breathe Right strips), so I guess that's why his image was planted in my head. On the show (ATWT), he was the sexy construction worker who was a romantic type and knew how to TALK to and treat a woman. I know you guys are saying that he had to be fiction if that were true, but Mark Collier played him well. I always hoped his career would take off after leaving the show, but I haven't really seen him in much.

Anyway, in my dream, we had this majorly hot, romantic time together (and I'm not talking about sex, although that too!) where he hinted at asking me to marry him. Now if you know me, you know I'm not one to be pining away to get married. In fact, I've been single so long that half the time I forget I was ever married. It was a LONG time ago. (Okay, scrub picture of ex-hubby off my brain now and get back to Mark!)

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So pressing on... I know I said it wasn't about the sex, and it wasn't. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. It's like one of those "intimate" moments where touching each other's fingertips can be erotic. Ya know what I'm talking about? Okay, maybe I'm not describing it well, but it was HOT! HOT, I tell you! So of course, I went to tell a friend of mine that I thought he was going to propose and we were all excited about it. Then my damn alarm went off... After I was done throwing it across the room   beating the thing senseless  hitting the snooze button, I'll admit I had a smile on my face. *sigh*  I was none too happy about missing the rest of the dream, but it was refreshing to have a good dream and not a strange dream. 

Notice, I don't consider it strange to have a dream about an actor who I'll never get my hands on. Ha! But then, I guess it's strange I'd be so excited about getting married with the way my life has been in the romance department. But who the hell would tell him no?

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It sure as hell wouldn't be me! Now, though I hate Mondays, I'll admit I had a little bit of a skip in my step when I came to work this morning. Yeah, it was THAT good of a dream. I think I'm going to have to figure out exactly what I did last night before bed to hope I can continue the dream. Fat chance, I know. 

Have a great week, everyone! At least I started the week off right for the ladies, and the guys have a target to throw wise cracks at. 

Open season... on fans?

I know many people have been excited about the opening of baseball season. (For those who don't care about baseball, this is not a baseball post.) Since I'm a Pirates' fan, then I have to show my excitement this time of the season, and pretty much ONLY this time of the season. Why is that, you ask? Because my Pirates have sucked for so long that it's pathetic. This time of year is pretty much the only time we have a winning record. Unfortunately, I know it won't last. Anyway....

I don't know how many of you may have heard about this, but I was so upset about it when I found out. A man named Bryan Stow went with friends to the season opener at Dodger Stadium to see the Dodgers play his favorite team, the San Francisco Giants.

Bryan is the one on the right.

While he was leaving the stadium, two guys jumped him from behind and proceeded to beat him even after he was unconscious. Apparently, Bryan and his friends had tried to ignore the guys who were heckling them but then they attacked. In case any of you are in the area, this is who they are currently looking for.

Suspects

Bryan has been in a medically induced coma since the attack. They had to remove part of his skull to relieve the pressure. His father said that as of yesterday his temperature has come down and his vitals are stabilizing.  I hope and pray he comes out of this okay.

Bryan is a 42-year-old paramedic who was brutally attacked because two psychos thought this would be fun? He is usually the one helping people, and he was walking away from this idiotic behavior.

It just makes me so mad that these crazy ass punks are free on the streets of LA while he's in a hospital bed fighting for his life. Well, actually I hope that every Dodger fan in the city and surrounding areas are searching for them so much that they are having to hide to save their own lives. The reward is up to $100,000 now if you know of any bounty hunters who could help. Aren't I helpful?

I just can't imagine going to a game and feeling like you couldn't be safe. I've often been asked, especially by family who has never seen a live game except in Pittsburgh, if I wear my Steelers gear (or other team I root for) to games when the Steelers are the visitors. HELL YES, I do! And proudly! We get heckled sometimes, but it's usually good-natured fun. And we can usually get the upper hand on that stuff pretty quickly 'cuz we are just that damn smart. Plus, our boys give us a lot to brag about. But I've never been to a professional game whether it was hockey, football or baseball and not felt safe. (I have had that happen a time or two at minor league hockey games, but that's because the team we were playing against had crazy ass fans!) I will not stop wearing my teams' colors no matter where I go.

They are saying the Mayor wants them to crack down on violence and drinking at the stadium. Why do they always bring up the drinking? I'm sorry, but I don't think that's what caused this at all. A psycho is going to be a psycho whether you funnel beer down his throat or not. Do you agree? I honestly feel bad for Dodgers fans as these suspects were wearing their team's gear and making them all look like thugs. It's not right, and I'm glad to see they are all standing up for Bryan now.

They have set up a Facebook page to keep everyone informed of fundraisers and to gain support for Bryan. That's where I got all of the pictures on this post. Feel free to go see what they have going on, whether you are near the area or not. They have things you can do to help. Most of all keep Bryan in your thoughts. He did nothing but try to go and enjoy a baseball game with friends, and his life is forever changed because of it.

On that wonderfully cheerful note... Happy Friday everyone! I'll be having a drink for Bryan when I get home this evening. Cheers!

UPDATE: By the way, folks. Since these guys haven't been caught yet, we don't even know if alcohol was involved. So that statement by the Mayor was all speculation. I'm a drinker, but I don't drink at games. Not everyone does.

Snapshots to learn by

Okay, so I've been slack and haven't gotten out to take some awesome pictures with the new camera like you all have been wanting to see. I snapped some the other day though that I figured I'd share. I was just playing around with some settings and seeing how fast it could click pictures of Bailey doing cute things. You can tell with the pictures of her that I got several before she ran off which normally would have been one crappy picture and she would have been gone. I really can't get over how much bolder the colors are and how much more detail you can see with these.

Her majesty in her favorite spot in the house...

Can you tell she was getting aggravated with me?

(Now don't look at the window. That's what pollen and rain do to the outside in the spring around South Carolina. I refuse to clean it, though I did clean the inside for these pictures.)

Just some things I went outside and clicked....

My Jeep.. which was officially all mine as of November... with the new tires.

We like the Steelers and Penguins just a tad. You aren't even seeing the inside. :)

Everything is starting to bloom.. slowly but surely.

Stupid vine keeps trying to choke out my bushes...

Anyway, like I said, I'm just figuring the camera out. I need to go down to the river or the park to get some better shots to see what it can do. I just wanted to take a few outside the other day to see how they would look. I'm loving this camera!

Hope you all are having a great week. I'll try to get a "real" post out tomorrow.

Happy 100th to The Zodiac Zoo Crew!

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So it's official! You Animals have been stuck with me for 100 blog posts. Well, you might not have been here that long, but there are that many for you to take your happy ass back to read. Aren't you thrilled? I am sitting at 95 followers, so I'm hoping that will jump over 100 soon.

In honor of the 100th post, I think I'm going to give you some links to a few of my favorite posts. Personally, I'm going to take it easy on this Monday and enjoy reading YOUR blogs since I've done so much hard work for 100 posts. What? You don't think that was hard? It's very taxing on my brain, ya know! Even though I try to kill off the weak brain cells when I can... I am so behind in my Reader anyway, that this will give me an excuse to take it easy today because I absolutely love reading everyone's posts.

So here are a few I enjoyed writing, and I think others enjoyed reading...

My Mom stories always seem to be a big hit. My mother is a trip and a half, so feel free to look back on these: Reindeer Games for Mom, Up on the Rooftop.. with Mom, Mom's Adventures on Noah's Ark. I think I have one or two more of those yet to write so stick around.

These were pretty popular posts as far as views go... My Dentist is Hot!, Then and Now, A Jackass tried to ruin the Christmas Parade. 


I think that's enough reading material for you. And look, no animal posts. Well, not really. Hmmmm... When I first started writing you all recommended me because of my animal posts. Is it a good or bad thing I moved away from that?? Something to think about for the next 100!

Thanks for sticking with me and making me feel like what I had to say was pretty good reading, folks. I am truly thankful for each and every one of you who take the time to read my blog since I know there are so many other places in cyberspace you could be right now.

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Friday Foolishness on April Fool's Day

Well, isn't that fitting since it's April Fool's Day that we do another edition of Friday Foolishness? My mother, who you all have come to know and love in my stories of her wild antics, absolutely loves this day. I don't know what it is, but you basically cannot believe a word that she says on April Fool's Day. God help you if you don't realize what day it is when you are talking to her because she will get you with something major every time. I wanted to jump through the TV and kiss the news man this morning who filled me in before I even left the house. She will NOT get me this year, dammit.

I got my new camera yesterday finally! I opened it at work just long enough to take the battery out to charge it so it would be all ready for when I got home. It was pretty genius, I thought. I was all excited to play with my new toy and wow you all with wonders the likes of which you have never seen. But of course, I get home and it's raining freakin' cats and dogs so there was to be no outdoor picture taking. I figured, that's fine. Bailey makes a good subject and you all love seeing her so much anyway, right? Uh huh... I thought so!

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Now let me stop there to explain that I don't like talking on the phone. I don't know why, but I don't care for it. It's actually pretty strange because people couldn't get me off of the phone in earlier years. Anyway, I would much rather text or talk on the computer if we can't be together. I think you get the idea. But last night everyone and their freaking brother wanted to talk to me on the phone because I had a new toy to play with! I even told every single one of them about my new toy hoping they would get the hint so I could go figure out how to use the damn thing. Do you think that worked? Nope!

By the time I got around to unwrapping it all and putting it together, I had no patience left to be reading the instruction manual. There are so many buttons and functions on that thing that there was no way I was going to be able to wow even myself with the first shots. Bailey decided that would be a good time to do nothing except chew on a bone and getting close-ups of that only pointed out to me that I needed to vacuum. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to figure it out tonight.

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At least the sun is out today. I feel like I haven't seen it in a month! We either end up in a drought or with never ending rain around here. It's very bizarre. We kinda needed that rain to wash away all of the pollen though. I'm not much of an outdoors-type person, but if I can't see the sun for a while, I get a bit cranky. It's almost like it's supposed to be there for me whether I need it or not, ya know? 'Cuz this is my world, dammit. I'm not picky about many things, and I'm not nearly as spoiled as I used to be when I was young. But there are certain things I like and sunshine is one of them!

Is it just me or has this been the longest damn week ever? You would think I was waiting for Christmas or something the way it drug on and on. (Drug?.. Is that right? Sounds weird.) A couple of people at work have said the same thing. Yesterday a guy in my office was talking on the phone and he told someone it was Friday. I almost gave myself whiplash turning around to look at the calendar. Don't TEASE ME that way!! It is sooooo not right.

On that note, I'll leave you with a couple of funnies. It's Friday NOW, everyone! Enjoy a cocktail for me because I know I'll be doing it for you as soon as drink-thirty gets here. Cheers!

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Now go play some tricks on people. Just don't try them on me, please!