The Circle is Unbroken

One of the things that has always connected Dick and I is are crazy ass families. When I was three years old, my mom divorced my biological father and I haven't had any contact with him since I was four. When I was four my mom started dating W, who later became my step father when I was seven. They were married until I was 16, when they divorced and my mom proceeded to lose her mind... that is a whole other story. Anyway, I no longer have a relationship with W, as he started dating a woman who didn't particularly like me and didn't understand how he could continue to parent a child that wasn't his. Dick's mom and biological father divorced when he was four, and with the exception of one visit when he was eighteen, he has not had any contact with his bio dad since he was eight. He also had a step dad, and they still maintain a decent relationship.

There is something about being "fatherless" that most people can't understand. Even if you have a step father, you always know that you were essentially rejected or abandoned by a parent. As a child, I was really drawn to stories about adoption, because that was the closest I could find to my situation. So, it is only natural that Dick and I felt a certain kinship with each other because of our family situations. We understand being "fatherless."

Yesterday evening we found out that Dick's biological father passed away from lung cancer last weekend. The way we found out was the kind of convoluted, bizarre circumstances you would expect from such a complicated situation, so I won't go into it. It has hit both of us in unexpected ways. In my case, I realized that this could easily be my future - that I could find that my situation with my bio father resolved by death alone. And this really freaks me out. But, I am not really sure what to do about it. So, I am having trouble sleeping (4 a.m. post may have given me away there) and I don't really want to go to work tomorrow. But, I have nothing better to do. Wait, scratch that. Meaghan is in town and she is going to the Alligator farm tomorrow.

I don't know when the funeral is and I don't know if I will go. I tend to be way overly emotional at weddings and funerals and we've been warned that if we go, we will probably be mobbed by family members (Dick's dad had like eight brothers and sisters. Good gawd.) and I don't know if I can handle my first meeting with them being a funeral. Perhaps this would be a good time to ask my doctor for a xan@x prescription. With refills.

36 Days of Fun, I tell you!

I haven't blogged in thirty-six days. It's not because I don't love you blog. Here are 36 things about the last 36 days:

1. School is hard. Well, not technically. But it is time-consuming as hell. Five days at work + four days at school = stupid idea. But I am surviving.
2. My human growth and development teacher is a total flake. But amusing, which helps me stay awake at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
3. That's right. I go to school before work. Once again - stupid idea.
   
4. My humanities teacher is a twaffle.
   
5. Dick got a new job.
6. Dick's new job is like the google of his industry. Not because of the money-making, but because they offer all these free goodies in the breakroom. Free snacks, free gourmet coffee, free sodas. They've given him a laptop and a PDA. He is really happy.
7. Dick went on his Very First Business Trip. To Atlanta. For a week.
8. I was pretty lonely that week. JennBert, I don't know how ya'll do it.
9. On many occasions over the past 36 days I have wished that I put Britney Spears in the Ghoul Pool at work (pick five celebrities that you predict will kick the bucket in 2007.) I can see her pulling an Anna Nicole Smith any day now.
10. I got an A on my first accounting test!
    
11. When Dick was away, my friends were really great about making sure I wasn't dying of loneliness.
    
12. We've been going to happy hour at a certain local bar every Friday lately. Two for one beers, bitches!
13. But, work is a time-and-soul-consuming place and often we miss the actual happy hour, but are willing to pay full price for beer because we are so freaking happy that work is over for the week.
14. I have been very disappointed with Grey's Anatomy this season. (Well, at least the first episode.)
15. I don't have a TV, so I've been watching TV on the Internets or at various friends' houses.
    
16. People are shocked as hell when I tell them I don't have a TV. They look at me like they are fully expecting my next words to be, "I am releasing all my worldly possessions, so when the mothership comes, I will be ready."
    
17. And Private Practice? WTF? I could write a better show. Seriously, call me ABC!
18. I had a really bad cold for a week. It sucked ass.
19. I chickened out and didn't get a flu shot when they were offering them at work yesterday. I fear needles.
20. When I had the cold, I missed a Monday at work, and then worked my ass off to get all my work done on Tuesday so I could meet my deadlines, and then it turned out that a big portion of my work had already been done by another person. Except no one told me. So, that was nice. Doing a bunch of work for no reason.
21. I had a brief moment of panic at work today when I found out that some managers were trying to get my manager to agree to have me take on more work. I actually tried to call Dick to get permission to quit if it happened. But, my manager stood his ground, and I shall remain just slightly overworked and underpaid.
22. We've had a lot of cake at work lately. We have cake everytime someone leaves.
    
23. My sister called me and asked me for advice about something, and then... she actually followed the advice I gave her. I don't know if I should be happy or scared.
24. My friend Erin and I are going to be white trash debutantes for Halloween.
25. My friend Meaghan is coming to town next week and I am really excited about seeing her.
26. Robert is coming to town in a couple weeks too. I am going to make some cupcakes for his arrival. Because every celebration deserves cupcakes.
27. I made some Mayan Chocolate Cupcakes for a party last week and they were a big hit.
28. Over the past 36 days I have given a lot of thought to the idea of opening my own bakery.
    
29. I really hate working for other people. Specifically old, white, rich men.
30. I have no idea where I am really headed at this point.
31. My job is like an abusive boyfriend. I can't quit you, job.
32. I hate the republic@n presidential candidate Fred Th0mps0n. Seriously.
    
33. I think NPR is doing a fantastic job of covering all the presidential candidates.
34. Because so many people have left at work, I now have three cubicles all for me. But I am only using two of them.
35. By Wednesday of next week, Dick and I will have paid off all of our consumer debt.
36. I've missed you blog!

Ok. I need to go to bed now. Yes, it is only 9:30 p.m. But, I had a test at 8 a.m. this morning, and I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to study. And my brain has reached maximum capacity for the day. I'll try to be a better blogger, I swear. Pinky promise.

School Supplies Part Two

Ahh...pencils.

Robert brought up pencils. And I have to say, I hate non-wood pencils. You know, the rubbery-want-to-be-woody-but-aren't kind? They suck ass. My favorite pencils used to be Eckerd Brand No. 2 pencils. They were real wood, sharpened to a good point and didn't splinter or break. But shortly before they went out of business, they switched to the fake-wood crap. (I always secretly thought that is why they went out of business. Bad call, Eckerds! Ok, ok, I know they were bought out by CVS. But I think the decline in pencil quality was somehow related). Since the demise of the Eckerd Brand No. 2 pencils, I have been unable to find a satisfactory replacement.

(Dick is all about mechanical pencils. But they annoy me. I really don't mind the inconvience of sharpening a pencil. And I really like manual pencil sharpeners too, but that is beside the point. Hehe. Point. Get it?)

I am glad I have friends that can appreciate the value of a good wooden pencil. Just the other day, my friend Heather confessed that as a child she collected pencils with fun designs on them. But she never used them. She thinks they are sitting in a closet in her parents' house and I am trying to convince her to find them, because I am thinking there are probably some really good, old school wooden pencils in there.

I'll let you know if we hit the motherload.

My Soul for a Sharpie®

When I was a kid, two weeks before school started, my mom would give my sister and I our budget for school supplies. We would then sit down with the Sunday circulars and determine which stores had the best buys and make our lists, so that we could get the most supplies for our dollars. I love school (and office) supplies. Pens and paper, post-its, markers and stickers. I attribute this to spending so much free time in my mom's classroom and my love of writing. So, I always loved back-to-school time. And I always started the new year confident that I was going to be organized. Typically, that lasted about two weeks. I had good intentions though.

Tomorrow I have my first class of the semester. So, I decided to get my crap together and realized, much to my dismay, that I did not have an empty binder. I am not quite sure how I managed to get this close to school and not have enough supplies. And somehow, I managed to forget about this while I browsed the school supply section at Costco yesterday. I was rather preoccupied with a big set of Sharpies. It included every color, in both bold and fine, and 2 metallic ones and five retractable ones. Oh, how I lust for those Sharpies. Binders are so not sexy compared to those Sharpies. So, now it is 9 p.m. the night before my 8 a.m. Human Growth and Development class, and I find myself both binder and sharpie-less. And I am in my pajamas. And I am apparently all grown up, because I can't manage to find away to care enough to get dressed and go to Walgreens and buy one binder. Maybe Dick will do it for me.

****

And my school schedule, for those who are following along at home:
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 8-9:15 a.m. Human Growth and Development
Wednesdays: 6-10 p.m. Financial Accounting
Saturdays: 1-4 p.m. Humanities

I am not sure what possessed me into taking a class in the mornings before work, but I am giving it a try. I need to take 3 classes a semester if I want to make my A.A. graduation goal, which is May 2009. Pray for me, people.

Hello, my name is Minnie and...

I am addicted to blogs. I check almost 40 blogs daily. Which is time-consuming. And not necessarily the best use of my time. And school is starting next week, so I am going to have to cut my internet time significantly. So, I set up my Google Reader. AND IT ROCKS MY WORLD. It doesn't take much, people. It really doesn't. So, I took a couple minutes to set it up yesterday, and today my blog reading took a fraction of the time. Like 15 minutes. I don't know what to do with myself. (Obviously, I need to find more blogs!)

I had an awesome weekend. We had PMG's birthday celebration: dinner with some of my favorite people, at our fav pizza place, and drinks at our town's Best Bar for Drunks. (Seriously... a generous crown royal and coke was $5.50. That is an awesome deal. I need to drink there more often.) And I made cupcakes. They were yellow cake with dark chocolate icing. Very tasty, but rich. I have really enjoyed baking lately and I am hoping to perfect some of my recipes and then have a "Cupcake Tasting" party. Like a wine tasting, only better. Anyway, I felt like the dark chocolate icing overpowered the plain yellow cake, and I am thinking of pairing it with a coffee cupcake. I am also working on my super-secret special cupcake idea. Which I am not quite ready to reveal to the internet, although my friends outside of the computer have heard all about it. I really wish I had a better kitchen. And my own bakery.

Tale of Two Kitties

Who writes the cheesiest post titles ever? Me, that's who!

Moving on. We have two cats. My favorite is Maggie.

Maggie - Cutest Cat Ever

We found her when she was a wee little thing, and I was very sick at the time, and she kept me company while I was home, hopped up on prescription cough syrup and contemplating death. (Having bronchitis for two straight months will do that to you.) She was initially an inside cat, because I am afraid of all the bad things that happen to outside cat. She never really escaped, except once when our house was broken into, which sucked. We found her terrified, under the house, so we figured she was a bit of a wuss.

A couple years later, we got Louie (the dog), and they did not get along. He wanted to play, she didn't. And she started looking longingly out the window.

And then another cat showed up. And we started feeding him, and I named him Christopher. (One of my all-time favorite names, but Dick has forbidden me from naming any future children Christopher, so I used it on the cat.) He stayed outside (unless it was really cold) and Maggie stayed inside. We did this because Christopher is overwhelming love-sucking machine. He drove me crazy, with constant meowing and talking and rubbing. He would drive the dog crazy too. And Christopher was a crazy-killing-machine. He would kill rats and squirrels and birds and lizards and leave them on the porch. One day, in particular, when I came home, he was sitting on the porch eating (literally eating) a dead squirrel. Like it was the tastiest thing ever. And! And, he also killed two bats. I have no idea how he did that. Anyway, we admired his killing skills and didn't want to take him out of his killing fields. And did I mention he drives me crazy?

Christopher - Annoying the hell out of Louie. Poor dog.

But Maggie would watch, all sad-eyed, from the living room window. So, one day, we decided to let her out to hang out with Christopher for a couple of hours. And then she was going outside during the day, but coming in at night. And now, she is out all the time. Maybe once every two weeks, she'll decide she needs to be in for the night. But the moment you open the front door in the morning, she is bounding outside. (She really does bound.) This has done wonders for her self-esteem. She does not let Louie fuck with her anymore, and she and Christopher have been known to tag-team a wandering neighborhood cat. (They line up in formation, I swear, and you can almost hear the soundtrack to West Side Story.)

Christopher has become very lazy though. Seriously, he'll let a squirrel run through the yard right next to him. It's almost embarrassing. And we figured that Maggie just doesn't have the killing ability, since she was an inside cat for so long. But... A couple days ago, Christopher was hanging inside with us for a little while (So. Annoying. With the meowing.) And we let him out and then a couple minutes later, Dick went outside and there was a dead rat on the stoop. Like freshly dead. Dick picked it up to put it in the trash (using some newspaper. It has so many uses!) and it was still warm. Dick thinks Christopher did it right after we let him out. I don't think there was enough time. I think Maggie did it. Has Christopher passed the torch to Maggie? Has the student become the master? Can I think of anymore clichés?

Maggie - Looking over the killing fields

We may never know. But, speaking of the truth being out there and whatnot - there is going to be another X-Files Movie. Hooray!

Week in Review, Ghetto Style, Bitches.

Didn't mean to go this long without posting. This week has been crazy. It included the following:

• Work drama (More layoffs. More people jumping ship. Less fun.)
• Exciting homemade natural hair treatment for luxurious locks (Didn't really work. When will I learn? I don't know why I always have to try bizarre homemade natural treatments. I'm a masochist.)
• Cupcake research. (I am developing a super-exciting new cupcake. This is hard work, my friends.)
• Obsessive reading of this, this, this and a little bit of this. (Are men really that preoccupied with sex? Seriously? Dudes, you need some hobbies. May I suggest doing laundry?)
• A life changing therapy session. (My therapist told me that I didn't have to feel guilty about not working out this month, and that it was ok if I wasn't actively pursuing weight loss right now, and that I could wait until my new school schedule started to get back into my weight-fighting-gym-going groove. It seemed totally absurd. What? Me, not worry or obsess about what I am or am not doing about my fat ass? CRAZY! But I am trying it.)
• Planning PMG's birthday celebrations for next weekend. (There will be pizza! And beer! And dancing! And maybe super-exciting cupcakes! And beer!)
• Talks about Dick changing jobs. (More on this later.)

And now, I need to go to sleep, but I stupidly drank a diet dr. Pepper with dinner and I am like a four year old when it comes to caffeine. I may be up until 3 a.m. or something. Oh well, I've got cupcakes to think about.