"First Day Of School? Already?"

(sigh) yeah...I still cannot believe my little girl is starting first grade already. Seems like last year she was just in kindergarten. As a matter of fact, she was. Now she's an old pro at this. But sometimes a little change can go a long way in the eyes of a 6-year old. Last night she just felt like crying and even though I didn't know exactly what was bothering her, I could sense she was sad about summer ending and a class full of new people (and a few holdovers from last year). Which is understandable. I have no doubt she will be as great a kid as she was last year. Hmm, maybe I did understand what was wrong lol.

What is my best first day of school? Probably senior year...just knowing that each day was one day closer to being done was enough for me.

My worst day? Easy. 7th grade. I was a library aide 2nd period and English was 3rd period. All the way across campus. I didn't know how far it was exactly until I actually walked it and got there 5 minutes too late. Of course, being me, I was too scared to just go in and have everyone stare at me so I hung out in the hall for about 10 minutes, waiting for class to end. And, of course, a teacher or someone saw me standing around and made me go into the classroom, where of course everyone turned and looked at me which just knotted me all up inside. I spent the rest of the day with a killer tummyache that didn't go away until I went home.





Three day weekend coming up! Hopefully we will do something fun but not sure what. We almost had to work Labour Day but we ended up getting enough volunteers. What a racket this place has going. We'd work Christmas if someone higher up thought it was a good idea. That interview I had Wednesday turned out to be nothing more then a meeting where I found out there are THREE more interviews including a panel of managers who will ask me all kinds of idiotic questions. Geez. If I had known that I wouldn't have wasted my time. So we'll see I guess.
Your results:
You are The Flash

The Flash 70% Green Lantern 55% Iron Man 55% Spider-Man 50% Hulk 50% Wonder Woman 41% Batman 40% Supergirl 36% Robin 35% Catwoman 35% Superman 30%

Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...


The Flash? Really? With colours like that it's more like "The Clash" ha ha

What was your best first day of school? Worst?

"I Have A Dream..."

...and what a dream it was! It was actually last week and usually I forget what they were after a couple of days. But this one is not going away so easily. Apparently...myself and several parents were attending a field trip for Emily's class. But we didn't know what for until the special guest arrived and it was none other then Mike Greenberg of Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio 103.3FM, which I am an avid listener ever morning on the way to work. We were all going to be joining them for that day's radio show and it was going to be at Disneyworld! How we were going to get there that fast is beyond me, but that is neither here nor there. So as we're leaving the classroom, something gets my attention and I find myself losing track of time. I then realize I need to hurry if I'm going to make the ferry boat (which is how we're getting there). So I'm running as fast as I can and I get to the dock and it's pulling out of the bay. I'm literally heartbroken. One, because Emily is on this boat and I'm not, and two, I have missed the opportunity to meet my favourite radio team. So I'm watching the boat disappear, and I start walking back, and who do I see but Emily, waiting there for me and missing the boat herself in the process. I gave her a big hug and I'm looking at her and it's so real, and all of a sudden I wake up. Was kind of weird but was nice that it had a happy ending.



Photo moments like this are darn near impossible, so I gotta get em while I can.

I have a job opportunity I'm attending next Wednesday. It's in Bedford (heckuva lot closer then Richardson), more pay, no weekends (which hopefully means no holidays). I say opportunity because it's not so much as an interview but more of a meeting to see if they like the cut of my jib (don't ask me what that means lol). What's great is it starts the day after this office closes down which could not be any more perfect. I feel like such an underachiever working here sometimes, mostly because the pay is so much lower then what everyone else in the world pays. This new job would be $14/hour plus an incentive plan. It's not that I hate working here...I just hate working here for what I am paid. Will I miss it here? Maybe...but I also thought I'd miss being in high school at some point and here it has been 14 years and I still cringe at the thought of reliving those times.

But it wasn't all bad.

I have several great memories in my noggin, one of which is senior midterms. Not taking the test itself, mind you. That would just be weird. But they were broken up into two days and the first day I only had two exams and they were both over by 10am. I didn't even know this until I checked afterwards. No car and no bus means I had to walk it, as I usually did after school. I put on my headphones and queued up REM's "Automatic For The People", went by McDonald's and got some breakfast, and walked home and just hung out all day. Looking back, this was one of the very few great days of my three years at Duncanville High. The rest of it was constant teasing from 10th grade gym class that became so mean-spirited that I would fantasize about bringing a gun to school and just shooting each and every kid in that class. Now of course I would never actually go through with that...but just for a moment each morning, it brought a sense of relief. I used to pray every day before I got on the bus that they would just leave me alone. But it never happened. I read about kids who bring their parent's gun to school because they truly hate whoever they plan to shoot and I think "Shocked? Yeah...but not surprised." Because I was that kid back in 1990 who if given the means to do it, I may have gone through with it. Who knows really. But I carried that sub-level of self-esteem and confidence into my working years and only lately have I gotten over it. I tell myself that I can be an asset to my company instead of a benchwarmer.

Found a box full of neat things couple of weeks ago...here's one:



Looking back, I really don't remember a lot of the negative stuff of school. More of the positives...just wish there were more.

"A New Friend..."

You know...every once in a while I start to feel a little proud of my collection...and then...my thunder is stolen. Not that there are any hard feelings mind you. But you may have noticed I have added a new arch-enemy to the list. His name is Shaun Wong and he really...really...puts my minute collection to shame. I have to assume he has been at this a lot longer then I have. Plus...he actually opens his stuff! He is my hero and my villian, all at the same time ha ha. Here is just a sampling of what he has:



Did I not tell ya!? He did inspire me though to use the shelf space that I have available and got a lot of my stuff out of my storage bins and create a tribute if you will. I even took some pictures this morning but of course when I really needed Yahoo to come through for some reason they are not in my Yahoo! photo album. Will research when I get home.

(comes home)

Okay, here we go! Turns out Yahoo (maybe) isn't accepting anymore new pictures so I had to go home and put them on here. It took about two months to:

1)Get everything off the shelves and find a place for it
2)Clean everything immacuately as to not...you know...have any dirt around
3)Figure out what went where and why










I stayed up until about 1:30 Wed night getting everything set up. Problem is, you even get close to one of them you start a domino effect. Will have to see what kind of solution there is to that.

Watched Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith this week. Hadn't seen it since I saw it in the theater in 2005. Was really sad when the Emperor (Chancellor Palpatine) issued the order for all the Jedi to be...extinguished, so to speak. But the final showdown between Anakin and Obi Wan was truly the defining moment of the entire series. Sure wish I had a lightsaber. Would make pruning and trimming a lot less work and alot more fun!



Yes, it's a dr. Smoov original!

Found this from Lil Bit...apparently we're supposed to, and I quote, "acquire your biological and technological distinctiveness yo our own". Anyone know what movie that's from?

1. Look, read, and learn. **** -http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. **** -http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don't let money change ya! *** -http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments.** -http://chattiekat.com/

5. Develop your own "voice" don't "borrow" someone else's.** -Mizmouthy

6. If you don't have something to say, don't worry your loyal readers will wait. *-oldfashionmomma at http://womanrants.blogspot.com/

7. Reciprocate... Return your commenters' visits & comment-in-kind. -Lil Bit at http://littlehmphf.blogspot.com/

8. Good things come in small packages...small...unopened...packages...Ultimate Toys

Shaun, welcome to our somewhat unusual family. We hope you will visit a little more and, as always, never fail to bring us what you acquire so we may seethe with jealousy just a little more each day ha ha.

"What's Up Doc?"

This has to be one of my favourite movies of all time. Of course, it cannot possibly claim the top spot since that belongs to another movie that came out this summer. I forget what it was called but it had something to do with cars and planes transforming and such. Wacky Robot Escapade I think it was called. Anyways, What's Up Doc runs a close second. It was filmed 2 or 3 years before I was born but it is timeless. Here's the run-down:

Four plaid suitcases containing:

Luggage
Secret government documents
Jewelry
Igneous rocks

Now the people that own them think they have a one of a kind bag that couldn't possibly contain anything else. But through a series of hilarious adventures everyone winds up in the San Francisco courthouse and only one man can sort it all out. That man is Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal) who through no fault of his own finds himself in the middle of the whole thing and tries his best to explain it all to the judge. I must have seen this 20 times and it has me in tears every time.


Emmy: "Um, Dad, when I said I wanted to go on a vacation I had something a little farther away then Fort Worth!"

Me: "Well, it WAS almost a 20 minute drive ya know."

Zach: "Is this horse even real?"

I mentioned What's Up Doc because it is one of the few things that really takes me back to when I was a kid and my family would watch it together and just laugh. I'm pretty much known as the class clown everywhere I go (family get togethers, work, etc.) and sometimes I don't feel like anyone really cares what I think. Maybe it's just me being silly, I don't know. I gotta be me though, ya know?

Not a lot going on lately. Waiting till Oct 1 when we start working for Caremark. That's when the money starts coming in. And man it better be soon. Daddy wants a new car!

"They Say It's Your Birthday...!"

As of July 26 Emily is officially SIX! We had her birthday party a couple of weeks ago at this water park so we didn't have to entertain that much ha ha. I of course got my customary sunburn since my "It's cloudy so there's no chance of getting burned" theory never...EVER holds up. My arms are still peeling a bit. Everything you ever wanted to know right? Here's couple pix:


Emily: "Look Dad, The Bridge Of Terabithia!"

Me: "I thought you wanted the James Bond box set!"

Emily: (sigh)"No Daddy, YOU wanted that. Better luck in December eh?"

Me: "Oh yeah..."


Zach: "Okay, where's that water? Let's go people! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!"

Me: "Hey, calm down chief...don't you want to sing Happy Birthday to Emily?"

Zach: "Who?"

Me: "Ehh, she's probably better off...go swim for your life!"

Well, we found out yesterday that Caremark, the company that supposedly we bought, is going to be our new employer! They're closing down our office and moving us all to their office in Richardson, which is a lot farther away but pays a lot more and the benefits are better. So what do I do? All of us have been campaigning for a pay increase to keep up with, let's see, everyone else in the world. Heck, even beggars on the corner of the highway exit make more then us. At least I think they do. For some reason when I ask them for their previous tax returns they're always "missing".
I think it will be a good thing for our family though. No more overtime (5-10 hrs a week currently) is always a good thing. And overtime for Caremark is somewhere in the $20 an hour range. The problem is they didn't offer Cari the same thing, so we may not be able to work together anymore. And I think I would miss that.

I don't talk about her that much on here. And it's not because I don't think about her, because I do. Sometimes it feels like I take her for granted because she does so much for me and the kids, so I probably do. But I don't. She knows she is the lynchpin of our family and we owe her everything. Every Friday we have "Chick Fil-A Morning" when I go by and get our usual (bacon-egg-cheese biscuit/hash brown/gal. of sweet tea) and even though we don't sit together and eat, we both enjoy it a little more because we get to see each other. But who knows what will happen, so no jumping to conclusions.

Seibertron.com is having a Transformers photo contest. The goal is to have them in some kind of setting where they are breaking the laws of the road (speeding, running a red light, illegal parking, etc.). I have kind of an idea what I wanna do but will need to plan it a little. Any ideas would be considered!

Going to play poker tonight! Cari's parents are watching the dogs-I mean kids so we could go. $10 buy in and hopefully several winners. Starts at 9pm. I've been practicing at Pogo.com and for a while I was really good. But now I seem to lose more then I win. I rush myself sometimes and get tired of folding so I bet to stay in only to lose. Must remind myself it's a marathon, not a sprint. Wish us luck!