An ear what?!?

This morning, I was watching the Today Show, and they were talking about "ear worms". Do you know what an "ear worm" is? It's one of those songs that you hear for a few seconds and it gets stuck in your head for hours (or sometimes in my case, DAYS!) Thanks to Chris I now have Ice, Ice, Baby stuck in my head. wonderful. Anyway, they were talking to people about what their worst "ear worm" was. I don't know that I have a recurring one, it usually changes with what ever I was listening to in the car on the way into work. It stays there, playing over and over and over until I get in the car to go home. It doesn't matter if it's a song, or a jingle from a commercial. It's usually there for a long time. They listed the top 5... 5- the theme from Mission Impossible. 4- the Kit Kat jingle. 3- We will Rock you (by Queen). 2- Applebee's Baby Back Ribs song and 1- Who let the dogs out... no doubt, that one has to be the most annoying one. We have a car dealership here Fox Chevrolet, and they have changed it to be "Who let the Fox out" and they are just as annoying!

There's one I know that gets stuck in my co-workers head, 'cause everytime we order lunch from this one place, when she's reading the menu, she always mentions that they have baby back ribs, and sings the stupid jingle. (the jingle is annoying enough, but her singing it makes it worse.)

(Man all those annoying things you would think I would have gotten stupid Ice Ice Baby out... argh!)

Ok, now that I have shared the pain with all of you, tell me what is the one that is the most annoying to you? What one really gets stuck and you can't get it out?

At what point does age allow you to be a butthead?

Let's bring everyone up to speed here...

In 2004, Hubby and I bought a house. Just a little Cape Cod, on a quiet street, with more mature neighbors. After moving in, I started adding some personal touches to the yard... You know, stuff like a bird bath, and a couple feeders. Hung windchimes on the back porch, and put some chairs and a table out back. All seemed to be going along fine... so I thought.

Hint of buttheadedness #1... Mr. Neighbor comes over and asks me to take down my bird feeders. It seems that they attract the birds. The birds then fly into his yard, and poop on his sidewalk, and in the rain, they go under his carport, and poop on his car. Mrs. Neighbor suggested that I just move them farther away from their yard, so I did, Mr said that would work, but he still grumbles about the poop. (As an informal experiment, I left the feeders empty for 2 months, and even without me "attracting" them, they still were in his yard, and under his carport.)

Hint of buttheadedness #2... I have kids. They knew this when I moved in. They saw the kids. I never kept them a secret. They have a nice big paved driveway... Kyle was riding his bike and would pull into his driveway to turn around. He came out and said that he needed to stay out of his driveway. Ok, not a big deal... I talked to Ky, and he doesn't ride his bike there anymore... There are lots of teenaged kids that roam our street... They do NOT belong to me. I do NOT know them, just because I have teens. I can NOT tell these kids not to go into your yard. Yet when the neighborhood kids wander into Mr Neighbor's yard, he feels the need to tell me about it. A Lot.

Hint of buttheadedness #3... We went camping over memorial day weekend... We took 2 seats out of the van, and Kyle's carseat since we didn't need them. When we got back, he commented on the state of our front porch. Said he wondered if we were having a yard sale. (I'm really starting to think that the letter we got in the mail from the neighborhood association, really came from him... You know, we had too much patio furniture. On our patio. Go figure.)

Hint of buttheadedness #4... Hubby mows the lawn every Wednesday evening, weather permitting... On the weekend, he weed-whacks. Between Mr Neighbor's drive way and our yard is a brick and decorative cinderblock wall. It's about 4 feet high. Mr. Neighbor sprays weed killer in his flowerbed to keep the weeds out... he sprays through the chainlink fence. It kills our grass. You would think that he would stop there.. nope. He sprays over the brick wall into our yard and kills about 12-18 inches of our grass. On the other side of the brick wall. OUR grass in OUR yard. (Hubby is not a happy guy... If there is nothing a guy takes pride in more, it's his lawn, and in the 2 years we have been there, ours is shaping up nicely.) Hubby is waiting to calm down enough to talk to him about it. It's been over a week.

Finally, Hint of buttheadedness #5... I live in MD. If you've seen any weather related news you might have seen we've had lots of rain. LOTS. So yesterday, Hubby and I are coming home from the grocery store, and we're behind Mr & Mrs Neighbor. There are large puddles along the curbs. Yes, you guessed it... Mr Neighbor was driving along, and would move over to get the pedestrians with the puddles. At first Hubby and I thought it was just that he couldn't move over to avoid the puddle, but we had no problems missing them. He splashed 3 different sets of people. What an ass.

Anyway... at what age can I start being a butthead? I mean there has to be a point, when you wake up and you're an ass. I think I have a while to go, but I figured if I could find out when that will happen, I'll start prepping now.

Irrational fears...

Got any?

In case you didn't know this yet, we got the boy a new pet... yep, every child needs something to cuddle with and call his own... so we got the boy one of these... Well, they say that I should keep the tank between 78-86 degrees... so this morning I went in to check on her, and the temp was at 74. I turned on the heat lamp to get things cooking in there.... I didn't have enough time to let it warm up in the tank before leaving for work, so I left it on. I called home at about 11:30 to ask the oldest daughter to go in and turn off the light. She couldn't. She was in tears. I mean sobbing! She was afraid. I'm not sure why, but she wouldn't even go in his room to see what the temperature was. Finally, at about 3:45 she called me back. She did it. I don't know why she is afraid as much as she is. It completely baffles me. I mean of all the snakes, ball pythons are one of most docile. They aren't poisonous, don't bite, and snakes aren't slimey. I just don't get it...

So, I'm sitting at work, and this little thought keeps popping into my head. North Korea has a missle... Could it reach here? What type of missle? What will happen when it gets here? Will the US be able to stop it from getting here? Where will my children be? Where will Hubby be? If we're going to get blown to bits, I want to be with all of them.

Irrational fears.... I guess I can't really be hard on her for not liking the snake, if I'm freaking about a missle... can I?

Yep, I stole it too...

Stole this from Traci....

Birthday Meme

Instructions
Go to Wikipedia. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).

May 8

List three events that happened on your birthday.
1. 1794 - Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined all on one day in Paris.
2. 1945 - World War II: VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
3. 1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.

List two important birthdays
1.1828 - Jean Henri Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1910)
2. 1884 - Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (d. 1972)

One holiday or observance (if any)
VE Day

This was not one of my holidays, but it was listed as an external link, and I was LMBO when I saw it...

National Outdoor Intercourse Day

Leather Anniversary Gifts?!?!

Conversation today on the phone:

Me: Hey, I just bought your anniversary gift. How's that being prepared?
Him: Not bad. I've been looking around, but haven't found anything yet. What's our price limit?
Me: Don't think we really set one, I spent around $90. And, just so you know, it's not a mushy romantic gift.
Him: Is it the 2nd Season of the Muppet Show (gave him season 1 last year.)
Me: Nope. Oh, what's the gift for the 3rd anniversary anyway?
Him: Leather.
Me: Oh. Really? Wow... I should have bought you that leather thong.
Him: Yeah, then we could match, cause that's what I'm getting you.
Me: Um, I'll send yours back if you send mine back. (laughing...) Maybe we could exchange them for whips.
Him: You do know you called me at work, right?
Me: You know I called you from work, right?
Him: Yeah... Maybe we should discuss this at home.
Me: Does it really need further discussion?
Him:... guess not.
Me: yeah, I didn't think so either.

So, do any of you stick to those traditional/modern anniversary gift lists? We always look to see, and Hubby, being the way he is, will try to stick to the list, but sometimes it's hard. I swear, if he gets me a leather thong, I'm gonna make him wear it.

And you sat the family with 18 kids in the next booth, WHY?!

So, on Saturday, we didn't know what to have for dinner... and I didn't want take out Indian, again. I had been seeing those commercials for stuffed french toast at IHOP, and that banana one looked really yummy, so I batted my eyes at Hubby, and off we went, with the oldest in tow. She was the only one home at the time, since the other 2 were at StupidX's for the weekend. We had to stand and wait while she got ready... you know, makeup, pluck the eyebrows, put on the cute jeans. 'Cause you never know who might be at IHOP on a Saturday evening at 7:00 pm.

We finally get there, and our hostess is also our waitress, and we swear, she's gotta be going thru puberty cause she looks like a teenaged boy. I know that's mean, but really... Anyway... she shows us to the table, and we sit there for a few mins and then we have to flag her down for menus. Then she comes back to get our drink orders and I ask about the banana french toast, and we place our orders...

Now, I'm sure you've all seen an IHOP, been by an IHOP or maybe even eaten in one. You know that they are not small. So there are about 40 tables in here... and at least 2 waitresses, and I see people sitting in the other "middle" section, and we're by the windows. We are the only ones by the windows. The "middle" section only has people at like 3 of the booths and they are spread out so they aren't all sitting in the very next to booth, if you know what I mean. So, the hostess/waitress chick, brings this couple back to seat them, and they are 2 booths behind me. Not a big deal. Then in comes this family... now I have nothing against families, I came from one, I have one, I know lots of them. This family has 3 kids... all under the age of about 3 it looked like... sounded like it too. The hostess/waitress chick seats them in the booth between us and the other couple. Um... what, the other 32 tables aren't good enough? Ok, so the family sits down, and I hear music... Daddy answers his cell phone... Mommy is trying to keep the kids to a low roar... then, wait, there's more music... Mommy answers her cell phone! Now there is no one to keep the kids quiet, and they are fighting 'cause there's only one "geen clayron". Umm... hello, you are in a restaurant, with screaming, fighting kids... hang up and pay attention! Good thing we were just about done, cause boy did we get out fast!

I think next time we go, we want a table in the middle of no where, maybe then we could not have people around us as easily... or maybe we just won't go back. Rats, those banana french toasts were really yummy too! I mean I could have eaten 2 servings, yummy... Ok, so next time, we'll go but just ask to not sit near anyone else... LOL!

Ok, so it wasn't 18 kids, but they sure sounded like it!

Camping... the final chapter...

I could drag this out forever, but when blogger cooperates, I don't have the time to type it all, when I have the time, blogger crashes. Can you say irritating?

Ok, so lets see... where was I?

Oh yeah, Saturday morning... Saturday was a good day, and we had lots of sunshine to dry off everything that got wet. We went for a walk, tried to get to a waterfall but the creek was too high to cross. Hung out at camp, and just goofed off. Later that day, we were down by the creek, and B found a snake... just a little one, but it looked something like this and was enough to slightly freak the guys out. hehehe... We made chili for dinner, and toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Sunday we headed to Spruce Knob. After a long day of wandering around, we headed back to camp, and started dinner... we ended the weekend with a bang. We had some awesome steaks from the Amish Farmer's Market near home (of course we are no where near Amish country, so I don't know truly how "Amish" my market is...), baked potato, salad and wine... lots of wine for some of us. We sat around the fire for a while, and I headed to bed early... about 10:30. The guys were up, I could hear their voices and the cd player... I went to sleep not too long after getting in the tent. I woke up at about 1:45 and heard Hubby stumbling to bed... He had finished the wine, and was pretty drunk. Actually, he was UGLY drunk. I'm still amazed he found the tent. The next morning, I think he was still slightly drunk... LOL! He doesn't do that often (2 times in the 5 years I've known him) but when he does it, he does it good. Monday, we broke camp and headed home... it was a nice ride back, no traffic and nice weather.

Oh, almost forgot... we almost brought home a dawg with us... (gotta say that with a southern kinda twang... LOL!) Someone had this hound dog tied to a tree at the parking lot to the trail head. The poor thing had maybe 5 or 6 feet of rope, no water, no food, and seemed to have somehow hurt his feet. He was the sweetest thing... I almost had Hubby convinced that he would be better off with us, when on our last trip up to the car, someone had taken him and his rope. Poor puppy...

So, that's the really condensed version of the last 2 days camping... All in all, it was a good weekend, and I had fun, and I might do it again... but not anytime real soon.

Ok... Camping... Part B...

So, to continue from here , I get up on Friday morning, at the usual way to early for me time to get the kids off to school. I took Ky to school as a treat, cause I usually don't get to do that, so he was happy. I left there, came home, threw a load of laundry in the washer, jumped in the shower, got out got dressed, threw the clothes in the dryer and was out the door. I went to the grocery store, then to Big Lots to get the stuff that was remaining on the list. Came home started packing the clothes that I was taking and were now clean. Yeah, I know, Hubby was packed since Tuesday... me, I'm counting days on my fingers at the last minute to make sure I have enough undies in the bag.

Hubby gets home from work and starts packing the van... yeah, the van with the liftgate that won't open... Hubby informs me that we need to leave by 1:15. Um, he tells me this at 1? what is this man thinking? So, at 2:20 we're finally leaving mom's to hit the road... we had to go back to get the digital camera. (please note, there are no pictures, because I think I lost the cable... oops!) One more stop here for something we forgot, the we hit the road... Smooth sailing... scattered showers, but no biggie... then, there it was... right there... we really weren't expecting it... TRAFFIC! Of course, I don't know why we thought there wouldn't be any... Now, Hubby doesn't like to drive the van, just cause he doesn't do it often, so he's a passenger. You would think as a passenger, he wouldn't be as bothered... Ha! He's more irate than I am. We (he) decide to take a "short cut" thru Frederick... It would have to be faster, right? Ha! To go about 4 miles took almost an hour! Holy freaking brake lights, Batman!

Finally get out of Fredrick and hit the highway again. The guys we're meeting call, they are way ahead of us... so they are gonna wait for us for a bit when they get to Morefield. So we are moving along at breakneck speed... but we aren't going any faster than anyone else. I swear! They call us to tell us that they are there, and are waiting at the McD's near the CVS. we get there about an hour and a half later, and pull into town, and can't find the McD's... Now, lemme explain for those of you who have never been to Morefield. We entered at the sign that said East Morefield, and we drove thru 1 light, and there was a sign that said Morefield, we drove past a Food Lion, a Hardee's, a gas station/convenience store, the 84 lumber all in the span of about 2 miles and were out of the town. We turned around stopped at the store and asked where the McD's was. The woman told us and somehow they had gotten into town about 3/4 of a mile farther up than we were. We got there, and they weren't there, so we went to the store, and bought batteries for the cd player, ice, and tissues... Oh, and I bought a kit kat for dinner... Well for a predinner snack since we were gonna have hot dogs for dinner at camp.

We finally get to the spot, and they are there, and B has had a beer... 1 beer. Remember that, cause it's important. We head across the creek to check to see if there's anyone in our "spot"... of course with all the rain they had, the creek is higher and the rocks are wet and slippery, and I slip off the rock and am 1/2 way up my shin in cold water... Oh well, I just walk across the stream.. doesn't matter, I'm already wet. We get to the camp spot (Please note... this is NOT a campground. We are "back country" camping.) B & I are going to set up the tents while Hubby and N finish bringing the gear... B is too trashed to help... I end up setting up both tents for us. UGH... in the mean time, I'm getting eaten alive by something... (I still have bite marks, and they still itch. I've probably got some little buggy thing growing in my skin! ack!) Finally get the tents up, and then I try to light a fire... every time I get it kinda started, it pours rain. I cover the gear they've brought with the tarps, and huddle under one of them... Hubby gets back with the guys and we cover the rest of the stuff, and head off to the tents giving up on dinner. Ugh.

So, Hubby decides, we have a bottle of wine in the cooler, that we were supposed to drink sitting around the campfire while talking... so he wanders back out in the rain, gets the wine, the bottle open and comes back to the tent. Oops, no glasses. Oh well, we sat in the tent laughing about all our misadventures of the day, listening to the rain beat on the rain fly to the tent drinking Merlot from the bottle, by battery lantern light. Now that's class. We finished the wine, went to bed and I might have slept about 3 hours... kept waking up from the rain, or the fact that I was cold... and it wasn't my bed... oh well, sunrise, and another day....

to be continued...

I know I owe you all the rest of the camping story...

But I'm not really up for writing it all... Sorry.

Instead, I'd like to share a little of some of the everyday stuff that goes on here...

Baseball... every Tuesday and Thursday... at 6. If StupidX has the kids for dinner, he takes them there, but since his drop off time is at 7:30, when that time rolls around, he gets up and leaves. He can't stay for another 10 or 15 mins to see the end of the game?! I guess it will eventually sink in that the things he does don't hurt me. They hurt the kids... and in turn, will hurt him. What a jerk.

Today, while Hubby, and Kyle and I were at our Church's Pantry, the girls called to see where we were. We had discussed this the night before. I told Nikki, in as serious a voice that I could muster, that we were headed to the beach, and since they overslept, we left them... Yeah I know it's mean... but she's so gullible. Her response? "bring us back a t-shirt!" then she hung up on me. I was laughing when I called her back and told her where we really were.

Tonight we went to the Avenue to get her phone fixed... they couldn't do it. They said there was nothing wrong with it. The weird Verizon woman keeps saying "Verizon Wireless". She's pretty annoying. Oh well.

My nephew was in the All Star game today. I didn't go. I know I should have, but I had a headache, and it wasn't something I really wanted to do. I feel kinda bad, but not too bad. Does that make me a bad Aunt?

Oh, and something else that happened... Today at the Church pantry, R the coodinator that we were working with commented on how happy I looked. She said that I was glowing and radiant. No, I'm not pregnant, that's not the glow. I guess I really am happy. I have moments of doubt sometimes... like am I really happy? Did I get re-married because I didn't want to be alone or because I love him? (For the record, every time I ask myself that one, the answer is always because I love him.) I do feel happy. I don't let things bother me as much as they used to. I guess I realize it's not worth it, cause life is too short. Anyway... I got to thinking after that... was I so miserable before that everyone noticed it? Was I that unhappy that it was like a neon sign? Why didn't someone say to me before, "Gosh, you look miserable, are you unhappy?" Maybe I could have gotten out before serving my 10 year sentence. (Of course if I would have gotten out any earlier, I wouldn't have the boy, and possibly not the new Hubby that is obviously making me very happy.) I told him that he should feel pretty good about those comments too... he's the reason for the happiness. I like where I am. I like who I have become, and I like where I'm headed. I'd like it more if I could hit the lottery, but I guess I can't have it all. I'll take the happiness anyday.

I promise, I'll do the camping post. Trust me, it will be well worth the wait.

Memorial Day Camping... Part One

Ok, I think I've recovered enough, maybe to be able to post about my... um... lovely, yeah that's it, camping trip to beautiful Seneca Rocks, WV.

I shall start with Thursday. I take the oldest kid to the store, since she was going to be home a couple days alone and always complains that there is never anything to eat in the house. We hit the store, and stock up on enough junk & processed food crap to kill a horse. Kid's happy, I don't care. I could have gotten the last remnants of what we needed while out, but had forgotten "The List". Yep... Hubby's a list maker. Fine by me, but if you stray from the list, that's bad. If you forget something on the list, cause you were going by memory, that's bad. He doesn't get too upset, but you can tell that he is... displeased. So, we get back home, and I can see that Hubby has been arranging. There are piles of stuff in my living room. Lots of piles. He is assembling boxes with food, supplies and gear. Looks like we're headed on an expedition to Lord knows where and might never see civilization again. I just look the other way and keep moving.

He heads out and pulls the seats from the middle of the van. See, last Saturday, he took my van with him when he went grocery shopping to get the oil changed. Somewhere along the way, the back lift gate stopped working. That meant that we couldn't get the back bench seat out, which was the one we had planned on pulling for packing space. Anyway, he takes the seats out, so that Friday we can just pack and go. Well, that's the plan anyway. I know that I have laundry to do, but I also have other stuff to take care for the kids to get ready for their weekend with StupidX. I finally fall into bed about 11:30, still without having done laundry. Oh well... there's always the morning...

Stay Tuned for Part Two...