I may like diet soda, but I do NOT like xp. Ok.. so its different, and getting used to different things takes some work. Already I see very good aspects and very bad aspects about this stupid machine. I ended up spending almost two hours trying to get the right mail folders in my OE so all my mail on my old machine would be on my new machine. Why on earth is the application data in a folder labled temp? *swats at who's ever nose belongs to that idea* I also am not too keen on that start up menu.. but then again.. its probably just cause its different... although I didn't have this problem going from 95 to 98.. yes yes yes.. those are too similar, but I had NO problem going from 3.1 to 95.. so there!

this keyboard is kinda cool though. No hot keys so its smaller, and its technically called a "quiet" keyboard.. and surprisingly it kinda is... well its quieter anyway. Just nee to transfer over the warentee.. waruntee? man I need to learn how to spell that word. sigh.

I spent four hours this morning writing thank you notes to people who stopped by the open house the shelter had. four hours. ugh. I don't think my back will ever straighten out.... cause I foolishly wrote them while in bed.. I do everything on my bed :).. well except surf.. but I used to.

I need to run some errands today. I can put them off till this evening though, so I think I'll work out and take a shower and see how Im doing.

on a side note.. to top off the frustration of dealing with this system, my cable company decided to rearrange a bunch of the stations last night... so half of them were out when I went to bed.. (I watch tv to fall asleep) and that annoyed me so much I couldn't get to sleep. I came out and was going to watch tv on the cable box, and neither that, nor tivo knew that time warner changed the channels. The cable box found out about that some time this morning, but my tivo still doesn't know. Time Warner SUCKS!

I can't believe I actually like diet soda now. A while back I went on a calorie counting diet, and using so many calories for something to drink was pointless to me, so I started drinking a lot of water, but as you know after a while water gets very bland and tasteless, and you just cant handle any more of it, no matter how thirsty you are. I started with diet dew, cause I LOVE dew, and the diet version wasn't so bad. But on a calorie restrictive diet the caffiene really gives you - well me anyway - the shakes. Which was really strange as I used to drink TONS of dew and I never had a problem with it. So I searched for caffiene free diet dew (Ive seen it, I know I have) but I couldn't find it (probably cause I used to joke about it, wondering what the point was) I decided to try diet pepsi with lemon.. it wasn't great, but it was drinkable. I tried a diet coke with lemon, and EEEWW.. the lemon in that is more like a scent, and it reminded me of lemon dish soap. *shiver* I was out with a friend, and we stopped to get sodas. The only diet they had was pepsi, so I got one of those, and it was actually tasty. I was shocked. So Ive started drinking regular diet pepsi (has caffiene but way less).. so now Im drinking a ton of it, which isn't the best thing, cause I think its actually dehydrating me.. :)

Unfortunately they put way WAY too much carbonation in it.. I spent a good 10 minutes getting it out.. and surprisingly its still not flat.

Im taking a break from cleaning. Ok, I haven't officially started cleaning, I was exercising first. I just finished lunch.. and NOW its cleaning time (or is it exercise time again since Im a few days behind) Ive been doing very well on my exercising. I record a soap opera, and exercise to that cause when you forward over the commercials there is 40 minutes of show five days a week that you never have to worry about being a repeat, and you always know how up to date or behind you are on your exercise. Only thing is when the story lines get thin, that 40 minutes seems to take FOREVER.. Im currently three days behind, but I have saturday and sunday to catch up, as long as I do two episodes on one day I'll be caught up by monday. Hum.. exercise, or clean.. hum.. well.. I really want this christmas tree out of here as its turning brown... so I should probably clean to clear a path to the door. Im really surprised this tree turned so fast. the place we got it from we have gotten our trees there for years, and they have always survived wonderfully.. two years ago it actually started growing.

but then again, the kitties are telling me I should take a nap. Those kitties are evil ;)

let it snow let it snow let it snow.

actually, the snow is finally over. It started snowing christmas day around 11am, and stopped sometime this morning. we now have about two feet of snow. Fun fun. I need to get up off my butt and get out and do some shopping, but for some reason Im a little dizzy this morning. *sigh*

So.. lets see.. where did I leave off.. on the 23rd, baking hun? well Not much exciting happened that night. The 24th we traveled up to see my sister. She's doing fine. We had pork pie for dinner. we gave our gifties to the boy, who LOVED the screaming squishy monkey I gave him, hated the books (I so knew he would) and thought the bath goodies were cool, but LOVED the hot wheels he got. I found a gift bucket of hot wheels. the boy kept asking if it was for him (cause I don't use gift tags - and besides he can't read anyway) cause it should be for him cause he likes hot wheels :) I had rewrapped the gift bucket cause I had put a hotwheels set in it.. crash canyon. That went over VERY well. He eventually went to bed, and then we got to play santa.. wrapping gifts, putting together a rescue heros set. He left cookies for santa by the fireplace, and put carrots out for the raindeer out by the front door (THE FRONT DOOR!?!?! aren't the raindeer on the roof??- oh well) Santa left his presents by the fire place, while mom and dad's presents went by the tree. I didn't grow up with a fire place, santa always left our gifts under the tree... but then again when we were little all gifts came from santa.

We came home kinda late. went to bed. Got up later. unwrapped gifts, played with the kitties, watched some movies (which I rented to use on the new dvd player) two of the movies worked fine, two of them made everything show up in black and white. Its frustrating cause we aren't 100% sure if it is the disk or player. Im thinking its the disks, but that doesn't make much sence at all.

Had a nice roast beef dinner. Tried to have it on the porch to watch the snow fall, but even with the door wide open and a heater on full blast, the room was freezing, and the food was getting cold before you could eat it.

Im going out today. Going to return a few small things the hubby got me. Im not telling him though. I probably should, since he might find out about it.. but Im thinking he wont, and I really don't want to tell him he didn't do a good job buying me gifts. I usually do, under the premise that he would want to know so he would know for next time. But he did really well this year, there is just a few things that are really redundant, and it seems like a waste of money to keep them. So Im going out, and Im going to take advantage of the sales.. *makes big note on self - do not buy any more christmas cards!!!*

Its here!! Its here!! Its here!!!

I ordered a computer off ebay last week, and it arrived today!! 2.4 256.. im going to be screaming on the net come christmas (yes.. I can't open it till then.. but at least its here!!) I was going to go to the shelter today to get some food and meds for the kittens but the tracking number said it was due to arrive today and I didn't know when, so I decided to hang out. I kept panicing that he wouldn't find the place, or something was going to go wrong. :)

I got it in the house, and after the UPS guy left, jack was sitting next to the box, so I did the happy dance and asked jack if he was happy, he looked at me and said "its a box! and I can't even get inside it! you silly woman". He then went into the livingroom. I called the hubby to let him know it arrived, and them proceeded to come on line to blog, and I saw my mouse was on the floor. I actually have a wireless trackball (which I SOOOO totally love) I picked it up and the ball was missing. I looked up and jack was attacking something on the other side of the room. I asked him if he was playing with my ball, and he just looked at me as if to say "well that's all computers are good for you know" and proceeded to continue to attack the ball. I had to throw him to the side to get it.

Oven is beeping.. brb

I tell you this only as a segue.. cause I was trying to get a few things off my todo list as I waited. I made cashew brittle.. and a very large gingerbread man. I took a whole roll of refrigerated gingerbread cookie dough and put it in a cookie pan in the shape of a ginerbread man I got last year for christmas. The lable was still on it, and put on it with regular ol white tape.... which was a pain in the tushie to get off till I remembered the miracle of baking soda. man that stuff is amazing. poof.. off it came.

Apparently my family is NOT going on a trip now. *rolls eyes*. Now I admit, that is a good idea with what just happened to my sister, but all this hastle and frustration and now they aren't even going. I say apparently cause they haven't actually told me directly.. but her hubby called to invite us to christmas dinner. Um.. HELLO.. do ya think I might have made plans! So we are still just going to go up on christmas eve. He said my parents were still planning on going on christmas eve. He again mentioned we could spend the night. again.. hello.. *points to cat who needs us twice a day* *takes deep breath and reminds self he's probably in a very very stressful place right now - but then that little voice in the back of my head says but he is- and they are- always like this* Oh well. Its family.. got to give them a nice wide bearth. *big fake grin*

ho ho ho.. who wouldn't go up on the roof top with good saint nick.. *puts on santa's hat and runs to the shelter*

I had a good trip to NYC. a friend and I drove to Medford CT, stayed the night at a comfort in, had dinner at a cracker barrel, had beef stew that was tomato based, which was interesting and not how I normally prepair it. In the morning we took the train in. Ended up at grand central station. Went out on to 42nd street. Walked south instead of north cause there seemed to be more light that way, after a few blocks I asked someone who was fixing an awning and he said it was the other way, so we turned around. Walked past lord and taylor where they had wonderful window displays, and somewhere else that also had nice window displays.. L&T had the nutcracker story, the other had what I think was the princess and the pea. Saw cartier all decked out in the bow again. Got to FAO, saw lots of people in neopet jackets, saw a person in a kougra outfit (VERY nice outfit) and got pictures taken with him, saw some neopet items. Found someone handing out rare item code cards. I said "Hi! We are big Neopet fans, we drove all the way down from Maine. Who are you?". The first one was the head of the legal department. We talked to her a little, then went outside, and introduced ourselves to a few other people. I was a little disappointed in the attitudes of the employees. They seemed happy that fans came out, but not one of them seemed the least bit interested in our opinion of the site or our feedback on it. I kept waiting for an opening, but it seemed pretty obvious they didn't want it... which I can understand on some level since they would probably feel overwhelmed, but on another level it just enforces my opinion that neopets needs a major customer service attitude adjustment. In my opinion of a user of the site for three years that they totally no longer care about their users. They continue to make the site interesting for users, so there for they keep getting new ones, but they keep pissing off their long time users. They have rules they have never advertised, then freeze people for breaking them, and wont respond to most email inquiries asking for clarification to make sure you don't, nor do they respond to anyone having issues with the site. Again, I understand they get thousands of emails from people, but they really do need to respond to some of them. Met the dohring dude. Don? anyway.. we told him we came down from maine JUST to go to this event. I said we were probably the ones who came the farthest. He said he talked to someone who came from Portland OR. I doubted that she came just for the event. she was probably intending to be in the area anyway (cause he said she had family in NJ) for the holidays. He offered us a rare item code card, and we said yes, and when he gave it to us, he saw that we had some already, and you could tell he was annoyed we got more than one. We stood around a bit. Introduced outself to someone else. Was a neopet artist. I asked him what he drew, he said everything, so I asked him to draw a picture of my pet, which is a halloween jubjub (named keeely for those of you reading this who have no idea what Im talking about, click here) which he did, and its really cute, and I love it. Again we stood around for a bit, then I asked the dohring dude if he had seen joe. joe is a guy who is on the same yahoo chat board i am, and he said he was going. I explained that it was probably a stupid question, but joe said he was going to be there, and he was going to be obvious, and the dohring dude remembered him, and actually offered to help us find him. We didn't. We waited a few more minutes, then left.

Headed back, missed that train (they ran on the hour) so we decided to see if there was a krispy kreme shop in the station. We had found one in medford (which is why we chose to stay the night there) and may I tell you that I am glad I bought stock in the company. I bought it with out even tasting a KK donut... and they are SO worth it. When one opens up in MA I will be traveling down to it. So we wanted to find one in the station because I was pretty sure there was one, and we didn't want to have to try to find the one in medford again, cause we had gotten a little turned around trying to find the train station. after asking about 10 people we found some place that sold them. It wasn't a KK.. but just some place that had them. I got some anyway. I also found a juniors cheesecake retailer. I had heard a LOT about juniors on QVC (or was it HSN?).. so I bought a small one to bring home. We then found the right train, took it back to medford and went home. On the way there was the weirdest storm in front of us. It looked like someone dropped a wad of cotton in front of us... or maybe a really really wide tornado. I took some pictures of it. It got out of our way though. We know cause the roads were all wet. Got back to NH where onegoldtaz (my traveling compainion) lives, and she and her hubby invited me out to dinner at fridays. I had just spent 24 hours with this woman, and then we went to dinner, and not once (well except for the train which was loud) we did not run out of something to talk about. :) her kids are really cool too. towards the end of dinner we actually started quoting monty python. :)

I drove home, got home and found out that my sister who is quite pregnant had fallen and was having contractions. Not sure what fell means. I got the sketchiest of details. One phone call that said she was fine. and a few emails that said she was in the hospital, she wasn't in the hospital, then that she was in the hospital again and would be for 72 hours - which would put her in there for christmas. Got a phone call today saying they were moving her from the hospital she was in to another one. Then got another phone call saying she was fine and was going to leave the hospital tomorrow. I was going to go see her today, but I could barely get out of bed, Im really not feeling very well at all. I think its just exhaustion. I really need to make a point to go see her though.. although I was going to go up tuesday anyway.. and tomorrow my computer is coming in, and I so don't want them to not leave it :) well that and Im sure she'd just rather be able to rest. I'll give her a call and see what's up.

Im also having issues with that board I was talking about. I don't really want to get into it cause I don't want my words thrown back at me and I know they will be cause they usually are. It would be downright laffable if it wasn't such a soar spot. Oh well. I'll just take a break and rest up, and Im sure I'll find it a minor trival thing.

All I Need to Know about Life
I Learned From a Snowman.... "

It's okay if you're a little bottom heavy.

Hold your ground, even when the heat is on.

Wearing white is always appropriate.

Winter is the best of the four seasons.

It takes a few extra rolls to make a good midsection.

There's nothing better than a foul weather friend.

The key to life is to be a jolly, happy soul.

It's not the size of the carrot, but the placement
that counts.

We're all made up of mostly water.

You know you've made it when they write a
song about you.

Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!

Avoid yellow snow. Don't get too much sun.

It's embarrassing when you can't look down
and see your feet.

It's fun to hang out in your front yard.

Always put your best foot forward.

There's no stopping you once you're on a roll

well Im home. Had a great time. Very tiring though.
Got home though and found out my sister fell and went into labor. She's not due till april. They had stopped the contractions, but then they started up again. She's in the hopsital for the next 72 hours.

I'll tell you about the trip later. Soon as I get these bricks off my head.

I went out yesterday.. Tried to get a bunch of last minute things done so I wouldn't be so rushed today.. but did I remember to return my college books? noooooo... is today the last day to return them. Yup. *rolls eyes* So I have to go out yet again. Told hubby I would try to meet him for lunch as I am leaving town today.. but that so just ruins everything else on my todo list. sigh. oh well. Wrapping can wait. Cooking can wait.. *big cheezy grin* Im going to NYC! :)

*makes note to pick up some real live cash type stuff.. oh and I should probably find my licence too hun?*

on an off note. Someone has given my website out to spammers. Every night I get 5-10 entries promoting sex websites. Sigh. Thank goodness for dreambook so I can just remove them... and ban the ip's from signing again - not that that helps because they just get new ones, but its getting to the point where Im considering taking down my guestbook. - some people really do need to get a life.

I had some freaky dreams last night. two were disaster type dreams where I turned out to be the hero, the other was just mean and nasty. I had gotten my period. I haven't had one of those in years and years thanks to depo provera. The four time a year shot. I personally get down on my knees and thank the person who invented that. I hate the whole womanly thing. Never did buy into the claptrap that some how romantisizes having a period. To me its just messy, painful, a total inconvenience, and well, frankly I dreaded it each and every month. I started mine the day before sixth grade (which was in a new school building) First day of class I blead right through my nice new skirt. Fortunately my mother works there, and soon life was saved. Although it then proceeded to last for another seven days. Yup.. I had some of the longest periods when I first started. I fell in love with the pill when I went on it. Cut those things down from 8-9 days and on the worlds most irratic schedual to 2-3 days and I always knew when they were going to be. But.. the problem with the pill is if perchance you forget it for a couple of days you get some mighty nasty cramps. (I wasn't much good at remmebering it in my younger days).

I love depo. I know its not for everyone. It can have some physical and emotional consequences. Also if you are ever going to try to get pregnant you have to wait a while after your last shot to try to be safe, and if perchance your pregnant when you get a shot it pretty much puts an end to that, but if your considering it, you should ask your doctor! :)

This has been my anual - thank God I don't have periods any more soap box moment. We now return you to your regularly schedualed blog moment.

ok.. one more day of shopping and I'll be done with christmas... then I just have to wrap, and cook, and clean.. man its no wonder Im starting not to like this holiday very much. well then there's the whole ... well we're not going to get into that. Why on earth does it have to be so stressful?

Looks like Im still going to NYC on friday/saturday. Jealous? Im a little overwhelmed by it all, but I think it should be quite the adventure. *makes note to get actual cash* Yup.. Im coming home on saturday.. Im going to be exhaused..

The turkey soup I made is almost gone. Probably a good thing since that turkey is getting kinda old. Its good when you add some salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Bought a computer on ebay last night. 2.4ghz 256ram winxp home.. dell.. 700$ shipped. there was one for 749 that was 1.8 128 but it came with an LCD monitor. Here's hoping that it makes it here by christmas!

btw.. can someone explain to me how iraq can prove the don't have weapons in a report?

aaaarrrggghhh!! I just spent three hours watching the movie the lord of the rings.. and MAN what friggen ending that was!! I am SO glad I didn't go see that in the theatre. I was wondering why it hadn't been released out on the movie channels before the second one came out (like harry potter was) and now I know why.

The whole situation with the cookies was worked out. After just about 12 years he still hasn't figured out when I over react he needs to take a step back and realize my feelings are hurt. He just sees me over reacting and gets all upset himself, thinking that I am just over reacting and I shouldn't be. *rolls eyes*

I am finally finished with classes and stuff for the year. Now.. the major decision.. do I take another one or two? Part of me really wants to cause I so enjoyed my spreadsheet class. Part of me really really does not as I hated my speaking class. I got a course schedual, Im going to look. I'll need to make the decision soon, and decide if I want to go full tilt next fall, and apply for financial aid.

I need to come up with a christmas gift for my dad. He mentioned he's going to get one for me. On the whole my family isn't doing gifts as everyone but me is going on a nice little trip. Im thinking of making cashew brittle. He liked that when I made it a couple of years ago.

Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz

Sigh. I went through all the trouble and hastle of making dinner and cookies for the hubby, and not only does he only eat half his bowl of soup, he totally ruined a bunch of the cookies. The timer went off a few moments after he walked in the door so I asked him to take them out of the oven. He proceeded to take them off the cookie sheet and layed them over other cookies..

I just want to cry..

goodness.. I really love jack.. *scratches under his chin as he's sitting here purring and waiting for a bite of my breakfast*

Yesterday was a clean the house day. I wasn't on line very much. I started with my underware draw cause all of my bras were a mess. I couldn't find anything, and the hooks from one were stuck to another.. So I went through it and threw out some old ones, and actuall organized the rest by putting them in sealable sandwich baggies. Looks a little anal, but at least I can easily get what I want and they wont damage each other. Threw out a bunch of perfectly good underwear that I never wear any more too. Moved it all into my old sock draw (aren't you totally thrilled?) and then put my jeans in my old underware draw so that I could have more room for my sweaters on the shelf the sweaters and jeans were on. I then organized my silk pj's.. put them in gallon sized resealable bags. then I organized my regular pjs. Then.. I went downstairs.

I reorganized the kitten room. THAT was a bit of work. I want to put my beanies down there. They are currently all in boxes on my halfwall in the livingroom. I want to put them downstairs.... mostly for a change, but also cause I think it will be good insulation for that room that is always at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

When that room was mostly put back together (I didn't vaccuum cause it seemed pointless) I then went and put the downstairs back together. Hubby tore apart the storage area looking for christmas decorations. I went through the boxes and pulled out those I wanted up here as well, and put the rest back in organized fashion, leaving the box of boxes out front along with the bag of bows and the box of wrap. Once that was done I then had a pile of stuff in the hallway waiting to come upstairs. I dragged it all up, and did my best to put it all away. A lot of it went out into the sun room to decorate the fake tree we have out there... looks kinda nice now.. pumpkins, polar bears, and gingerbread men.. lol. Got to love my eclectic style.

my next project was the livingroom, but my sinuses and my total lack of sleep the night before (I didn't get to bed till about 2) made me give up. I went to take a nap, layed down at around 2:30, didn't wake up till almost five. So much for cooking and baking. I was also a mess when I woke up. Seemed to have a fever, and had absolutely no energy.

Today Im torn between baking, cleaning, and making some returns.. what I really want to do is just be a bump on a log all day. But I know there isn't enough on tv today to enjoy it.

I went out shopping yesterday. Ended up buying more stuff for myself than christmas presents. What is it with this time of year and all the really cute stuff? I bought lots of polar bear stuff, including a cute pair of undies. You wouldn't believe the number of polar bear jammies out there now.. were they there before? NOooo.. I think this is the year of the polar bear, which is annoying cause Im going to go broke!! *rolls eyes*

Im just about done shopping. Will have to go out one more time.

I went out today as well though. Went looking for a new dress for the annual christmas party for the hubby's work. Its always really nice and the one time you get to get all dressed up. For a number of years I created my own dresses out of christmas fabric. They were always a big hit, but someone *stares at the kitties* distroyed my favorite pattern, and I haven't found a good one to replace it. for the past couple of years Ive work 'recycled' dresses. I wanted something new and fancy. I saw one at filenes... it was incredible.. black, and floor length, with a slight train with beading on the train part, and it was backless, with beading around the back.. I almost bought it but I totally don't like my back, so I didn't. I actually found one at an odd lot outlet store. Very sexy.. very nice. only $47. I found a blue beaded skirt too.. was only 9$ Found a couple of good cheep sweaters too. They were having an incredible sale. Went to aj moore, found some other really cute shirts.

Went to the movies last night. Went to see treasure planet. Was very good. We got free passes when we went to the disney store a while ago. I looked at them and realized they expired on the 9th. We called one local theatre and asked if they would take them anyway, they said no. So we decided just to go to the other one, and not mention they were expired. The guy took them. Although he also let like six of his buddies in to the show as well, and they would not shut up.

Tomorrow is a day of cleaning and putting the house back in order. Its also supposed to snow... so it might be a cooking day too .. hum.. recover and distroy all in one day. should be fun!

yea! The plant that I thought I had killed.. the one I bought while my dad was in the hospital.. the one I overwatered and over 50% of it died, and only 25% of the remaining was unaffected.. that plant BLOOMED!! yea!!

My spreadsheet project is done.. yea! my speech is done.. yea! the tree is decorated.. yea!! a couple of things Im selling on ebay have sold.. yea!.. :)

and since Ive been so consumed with the above stuff I really haven't been paying attention to life, so Im going to take the rest of this blog and tell you about a few products in my life that I really like.

• 
  Puffs plus. Nuff said.
  
• Sarah Lee Cranberry honey mustard. YUM!!
  
• Mentadent whiting tooth brush. This is one really weird toothbrush... but I do recommend it.
  
• Easy mac.. instant mac and cheese.. how can you possibly go wrong. and considering it is cheezy and mac... mac-y.. its pretty low in calories
  
• diet pepsi twist. Way too much fizz.. but once you defizz it, its pretty good, and zero calories.
  
• cheez-it cheddar jack. Do not bring this into my house and expect to leave with them. :)
  
• Home made peanut butter fudge found at christmas fairs, that is slightly grainy, and very yummy. Um.. see puffs pluss
  
• Ben and Jerrys ... I was going to go into specific flavors.. but you know.. as long as it doesn't have nuts in it, its yummy.
  
• Cadbury Wunderbars. avalible only in Canada. which is totally unfair
  
• After Eight mints.. Surprisingly since I hate mint in general.
  
• Shaw's (a local grocery store) brand flavored water in strawberry mist. really pretty good considering there are no calories.
  
• Dr. Soy Iced Oatmeal soy protein bar. Dr. Soy makes some incredible soy products.. but I recommend staying away from the chocolate covered soy beans. They are NOT like chocolate covered peanuts. The soy chocolate chip cookies they make though, again, quite good. And ya know, soy is good for you.
  
• My multivitamin and fiber supplements. Yea.. store brand.. but both are important. Most people don't get enough of both.
  
• Physique moisturizing shampoo. I have a hard time keeping my hands out of my hair when using this.
  

*looks over list. LOL.. most of it is food. I really haven't done much else but study and eat and sleep lately. The speech was this afternoon.. went fairly well.. except I generated enough static eletricity that I shut the vcr off in the middle of my presentation. *rolls eyes* but I went after the worst girl in the class.. which made it a little easier on my nerves. The guy who was normally one of the worst gave a really good speech. One woman gave her's on why you should shop on line for christmas. She recommended using your debit card when shopping on line. I had to restrain myself from jumping up and telling her NOOOOOOOOO.. for those of you who do not know, using your debit credit card (the ones that come out of your checking account) are NOT protected from on line fraud. Credit cards are. If perchance your card number is stolen you are responsible for all charges on your debit card, and since debit cards aren't processed right away, don't let your lack of funds in your account give you a false sence of security. All major credit card have fraud protection and you wont have to pay a penny.

*sucks the scraps of peanut butter fudge out of the wrapper* Jack was waiting for me by the door when I got home from class tonight. Man I love that cat. *puts sticky note on computer to make jack a webpage*

Id also like to appologise to my friends who I have been kinda "ignoring". Not intentionally.. Im just really overwhelmed with school and still with the not feeling well. Im still sitting in this chair but Im feeling like I should go to bed. But I have a speech I need to work on and a spreadsheeting project that is coming along nicely cause Im blowing off my speech. Except for one chatboard, Im being pretty unobservant of other things. Forgive me?

I am so sick. sick sick sick sick sick. blech. I woke up this morning with my right gland (in my neck) swollen to the size of a super ball. I couldn't swallow anything with out a great deal of pain. I figured Id go to the doctors instead of the shelter this morning, then promptly fell back asleep. When I woke up it wasn't nearly as bad. Still hurt, but I could swallow. weird thing was, my left nostril was running like a leaky faucet. Just the left one. Go figure. Anyway. after taking some cold pills and sleeping some more I woke up feeling half human so I decided to go to the shelter instead.

I processed a number of letters and a number of donations/pledges. Was quite busy. Got some more food for the kittens, and came home two and a half hours later. as I was driving home I tried to merge on to the highway. Ended up cutting off some guy. I didn't feel so bad though since there was no one anywhere near him in the next lane. There was no reason why he didn't pull over and let me on, except when he passed me I saw he was from NJ and was on the phone. I didn't feel so bad any more.

Yesterday was class. I had a test. Public speaking. I was planning on writing a scathing review for the professor when it came to be review time, and that happened yesterday. It wasn't as clear as I would have liked it to be, but I still wrote from my heart and exactly what I felt. He surprisingly called on me to deliver the reviews to the office. I wonder if he has a clue that I hate him. The whole time he was talking about the reviews I was thinking what I was going to say, and a few lines from the muppet christmas carol came to mind. When Ms. Piggy is explaining to Kermit and the clan why scrooge should not be blessed at thanksgiving. "he's odious, and stingy, and badly dressed" (that last big elicits a huge reaction from the family). Cause the outfit for the evening was a pair of black pants from the 80's (had white flecks in it, and looked like a pair I bought the hubby when we started dating) and a nice muted purple shirt (the only decent piece of clothing) a weird dark purple black and tan striped tie, and a neon purple cardigan. It was horrid. but whatever.

anyway.. if you don't sign the review it doesn't go in their file. So not only did I sign it, I printed my name out underneith. (I have a pretty unlegible signature) I have a feeling this is going to end up coming back and biting me since my mother and he have worked together on a number of occasions and she's had classes with him too.

On the way into class yesterday I was cut off by yet another driver. Im telling you, plrbear must mean cut in front of me. Anyway.. this guy's licence plate had a cover that said "I just whooped your ass" Im thinking 'oh how intelligent' and other thoughts. Then I saw small heads in the back seat. Im telling you, people like that should NOT be allowed to procreate... cause they can't help but pass their ignorance on to their young. Yes. Im generalizing. They might be perfectly good parents, but I get to do it since Im not hurting anyone thinking it or posting it here.

So.. now I have one more speech to come up with by monday. quite a bit of homework to do in spreadsheets, and two more weeks of this.. I can't wait for it to be over. And yet, Im seriously considering taking a couple of more classes. Im insane.

well then. I should know better to put my plans in writing.. lol Soon after the post, we got a phone call from a high school friend of mine. He was in town for thanksgiving, and wanted to get together. We don't see him nearly enough any more, so we dropped our plans and agreed. We went out to dinner (cause he's allergic to cats). We went to on the boarder, I had a beef burrito which was yummy. He paid. He also told us the story of why he broke up with his latest girlfriend. And I have to tell you it was darn hard to not tell him I was ever so glad he wasn't with her any more. that's never good dinner conversation.. lol. we told him about the furnace.. he told us that his dad had a bladder break on his heater, and he had just patched it up with out seeming to give any thought to it. My friend's dad lives in a 100 yr old house that has been replumbing it a number of times. we laughed and joked that dad's just seem to know this stuff, and we (well more the friend and the hubby as I don't expect myself to know anything about plumming) wouldn't have a clue how to fix it if we didn't have them as back ups.

afterwards we went to sears to return the tv we bought a few weeks ago, and to get a filter. I got to tell him the story of my mom and the trip. everyone who hears it rolls their eyes. my mother is insane. We then left and went to pick out a tree. We have a christmas tree now. and a wreath. Almost got one with a purple bow, but it was too small. came home, had pumpkin pie, eggnog, chatted, watched the star trek weakest link I recorded a while back, then played a few games of pool. he said he hadn't played in years, but he was very good. the only games he lost was because he called the wrong pocket for the 8 ball, or he scratched on the 8 ball. I wish he'd come over today and help us rig up the lights on the tree, but he's got other friends to visit and needs to get home.

Got the filter set up. The first half hour of trying to go to sleep last night was tough. I got stuffy. But once I fell asleep I stayed asleep till the phone rang this morning. I hate the phone. If Im asleep and it rings Im immediately awake, and my heart is pounding. sigh

Both Em and Ollie are on my chair trying to get my attention. its sweet. I never noticed before that Em matches my chair, and that they have the same color eyes. Jack is sleeping on the couch waaaay over there..