New Years Eve Meme, But a Bit Late. As Usual.

Since I never seem to do anything on time, except pick up my son for our visit, I will now do a New Years Eve meme. I mean, I'd rather be late and make an appearance than never show up at all. And WTH, where'd my spell check button go?

I stole borrowed this from Mommy Wants Vodka, and thought now that the new year is firmly in place, it could be time to look back on the last one. So here goes. I'll at least answer the ones I can remember. Cuz, you know, this is a lot of questions.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Nothing, Man how lame.....Oh wait, I went out on a date for New Years Eve. That counts right?

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I kept some, and of course lowered my standards for this year. Not so many.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Nope, and I feel very blessed for that.

5. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

More money, a sex  love life.

6. What countries did you visit?

*snort* none, I have never been out of the country. Unless you count the area I visit when I go see my son, but that's more like a totally different planet.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:

The date we went to court to find out that we did get to have a hearing: November 24.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Ummmmm, I'll have to get back to you on that one.......

9. What was your biggest failure?

I would totally have to go with the drain incident.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

None. I take it back. I was sick once at the very first part of the year with food poisoning. Remember the peanut butter? Yeah? It was all recalled? Yeah, I had some of that.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My van.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine. I did not threaten or kill my ex.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My ex. I cannot believe that people would actually behave like him on purpose.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Court costs, trips down south, my cats.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

I thought my son would be coming home before the end of 2009. Bummer, it did not happen-story of my life.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

She's Country by Jason Aldean. I just love that song. And I'm a redneck girl. I even wear flannel shirts to work with my dress pants. Mostly just to annoy everyone.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier

ii. thinner or fatter?    Thinner - Man I love sayin' that.

iii. richer or poorer? poorer in money, richer in spirit - ok that will be the only hokey answer I promise.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Get out more.. See my friends more.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Dishes.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Well, I already spent Christmas. I was driving. With my mom.

21. There was no #21. I don’t know why there was no 21.
I’ll make up my own question here, then. Hmmm.
Name one random thing that people would be surprised to know about you.

I don't like to put things away. Well, the people that know me wouldn't be surprised. I don't mind washing dishes or washing/drying/folding the laundry. But they will stay in the drainer or laundry basket til I need it again. I don't put things away.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Not a chance, unless you count with me.

23. How many one-night stands?

I can't answer this one. My mom reads this sometimes.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
I don't have cable, and don't watch TV. I hardly even watch movies.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Ummm. Nope the only one I hate, I hated the year before.

26. What was the best book you read?

Book three of Dean Koontz' Frankenstien

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I have no idea. Although music related, I did meet the truck drivers for Brad Paisley. That was neat, they were on their way to Tennessee for the Music Awards.

28. What did you want and get?

Laid.  Oh, can't say that, mom might be reading. Let's say.......a new to me van.

WTH? Where did 29 go? Oh well I will move on, this is way too long anyway.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I, uh, didn't watch any new movies this year.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I spent the day with my son and I turned 32.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

My son coming home.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Fashion and me in the same sentance? Hhahhhahahahah. I'm sorry, that is just funny. I describe my clothes as totally comfortable. But not fashionable in any sense of the word.

34. What kept you sane?

Donuts.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Carrie Underwood

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
ParentalRights.org

37. Whom did you miss?
My son.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

I have to pick one?......................I can't decide. But it was not the dude that was txt stalking me. So far all the other guys have been all right.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:

To go with the flow. It doesn't do much good to rail at the life you have. Either change it or live with it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I don't have any idea. It would have to be a song about never giving up hope. Cuz that's what I'm all about.

So the rest of the meme calls for tagging, which I don’t do because I’m not popular enough to know that many people, so rather than tag you, I’m going to tag YOU to answer this meme on your blog OR in the comments.

Happy New Year!

Well, I am back after the new year celebrations. I actually had a date and went out for NYE. Wow, I haven't done that in....Well, ever. If you don't count the one where I had to be designated driver for my son's dad while I laid in the recliner trying not to keep jumping up and running to the bathroom and throw up. I was preggers-not drunk-keep it clean here... ;) That one was probably the most not fun I ever had. Any way, back to this new year. I have some resolutions again. As always. If only I could make them happen....

1. Not to go crazy from my job. It is a crazy place to work. We often have the discussion in my office of whether the employees are crazy when they are hired or if working here makes them crazy. We still haven't decided yet.

2. Keep on losing weight. It seems to be working so far, so I shall stick with it.

3. Have fun. And a lot of it.

That's it. I don't want to overwhelm myself this year with a bunch of goals that I know I will never follow through with. So I will stick with ones that I know I can do. Make me feel good about myself. Don't want to be an overachiever, so I'll just stick with three. Always better to be an underachiever.

I started the new year off right for sticking with resolution number three. I had a blast that night. I should do that more often. Well maybe not the drinking too much part. Although I was in good hands with a friend of mine who swore to take care of me. I even rode in a cab for the first time that night. I did not drink too tooo much. Just got a lot tipsy, not like hangover drunk. But what fun I did have. We went out to dinner, to the local bar/grill we all like to hang out at, then off to another bar to hear a band. The band was great, the drinks good, and the whole evening was fun. Happy new year to all of you and I hope that this is your year. We all need good things to come our way this year. So I proclaim this to be our year!

Not too exciting here

There has not been any updates. I do not have any new dates for court or depositions yet. Hopefully soon. I probably will not hear back from my atty until after the first of the year. With all the holidays and him being on vacation and honymooning from his recent marriage (Congrats Mr Atty!), he is not in right now.

As far as the new "friend", we hit a stone wall. He wanted to spend every available minute either at my house or on the phone together. That drives me nuts. I was feeling smothered. When I tried to tell him about it, he kind of blew me off saying that he did not want any more than I did and he would wait for me. I told him I could not give him the time and "energy" that a relationship with him would require and he just kept telling me he did not want anything, and did not expect anything. I told him that his behaviors and words told me he did want more and I could not give more. He then told me he would give me a while and some space to decide, but he would not just be friends. That to me sounded like an ultimatum and so I said that was fine and he left. I thought that was the end of it until the next day. I got a text message from him wanting to know where I was. As if he was sitting at my house and I was not there, so where was I? That bothered me. I did not ask him to come over and I had plans and was not going to be home. He did not ask, just assumed he could come over. When I told him where I was (what town) he wanted to know if I was still there from the night before when I was supposed to go to that town. I did not make it the night before because the plans fell through, but what business is it of his was how I felt. That pretty much told me that I did not/should not be in any kind of relationship with him. Well, I actually already knew that, it was just sort of the clincher. Then in the past two weeks, I keep getting text messages from him about how much he misses me. How do you miss someone you have only known for three weeks. I also got one from him on Christmas Eve morning at 5:30 in the morning! Talk about a rude awakening.

I did decide through all of this annoyance at him, though, that I was still interested in dating. I have met a couple of different guys, and have been introduced to others. I have been on one date, and I had a blast. It was really nice to go out with someone for a change. Obviously I have no idea where any of this will lead, and most likely it will be to nowhere, but I will have fun getting there. And if I get a nice dinner or two out of the deal, all the better.

On another personal note, I have been working on the weight loss goal I set for the year. You know, now that the year is almost over. I have started walking with my sister for two mornings a week. I would like more, but that is all she can commit to right now. I also have walked/jogged a few times on my own. I have been following my diet. I am down about 4 inches this past month. I was visiting my best friend and she was purging her closet. I love it when I am there when she does that. I came home with an armful of new clothes, some of them from her SIL with the tags still on, like JCrew and LizClaiborne. I started trying them on and they all fit. Then I thought while I was at it, I should try on my own clothes that did not fit anymore. Happy Day! I can get them on. Not all of them yet, the smallest ones don't fit yet, but I am well on my way! Happy Day Oh Happy Day! I even burned the food I was cooking for our family holiday dinner I was so excited and spent so much time in the bedroom trying on clothes. I totally forgot about it. I didn't ruin it thank goodness, it was just a little crunchy and dark on the top. We just picked that part off! *laughing at myself again*

So far that is all that is going on in my life. Nothing new to report on the deals and steals front. I still haven't really been shopping. Just for things like milk and eggs. I don't have any new reports on the custody front yet, although I hope really soon for that. And on the personal front, just the weight loss is going great. And the dinner. Hopefully more of those come my way....

Finally, A Court Date

Finally. Well, last Tuesday I had the first hearing. It was a joke of a court room. It was held in a civil court setting where all the cases are just argued out there in front of the whole room. People were in and out of the courtroom the whole time. The door was loud and it was distracting every time it slammed shut. My case was called as the second hearing. Unfortunately my ex and his atty were not there yet so we had to wait until the last case was heard. While we waited our turn, we actually heard a case where one man was sueing another for money just in case the leasing company sued him after an accident that happened over six years ago. What is wrong with the people in that particular area? It totally blew my mind all the cases I heard that morning. Finally it was our turn. We were there to argue whether to be allowed to have a hearing and if my son could keep the atty that had already been appointed. First, my ex's atty gets up and talks about how unusual this case was and it was his first time fighting a case like this, the first time as far as he knew for the county. Then says that the case should be summarily dismissed because I am crazy. They all said so. *insert me rolling my eyes* Then my atty gets up and states that is not true and the entire case is disputed facts therefore the case could not be summarily dismissed. SURPRISE: the judge agreed with my atty! That is a first!!!! That means we progress to depositions, discovery and a custody hearing.

Next up was the issue with the GAL (Guardian Ad Litem) that was already appointed for my son. The ex's atty actually said that he did not know if any of the allegations made by me were true or not but that did not matter. What mattered was that I was ordered to carry health insurance, but since I stated that I could not afford it, I could obviously not afford to pay the GAL and therefore the cost would fall to his client. No GAL should be appointed and set aside the order. My atty got up and stated that no court costs that have been remanded to me have been unpaid. I have fulfilled my court cost obligation every time and there was no indication that I would not pay these costs. Then my ex's atty gets up and says there is a new State Supreme Court ruling that says that only in extraordinary cases can the child have a GAL. The judge asked him what was his definition of extraordinary. Yes, the judge asked my ex's atty to provide the definition of an extraordinary for the court. WTF?!?!?!? The ex's atty said he did not know. So the judge said that he would set aside the GAL order. Actually he said that so many orders were filed with the courts to be filed that there was no way for the judges to always know what they were signing and they always got one side or the other mad for signing orders. I simply cannot believe what transpires in the courts down there. It is insane.

So, while we lost the GAL for S we do still get to go to court. We will just have to find another way around the issue. Next up is trying to get dates set for the depositions and such. I don't have a date for them yet. Hopefully soon.

On a personal note, I met someone. I have been on a couple of dates with him and so far we are getting along great. My dad introduced us one night a few months ago. He is a bit older than me. Well a lot actually. He is about 20 years older than me. So far no one in my family has been bothered by it. I thought they might be, but they don't seem to care. Pretty much all they have said so far is they don't care about his age or skin color, just how he treats me. So far, only with respect. He better or he'll be on the curb with the rest of them. I won't go into any details yet, mostly because other than sitting and talking to get to know each other there are not any details.

I also wanted to put in a mention for all those that want to whiten their teeth, I found a product that actually worked. For me at least. (I get nothing for mentioning this-they don't even know I exist.) Aquafresh White Trays are what I used. They were fabulous. I have sensitive teeth and other whitening products hurt my teeth or caused even more sensitivity. These White Trays were really easy to use, they did not make my teeth hurt and you only use them for seven days. I can totally live with that. My mom said that she can really tell a big difference in the color of my teeth. YEAH! Money well spent.

That pretty much brings you all up to speed with everything. I will let you know when I get some more dates for the custody issues. Hope this finds you all well.

What a Surprise. And a recipe.

Well, I am back from my visit with my son. And guess what? That's right, no hearing. It does not really surprise me. I did get another date on Monday from my attorney. This time the hearing is set for Tuesday, November 24th. Hopefully this time the hearing will happen. I had a great time with my son this past weekend. We played alot and spent some time just sitting together. He was feeling better, or so he said. He was a little bit more tired and a little bit less active. But all in all, he seemed to be better. He did eat really well too.

For our visit around the hearing, I will see S on the 21st and 22nd, meet with the attorney on the 23rd. Have the hearing on the 24th, hang out on the 25th, and see S again for Thanksgiving holiday on the 26th and 27th. That's a lot of living at a hotel. Not my favorite, but better than the cold wet campgrounds. Man, I can't believe how wet it has been this year. It's been hard to camp some weekends. A few times we ended up just going to the hotel because it rained so much. Other times we toughed it out and hoped we didn't get washed away.

My mom and I learned how to cook in a dutch oven over a fire this summer. That was some tasty eatin'. We made a pork stew. I found a store that carries large cans of pork. I have never had canned pork like that and thought we would give it a try since it needs no refrigeration prior to opening and that makes it handy when camping. So we took some onions, potatoes, celery and carrots to put in it. We added some spices that I always have in the camping kit (salt, pepper steak seasoning, and garlic). We also brought along a bit of cornstarch to make a thickening sauce, and dumped it all in. That was it. We put it over the fire and let it cook up and it was really good. It does not take very long to cook, and it stays warm for a long time as well.

The pork we used was not like the canned ham that I have found in the grocery stores. It was like a roasted pork loin that had been cooked and then stuck in the can. I think it would have made great BBQ as well. I do plan to try that next time. The can was a big can too. I think it was like 28 ounces or something. Enough to feed a whole bunch of us. And even better was the price. I only paid around $5 for a little over two pounds, instead of the $1 + I spend on the cans that are only around 5 ounces. If you can find some in your area, it is worth the price for the convenience of precooked ham that does not have to be kept cold.

So have you found any neat food items in your searches for good deals? Made anything tasty lately?

What to Cook Wednesday

Today I am going to take a bit of a different approach. In trying to keep my blog non-political I will just post that I think everyone should think about storing up some food. I know that many of my readers do, just because the couponing makes things easier and cheaper to stock up. For those that don't coupon, I think now is the time to take advantage before prices start going up. I worry that inflation is going to get us all sometime in the future. And by future I mean sooner rather than later. Maybe not in the next 6-12 months, but sometime shortly after that. I want to take advantage of these (relatively) low prices and get some food squared away. Some of the things that I worry may be hard to get in the future are wheat, rice, corn, and anything made with soybeans. I don't know how many of you watch the news, but there are many stories of food shortages coming due to bad weather conditions. I know here in the heartland it is wet. I mean really wet. Crops are not coming in and there is concern that they will rot in the fields due to too much moisture. This is soybean and corn country. I know that wheat plantings were down last year to begin with and now there have been problems with the wheat and a fungus taking out the plants. So, for what to cook Wednesday, I propose that instead of what to cook, I let you know what I am gathering.

I always try to keep some whole wheat flour in the freezer. I also keep cornmeal and bread flour in there. I also have many boxes of pasta and sauce (thanks Meijer!), canned chicken and tuna, and of course fruits and veggies, and dry beans. I also keep canned soups in stock and things like evaporated milk. Not the tastiest to drink, but can be used in cooking. I don't usually eat white rice, but will eat brown rice. I also keep this in the freezer. There are many things that thanks to couponing I have been able to stock up on. For example, I love oatmeal. I bought oatmeal at the first of the year when the coupons came out for them. I am just now running out of oatmeal. I do still have the oats in the canister, but I meant the instant packs that I take for work for meals. Those were some great deals as I love oatmeal. I will run out of the instant packets before the next really good sale, but I will still have the regular oats to eat and cook with. I do plan to go to the store and pick up a few items, but nothing that I have coupons for. Just some random things that I would like to have. Like milk, marshmallows, a jug or two of water for my trips, and some beans. I love beans. I really do. You can do so much with beans, they are so versatile. I usually get dry beans because they are so much cheaper than canned. It just takes a bit of planning or batch cooking on the weekend. Which I am still not doing. Shame on me, I have become so lazy when it comes to cooking. I have not even made bread or desserts. Wow, I must be feeling overwhelmed and lazy! I think I need a good kick in the a** to get up and get going again. Maybe after the court date next week I will feel renewed and energized. In the meantime, I will just eat canned soup *gasp*. It isn't too bad I guess. Well, I know it isn't because I keep eating it.

What things do you like to keep stocked up on? Any favorites or just whatever is on sale and has a coupon? Let me know.

Just an update on the new to me van. It has been great. It hasn't had any major problems, just a couple of easily resolved ones.

MIA

It seems I owe everyone an apology. My life is crazy and hectic right now. We have had court dates come up and be cancelled and new dates set. I have not been shopping to share deals in ages as I am saving up to pay for attorney costs, court costs, filing fees; it seems like the list never ends. I have been super busy at work since I have been taking time off for court dates that never happen. I have been trying hard to keep a positive attitude through all of this. I have been really struggling this last month in particular. I feel like I have so much to do, so many things that I want to accomplish, and just not enough time to get to all of it. So, I let you, my readers down. I am sorry for that. I will do my best to get here and post. It may not have much to do with deals and steals. It may just be random musings and updates on what is going on with my son and me.

I have been feeling down in the dumps for many reasons lately. I was told by my son several weeks ago that he needed more dental work done. This little boy, well not so little boy, is only nine years old and because of the poor nutrition and shoddy dental care has had to get eight cavities filled. While this was going on, because he is also stressed, he wound up mouth ulcers. I know they were painful. He hardly ever complains about pain, and yet he continually told me how his mouth hurt. My son had some dental work done earlier this year, and more done this fall, and who knows how much more before his dad is done ruining his teeth. Just last week they had to pull a tooth because the dental work done was not the greatest and because his teeth were in such bad shape, the tooth broke. So, out it came. He was terrified and when I called him, he was in tears because he was so afraid it was going to hurt. With my policy to never, ever lie to him, I told him it might hurt. He should ask his dad to tell the dentist that he was scared it would hurt. He told me his dad does not go in with him, he has to go in by himself and that scared him too. I swear I don't know what is wrong with that man. He did get the tooth pulled last week and thankfully he did not have any pain. Then he tells me that he got the flu shot. That was on Tuesday. Friday when I called he was sick. Saturday when I called he was sick again. "The doctor" said he had bronchitis. Or bronchy-itis as my son used to say. Then on Sunday he did not say anything about not feeling well. When I called last night, he was even sicker and this time he went to the doctor and he was diagnosed with the flu. If it was up to me, he would have never gotten the flu shot. I will save my rant on the flu shots for another day, but suffice it to say, I don't like them. In the midst of all of this, I have to keep hearing snide hateful comments from my ex, listen to my son repeat them because that is all he is hearing down there, and in general just feel stressed out by the upcoming court dates. And I only get every other weekend for a few hours to try to make up for all of it.

I don't mean all of this as a pity party. I don't even really want sympathy. I just wanted to let you know that I may not always post right now because it would not be very nice of me to post a bunch of negative things out here and bring you all down. I will try to get back on schedule of posting and try to keep them positive.

On an unrelated note, I have also been very worried about our economy, and the direction I see our government headed. What I see scares me. Not like the terrified, can't sleep at night sort of thing. The scared just enough to try to figure out what I need to do to be prepared for anything. Like job loss, outbreaks of swine flu that our local government over reacts to. You know, that sort of thing. I also have been stressed at work. There is a woman that I have to work with that is awful. You know the kind that wants credit for every good thing and blames you for every mistake. She has even tried to get me fired on more than one occasion. I used to not be too worried about it as I had a buffer. Now, the buffer got tired of working here and moved on. So, no more buffer. Then she has maintenance move her office so she is right next door to me. She comes in at least once a day to "say hello" or just "ask a question". I don't believe her for one second. She is back to her old tricks of complaining about me to everyone and anyone. Fortunately, most people are already onto her games and don't listen, but a few do. And those few could make my life hell. I am trying not to borrow trouble, but with this kind of person, I must always be ready and prepared as best as I can. She attacks when you least expect it.

So, I have been trying to be good at work, get things done at home, fret about finances, simmer and stew about my son, worry about the economy, and just try to keep a smile on my face and steam in my engines. I am certain that I am not accomplishing much these days, even though I feel like I am constatly on the go and pulled every which way.

Okay, after all my whining, how are you all doing? Better I sincerely hope.