Abbey's Deep Thoughts

5 more days and counting...

2009-05-19T09:30:00.002-05:00

Then my ass will be sitting on the beach with a book and wearing oversized sunglasses.

I could not be happier. (well unless I get the job I interviewed for, but more on that later)

speaking of oversized sunglasses... Mark asked me a few days ago what I was going to do when the trend of oversized sunglasses is over. I told him for me, oversized sunglasses will never be over. In fact, I'm thinking about going and buying a new pair today.

Well, it finally happened this morning. I let my obsessive compulsion for making lists over take me this morning. I'd like to say I'm a fly by the seat of my pants, no need for a plan, kind of a girl, but sadly I am not. I can't go to the grocery store without a list. Therefore, I cannot go on vacation without making a list, or in this case 5 lists. Yes, I said it correctly 5! I started out jotting things down on post-its (by the way, I should buy stock in post-its, I freaking love them) and it's now come to 2 excel spreadsheets. Yes, I've customized spreadsheets for my lists. I might have a problem. lol.

List 1: my to do list
things I have to do before I leave for FL.

List 2: shopping list
things I have to buy before I leave for FL.

List 3: Abbey's packing list

List 4: Madi's packing list

List 5: The packing list for things Madi and I will need in the car.

now lets be honest for a minute. could I do all the things I need to, buy the things I need to, pack the things I need to without a list? probably. Would I forget stuff? Maybe. Will I forget stuff on the list? probably. Would I go crazy if I didn't have the list? Absolutely.

Hopefully I hear from that job I interviewed for. If I don't hear anything today, I'm pretty sure that means I'm boned. I seriously may not come home from FL if I don't get this job. So I'll keep my fingers crossed all day, hoping for the best.

Ok, I think I'll get back to my lists now...

Please for the love of God...

2009-05-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

let me get this job!
I had a "phone interview" yesterday. It's for a chiropratic office in Washington. I would do immoral things to get this job. Really. The house are a bit longer than what I'm doing now (well hell, anything is longer than 4 hours a day) but I think it sounds perfect. The dr. said he had 200+ resumes and the narrowed down to 25 to call. So at least I made it past the 1st cut, right?

The other happs goin' on in my life right now. Brother Ben comes home today for about 3 weeks or so, and of those 3 weeks, we are spending 1 in FL and let me tell you I cannot freaking wait. Do you know how lovely it would be to know that when I got back from vacation that I would be starting a new job? Pretty freaking lovely! While Ben is home, we will be seeing lots of friends and family and whatnot. I'm sure I'll be peer pressured into drinking alot. Not that I'll really complain too much about that. I'm just so ready to be in FL on the beach, I got ants in my pants.

In other random news:
Can I tell you how much I love Elliott Yamin. I've been listening to his new album (in between listening to NKOTB of course) alot. I just thoroughly enjoy him.

While I'm excited for summer, I hate that all of my shows are getting ready to finales. I hate cliff hangers and I hate that you have to wait until September for new shows. I'll miss my shows, but at least I have Mad Men to look forward to, does anyone actually know when it's supposed to start?

NKOTB concert is coming up. I saw they just had to cancel a few shows in the south. Hopefully that doesn't happen here. I'm so ready for some Full Service. No I have not considered what it will be like when there are no more concerts. I might just sit at home and cry for days.

My source of helping kill 4 hours a day Mah-Jongg at addictinggames.com hasn't been working for the last 2 days, it's been rough killing time. Fortunately I am a pro at it. Thank you swaptree, twitter, and facebook.

Speaking of facebook, it has officially made me decide to delete my myspace page. I can't even tell you the last time I check it. I will miss my blogs on it though. Sigh.... My mom signed up for facebook yesterday. I laughed.

This blog definitely didn't kill enough time but that's ok.

Swaptree.com, most awesome thing ever...

2009-04-23T08:50:00.003-05:00

Ok, I'm really behind with the times and everyone probably already knows about this website but it is so freaking cool...

basically what it is (if you don't already know). It's a website where you can post books, cds, dvds, and video games that you own and you can swap them out for things that you want. For Free! Well, you have to pay for postage but to be that's a hell of alot cheaper than going to Barnes and Noble. (God, how I love BN). I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do not enjoy the library. Despite the fact that I read really fast, it's alot of pressure to have to finish a book by the due date.

One of the really great things about swaptree is you aren't obligated to repost what you've traded for. For example, I had this really good book that I either loaned to someone or lost, so I traded something else for it so now I have it for keeps! Awesome right!

Back in my morbid phase, I bought a bunch of serial killer books (I know, I know, I'm gross). There are a few that I really liked and would keep, Helter Skelter is a classic. And I have this really great book that I found at an outlet mall about a college student that made friends with killers in jail and actually went to visit John Wayne Gacy before it was executed. SOO good! (Man, I should find that book and read it again) But this website gives me a chance to get rid of those books that I won't read about again (I mean really, who really needs to keep a book about Jack the Ripper).

I became a member on Feb. 23rd (but I didn't post any books for a few weeks) and so far I've traded 18 books. I haven't really gotten into DVDs or CDs, although I am going to post a copy of Goodfellas (we have 3 copies) and I'll see what I can get for that.

I think the best thing about this website (other than it's free), is that it gives me an opportunity to read classics that I think I missed out on. How can a person not have read The Diary of Ann Frank or Catcher in the Rye? I don't know how I missed them but I did. Also, this website allows me to get lady porn (yes, I know, but hey damnit, I'm a girl), without being embarrassed at the counter at BN. lol

This website allows you to rate and review items, then based on your reviews it gives you recommendations. I've found quite a few gems in those recommendations.

Seriously check it out. www.swaptree.com

Oh to be pretty, but dumb...

2009-04-20T08:30:00.003-05:00

I guess the age old question is "smart vs. pretty".
I'm not saying that pretty girls can't be smart. I know alot of them, but can we please get some smarter Miss USA contestants?

I think Perez Hilton had the best question (a question about legalizing gay marriage) of the night and the way that girl answered it was just ignorant. It seemed appropriate that Miss California got that gay marriage question, but her answer deserved to get booed.

"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage," Prejean said. "And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

Her answer caused quite a stir in the lobby after the show, shouting matches, heated debates...
"It's ugly," said Scott Ihrig, a gay man, who attended the pageant with his partner. "I think it's ridiculous that she got first runner-up. That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are."

Am I the only one who thinks the phrase "In the Bible it says marriage is between Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!" is stupid? I freaking hate that saying.

I understand that people are entitled to their opinions and that not everyone agrees with same-sex marriage, I don't have a problem with her beliefs, but I think the way she answered the question was just stupid. Here's why....
- 1st of all what the hell is "opposite marriage"? - isn't that divorce?
- 2nd, we don't live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage, we live in a country that actually has a law banning same-sex marriage. This country does allow states to govern whether or not they choose to see same-sex marriage as legal.

Again, my problem with her answer wasn't her views on the subject as much as it was her ignorance. Last semester I wrote a paper on gay marriage, I had to write a paper about both sides of the argument so I know the views on both sides. My paper had to be strictly fact, no opinion in it at all and let me tell you how hard it was to find research that wasn't skewed on either side. I also had to make a presentation to the class about the facts that I had on gay marriage, Let me just tell you, people have very strong opinions on the subject and those opinions goes both ways, some of people in my class were very educated in their responses and some of the people were strictly "WELL THE BIBLE SAYS....", to those people I just want to say, "WELL THE CONSTITUTION SAYS ALL MEN TO BE TREATED EQUAL" lol. Doesn't the bible also say, love everyone...
I got an A on that paper.

P.S. I don't want to come off as "preachy" in this blog, but I think Perez Hilton has it absolutely right, "Religion has NOTHING to do with equal marriage rights under the law. NOTHING! Fair is fair. Demand equality now!"

Back to what I love

2009-04-16T10:19:00.003-05:00

GOSSIP!!!

Ok, seriously Hulk Hogan, did you really think there wasn't going to be a backlash, when you said that you "get" OJ? My question is, are you really that stupid? 1st of all, did you think about how that would effect the families of the victims of OJ? (I don't care if he did get acquitted in my book, he'll always be guilty, come on people, he wrote a freaking book about it!). Did you not think your wife was going to respond badly to that? Seriously? are you that dumb? And do you really think that coming back and saying "oh well they didn't print the whole quote, just the bad part" was gonna make a bit of difference? You still said it. Regardless of what came before or after that quote. Idiot!

I normally don't watch American Idol, but for some reason, I did last night. I have to admit (guiltily) I kinda enjoyed it.
Ok, so Miley Cyrus. Wow. She's a super cute, super talented girl. I like her new song The Climb alot. (It's funny to listen to Madi sing it, she thinks she knows the words but it mostly sounds like she is singing in a foreign language). I thought she looked really pretty last night, it just blows my mind how she doesn't look or sound 16.
p.s. I totally called that Matt was going to be kicked off, but I'm happy they saved him, he's got a Justin Timberlake thing about him.

Well it's time...

2009-04-16T08:39:00.003-05:00

to start blogging again. I've said it before and I'll say it again, people severely underestimate how hard it is to waste four hours.

I haven't blogged in MONTHS so it's time that I caught everyone up... (ok so I just checked and I actually haven't blogged since last May, that's almost a year! oops)

So over the past year, I've seen New Kids on the Block 4 times (yes this is the highlight of my life). I can't wait to go again. Not only is it awesome to see NKOTB, because I've been a fan pretty much my whole life. Yes, even in those times when they weren't "cool", but it makes it even sweeter to see them with my best friends, that quite frankly, I don't get to see as much as I would like. I've had more fun hanging out with them, giggling like school girls and reliving the Glory Days (cue Bruce Springsteen). I've had more fun in the last 6 months than I've had in a very long time. Mandie, Josie, Betsy, Sam, and I have had so many laughs and tears (you know who you are) at these concerts than anyone will ever know. And Yes, my love for Donnie Wahlberg knows no bounds. Because I think all of us are going to see them again this Summer. My theory is, as long as they are willing to tour, I'm willing to pay. Speaking of pay....

My hours at the hotel have been severely slashed. Just another sign of the economic times. While it sucks, I applied for unemployment so hopefully that will kick in next week. But this time off has given me alot of time to spend with Madi in the afternoons, I can take her to school and pick her up. We have lunch, we play, we read, it's almost like being a stay at home mom. Almost. I have been looking for another job, I had a couple of interviews, alot of rejection, and alot of no answers from places, again I think a sign of the economic times... things have to get better, right?

The last few weeks have been kinda rough. I've been feeling stuck in a rut, like I need to do something but I can't figure out what. Obviously I need to find a new job, unfortunately I don't think the hotel's business is going to be picking up anytime soon. Plus, I had kind of been feeling like it was time for me to pursue something else, but I was so comfortable in my position (perfect schedule, just the right about of work, etc.) that I was just too lazy so go find something. So I think this whole hours getting cut thing was kind of a blessing in disguise. It's time for me to get off my lazy ass and figure out what it is I wanna do. With that being said, it's time for me to make GOOD decisions about my life.

So for the last few weeks I've been seriously considering moving. I've been trying to talk Mark into moving to FL. He's resistant, of course. He just doesn't see the point in going and starting over some place new with nothing. To me, I think it's perfect. I feel like there nothing here, what do we have to lose? He never sees anything my way.

I'm constantly thinking about school, finishing it, figuring out what I wanna do. The problem is, I'm so indecisive and change my mind so quickly, I can't figure out what I wanna do. Something I had been considering before and put on the back burner for a while is cosmetology school. I thought about it when I got out of high school, when I was at ICC, about 2 years ago, about a year ago, and it has been sticking with me for the last few weeks. I sent out some emails requesting info from a couple of places. Maybe this will inspire me. I kinda feel like, well in this bad economy, people still need haircuts, right? I dunno, I'm rambling...

To get you up to speed on Madi, she's awesome! She's about to be done with preschool, and she starts Kindergarten in the fall (I know!) She's keeps us on our toes and makes me laugh everyday. I've seriously never seen a child with quite the comedic timing she has. She loves school, loves her friends, and is very excited about big girl school next year. She had her 1st dentist appointment yesterday, all was well with that. She's just so cute and funny. I love her to bits. Let me tell you, she is quite a music lover. She loves listening to the radio. The other day she had me burn her a new cd, for her Hello Kitty music player (which is a discman that has Hello Kitty on it.) I let her pick out all the songs for the cd. She is her mother's child... She picked Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga (ok, so I know I probably shouldn't let her listen to Poker Face, especially since I know what it's about, but she loves it), Natasha Bedingfield, Phish (yes, my kid picked Phish), and New Kids on the Block. Joe is her favorite New Kid (look out Mandie, that curly hair is is hard not to fall in love with).

Ben is coming home in a few weeks (by the way, did I mention Ben's in Japan?, well he is) and while he's home, the fam (minus Mark, hey someone has to stay home and work, plus he's going to Vegas this weekend, don't feel too sorry for him) is piling in the car and driving in FL, for a much needed vacation. I'm ready to take a book and head for the beach and/or pool. Madi doesn't really care for the ocean. She got knocked over one time and she was all done. I seriously may get to FL and just decide to not come back. Well except for the NKOTB concert of course. I am sooo looking forward to going to FL. It's one of my favorite places. Plus, this time, I have a new niece, Sunnie, that I'm looking forward to meeting. Congrats to brother Nick and his fiancee Angela.

In other news, on to the most important things, My pop culture obsession:
Mark and I have been come very involved with the show The Wire, we are about done with the series, I'm not sure what we'll do when we finish, but hopefully Mad Men will be about ready to start.

I've fallen in love with the show, How I Met Your Mother. Could Jason Segel be any cuter and funnier? and Neil Patrick Harris cracks me up. Still lovin' The Office and Grey's Anatomy. The DVR has been very busy lately.

My movie watching has been kinda down lately, with The Wire pretty much taking up every spot on our cue on Netflix, I haven't watched too many movies lately, but am always open to suggestions...

Books! I can't lie, when I'm not watching The Wire, I'm probably reading. I've read so much in the last year, it's crazy. The Number Series by Janet Evanovich is awesome. I read the books so fast (actually I've been through the series twice now). It's a bitch waiting for the next book to come out (June 23rd is a long way away). I've read some random chick lit (god I love it). And yes, despite my better judgement and some pushing from my sisters-in-law, I read Twilight. And LOVED IT! I've been through that series at least twice now. Thank god I read it after all of the books were released or I would've been crazy waiting. Ok, yes, I know, Vampire Love story, seems kinda lame, but it's so good. Yes, I totally wanna marry Edward Cullen and have a million of his 1/2 vampire babies. I know, I might have a problem. Sam and I decided for some reason, it would be a good idea to go to Wal-Mart at midnight to buy the DVD, wow, and I thought my obsession with New Kids on the Block was bad (and it is) but it's nothing compared to the die hard Twilight fans. Needless to say, I probably won't do anymore midnight Twilight events. (Probably. lol)

I was down to reading stuff I had already read and I begged Aunt Gina for some books, thank god she has read a million books and it's happy to oblige me for suggestions and even mail me some. Mandie also sent me an email about swaptree.com. You list all of the books you have and then you can trade with with people that have stuff that you wanna read. FOR FREE! (well you pay postage but that's a small cost compared to going to Barnes and Noble) It's awesome. I've traded alot of books. This website has made it possible for me to get rid of those serial killer books I bought, when I went through that phase. Not only have I gotten Chick Lit, I've also gotten some classics that I feel like I've missed out on. You can even trade music, video games, and dvds. So awesome. If you want anymore info about it, let me know!

Well, I think that's about all of the updating I can do for now. I do think I'll be blogging more, like I said, sometimes it's hard to kill those 4 hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. You can follow me on twitter. Yes I am a sheep and joined Twitter. I'll be completely honest with you, I totally joined Twitter so I could follow Donnie Wahlberg. Now I can follow Donnie, Joe, and Jon.
So anyways, follow me at twitter.com/abbeystenger

And until next time... Peace!

Neglect.

2008-05-09T08:22:00.002-05:00

I know I have been quite neglectful of my blogs. Mostly because nothing interesting has happened to me in the last 2 weeks and because quite frankly, I'm too lazy to write about the boring stuff.
This week has been "just one of those weeks". I have been De-Ben-ing Madi. My brother was home for about a day and a half last weekend, so obviously Madi was extremely excited to see him. She finally had someone new to show all of her new tricks, so she sang her Taylor Swift and her Chipmunks, she told her new jokes, she showed off her bike, ya know all of the usual stuff. I think Ben was glad to be going back to MS. I think he had his fill of her. We had all of this build up for Madi for Ben to come home and I don't think she realized it was only for 2 days or whatever, so this past week she's been a little monster (even more than usual). Tuesday night, She peed the bed. I can't give her too much grief over this, she's been without pull-ups at night for about 2 months and this is the 1st time it's happened. It's partically my fault because I let her drink after she had already gone potty for the night. Of course it happened in MY bed. That's ok, my sheets needed to be washed anyway. I guess I was just looking for a good excuse.
I did get to go to the bar on Friday night to hang out with Ben and his friends. 1. I felt really old because even still it doesn't seem like he or his friends should be able to drink. 2. I was pretty much one of the oldest people there. My aunt and cousin came up to keep me company, which was awesome so it wasn't like I was just sitting there with my dad all night. Not that I don't love my dad but it makes me feel like a loser. lol. I did get drunk enough that I needed a ride home, Mark didn't answer so I had to call my sister, who sent some random kid that I didn't know. Thank God my dad rode with me. I'm too old for that stuff. That's just all there is to it.
Mark's been working alot of OT so I only see him about 2 hours a day before he goes to bed. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. lol. Work has been... well work. Monday it started when some random guy of the street was making a scene in the lobby cussing at me. Tuesday, the scene wasn't quite a large but still there was cussing. Wed, I got up to the pee bed. Thursday, was pretty boring, which was kinda nice. it was The Office night, so at least I had something to look forward to. And Today, This is the 1st Friday I've worked in like 3 weeks or something, I got up about 20 minutes late. No time for a shower, so I washed and dried my hair as best as possible, put on my dirty work clothes and scurried to the ATM to see if my Stimulus Check was there. NOPE! This is B.S. I'm dying over here. I still haven't gotten anything for the mothers in my life. I need to order NKOTB tickets tomorrow and I believe Mark is going to have to work now. SHIT! And tomorrow I will be racin' for the cure. So Madi and I will get up at the buttcrack of dawn, put on our pink t-shirts, and walk in the cold. It's gonna be great! I actually really enjoy doing the race for the cure. It's amazing to see how many people go out and do it every year. Every year, Erica and I say we are going to get in shape and doing the running part, every year we do not. Erica! Let's do it next year! for real!! When did May become busier than the Christmas Holidays. That's what I would like to know. I literally have something booked for every weekend until after 6/14. And it seems to be that the busier I am the more lazy I want to be. Well I suppose that's all I have for now.

Art?

2008-04-24T09:55:00.002-05:00

Twice in the past 2 weeks I've seen stories about people doing things in the name of art.

A student at Yale student had, for lack of a better term, Abortion Art. She would inseminate herself with sperm from donors and then on the 28th day of her cyle would take an abortifacient, a drug to induce abortions. She then would have heavy bleeding and cramping. She never actually took any pregnancy tests to know if she had actually had conceived. But anyway, she saved her "miscarriages" mixed the blood with vaseline so it wouldn't dry and put them all on a white sheet so she could display it as an art exhibit. I personally do not find this very "arty".

An artist in Germany is currently searching for a terminally ill person to spend his or her final hours in an art gallery so the public can 'admire' the way some light plays on the flesh of a person gasping for the last breath." How is this art? I personally don't find death very "arty" either. It's a painful process for the person and their family.

Am I a stick in the mud? Maybe. Do I just not appreciate "good art"? Perhaps. But I don't find matters of life and death to be things that people should enjoy. I think they are private matters for you and your family. I don't know that this German artist had actually found a volunteer but I hope that no one does.

While I'm on the subject of art, I have to say I'm not really sure how I feel about the pictures of Miley Cyrus. I feel like she's 15 years old and she's already living a crazy life. I think that if her apology was Disney ordered because it was "too racy" for their image then that's kind of bogus. She is only embarrassed by the pictures because Disney made her be embarrassed? According the photographer Annie Leibovitz, everyone saw the pictures and her parents and/or minders were always in the set. Here's where the problem lies. I heard this arguement on the radio this morning and I tend to agree. If we saw this picture on the computer of someone who was being arrested for child pornography, we would be appalled. We would think, what a scum bag, he should be in prison. What makes it ok to be in Vanity Fair? Regardless of where the picture is, she is 15 years old. Underage. Remember the hubbub over Britney on the cover of Rolling Stone, she was 17 and that was a scandal, and she didn't even appear to be naked.

I'm all about people expressing their individualality and I'm all about being being artistic but where do we draw the line from artistic to obscene?

Binky Rehab

2008-04-22T12:47:00.002-05:00

does it make me a bad mother that my kid is 3 1/2 and still has a binky? I mean really, am I committing some kind of bad mother crime? Am I going against some regulation about when a kid should get rid of the binky? Is it my fault that the kid has a SEVERE emotional attachment to the damn thing? (don't answer that one, because that probaby is my fault). Do you haters think that I haven't been trying? DO you think I enjoy listening to the kid yell and scream about wanting her "binka". OH I am trying, I've tried everything. I've tried guilt, bribery, cold turkey. This kid is a junky. She hides them, she goes thru the trash looking for them. Short of actually checking her into binky rehab, what do I do? Since I feel is good to start things at the beginning of the week, Sunday I said, No more binky except at bedtime. So when she got up that morning, I hid it from her and I listened to her Yell and scream and cry and throw temper tantrums throughout the entire day, and let me tell you it wasn't easy (not that I expected it to be). She gets so angry its almost comical and hard not to laugh at her. I mean I'm talking like tears, red face, trying to beat me up. Yes I am aware that I am the adult and I shouldn't take that abuse but I imagine this is what its like for someone to go thru drug withdraws. I know some kids are just easier to break of these habits than others. Hell I had the kid potty-trained in like 2 days. I bottle broke her the week she turned 1. But this binka is killing me. So anway, Sunday she last pretty much all day, I did give it to her at 8:30 when it was bedtime and she went right to sleep. Yesterday was day 2 with my mother and I think my mom is softer than I am because when I went to pick her up, she had it in her mouth, my mom claims they were trying to take a nap but I find that hard to believe, because Madi never takes a nap, ever! So when I got there, I took it out of her mouth and put it in my purse and I didn't give it to her until 8:00 when she was going to bed. So today is day 3 and I've already had to talk to her on the phone to talk her off the ledge because my mom couldn't get her to quit screaming. I need ideas people! How do I rid myself of this thing? I've been told to substitute it with something else, blankie or a stuffed animal, well I've tried that and it doesn't work. I've been told to cut it, I don't need to do that because once she bites through them, they are "broken" and she won't take them anymore. I even told her I threw them in the garbage (when I actually didn't) she went as far as to go thru the garbage. I dunno what she would have done had she found one. I've told her, she's too big, she can't go to school with one, if she old enough to write her own name, know her address, know her phone number, not sleep in a diaper. I dunno what else to try. When Mark works at 3am, it's not like I can let she scream until she goes to sleep because then he'll wake up and all hell will break loose? What do I do people??????

Keys to Happiness

2008-04-16T08:15:00.003-05:00

Coffee, The Office, John Krasinski, good writing pens, snickers, good movies, good food, good conversations, unexpected surprises, good songs on the radio, singing and dancing in the kitchen while your cooking, taking funny pictures of your kids and pets when they are being cute, youtube, celeb gossip, reality tv (no matter how crappy it is), knowing it could always be worse, good hair days, clothes that fit like a glove, getting good mail (not just bills), magical muffins from starbucks, finding money on the street, in the pocket of a coat, or an old card, comfortable chairs, that cute boy that works in Uno's (JOKE! sorta... lol), Stephanie Plum books, that Wallflowers song (Naomi knows what I'm talkin' about) a kiss on the forehead, an ice cold beer, playing Mario on the original nintendo, things that make you think of loved ones (like nintendo makes me think of aunt betty calling it intendo), sleeping in... this list could go on and on but...

I believe I have discovered the key to having a good day. It's all about what you listen to in the mornings on the way to work. If the radio show I listen to on the way to work doesn't make me laugh, or every station on the radio is at commerical at the same time (one of my pet peeves), or they aren't playing songs that I like, it could make my day start off crappy. If I'm flipping thru stations on my way to work and I hear an old school Madonna song or NKOTB, that is the start of a good day. There is nothing better than rocking out in the car by yourself to one of your favorite songs. It puts me in a good mood (at least until something pisses me off) and I'm smiley at work. Lots of coffee doesn't hurt either. This morning I was listening to the radio show Kidd Kraddick and they were talking about their pet peeves at hotels and I was cracking up. I wanted to call in so badly and tell them the pet peeves of all hotel workers everywhere. They had some valid points on pet peeves, I have to admit. Since I started working at a hotel, I have become a huge hotel snob, which is both a good and bad thing. I love my job, in fact, one of my favorite guests just walked thru the lobby. He always calls me Ab or Abs and I love it. Everytime I talk to him, he's always happy and smiling and he always says to me "have a good day Ab" and that makes me smile no matter how hectic the morning has been.

I am currently standing at my post at the lovely Mark Twain and listening to a few different conversations. Not really eavesdropping because I'm not trying to listen as I type but I am. There is a woman sitting and talking with 2 of her co-workers and they look like they want to stab her in the face, I actually want to stab her in the face. She's going on and on about her financee, and her former blond blond hair, and her tv shows that we watches, and blah blah blah. So irritating. She's one of those girls that if you traveled with her you would fake headaches so that you wouldn't have to spend time with her except when you absolutely had to. She says like every other word. I'm pretty bad about saying like but this is excessive. I was also semi-listening to another gentleman talking on his cell phone and he yelled at his asst on the phone. "GET TO THE POINT! I DON'T HAVE TIME TO CHIT CHAT ALL DAY!" Everyone stopped and looked. I was like, Ok, well now I know not to piss this guy off.

Yesterday, I went and bought "Lars and the Real Girl", I've blogged about this before, but if you haven't seen it, rent it, netflix/blockbuster it, or go buy it. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. Ryan Gosling (swooon!) is so incredible in this movie. And let me tell you, he's not that pretty in this movie, he has a creepy pedophile mustache but he's like the cutest thing ever in this movie. You want to just hug Lars. See it people! That's an order! Ok, like I can actually order you to do anything but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

ahh, Blondie finally fell asleep.

better get back to work!

Obsessed Much?

2008-04-14T07:50:00.002-05:00

I think so!
I love love love John Krasinski and Ryan Gosling. I also love the song "Closer To You" by the Wallflowers. So, what happens when you put those things together. Tears! That's what. If you youtube "Closer to You" you get those video montages that people put together, one is of Jim and Pam from The Office and one is of "The Notebook". SWOOON! If you love either one of those things you should definitely check them out.
Also why you are on youtube, search for "Charlie Bit Me" it's the cutest thing I've ever seen (next to anything Madi does). It's 2 little british kids and it's adorable. Charlie and Harry, Harry might be the cutest little boy ever. And Charlie has the creepiest baby laugh ever. So cute! Madi and I watched that video at least 10 times. It had like 17 million views.

I am also still obsessed with the books that I have been reading. Those books are part of the reason I am so neglectful of my blog, myspace, and email on the weekends and at night. (also I have a hard time prying Mark away from the computer when he's home) I started book six yesterday morning and I am probably about 1/2 way through it. The books are by Janet Evanovich. I would highly recommend them. (Thank you Aunt Gina!!!)

Have you seen Madonna's new video "4 Minutes to Save the World" INCREDIBLE! 1st of all it's hard to believe that the Material Girl is almost 50. She still has a rockin' bod and she dancing has never been better. Then you pair all of that up with a good song and Justin Timberlake, it's amazing. Finally, I can say I like one of Madonna's new songs. While you are youtube looking up that other stuff, look up this new video because it's awesome.

Did everyone see that Brit Brit (Spears) got into a fender bender this weekend? Poor girl was doing so well keeping out of the limelight. It was a straight up accident, she rear-ended someone, which caused them to rear-end someone else. No injuries, not much damage, no tickets. I heard on the radio this morning the Los Angeles chief of police being interviewed about what kind of law needs to be made to keep the photographers from causing major incidents with celebrities and his response was, We don't need a law, Britney Spears needs to stay home. Oh WTF? It was obvious for awhile that Britney was going out and leading the photogs around trying to get them to follow her but that's when she was like way messed up and there was something seriously wrong with her. She's been better for awhile. She's been keeping a pretty low profile. I think it's unrealistic to think that girl should never leave the house. She has to get groceries for goodness sake! Like Britney is the only celebrity out and about. What about Lindsay Lohan, who by the way is clearly off the wagon. There are lots of celebrities that get stalked by the paparazzi. Also, did you see that Brit's former paparazzo boyfriend, Adnan, supposedly got stabbed this weekend? He is said to have been stabbed in the arm, to have cuts on his face, and a black eye, but other than that he's ok. We haven't actually seen any pictures of Adnan or a police report so this rumors are just rumors at this point.

I thoroughly dislike Heidi Montag. So much that I'm not even watching The Hills this season.

I watched the E! True Hollywood Story about the Kardashians this weekend. Kim Kardashian is not as unlikeable as I had originally thought. See actually seems to be pretty smark when it comes to her businesses and stuff, it seems like it's with her personally life that she makes her poor decisions. Bruce Jenner takes alot of abuse from those girls, he's a good guy.

Shhhh... don't tell Mark but I ordered 2 more things from oldnavy.com. Hopefully these will fit better than the last stuff. Hopefully they came either Tues or Wed.

That guy I call my husband will be home every night for the next 3 weeks. There is a 3 week gap from his fall bowling leagues to his summer bowling leagues. He may not live to see that summer league though. I enjoy my nights during the week when he is bowling. Typically that is when I watch the TV he bitches about and the movies he doesn't want to see. Tonight is night 1 of like 21. GRRR! Tonight is also Dancing With The Stars so I'm sure he'll be hiding in the basement all night which is fine by me.

I didn't watch any movies this weekend sadly, I still have American Gangster and Gone Baby Gone at home from Netflix. Hopefully they will get watched this week at some point. You know what I did do this weekend. Cleaned out my kitchen. It was so nasty. It wasn't "dirty" in the way that there was dirt everywhere, it was dirty in the way that we had so much crap crammed in our fridge, freezer, and cabinets, and NOTHING was organized. So Sat. afternoon. I put Madi in her room with her Barbies and I put the kitty in the basement and set to work. I cleaned out our fridge, freezer, and cabinets and I had 3 garbage bags full of crap. Empty boxes, expired salad dressing, anything you could possibly imagine. Thank god tomorrow is garbage day. Plus I reorganized out cabinets so now everything has a place. I felt accomplished. I also put my clean clothes away that were sitting on the floor. I hope to get the rest of the house organized so that I can re-arranged the living room this week. If Mark is going to be home I'm gonna put his ass to work, lol. Actually, he'll probably be working alot of OT so I won't be able to put him to work as much as I would like.

I think Mark hid my shoes from me this morning and I had to wear my old ones that have split at the bottom. He's a butthead. If my feet hurt when I get home, its gonna be his ass.

My Bliss was short lived

2008-04-10T08:15:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a great day. It all started with my fabulous night of sleeping alone on Wed night, I woke up and and didn't have to rush to get Madi out the door. I took my time, I went to Starbucks, I got an AMAZING muffin (I should have stopped today, perhaps it would have lifted my spirits) and a tea, Naomi and I had fun pretty much all day at work. We had the Double J for lunch (again amazing), I got home and my Old Navy order had been delivered, my parents made me steak for dinner, I had alot of time to read my book, Mark was at a bowling banquet so it was a quiet evening. Then the bottom dropped out. Out of 5 things from Old Navy, only 2 were worth keeping, so disappointing. I should have known better than to buy stuff online, it's hard for me to buy pants without trying them on. I went to bed pretty early (I finished the 4th book in my series last night early) only to be woke up at 11:04, Madi was coming to get in the bed with us, which means no room for Abbey. I had to get up twice in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, yes I'm aware I am a 90 year old woman. I got up and I was pissed that it was only Thursday, it feels like a Friday. I'm grouchy because I didn't sleep good and all I wanted to do was go back to bed, plus it's raining today so it would have been an even better day to lay in bed all day and read a book. On the way here, my card to get into the parking deck fell out of my little cubbie thing in my car and now I can't find it. So I had to park in the lot, which normally isn't a big deal but it's suppose to hail today so at least if I was in the deck it would save my car. The damn card wouldn't have fallen out if Mark hadn't messed up my cubbie thing this weekend. Bastard. I wanted to go to Old Navy today to return my ill-fitting purchases but since its going to be crummy out, I don't want to take Madi out. AND I'm having a weird hair issue this morning, my bangs just won't lay right and it's pissing me off. I don't even think I have a clip or anything to pin them back. GRRRR... It's hell to start out a day bad, but hopefully it can only go up from here.
My saving grace today is that The Office starts it's new episodes tonight, so at least I will be able to laugh my ass off tonight at Jim, Pam, Michael, Dwight, and the rest of the Dunder-Mifflin crew. Seriously, if you aren't watching The Office, you don't know what you are missing.

I didn't watch Idol Gives back last night. Last year when I watched it I pretty much spent the entire time sobbing and thanking God for giving me a healthy daughter and a good life. I just couldn't put myself through that ringer last night. But I do have to say that I think it's great that American Idol does this. For awhile American Idol was just this thing that everyone and their mama was watching. I have to admit I'm not and haven't been a huge fan of the show. I'll watch it when there is nothing else better, I think it's a glorified karaoke contest (but I'm not a hater of those people who watch it). But the fact that they are using their show's fame to raise money for charity makes me like it a little more.

Sleeping alone

2008-04-09T10:36:00.002-05:00

I've been married for nearly 3 years now. I've had a kid for about 3 1/2. (No need to due the math, said child was born out of wedlock, SINNER!) So there is always a person in the bed with me at night. Be it husband or child or both. But not last night!! It was lovely sleeping in the middle of the bed. It was lovely being all sprawled out with my pillows everywhere. It was lovely not being so close to the edge of the bed that my arm hung off, or being kicked or pinched with tiny toes and not having to nudge someone for snoring in my face. I think I need to have at least 1 night a week where I have the entire bed to myself.
One might be wondering "why did you have the luxury of an empty bed?" Well...
Madi wanted to spend the night with my parents, so my sister came to pick her up after dinner and a bath. Madi enjoys spending the night with my mom and dad because its like a "slumber party". They watch movies, eat popcorn and ice cream. And then she gets to share their king size bed with them. So that accounts for 1 person, where was my husband?
No, he was not sulking that the "Wizard of Oz" was the greatest musical so he slept by himself. I mean, I did rub it in all night long and I will continue to rub it in because I was right. But he has been working overtime and when he works overtime he sleeps in Madi's bed so he doesn't wake us up at 2:30 when he gets up. It's not like we make him to do this, but he does do it as more of a courtesy to us. So last night, I was ready to go lay in bed and read a book and watch the results to Dancing With The Stars and he was ready to go to bed. So instead of me just staying in the living room for awhile, he just went to Madi's bed, and I wasn't about to argue. So I got my drink of water and my kitty and we laid in bed reading and watching DWTS and The Office. Ruby did get banished to the basement because she always wants to play when it's time to go to sleep. But I had a fabulous night of the entire bed to myself.

On a side note: I was sad to see Adam Corolla go home from DWTS. I didn't think his Paso was that bad. His funny sense of humor will be missed. And is it not totally obvious that Shannon Elizabeth and her partner doing the hibbity dibbity? And who is so excited for The Office to come back on Thursday? I AM!!! It's gonna be so good. And Lars and the Real Girl comes out next Tuesday which also happens to be payday so I'm excited about that as well.

Gloating, Is there anything I love more?

2008-04-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

There is nothing in life more enjoyable than beating Mark. I know, it’s petty, but a necessity for my ego. lol. And today, I proved him wrong and it pretty much made my whole day, maybe even my whole week. One day a few months ago, Mark came home from work and said that he and his co-workers were debating the greatest musical of all time. He said he voted "Grease" and while "Grease" is an excellent choice, I said the greatest of all time is the "Wizard of Oz". He called my choice stupid. We have frequently battled about this, because yes, we have nothing else better to do. I even gave him "Mary Poppins" as one that was better than "Grease" He stuck to his choice. So today, compliments to EW.com (one of my new favorite sites) I was vindicated!! "Wizard of Oz" was named the top musical!! Oh and where was "Grease" you ask? OHHH sorry 14, it didn’t even crack the top 10. Oh and just for giggles lets see where my 2nd choice of "Mary Poppins" is... number 5. Take that asshole, I kicked your ass not once but twice!!! Sadly, we did not put a wager on this bet (which is unusual) but I think I should still get something for proving him wrong, what do you think?

I posted the greatest villians and I thought a few were few missing, as did Shannon, he posted a great one on my previous blog. A few other people thought there were some missing too and here’s what Entertainment Weekly posted:
Marquise Merteuil - Dangerous Liasions
Darth Sidius/Emperor Palpatine - Star Wars
Judge Doom - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (excellent addition)
Angel Eyes - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Jaws - James Bond
Saruman - Lord of the Rings
Beth Jarrett - Ordinary People
Bryon Hadley & Warden Norton - The Shawshank Redemption
Mr. Thorwald - Rear Window
Bill Lumberg - Office Space (while not a traditional villian, a great choice)
Michael Myers - Halloween (it was b.s. that Leatherface and Freddy got on but not him)
Gordon Gekko - Wall Street
Michael Corleone - The Godfather
Beverly Sutfin - Serial Mom (one of my favorite movies of all time. if you haven’t seen it, See it immediately)
Colonel Kurtz - Apocalypse Now
Rhoda Penmark - The Bad Seed
Voldemort - Harry Potter
Li’l Ze - City of God
Catwoman - Batman Returns
Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange
Still no love for the Joker? Catwoman makes the list but not the Joker? I call foul on that one

50 Greatest Movie Villians

2008-04-08T13:24:00.001-05:00

Darth Vader – Star Wars
Leatherface – Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Phillip VanDamm – North by Northwest
Hedy Carlson – Single White Female
Annie Wilkes – Misery
Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty
Commodus – Gladiator
Hans Gruber – Die Hard
Noah Cross – Chinatown
Captain Vidal – Pan’s Labyrinth
John Doe – Seven
Norman Bates – Psycho
Frank Booth – Blue Velvet
Max Cady – Cape Fear
Hannibal Lecter/Buffalo Bill – Silence of the Lambs
Khan Noonien Singh – Star Trek II
Little Bill Dagget – Unforgiven
Bill – Kill Bill
The Child Catcher – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Harry Powell – The Night of the Hunter
Harry Lime – The Third Man
Amon Goeth – Schindler’s List
Cruella De Vil – 101 Dalmations
Daniel Plainview – There Will Be Blood
Dr. Christian Szell – Marathon Man
Anton Chigurh – No Country for Old Men
Doc Ock – Spiderman 2
Mitch Leary – In the Line of Fire
Liberty Valance – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Archibald Cunningham – Rob Roy
Sgt. Bob Barnes – Platoon
Freddy Krueger – A Nightmare on Elm Street
Vincent – Collateral
Frank – Once Upon a Time in the West
Hal – 2001: A Space Odyssey
Ming the Merciless – Flash Gordon
Keyser Soze – The Usual Suspects
Gollum – The Lord of the Rings
T-1000 – Terminator 2
Damien – The Omen
Peyton Flanders – The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Nurse Ratched – One Flew Over the Cuckcoo’s Nest
Scar – The Lion King
Mrs. Iselin – The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Henry F. Potter – It’s a Wonderful Life
Johnny Friendly – On the Waterfront
Jack Torrance – The Shining
The Wicked Witch of the West – The Wizard of Oz
Shere Kahn – The Jungle Book
John Ryder – The Hitcher

How do you feel about these? Anyone Missing?
I think the Joker is missing.
I also think the Wicked Witch of the West should be number one. I’m not sure these are necessarily in any order either.

Things I don't understand

2008-03-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

There are things in life that I will never understand. Things that I won't understand because I am uneducated on the topic (politics, religion), or the things that I don't want to understand (death), and the things that no matter how hard I try, will I ever understand.

Like for example: A 20 year old man put his 2 month old daughter in the microwave. Here's the story.
Joshua Mauldin, 20, has been in custody since May 15 when he told Galveston police detective Holly Johnson he had become “agitated” while alone in a Seawall Boulevard motel room with his 2-month-old daughter, Ana. Mauldin told police he threw and hit the baby before putting her first into the room’s safe, then into the refrigerator and, finally, into the microwave oven. The child survived the attack but was badly burned. Ana received skin grafts on her left forearm, and doctors amputated much of her left ear, where some of the worst burns had been inflicted. The child is now in foster care
How much more awful can this story get? He punched and threw his baby and then put her in a microwave for 10-20 secs, and now this crazy ass wants parental rights to his baby! He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and wants rights to see his child. I'm not clear on where this child's mother is, the only thing I've found so far is that the mother has "reliquished her parental rights". The man pleaded guilty by reason of insanity and was still found guilty. His mother pleaded with the jurors and judge because "no one in their right mind would do this." You read stories all of the time about people doing stuff all the time and then claiming insanity. Is it insanity or is it stupidity? How many times you do you hear about people shooting someone, or starting a fire, or robbing a store and then claiming insanity. I'm not saying the insanity is bogus by any means. I believe that some people are truly mentally ill (ie: Andrea Yates clearly had severe! post partum depression when she drown her kids in the bathtub) when they do things of this nature. But where do you draw the line? At what point do you say clearly you are just an idiot. How can lawyers keep using the insanity defense. This guy was going to TX because he was joining a Christian Ministry and then he put his child in the microwave? At what point did he turn "insane". He probably became frustrated (or "agitated" as he put it) when the baby wouldn't stop crying or something. But abusing your baby sounded like a good idea? I don't understand it and I never will. I will never understand someone who hurts a child. There was a local story about 2 people who left their baby in his car seat for 8 days without feeding, changing, or even bothering to take his snowsuit off. They came home and put the baby in his crib still in his carseat and left him there for 8 days! They never even left the house. How could you just ignore a baby crying. Obviously those people were crackheads but its still sick. I may sound a little extreme but I think if you intentionally hurt or kill a child, you should die. That's the most horrible crime you can commit in my opinion.

There is another story today about an 11 year old girl who died because her parents decided to pray for her instead of taking her to the dr. She had a treatable form of diabetes and instead of getting her medicine they decided that prayer would work for her. The mother says they believe in the Bible and that healing comes but God but they don't have anything against doctors. Then what the hell? She also says that they aren't worried about any investigations because she and her husband didn't do anything criminally wrong. Umm How about neglect? You neglected to give your child proper medical attention.

You can click on any news website and find a dozen stories like this and wonder what makes people do things like this? I think I could go spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a psychology degree and I still don't think I would understand what makes people turn on people they don't know or their own kids. Maybe I'm naive to think that people are just stupid as opposed to mental but I guess that would explain why I just don't understand.

Ok, enough of that, I just read that Lindsay Lohan is going to be in a movie called "Manson Girls". I'm kind of excited about this. I'm not a big fan of Lindsay Lohan but I find the Manson Story fascinating. I've read "Helter Skelter" and I have read parts of "Manson, His Own Words" and I think the story is just whoa, crazy. If you've never seen any of Charles Manson's interviews or parole hearings, check them out on youtube because this man is crazy. He gets on this lunatic raving rants and it just kind of awes you about his logic of thinking. I highly recommend any interview with Ol' Charlie with Tom Snyder or Geraldo. The 1997 parole hearing is also a classic. In high school, I acutally stayed home sick from school to watch stuff about him on the now defunct CourtTV. Charles Manson is actually back in the news because they found some remains buried on the ranch that he and his followers lived on. So anyway, I'm excited about this movie.

sad day

2008-03-26T08:39:00.003-05:00

Our dog died yesterday. =( Having a pet is just mean. You get a pet, you love it, it's part of your family and then when it dies you spend days mourning the loss. Ok, so maybe it's just me that spends days mourning but whatever. We inherited Bear Buddy from my Aunt Betty (probably my favorite person in the whole wide world, she was more of a grandma type than an aunt really.) about 8 years ago when she was too sick to take care of him anymore. We aren't exactly sure how old Bear was because we can't pinpoint when she got him. We are fairly certain she got him in like 96 or 97 and he was at least a year old when she got him. She definitely didn't get him as a puppy. So we estimate he was around 12 or 13 years old. Lossing a pet is hard enough but this Bear was like our last link to Aunt Betty so it really makes it even sadder. She's gone, her house is gone, and now her dog is gone. It sucks and it's sad. There are people that think it's not a big deal when a dog dies and it makes me so angry. "It's just a dog" NO! It's not "just a dog", it's a member of your family. Would you ever tell someone "it's just a kid"? Absolutely not.

A New Endorsement

2008-03-25T08:44:00.002-05:00

You know you lead a boring life when you get excited about shampoo. But it's the best damn shampoo ever!! Madi has curly hair. It's very fine and prone to tangles. We have kids shampoo that has shampoo and conditioner in it but since her hair tangles so bad I have to use a seperate condition just so I can get a brush though it while it's wet. So the other day when I was watching TV I saw an add for new shampoo for kids. Johnson and Johnson has a new No More Tangles Shampoo for kids with Curly hair. I'm not kidding you, it's a miracle shampoo. It says it has Shampoo and Conditioner but of course, I'm leary of that since her hair is soooo tangly (is that a word??) so when I bought the shampoo I bought a No More Tangles leave in conditioner. I tried this new product last night and was amazed! When she got out of the shower I started to brush her hair and I didn't have to struggle or plug my ears from the screaming. I hadn't even used the conditioner yet. Since I wanted to try the leave in stuff too I went ahead and used it too. Holy crap! What a difference! Normally, when she gets up all the bushing I did the night before was pretty much useless but this morning, while she still had a bedhead, her hair wasn't all that tangled and it was still soft! Amazing! I officially endorse Johnson and Johnson's No More Tangles Shampoo+Conditioner and Leave In Conditioner.

Deep Thoughts?!?

2008-03-24T08:10:00.001-05:00

Let's be honest. There will be nothing "Deep" about this blog because let's face it, I'm just not that profound. So this will just be a place to have a good laugh, a good cry, or if you really need to know what's going on in Celebrity Gossip and my opinion on it. lol. Like Did JC from 'N Sync really steal Carrie Underwood's boyfriend? OOOOOHHHHH Snap! Scandal!!! Would we really be surprised if another member of 'N Sync was a homosexual? I have to admit that JC was my favorite 'N Syncer (JT just didn't really do it for me back then - GASP- Shocker I know). In retrospect I should have been a Joey girl. Ahh to be 17 again. Ok, I totally just got off the subject I was going for but that's ok. This blog will also basically be my blathering on about my love of the show "The Office" and my obsession with my imaginary boyfriend John Krasinski. Ok, so now that I have given a little insight into what this blog will be, I'm going to get back to work for a bit and I'll blog later when I have time to gather my "deep" thoughts.