This weekend is finally about done

My weekend started on Thursday this week. Same as last, but it was a far cry from a holiday weekend. Mom got here about 7pm Thursday and things didn't seem so bad at that point. She was in good spirits and was happy to be here. We her car unloaded and went out together to get some pizza. Aiden was of course happy to see me, Skip and Yoshi. I think Yoshi was most excited about stealing toys! We offered up our room and bathroom for Mom and Patrick to stay in and unlike me, mom just moved right into it without asking what we were doing. That was an irritating point for me. We stayed on the futon in the spare room for the first 2 nites. Friday Skip had to work so we went to town for some dinner shopping and to show Mom and Patrick around a bit. We did Panera Bread for lunch. Aiden had a fit so bad about not wanting to sit in his chair anymore that I was forced to take him outside. Mom got mad. She thinks I am mean.

We made a roast and veggies Friday nite for dinner. That went without any bad events. Mom and I ended back up at Wal-Mart because I needed to get some foam for the futon, it's way uncomfy. Mom questioned me about Skip's niece and wanted to make sure I was making the right decision. Like I wasn't able to take care of my own son. I let it go and told Skip about it later.

Saturday we didn't do too much. We were set to go to the airport at 1, but Crystal missed her first flight. Skip and I just went to the mall instead and had lunch together. Mom and Patrick were off with Aiden doing some shopping. She wasn't in a good mood anyways and I was fine not having to deal with it.

It's 2 hours to the Kansas City Airport. Its a very crappy drive. we did stop Cabela's and took a look around. They have an amazing taxidermy display, elk, deer, wolves, polar bears, moose...well pretty much any game animal you can think of as well as a HUGE HUGE HUGE fresh water aquarium with the biggest catfish I have ever seen. And then the airport sucked. All the Starbucks were closed before 730 and there wasn't a single vending machine. RETARDED.

Got home just before midnite and we slept on the floor in the living room and gave Crystal the spare room with the futon. I got her a nice bed set.

Mom left this morning by about 7. She cried and cried and asked if Aiden was going to be ok. I felt like saying no, we are going to beat him everyday and make him sleep in the dog kennel. Oh well, it was nice to see her and nice to see her go. Aiden has some adjusting to do now, but he's already doing great today. I think it will all be fine. I'm happy with everything,

Happy,err, Merry December!

Yay, last month of 2009 already. I still feel like I just started! Craziness.

Well this first week of the last month is going to be a busy one. Aiden is going to be here on Thursday, my mom and her husband will be driving him here. WE all thought originally thought it was just going to be a weekend visit for the little man, but seeing as things are starting to work themselves out here, he will be staying. I can't express in words how much relief I am going to feel when he walks through my front door.

Saturday Skip and I will be driving to Kansas City to pick up his niece, Crystal. After his brother's unexpected death in September, she's really needed a changed and we are stepping up to the plate and lending a helping hand. It's a very exciting time. She's never been away from her home in SC, it will be a big change for her. I'm happy we get to be the ones offering her such an opportunity. YES, there is opportunity in Kansas.

This past holiday weekend we got Aiden's room totally unpacked and ready for him. We also had to move our office to the living room that we weren't living in. We wanted to make sure Crystal had a room of her own. She has the futon and a table right now. We will need to work on getting a bit more furniture for her. I did get a new bedding set that I think she will like. It seems we have a lot in common.

We found a great little entertainment center on craigslist for our TV that is still in the box. Aiden will want to be watching movies I am sure. The sound of a TV in the house, that will seem strange after not watching it since it was packed back on the 25th of September!

MooCow(Yoshi) is now 7 months old and weighs more than 70lbs! He's such a wonderful dog. Keeps us laughing everyday. He is up to eating about 3-4lbs of raw food a day now. Currently looking for good deal on a freezer so I can buy more meat at a time. That's where the savings are. Ideally I would like to get one that would hold an entire deer. There are lots of opportunities here to have a whole deer. As well as rabbits and things. Big farm areas are nice!

We also getting ready to fit him for his first pulling harness. SO EXCITED!!

I'm sure with more commotion in the house there will be more blogs! Merry December

What America can actually learn from the Obama's

Yes, you read the title correctly. While many of us view our new president as dragging his feet on many of our top issues, he may actually be setting a very good example of how to fix another issue I think America is not aware of. What is that issue you may ask? It's the issue of marriage and family. It's the issue of parents forgetting to set a healthy example of what a happy family looks like and how it behaves. There are many of us that are children from a family with 2 unhappy parents and we measure that to be normal! Since when did marriage carry feeling of pity from friends? Why do we always here, "well after marriage it all goes down hill"? Why are our divorce rates so high? And what the Hell are we doing about it!!

My name is Christine, I am 25 years old, I have a 3 year old son and I am divorced. I chose the wrong man to marry right away and I stuck with it because I didn't want to be like my parents. I didn't want to be that person that failed in marriage as they had done when I was only 10 or 11. The preview of marriage I got was clearly not the way it's supposed to be, but is widely accepted and tolerated daily by us as individuals and as an entire society. My parents fought like Hell. They argued over us, finances, jobs, and useless other topics that make no sense. I can tell you right now that I cannot ever remember one occasion where my parents ever showed any loving tendencies toward each other and I always thought that to be normal. No hugs, kisses or comforting embraces in front of my brother or me.

And so I married Thomas and many of the same things I saw in my home, I repeated because I had never been shown or taught better. While I was an adult and capable of making better decisions, I had no real basis to go by. No example, no coaching. So feeling this was normal and I would just have to live with it. I brought Aiden into the world and suddenly something happened. A spark of realization. This unhappiness is not fair. Why should my little innocent baby have to grow up and see the same horrible things I saw growing up? Why would I want him to be as unprepared as I was at the game of life? So I left. Yes there were other factors involved, but this was ultimately the reason that actually made me do it. Other wise I can say I would more than likely still be there fighting every day thinking it was normal.

Thomas was brought up in much of the same way I was. His parents did a lot of fighting. They even separated for a time. So he had the same amount of relationship coaching I had, to fight and be unhappy is normal. deal with it.

Not every family in America is like this, but with divorce rate up around 40-60%(depends on the state) it makes you wonder. Where are the family values? I know people that will say it's because there's not enough "God" in the family and that's the main source of values for family that sticks together, but because I have different views of the world I shall not use this as reason. I grew up in a home where "God" was very present, but a lot of good that did. But I certainly don't want to throw that out the window because families that are very close to religion tend to fight harder and they do appreciate their spouses.

Now to talk about the Obama's. Since the beginning of the new presidency we can all certainly say we have seen some kind of media about their "date nights" or them holding hands etc. And I don't know about you, but these media ventures always come off with a negative spin. As if a husband and wife should not be so thoughtful of each other. This, America, is where you have it all wrong. Our president is absolutely there to take care of his country, he is there to make decisions and he is there to guide us, but he was a man in love and a husband before that. In no way shape or form should he have to forget that.

I just watched a small clip of an interview with Michelle Obama who openly discussed date night and the effects it has on their children. Their girls have expressed to them how good it makes them feel to see their parents care for each other. It makes them feel safe. Isn't this what we want for our kids? To feel secure, to know their parents aren't going to flake out on them? If their children have confidence at home think about how they will be in the world now and as adults. The relationship decisions these children will be able to make. They will KNOW what a healthy relationship is. It will make them successful and mindful with their partners. Then guess what, they too have children who will see the same as they have. The cycle will start all over.

So I would say its HIGH time America stops giving this bad media coverage and stops acting like it's some kind of taboo. How about we stop plastering Angelia and Brad's BS all over everything and show some damn happiness and values. These two CLEARLY value each other and that's the true secrete to staying together, to avoid divorce and to help their children know what to really look for. It helps set the next generation up for success. Who doesn't want that?

Value your partner. Make sure your partner values you. Show each other how much value there really is. Don't stand back and assume they know. Voice it everyday if you have to. Tell your kids you love and cherish them. Let them see you showing your love and compassion to everyone in your house. If the First Family does it, it is our duty to support such a positive thing in todays world.

Just a quote I liked.

I care not much for a man's religion
whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
~Abraham Lincoln

Big Angry Blog

Well as you all know I was so disappointed when I left T-Mobile and I was willing to do about anything I needed to stay with the company. I did manage to get into retail in the nick of time, exactly 30 days after I left the center. That was supposed to be the one thing that was going to help me. Well it didn't. It didn't save my tenure, it didn't get me transferred so I could avoid the new hire process and it didn't keep any benefits. It got me a part time seasonal job that I was told may not be avail after January 1st.

Well I was fine with that and I was set to start training this week, yesterday as a matter of fact. Training I had to go all the way to Topeka to do. Only 4 1/2 hours a day for 5 days actually. That means that on top of the 2o something hours I was going to be working I also had to pile in 10 hours of driving total. It's one hour each way. Ok fine I can deal with that I guess. They didn't want me there until 4 PM. That left me leaving at 8:30 PM and not getting home until close to 10 PM and I was still planning on working at the shop for a few hours in the morning. UGH. Talk about a long week.

I went to Topeka yesterday for my first day. I was led to a room in the back that had 2 computers and was dirty. The manager gave me some workbooks and asked what my week looked like because I needed to start being there at 2 to get these classes done. WTF! I was told the training was from 4-830. I told her I could not do that because I was working another job. She in return told me I needed to manage to be there as early as I possibly could then. I spent the next 4 hours on a conference call in a virtual classroom doing T-Mobile new hire. I relearned all the values I know so well. I learned about the company's history that I learned on July 14th 2008. They discussed all the wonderful benefits they offer to FULL TIME employees that we did not qualify for as we are temp. I watched all the same videos of Robert Dodson talking about the BIG 5 goals T-Mobile has for 2009, you know the same one we had to watch in January when the general manager of the center presented it. The last half hour was supposed to be spent with the manager reviewing what we went over and she wasn't even there.

As I was leaving the store I had made notice of 2 people waiting for their transactions to complete and the girl in the front says quite loudly, " OH crap! Someone stole the MyTouch! Damn." I cannot believe how unprofessional these people acted in the store and in the back room around "new hires"

The rest of the week is still all the same things I already know including a bonding session called "The T-Mobile commitment". I already did this with 16 wonderful people at the center and it was very meaningful to me and I will never forget the experience. However I don't feel doing this online with 72 people is going to be the same.

I came home in a rage last night. I woke up in a bad mood and made my decision not to return today. They are very clearly not living their own values and I will not be a part of such defilement. I applied at a dog kennel today, I have a good shot of getting it, I will be scooping dog shit. A much better position.

Small town life is nice

I miss Colorado Springs, but I am really growing to love the life of a small town. It's not so fast paced, most people don't ride your bumper on the high ways and you can cross a street without the worry of becoming roadkill.

My favorite thing about the small town thing is people are much MUCH friendlier. I'm not talking any old Joe Blow here, I'm talking government employees!! Oh yes, the DMV, they smile and WANT to answer your questions. If they don't know, they will find you someone who does. The people at the post office smile and are extra willing to help. No one is grumpy, they don't mumble inaudible grumbles under their breath as a greeting.

The only place here that people continue to be jerks at is Wal-Mart, and I'm only talking about the shoppers. The employees are quite pleasant. But we rarely have to go to Wal-Mart, the local business' are much better and equally priced.

The only crime I have heard of is happening in Topeka, sometimes I find myself still scanning an area like I expect to be mugged or have a conflict. I'm still always worrying that someone is going to break into my house if I don't lock every lock on every door. And I guess I am still afraid of the dark, I mean there are monsters out there!! LOL. Anyways, small towns are great.

Going Raw

Well after 2 weeks of intense research and lots of thinking, Skip and I decided Yoshi would benefit from a raw diet. He's never adjusted to kibble and it was starting to feel like a waste of money as we watched his food come out the other end the same color as it went in. Yea gross I know, but try picking it up.

We about ran out of kibble last nite and decided today was the day to do it! So it is recommended to start with whole chickens as it is nutritionally sound all by itself and takes the guess work out for beginners. Has the right amount of meat, bones an organs. It's also a great beginner protein source and gets their insides running the way nature intended. Dogs and cats have a much shorter intestinal track than humans so salmonella is not something we need to worry about our pets getting, they digest too fast for it to be an issue.

We gave Yoshi the chicken back first so we could see what he would so and have less risk of him choking should he freak and swallow it whole without grinding the bones. He grabbed it and ran! We thought for a minute he was actually going to take down whole, but he sat down and started chewing it. Then we gave him a breast quarter; he chewed and ate that like it was second nature. So awesome to watch. Just seeing it made us feel like that's how it's supposed to be.

Yoshi ate his meal and I was happy to see he wasn't all bloated and uncomfortable looking like he usually is after eating dog food. He had no gas and so far no poop. Super. He had a thigh/leg quarter for dinner and chowed that like a champ too! I almost couldn't get him to sit before I gave it to him because he was so excited. He's a clean eater too. Doesn't get it all over him and used the ground at leverage when he was eating it.

I feel so good about this decision. Next is research on raw diet for the cat. She can't the big ol chicken bones, so I need to see what other people are doing.