Stimulate this!

I, like many Americans, have been eagerly awaiting my economic stimulus money. I have spent it several times in my head. I have crunched numbers and allocated just so. I planned to stock up on groceries and meat, buy three emergency gas cards, and get the family passports and still have enough to pay the two small credit cards I have. I figured I’d have a few hundred dollars left over and was considering either an upright freezer or a mini-vacation for my anniversary next week.

My brother said to me on Wednesday that he didn’t thing we qualified for the check because he thinks we’re millionaires. It made me nervous so I broke out the tax file and checked the irs.gov website. We were in line for some easy to come by, ready to be spent, mullah.

Today was the day to get my refund based on the socials. I check the bank this morning and there was nothing there. I checked again at lunch, still nothing. I checked again at 4:30 p.m. Still NOTHING. I started to wonder if there was a problem.

I went to the irs.gov website. Right under the little box holding the socials and dates direct deposits would be made was a blurb that wasn’t there last night. It wasn’t there a week ago. It appeared today and it irritated me:

If filing or preparation fees were deducted from your 2007 refund or if you obtained a refund anticipation loan or other bank product related to your regular tax refund, you will receive a check instead of a direct deposit.

This would have been great to know BEFORE. Before I’d done all that mind shopping. Before I made all those mind lists and did all that mind math. Before I thought I didn’t have to cook tonight!

I hate you IRS and your web updater peons who waited until the last minute to drop the bomb. Selfish.

Useless

I am fairly useless in the mornings. I can function at a basic level but my brain is not firing on all cylinders until well into the afternoon.  It has nothing to do with caffeine or stimulant either. 

I would like to blame it on all those years of working swing shift, from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. but I cannot.  I remember being in grand school and not really getting 'it' until after lunch.  By the time I got home and ate dinner, when it was time for homework, my brain would rapid fire the answers. 

Now, I'm near 40 years old and I don't hit my stride until well after 2:30 or 3:00 p.m.  By then, I only have two hours left to cram in all of the work I put off because I wasn't ready.  It is like a sickness. 

What this means is that I'll leave my pile of work here on my desk, come in tomorrow, do mediocre things until after lunch, then my brain will kick in and I'll get the hard work done. 

Why can't I be this functional all day? 

What the hell?

What is up with all these videos of kids beating the crap out of each other? My local news showed a video tonight that happened in a town up north where a girl was whacked on the back of the head with a metal chair and it knocked her out.

Not 15 minutes later, there was another story of some kids in Massechusits who basically beat and kicked the crap out of a couple kids. As one started to stand up, another came and clubbed him right upside the head and then kicked him as he walked away.

Where the hell are these parents? How and when did those kids learn that violence is the answer? What about the kid holding the cell phone video taping the whole thing. Maybe you could call the police you little shit! Oh, I get so frustrated with todays youth. They make me cranky.

Deadliest Catch

I am watching Deadliest Catch right now. Those guys are nuts! First of all, it is damn cold where they are. Second of all, I get sick LOOKING at the boat going UP and down, UP and down. Finally, they are out at sea with those 35 foot waves, spending weeks and weeks at sea. Not to mention the fact that it must be damn lonely out there. Even with each other, I know how I feel after weekend away from my kids. I couldn’t do it. That is for damn sure. So, to all of you crab and seafood eating peeps, thank your fisherman because they risk life and limb to get the delicacies ya’ll chow down on.

FLDS children

I am so torn regarding those 400 plus children who were taken from their homes during the raid. On one hand, I understand completely the need to keep them safe. On the other hand, I do not see the harm in letting the children be with their mothers in the same shelter or even taking a complete inventory and letting the younger children go back to their mothers until hearings can be held and the evidence weighed.

I heard one report that the raid netted investigators paperwork regarding mass cyanide poisoning. That of course reminded me of Jim Jones and the importance of getting the word out: Don't drink the koolaid!!!!

It is sad to watch, the children, and even some of the mothers. Some of them are so convinced that they are living the way their God wants them too. It is just so sad.

Crankyness

I had a good day today. Work kept me busy and the day went by quickly enough. I got a lot of stuff done. The drive home was no biggie. I had to stop at the grocery store. Wal-Mart to be exact.

I don't care which Wal-mart you go into, what time of day or night, what day of the week. None of it matters. There is alway a screaming baby, a parent who doesn't watch their children and let them run all over the store. Today I almost hit a little girl who darted out between some clothes. I didn't know she was there. I barely stopped in time to avoid a collision.

I was so cranky by the time I left the store I wanted to kick a puppy or something. Okay, I don't kick puppies. I don't kick little kids who run around stores either. I wish I could kick some parents though.

Racing

Holy Crappoly! The race yesterday Wiped. Me. Out.

My legs ache, my body is tired, my neck hurts and occasionally, I have some ringing in my ears.

The kids were so tired, they fell asleep on the way home last night. We stopped to eat at 10:30 p.m. after the race and they were barely able to drink a hot chocolate. Poor things.

My husband's best friend and his son came to town for the race. They left today and it was hard. Hard on the men and harder on the kids. My kids are 8 and 10, best friends son is 9. They've been sleeping over and weekend BBQ's and meeting for lunch when we were in Utah since they two youngest were in pre-school.

Today has been somber to say the least.

Tax Time

Tax day is right around the corner. Have you filed yet? Are you going to get it done in time? Do you need to file for an extension?

My taxes are done. The refund is spent. I had no tax stress of my own this year. It's all good in the hood as they say.

My brother however, was audited by the State and they tell him he owes around $180. From 2004. He is young and dumb and do you think he has his return from back then? No. But he expects me to somehow save his ass on this one.

Damn kids.

And Another Thing that Bites

I have to remove all my piercings and jewelry for the surgery tomorrow.

Fine. Except. I cannot get my wedding ring or my ring my sister gave me off. I'm too fat.

I've tried cold water, soap, oil, nothing.

Quite frankly, it is embarrassing. Who knew that an extra couple pounds here and there would lead to this? Lead to fingers too fat to remove jewelry? Extra chins appearing? A stomach that looks four months pregnant? An ass that will require its own zip code before long.

Arrg. I'm cranky.

Surgery Tomorrow

I cannot have anything to eat or drink after midnight tomorrow.

Do you know what this is doing to my psyche? I am craving things like Lays potato chips. Donuts. Cokes and chocolate milk.

I am not hungry. I am not thirsty.

I think I want them because I know in an hour, they are completely off limits.

And do you know what sucks the most? My surgery isn't until ONE PfreakinM. I'll be starving to death and probably get sick from not eating at all. I'm so hosed.

Stuff that Bites

Spiders. Snakes. Dogs.

Seriously.

I have a Twitter account, and I like the idea of microblogging although I cannot remember to do it and I haven't quite got the hang of it just yet. However, my platform (blogger) doesn't have a widget so I cannot post my tweets here on the blog. I think that bites.

I want something that will update Twitter when I update here too. That would be awesome! However, since I know of no such thing, that bites.

And another thing that bites, I've had this domain forEVER and it still won't forward to stellasblog.com without the www in front. I've asked Blogger and I've asked GoDaddy and I've followed all the suggestions and nothing works. I think that bites.

I'm having surgery tomorrow. Nothing major (allegedly) but they have to put me under so I need a ride home and I'll be all groggy and stuff. The last surgery I had the anesthesia made me sick as hell and I slept for like 18 hours. I think that bites.

No Parent of the Year fo Me

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, things get on my nerves. My kids, they get on my nerves. Not because they're being bad or rotten. They aren't back talking or arguing. They aren't even in trouble. They're just annoying.

Like tonight. I am in a crappy mood already (as is usually the case when I become easily annoyed) and even the slightest things are bothering me. Like the clothes in the dryer. It is jeans and the buttons go click click click and it is annoying the ever loving piss out of me. It doesn't help matters that my girls are in the bedroom, with the door shut, and I can still hear the giggle fest they are having.

I don't want to go yell at them to quiet down because honestly, they could be fighting or arguing or yelling at each other and I'd rather hear my own bones break one by one in a car crusher than listen to them fight and argue with each other. However, it is still annoying me.

And I need to do some studying but I cannot concentrate when I'm like this. So instead, I'm going to read some blogs and do some long overdue commenting.

Funky Smell

My dogs got new toys from the Easter bunny. They got these chew ropes with some type of pig ear or other animal product attached. OH MY CRAP they stink.

It smells like someone took a healthy poo in my family room. I just spent 15 minutes checking every room because I was convinced that the dogs went number two in the house. Instead, the boy came shuffling out with the rope thing in his mouth and the smell hit us like a silent but deadly F.A.R.T.

Mr. Right looked at me and said "don't ever buy those again."

No problemo dude. Gag.

Waiting

Waiting. I don't like it. I have the attention span of an apple and impatient is my middle name.

Imagine how difficult it is for me to wait for my kids to go to sleep, so I can go to sleep, so the Easter Bunny can come. It is downright painful.

I am so not kidding. I am tired and I want to go to sleep. Tomorrow I have to make potato salad and deviled eggs and be to the family's house by 2:00 p.m.

All of this means I'm up late with no chance to sleep in. Bah.

booorrrring

I am so bored right now. There is nothing on TV since the writers strike. I don’t want to watch the news. I don’t want to study for the test. I don’t want to take a bath. I don’t want to go to bed.

Titanic is on right now. I've seen parts of this movie at least 45 times because it is the favorite love story/chick flick of the girls. They love it. They cry during it. The asked me to promise to go out on the bow of the ship when we were on our cruise last month just like Jack and Rose did.

I thought it was a good movie the first time I saw it. Now, I am bored with it. I want a bag of Lays potato chips and coke and a good movie. Is that too much to ask?

This man scares me

With all the radio and television abuzz regarding the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, I started reading about the man and the words he seems to spew forth without much regard for what people might think about it. I have come to the conclusion that he scares me.

The reason I am afraid, honestly, is that this man is in a position of power over young minds and if their parents are continuing to take them to this church, and singing the praises of Rev. Wright, what does that do to the mind of a child? God Damn America? That is what he said. The U.S. of kkkA. He said that too.

How will we ever erase the line that divides if people (on both sides) continue to fan the flames of hatred and hate speech?

Funny Stuff

Sometimes my kids say the darnest things and they really make me laugh.  They had to come home early from their vacation and my oldest, who will be turning ll, Ms. Brainiac, was the most dissapointed.  I told her I was glad she was home and that I really missed her and she said she missed me too.  Then as she was walking to her bedroom she said "I finally get to go to a foriegn country, and I have to come home 12 hours later."

Motivated

I am not so motivated these days.  I want to curl up on the couch and read a good book.  Then I want to do it again.  I want to sit and watch movies all day with the kids.  I want a day when I don't have to worry about what bill is due that week. I want a weekend that I don't have to cram chores and grocery shopping and appointments all into Saturday.  I want to be motivated to take time for myself again.  I want to be motivated at work.  I want to be motivated at home.  Yet, I think to get motivated, I need to have less things to worry about and I'm not sure how to make that happen.

I don't feel so good still

I have been extra tired and it seems that my stomach is still hurting a little bit. The tired thing is what seems to be wearing me down the most. I came home last night and fell asleep on the couch until midnight. Then I went and got into bed and slept like I was in a coma. I got up at eight this morning and feel like I didn't sleep at all.

Earlier this week, I went to bed with wet hair and when I woke up my neck was a little stiff and sore on the side that was not under the covers. I think that is causing me to sleep restlessly (the pain), which in turn is causing me to feel tired when I wake up, which in turn is causing my stomach to hurt because I am not resting.

That is my uneducated guess as to what the heck is going on.

My tummy still hurts

I worked all day and then we went out to dinner. The kids made it to Mexico safe and sound. I think I ate too much because my tummy still hurts.

At first I thought it was because I was a little stressed about them leaving and then I thought maybe I had too much sugar last night.

Now I think it just hurts because I ate so much. I had a salad and bread stick and one of my chicken breasts and about 1/2 of the pasta that came with it. I also drank two cokes. I'm surprised I can sit upright. I should totally be in a food coma right now.