A plethora of things really …

**CROSS POSTED**

Before I begin, I just have to thank the person who nominated my last entry for Reader’s Choice. Wow. Was not expecting that at all. I don’t write to impress others. I don’t write to seek popularity. I don’t write to appease anyone but myself. I write only to work through issues that are bothering me at the time so that I can "let them go" and move on with my life instead of being held back by them. So for someone, or many someone’s, to think the rambling’s that go on in my head are worthy enough for other’s to read, well, it humbles me.

 
And then it makes me laugh. Because with being nominated for Reader’s Choice, it also brings out the stupid’s (more commonly referred to as opinionated people). I’m all for diversity. I enjoy 2nd opinion’s because I’m not dumb enough to assume that my opinion is the ONLY opinion. I welcome those that can give me a different look on things, because I am human, I make mistakes and I don’t always have all the information to make a sound decision at times. I can not however take people at face value and respect their opinion if they can’t be mature enough to back up their opinion with something as trivial as leaving a name with their note. By remaining anonymous, you are telling me that you don’t really stand behind your asinine assumptions, and you are just really trying to be bitchy and start conflict.
 
Haters are gonna hate and that is fine … keep on keeping on with your anonymity and go hate on someone else. If you want me to take you seriously, then leave your name with your childish notes. 
 
One last thing on this subject … my last entry was not about Facebook turning children into delinquents. I’m smart enough to realize that Facebook alone will not do that. My gripe was not about that. My gripe, my concern, my issue is with teaching MY child right from wrong. By teaching my child to lie about something as trivial as her age, I’m teaching her that it is also okay to lie about other issues that may seem trivial to HER in the future; by "bending the rules to accommodate her selfish needs" (e.g. getting a Facebook account before the age of 13), I’m teaching her that rules are meant to be broken or that they don’t apply to her. I REFUSE to teach her those things. It is MY responsibility as her parent to teach her right from wrong. Lying is wrong. Being deceitful is wrong. Vanity is wrong. Honesty will get her much further in life. I want her to be able to lay her head down at night and be proud of her actions.
 
I refuse to lower myself to the level of those that were pathetic enough to bring up lying about Santa or the Tooth Fairy and discuss how totally different those are from what my entry was about.

 
So in other issues …
 
Could someone please contact Alfred Hitchcock and inform him that I did NOT receive my copy of the script for this episode of The Twilight Zone. I have no clue what my lines are or what I am supposed to be doing or how to react to the issues going on in my life right now. Mkay. Thanks.
 
So as I have mentioned numerous times before, I have "issues". The main issues, and majority of them, being my family. Due to my Mom’s 4 marriages and my Dad’s 3 marriages I have 4 step-brothers, 2 half-brothers and a half-sister. The steps are older than me, the half’s are younger than me. I don’t ever write about the steps because 3 of them I have nothing to do with, especially since their Dad, Gary, passed away almost 5 years ago. The other one, well he is just normal enough that he doesn’t warrant OD/PB space lol. One half brother is the one who I share a mother with. We are able to commiserate with and share childhood war stories. He is also the one who left his wife when his girlfriend was 5 months pregnant with his child. Said child is now 10 and he’s still legally married to his wife while he is still living with BabyMama #2. Half sister is one who I hate to deal with much less talk with. I tolerate her only for the sake of our father. If she was not blood, I would not have anything to do with her because she is not a person I would be friends with, not a person I want my child around. But she is blood, Daddy’s health is frail at best so I tolerate her for his sake to keep him as comfortable as possible. The last half-brother is one whom I can count on to have my back when it comes to our half-sister. We share common feelings in regards to her. He’s my youngest sibling. He always made my time spent with our Dad growing up uncomfortable at best. He was just bratty enough to inform each weekend that I came to visit that that was "his" Dad and that I didn’t belong; I wasn’t part of *their* family. Thank goodness my step-Mom felt differently and always made it a point to include me in all of their family outings and pictures and stuff. He’s also 39 years old and still living at home Ô.ô 
 
He also became a Dad 13 months ago. He tried to make a go with BabyMama but it didn’t work out. They have joint custody of my niece, switching her off each week. It is court ordered that when BabyMama has her and is working, my step-Mom is the only court approved babysitter. So really, my niece is there pretty much everyday. At least she has THAT consistency.
 
Anyway, to make a long story short, a few weeks ago, out of the blue I receive a text picture on my cell phone. I of course was baffled as to who it was, who sent it. It turns out my youngest brother sent me a picture of my niece. Since then, he texts me every night before going to bed to tell me about his day, my niece’s day, and to give me updates on our Dad. :::cue The Twilight Zone music::: I did not even know he had a cell phone lol.
 
What? Wait, what’s happening here? This is a brother who was never about family. This is a brother who never gave me the time of day. I mean, better late than never, but … what? Don’t get me wrong, I’m cherishing every moment of it!!! But I guess you can just call me baffled. Especially when our Dad had to threaten him with bodily harm to show up to my wedding.
 
The ONLY time he has ever acknowledged me as his sister was when I was 20 and he had decided to join us on a rare occasion to Rockingham back when Nascar still raced at Rockingham. We always went and camped out those weekends for the races. Anyway, this particular one, I had brought my roommate so I would have female company since my step-Mom couldn’t get off work and I didn’t want to be the only girl. I was asleep in the camper while she stayed outside drinking with the boys. She told me the next morning that a bunch of guys at the next campsite were talking about the "hot girl" they wanted to "tap". Rhonda said that Wayne stood up, walked over to them and said, "That’s my sister you are talking about and that there is her Daddy and unless you want a buck shot in your ass, you’ll talk about tapping someone else. Are we clear?" and then walked away and sat back down, acted as if he had never gotten up to confront them. First, awe. Thanks Wayne for trying to be all "little brother" and stuff. Second, way to killyour sister’s love life. LOL
 
So yeah, I’m enjoying my youngest brother’s attempt to include me in his life even if I am confused lol.

 
I finally, *finally* got my $100 bonus money from Bill The Owner at work. Better late than never. It only took a month.
 
But I’m glad it did take a month in a way. Had I gotten it last month, I would have rushed out and bought all the items The Child needed for school right then and there instead of spreading it across multiple paychecks. By having to wait a month, and having thus purchased all that The Child was lacking for school, I was able to spend the money on me. Sure, I could have saved it and spent it on The Child’s upcoming birthday. But again, with careful planning , and multiple paychecks, all but last minute items are purchased for her birthday. So in a way, it was destiny that I had to wait a month so that I would have it to spend on ME. Not on her, not on Hubby and his never ending quest for more tools.
 
Because you see, my Nook died. My beloved, precious Nook. The Nook that has been an extension of my arm for the past almost 4 years. Honestly, I’m not sure what is wrong with it. It won’t charge, it is stuck in standby mode, even when the battery is removed and left out of it for hours. Technically, with the battery removed, it should have a blank, white screen, but nope, it still has the standby screen.  ???  Hubby tried to fix it but to no avail. Because he knows just how important books are to me.
 
So then I was heartbroken. Sure, I have plenty of paperbacks that I have read at least twice if not more, that I could re-read. Sure I could go to the library and check out books. It’s not like I would never be able to read again. It’s just that my Nook had become a part of me. So since I still had plenty of available options left to me, replacing my Nook was not/is not a priority. That same night, I received an e-mail from Walmart telling me about Christmas layaway. So then I was like, Yay! I can put one on layaway and pay it off over 3 months without breaking the bank. I could wait another 3 months for my Nook. So after I got the go ahead from Hubby, that was what I decided to do.
 
The next day, when I went in to work to pick up my paycheck, there was Bill, with my $100 bonus. I texted Hubby to let him know I finally got it, because he was always pestering me about it. He decided that I could take him to lunch lol. So we went to lunch and that was when he decided that I should take the $100 bonus and go buy a new Nook after I took him back to work. Wait, what? He said to just go buy it instead of putting it on layaway. Uhm, ok. So after I took a few minutes to review my "List of Needs" to see if there was anything that HAD to be bought right then and there for The Child or the house or The Dog, that couldn’t be put off one paycheck or spread out over multiple paychecks, I went to Walmart. 
 
So here I am at Walmart, waiting to purchase my new Nook. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. "Associates" walked past me. An "Associate" was busy helping others. And here I was, standing there, waiting, waiting for someone to acknowledge me standing there, someone to say, "Be right with you, Ma’am", someone to say, "I’ll call for someone to come help you". Nothing. 20 minutes I stood there, 20 minutes I tried to grab someone’s attention. I finally gave up. I went and got the rest of what I needed to get and went home, Nook-less.
 
But that’s ok, I still had my $100 bonus. I still had the go-ahead to buy a new one. So I did. Online. And had it sent to store for pickup. LOL 2 hours later I received a text that my purchase was ready for pick-up and The Child and I went back to Walmart and picked it up. I now have a new HD 9" Nook tablet. Which was over $120 cheaper than what I paid for my original, 1st generation Nook. It’s not an iPad that is for sure but once I get the hang of it, aside from using it only to read my books, I’m sure I will love it. 

 
I near about went ape-shit-bat-crazy on my co-worker Nikki the other day. First, she decided Sunday night after she got off work that it would be just fine and dandy to spend the night at the hotel, with a guest, in his room … a MARRIED guest, a married guest who had just had his wife & kid staying with him the previous weekend. She claims she didn’t know he was married. I throw the bullshit flag on that! Anyway, her life, her choices, her consequences. I’m just thankful that I was able to convince Rachel not to fire her right then and there. I asked her to please train a replacement first, then fire Nikki because I didn’t/couldn’t want to help out with extra hours till a new person was trained.
 
So anyway, Nikki had asked me to trade some shifts with her. I really don’t want to work during the week but I’m a team player and I will help out if needed, especially when it involves court ordered DSS meetings for her children. Then the meetings got pushed back to next week so I wasn’t needed. Then this Thursday was her kid’s birthday & could I still work, even though she could no longer cover for me on Friday night (will explain that one in a minute) but would work next Fri night for me. Then when I told her I could only do 7-11 she said never mind. Then 2 hours later she is sending me a text telling me she is sick & can’t keep anything down and could I please work her shift – in an hour!!! Hell no!! Sorry, but I need more than 1 hour advanced warning. Funny thing, that same night (Wednesday), when I was leaving Walmart from picking up my Nook, she drove right next to me in the parking lot. We even waved to each other. Explain that one … explain it better than The Child did when she said, "Busted!" lol

 
So The Child … she decided a few weeks ago that she just *had* to play volleyball this year. She wants to play for the school but has to wait till 7th grade. So, in her mind, she *has* to play for the YMCA this year so that it will look good for her when she tries out for the school team next year. The hell? So anyway, we signed her up (I’m going to need a 2nd part time job on the weekends to pay for all her crap! lol) and her first practice starts on Tuesday and her first game will be on the 28th. I’m actually excited about it all. I can’t wait to attend her first game. 
 
I’m even more excited that she is competing in her first Karate Tournament tomorrow. I couldn’t be more proud of her! Of course, I hate, absolutely, deep-down-to-my-core-hate, that I have to work 11pm tonight till 7 in the morning and we have to be at the tournament by 8:30am in the morning, an hour and a half away from here. Ugh. I’ve already asked Rachel to please come in 10 – 15 minutes early so I can at least change clothes before we hit the road. She said to send her a text when I come in at 11pm to remind her. At best she will be right on time coming in at 7 am instead of her usual 7:10 – 7:15am. *sigh* I’ll try to cat nap on the way there. I just hope the tournament is over by 1pm or 2 at the absolute latest because we have to drive the 1.5 hours back home and then I have to sleep to go back into work at 11pm tomorrow night. But if Nikki hadn’t been so damn wishy-washy and shit with me all week about me working Thursday 3-11pm for her, she would have been working my shift tonight in exchange and I wouldn’t have to be worried about all the "I hope I don’t fall asleep during her competition" issues I will have tomorrow. But, they are my issues so I will deal with them. I will give my daughter my complete, undivided attention tomorrow and just sleep when I am dead. lol
 
I apologize in advance for all the upcoming pictures/posts I will be overloading your news feed on Facebook with starting tomorrow and then when her volleyball games start. I’m not sorry for being proud of my kid and wanting to put her accomplishments on blast. I’m just sorry for not knowing when enough is enough and not caring enough to stop after the first "few" lol. 
 
Gotta take Cocoa The Dog to the vet for her yearly shots so I’ll shut up now. Till next time … 

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