Long Time No Post

Yep. I'm still alive. Sorry about the spammy posts. I haven't logged into blogger for quite a while. Don't know if anyone reads my blog anymore anyway lol

I think I have gotten away from blogging due to Facebook. It's easier to see what people are saying and doing on Facebook than checking their blog. It's quicker to post a quick status update, than to go into blogger, format my blog post, etc. And the memes..oh the memes!

I have been stable over the past 4 1/2 years, living in the same apartment with my teenage son. Yep, my son is not only a teenager, BUT he just finished his first year in high school. I can't believe it. He was my baby not long ago, what happened? It has been him and I for the past 6 years or so. He used to want to spend his time with me, but not anymore. I miss that. Once in a while he spends time with me like when he was young.

I worked a job in retail for about 2 1/2 years, and I have been working inbound customer service over the phone for almost two. Customer service is a very tough job. Most of the customers are nice, wanting things fixed. And yes, sometimes my company is the one that messed up. If so, we admit it and fix it. But the majority of the time, it is either: A mess-up on their end that they BLAME on us and expect us to fix NOW; A mess-up on their end that they admit and ask expect us to fix; or nothing messed up, but they don't understand and think we messed up. A good day is when I don't get cursed at!

Actually, I don't mind being cursed at. I know I am a bitch fucking bitch, thank you very much. There's nothing more fun than when someone is being an ass, and they KNOW it, and when the conversation is done, you tell them to have a WONDERFUL DAY/EVENING/WEEKEND. A little passive aggressive, no? Try to have that call pulled. "Umm, they told you to have a wonderful day, I'm sorry?" lol

It's the bullying and the belittling that can get to me. Yes, I should not take it personally, and usually I succeed. I think it sometimes gets to me because I was bullied so much at my retail job by a COWorker. It was so bad and never-ending, the manager didn't do anything, the Union didn't do anything. Things could have ended badly for me. But I got carpel-tunnel and I could not do the deli work. They were able to move me to the service dept. I was a greeter for about a year. To be honest, that probably saved my life. I loved being a greeter! The only one I would not greet was the bully. Can't blame me there though, can ya? A few months later, I heard that she walked off the job on a day I was off. I would have LOVED to have seen that. Karma and I are bitch sisters! With my luck, I keep waiting to see her at my current job. Just...N.O. A few people at my retail job are working the same place I am. The atmosphere is much more positive, and the managers really care about it.

We also have a kitty! He is such a cute boy, isn't he? He is so lovey as well, he loves to climb on me when I am laying down. Nice to wake up to kitty butt in my face!

Well, that's been my vida loca for the past few years. Comment below if anybody still reads this!

I Respect Me

Snow, sigh

Dear mother nature,
I thought we talked about being done with the snow? WTF? You better hope I don't find you!
No love!
A.

Life

I've been a bad blogger. I got busy working, then they cut some people, including me, and I got depressed. That's what's been going on, in a nutshell. They cut some people before Christmas, but I was cut with a few people a couple of days before New Year's Day. So I'm looking for a job, or at least trying to with being depressed.

Our Christmas was good. We had a late one, as my older kids went to see their dad in NJ. My younger son and I did it on Christmas, then did something more when the older two came back right before school started.

Just had parent-teacher conferences. My older son passed, but barely. My daughter is doing really well, she is working hard. My younger son is doing better at finishing his work. He reads at a 5th or 6th grade level (he's in 2nde grade). He's a bookworm like mom!

I borrowed a Kindle book reader from the library today. I was reading a good book, but I think I accidentally deleted it, oops! I'll have to have them put it back on tomorrow. It doesn't come with a paper manual.

Long week, big car problems

This has been a long week. On Monday my tire was flatter than a pancake, and no spare. Someone came to change it, and he said there was leakage and the rim had to be sealed, so I went to the mechanics and had that done.

Tuesday my car was making klunking noises. I had my son's auto shop teacher look at it. I was going to bring it back on Thursday, but when I woke up on Wednesday morning, my car was gone. I filed a police report and got a ride to work and home. They found it in the middle of a a road several miles from my house that day. I had to pay $120 for the towing. When I went to pick it up on Thursday, it would not start. I tried to jump-start it, but it wouldn't stay on and it made a horrible noise. I had it towed to my mechanic, and he pronounced the engine dead.

I missed a lot of work this week because of the damn car. I don't know who stole it, the police don't know (or at least they don't have any direct evidence as to who did it), although they are speculating.

Someone at church offered me a car for several months as it will be her son's when he gets his license, so hopefully that will work out until I can buy another one or find an engine for the minivan that isn't too expensive.

Hopefully this week is better.

First week of training done!

It's been a busy week. We had to get used to getting up and around even earlier than we had to on school days. But we did it. My son had fun at our friend's house. She has a very gentle dog that he adores, and who likes having him around to play with.

Training is going well. We're learning a lot about appliances, as we will get calls for appliances that they have bought, and may be having problems with. It's a lot to learn, but we don't have to memorize everything. We have some great resources we can look up on the computer when a customer calls. We are using the appliances during training. We made yummy cinnamon rolls last week. We will be doing our trainer's bosses laundry soon lol. Washers are going so high tech, well actually most appliances are, it's amazing. Soon they will be able to run themselves!

1 1/2 more weeks of training, then watch out!

Anisah

What we've been up to

I haven't posted much in a while. Just been feeling kinda meh.

School ended in early June, so the kids are home, bored of course. My daughter went to her dad's house for the summer. It is a lot quieter now lol. Her older brother couldn't go. He's busy working this summer. Same job he had last summer. He works at a restaurant. They don't get much business during the winter, so he mostly works summer and part of fall.

My younger son and I go to the library a lot. He's in the children's book club this summer. Every 10 books they read, they get a prize. He's reading really well. His first grade teacher told me he was reading at a 3rd grade level. I'm trying to get him to read a lot this summer. Maybe he'll be the one of my kids that is a bookworm like me!

My daughter and my 7 yo both had birthdays in June. His is the day after hers. We got a cake but didn't do much else. I should have more money to do more things with them when I'm working. Although then I won't have the time. I guess that is what weekends are for.

I've been feeling kinda meh. Census work is done. I didn't have much to do the last 3 weeks of it. I think I'll be getting one or two small checks from it.

And big news, I got a job. I had applied at this company before, but the interview was tough and I flunked it. I know someone who works there and they encouraged me to apply again. They were trying to hire 43 people to start training next week. I was nervous, but I finally did a week ago, and I am starting next Monday. We are contractors (temporary workers), but some people get on permanently there.

My son is working a lot and can't watch my 7 yo son. A friend that lives in town is going to babysit him. She has a dog that my son loves, and there are kids that live near her. I haven't had to find babysitting for years. He'll have fun with her.

Training will be 8:30-5 or 5:15 for 3 weeks, then we will get our schedules. We have to be available from 8 am to 8 pm Monday-Friday, and from 9-5 on Saturdays. If we work Saturday, we get a day off during the week.

I'm trying to get my house cleaned up, since I won't feel like it much when I'm working. Trying to get all the winter clothes up, and sort through clothes the kids have grown out of. I want to have a garage sale this summer. They are a PITA though.

A census we will go

I finished up census training this week. Yesterday afternoon we went out to do interviews (we write the answers down that they give us) for a couple of hours. We have to read the questions verbatim (exactly as they are written). We have to ask if they and everyone in the house is male or female. I know kinda stupid, but the Quality Control people call a certain percentage of those we interview (we ask for their phone number), and ask them if we asked certain questions.

I got one interview yesterday. Today we finished up our training, did our test, then went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I got 3 interviews, then I locked my keys in my car! I had just gotten an interview at the house next door, and I went there to use her phone (mine was in my car too). I let my supervisor know, and then called the police dept. to see if they would open my car door. Some police departments will do that. They said no. The woman whose phone I was using said her fiance was going to come home soon and he could probably do it. So we talked until her guy got home. It was past time we had to quit, we couldn't get more than 8 hours today, so I just went home. They were really nice, and had a cute little dog.

I am enjoying doing the census. A lot of the people weren't home. The ones that were home answered the questions and were really nice. They even gave their phone numbers. So we'll see how the rest goes and how much work there is.

Not sure if I will be able to work tomorrow, my car is on empty. Someone hit my car in a parking lot a few weeks ago. They were going to give me a check today, they didn't want to go through their insurance company. I went to pick it up (the guy's son hit my car and left a note, I wasn't in the car). The guy looked at my car, and told me his son's car couldn't have hit my car there. So I went all the way there for nothing. I don't know if his son's car really hit it there or not. I thought it had. So no money for gas to work. I may not be able to go visit my son on Sunday either. My damn car cost over $400 to fix on Monday, and I still owe them a bit too.

Yard work time!

Today is great weather. Our yard had TONS of leaves that didn't get raked up last winter. Our landlords came over and helped rake the leaves. Then we had lunch with them out on the deck. The weather is wonderful! I will probably take my 6 yo to the park. He wants to learn to ride a 2 wheeler without the training wheels. Have helmet, will travel!

Tough Love Clarification

The 'hurt' is not about physical hurt. I was not talking about spanking or beating my child. Tough love is calling your kids on their shit, and having to watch them get punishment for what they've done, even if you are the one who was responsible for them getting punishment.

More work for the census next month!

I got a call today from the census. I'm going to be working again in late April. It's 4 days of training. They said it would last 3-5 weeks. We may even get overtime. Anisah

The Word of the day

That's me all right.

Arghhhhhhh!

Yep, I'm having one of those weeks. I actually have been blogging on my private blog. I know, I made it then ignored it for months lol. I'm letting out my stress there, so check it out. If you haven't been invited, post a message below to ask.

A birthday, and ghosts of birthdays past

Wednesday was my birthday. It was my 41st birthday 2nd anniversary of my 39th birthday. Forever 39! I had to get my license plates and driver's license renewed. Nice birthday present from to the state: "Happy Birthday. Now give us money!". Shouldn't I be the one getting a present on my birthday, not them? Well it's government. It's not supposed to make sense.

My sister and my kids picked out a birthday card for me. It's got kitties singing happy birthday in meows. It's cute. My 6 year old got me a coffee thermos (my sister paid for it). I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I drink it occasionally. At my library they have a machine that makes individual cups of coffee, and they have a few flavors of coffee and tea there. I'm drinking waiting for my lemon tea to cool off right now. I didn't have a cake this year. I don't think 41 candles will fit on one!

I don't remember all my birthdays as a kid. When I was 9 we moved to a smaller town that we lived in (it was just a couple of thousand people, I think). On my next birthday, I invited everyone in my room at school (it was a 2 room school. I was in the Litle room we called it, grades 1-4. The room with grades 5-8 was, of course, the Big Room). My dad made a 2 layer cake, which turned out really well. It was a nice ltitle party. that's the only real birthday party I remember having. I'm sure we did family stuff for the ones before that, maybe at my paternal grandma's house.

I don't think I did anything for my 18th birthday. Right after I turned 18, I took my GED tests and left. My dad and I hadn't been getting along during my teenage years. He kicked me out when I was 17, then made me move back in when he found out I had met someone and was moving with him to a nearby state. If I hadn't moved back, he would have declared me an uncontrollable minor and I might have gone to a group home until I was 19 or 21, I don't remember what the attorney told me. So we put up with each other for a few months until I left.

I was kinda depressed on my 21st birthday. My husband wouldn't take the night off work to go out with me. A friend who had told me before she would bailed on me too. I had been to bars and drank before, they didn't check id then very much, but it's a big deal to go out when you are finally legal. I wouldn't have gotten drunk, but it's kind of a ritual, a tradition. Some places even give you one free drink on your 21st birthday.

My sister did a cool thing, though, for my 21st birthday. She had friends in my town at the SDA college. She called one of them, who got me a cake with my name on it and brought it over. I should have invited her in to have a piece, but I was depressed and the place was a mess. I hope she didn't think I was rude. I just wanted to do something special on my birthday and didn't get to. I don't know if I ever thanked my sister or her friend for that. But it really made my day.

Last year some friends found out it was my birthday the day before, and had a little party at their place for me. It was fun. I got a great book that I read and want to see the movie of.

. There's even a movie out, which I haven't seen yet but I want to.

I got another cool book for my birthday last year from my sister.

A library in Spencer, Iowa found a kitten in the book drop on a very cold January day. They were able to warm him up and revive him. They decided to keep it at the library. They named him Dewey Readmore Books. He lived 19 years at the library, and loved being the center of attention. The librarian took him home only when there was a long holiday. There's a bio of him on the library's web site, and he even has his own Facebook page with a lot of pictures. I keep telling our library we need a cat, but don't think they will get one. I heard they may make a movie of his story, with Meryl Streep playing the librarian.

A., you can never have enough books!

Santa came a bit early

This is an early Christmas present to myself. Probably the only gift I am going to get. It's a slider phone. It's not new but it's in good condition. It even has a camera! My first camera phone. It is in pink, but not hot pink, so that's ok. It was the only color she had.

Let it snow!

We got our first snow this past week, and a bit of accumulation, although not much. Luckily we missed the big winter storms that have been happening in a few states lately. I'm sure the kids would have loved to be off school though.

I have my last speech tomorrow. I got 100 on my 3rd speech yesterday! I was expecting maybe a B, as it was hastily put together because I had strep last week and bronchitis this week. My speech was on the history of Santa, from good old Saint Nicholas to the Santa of today. It was kind of short, I thought she'd take off points for that but she didn't. Now to put together one today for tomorrow. I don't have to worry about it too much, if we do all 4 speeches she throws out the lowest score of one of our speeches. Speeches are easier than doing papers in English Comp.

My ex called today. Of course he can't take the kids for the holidays, grrr. I really need a break! My older daughter was thinking about coming up to visit, but she needs to get her car fixed, so won't have money to come.

Won't have a lot of money for Christmas this year. My dad will send me a bit of money and something for Ibi. My older son worked this summer and bought himself all kinds of goodies. I'll try to get something for my daughter. Maybe a gift card to Barnes and Noble. She got my bookworm gene. I might be able to get myself a cool used cell phone, other than that, doubt I'll get anything. At least I was able to get myself a laptop with a bit of my school money. Guess that will have to suffice.

A.

Survey says: Strep throat!

I went to the doctor today. I have strep throat. I figured it was either that or flu. I got some meds today, and hopefully I will sleep better tonight than I have the past two nights. I was supposed to give a speech tomorrow, but my Professor moved my speech to next Tuesday.

School Daize

Classes are going well. My 6 yo son keeps getting sick when I have a history test! Luckily the teacher is good about letting me reschedule. I got a 95 on my speech this week on breastfeeding. No, I didn't demonstrate. The other speeches are really interesting. We have a total of 4 speeches, and I have to do a speaker evaluation (not on someone in my class). We have to go by an outline, as well as give a copy of the outline to the teacher. The outline gets graded too. We have to cite our sources too of course. My English teacher keeps switching between APA and MLA style. We did one paper in each, and now we can choose one. In my speech class we have to use APA Style, so I'll do that in English Comp. as well.

My son was sick about a month ago. He had a fever and his throat hurt. I took him into the doctor, and he had strep throat. About 3 or 4 weeks later, another fever. He said his ear(s) hurt, so I took him in again. They said it was probably a viral infection, and he felt better in a couple of days. My speech teacher is good about excusing absences with an excuse AND documentation. So he's missed quite a bit of school already. Hopefully he is done at least for this semester!

Yahoo mail sucks!

I use my yahoo mail to backup things, photos, and other things. I hadn't done that for a few days, then I log in and get this:

Unusual Activity Detected

To protect you, your account has been suspended from sending, saving, and receiving mail for up to 48 hours

What it really means:

Stop putting so much stuff on your Yahoo mail!!!

If you say the mail storage is unlimited, then mean it!

So hopefully I get my yahoo mail back by tomorrow.

Out With the Old...

in with the new not so old.

My dad came to visit last week. He helped me get a van similar to the one pictured. My car was about to fall apart. The van has a bit of rust on it, but it runs well, and has a lot less miles on it. Plus we have lots more room. I'm trying to sell my old car for a couple of hundred, it's not worth much.