Goodbye, 2009!

Okay, so I have yet to figure out what my New Year's Resolutions will be. I know one thing I'd like to do in general is find a purpose. I'm starting to feel like I'm at that point where it's getting monotonous and I don't want to think this is all I'm going to do with my life.

In 2010, I hope to graduate with my masters so I can get the hell outta that soul-sucking school and move onto an actual career- or semblance of a career... who knows, I might only have an adjunct position here and there, but I can always substitute teach and steal people's organs to sell on the black market for additional income.

I also hope that 2010 is the year I get to sleep. I have been hoping that since 2006, but fingers crossed this will be the one! I'd also love to move in 2010, but I know that won't happen either. But anyway, I'm gonna try to keep my head up and forge ahead cause I like even number and this is an even numbered year! Woo hoo!

What are your resolutions or aspirations for this coming year?

Wordless Wednesday: Cute Sleepers Edition

Happy Anniversary, Blog!

Okay, so like a man, I forgot to say anything on the actual date, but remembering it at all should count for something, haha. (jk, men!)

I started my blog and joined twitter on November 28, 2008, so last month was my one year anniversary of having this blog and tweeting. It feels like longer than that, but it's not. I don't have any huge plans for this blog other than to try to keep up with it. Next semester should be far less chaotic schedule-wise, so it shouldn't be as difficult.

One thing I hope to implement when I am not exhausted from being awakened at 4:45am by a kid who is crying because he can't find his pacifier is to make a separate page of a reading list of books I've read. I have always LOVED to read, but over the years have run out of motivation. Since Thankgiving break, I've read 11 books and it feels good! I really want to get back into it, so I'm going to share whether or not I like the books with my readers to encourage them to get out there and read, too.

Okay, anyway, happy anniversary blog and I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep now.

Music Monday: Aerosmith "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"

I picked this song because it is actually my husband and my song. I know, you're laughing. The reason being is because it was the first slow song we ever danced to. (It was the homecoming dance my senior year of high school... yep, we're rednecks.)

Hamsterkitten To Do List

Okay, so now the holidays are over (I don't count New Year's Eve, cause I don't do anything special) and I can't believe I still have almost four weeks until school starts again! That is awesome. So, I now have time to do some of the things that need to get done before now and then. They include:

1) Updating my Miss Advice blog. If you haven't checked it out, please do! It's my creative outlet that I don't get from this blog or school. (Creative writing is not really encouraged there.)

2) Getting rid of some of my junk on ebay. I've had piles of stuff waiting to be sold on ebay for months, and I'm tired of looking at them. I hate clutter, but seem to be surrounded by it 24/7. Our daycare told us we couldn't take a month off, so the kids will still go two days a week while I'm on break (otherwise we'd still have to pay for them to not be there) and I will probably use these days to get a lot of stuff done.

3) Lose 1,000 pounds. I don't believe in making New Year's Resolutions that I know I probably won't keep, so I never resolve to lose weight. But, I wanted a treadmill for Christmas and hooray for the convenience of my parents having one they no longer wanted. A free treadmill is a good thing to have. I originally wanted to take up outdoor walking because it seems like everyone I ask about they weight-loss success have done it just from walking. One of my new friends lost 100 lbs by walking and eating a little better! Of course she said she walked like 12 miles a day, so enter the treadmill idea. Ideally I'd like to walk outdoors, but realistically, it's winter and I can't load both the kids up and walk 12 miles and expect them to be cooperative. So, I'm hoping that if I park the treadmill in front of the tv, it won't be so monotonous. I think I could probably read and walk, too... but I better now chew gum and walk.

4) Tweet more. Over the summer, I was a tweeting machine. Of course I had nothing to do, so that's why, but I used to have a lot of people that I talked to daily on Twitter- who knows where they went? Now I get occasional folks, but hardly anyone talks to me much and therefore no one comments on my blog anymore... I miss it. It feels weird to make blog posts and not have anyone comment on them... makes me think no one reads them!

Okay, that's enough for now... I like to set my goals low so I can achieve them. Do you guys have any to-do lists that really need to get done?

The Legend of Ozzy

As you may or may not know, I used to breed pekingese. I had originally bought them as pets, but it's the best breed ever, so I decided to breed them. (Yes, I already get hate mail from people who are mad about this, so don't waste your breath.)

Anyway, our first pekingese was Pookie. Pookie had a litter of puppies, two boys and a girl. Being our first litter, we sold one to a couple in Minnesota and I couldn't resist keeping the two boys and named them Ozzy and Gremlin. Their personalities were like night and day, but Ozzy was the coolest dog in the world! He was so ornery, he was spunky, he was loving, it was amazing!

Well, when Ozzy was around 3, I was having problems with him because two of my females would fight a lot when there were puppies and then Ozzy would decide to jump in and he would cause the most damage. I decided that maybe Ozzy and Gremlin needed a new home, but I refused to separate them.

As luck would have it, the couple that bought Ozzy and Gremlin's sister had been thinking about getting another peke from me and decided they wanted Gremlin. Their daughter lived in the same town and said she would take Ozzy. It relieved me so much because I was so worried about letting them go. I cried when Ozzy left and a little piece of me knew that no other dog would be able to replace him.

About a month later, I got an email from the woman who took Ozzy saying that she had to find him a new home. She said he'd keep running out the front door and she was afraid he'd get hit by a car. So, she turned to PNC Midwest, a pekingese rescue organization that I was familiar with and had donated money to (not much, but I tried.) This probably two years ago.

On a whim last night, I looked at the organization's website, and searched for Ozzy. I saw a dog that looked identical, age matched and everything. I emailed the organization and guess what: it IS Ozzy! He's currently being fostered by someone in Wisconsin. We no longer have puppies, so no dogs fight and I feel like it was meant for him to come back to me! I have emailed the woman who runs the organization and asked what it would take to get him back, but I don't know what will happen. I'M the one who got him neutered in the first place, so I think that should count for something, but they have a large adoption fee ($250) and you have to go through a lot of obstacles to get a dog. Plus, he's in Wisconsin right now, so I'm not sure how they would get him to me or how I would get him.

Anyway, I thought I would share this story and I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle with a happy ending! The picture is of him from their website. I have a million adorable ones of him as a baby...

My Thoughts On: Lady GaGa

I've been meaning to post this for quite awhile, but yeah, I'm pretty behind... but I am a big Lady GaGa fan- I love her imagination, her voice and the fact that she's not afraid to be different. There's been these stupid rumors about her being a man... which don't even deserved to be addressed.

Anyway, she was interviewed as one of Barbara Walter's 10 most fascinating people of 2009 and it was a good interview. She was playing in clubs at 18 and had long brown hair and looked like a totally normal person... and apparently her dad is not thrilled with her lack of clothing and naughtiness in her videos- understandably. Anyway, she actually seems pretty down to earth and I thought I'd share her VMA performance because I thought it was GREAT! Very artsy and memorable. I think she was trying to show that people in show biz sometimes have to give their lives in order to get away from the media that hounds them... but anyway, enjoy!

What's Up With That, World?

I just wanted to ponder something for a moment.

Why does everyone automatically assume all young people are single parents? It's quite odd. Okay, so maybe I kind of understand it in regards to my town as there are a TON of single parents, but is it now the norm to assume people are single parents and treat them as such?

Don't get me wrong, I don't find it offensive, I just marvel at the idea of it. Here are my two recent examples:

My husband got a part time job and one of the girls he worked with was trying to get to know him during some slow time. He mentioned that he had two kids and her response to this was, "oh, do you get to see them much?" lol...

Then Monday, I was subbing at one of the elementary schools and there was this older lady subbing as well and she knew my mom, so she was asking me questions. I mentioned having kids and she hesitated and said, "... and... are you... married? I hate to ask, but you never know these days." And when I said yes, she replied, "oh, that's so wonderful to hear!" And the interesting thing is we both have tattooed wedding rings, so it's not like people can't look at our ring fingers.

Anyway, that was my little thought for the day: feel free to comment or go about your life as usual.

The CP Chronicles: Chapter Four (Marie)

This chapter will venture to the first client that I've talked about on the mentally retarded side of CP. This was definitely not my favorite unit to work on as I found myself annoyed quite often. I don't mind working with mentally retarded folks when I know they need help and sympathy, but the ones who are only mildly retarded and just become whiny and complain all the time- those people drive me cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

Marie was my favorite hands down on the mentally retarded side. I'd say she easily weighed 300 pounds and was about five feet tall, maybe five-two. The first day I worked on this side... the FIRST... I was instructed to take toothpaste down to Marie's room so she could brush her teeth. Marie was not allowed to have shampoo in the shower because she'd dump it down the drain, so when I arrived, you had to go in and give her shampoo, which sometimes she yanked out of your hands, so I came up with the idea of putting shampoo in a little disposable cup and giving it to her, so no issues would arise.

This was the same with the toothpaste. Apparently if you gave Marie the toothpaste, she would eat the whole tube. So, here I was, half her size, taking her some toothpaste, which I assumed was no biggie. Well, as soon as I walk into Marie's room and she sees the toothpaste, she yanks it out of my hand and pins me against the wall with her massive frame. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I thought my best move was to do nothing... while she devoured the toothpaste. It was kinda like the idea of pretending to be a tree if a scary dog comes to get you. Well, it worked. She ate her toothpaste, let me go and I scurried back to the office, freaked out beyond belief!

After that incident, I came to find that Marie was just a giant teddy bear who was all bark and no bite. She had been given to the state as a toddler once her parents realized she was retarded. It was pretty sad, I thought, but she was pushing sixty and maybe that wasn't such a big deal when she was little. Her IQ was extremely low and all she cared about in life was food and "black pop." I think the thing she said most to me was, "Harold, will you buy me a big bottle of black pop?" (She thought my name was Harold because apparently in her mind Cara sounds like Harold.) She ended up using a walker to get around and you could hear her walking up and down the halls banging her walker. Then, when she was mad, she'd scream bloody murder and bang her walker on the floor. To this I would always say, "Marie, do you want me to throw your walker out the window?" And she would say "No, Harold." (Of course I wouldn't have thrown her walker out the window, but it got her to stop banging it.)

Just like all my other favorite residents, Marie was sent to another facility because she was not capable of living in a higher functioning setting. I often wonder about how she is doing, but I'm sure wherever she is, she's keeping people on their toes!

Saturday Rant

You know what has been really bugging me lately? Selfish people. I know they say that people are inherently selfish, but I just can't believe how little thought some people give to others. Now, I'm not some holier than thou completely unselfish person, but I would say I do a pretty good job of trying to think of other people before I make a decision or say something. There are several things that have happened recently that just leave me baffled. It can't be a generational thing, as I had originally thought because it seems to span every age group. For instance, apparently high school girls these days feel it is common practice to stand their friends up, to make plans and then leave someone hanging all night. That does not just happen with high school girls, believe me.

And then what about professionally? Why is everyone so obsessed with criticizing and passing judgment? And it seems like the people who are in positions of authority NEVER think of anyone else's feelings. Hey, here's a thought, before you spew your negative attitude, why not ask the person for an explanation instead of immediately condemning them?

I'm purposely trying to be vague here because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I felt as though it might be cathartic to vent about how much it pisses me off lately that there are so many people around me that are completely selfish. As I've said before, I've been dealing with assholes my whole life and I will continue to, but come on, people! It's okay to think about someone besides yourself for a change.

Along these lines, I'm thinking one of my New Year Resolutions will be to stand up for myself once in awhile.

Dear Santa

You know how every year at Christmas you waste your time delivering gifts to the sniveling children across the world? You know, toys that they probably don't appreciate or break or get bored with after a day? And you know those kids were naughty a great majority of the year!

Well...

I never ask for anything for Christmas, and I feel like you could just do me this one time delivery. I've been super duper good this year aside from the gossiping, but I try really hard to not make it malicious. Okay, so I could probably try harder not to gossip at all, but I'm a girl and I can't help it! Otherwise, I can't think of any atrocities that would put me on the naughty list. I donate a buck everytime there's someone standing outside WalMart with a boot or a bucket or a jar. I take things to the Salvation Army about every other day. Then there's the times I slow down and roll my window down to shout to the deer that they need to be careful cause they're close to the road... I think I've been pretty darn good, Santa!

So, all I want this Christmas is something that would make my life easy peasy lemon squeezy. I'd be able to get a good night's sleep, my chore list would be cut and half, my toes wouldn't be freezing, my in-laws would have less to criticize and there wouldn't be ladybugs in every light fixture.

That's right Santa, I'd like a new house; just this one little thing! And you can just drop it off in front of the old one, there's plenty of room.

Thanks, Santa! You're a doll!

Love,
hammy

Decking the Halls!

I can't believe I didn't post anything all week... oh, wait, I can believe it. I ended up having to be at school ALL DAY... until I got home until like 10pm... Monday through Thursday... it was exhausting. Then, yesterday the kids had daycare and I had to run a lot of birthday related errands and then had to finish up my final draft for a 15 page paper that I want to hand in Monday. This coming Wednesday is my last day for the semester and I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED. I'd be more excited if my last two papers were finished, but that will come.

So, today is my daughter's 4th birthday party. I have a feeling it's gonna be very underattended, but that's okay. It's the first time we've had a separate one for friends. Her real birthday is Monday and that is just for family. Four years ago today, I was in the hospital being induced. Yep, I was induced at around 9am on Dec. 5 and didn't pop that sucker out until 12:08am Dec. 7. It was quite ridiculous! I can't believe that 4 years ago today I did not have any kids and life was pretty dull. I believe at that time I was taking classes online for a criminal justice degree while I bided my time trying to decide what I wanted to do. At that time, I think I wanted to be a stay at home mom... boy how things have changed!! Now, that's the LAST thing I want! (Not knocking people that do it, just not my cup of tea.)

Well, I'm off to keep getting things ready, but just thought I'd touch base with what's going on here... I'm also really excited for Christmas! Have a nice day!