Debbie Downer, come on down!

today had all the earmarks of a good day.

easier time at work. approval for some vacation time so i CAN FINALLY GO TO VEGAS WITH MY GIRL!! (Vegas, Kristie...yeah, baby! it's only taken us five years...or more!)

it was hotternhell this weekend...and today, too, but i got to spend today in an air conditioned office, so not so bad.

i stop @ El Pollo Loco for some dinner, because again...it's too dang hot to cook. drive home. open the back gate from our parking to the apartments and...

damn. daaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
my downstairs neighbor is on the ground.

flat on the ground.

drunk off her bum.

i call Brendan to call the cops. the cops transfer him to the paramedics. 15 minutes later six paramedics are there, sitting this woman up, taking her vitals and trying to talk to her.

she goes between answering and crying.

this is so sad. the only part that made me giggle to myself, was the ROP kid, training with them and taking her pulse. makes me think he's thinking 'i have GOT to find me a new line of work.'

one of the paramedics and i talk quietly, i explain this has happened before, and one of them gets the assistant manager. he takes one look at her and says no, i won't let her in the apartment, because she's not on the lease.

now, i understand he has to protect the property. however, there is something called the right thing to do. what if she wanders out in the street in front of our place and gets killed? so you protected the property at the cost of a human being?

whatever.

then, of course i'm angry at our neighbor who allows her to stay but doesn't want to give her a key or put her on his lease. who leaves for hours, leaving her sleeping it off on a chaise lounge across from his apartment.

i'm angry that our new neighbors and their young kids feel like they're stuck in the house while she sleeps it off at the bottom of the stairs.

i'm angry that no one seems to want to help this woman, especially when one of the paramedics is pouring out what's left of her cheap vodka and asks me to toss the bottle.

who's got to die before something can be done? how sad and pathetic is it that this woman is sleeping it off on a lounge chair, with a bruised cheek, waiting for my dumb ass neighbor to come home so she can be safe inside?

what does it take?

i'm angry. waste makes me angry, and that's all this is - a waste of a God-given gift: life.
and angry that no one will help this woman get some help.

and that she has to sleep it off in front of the entire complex.

800 blabberings.

whoda thunk it?

well, me for one.
my husband for another.
and well, pretty dang much everyone who knows me.

i can ramble on and on about things that well...probably don't need me rambling on and on about.

but what the heck.

so post away. i've got a little acrylic frame i'll send to you, if my Husband chooses you.

have fun!

how can you continue to speak with your foot in your mouth?

that, Gentle Reader, is the question of the day: how can you speak? how can you freaking verbalize words when not only your foot is in your mouth, but most of your damn leg??

and thank heavens, i speak not of me.

today, while i was listening to my fellow employees bitch, er....express their frustration over the contractors we have (they're taking all the work, no, they take all the easy work and leave the hard stuff.) and other stuff.

(the Queen Boss was hosting what we call a skip level - where we get together without our immediate supervisors and can talk about pretty much anything.)

but when one of them said how he goes online to see how much work everyone else puts in their queue, well, that pretty much did it for both of us.

hmmmmm...you've got time to do that, but bitch about how much work we ask you to output? whatever.

but - that's not what really did me in today.

my friend at work and i started on the same day. we've been there through each others marriages and her eventual divorce and the suicide of her ex. so, when she called me later today, not sure if she should laugh or cry, well, i'm there for her.

with a hammer to smack the crap out of someone.

you remember me telling you about the girl we work with who got her grandmother's condo, after all the nastiness she talked about her and the horrible way she treated her? well, she joined Weight Watchers last year and really has done wonderfully well.

however...that hasn't stopped her from bringing in her superfat clothes that she can't wear to my friend.

so today - when they were down at break, she says to my friend - 'those shoes sure make your feet look big. they just look so skinny but long.'

oh...thank you i think.

then she flipped out the big one. when one of the ladies we used to work with came in the cafeteria and stopped to say hello, this lady complimented this other girl on her weight loss, then turned to my friend and said (throwing me a bone, she said), 'you look great, too - have you been losing weight?'

my friend said no, not really. then, the newly skinny mouthy one said, 'she's not losing weight, she's just wearing clothes that aren't so damn baggy on her.'

you just can't make this crap up. meanwhile, my neck hurts from shaking my head.

so i'm now calling my friend HoboMellie, or She-of-the-ClownFeet.

keep your eyes open for news from California, kids. skinny minny is going to be the first EVER with Athletes Foot on her tongue.

it's that dang internal dialog that keeps popping out.

at the baby shower on Saturday, one of the games played was 'how much do you know about Ashley?' the usual questions: is she wearing earrings? what's her favorite movie? has she picked a name for the baby?

(no. Wizard of Oz. yes, Dakota)

one of the questions was: is she wearing pants?

nope. she's wearing a sundress. then the smart-ass with the camera says, 'and that's what got her into this mess!'

dang it. i need a handler for myself.

Saturday mornings rock.

a bowl of Honeycomb.
the Osmonds cartoons on DVD.
doing some scrapbooking for a friend.

that's what i call a good day.



off to take photos at a baby shower. that should be interesting.

i have been neglecting myself.

yep.

it's for 'down there.'

it comes in auburn, blond, black, brown, tangerine and pink.

why, i could trim a heart and dye it pink.

that oughta cause a ruckus with the paramedics.

fat. ugly. hairy.

and no, i do not have PMS.

i took advantage tonight of the Husband at school, to get me a pedicure.

and behold, it was goooooood.

and, as is tradition here in Mostly Smoggy So.Cal., there's generally more nail shops than Starbucks - at least one or two or more in a square block. and, a vast majority are owned by, well...immigrants.

and, since English is a second language for most of them, it sometimes makes communicating, well...difficult.
so imagine my delight, when, the owner of said shop, said to me, after welcoming me, 'you wan peddycure?'

why yes. yes i would!

'oh...honey. you need brow wax.'

why no. no i don't. my brows are recently waxed & plucked.

'oh....but honey.' (said as she examines the part of my hair) 'honey, you need color. baad.'

nice.

i may, but not from you, my love.

so on we went with the business at hand. 25 minutes and ten cutsie-pootsie toes later, then owner comes by again and says, 'ohhhh, honey. you want design on your toe?' (which i did and said so)

and she said....

'oh good. cause you got big toes, design look nice on big toes.'

oh. thank you.

there you have it, Gentle Reader. i'm fat. i'm hairy with serious roots and big toes.

but they are cute pink big toes.

what's happening in the clean world?

well then.

i think that's enough silence for, oh - say a monastery, wouldn't you?

and no worries, all is well in O'Mahonyville. just a few bad patches in a sucky year. believe me when i say that 2008 has blown.huge.chunks. and i will be truly glad to kiss it goodbye.

no tongue.

so - let's catch up, shall we?

B is still gainfully unemployed. the employer in San Diego turned him down for another candidate, and, while Brendan was ranting about how he was the best person for this job, i countered with reminding him that a) the job wasn't meant to be, so he should just get over it (i know. i am SO sympathetic), and b) the job wasn't meant to be because remember? we would need to move. THAT COSTS MONEY. and even if we didn't move right away, there would be the commuting. WHICH ALSO COSTS MONEY.

and c) if i had to, i would take the commuter train, but wasn't relishing spending 2-3 hours of my day on the bloody Metrolink.

which brings us to the job he's been chasing, right around the corner from our casa. they've played grab-ass for a few weeks now; employer making an offer, B countering with a slightly higher offer, employer saying no, well, what about this amount, B coming back with another offer. finally, employer said well, let me think that one over, call me in a few days.

B calls back in a few days. employer says, 'hey, you were supposed to call me on Friday.' B replies no, we decided on Thursday, remember? employer says, 'oh. you're right. well, sorry, but i can't swing that amount.' B thanks him for his time, and tells him to keep his resume on file.

B's fine. i'm pissed. this guy had already decided that he wasn't willing to pay what Brendan was asking, but did not have the common courtesy to call him and let him know before Brendan had to call? sheesh.

if he treats people like this who don't work for him, imagine what it must be like to work for this man.

but really...i've let it go.

really.



so - other than that...my mom says she's doing better with her knee healing after surgery, but, since she's compensating for the bad one, her good one is acting up. i know she's not feeling well when she cancels on her quilting social groups.

such a thing just does not happen.

i'm hoping she can get in to some PT soon...it made a difference with my back and i only regret i didn't get in before i went back to work.

meanwhile...i'm looking for a pedicure, a massage and peace for my soul.

oh, and a winning lotto ticket so i can sit around all day taking cooking & photography classes and making slightly cuter stuff out of other stuff.

if only.

life ain't always beautiful.

sometimes it just plain sucks.

and for us right now, it really does.

give me some time. i'll be back...and i'll be OK.

because i'm too tired to be funny.

or witty.
or tender.
or thought-provoking.

wait. i rarely AM, anyway. so i guess it's not much of a stretch.

i am, however, tired.

week of work makes me weak.

so. what's been going on? B's still a stay-at-home dad. he's contacted both the latest interviews; one isn't ready to make a decision and the other is doing his usual 'i'm very busy and cannot talk to you but call me next week' thing.

whatever.

at work, things are starting to actually slow down. a little. then a brushfire takes off and i consider quitting/retiring/winning the lotto all over again.

(speaking of, did you read about the man in Michigan who won the lotto? usually plays w/ fellow co-workers, but this time his son bought him some tix. $126MILLION. and he's planning on giving $1 million each to some of his co-workers that he usually played with. i just am not sure i could be that generous to some of the schmoes i work with.)

so.

stole this from Linda. enjoy. i'm going to bed.

Each question needs to be answered with a 5 word answer
1. What did you have for breakfast? a uggy sausage breakfast burrito
2 What are you doing now? trying to keep eyes open
3. What is your weather like? cool. cloudy. breezy. possible rain.
4. What’s bugging you now? politics nationally and at work.
5. What’s going on this weekend? swap meet. weigh-in. creating!

feel free to play, let me know so i can spy your answers.

again with the aliens?

naaah.

it's been crazy busy as usual.

but that's not why i haven't been around.

he's been hogging, er...using the computer non-stop for the last four days because he had a mid-term.

big whoop. does he not realize my blogging is far more important than a freaking grade?

riiiiiight.

more to come.