…….Completely and Totally Apathetic

by Tracie on May 8, 2012

Which is actually a pretty sad way to be when you think about it.  It’s been a challenging couple of months for me.  Every year in my school district there are layoffs and this year, they are severe.  Over 135 teachers were let go.  I was NOT one of them yet, but that doesn’t make it any easier.  There was a long period of waiting and waiting for it to happen, and there are still  2 more days left in the layoff period.  It’s hard to remain upbeat and positive when you have no idea if you are going to have a job, or when you year about this friend or that being laid off.

This segues nicely into my next worry which is the same worry as everybody else, MONEY.  I have none.  Well that’s not true, but I sure don’t have enough, and with two kids heading off to college in a year, it’s starting to get very worrisome.  I have no idea how I’m supposed to fund the college educations of two kids when I can’t even pay off my OWN student loans.  I mean really, this is INSANE!  I already know not to expect any help from their father – he can’t be bothered to even SEE them, I certainly can’t count on any contributions to their college education, and in fact, their child support ends the day they graduate from high school.  I’m not opposed to getting a second job, but right now, I’m still their parent, and I feel my place is home with them in the evenings.

There are a few other worries that I can’t comment on in a public blog because they involve other people, but it weighs heavily on my heart and mind.  And speaking of heavy – I am.  I get it, I know it, I hate it, but it’s so much easier to eat than it is to exercise.  I’ll be honest, I actually didn’t mind going to the gym.  I like to go right after school, but if I go home first and do home stuff – I just never get back out again.  And right now, there are so many things conspiring against me and I CAN’T get there right after school.  Yeah, it’s an excuse….i know that….but it’s also my reality.

I’m just at a blah place in my life and i’m not liking it very much.

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….Over the Whole Whitney Thing

by Tracie on February 16, 2012

In case you haven’t heard the news, Whitney Houston died last Saturday.  Though the only way you couldn’t have heard the news is if you were dead yourself, and in that case, you have bigger problems than Whitney Houston’s passing.  Am I sad that such a beautiful and gifted singer has been silenced permanently?  Yes, of course I am.  Do I think it should be the top news story on every single news cast?  No, I don’t.

I think it’s very sad that Ms. Houston passed away, and my heart bleeds for her poor daughter, but I’m also incredibly angry as well.  While we don’t know the cause of death, most people are surmising that it is probably related to Ms. Houston’s drug issues.  Everyone keeps talking about how tragic it is.  It is tragic, but I’m sorry, it’s equally tragic every single time somebody loses their battle with addiction.  Why aren’t we mourning those deaths?  Where are the candlelight vigils and public memorial services for those people?  Are they any less important?  No, they’re not.

I think, we as a society, pay too much attention to those we deem “famous.”  They’re not any different than you or I, and they don’t need to be put on pedestals.  Maybe we should leave the so called beautiful people alone and focus our attention on those around us who are struggling, or at the very least pay the same amount of attention to them.  Celebrate their successes and mourn their failures.  I think we as a society need to shift our priorities and figure out what really matters.  Ms. Houston’s passing DOES matter, but so does the passing ever every single person in this world.

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….Perplexed

by Tracie on February 7, 2012

Perplexed is an awesome word, and perplexed is what I am.  I’ve been wanting to post this blog for a few days, but I’ve been afraid of the potential backlash I might receive.  Today, I decided the backlash would be worth it because what I’m saying is not being said with ANY malicious intent.

It’s February, and February is Black History Month.  I’m really confused.  Why do we need a Black History Month, or a Woman’s History Month, or an Irish American History Month or any other specific history month that may crop up?

Please don’t think I’m negating the role that ANY race or nationality played in the development of our country.  They all deserved to be recognized, but on a daily basis, not for just a certain number of days in any given month.  The women who fought so that other women could vote, Rosa Parks, and Dr King and the myriad of others who fought for civil rights, the Japanese who were interred during World War II – they ALL played a role in the formation of this country and their struggles should be recognized every single day.  Not just in February, or November or whatever month is assigned to them.

It bothers me because I loved growing up thinking America is this great melting pot, but we’re not.  At least we’re not any more.  We single people, nationalities, and races out, even if its for the best of reasons.  My grandmother and grandfather on my Dad’s side were both born in Ireland, and I’m proud of heck of my Irish heritage, but I am, first and foremost, an American, not an Irish-American.

Were there many Irish born people who fought and struggled every day to carve out an existence in this country and create a better way of life for their families?  Yes!  Should their struggles and contributions to our nation be recognized?  A resounding YES!  Do they need a particular week or month of recognition?  No, I don’t think so.  I think their contributions are a part of AMERICAN history and should be recognized as such.

 

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…Couchless

by Tracie on January 31, 2012

We suffered a couch-tastrophe in my house last week.  I went to move the sofa to unplug the lamp when there was an ominous crack.  So of course, idiot that I am, I moved the couch back and there was another ominous crack.  It was the legs of the couch, cracking and breaking.  Now let me stop here and say that yes, while I do need to lose weight, I am not SOOOO fat that I broke the legs of the sofa.  The sofa was part of a very inexpensive cheap set.  It survived the growing up years of a set of twins, and countless other beat downs in it’s 12+ year life span. I broke off the other two legs and had the couch just resting on the floor.  Maybe if the upholstery and springs had held up, this would have been a workable solution, but the didn’t, and it wasn’t.

So off to Jordan’s Furniture I went, and after much looking around, found a set that I liked.  I am not, however an impulse shopper (or I try not to be) so I went home to think on it.  Well after a few more days of having to basically limbo myself down to sit on the darn thing I decided enough was enough – sort of.  Back in the car we went, only this time to Bernie and Phyl’s because it’s good to comparison shop.  Yeah, they had bupkis, so back of to Jordan’s we went.

For those of you who are not familiar with Jordan’s Furniture stores, they are immense, and yes, we got lost, but a nice salesman got us back in the right direction and after a bit of conversation and staring on both our parts, we realized we graduated together!  Always nice to see an old high school friend.

We set up delivery for the sofa on a Saturday (it was Wednesday) so that left us two days to find a furniture removal place to get the old sofa out.  Guess what, they couldn’t come until TUESDAY!  That was not going to work.  Sadly, the condo where I live does not allow for the dumping of furniture, and the town dump is closed for the winter…so what’s a girl to do?

The answer…..disassemble the sofa into small bits and pieces and stuff it in the dumpster.  Can I just say, the sofa was held together by the upholstery and many, many staples (my arms look like I battled a thorn bush).  But with the aid of a utility knife, a saw, a hammer, a screwdriver and a chisel, I turned that mother OUT!

The new sofa came Saturday, between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00 – translation, 1:45, and we are all happy campers, sort of.  It’s a lot more firm than my old set, and it’s made us realize how much the flooring needs to be replaced, and the walls need to be painted, but that’s a blog for another day.

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….quite happy

by Tracie on January 14, 2012

I’m a computer girl – i’m not a technical girl, but I do love having a good computer and being able to spend countless hours online.  Unfortunately, i’m NOT wealthy and must work so i can’t spend countless hours online, so I like to make the time that I am online, count.

Well, with my laptop, that hasn’t been happening.  I LOVE my laptop, but it’s old, and slow.  I would turn it on at 5:45 in the morning when i came downstairs, and if I was lucky, I could get it online around 6:30.  This was not an effective use of my online time, lol.

Well my mum decided to surprise me with a new computer as a belated Christmas gift.  It’s here now and OMG it rocks!  My only problem is it comes with a trial version of word and excel, no powerpoint and no outlook – EEK

However, I shall work around that, and for now, I am an incredibly happy computer girl :) :) :) :) :)

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…done with the holidays

by Tracie on December 30, 2011

As a kid, I LOVED the holidays.  It started in October with Halloween, built up through Thanksgiving, and then moved into Christmas and New Years.  It was great.

I agonized for months over what costume I would wear at Halloween, and what the most optimal route would be for getting the most candy in the shortest amount of time.

Thanksgiving was always the best because we had 4, count em, 4 days off from school, plus there was all that nummy food.  We’ll just pretend there was never any cranberry sauce on the table.

From there, it was just a short hop skip and a jump to Christmas, but it seemed to drag on into infinity.  Would it snow? Would Santa come? Would I *GASP* get coal in my stocking?  Yes, there was one unforgettable year when I did indeed get coal in my stocking.

But as a kid, my absolute favorite was New Years Eve.  We used to go to my mother’s cousin’s house, and since we’re Italian, there was always all sorts of good Italian food and Chinese food (don’t ask, just accept), and the adults played a card game called 7 1/2 and I always felt so grown up when they would let me sit in for a few hands.

Then adulthood struck and the holidays became infinitely less fun.  I worried and obsessed over my kids getting tainted candy, and the logistics of trying to take them out trick or treating and still being able to hand out candy.

Thanksgiving was still all sorts of nummy food (with no cranberry sauce since I do the cooking) but there is the stress of the actual cooking.  All that work for a meal that lasts 20 minutes is so depressing.  Plus by the time I actually sit down to eat, I’m not even hungry, lol.

Christmas – is Christmas, I LOVE finding the perfect gifts for people, but I inevitably worry about money (like right now).  But there is another problem with Christmas, and i realize how incredibly selfish I sound when I say this.  I absolutely HATE not having any surprises for me under the tree, and I hate hate hate having to buy all the stuff for my stocking.  There is NO fun in that.  Don’t get me wrong, I get some nice things for Christmas, and I am SUPER appreciative for every single gift that I get, but there is usually nothing under the tree that I didn’t know about.  It’s silly and it’s stupid, but it bums me out. Yes, I KNOW that’s not what Christmas is supposed to be about, but I’m just slightly materialistic every now and again, and this is one of those times.

Now it’s time for New Years, and I’ve turned into a new year’s grinch.  I really have.  I am so paranoid about the unsafe driving of other people, that I prefer to just stay home and veg out.  Its not exciting, but it’s safe, lol.

From there we move  into the “lesser” holidays of Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter (which is not a lesser holiday religiously,) and into the  “Summer” BBQ type holidays of Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor day, and from there, we cruise right back into the  holiday season again.  Talk about a vicious circle lol.

In any event, I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and has a safe and happy New Years.  I’ll be the one at home eating take out chinese and watching a Glee marathon or something :)

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……………Reminiscent

by Tracie on November 25, 2011

17 years ago tonight , I was in labor.  We’d had Thanksgiving at my mum’s house as usual, and I helped clean up the kitchen – no small task given the size of my enormous tummy and the size of our tiny kitchen, and home we went.  I was excited because the next night was my 10th high school reunion, and I couldn’t wait to see some old friends.

We went home and I went to bed – not really to sleep because who can sleep when their 8 months pregnant.  But I had dozed off, and at one point, I woke up to go to the bathroom – now there’s a surprise.  It was around 1:00 in the morning and I made my way to the bathroom, did my thing and was walking out when I stopped dead.  It felt like I’d just wet my pants – hey, we can excuse my stupidness, I was half asleep, after all.

I woke up my then husband and told him (and this is the last good, cute, funny, husband-like thing he ever did).  He jumped up out and flew OVER the bed and was downstairs before i could even focus.  I called down to him and he came back looking sheepish.  When i asked what he was doing, he said he was going to start the car to go to the hospital.

I called my doctor and she said not to come in until the contractions started.  I asked if I could still go to the reunion and after finding out that it was down the street from the hospital, she said it was okay, but not to plan on it.   Stupid ex husband also called his parents who felt the need to drive down right then and there and check into a hotel.  Don’t ask me why, I certainly didn’t want them around, but hey, as I was starting to learn, my thoughts, feelings and opinions didn’t matter too much.

I hung out all day doing pretty much nothing and around 6:00 that night i got up to get ready for the reunion – I’d found the most awesome maternity outfit to wear and everything.  That’s when the contractions started and damn, they hurt.  I called my best friend Chris and said I wasn’t going anywhere but the hospital and that I’d see her later, and off to the hospital we went.    And here ladies and gentleman is where my marriage started to go down hill, but that’s a blog for another day – or quite possibly never because really, who cares.

My then in-laws were sitting in the waiting room complaining that it was taking too long.  HELLO, giving birth is not a process to be rushed, and my stupid husband, instead of being with me, in the room was choosing to hang with his parents in the waiting room to commiserate with them over how long this whole thing was taking.  It was maybe 10:00 pm by this time.

At one point, my mother yelled at my husband to get back with his wife where he belonged, and lucky me, his mother decided she should join him.  She was the LAST person I wanted to see.  I remember grabbing  a nurse who was leaning over to check something and BEGGING her to get my mother-in-law out of the room.  My mom I could sort of deal with, but my mother-in-law, no way in HELL.

A couple of hours later, they gave me an epidural, and life was very very good.  I even dozed off during the tonight show, lol.  Around 3:00 a.m. the real work began and Abigail was born.  David showed her to me and I remember being really mean and saying I couldn’t look at her right now because I was busy having another baby.  How sucky a mother was I, even then?

Then Zachary was born and both kids were rushed to the NICU.  I didn’t know it at the time, but Abbie was having some breathing issues.  Mom said when they rushed her to the NICU, she was grey and not moving, and Zach wasn’t in much better shape.  But both kids were born, so my in-laws left.  They didn’t know if the babies were going to live or die at that point, but apparently that didn’t matter – they needed their sleep.

They finally got me to my room and told me to sleep for a while because it would be a while before I could go see the kids.  We both crashed for a few hours, and then he woke up and decided he wanted to go home and sleep “because he was really tired.”

Well obviously, both babies not only survived, they thrived and they are now happy healthy, and even though they annoy me sometimes, I thank God each and every day that they ‘re mine.

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….epically pissed off

by Tracie on October 22, 2011

My son’s brand new laptop (brand new as in got it at the end of august) decided to not work.  There was no display on it, but you could here it running.  So I hooked it up to an external monitor and it worked fine. There is NO damage on the laptop or screen.  I mean NONE.  My son has had some issues with the killing of laptop screens, so of course I had to check.  Zip, nada, nothing.  So I tried downloading new drivers for it as per the HP website – still nothing.  Took it to my friendly neighborhood computer repair person for help with the drivers and they said – no, look, it’s some sort of back light bulby thing because if you shine a light on the screen, you can see the display.  It’s covered under warranty.

So online I went and found a list of local HP repair places. I called the first one – out of business.  I called the second one “oh we only work on business computers.”  Funny, I found them listed on the website under home/personal computers, but never mind.  Then I saw best buy.  I called best buy and verified that they could ship out the laptop.  Answer YES!  Great I headed up to best buy and stood in line for 15 minutes.  They geek squad guy who helped me tried one thing to make it work but no luck.  Then when he found out I didn’t buy it there, refused to ship it out under warranty.  NOT HAPPY.

I headed back home and called HP and got somebody in India.  I have to be honest, I HATE talking to customer support in foreign countries.  I bought my American computer from an American company in an American store.  Why can’t I get customer support from an American?  Anyhow, they had me try all the stuff I’d already tried following the HP website instructions, but I did it anyhow.  I do try to be a team player.  Nothing worked, so they would ship me a box to send it back, they’d make the warranty repairs and send it back.  No problem.

Box came, computer shipped out, and I kept track on the website…and it said REPAIRED and shipped back.  Fast forward to yesterday when fed ex tried to deliver said computer, but nobody was home.  No biggie, i ran up to their facility to pick it up last night.  Okay the place was light Fort Knox and I felt like the music from Mission Impossible should have been playing in the background as I tried to find my way in.  But success was mine and I got the computer and headed home.  On my way home, HP customer support called to see if i w satisfied and I explained that I didn’t know, as I’d just picked up the computer, and that I would call if there was a problem.  I got home, plugged it in, turned it on and what do you know…NO FREAKING DISPLAY!

Pissed did not begin to cover what I was feeling – i looked at the paperwork and it said repaired and listed what HP had done.  It replaced something and did an upgrade…Okay great – well not great, but I got back on the phone with HP and HELLO INDIA speaking.

I spoke with a woman who put me on hold several times and them came back and said that hardware support said there was damage to the screen and it wasn’t covered under warranty.  WHAT????? WHAT????????  No, there was NO damage to the screen.  That’s when I started getting MAD.  She put her supervisor RAAVI on the phone and he proceeded to tell me that yes there was damage and that they’d called me several times to tell me that.  Now I moved beyond mad to pissed because the papwer work they sent had no mention of any damage, there WAS no damage and they never tried calling me.  Anyone who knows me knows my phone is pretty much always with me.  And if I’m in school and can’t answer a call, there is this great thing called VOICE MAIL.  They never called, they never tried and they were lying about the damage.  RAAVIE then proceeded to tell me that I was wrong – in fact, he pretty much called me a liar for saying there was no damage and saying they didn’t call.

That’s when I flipped.  I admit it, I flipped out and I said a very inappropriate word.  I was wrong but seriously, to go through all of this, basically be called a liar and still have a broken computer was a bit much in my opinion.  Then RAAVI felt the need to lecture me for swearing at him.  HELLO?  Since when did RAAVI become my parent?  That would be NEVER.  I asked to be transferred to American customer service and he told me they didn’t have any.  I asked him for their corporate headquarter number and he wouldn’t give it to me.  I asked him for his last name and he wouldn’t give it to me. I asked him for his employee identification number and he wouldn’t give it to me.  That’s when I hung up on him.

I called back again and got India and asked how could I get an American customer service rep and was told just keep calling and eventually I would get one.  HMM, so RAAVI lied about no American customer service reps.  OK.  I tried again, and got Manilla and decided to give them a whirl.

I feel badly because I was so mad that I didn’t get anybody’s names and it’s a shame because they were EXCELLENT.  I spoke with a woman first and she did her thing and had me on hold for quite a while.  Then she came back on and said she was giving me to her supervisor who would help me but then asked after I was done with him, would I be willing to talk with her again about an extended warranty.  I said yes because she was so willing to get answers for me, I felt I should be willing to listen to her spiel.

After that her supervisor came on the phone and we chatted some about the computer and he checked some stuff in the computer and asked if anybody had told me there would be a charge to repair the computer.  I told him no, that everything on the website where I tracked the repairs said no charge/warranty, and that NOBODY had ever tried to call me, and he agreed that he couldn’t see anywhere in the computer where anybody had tried to call me.  *GASP*  you mean RAAVI lied to me?

He then said he’d be shipping me out another box and would waive the fees to have it sent next day air to get it back to me quicker.  That’s cool.  I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t expect it, but that was good customer service in my opinion.

So the laptop is sitting here in the living room, waiting for the fed ex box to get here and I’ll send it out again.  Hopefully this will take care of the problem, and I did purchase the extended warranty.  I don’t believe there was any damage to the screen.  My son had been using it sitting on his bed when I called him down for dinner.  He put it to sleep and after dinner went back up to use it again.  When he went to turn it on, there was no display.  Maybe the damage was it had hurt feelings because my son left it alone to go eat dinner?  No, I don’t think so.  I think HP screwed up and didn’t want to admit it.

I’m less than thrilled with my HP experience and I will be thinking long and hard when it is time to replace the existing computers in the house.  I’m just one person, and my not buying HP products isn’t going to impact their bottom line too much, but maybe other people will read this and they’ll rethink it too.  Maybe not, who knows.

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….Thrifty

by Tracie on October 20, 2011

I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination an extreme couponer.  There is nothing I hate more than clipping coupons out of the Sunday paper.  Why do I hate it?  In part because it involves organization – and I’m so not organized.  But you also need to actually go out and buy the Sunday paper, and I never seem to get tat done.  But lately, I’ve found some online coupon and savings sites that are making things a bit easier.

Ebates is one of the savings sites I’ve discovers.  When you are going to shop online, go to the ebates site first, log in, and see if you can access whatever online store you were going to visit from the Ebates site. If you can, you will get a percentage of what you spend shopping back in your Ebates account.  Reach a certain amount and get a check back.  NICE!  You can access stores like wal-mart, QVC and Barnes and Noble from Ebates.

Another wicked cool site is Savingstar.com.  At Saving Star, you upload your shopping card numbers to the site, and then visit their coupon section and choose what coupons you want to activate.  When you purchase those items at the store, the value of the coupon is added to your account.  When you hit $5.00, you can get a payout via paypal, or an Amazon.com gift card.  Not too shabby.

I am also utilizing sites like couponsuzy.com, and redplum.com to find coupons online to print out.  And sometimes, I find coupons for items that I’ve loaded on my shopping cards via savingstar.com and it’s like a double bonus for me!

I’m also visiting a site called swagbucks.com  Swagbucks allows you to earn points and redeem them on line for things.  I like things.  Things are fun :)   The best place I’ve found, however is Alice.com.  At Alice.com you can shop for non-perishables (usually at a discount) and they will ship it to your home free of charge.  I’m using it to stock up on things like toilet paper and shampoo and paper towels.

Am I getting rich doing this?  No, not so much, but I’m saving a bit here and there and that’s what matters.   Like Benjamin Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

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Sacrifice – Book Review

by Tracie on October 16, 2011

Sacrifice by Melinda Metz and Laura Burns is the second book in a two book series.  There is enough back story provided in Sacrifice so you do not have to read Crave, it’s prequel but I would highly recommend it.

In Sacrifice, Shay, who is a half vampire, is brought by Gabriel, a full vampire,  to join his family.  A family that coincidentally, was also family to Shay’s vampire father. This is done to protect them both from Shay’s evil step-father who wants to experiment on Gabriel to discover the secret to the eternal life of a vampire.

While on the surface Sacrifice is a vampire story, if you look deeper, you’ll find a story of family, bonds, control and prejudice.  Metz and Burns use the vampires as a vehicle to get their message across.

Shay has very high expectations of Gabriel’s family.  She has had visions of them and sensed the love that they share when she received transfusions of Gabriel’s blood.  When she meets them however, she is crushed by her reception.  To them she is an abomination, a curse, a half-breed who shouldn’t even be alive.

Ersnt, the father figure, unilaterally decides Shay’s fate, and she is imprisoned and left to starve.  Richard, one of Ernst’s sons has taken over Gabriel’s role in the family and shares Ersnt’s hatred for Shay, as does his mate, Tamara.  Also in the family are Luis and Millie.  Luis doesn’t have quite the same hatred for Shay as the others, but he isn’t a strong personality and will do whatever he is told.  Millie, however has her own opinions and is more willing to judge Shay  on her own merits and not judge her based upon the actions of all humans.

The novel is well written and an easy and enjoyable read.  Much like in her Roswell High series, Metz uses the supernatural genre to address the issues of  of the teenager.  Shay has to deal with a life threatening illness because she is half vampire, and she feels set apart from her peers because of that illness. She has to deal with abandonment issues and the prejudice of Gabriel’s family because she is half human.  All issues that are faced by teens today.

Sacrifice is well written and fast paced.  It’s weakest point is, if anything, the vampire storyline itself.  Their story is captivating, but the vampire mythos has been over written in my opinion.  Metz and Burns don’t bring anything new to the vampire mythology, but do use it to effectively deliver their message.  That being said, it’s a great read and the underlying message is one that should not be missed – it’s a five out of five stars for me.

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