Things that annoy me

I have to confess. This time of year makes me lose my patience with people, more so than usual. No its not the extremely low temps, or the fact that my driveway is a solid sheet of ice and has been for a week, I have had to park at the bottom of my driveway and hope I didn't lose my car over the cliff. This is my driveway. Behind me is a one lane road and a drop off a cliff. Yeah thats safe.

Anyway, what annoys me is the flu. I get so irritated when someone with a cold, or sinus trouble, or vomiting and diarrhea,  will say Oh I have the flu. It makes me want to punch them in the face.

A cold comes on gradually, The flu is pretty sudden.

Flu symptoms usually look something like this

• high fever
• severe aches
• fatigue
• flushed skin  
• watery eyes
• headache
• dry cough
• sore throat
• mucus

Notice I did not say vomiting. If you have something that comes on over the course of a few days and traps you in the bathroom its NOT the flu. If you are able to shop without someone mistaking you for a zombie....you do not have the flu. 

 

That being said. I have a horrible cold and my lungs are on fire. What a way to end the work week.

 

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Its ok...really it is

Its Ok that...

I stopped checking page views. I am doing this for me after all so what should it matter if anyone reads me. I'm glad they do, but I'm not obsessing.

That I had ice cream when it was -8 outside....Mmmmmm Mint Chocolate Chip

That I've been insanely lazy since Christmas break I'm trying to get motivated, its just hard when I want to hibernate.

That I don't watch reality TV.  (of course this doesn't count anything by David Tutera and the HGTV shows) If you ask me anything about the bachelor I will look at you blankly.

That I really want to watch the super bowl at home. No party, just me and the game. 

I'm linking up with Airing my Dirty Laundry for Hey, Its Okay Tuesday

 

5

Thanks Target, Its all your fault

I have just had no motivation to blog lately. Actually I've had no motivation to do anything. It may have something to do with Its so freakin' cold here, and it snows as soon as we get the roads cleared. , The girls hadn't gone to school at all last week, went today and its already canceled for tomorrow. I have no routine anymore.

Remember back when the Target drama was going on? Well I blew it off. Yeah I had shopped at Target, yeah I used my debit card. But I check my statement often and there has been nothing weird so I didn't worry.

That is until Friday about 4:00 when I stopped to get gas and my card didn't work, I checked my account balance and nothing weird was on it. I tried it at a different gas station. It still didn't work. I called my bank and was told they deactivated my card to protect me from the breach. They said I got a letter, but I didn't. I had no prior knowledge that I was going to be left unable to access my money for 3 days. I tried to stop at a branch to get a new card but the system was down and I couldn't.

I didn't realize how much I relied on that little piece of plastic until I couldn't use it anymore.

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How to make a snowflake shirt

I've pretty much just given up on this week. I was off on Monday for MLK massive snowfall on Tuesday so I didn't make it to work. Wednesday I still couldn't really get out. Today I finally made it to work Wooohoo, but I was swamped.

I spent my unexpected snow days playing with my new Silhouette Cameo. I hadn't really had time to do much but this week with some time on my hands I decided to make Em a snowflake shirt to remember all the snow we've had this winter. I want to share how easy it was.

 I used the glitter heat transfer paper from hobby lobby (cricuit brand because they don't sale Silhouette brand.)

I bought the 2 snow flake design from the 50% off designs. It was only 50 cents.

Load it on your screen. Click un group. reposition where you want. I wanted three snowflakes all in a row so I lined them up and then duplicated the first design (edit duplicate) I moved it to the opposite side of the heart snowflake.

Draw a box around all three snowflakes and then click object group. Then I re sized by grabbing the right bottom.

Pull the plastic off the transfer paper and load onto your mat.
Speed 3
Thickness 33
Blade 6

It printed out just fine and I gently removed it from the mat and placed in on the shirt and ironed it (place something light over it so you don't melt the design. )

 

There ya go completely easy.

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Westley loves the snow

I think he may be the only thing in the whole house that does.


and in case you were wondering I don't have my baby tied up outside in this weather....I am lazy so he has a tie out for when he want to go pee....that way I don't have to go too. He scratches on the door when he is ready to come in. 

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Rules for getting a tattoo

This weekend we talked a lot about tattoos. I found out that a good friend of mine is getting a tat from a mutual friend of ours. It involves some words in latin. I joked that if I was Shawn I would make it say something different than what he intended. I said I would make it say I like my men like I like my drinks pink and sweet. This conversation let to a conversation with Abbey and Correy (the boyfriend) about tattoos since they both want one.

I developed these rules for getting a tattoo

 1. Make sure its a design you REALLY want, because its harder to take back once you have it.
Don't be like this poor girl. Can you imagine when she is old and someone's grandma?

source

2. Make sure it doesn't render you unemployable. Who would hire someone with this on their face

source

3. Make sure its spelled correctly. There is nothing worse than when your Awesome new tattoo is really not as Amsome as you thought.

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Source

 

 

 

 

4. Make sure the person has some talent. Remember this design will be on you for a long long time.

source

5. Picking something that is pop cultural isn't a great idea, unless you just really love it that much that you want to look at it forever. I have a friend that got the bird from Hollister on her foot. its really kinda cute. I personally don't know that there is a brand I want to carry with me forever. Although, my next tattoo will be a line from the crow so really who am I to judge.

Source

 I thought about my tattoo for years before I finally did it. I researched artists, and made sure it was really what I wanted before I did it. So if you are thinking about getting a tattoo, make sure you don't make one of these mistakes.

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High Five for Friday

Its my favorite day of the week and since we are in town for All District Band I didn't have to drive
my usual 30+ miles to get to work AND school was on an hour delay and I had a work meeting at Cracker Barrel. Its been a good day, and I can't wait to enjoy the holiday on Monday.

The insane cold has passed. Rumor has it we are getting snow, so all the schools around us (not us) has closed for the day. I'm just happy I don't have to wear 20 layers and a bulky coat.

I was informed I am getting a raise in February. I have been doing the happy dance over that :)

Emmy had a great report card, and not just a great for her but great for most kids. a 96 A in Language arts. I was also informed she is now reading above grade level. I already mentioned the academic team. So proud of this kid and how far she has come.

My foot is actually getting better. It still hurts especially when I take the brace off, but the swelling is down and I can get into my shoes again. I'm also not dragging my foot behind me like Igor anymore. Baby steps.

Davy Crockett is apparently alive and well and taking nicely to technology.

I was in a nutty mood yesterday and made this. No one has thought it was as funny as I did.

 

and of course I'm linking up with Lauren Elizabeth

 

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At least its not broken

Last week I mentioned that I fell down the steps at work and sprained my ankle (thanks neighbor for turning the lights off because everyone knows yours is the only office in the building) You can read about it  here. Pretty much, I drove myself to the ER. I couldn't put any weight on it for 48 hours and then I've been limping every where since. Its been a rough week.

I keep hearing At least its not broken.

That means it shouldn't hurt right? Its not broken, that means it isn't swollen. It means I should be able to walk without a limp....right? Its not broken.

Its not broken but....
Today is the first day I've been able to squeeze into any shoes that aren't Abbey's ugg boots (she is a size and a half bigger then me)

It still hurts the ankle is a constant hard ache. At least the shooting pain when I took a step has improved.

I keep it propped up at work. So love that I am able to do that.

Its not broken and I guess that is the important thing.

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Dyslexia update

I had a  post all planned for today. I was going to have it ready to post at 8 am like I usually do, and one thing after another resulted in me not getting it done. So tonight I just want to share the biggest news I've gotten in awhile.

I got a phone call from Emmy's school today. In the past this would make me cringe before answering because it was always something negative. If you glance at the Dyslexia page you can read our story. Its been a rough road and I somehow have managed to refrain from punching a few people.

Sorry I got side tracked. I got a call from the school to tell me that Emmy (my child who they wanted to hold back two years ago and I fought it, my child who last year was reading 2 YEARS below grade level) got asked to join the academic team.

She had mentioned that she thought she would like it, because her sister did it. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she may not get asked to join. I didn't want to burst her bubble. I know that she could do it, I know that she is smart. But we haven't had luck in the past with teachers recognizing that. However he teacher this year is AMAZING and sees Emmy's potential. She is the Miss Honey from the movie Matilda (ok not really but close enough).

I can't express how happy I am that she has come so far. She is such a determined girl.

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Sh!t Men Say

I had nothing to write about today that wasn't whining about how my stupid foot STILL hurts (going to see Dr. Sexy tomorrow) Then I saw this link. I was trying to think of something funny Greg says and  well I can't come up with anything. Is that weird? I know there has to be stuff...oh well.

My OBGYN is hilarious. I started seeing him when I was trying to get pregnant with Abbey. He made me laugh so hard during the fertility treatment part that I had to keep him as my doctor. Now that I don't have to see him for yearly visits, I want to hang out with him and be his BFF. Dr. Z if you read this....lets do lunch.

To set the stage. I was in delivery with Abbey. He walks in looks at me and says "ok no one let her laugh. Seriously don't laugh, don't sneeze, nothing I need to was my hands first." You know how hard it is not to laugh when someone says don't laugh. Especially when you are seriously enjoying your epidural

4 years later I am about to have Emmy. Not in labor yet, but I was in a car wreck. A car insurance salesman (yeah the irony) hit my car and knocked it through a cross walk. I was sure I was fine, but I was forced to go get checked out. When My dr saw me waiting to be called back he said what happened. I said I was rear ended. Dr. Z responded  Holly you don't get pregnant that way. I couldn't NOT come back with....and yet clearly I am.

Linking up

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Weeping Angel on the shelf

Since Christmas has passed and all the elves on the shelves have gone back to the North Pole to wait until its time to scare little kids into behaving, again. I began to think, what are we suppose to do the rest of the year?

Of course we could teach our children right from wrong, but where is the fun in that? (kidding)

If you are a Dr Who fan (whovian) I have the perfect method for keeping your children behaving (or paralyzed in fear....but same diff)

If you have no idea what I am talking about you can find the episode on Netflix

"Blink" is the tenth episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 9 June 2007 on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)." (Abbey said 3rd season of the NEW series.) "In the episode, the Doctor—a time travelling alien played by David Tennant—and his companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) are trapped in the past and try to warn a young woman, Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan), how to prevent the Weeping Angels from taking control of the TARDIS." Source Wikipedia

I thought it was funny how scared she is of angel statues now (can we say bad mom award). Everyday, We pass a house that has about 5 or 6 in the yard yard. That in itself freaks me out. But the angels freak Abbey out, which cracks me up. (Yeah, totally mom of the year here)  It did get me me thinking we really needed one of these.

Which brings me to this little beauty. Meet the newest member of our house.....Our weeping Angel. I move her from different parts of the house (just like an elf on the shelf) when the children aren't looking. This means they are always on guard and they aren't tempted to play with the Weeping Angel like they were our Elf. 

 

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Things I learned on Thursday

Someone in my office building is a doucebag. How else do you explain turning all the lights off at 4:00pm so I can't see the bottom steps and fall onto my ankle.

I should use moisturizer more often

If someone offers to take you to the ER you should let them especially if home is 30+ miles away

Driving 30+ miles using only your left foot is hard

You should always have a pedicure just in case the entire staff of the ER wants to touch your ankle

Being the only patient in the ER means you will be super popular

But not popular enough that they offer you a wheelchair even though your car is parked  on the other side of the hospital, and you are alone

Walking on Crutches sucks ass (but I think I am going to paint them pink to make it bearable)

Especially when you have a giant purse full of reading material because you assumed you'd be at the hospital for ever

Coming home to an empty house and a gimpy leg is depressing but at least I had Psych on my DVR

4

Chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side

Does anyone remember that song?

Its freaken' cold! I bet everyone is tired of the weather, and of hearing people complain about the weather. I'm sorry to keep moaning about it. I am ready to pack up and move somewhere warm. House Hunter Hawaii marathons are not helping my mood concerning this awful weather. To make myself feel better I am trying to make comfort foods. Nothing says comfort like homemade Chicken noodle soup. I make it from scratch....well mostly scratch.

But, I have a confession, I am super picky about noodles. Not just noodles for the chicken noodle soup but all pasta dishes. If I don't have the right noodles I can't eat it. Wouldn't you know that I was out of the appropriate noodles I didn't realize it until the broth was ready. It was pointed out that I had some macaroni noodles but seriously, the thought of macaroni shaped noodle soup made me want to hurl. After another trip to the store I had medium egg noodles. I would actually be happier with smaller ones but this is the smallest I could find.

My pasta aversion is so strong I can't eat shells and cheese (actually I can't eat the shells at all because it seems unnatural). My spaghetti has to be the angel hair. I'd probably starve if I had to eat  tomatoes and macaroni. Which for some reason is really popular around here.

Please tell me I am not the only crazy person, with noodle issues?

You know what else I hate about this horrible cold weather? I can't stop eating. At least Chicken noodle soup wasn't as bad as the epic cheesy fries I rewarded myself with Monday. I went to work, in the frigid temps, that deserved a reward right?

Actually while I'm complaining. I have to say I am getting sick of the hump day crap, can we agree its 15 minutes of fame is over?  and how the crap is it ONLY? Surely its Friday....right? Ok I think I am finished complaining for today. Stay warm everyone.

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Ways to stay warm during the polar vortex

Its no secret I hate the cold. If I could climate control my life to 70 degrees I would be soooo happy. I am not use to it being anything below. This polar vortex crap is for the birds polar bears. I've been thinking of ways to stay warm. If it helps here are 5 things I may resort to if it doesn't warm up soon.

1. heating pad/personal heater. The personal heater is under my desk at work and the heating pad follows me around at home. If I could find heated socks I would be super happy. I am also purchasing an electric blanket tomorrow. My parents would never let me have one growing up. They  thought I would catch myself on fire. While that may still happen, at least I will be warm.
2. Feety Pj's. Actually I am pretty sure I am buying myself some tomorrow. As it is I am sleeping in fleece pants, fuzzy socks and a Tennessee hoodie.
3. Fleece pants in public. I have stopped myself so far but I don't know if I can hold off much longer. If I do,you have permission to people of walmart me. I will have officially hit rock bottom anyway. On a side not fleece PJ pants are super comfy and even with my holiday weight gain I can squeeze into a small. So it boosts my self esteem.
4. Shaving my legs. Or rather not shaving my legs. It may not seem like a lot, but to me its a second layer of insulation.
5. Cranking the heat up to 80 and not leaving the house until Spring. Why oh why can I not work from home?

Of course there is a bright side

 

Hope everyone is staying warm. If not try my tips and let me know how they work.

3

It's sneeting and slowing outside

Its Sunday night (as I type) and we are expecting another storm, I took Friday off because of snow. I hate to take another day, but I hate the idea of driving so far to work in icky weather.

So you may (or may not) be wondering about my post title. When I was in high school we had a winter like the one we are having now. The kind where its snows and ices at just the right moment for you to miss a bunch a of school, but not really hamper everyday travel (much) After several days of now school we were actually feeling some cabin fever and was missing our friends. It was late and I was feeling a little slap happy. I looked out the window and yelled.....Its sneeting and slowing. My mom and sister laughed like they had heard the funniest joke ever. I have never lived that down. The girls are feeling restless too. They are missing their friends and are getting on each others nerves. So tonight Abbey is staying with a friend.

Honestly its not just kids its affecting. My family seems to have gone off the deep end. Although if you knew some of my family, you'd understand they dove off that end ages ago. This is just another reason that facebook is the devil. My sister posted on her fb after catching my dad smoking (you may remember we visited the hospital everyday for 3 months the hospital was 1 1/2 hours away from me and 45 for my sister, and fought with doctors who wanted us to give up on him and just let him die. We sat by him with tubes coming out of him and taught ourselves how to read the machines so we could make informed decisions.) She said that we wouldn't be doing that again. That my youngest spent her birthday at the hospital, we didn't really rest until he was discharged. We happily did it at the time, but we would not be repeating that, because he chose to start smoking again. You can read about our hospital stay here, here, and here,

One uncle called my sister and said if we would have let him stay with either of us so we could watch him this wouldn't have happened. (never mind neither of us has room and we are never home) She told him that she only saw him at the hospital a few times during those 3 months so he didn't get a say. The daughter in law of an aunt is pregnant (her 6th kid) and is worried about miscarriage yet not so much that she didn't jump in the middle of it all. Heather (my sister) told her what we thought about her opinion. Our aunt called our mom (her ex sister in law) to tell mom she was a bad mother because Heather told her daughter in law off. Yeah you read that right. Mom is a bad mother because her adult daughter had the nerve to talk badly to my aunts daughter in law. See the craziness I deal with? People need to grow the fuck up.

I hope this storm passes quickly and people find drama that doesn't affect me to focus on.

 

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How to raise your credit score...and how not to ruin it in the first place

First post of  2014. WoooHooo!! I still have no idea how its 2014 already but, I'll tell you a week with two Monday's and Two Friday's is a killer. I may not survive my second set of Monday/Friday's. I really should have scheduled these days off.

Anyway, If your New Years Resolution was to get a grip on your credit score (or if it wasn't but it should have been) today's post is for you. A few years ago I was going through a divorce and wanted to refinance my car into my name only. I hate to say but I wasn't terribly surprised to find out that they wouldn't refinance. Turns out when you are a complete stubborn ass about not paying for bills your ex should have been responsible for, and tell collection companies to fuck off that you aren't paying them because it wasn't your expense, then they will crush your credit score. At one point my score was low 500's. That's sad. You can't finance an ice cream cone with a credit score like that. Much less buy a house or a car. Turns out they really don't care that you've never been late or missed a car payment if it looks like you don't pay anything else.

First I am going to give you some tips I learned over my years of credit recovery on how to avoid having your score tank and then I will help you improve your score if its already in the toilet. Even if you have decent credit there is almost always room to improve it.

1. As I mentioned above DON'T tell the collection companies to fuck off
2. Goes without saying, but pay your bills on time
3. If you don't manage to pay them on time, try to pay them BEFORE they go to collections
4. If they go to collections you have 2 choices
(a) just don't pay (it is automatically taken off from your record after 7 years of non payment.) or earlier if you follow my tips below,
(b) go ahead and pay it and follow my steps below.
5. If you have credit cards only use about 30% and attempt to pay off every month. I choose not to have credit cards because honestly I suck at not using them.
6. If you have student loans and it is in deferment, pay the interest because the interest is always accuring and after awhile it may mean that you owe more than your allowed loan amoutnt and that looks horrible on your credit. (trust me this was a BIGGIE for me)
7. Instead of a deferment see what the payment will be if you change it to an income based payment. 
8. Every time you apply for credit it puts a "hard pull" on your credit report and hard pulls lower your score. You want as few pulls as possible. Each pull last 2 years on your credit.
9. Beware of collection companies calling you, its not uncommon for them to sell your collection to another company and on and on. This gives them money, but keeps the collection on your record. Seems pretty sneaky to me.  

Now lets say you are ready to apply for a loan and you realize that your credit sucks worse than a 30 year old hoover. What can you do to improve your score. I learned this the hard way, by shelling out 300.00 for professional credit recovery help. This is easy and its something you can do on your own. I have done mine and Greg's. Greg's score went up 85 points. (yeah I really am a good girlfriend when I want to be)

I signed up for Credit Karma its free and I check it a few times a month now (this is NOT a sponsored post I just REALLY love them. You are able to check your score and see what changes have happened with your credit and did I mention its free. They get there money from sponsored ads on the site and when you take the pre paid cards that are offered.

Now that you know how to check your score whenever you want here are the steps to follow to credit any mistakes.

1. I advise you to dispute everything even if you know its accurate. Because sometimes they will remove the negative items anyway.
2.Log on to the websites of the three main credit bureaus.
Equifax, Transunion, Experian

On Equifax just scroll down to the bottom and click dispute info on credit report. Follow instructions from there.Do the same for Transunion and the same for Experian only they will want to charge you a dollar to see your current report first.

This will take about a month to complete and then repeat the process up to 2 more times.

As I mentioned I paid 300 for someone to "clean up my credit" This process is what they did. It takes maybe 30 min total for all three credit bureaus.

Its as simple as that.

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