BlogFriday: dirty February 29, 2008

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I have sons. Four of them. Everyone knows what little boys like to do, and that’s get dirty.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a son come in with dirty, filthy clothes because he decided that he and his friends were going to “explore”. More often than not, that exporing was in some place I wouldn’t go into on a dare.

One time, it was under a porch. Another, a drainage ditch on a mission to find fireflies. Still another was what I’d call a swamp on the base where we lived in the mid 80’s, and Daniel was the youngest kid out there getting dirty. He was four at the time, and all his friends were 6 and 7 year olds.

No wonder the kid thought he could go to school as soon as he turned 5 (in December of 1988).

I’ve had more free standing clothing in my laundry room than I care to remember right now. And man, did it stink!

“Um, (insert son’s name here), where did you go to get so dirty?”

“Oh, just the (insert dusty, dirty, stinky or wet location here).”

Cue their mom (me) rolling her eyes.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Just because: it’s February 29th February 29, 2008

Stef’s YouTubin’ it again…

“Better Now” by Collective Soul. I think this is from the “Youth” CD.

Get the word out…

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Stages of the flu (you DON’T want to get the flu this year, trust me!) February 28, 2008

I have identified the three stages of the current flu epidemic.

The first is the PRE-FLU: You generally feel like crap, nothing makes sense, and you don’t know why you’re feeling so bad because you’re pretty sure you’re not sick.

Next is the ACTUAL FLU: One day about two weeks or so of feeling like crap, you start to feel pretty darn good. You go about your business as usual, until one day you feel like you’ve been hit by a Mack truck, then backed over by the same. This stage lasts about 5 to 7 days. You WILL miss work, school, and other outside activities because you really aren’t giving a shit by this time.

Finally, there’s the POST-FLU: You feel well enough now to resume your regularly scheduled life… except for the annoying as hell cough you’ve seemed to have developed. I don’t know how long this lasts, because I’m still going thru this stage, though I’ve been told that two weeks is a conservative estimate.

The above is based on my own and others experience, and is mixed with liberal doses of sarcasm and humor. If you really are sick, I strongly suggest you hie yourself to your doctor and get checked out.

Some things that will make having the flu easier:

• Stay hydrated.
• If you are tired, sleep. Sleep is good.
• Take all medicines, whether over the counter or prescription, according to the directions on the label or your doctor’s instructions.
• Have others do for you. In other words– delegate.
• Once you start feeling better, take an extra day to make sure that you really are well. You don’t want to pass this on to others who haven’t yet had the flu.

Above all, listen to your doctor! If he/she says you’re too ill to go to work or school, then stay home!

I might also suggest getting the flu shot in the fall, especially if you are young, have a chronic illness, or are elderly.

I’m not a doctor, obviously, so consult with your physician about ANY illness.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Coming from next door: “#@$?!” February 28, 2008

I’m half asleep sometime in the middle of the night, and I hear this going on:

“GD MnFn get the F out now!”

Since I’m pretty sure it’s just my neighbor and her little dog, who the heck is she talking to?

This has happened several times in the last couple of months. I don’t know whether to go over there and see if things are okay, or call the police and have them check.

I did neither. It was the middle of the night after all.

I know I wasn’t dreaming this, because I’ve heard this during the day when I’m wide awake. And she’s rather loud about it. The walls in my apartment are pretty thin, so if someone’s loud enough, it could be heard in the next apartment.

And, yes, I’ve taken that into consideration when I’m playing music, the TV, or other (ahem) activities where it could get loud (and not what you’re thinking… get yer mind outta da gutter! LOL).

The neighbor on the other side has toned down his music a lot, so I hope the other neighbor can tone down her diatribes to whoever it is she’s yelling at.

It can’t possibly be the dog, could it?

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Lead weight… February 27, 2008

and NO, we’re not talking about my fat Italian ass, thankyouverymuch.

Something I ate sat like that (a lead weight) in my stomach all day long yesterday. It must have not agreed with me much, because I kept trying to throw it up all day long.

Finally, I felt better. I took the van back up to Mom’s and had dinner there while waiting for Daniel to get off work so he could take me back to my apartment.

Number 1 Son finally rolls in around 11pm, and says he can take me home when he changes out of his work clothes. And, I have to pony up $10 for gas money.

Okay fine, I just want to go home.

Problem is, I only have $4 on my person, so we went to the Wal*Mart at I-35 and 15th Street in Edmond, because they have a branch of my bank there and I can use the ATM for free.

After I buy a couple bottles of water to break a twenty, I give Daniel $10. We’re leaving the parking lot and he makes a really sharp turn. Well, that seemed to jar everything loose and I feel like I’m going to toss my cookies.

We get back on to I-35 and I tell Daniel to pull over because I thought I was going to throw up. He asks why and I told him, “Just do it, okay?” We no sooner got to the shoulder when I could feel it coming up. Oh. Great.

Long story short, I didn’t get the door open far enough before everything came up… some of it is on the ground, but most of it is on the inside of Daniel’s passenger side door.

“MOM!” says he in an exasperated voice.

Would you have prefered I do it all over your windshield?

“Um, no. I’d have preferred you didn’t do it at all.”

Quit your bitching and help me clean this up.

So after about 10 minutes of trying to get the stuff cleaned up, we head back on our way to my place. Daniel acts like it didn’t even happen… but, I know my kid, and I know he’s not exactly happy with his ole mom.

When I get out of the car to go inside, Daniel asks if I still have that Sprite he brought me when I had the flu. I said no. He goes to his trunk and pulls out a small bottle of 7-Up and gives it to me, telling me to shake it up to flatten it, then drink some of it to settle my stomach.

Gee, that sounds familiar. I’ve only told him (and did that for him) probably a million times since he was a little boy.

Today’s his day off, so he’s probably gone to get the interior cleaned. At least, I hope so.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Mom’s van and the tag agency February 26, 2008

Yesterday, I took my mom’s van to the tag agency in Del City to finally get her tags renewed.

They expired in October.

She has one excuse after another. The last one was “it was too cold”. So I offered to take the van and get her tags renewed before I went to school yesterday.

They cost $85! I figured that was because she waited 5 months to get it done. She’s lucky she didn’t get a ticket, but then again, she doesn’t drive that van anywhere but to the store or to doctor’s appointments. I drive it more than she does!

She’s going to pay me back for what I spent yesterday because she knows I used my school money to pay for the tags. I just wanted to get that business done because one day, Mom was going to be embarrassed being pulled over for something she should have had someone take care of if she wasn’t going to do it. With my luck, I would have been the one to get pulled over, and I didn’t want that.

So, now it’s done. Mom’s written on her calendar for October to get the tags renewed. I don’t think the van has had the tags renewed on time since she’s had it. Seems that I remember that being late last year, too. For some reason, DPS doesn’t send her a card in the mail reminding her that they’re coming due. I got one for my car.

While I was at the tag agency, I was going to get the address changed on my license (it still has Mom’s address), but the state wide driver’s license system went offline while I was there. So that will have to wait for another day.

*Sigh*

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

BlogFriday: tears February 25, 2008

Join the BlogFriday fun!

After a hiatus of a couple of weeks with the pre-flu, the actual flu, and the post-flu, I’m ready to tackle the latest word… “tears”.

In the last few years, or at least since I turned 40 four years ago, I’ve become this emotional mess. I cry at the silliest things! Commercials, certain songs, some touching story about someone who’s going through some tough times… I get so emotional about everything! Next thing I know, tears are streaming down my face and my family looks at me like I’ve lost my ever lovin’ mind!

I don’t know what I’ll do the next time someone gets me flowers. Sheesh!

I am 44 years old after all… do I have this annoying case of the weepies because “the change” is coming? If it’s coming, would it please just get here so I can get back to normal? The thing is, it might not come til I’m like 50, so AARP and Estroven will be in my life at the same time?

Oh, about AARP… when I get the first mailing from them, I know I’m going to shed tears! Crying because I couldn’t possibly be that old!

Old enough for AARP? I don’t even want to think about that right now, thankyouverymuch.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

Lately, I’ve often caught myself wondering… February 25, 2008

When I was home with the flu, I had a lot of time to think about things that weren’t related to school and homework. Those things were not on my flu-addled mind during those three days I was out of class… but, this was:

Would my life have been different if I never had a weight problem?

I’d like to take the easy way out and say no, that I’m still the same person regardless of what it says on the scale. But, after thinking about it, I think now that my life would have been different, though I have no idea how it would have been different.

Because I’m considered by most standards as being overweight, do people treat me differently, or do they tend to look at me like anyone else, where my personality, my human-ness, and my feelings are measured?

If I had always been thin, for example, would life for me have been easier, or more difficult?

I really don’t know, because I’ve never been what is considered “thin”. I’ve always been curvy and voluptuous. In high school, when I was relatively thin (compared to now), I was still called fat because I didn’t look like the thin, popular girls as far as to what my body looked like.

I think I would have been well endowed (can’t fight heredity, it seems), and for some men, that’s all they care about. And the curvyness of my physique is because of heredity as well. It’s something I can’t help, sorry.

However, there are weight issues on both sides of my family… my maternal grandmother, all 4′ 10″ of her, was overweight most of my life until she passed away in 1989. My paternal aunt is also overweight, and again, for most of my life. She’ll be 90 years old in August. Heart disease doesn’t really run in my family, though diabetes does (my grandmother mentioned above was diagnosed with it late in life).

It’s taken a long time for me to accept who I am, and what I look like. I’ve gotten to the point in my life that I like who I am, what I look like for the most part, and that makes me happy. Could I stand to lose weight? Of course. I know that carrying all this excess is hard on my joints and other parts of my body. But, as I’ve said before in other posts, and out in the “real” world, I’m not going to kill myself trying to lose weight to meet society’s definition of “thin” or “sexy”. I’m going to just be Stef, and if “they” can’t handle me as I am, then tough. If I change, it will be because of me, because I want to, not because someone wants to “change” me (my ex tried that, and it didn’t work).

This is me, ladies and gentlemen… deal with it.

I have people who like me and love me just the way I am. Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

So much happened today February 24, 2008

…that I’ll have to write about it tomorrow when I have time.

Right now, I have to get to bed.

Nitey nite.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–

*checks watch* Waiting on Daniel Time now February 23, 2008

It really sucks not having a car that runs.

It sucks even more when you have to rely on a 24 year old man who would rather do anything than come to “da hood” to fetch his mom.

 Believe me, if I could get to Epperson’s and my mother’s by myself, you think I’d have done it long before now?

And with that, I’m going to close up the laptop in preparation of taking it to Mom’s with me.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–