Yay! for LG who (even though it took getting all three of us up twice during the night) got through the night with a dry pull-up! Now that doesn’t mean I’m ready to chuck the nighttime pull-ups all together, but we’re on the way. Hurray!

Boo! for my new glasses (with progressive lenses) which I just picked up and cannot see out of. Um yeah. Oh, wait, if I push them all the way down to the tip of my nose and hold my head at just the right angle, I can see. And if I turn my head instead of just moving my eyes to the side, I can see. But other than that? Can’t see. Get a headache with them on. Yes, I know there is a certain learning curve to wearing progressive lenses, but come on. I have a reasonable expectation that they’re going to be usable and these glasses are not acceptable. I don’t know if it’s because they didn’t get the lenses divided correctly, or if they just somehow screwed up my prescription, but the reading part doesn’t help me at all and it screws up the other part which actually works (if I’m in the exactly right position of coruse). I’ll be taking them back tomorrow and they WILL be making it right or they will be seeing the wrath of Karin. Not paying $400 for a piece of crap.

And how is your Monday? :P

Just got a wrong number call. Here’s how the conversation went…

Me: Hello?

Caller: Hello.

I wait for them to say something else since they were the one who called me after all. But then I give up, because it doesn’t seem like they’re going to say anything.

Me: Can I help you?

Caller: Is Unrecognized First Name there?

Me: What number are you calling?

Caller: Isn’t this the Last Name I Didn’t Recognize’s?

Me: Noooo

Caller: Oh, I’m sorry.

And we hung up.

Look, we all dial the wrong number now and then, so I’m not upset about that.  And I appreciate the fact that she apologized instead of just hanging up the phone on me. The part that upset me was that this young lady (probably around 11 or 12 from her voice) didn’t bother to say who she was calling for or why she was calling without me having to practically pry it out of her. I don’t know, maybe the people who answer the phone at this person’s house know her voice, but whether they do or not, hasn’t someone taught her better phone manners than that? You don’t just sit there and wait for the other person to ask what you want when you make the phone call. Do you? Or am I just expecting too much here?

I meant to post yesterday. I had something to write about and everything. I was just so busy, I never managed to actually get the post written. Ah well. All good things must come to an end. But, I’ll try my best to post every other day this month. We’ll see how it goes.

So, what I wanted to talk about was my trip to the mall yesterday. The mall, in general, is not a bad place. Except during Christmas time. Then it’s insane. Okay, it wasn’t so bad a couple of weeks ago when we took LG to get her birthday/Christmas pictures done, but this week? In. sane. (Read on …)

Warning: This is a rant.

Last night, we went to the last night of the Advent Mission followed by the regular Wednesday night Mass. Mike drove over with our property guests, who had joined us for dinner, and I had to finish the necessary cleanup and get LG and myself ready to go before we could get over there which made us a few minutes late, although he had just started when we got there.

Since we were late, we sat way in the back, which, considering it was about a two hour service, was good for LG since we weren’t quite as worried about her disturbing other people since there not very many people around us (and during mass, none). I rarely ever sit in the back of the church. I’m either up in the music area singing, or sitting in one of the first few rows with Little Girl, so it was really interesting to observe the goings on during the evening. (Read on …)

I used to go grocery shopping on Wednesdays. But, everyone goes grocery shopping on Wednesdays because that’s when the new ad comes out. So, to avoid all the crazy people in the store, more often than not, I go on Thursday.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that today is Thursday. So we went to the grocery store. You would have thought it was Wednesday by the amount of crazy people that were out today.

On the way over there, we practically got mowed down by a tailgating speedster who was changing lanes at breakneck speed. Is it wrong that I laughed maniacally when he got stuck behind a car with their hazard lights on?

In the parking lot of the store, I was lucky I found a parking space before any of the crazies got me. And I nearly fell into the one that started backing out next to me when I leaned down to find LG’s scrunchy to put back in her hair. (I admit that’s mostly my fault, but still.)

In the store itself, not only was it full, but it was full of crazy/rude people. People that either tried to run into us, block our way, or wouldn’t move their small child out of the way when I wanted to put my groceries on the conveyor belt at checkout. And that was after I was nice enough to let her go in front of me because she only had a few things to get.

Then the bagger (finally)) comes up and stands there leaning against the checkout lane with his back turned to all of us doing who knows what (he later said he was tying his shoe) while no one was bagging anyone’s groceries.

Then trying to get out of the store, people were again trying to run us over. And the parking lot wasn’t all that much better. The drive home was pretty uneventful, but that might have been because I was praying the whole time to get us home in one piece.

I think I might have to start having my groceries delivered. Too many crazy people out there. Even on Thursday. *sigh*

Note to self: Do not buy tickets in the upper deck to concerts and/or any other events when you are taking a squirmy 2 1/2 year old with you.

The squirming…oh the squirming…

This was our view…

Mike and I took LG to the American Idol concert tonight, but we ended up leaving at the intermission. Why? For one thing, LG was making me a nervous wreck because she would not sit still and the upper deck is very very steep at Jobing.com Arena (stupidest name ever isn’t it?) and I was terrified she was going to go tumbling. Mike wasn’t all that comfortable with her acrobatics either, and he’s not nearly as paranoid as I am. But honestly, if that was all we were dealing with, it would have been one thing. The other reason was that the mix was so horribly horribly bad (at least where we were sitting), that I couldn’t understand a word they said when they talked and I could barely figure out what songs they were singing. I couldn’t hear the harmonies or the nuances of the voices and it was very very disappointing. And I will be writing to the venue and the sponsor tomorrow to voice my displeasure. To me there is absolutely no excuse for crappy sound. I’ve been to several concerts in my life, and sat in many different parts of the many arenas my town has to offer and I have never EVER experienced sound as bad as the sound was tonight. Yes, I’ve heard bad mixes before, but at least I could understand what the artist was saying or singing. It was really very disappointing. Marlene and her daughter were sitting in the lower part of the arena, and I really hope the sound was better there. When the sound is so bad it destroys your enjoyment of an event, well, that’s bad. Loud is one thing, unintelligible is another.

Blake ended the first half with a three song set of his own including “Time of the Season” and his own wonderful rendition of “You Give Love a Bad Name”. LG stopped squirming when Blake was on stage and wanted Blake to “picka up!” (pick her up). But the best part was when he was talking between songs and she was saying “Hi Blake!” over and over again. All the people around us were cracking up. It was totally cute. She was ready to go flying down there and onstage with him, I’m telling you.

I will say, though, that when Blake was doing “You Give Love a Bad Name”, I really loved it. He is an amazing entertainer, and he actually made me forget that the sound was making me irritated for a few minutes. It was awesome.

I’m sad that it was disappointing - I was really looking forward to the show and hearing them showcase their talents. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it was their fault in any way, shape or form, because it wasn’t. The fault here lies totally with whoever did the sound (probably a local company). And that’s a shame. At least we didn’t have to pay for parking (which, considering how far we had to walk to get to the arena from the parking lot, is a darn good thing).

At least she enjoyed the fountains outside the arena when we were leaving…

Wow, I’ve been pretty long-winded today haven’t I? Anyway, that was our night. How was yours?

Every year for Easter, my tradition has always been, since I was a child, to get a new Easter dress. And since LG has been around, I try to get a dress that’s in the same general color family as hers. This year, her dress is lavender gingham, so I wanted to get something in the purple family. But guess what? Apparently, everyone is going goth this Easter, because the only dresses I can find are black, red or brown or some combination thereof. If someone would like to explain to me how black, red or brown are spring colors, I’d really appreciate it, because those colors don’t really scream “new life” and “flowers” and “Easter” to me. More like “death” and “dead flowers” and “Halloween”. Or at least Fall. But definitely not Spring.

So, no luck finding a dress. Well, maybe if I’d started looking earlier so I could have gone to a few more places, but in the end I had to settle for a lavender print skirt and an aqua blue top that matches part of the print. I’d have gotten a lavender top, but they didn’t have the top that was supposed to go with it in my size, and I couldn’t find any other lavenders that actually matched the lavenders in my skirt. So aqua it is.

But next year, I’m starting earlier. And they better have spring dresses. I’m just saying.

Tell me that you found one of LG’s sippy cups in the car and then proceed to describe to me exactly what the state of the leftover milk in the cup was in graphic detail. Next time I will show you in graphic detail the entire contents of my stomach. Heh. ;)

I’m converting to whatever church is closest to Catholicism, but does not EVER use incense.

April Fool.

But, seriously, the incense at church tonight literally made me ill. I got dizzy, sick to my stomach and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through the second half of the mass.

Incense works in the old cathedral-like churches because the smoke just sort of floats up to the ceiling. But in a multi-purpose room type of church like ours, it has nowhere to go, but into our lungs apparently. Can you be allergic to incense?

Half the congregation was gagging and coughing. It begs the question of whether or not tradition is more important than the comfort and health of the people. I’m sure you can guess my opinion on that one.

Luckily, the only Holy Week service that does not use incense is Good Friday, which is the only one I will be at. Thank goodness.

I dropped the sewing machine off at the repair shop this morning. They are THREE WEEKS out on repairs. Which means I might have my baby machine back by the beginning of March.

Did I mention I have two quilts to make for friends whose babies are due the beginning of April?

*sigh*

To see a picture of part of my day, go to my photo blog.

The other part? I’m making a quilt for LG for Valentine’s Day and my sewing machine decided to break today.

*sigh*

My father called tonight to tell us that She Who Shall Not Be Named is in the hospital in Texas with congestive heart failure. It’s certainly not necessarily a fatal condition, as my dad has gone through it no less than three times, but I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t cross my mind that it would be easier for me on the land issue I mentioned the other day if she ceased to exist before my dad does.

If that makes me a bad person, so be it. The two people I mentioned that to said that first of all I can’t help my thoughts considering how nasty she has been and that she has brought it upon herself.

If you want to know the story of the land issue, click: (Read on …)

Remember this song from the Eagles? I think I’ll make it my anthem for the year…

I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people cryin’ ’don’t blame me’
They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else
Spend all their time feelin’ sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma’s too thin; your daddy’s too fat

Get over it
Get over it
All this whinin’ and cryin’ and pitchin’ a fit
Get over it, get over it

You say you haven’t been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, old billy was right
Let’s kill all the whiners*, kill ’em tonight
You don’t want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn’t owe you a thing

Get over it
Get over it
If you don’t want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, get over it

It’s like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You’re makin’ the most of your losin’ streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak

You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin’ everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I’d like to find your inner child and kick it’s little ass

Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin’ and moanin’ and pitchin’ a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
It’s gotta stop sometime, so why don’t you quit
Get over it, get over it

*I took the liberty to change the lyric from lawyers to whiners because there are lawyers in my life that I actually kind of like!

First call this morning was one of those - stay on the line for an important announcement - things. *Click*

Second call this morning was from someone who was obviously not based in this country, if you get my drift, calling me about my credit card account with a department store. This is the 3rd or 4th call I’ve gotten from these people in the last week or so, and they have been incredibly rude every time. I won’t tell them who I am until they tell me why they are calling, and of course they don’t want to tell me why they are calling until I tell them who I am. And they’re obnoxious about it. So, I told them don’t call me again and hung up. *click*

But I wondered if something might be going on with my credit card and went online to check it out. After I jumped through all the stupid hoops to get to my online account, I saw that my account was past due. Hmm…that’s funny. So, I checked my checkbook to see if I had written them a check in the last couple of months. Nope. And I looked in the pile of bills to be paid to see if I had overlooked it. Nope. So I decided to call them directly, if nothing else, to complain about the rude jerks that keep calling me. Seems my address was wrong on the account and the statements had been returned to sender. Now the weird thing about that? My new credit card itself made it to my house just fine, but not the bills. She took all the past due amounts off, fixed my credit and I went immediately and paid the bill online just to make sure. Hopefully the jerks from collections (apparently they get these complaints fairly often since she immediately knew what I was talking about) won’t be calling me anymore. And I won’t be using the card anymore either. I only got it so I could get that famous 10% off the purchase. Oh well. That’ll teach me.

The third phone call was someone (”we are not a telemarketer!!”) trying to sell me some Hoodia. When I told her I didn’t ingest anything into my body without doing research on it, she said, “Research won’t get the weight off - I can tell you everything you need to know”. To which I replied that I wouldn’t take one person’s word for it, needed to do my own research, she obviously wasn’t going to get what she wanted from me, so thanks for calling and *click*

So just to warn you, if you call me and the caller ID says “unavailable”, I will be screening the call.

I could rant about a lot of stuff today, but I’m not really in the mood for a rant. All I will say is that possibly every rude and stupid person in the city of Phoenix was in the grocery store today at the same time I was.

In other news, the good thing about being 40 (at least for me) is that my monthly visitor is more like a bi-monthly or tri-monthly visitor. The bad thing about that is that this is the month and my cramps have always been worse when it’s cold. So I’m slightly miserable right now and I will gladly kiss the feet of the person who invented 8 hour Tylenol because it at least takes the edge off of the pain.

And finally, I get to go to the salon tomorrow and that will be a nice little break. Too bad I’ll have to wash my hair before Christmas. Or will I? ;-)