Unleash da Beast

I admit, I used my birfday weekend as an excuse to eat whatever the flip I wanted.  I’ve had two frozen pizzas (and another on the burner for tonight).  Had some french fries.  Had a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.  This morning, I told my friend if she wanted me to powa wash … I’d need some energy.  So we went to:

Where I ordered a cajun chicken filet biscuit:

It was amazingly delicious.  You know how you can go to a fast-food place and sometimes it’s not so great but sometimes it’s freakn’ delicous?  Today, the fast-food God was looking over me.  But really, anything with the word cajun is guar-UN-teed to taste yummy.  But I went the extra carbohydrate-laden mile and said … gimme the combo … and hurry up!  With the combo I got Bo-rounds:

The tastiest tater treat I’ve ever had from anywhere, doused in ketchup of course.  Well, what the shiznit, there are four in the pic … I only got three.  Whatever.

Oh, and the first pic was from my fave Mexican place.  We Ix-Nayed the Izza-Pay and hit Monte Albans.  Yum.  So what if I’d once arrested our waiter … he wouldn’t mess with our food, would he?!  Hehe.

‘Nuff of da foodstuff (but thank you Bi-Lo for having Homerun Inn Pizza on sale.  It’s in the oven now).  Tomorrow, I am back to low carb.  Today, I powa washed with a friend:

Ya might hafta click a pics to see the difference.  We worked hard.

She didn’t know which end of the brush was up (kidding), but she’s smiling and that’s all that really matters, right?  We finally got our “mojo” on and knocked this project out.  We even had an audience:

Midnight and L’il Bit.  Midnight was very photogenic but refused to allow me to pressure wash him (‘fraidy cat).  L’il Bit, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy a light spray but did not want me to take a pic of her.  Just look at her face (on the right).  I had to zoom in cuz she is hiding under the 5th wheel.  They miss their daddy and were very sweet.

It was hot and my new buddy brought water … how thoughtful.  She left it out in the sun, when we had access to a dang fridge.  Mmmmm … nothing quite as refreshing as a hot bottle of agua.  I asked her about the warm wetness, and she said, “Well I asked you if you had a cooler!”  ”Well, yes, I do, and I told you I did, but I didn’t have it with me, and you have a gosh darn REFRIGERATOR!”  Funny stuff.

She did get the hang of the brush, and we finally fell into a decent routine after we were like 75% done.  She kept saying, “Oh, next year, we’ll knock this out quickly.”  Ya, next year it will be done in minutes rather than hours.  Where did I sign up for next year?  I never know where I’m gonna be next DAY, let alone next year!

Oh, and she was really considerate … she let me climb up the unsteady ladder and get up on the roof to clean the high spots.  Bless her heart.  Seriously, though, I had a ton o’ fun.  Good friends are few and far between, and it’s been a long time that I have experienced this.

Then she thought it would be clever to “fall” off the ladder just when we were about to finish.  I wasn’t lettin’ her off the hook … she owed me lunch, which was the 1st pic, a full order of ground beef and cheese nachos with extra cheese.  I’m still full.  Then I took her to the hospital.

Send me a private message if you wish:

It made me a year older!  I had an awesome day, and I thank everyone for the sweet b-day wishes.

So I am listening to AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells.  And here I am at around age 1.  Song seems appropriate.  I was told my dad tried hard to make me photogenic.  He fixed my hair, and I immediately unfixed it.  I think I look happy; he said I was miserable and crying.  And is that a dangnabbin’ dress?  Ya … I mean … NO way!  I guess my parents hadn’t taken me shoppin’ for Levi’s or ToughSkins.

Yowza, another dress.  Age 1.5 I reckon.  How long’s it gonna take before my father realizes I am a dang TOMBOY!  I wonder why my thumb was up like that … I look like the Fonz.  Ya think if I snapped my fingers, a couple of cute li’l boy toys would come running!

So here it is.  The writing on the back of this pic says I was 6 days old.  I gotta be honest, this is still my favorite sleeping position.  Dunno that I dig my left hand into the mattress but whatever.  I reckon my wrist got pretty numb and fingers wicked tingly.

Here’s one of my all-time faves … I wish I still had this hairdryer:

I beg of you to pardon the nudity … at that point I didn’t have much to hold that towel up with … not that I do now actually … ugh.

I really loved these corduroys, wish this was a full-length image.  Do they even make corduroys anymore?!  Levi’s and ToughSkins sure did in my younger years.

Nursery school, where I went at age 4.  Does nursery school still exist, or is it now called preschool?  I loved that place.  It was a tiny li’l building, with a dirt trail off the back of it that we’d walk and enjoy nature.  I dunno why I remember that … I seem to remember the teacher showing us mint leaves and encouraging us to taste them.  Sometimes I’m not sure if my memories are real or just dreams I had!  I remember having the chicken pox during nursery school AND riding a bus to nursery school.  Hmmm … I just dunno.

What, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, am I wearing here?!  Mimi called it a “yoga” suit.  It’s one piece and on the bottom only covers what a pair of Underoos would (do they make those anymore, if not Google ‘em cuz they were FUNtastic).  I’m just-a hopin’ Momma put me in some pants as well that day.  This is my nursery school pic.  I can’t seem to find a kindergarten one.

This is me when I was a li’l fat during 2nd and 3rd grades — not sure which year this was, as I wore the same dress both years.  That dress was awful, with elastic bands squeezing me all around and leaving imprint marks all over me.  But I was pleasing my parents, right?  It wouldn’t surprise me if I made Mimi pack me some comfortable clothing to change into soon as the pic was taken.  And Matt Arold, my first kiss, which happened in the 2nd grade, thought I was hot … I mean he DID kiss me.

Now here’s that tomboy I’ve been telling you about.  That t-shirt had a iron-on (remember those, from the mall?); it was of Starsky and Hutch (remember them?).  No not the new ones.  I’m talkin’ ‘bout Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul.  I was in love with David Soul.  After watching this video, I can’t really figure out why … but it’s a good song.

The show and the Red Gran Torino with that white stripe … what a sweet ride!

I reckon I’d better fast forward to how I dress nowadays and spare y’all out there who are thinking, “OH MY GAWD, gag me with a large ladle … is this thang in love with herself or what?!”  Perhaps just a little, and I’m really diggin’ going through old photographs:

Circa 1995, I think?!  My friend on the left, Joni, had graduated college and her parents took us to Disney World to celebrate.  Good times.  This was at Epcot, the bar in Great Britian.

And, last but not least:

Circa today baby!  Still sportin’ da Levi’s, although they really don’t make ‘em like they did way back when … the damn things fall apart just pullin’ ‘em up.  Perhaps I shouldn’t pull them up by the belt loops, but jeez.

FORTY-FOUR, WOO WEE!!!  Time goes be so amazingly quickly that it’s almost scary.  I remember very well the day I turned 30, which was 14 years ago.  In that same short period of time, I will be close to 60!  So bizarre.  Treasure the good times and hang tough through the bad.

Send me a private message if you wish:

It’s always been a practice of mine to pretend I can’t stand kids … I dunno why.  I guess for me it helps to justify why I never had any.  But truthfully, I think kids are totally cool.  This is Kiara, age 4, and Jeremiah, age 8.  Kiara’s mom was quite impressed because I asked Kiara to spell her name for me and she did so.  Mom said that was the first time she’d heard her do that.  I was honored to be a part of it.

It was these two and their parents who came to see da BeastHouse today.  As soon as they came in, I grabbed hold of these youngins and locked them in this curio.  That may seem drastic, but I need to sell my house … by any means.  And if this works, I will have a place to live rent free … jail!  Look at them begging to be let out.  Poor kids.  Too bad.  They will remain there until Mom makes an offer on da house.  I sit here now eating pizza watching them plead for just a small piece of crust.  The phone hasn’t rung yet!

Well, no, not really.  I didn’t get good vibes from the showing, but thems the breaks.  They had looked at a few other houses before checking mine out.  I got the impression they had already decided on one of those, but I could be wrong … it’s happened before.  Nice people though, and obviously I dug the kids.  They loved playing with Sammie.  I told them Sammie is a girl, her name short for Samantha, but they kept calling her Samuel.  It made me giggle.

Just for the heck of it, I started looking for rentals … you know … just in case I got an offer on da house.  I found the coolest little house, 600’ square feet.  It reminded me of the tiny apartment I had on Hampton Beach in NH, like I had come full circle.  Kinda early in my life to come full circle, but it is what it is.  Maybe the Mayans are right about the world ending in December.

I need to recant something I put in my blog post yesterday.  Here’s the quote:   “I believe I treat the man I love incredibly well; I think he takes it for granted.”  Beware of the next pic … LANGUAGE!

Cute kitty, hehe.  Anyway, the truth is he made it clear to me that we had no future from the start.  So any feelings or whatever that transpired after that was of my own doing.  And maybe I didn’t treat him so well; I dunno.  I thought I did.  I take full responsibility for the end result, and I hope he forgives me.

‘Nuff of that shit.  I hate being sad, so I hope this goes away quickly!

Well, there it is … now I am smiling.  Does Jeremiah not remind you of Dennis the Menace?!  Or are you too young to remember him?  Howzabout Kiara, with her “Mommy’s Angel” t-shirt on, lol.  I asked Mommy if Kiara was truly Mommy’s angel or was she Mommy’s … well you know.  I won’t repeat her answer.  Bless her heart!

Send me a private message if you wish:

Who am I to argue with Uncle Sam?  Now I admit, I never wanted to work for anybody ever again in my life.  I had hoped that by now, I would have figured out a way to make money, whether it be through my writing or winning the lottery.  It’s funny though cuz I was married to a much older man, and everyone around here just assumed he had a lot of money, but I was the breadwinner.

I will also admit that I haven’t dedicated the time I should have thus far to learning everything I can about interweb stuff.  I think I’m a li’l scared.  It’s amazing when you don’t work how you can fill your time so easily yet get hardly anything done.  I think I got more done when I was working 12-hour shifts.  There are so many things I could be doing …  like posting guest posts on other blogs, networking with a bunch of bloggers, submitting my writing to companies looking for good writers, etc.  I mean let’s face it, I’ve been unemployed since November 22, 2011, like 8 months … yikes.  But I, like lotsa folks I reckon, am as this describes:

It isn’t like I haven’t done ANYTHING, though.  I got this site set up, thought I had my house sold, got rid of a ton o’ stuff, and even traveled for the glorious month of May in my beloved BeastMobile, the absolute hands-down, no-doubt-about-it, best month of my entire life … I loved just about every second of it.  I stressed a little over Sammie Sad Eyes when I’d hafta leave her in da BeastMobile to run into a grocery store to stock up.  Those were the worst times … not so bad really, right?  I mean look at her as we are driving over the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway by Beaufort, SC:

Oh hey, I got my laptop back … they were able to recover all my pics … yippee!  Remember this one:

I titled it, “babygatorwantstoeatmybobberafterbeingluredinbyaNathan’shotdog,” all one word.  This was one of the highlights of my trip, even if it did freak me out a teeny weeny bit.  By the way, I never heard back from this same campground I took this pic in reference to working there … I should have called them … 15% crippling self-doubt won over.  Ugh!

So what does one do when one needs to earn a paycheck?  I dunno what y’all do, but I do the backstroke and rely on previous job skills.  Before taking on the challenge of law enforcement, I worked for 5 years from home as a medical transcriptionist.  The money was great, as were the benefits.  And working in my PJs?  Well what can beat that?!  Late hubby took a pic of me one day while working:

I did get a li’l bored with sitting at home and typing all day and I felt I needed more of a physical and mental challenge, so I went to the “academy” at age 40, otherwise known in the state of North Carolina as BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training).  I loved it … 4 great months.  Being a cop was awesome.  But it also reminded me why I went to school for medical transcription in the first place … to work from home and avoid all the drama and nonsensical, hateful idiocy that goes on in the real world.  No office politics, no backstabbing, no “he said, she said.”  Full benefits and a bunch of happy, friendly, hard-working folks cheering each other on.

I’m getting to the no brainer thing.  When I realized I now hafta get a job, I hemmed and hawed.  I thought, “Who would hire me around here?”  I got in touch with a li’l Italian restaurant I used to work for, but they aren’t hiring.  Their food is yummy and the job was fun … I did it as a side job when I used to work in transcription cuz I wanted to get outta the house a bit.  I also thought, “There ain’t nobody around here who would pay me what I made in law enforcement, let alone what I made working from home doing transcription!”  But I plugged along like my mother always prodded me to.  She’d say, “Keep smilin’.”  Pretty ironic really, when you consider the path she ended up taking.  But I’m still smiling, even though the hippie hair growth thing is way outta control; I hafta strap down my graying curly locks with a bandana:

So guess what?  I done did the backstroke and applied back at the transcription company I worked for and got a job offer today … yippee!  It was a no brainer.  The job has evolved into more of an editing position rather than straight typing due to voice recognition software, which I’m kind of excited about.  It will be a few weeks before I can start cuz their trainers are backlogged, but I feel very positive.  It’s an extremely solid company that treats their employees like gold, a very rare employer trait these days, so I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot.

The best thing about this job is I can do it from anywhere I have an internet connection.  So I can leave Macon County if and when the house sells … yay!  Da BeastHouse is being shown Saturday morning … I’m crossing my fingers and praying but trying not to get my hopes up too high.

Hehe, yea whatever!