Ok I don't have anything against Rob Zombie. I actually respect his work. And I even like some of his music. But, with new stories of seriously fucked up people committed fucked up crimes, why does he keep putting out horror movies? And I don't mean just a regular old hack movie. I mean total random gore fests. I hate them. I hate that my son could see them. He certainly won't see them here...but he is thirteen and some parents are not as responsible as I am. I just don't understand it at all. Why would you want to keep giving people ideas on more sick shit to do to eachother? Like people don't think of enough sick shit on their own. Just watch the news. There are a ton of stories about random psycho wacked out people. Uggg...Just why?

I am going to beg here. And I mean down on my knees begging. I need a Dunkin Donuts. NEED IT! I don't care that people around here don't know what iced coffee is. I don't care that they don't drink it. In fact, most have never heard of it, much less had the opportunity to fall in love with it. But, I beg of you Dunkin Donuts gods...please hear my cry. I need some of your mocha goodness. You don't know how much I miss just dropping through one of your eight million Rhode Island locations. The only time I ever had to worry that I couldn't visit you was a holiday. Sure, I cursed you then. I need your goodness to get through the holiday. You know when I started to suffer, somewhere right after dinner time? I'm scared to death of needles, but I would have inserted an IV full of your rich tasting hot coffee any day. Large, extra extra. Please..and make it snappy. I beg you...

A Current Affair tonight had a story about the death of Chloe Jones. Just shy of her 30th birthday. Wow. This was such a pretty girl. It sounds kinda messed up to me, so I hope they can get to the bottom of it.

Anyway, this morning I called Verizon and had the phone Tracy has suspended. They told me that if I bought another phone I could have it activated. The thing is, I have to pay retail for it. Ugg..The cheapest phone is $200. She said I could look for one on Ebay too. But I don't have an Ebay account, nor do I want one. I think there is a company around here that will place the bid for me. At least I hope so. Otherwise, I'm not sure how to go about finding another one. Hmm...I guess I could always have Dan ask around at work. You never know what someone might have laying around. I just need a pretty new cell phone that is equipt for Verizon.

Ok so this afternoon a kid came and knocked on the door and said his mom wanted to talk to me. It was a kid I'd never seen before so I was pretty certain this wasn't going to be a social visit to greet me into the neighborhood. I was right. The mom said Joey was using some foul language and not getting along with her son. This son also hangs out with a child Joey hangs out with. And, she seemed like a pleasant woman. She informed me that she only has these two boys in the summer and on some vacations. Other than that they live with their father. She seems like a really nice woman. Someone that I might even be friendly with, had it not been that we met because our kids didn't get along. Anyway, I talked with Joey and I think I've got things under control. All I know is, I didn't want this to be the case. I had told him before he even met anyone around here that he was going to have to be nicer. Apparently, this other kid has been calling him a "poser". Although I don't know why. It's not like Joey dresses or does anything differently from any of the other kids around here. But, whatever. Hopefully this solves this little issue.

Last night we got a call from Dustin's wacked out mother. She insisted he come home and spend a little quality time with her. I didn't want to spend the entire day on the road, but Dan said it would just end up being easier to bring him back today than to wait. So, about four we got on the road and met her halfway. I guess that part wasn't too bad. The part that was bad is she's such a bitch. This month she went over her allotted minutes yet again by about eight hundred minutes. So I told Dan that I was going to suspend the phone as of the end of the billing cycle for this month. I told him that I am just tired of having to worry about that phone. So, I'll just suspend it for a month and then have them re-activate it for me. I will let Joey use it, at least I can watch what he is using and control it if it gets out of hand. I haven't told Joey that yet, and I'm not going to mention it until I've got it all worked out. Tracy is going to be pissed, but I don't give a shit.

Anyway, that's really all there is for right now. I'm going to get going to bed. Have a lot to do tomorrow.

Really...He does. I'd been talking with my mother recently about Joey going to visit her. We were still unsure about how he was getting there or getting home. She had thought about flying here to pick him up, but after looking at airline prices, decided against it. Not to mention, I didn't really want her flying into Atlanta airport. It's huge, and she'd probably have an anxiety attack. Our other option was a long shot. My brother and his family are coming here for a short visit on their way back from Florida the week of the fourth. I said, maybe he would be willing to bring Joey back with him. Then she'd only have to worry about getting him back to Georgia before school was set to start in August. I called and talked to my sister in law, and explained the situation. She said she would talk to my brother about it when he got in from work this afternoon. To my surprise he called me and said that after talking it over with her, they would be willing to do that, as long as Joey didn't mind riding between the car seats, as both of his kids are young and still need them. I told him that Joey really wants to go to Rhode Island and at this point he'd ride in the back on a trailer with a load of pigs. So, it looks like things are set. Well, I hope so anyway.

In other news it looks like Dustin will be heading home to his mom by mid week. She still hasn't talked to either of us about it, but she tells him that every time she talks to him lately. She's talking about Monday, but I don't know. I kinda hope that is the case. I know that sounds mean, but he's really bored here sometimes and wants to be under my feet. I'm just not that entertaining, and with Dan having to work such fucked up hours....It used to be that whenever we visited with him, we were both on vacation for the duration of the visit. This time it isn't like that. It's the real world. Dan is working and I'm home. I don't know if he likes it. I think he's really bored. Not that he wouldn't be bored if he was at home with his mom. I don't know.

Here's a story that I just happened to find:

Post Office Won't Deliver Because Of Woman's 'Vicious' Cat

USPS Says Cat Has Scratched Letter Carrier

My Gosh it has been a long time since I last posted. You wouldn't even believe what has been going on if I told you. But, since you asked, here it is in a nutshell. My hard drive died. Yes, it was very sad. I even tried to call PC Doc, but it didn't help. It still died. And, I lost everything on it to boot. Good thing I'd backed up most of it. However, I did NOT back up all of the music in ITUNES that was in my IPOD. And if you remember, that also died. Which means I had nothing. Zip zero, had to start from scratch. But, it is ok now. I had my pc upgraded to double the hard drive space, and I've got the new IPOD. It's the 60GB IPOD Photo. And it's fucking fantastic. I'm even more in love with it than I was before. Seriously. I know I'm sick. But I don't care. I'd even carve it in a tree if I wasn't all about saving them. Ok so I'm not ALL about saving them, but whatever, you get the point. You probably won't wander up to any oak tree in the near future and see MAA loves IPOD. Ok, maybe you will. Whatever. I don't care. Though IPOD backwards is DOPI, and most men are that, and I love my husband, so I guess maybe I could carve that into a tree...Nope. Nope I won't.

Anyway, looks like things are going ok here, knock on wood. So I should be able to get back to regular posting. I know you were worried, but don't be.

 Ok so yesterday I was just a mess. I was upset by every single little thing. One could say PMS? But not really mean it. I don't ovulate, not normally anyway, so I seriously doubt it was PMS. Anyway, I called the Geek Squad about my computer and they were telling me that a "Geek" could come out here and look at my PC but if it was a hardware issue they would not only charge me $150 to come to my house, but also whatever it cost to fix the pc in the "Geek Shop" which by the way they refer to as "The Geek Cave". A huh..All rightie then. Seriously, call their 1-800-Geek-Squad. It's fucking funny. I even got to hear a chainsaw ripping through a computer. It was quite thereputic. In any event, I was upset about this and I went to talk to Dan about it. He was busy mowing the grass, so I decided to try and call the company that is repairing my IPOD. Just to check and see how it was going. This is how that conversation went:

Me: Hi, I dropped my IPOD off to be sent out for service on May 24. I'm just looking for an update.

BitchMinion: Do you have a number?

Me: Yes. 000 000 000

BitchMinion: Thanks. Please hold.

Enter wonderful elevator music while I wait.

BitchMinion: I don't show that we have it yet.

Me: That's not possible. The guy told me that it was leaving before three on the 24th via UPS. You should have it.

BitchMinion: Let me call the store and ask. Please hold.

Enter wonderful elevator music while I wait some more.

BitchMinion: Although you dropped it off on the Tuesday, it didn't leave the store until Friday.

Me: No. The guy told me that it was going to leave by 3pm THAT DAY! (now with irritation)

BitchMinion: I don't know what to tell you. Sorry.

Me: Yeah great. Thanks.

So when Dan comes in I'm about to be a puddle on the floor. What the hell is going on with all of my electronics? And obveously the clerk at Radio Shack didn't get my subtle hints about how important my IPOD is to me. (If this thing gets lost I might have to hurt someone. and Two Weeks?!? OMG how am I going to live?) Yeah. That is how much I love it. Anyway, Dan gets on the phone and calls Radio Shack and demands to speak with a a manager. She quickly says she is sorry for the confusion, she will order me a brand new one from HP right away, it should be here by early next week. It will come directly to my door from HP. Yay! But I still had the issue with the computer. So, Dan called a repairman from the yellow pages. He said it sounded like the hard drive was about to kick the bucket. So, he said for $150 we could bring it in, he'll look at it. If it's the hard drive he will replace it with an 80 GB hard drive (which is double what I had) and also try and gather any photo and music files from the old hard drive. Sweet. He said there is a 50/50 chance on getting the files though. Boo! But, we'll just have to wait and see with that. I was really concerned about the 600+ songs I had saved for my IPOD. Most of them I have on CD, somewhere. But some I bought from ITUNES and don't have a master copy of. Grrr...Oh well. Again, just wait and see.

Recently I have been thinking of no longer blogging. I don't know why. I guess I just felt like it wasn't thereputic anymore to be purging all of my business here. Which is really the only reason I started this blog at all. I wanted a place where I could just spew verbal garbage and not hurt anyone's feelings. It wasn't feeling like it was working anymore. But, I figured I'd give it a few days and see how I felt. Well, I've decided to keep going. What the hell? So, here I am...again. Ta-Da...Please save your applause. Oh hell, go ahead and clap.

Dan is currently on his way back from Tennessee and picking up Dustin. Right now it looks like he will be staying with us for a month. I say, whatever. I mean I'm not working, I can be here all of the time, while Dan is at work. He and Joey are getting along much better now (knock on wood) and it shouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, there is a big deal in the works. I got my cell phone bill the other day and damn near fell off my fucking chair. What should be $115 is now $800. Oh yeah you read that right. Eight hundred fucking bucks. And it's all her calls. So, I told Dan he had to tell her that she had to give us some money. Yeah great, I can withhold her child support until that is paid, but good old Verizon wants their money within two weeks. Eight hundred bucks in child support is like a month and a half. I was fit to be tied when I saw that bill. I was bouncing off of the walls. I so much wanted to get in my car, drive to Tennessee, knock on her door and punch her square in the face. Seriously, what the fuck? I mean, ok it was my idea to get the phone so Dan could call Dustin and vice versa anytime they wanted to. Instead, she calls whoever she fucking pleases whenever she fucking pleases. I bitched him out good and proper, so I could be sure my message got to her since he won't let me bitch her out directly. It sounded like this: "This fucking bitch is seriously pissing me off. If she does this again I am going to drive to her house and shove that phone up her ass." I'm certain he heard: "Oh honey, love of my life, your ex wife is really making me angry. Please talk to her about this."     You get the picture.

Anyway, so that is the current news. Nothing too major. Keep begging the parentals to come and visit. So far, no word on when that might be. Dan's sister keeps saying she wants to come for a weekend. Still no word on when that might be either. <sigh> so far summer is a bummer.

Oh yes it is that time again. Time again for kids to recharge their batteries and enjoy long lazy days of summer. It's also time for my kid to drive me crazy. It's not so bad, though. He is thirteen, and capable of entertaining himself. It would be so nice to be a kid again. Sometimes I stand in the kitchen window and watch him and his friends in the pool. They are having such a fantastic time. And it brings me back to when I was a kid, growing up on a pond.

This morning I decided to gather up all of the information about Joey's MP3 player and take it back to Radio Shack. He's got a Rio Carbon (5gb) and for some reason the wheel for the volume is broken. I bought the warranty when I bought it in February, so all I had to do was take it back to Radio Shack for it to be repaired. I was getting things ready to leave, and jamming to my IPOD when I noticed I didn't hear any music. I went to check, and found my IPOD stuck on the same song. Not doing anything. I tried every button, it did nothing. I tried connecting it to the computer, nothing. I was frantic. I love this thing. I can't live without it. I quickly realized I was going to have to take it to Radio Shack too. I found my paperwork and off I went. Things were going fine until the clerk told me that if it not repairable they could replace it with a factory reconditioned IPOD. Ummm NO! Sorry not going to happen. This IPOD is the 40GB, very expensive and very well taken care of model. I don't want someone else's junk repaired. I want mine to be fixed, or I want a new one. So, I tried arguing with the clerk. First of all because the paperwork I have says "in store replacement if not repairable". Well, I take that to mean if the clerk can't fix it, then they have to give me a new one in store. He didn't take it that way. He said it had to go to the plant in Florida. I seethed and said nothing. He said it could take two weeks. I cried on the inside as my heart broke, but still said nothing. He said that if I wanted to argue the replacement portion of the warranty that I could, but I would have to call the corporate number. There was nothing he could do about it. I was pissed off. Nothing worse than a pissed off Yankee. I said fine, and away it went. (BTW Joey's also went out for repair) I called Dan from the parking lot. He said to just wait until it comes back and see what they have to say before I get all in panic mode. Not for nothing but he paid an extra hundred for that warranty at Christmas. On top of the $399 he paid for the IPOD. It's the bestest, most awesome one there is...and I'm sad to report that I am without it.

On the happy side, though, I found a place that serves coffee. The Ingles grocery store serves it like Dunkin. Yum. It doesn't taste as good, but it'll have to do.

Dan's ex wife is really pissing me off. That is an understatement for sure. The problem though, is it's partly my fault. Let me take you back a minute. Before we moved to Georgia I talked Dan into getting three additional cell phones on our family share plan. (if you watch any Judge show you can guess where this is going) My parents each have one and one was to go to Dan's ex wife. The reason for her to have one is this: she now lives three hours away from us, and we drive to meet her to get Dan's son. If either of us is going to be late, then we can call the other so they are not just sitting there wondering what is going on. We have Verizon Wireless, and that means we can talk to eachother within the network as much as we want to for free.

Ok now that you are up to speed, let me tell you what my issue is. The other night his ex asks him if she can use the cell phone as her house phone and she will pay whatever charges she incurs. He tells he he wants to talk to me about it first. Now, why he didn't just tell her no is beyond me. I did. I said no right away. I explained, there is no telling what kind of phone bill she will run up, and then where is she going to get the money to pay it? She says "just keep my child support until it is payed off". That is a two prong problem. Number one: If we're keeping the child support, what is she using to buy things for their son? Instead, she will be saying, you need to buy him new shoes, a haircut, new clothes..whatever. And although I don't mind buying these things, we do quite often in fact. The simple fact is, child support is not the bargaining chip by which she satisfies debts for things. She could get a home phone for about $50 a month, she just doesn't want to. (she hasn't had a home phone in about three and a half years) Number two: we pay child support weekly, the phone company wants their money in a lump sum. I said no and that was the end of it.

However, I got curious about her reasoning for making such a request. I called Verizon. The informed me that four of the phones on the account were just fine. This is how the breakdown went for peak minutes. Mine: 30 Dan: 20 My Mother: 9 My Father: 3 His Ex:1757 **** Yes, you read that right. She was at over a thousand all by herself, which is how many minutes our plan allows for. The phone bill was over $300 as it stood with six more days in the billing cycle. I was mad. All steamed up and spitting nails. When Dan got home from work, I explained things to him and he said he would call her. That night it got too late and he didn't call her. The next day I checked the totals again and she was up over two thousand minutes. He called her right then and told her that the usage of the phone had to STOP for anyone that is not also a Verizon customer. She was kind of annoyed at this. She asked why. He told her the bill was over $300 for her portion of usage. She claims she was stunned. She said she didn't think it would be that much. And yet I look at the calls list and see that she gets on that phone from the minute her feet hit the floor in the morning until her feet go back to bed at night. I can account for every minute of her day just by looking at the calls. Verizon says I can suspend that phone, and I'm seriously considering it. Forget the convenience. I was trying to save us all a little time, and make it so Dan could contact his son whenever he wanted and vice versa. For the last three and a half years, we have to call her mother's house to have her go and get her three houses away to tell her we need to talk to her. It was a pain in the ass. I thought this would be better. But instead, she's taking advantage. What a surprise, huh? I really didn't expect that this would be the case, at all. But it is. I'm frightened to see what that phone bill is going to look like.

Mmmm dreamy washboard abs...Wet jeans...mmmmmmmmmm...No no wait. Stop. I can't be sidetracked right now by some super mega stud with clingy wet jeans and gorgeous stomach.

No, right now I am fuming...I am very tempted to call Dan's ex wife, and hash out my little beef with her. A cat fight via the phone, if you will. But I'm not going to do that until I can talk to him and see what he says. Basically I should have known better and I did her a favor, but she's biting me on the ass for it now. And I'm pretty peeved it is even happening. I would go into detail now, but Mr. Gorgeous right there is distracting me.

I love my hot tub. It's just fantastic. Tonight I was going to watch the Country Music Awards, but Dan tempted me with a dip in the hot tub. Ehh...I'll just TiVo the awards and watch them another time. He went off to mow the rest of the grass, and I hopped in the shower. He should be up anytime soon to get into the shower himself. Although it had better be soon because I'm getting kind of tired. We've both been up since 5am when his alarm went off. We haven't had to be up that early in probably two years. This week he is learning how to do the trucks at the restaurant so he has to be there earlier than usual. 5am sucks ass, but if he had this schedule all of the time it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Every day this week he's getting out before 6pm. That is almost unheard of in the restaurant game. We'll see what happens. I am not sure he's convinced he wants to stay with this company yet. It always takes a few weeks before the true colors of the company start to show. Back in Rhode Island he had started at a company and they promised him the world. It was only five minutes from home, which was very welcome considering he had been driving over an hour each way to work for the last three years. The new company turned out to be so awful. He had to work overtime, with no notice, sometimes until 1am. That place closed at 11pm, there was no need for that, other than the general manager decided those would be times they would clean the entire store, or defrost coolers. It used to piss me off so much. I actually posted his resume for him and then told him he was looking for a new job. I couldn't take it anymore. We had no time together, at all. I know he won't get into something like that again. Not when there is so much to enjoy at home. We have the pool, the hot tub, the pool table, not to mention there are so many electronics here Best Buy is jealous of us.

Anyway, I suppose I should go and find out what my hubby is doing. I heared the lawn mower shut off, but he didn't come upstairs.

Above is a picture of my sister and her husband. I just want to say congrats to them. They are expecting another child. She recently found out the good news. They already have two gorgeous little girls, so I am pretty sure this time they are hoping for a boy. Whatever they have, I just hope it's healthy. So congrats, guys!