Some musings about Stargate…

First, a quick personal update- Had a great time yesterday, even with the Children’s Fall Festival being canceled. The Youngest has gotten the short end lately- First the school and now the city canceling her chances of going out and being a kid at Halloween w/o us worrying too much. Great. But she still got dressed up and had a blast anyway! And her sister and the Marching Band made fifth overall at State yesterday! Yay! Very proud of the whole band, but especially of the Oldest. She has come along way and it certainly has not been easy for her, but she has proven that she can succeed!

Now for the rest of this entry, if you have no interest in fandoms and Stargate in particular, you may not want to venture much further. It’s not territory for those unfamiliar or don’t care how a Fandom for a show/movie/book works, especially in regards to the internet. You have been warned.

Before I go further though, check out this link to Joe Mallozzi’s blog. He is a Producer and Writer for the Stargate Franchise. I believe it was in and around seasons 3-4 of SG-1 that he started working with the franchise. I’ve been following his blog on and off for several years now and have come to enjoy it, and like him as a person. He’s a great guy and does something he doesn’t have to: Allows the fans an inside look into the creation process of their favorite show(s). Back to his recent blog post… It appears the supreme ugliness of fandom has reared its head. And this time a few of the actors in the show are being treated VERY unfairly for actions that their characters have made.

You may not care for the current version of Stargate, which is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I know I was extremely unhappy with the latter part of season 5 of Atlantis. That is no secret, and it did start coloring my thoughts on the new series, Universe. I was high on that fence, distraught over how a few of my favorite characters were being treated, and seriously debating on whether or not I really wanted to be apart of the franchise anymore. I’d never felt that way in any other fandom, including Harry Potter, with that travesty of an epilogue. But I did. I kind of took a break for a little while, somewhat keeping up with everything, but nothing like I had been doing. Even let my busy real life take over and not really have anything to do with the forums. Then I discovered that Ming Na and Lou Diamond Phillips were cast on the new show, and I started to think maybe I’d give it a chance. It was that combined with the fact that I’d been missing my Stargate. For the longest time the show had been apart of my Friday nights and it felt wierd to not have it around. So, even though I did call it Stargate: 90210 and other lovely names, I watched it. I watched “Air” and was blown away. It was very much how I pictured Atlantis should have been. Dark and gritty, overall a survivor’s story. You are trapped in an alien place with people you barely know and placed in situations you have never dealt with before. SGU gets it. I still love and adore Atlantis, don’t get me wrong. Always will. But Universe takes Stargate as a whole, to a new level.

There are two actors in particular that have been facing the bashing, recently. Notice I said actors and not characters. One more so than another, I believe, but she has been feeling it too. I’ve been browsing over the forums and websites for Universe, and I must say that even with the infamous love triangle from Atlantis, I’ve never seen anything even remotely similar to this. In any fandom. Normally the fans are pretty good at separating the characters from the actors and leave the actors alone. Once in a while the comments on the characters can get out of hand, but no harm or ill will would be directed at the actor. Goodness knows the McKay/Keller/Ronon triangle stirred up A LOT of noise on all sides and everyone was guilty of stepping out of line. Even me. But I never attacked the actors. I may have said one or two things about the writers and producers (especially Martian Gero) but again, no intent of ill will or malice on their person. Just a venting session and expressing my need as a fan for the creators to wake up and smell the coffee. I even posted a comment on Joe’s blog asking him WTF were they all thinking! To me, I never got offensive about it. I was honestly reasoning things out and wondering what happened to my show! Yes, as a fan I consider it my show. Not ‘my’ as in I own it, but ‘my’ as in something I really enjoy and love/like/adore. There are some that take it waaaaayyyyy too personally and consider a show, etc. as wholly theirs and the creators have to bow down to their every whim. Yeah. Good luck with that one.

Brain J. Smith and Elyse Levesque have been getting more than the short end of the stick from several fans. I haven’t run across massive amounts of it for Elyse yet, but some of the comments would make me want to curl up in a ball and cry. Brian on the other hand, you could say he’s been harassed by the fandom. Not all of it, but the minority that can’t leave well enough alone and have to be complete dicks and assholes about it all. Originally he decided to leave Twitter all together (something fellow cast mate David Blue got him and the others into) because people were being VERY mean and disrespectful to him because of what his character, Lt. Matthew Scott, was doing on the show. First of all, it saddens me that there are people out there who cannot tell the difference between the character and the actor who plays them. They are not the same person. Seriously. From what I have been exposed to about Brain J. Smith, he is a very intelligent human being and a big sweetheart. I loved following him on Twitter and reading and watching his interviews. A very well-rounded person, especially for being so young. That and it helped with his open adoration of Cassy , an adorable puppy he decided to adopt. Then we have Lt. Matthew Scott. I can’t say a whole lot on him, since we haven’t seen all there is to about him. What I have been able to discern about the character is that he is a leader, even if he is fresh out of Officer’s School. The SGC wont let just anybody in, military wise. I believe they have learned their lesson in the past. Besides that, Col Young wouldn’t have placed him in charge had he believed that Scott would have failed. He’d have stuck with TJ, his other Lt. on the ship, someone he has KNOWN for sometime (according to spoilers) and obviously trusts. I know, I know. They brought religion into the show with making Scott a fairly die-hard Catholic. How dare they huh? Frankly I think it’s a nice addition to the character. And guess what, I’m not Christian, yet I can relate to Scott and his spirituality. Yes, I know, they also made him a ladies man in the regards that he and Lt. James were fuck buddies (or something similar, maybe something more), and then all of a sudden he’s sleeping with Chloe! THE HORROR! How could that happen! It’s not realistic and things like that never happen, in the military or in the civilian world!

And I hope you all realize that I was being sarcastic in those last few sentences. I think that many people are trying to just find something to nitpick at because they have nothing better to do. My only beef with the show so far has to do with the ship’s shields and how, if they could barely contain the hull breaches, then how could they with stand the energy from a star? As far as Scott being an unrealistic person and totally not true to Catholics or the military, I say this. Shut up, sit down and reflect on a few things. (I had to do something similar to the Atlantis Love Triangle.) First, Scott isn’t a real person. Second, though he is not representing ALL catholics and military personnel, he is human. Everyone has their flaws. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone looses their way at times. I’ve known many Catholics, some stellar citizens and others complete douchebags. Same with the military. And as far as it’s unrealistic for him and Chloe to hit the sheets as soon as they did, can you explain to me how the hell we have so many men and women getting married to each other within minutes of meeting each other? I need more than both hands to count the number of people I know (personally and otherwise) that have done that. Yes, Scott and Chloe didn’t get married, but they slept together. HELLO, big stressful situation and it has been shown that LT. Scott is a fan of sex, and I imagine he (like other men AND women) uses it as a stress reliever, besides the fact they all believed they were going to die. That doesn’t make Chloe (or the actress who plays her) a whore. Nor does it make her easy, a slut or anything else like that. I bet if things were different, that they would have taken more time to flesh things out, and started slowly. Thing is, circumstances didn’t allow for it, and they got swept up in the moment. Completely normal and natural, AT ANY AGE. True, it’s more common for the younger ones to do it, but I’ve seen it with us older folks too. And as far as the Frat regs for the military go, I don’t normally go for any characters that break them. But, as I realize it does happen in the real world, I am ok with Scott (to a degree) breaking the rules with the 2nd Lt. It seems that relationship went nowhere anyway, so unlike with all the Sam and Jack stuff from SG-1, I can deal with it.

If you don’t like the show because you believe the characters all suck, sleep around too much, and wear too much make up for a space drama/adventure show, then go away. Why bother watching it? There is no point in degrading the actors who play these characters. They just bring them to life and that’s it. They are not responsible for their actions. They are not evil. Hell, I can’t stand Dr. Rush, and am not a huge fan of Robert Carlyle, but I’m not sitting here bashing him into the ground. Dr. Rush is the character you are supposed to love to hate, very similar to Dr. Baltar in BSG and other characters on other show. He is an antagonist. He helps to keep the fans guessing and the other characters wondering WTF?! But I don’t want to see him off the show. Hell, my favorite character on the show so far, Col. Telford has been, for the most part, an asshole. But I still adore him and bear Lou Diamond Phillips no ill will for portraying him.

I do have to state this though. And this is of no fault of the creators behind the Stargate Franchise. I think a lot of fans became pre-disposed to hating SGU ( I was heading down that road) because A LOT felt Atlantis was getting the shaft to make room for the show. I don’t know how much truth there is in Atlantis being cancelled for that reason, and when you think about it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But I know that when Atlantis was canceled I felt betrayed by the franchise. I didn’t want it to go away. I didn’t care that there would be the promise of a movie, I wanted my show. Even with the whole McKeller relationship. I couldn’t have my SG-1 anymore, so I needed something. And Atlantis had the potential, IMO, to be even better than it was. I would have loved to have seen certain things be resolved and what not. Instead I was left feeling like I’d been shit on. I believe it was Sci Fi (still not doing it, folks, get over it) that created the end for the show. And I do have agree with a comment Joe M. made in his blog about the time that SG-1 ended. It was hard having the production staff working on two shows, at the same time. I bet that drove everybody nuts. I still wish Atlantis hadn’t been canceled, but I no longer begrudge Universe for it.

There are a few things coming up on the show, however, that are raising warning bells with me. Not in the same way that things went with Atlantis. And be warned, there are MAJOR SPOILERS on their way here. If you don’t want to know, read, no further…

Vader will protect you from spoilers!

In this next weeks episode, entitled “Earth” there is something that I think will happen. And I think this due to pictures I’ve seen from the official MGM website for Stargate. Now, Col. Young was having some problems with his marriage before taking command at the Icarus Base. I will not go into those details as of yet, but they mostly stem from him spending more time with his job than his wife. Now, during the episode of “Darkness”, Young uses the Ancient Communication Stones to go to Earth to report in. Since it didn’t take long at all for him to tell the higher-ups “We’re screwed”, he decided to take Col. Telford’s body (who he swapped with) to go see his wife, Emily. She was distraught, yadda, yadda, etc. Things didn’t go well. Fast forward time a little and apparently during “Earth” Young, Eli and Chloe leave the Pentagon, in the bodies of the people they swapped with and enjoy some time to themselves. Now granted, they just learned that the people they swapped with are going to be getting everybody off of Destiny and back to Earth, and I don’t have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is this, and I hope that TPTB treat it right, and show the consequences like they promise they will for many of the actions these people are making. Young goes to see Emily, and they end up making love while Young is in Telford’s body. I do have a problem with that. To me, that is akin to rape, and like I said, I hope TPTB show the consequences of those actions. Does it make for good drama- yes it does really. Do I hate the actors for going along? Hell no. Do I think less of the characters? Maybe. Haven’t decided yet.

Now, this is pure speculation on my part here, some rooted in spoilers that I’ve stumbled across from fairly reliable sources, but spoilers can still be wrong. I feel that when episode 15 “Lost” airs, that we will see the consequences of Young’s actions in the episode of “Earth”. A description of the episode mainly talks about Greer, but the B plot of the episode is about Col. Young and TJ having some personal issues come up. It most likely has to do with the “affair” these two had once upon a time, but I have a sneaking suspicion that something big will go down between Young, Telford and Emily due to Young using Telford’s body like that. A baby, perhaps? We all know Alania Huffman, who plays TJ, is pregnant in real life. There is a chance that the writers put that in the show, and it is very likely. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Emily ends up preggers or even wanting to run off with Telford after “Earth”. Wouldn’t that be something? Young wakes up one morning to find TJ is expecting his kid because of their affair, and Emily is now pregnant with Telford’s baby all because hubby had to get him some. LOL. Yup, a soap opera that does make. But I could be wrong, and they are just random thoughts that spring to mind. But I can imagine that Telford’s wife (he has to have one, or had one, the character is wearing a ring) wouldn’t be so hot about the usage of her husband’s body in that manner. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Ok, I think I’m done for now. To the people behind SGU, writers, actors, producers, etc, you all are doing a wonderful job! I thank you again for bringing my Friday nights back! I love you all for it!

Taking a quick break…

I’m taking a quick break while I’m trying to get caught up on chores. I was derailed this morning. I was hoping after making a few phone calls and doing some chores that I would have plenty of time before meeting the Youngest at the Bus Stop to get some cookies made and play a little Mass Effect. But… one of the calls derailed me and created more calls to make that ended up with me loosing my temper a bit, so I gave the phone the finger and walked away before I really lost it. I honestly do not care for telephones, and don’t really like talking on it. I will make exceptions for the Hubby and my mother. Which is funny, because sometimes when I do get on the phone I will be on it for a while. Messed up, yes. Anywho, I just walked away. It’s for the better.

Stargate: Universe. SPOIlERS AHEAD. Nothing in deep detail. I’ll save that for other spots. Yes, I am still watching it. And yes, I am still writing an SGU fic. So yes, I am enjoying the show. Telford, Wray and Young are up there in my favs among the characters. Greer, TJ, Scott and Eli are close behind. I like Chole fine, but she hasn’t really made that BIG of an impression yet. However, I can see her moving up in the ranks as her character becomes more fleshed out. Rush. Yeah, ok. I do have to say that in “Darkness” he impressed me with his meltdown. I’m not a huge RC fan, but he did a good job with that. Other than that, Rush is the character I love to hate. Am looking forward to further development of Telford and Wray. And for more info of the ‘relationship’ that has or is happening between TJ and Young. Especially with AH being pregnant. Did they write it into the show, or not? And if they did, will TJ be treated like Teyla was on Atlantis? One moment where I called BULLSHIT was in the eppy of “Light”. The whole thing with the star was cool, but, BUT, there are flaws (some have been nicely explained/theorized by others) that was hard to deal with. The shields that were supposedly unable to 100% help protect them from the hull breaches can protect them from the energy of a star? I think that is about the only spot in the entire show where no one has been able to explain to me that makes sense. I can see the practicality of using solar energy (or variations thereof) to power a ship like Destiny. It makes sense. BUT if the ship’s shields can’t help keep the holes in the hull from draining all the air out of the ship, then it’s not possible for them to withstand the power of a star. No way. Sorry. I can take leaps of faith and my perception of reality can be pushed aside for some things. But this wont leave me alone for some reason. I can get over Scott and Chole, very easy to see happen, and they did lead up to it, and yes hook ups like that DO happen in real life. But the shields and the star. *sigh* Oh well. Hopefully we will see more of Telford this Friday.

Saturday is gonna be a long day. Oldest is going with the Marching Band to the State Competition. She has to be there really early in the AM after being at the Football game the night before. They hit the field at about 1-ish I think. Awards are at 4, and then we rush back home for the Children’s Fall Festival that starts at 4 and goes to 8. Hoping weather and traffic cooperates with us that day so we can get everything accomplished. BTW, last weekend the band placed 4th at the Upper State Comp! This is great because if you look at how close the scores were between the top four places you can tell the judges were really close on who was the best. The space between 4th and 5th had a BIG gap, so it’s like there was a 4-way tie between them. Am very proud of the band! Also, since this is their last performance as the Marching Band, they are doing something special for the seniors and for Halloween as well, they asked the parents to all donate candy and stuff to hand out to the kids.

I will not be surprised if the Oldest decides she is too tired for the Fall Festival after the Comp. Hopefully she makes it through it because the Youngest really want to go. She’s all geared up for the Costume Contest (her age group wins a HUGE thing of candy donated by local businesses) and some special charities for the town are looking for food donations and she wants us to do that. I know she wants to help out her fellow-man, BUT her main motive is the fact that each donation gets you a raffle ticket to win a Wii. Yes, she really wants one, but Hubby and I both agree that we don’t want to spend money on it. The 360 is our main console that everyone plays, and the PS3 has become our Blu-Ray player. So the Wii is in the background for us, as a whole. About the only game that is Wii exclusive that would get attention is Animal Crossing. And I know she likes the idea of being able to play her DS games on it. I think if she does win it, that it will be the first time I will endorse putting a console in the kids’ room. We don’t let them have cable in there or the other consoles for the sole reason of they would be on it 24/7. But we have no room on our Ent. Center and the Wii is not really HD compatible. You can play it on there, but there is no difference between the screen quality between the HD TV or a SD TV. So we may as well put it in there.

Vader and Cujo had their day at the spa on Tuesday. They were good puppies and looked really cute! They also got to meet one of Hubby’s teachers. Now that they have had a good cleaning and nails clipped, I think next week we are going to start using the Rapid Bath that my mother-in-law got for us. We haven’t used it yet, mainly due to the weather (rain left and right) and because of the flea treatments. So Cujo will be going back on his once a week baths and I’m not sure about Vader. It was easier to bathe him with the Rapid Bath when we tried it out at Grandma’s, but he makes it difficult to dry him off. He hates that part.

I guess that’s it for now. I need to get back to work. Hopefully have some time to play Mass Effect before Survivor and Fringe start tonight. I’m getting this play through set up for Mass Effect 2 since we can continue with our game saves from the first one into the second one. I figure the game comes out in Feb, so I have time to get it set up just right.

 

Like whoa…

I didn’t realize I had been that slack in updating this thing this month. No entries for October yet. Wow. Yes, it does show how busy I’ve been, but still. I like to use the blog to keep people updated, especially if they aren’t on Facebook or Twitter. Just wow. And yes, for those that venture to Facebook, I can be found there. Just look up Carrie Key and there I am. I do not, however friend everybody that sends a request. I have to either know you personally or have more than one connection to you before I agree. And that is mainly because that is where I go nuts over updating about the kids. I do talk about them here, but since this blog is VERY public, I don’t feel right blurting out their names or showing pics of them. I’m just a weeeee bit protective, and for good reason. Perhaps one day I wont feel that way, but for now, deal with it.

Anyway, I have today off. Was originally to take the dogs to go get groomed up at the campus, but it didn’t work out that way. Hubby is taking them on Tuesday and I’m a bit nervous. He gets there for class before they do and so the boys will be locked up in a strange room by themselves for almost an hour before anyone gets there, and they don’t know these people. And he forgot to tell them about Vader’s knees when he set up the appointment. They haven’t really bothered him over the past few months, but it would be my luck that ‘Mr-likes-to-struggle-alot-when-getting-a-bath” is going to scare them when he hits his knee just right and is limping and possibly yelping. Cujo will take damn near anything you hand him, but my puppy is a bit of a wimp and very much a momma’s boy. So I worry. I know they will be fine and the students will get a full education in the grooming of my animals, but still… Wish I could be there to drop them off and pick them up.

My baby

My old man

 

In other news, the Oldest’s High School Marching Band is still number one, three weeks running, with only two competition’s left. They have Upper State this weekend and State next week. I wont be able to make it to either. This weekend was a disappointment to me since I didn’t realize that the awards for the performances would be held so late. The was I see it, we wont be back home til well after midnight-one o’clock, and I have to be to work at 8? Even if I get up at 7 to get ready for work, it will take me some time to fall asleep. Which sucks. I wanted to go seeing as how I knew I wouldn’t be able to go to State. You see, State is on Halloween. We promised the youngest she could go to our town’s Fall Festival which takes place that day. She had a blast last year and at the time we didn’t see any issues. So Hubby is going with the Oldest and I’m taking the Youngest in her Cleopatra costume. Which she gets to wear it this Friday at her school’s Fall Festival. So yeah, this is pretty much how I have been spending all of my time lately. If we aren’t doing for one kid, it’s the other. Anyway, back to the band. They have been getting nearly all the awards from their individual divisions, as well as claiming Grand Champion status for their section at the competitions. Color Guard has gotten high honors two of the three times. And the last two show, the Oldest has been playing with a sprained wrist! It’s doing better now, but I got her a brace to wear that matches her uniform gloves that offers support, but still allows her full range of movement. She gets upset with me when I make her wear it, but I know from experience, just because it feels better does not mean it is better. And I don’t want her to feel that much pain again. So the end of the story is I have big time bragging rights on this kid and yes, I’m using them! Very proud of her. It’s been a tough couple of years for her, and we were worried that the end result would not be in her favor, but the Band overall has been an awesome thing for her. It hasn’t been easy, but I think she’s seeing the positive results and she is happier for it. *squishesoldestwithhugs*

The trophies from the 1st competition

Now, I am peeved. I was in the Girl Scouts as a child, as was the Oldest. Between the two I have seen tons of organization, as well as actual meetings. Enter the Upper SC group and everything falls apart. We are well into the school year and even though they handed out the fliers for girls to sign up, they have been slack in getting anything set up! The Youngest really wants to join, which is great. I think she would do well with it, and give her a chance to shine a bit, since I know she is feeling her sister’s shadow (which is normal. And I feel for her, I had 6 shadows over me!). So what it may come down to, is something that my oldest brother and his wife did for their son so he could do the Eagle Scouts (I think that’s the right one. Haven’t had anything to do w/ Boy Scouts since my baby brother), and basically take over. Thing is, I have limited time between everyone’s schedules and my own, and add in the fact we have one car. It’s something I want to do, it just might not be realistic. Times like this make me wish we either back in Charleston or back home in New York where I know there are people there who are organized and able to either make things happen or are better able to help out. Not there aren’t people willing to help out, it’s just most of our friends around here are in similar boats and aren’t able to.  

In other news, something happened that I never expected to happen. Yes, Stargate Universe totally rocked my world . I’m in love. Ming Na and to an extent, Lou Diamond Phillips are what prompted me to check it out. I was burnt by the franchise with the cancellation of Atlantis and how the series finales for both Atlantis and SG1 were handled and we aren’t even going to touch the Relationship-that-cannot-be-named (yes, the ship that sank the show!). So I was hurting. I felt let down by a franchise that I had spent so much time with, and spent a lot of money on as well. I began craving Stargate, new things, not the old. Fan Fic wasn’t cutting it. Then on Twitter, MingNa and Lou Diamon Phillips came out with an explosion of comments regarding the show and the cast and my curiosity got the better of me. Due to a weekend filled with a visit from Grandma and Marching Band things, I wasn’t able to watch it on live TV and we no longer have the DVR, so I lucked out by catching it for free on iTunes. And I fell in love. Is that bad? I hope not. It felt like Stargate, but at the same time it was something new! It’s like Atlantis should have been in the beginning (yes, I had a love hate relationship with that show until its third season). I don’t think it’s as dark and scandalous as the producers like to make it out to be, but it certainly Stargate at its best. The only thing I do not like about it is Robert Carlyle. And the character he plays. I think he’s a bit out of his element, but that could change. I didn’t like Torri Higginson at all and was pissed that they put her in the role of Dr. Wier over Jessica Steen (who blew me away). But as the show progressed and the seasons moved on, she began to fit in the show and I hope RC can do the same for me. As far as liking Dr. Rush, I think he’s a character that is supposed to come across that way: you either love him or you hate him. I don’t think there is much room for a middle ground for him, if fan reactions are any indication. So far, Rush is the only character I don’t like. THe rest of the main cast I adore, and the secondaries are pretty interesting and can’t wait to learn more about all of the characters. We definitely have seen more character development in just four episodes of Universe than we saw through the majority of SG1 and Atlantis, I am sad to say. Sometimes it would take forever to learn something about a character and then half the time it would be out-of-place and jar you out of the episode. It seems the writers are taking their craft a little more serious in that area. They can still tell a good story, so I am by far saying I don’t like them. Character development was a rough spot for them in the past and it looks like they’ve cleared that hurdle with room to spare, for which I am supremely happy. And yes, I am Colonel Telford’s bitch . Lou has struck again!

Writing. Yes, I am still working on that book, well, series really. I haven’t spent a lot of time on it on purpose though. I’ve been working on some fan fiction instead. And yes, there is a good reason why. I believe I have let myself get a little rusty and I need a playground where I can get myself back up to par (there are no better critics than those in the fan fic world!) and then conquer the book. I’ve also been working on some research for it on the side, as there are a few things in it that I want to make sure are right so I don’t have somebody call a bullshit flag on me. I can get over my spelling errors, my love/hate relationship with grammar and my inability to type properly with two hands (I’m better with one hand- actually learned when I broke my wrist all those years ago). But what I can’t get over is the lack in making a story read right and make sense and have the correct information in about how weather is affected by mountains and how a Galleon works in rough waters. Yes, these are things I’ve looked up in connection to my book. So the fan fic feeds my desire to wrote, but at the same time helps me improve the writing and the research makes certain that I don’t look like a dumb ass in the process. I’m working on (fan fic wise) two stories right now, both Stargate related. If you hop on over to my LiveJournal blog you’ll stumble across the links, or you can go to FanFiction.net to find them under LadyReeana. I do not promise anything, as I am still in the process of editing them and ripping them apart. The Atlantis one in particular. After reading over it again, I found a few things I am not happy with, and am in the process of changing it.

Ok, onto what the Hubby has been up to. Fixing damn good food is what. He’s been doing real well on the school front and I am proud of him for it. He passed his midterms and is gearing up for the finals soon. He brought home fresh Mozzarella with Roasted Red Peppers, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Prosciutto in it, and it was heaven! I cannot wait to see what he does next week.

Sushi anyone???

Hubby's homemade salsa with some peppers one of his teachers gives to him

Again, cannot recall the name, but it's potatoes

The cheese of heaven!

Can't recall what this is, but looks yummy...

Yes, that is all food that the Hubby has been making at home and in class. It’s been fun for all of us, and I am very happy that he is enjoying it all. He’s even tried some foods he used to stick his nose up at in the past.

Ok, I am getting really behind. Bad enough I slept through the alarm and everyone barely made it out the door on time, but I have some major house work to do today. Let’s see if I can get it done in an hour so I can write or play a game before I have to run my errands this afternoon after Hubby and Youngest get home. *sigh*

Have to go back tomorrow

Yup, my impromptu vacation is over. Today is the last day and for the next two weeks it promises to be busy, busy. Not really looking forward to it, but at least there are some things to look forward to. Even though it means I wont really have a day off on Saturday (which I can get over), the oldest has her first Marching Band Competition. She will be gone from like 8 in the morning till well into the night that day, practicing and then performing. THere is about an hour or so for a lunch break in which she will be home, and the Band Director has put them ALL on a strict diet of healthy meals and water only for that day in particular. Don’t blame him really. If the kids get all the energy drinks and colored water drinks, they really aren’t doing their bodies any favors. But we are looking forward to the performance and there is a chance Grandma from Charleston will be coming up for that. She hasn’t been up for a visit in a while, and it will be nice to have her around, if she is able to make it. I haven’t heard from Hubby yay or nay yet, but hoping for the yay. That and Vader misses Grace .

The financial aid money came in late last week, so we were able to take care of a lot of stuff, but unfortunately my little vacation here put a huge damper on a lot of the plans we had for it. So we showed the kids just how quickly you can make what appears to be a lot of money disappear real quick. At least we totally paid off one bill and have paid up on the rent for the next four months. What did suck though is we were planning on getting a second car (since my Intrepid is beyond fixing) and it turned out we weren’t able to add it in this time around. We are planning definitely next semester. So we took the Intrepid entirely off the road and bought a car cover for it till we could figure out what we are going to do with her. Fixing her is out of the question. Way too much wrong with her to make it worth it to fix. I love the car, but when it’s cheaper to buy another car that is newer, it’s time to say good bye. But paying off bills, buying things we needed and getting meds for the animals as well as food for everybody was very nice. We did get a few things that weren’t needs, but rather wants, but since the wants have been on the back burner for the most part, I say we deserved them. So we pre-ordered a few games (some for more than one person in mind, and one or two that are for just one person), and got a new printer (not really a want, but we could have made the old one last longer if we really tried, but the ink cost was the factor there) and a new camera (ours disappeared almost two years ago and we have no idea what happened to it, so we had been using our phones and the Oldest’s camera). And luckily the camera was a packaged deal that came with its own printer that you don’t need to have it hooked up to the computer. It prints nicely too. And the ink and paper we found for it on Amazon pretty cheap. We wont by any means be sitting there and printing photos out left and right, but for special pics and what not, it is nice. Plus thanks to that purchase and the batteries we bought at Sams, we got about 125 free prints from their photo department. So we’ll be sitting pretty on that for a while. Thinking of using it in part for a birthday present for mom. Been awhile since I’ve actually gotten her anything for her birthday, which sucks big time. And she loves photos.

In other news, I’ve been seriously considering starting up a Sims 3 Blog. I know, do I really have the time? But it would be nice to share some of the stuff I’ve come across in the game with other Simmers. Some of it has been a lot of fun and other bits just plain shocking. Yes, I’ve been playing the hell out of the Sims this last week . It’s helped me, a lot.

Let’s see, Stargate Universe starts up this Friday at 9PM on SCI FI (sorry, still not liking the new spelling, it’s just not them). So far, it shows promise. I’m still not sure about it, but with Ming Na (Mulan, Joy Luck Club, Push) in it, I’m gonna check it out. She’s a fav of mine, and listening her talk about the show, yeah, I’ll give it a chance.

I think that’s it. We spent most of the morning at the DMV and Medicaid offices and are still waiting for the tires to show up so we can get the back ones replaced. The one scored a nail in it on Friday, but the place we get the tires at has to order them, so we had to wait till today. We called earlier and the truck hadn’t shown up yet. They weren’t sure why but they were on the phone with the driver when I called. So hopefully soon. I have some things I’d like to do today and I don’t want to wait on that or for the afternoon when they get really busy and we’re stuck there for a few hours just to have the tires put on.

Need to call the boss and then I might play Sims for a little bit. have fun folks!

Bargins and ways to save money pt 2

I should be getting some stuff done today before my appointment at 11:30, but I can’t bring myself to. Which sucks, but oh well. It’s cooler today and overcast, and I’m tired. Not working has thrown my clock off in a big way and I need to try and get it back in the swing of things. Anywho, here are a couple things that I should have put in the entry yesterday and never did.

One is this neat little website. If you are like us and never have money when things go on sale, then it’s not that big of a deal, but once in a while we can find something that we actually need or want and have the money for it. I’m talking about SlickDeals.net. We’ve stumbled across sales for Pampered Chef (we got almost $200 worth of things for $35!) and I believe we’ve found amazing deals on the Gold membership for XBox Live. They are always updating and some days they have tons of deals and other days you are lucky to find anything. But check it out, it’s worth a peak at least.

Let’s talk shop. Computer shop. Let’s say you are tech savvy or you know some who is who is willing to help you out. You want to set up that home theatre thingy with your PC or you just need to get some parts to fix your PC. You need some electronics for school, whatever. About seven or so years ago the my BFF’s now brother-in-law turned me onto a lovely website called TigerDirect.com. Since then, roughly once a year (sometimes more if the money is really good) we get really awesome deals from there to help with compter repair, upgrades, etc. Last year my processor went bad and the motherboard was the wrong one to play Sims and a slew of other things. For almost two years I could have kicked my PC out the damn door. Anyway, I managed to get the new motherboard (complete with new processor), upgrade to Windows XP, get a 250 GB harddrive and some larger RAM for the PC. I cannot recall the exact total and I know we didn’t get it all at once, but it was less than $300. Back then that was an awesome deal. If you own a small business you can often find really good deals on things for the office through them as well. Now this is not to say that you will always find the best prices here. By all means, no. It pays to shop around and if you aren’t much in the know of PCs and such, make sure you have either done your research or gotten somebody you know and trust to help you. Otherwise you WILL spend 10 times more than you need to. Amazon and Best Buyare good places to go to see what comparable or better prices are. Best Buy I believe offers warranties and protection plans on most if not all of their product. Amazon not so much, as it depends on who the retailer is that is selling through them.

Which brings us to Amazon. Which if you know me, you know I love this shopping site. 9 out of 10 times I can find better deals here than anywhere else. You can find nearly anything here, and depending on what it is, you can score a great deal on the price. We found a nice bed set for our Queen sized bed for $30- comforter, sheets, sham, pillow cases. Yes, Queen sized. I’ve gotten 4 GB flash drives off of their for $6. Movies are generally $5 cheaper than Wal-Mart (I’d still compare though). They have a nice way to ship the items for free, if you get $25 or more of stuff. That can be a draw back sometimes, but it’s not really that hard coming up with the stuff to do so. They also have what they call Amazon Prime, which you pay $80 a year and not have to pay shipping and get things w/in two days (faster than the free shipping by almost a week), or you pay 3.99 flat shipping and have it in one day. The annual fee can be intimidating, but trust me, if you can scrounge up enough $$ to get it, and you find that you either shop a lot off of Amazon or would like to, it will pay for itself. And sometimes they even offer deals exclusively for Prime members. Amazon also has their Deal of the Day, or the Gold Box. I recall one of them being a series set for the TV show Angel. MSRP was $200. You could get the whole set of five seasons worth of discs for 50-60. I’ve seen small kitchen appliances go for dirt cheap. And the rating system and customer feedback for each item is simple and easy to use, so you can see what everybody else is thinking or saying about your product of interest.

Food is a major concern for a lot of people, mainly due to raising costs and not much in the way of pay raises. IF you don’t have a lot of dietary restrictions, then this one is for you. I believe it was through my in-laws we discovered this, but it was great right up until Hubby became diabetic. Check out Angel Food Ministries. They are not located everywhere, but enough places that if you dig deep enough you might find one near you. I know when my BFF and I were roommates we used this a lot and it helped our grocery bill in a huge way. I think we spent on average 80-100 a month (splitting the cost two ways) and the amount of food we got was incredible. It wasn’t always the best tasting or the greatest quality, but it was never bad and most of the time our other food shopping trips the bill was always low. You do not have to be a member of a Church or convert or whatever to do this. It is open to EVERYBODY, even if it is Christian run. It is something purely for the community and I have yet to run into anyone pushing religion or being rude because we weren’t apart of their faith or church. Now, like I said if you have dietary restrictions, it may not be for you. You don’t get a choice on what is in each order (and if you do, its limited). So if you are diabetic, have blood pressure problems, etc, you may want to go over the menu each month with a fine tooth comb if you decide to go with them. The salt content in the meats is extremely high and they (last I knew) do not offer sugar free anything. It’s still a great deal and every now and then consider going to check it out.

Now, if you happen to have those dietary restrictions and cannot find the food you need for good prices, it’s a bitch. I know. Go to your local market and try to find cheap Sugar free items. It’s hard to find anything Sugar Free, for starters (though some store are getting it through their heads) and it’s even harder to find them at affordable prices. Low Salt is another and the costs of fruits and veggies are going up. This is where bargain hunting comes in handy. And it does not hurt to explore a bit. We’ve managed to find some diabetic friendly foods at Whole Foods Market that don’t break the bank. For your fresh fruits and veggies, try your local farmer’s market. Most (not all, as I’ve run into in the past) will offer better prices than the grocery store. It will also give you a chance to get to know the people growing your food. And sometimes you can find other food treasures for great prices. Flea Markets, believe it or not are another place to go and get them. Always take those with caution though. If it doesn’t look clean or you see something that shouldn’t be there with the food, don’t buy from them.

Another place to check out is a Bargin Food store. We have one about thirty minutes from here, and all you have to say is “The Bargin Store”, and everyone knows what you are talking about, it’s that popular. Search out in your own community and close by ones, and see if there is one. They often get the items the stores wont sell (dented cans, etc), but are still in good shape. They will also work with local farms and get fresh produce in. They will also have outstanding deals on household cleaners, items, etc. And they will have items for those with special diets. Be wary of the meat and dairy selections though. I haven’t been in a while, but when I used to go all the time, the meat looked and smelled bad and the dairy was right there with it. But when I went, I would spend $40 and come out with bags and bags of food that would last me a good long while. I think my sister and I figured it out the one day. I went and spent my $40 and would have spent over $150 at Bi-Lo for the stuff.

Another way to save money on food, if you happen to have the space and the green thumb for it, is grow some of your own food. Really. It does not cost as much as a lot of people think. For maybe $30 you can set yourself up with a nice selection of herbs, and veggies. The key is to go small scale and make sure it’s stuff you eat. Too many go large scale and go overboard and end up with things they don’t eat and it goes to waste. If you have pets or have a lot of organic trash, you can do a web search to see about creating your own fertilizer or compost so you can use that with your little garden and save even more money. We’re talking of doing something like this next spring, mainly to coincide with Hubby’s chef classes, but also he’s got one of his teachers willing to give a few seeds to get us started.

One of the worst things people can do to try and save money is by eating out. I know, I know. It’s quicker and easier and cheaper. The quicker and easier I wont debate much. The cheaper I will. We love to eat out, but for a family of four, even at most fast food places, we’re looking at over $20 a meal. If you work it just right, you can work it out to $30 a day to feed that same family at home. See, compare per meal to per day and see how much money that is. And we don’t go light most meals. We love our meat and we love our food in general. It’s hard sometimes with prices going up, but remember this: If the prices are going up in the grocery store, they are going up at the restaurants as well. I’m not saying don’t eat out (that’s my livelihood there, folks!) but don’t do it as much. Learn to read a recipe. Some colleges offer cheap or free intro cooking classes, if you are that scared of it :p. And you can find quick recipes for the busy live style. I like browsing the Food Network’s site. They give you the ingredients, the difficulty level, the amount of time and sometimes will have videos attached to the recipe.

It’s also no secret that ‘m a huge fan of Alton Brown, who is all over Food Network. I use a lot of his recipes for a few reasons:

1. He tends to be more blue collar and shows you economic ways to do things. And if there is no economic way, he says why and usually its for a good reason.
2. The majority of his recipes are open ended. This means that they are easy to change around to suit your needs or budget. He will even tell you to do it another way for those reasons. And if it’s not open ended (which is rare) its for a specific reason and not to be snooty.
3. He’s fun and easy to understand. A lot of the other celebrity chef’s wont explain anything or are sticks on the mud. Alton will typically show you several different ways and encourage you to find what works best for you.

Now, with anything I’ve said in this entry or the last one, it does not mean you have to follow it, that I am being bossy or what have you. Nope. Just some friendly suggestions and the want and need to help others. There are a lot of ways to save money out there. It just takes a lot of research and the biggest one, discipline. If you can’t make yourself save the money, then you have a problem. Cheaper does not always mean crap or low quality. In fact recent studies have shown generic brands are better and win over the name brands in a lot of areas.

Ok, I’ve procrastinated enough. Time to get going and try to finish up some stuff before I leave.

 

Edit: A post script if you will. Completely forgot one of our favorite ways to save money and we’ve been doing it for years and years. Game Stop. Granted it wont help you if aren’t a gamer, and I’m sorry. But we are big time gamers and we know it costs a lot of money. But Game Stop can help you either save money or to budget your wants out so you aren’t going broke all the time. We like pre-ordering games. Games that we know we want and cannot live w/o are pre-ordered. Halo 3 ODST was pre-ordered a while ago. And how this works is this: you still pay full price for the game, but you stake your claim on it before it comes out. You have to put a minimum of $5 down on the game and you have until the day it is released to pay it off, or you lose out on the money you already put on it. During the time you pre-order it and when it is released you can pay as much or as little on it. So say you have Game A and you put you five down on it. You also have eight weeks to pay the rest of it off. You budget $5 one week and $10 another and if keep doing that you have your shiny $60 game brand new. Ok, we don’t do that with every game. If we did, we’d still be broke. So they have this nice little thing called pre-owned or used games. They will offer games that other people traded back in at lower prices than buying it new. It’s harder to get good deals on the newer used ones, especially if its popular. And sometimes you have to go to several Game Stops if you are looking for specific ones. They also have it set up where you can trade in the games you aren’t playing anymore and get store credit to go towards anything in the store (except pre-orders, I believe). On older games you might get a buck or two, but on newer ones you can sometimes walk away with $15-20 or more in trade in value. Call ahead to ask them about the games you want to trade in- and keep in mind, Game Stop no longer takes original XBox consoles or games for trade. You are SOL in that department. You can also subscribe to Game Stop’s Game Informer magazine for $15 a year (which is a nice little mag) and get with it a Game Stop card that gives you 10% discount on all used games, plus extra credit on trade ins and other specials that they let you know about from time to time. I recall a time when Hubby took about ten games in to trade them in and walked out with five games, at least one brand new, and I think we paid $2 or 3 out of our pocket. It was nice. We got rid of a bunch of stuff we weren’t going to look at and got some new ones for almost free! It was a combination of the card, getting some used games and they had this trade in deal where you get an extra 10, 20 or 30% depending on how many games you were trading in. And returning things to the store is easy compared to others. If you get it with in a certain period you get cash back, otherwise you can exchange it or get store credit. They do deal with cash for trades, but you don’t get as much back if you had gone with store credit.

Ok, I’m really gone this time you all!

Fall is here!

Yup, we are in autumn now. It’s a little cooler and a lot more wet. Fall is typically a little on the dry side here, at least has been for the last few years, so all this rain is wierd. But nice. We are pulling further away from the drought stages the area was in for a while now, and now we have flood warnings all over. Leaves aren’t changing yet, but I figure we’ll notice something in about a week or so. We are in the South after all.

Since I know things are rough for everybody all around, I figured I dedicate this blog to a few things (mostly links) that might help money wise. No guarantee that they will work, as everyone is different, but hey, I know my own family is facing a lot of rough roads financially, especially right now. I will not go into specifics, because frankly if you don’t already know, chances are I don’t want you too for the moment (and if you do know, you are one of a very small handful), but I have been given an impromptu vacation from work. And with the Hubby out of work, it spells disaster with tying to keep our heads up. Thankfully, there is a small, bright light in his financial aid money from school to help with living expenses. But it’s already spoken for and it’s not here, yet *sigh*. So I have been looking up things on the net like crazy, and why not share it with my readers, some of who are family and friends.

First up:

Found this little article about Wholesale Clubs interesting. A few counterpoints to it, as I am a SAMs Club member and I love it. I do not enjoy the long lines that you can run into. As many of you know, I have problems with my legs, and somedays I’m lucky I roll out of bed. So the long lines at SAMs really suck. Then I discovered there is a major difference between going on a Friday/Saturday/Sunday versus the rest of the week. A few times I’ve managed to sneak up there after they’ve just opened during the week and managed to not see any lines! So that is something to consider. Also I know we mainly use SAMs for food, dog food (can’t find Vader’s food anywhere else for 12 bucks!) and some household items, plus gas. Gas is typically 5 cents cheaper than everywhere else. Once in a great while it will on par, and one occasion it was more than the RaceWay up the street. I have a friend who is a Costco member and goes in twice a year, and that’s it. She buys up all the paper products and cleaning products she will need. Once and a while she’ll get some office supplies, and there was the time she needed to get stuff for a party and she compared how much she’d spend there compared to Wal-Mart or elsewhere and figured she saved nearly a hundred dollars. And make no mistake, I don’t buy all my groceries there. Where would I put it all??? That and they don’t offer a good selection for diabetics, so that leaves Hubby out. No, we get Milk (always a dollar or more cheaper) and meat. What we don’t get at the butcher’s shop we get at SAMs and always for much better prices. We can get good sized Baby Back Pork Ribs for about $20 and get three racks that are roughly a foot to a foot and a half long. Before we got the reduced lunches at school for the kids we would get their lunch items from there. Spend a total of twenty or thirty and have enough food for their lunches to last a month and a half. So research and check it out. Don’t let articles like that scare you. Wholesale Clubs have their upsides as well as their downsides. And as for electronics, why aren’t you going to Best Buy? You don’t go to Wal-Mart, Target, SAMs, etc for your major electronics. Go to the places that specialize in them. That way you know what you are getting into and don’t get suckered.

Second:

We all love our TV. EVERYBODY has a show that we love to watch, even if it just that one show. Have you ever considered turning your PC or laptop into your TV set? This article from the New York Times shows you a few different ways. It helped us out a lot and gave us some ideas till we stumbled across that sweet two year deal with Charter. As always when dealing with a computer, and I’ve seen it time and again, with EVERYONE, if you are not computer savvy, don’t do these things yourself. Make sure you have someone who is, that way you aren’t ruining your PC, spending more money than you really should or just bulloxing the whole thing.We used our XBox 360 to stream a lot of stuff from Netflix’s Instant Watch and even things we downloaded off the net from Amazon and other places (does not work with iTunes, obviously).  Hulu is a great place to watch shows online for free. They don’t always have every show out there, but you can always check cable network websites and find a lot of their own shows there. You Tube has been broadening their library to not just user created material. Anime fans should check out Funimation’s Channel.

Third:

One sad thing that happens during hard economic times is the animal abandonment. It reaches high on the charts and just in my neighborhood alone I’ve seen a big increase in strays. Don’t think you cannot afford your pet. It is possible to take care of them for very little money. If you’ve read this blog or caught me other places, or hell even know me, you know I have six animals, and yes, we are able to take care of them and ourselves. It’s not easy, and yes they have made sacrifices as well. They don’t get the high priced dog food or all the extra kitty treats they used to. And though we don’t go to the vet regularly, we do make sure their medical needs are taken of. And it is possible to do. Believe it or not, PetsMart is a good place to find food, and a lot of the times it will be cheaper than Wal-Mart offers. On average I pay 70 cents a can for Cujo’s food at PetsMart, when at Wal-Mart it will 85 or higher. Vader’s food we’ve found in a case of 24 cans for under $12 at SAMs. And the cats, I get them their food at PetsMart for at least $2-3 cheaper than Wal-Mart everytime, for the really big bags of dry food. Also, if your puppy or kitty has a sensitive tummy or you want to go green with animal food, try Whole Foods Market. We found a nice variety of canned foods at 75 cents a can and Vader loved it! And no problems from him. Cujo is picky in his old age, so it didn’t go over well with him.

Vet costs are a big issue for people. I know. I have six of them, and three are in old age and two of them are not in the best of shape. Plus there is Vader’s knee. This is where a lot of research comes in handy, as well as talking to a vet to find out fact from truth. And you don’t have to go to a high priced one either. Do you have a Tech College where you live? A lot of them will have a Vet Sci department that will help you with your vet needs for a lot less than what the local vet charges. A LOT less. And I’ve seen them sometimes do the care for free, just so the students get the experience they need. And don’t worry, the teacher (who is a licensed vet) is standing over them, making sure everything is done right. And often times, these Vet Sci programs will have access to certain things that some vets don’t have or waaaayyyyy overcharge for. It does not hurt to call them and see just what they have. Also, have you ever driven by certain supermarkets or even Wal-Mart and seen the signs for pet vaccinations? Most charge $7 per animal now and you can have the rabies and other shots taken care of, no hassle, and it’s legit. These same places often offer limited specialized vet services that are handy for elderly people or those that are seriously bad off. We had Tux fixed by these people and we were happy for the service. What would have run us well into $200 or more, we paid $56. They also threw in her shots and a quick check up and gave us all kinds of places to contact that would be real cheap should she need ER care within the first 24 hours of her surgery.

Here’s a big one for pet owners: medicine for your beloved animal. A few years ago one of my nieces stumbled across this lovely website, and I’ve found it to be much, much better than PetMeds and all the others. The only thing I don’t like is the fact you can wait two to three weeks before you get the stuff, but at a flat rate shipping cost and offering cheaper prices than all the others, especially the vet, I think I’ll live. You don’t even need a prescription from the vet to get the stuff, which with it being in Australia is a good thing. But we have gotten our flea treatments from there (which is good, since two of them are allergic) and we’ve gotten other meds from there at a hefty discount. I’m not kidding. We spend on average, every four months on all six, $150 for the flea treatments. I once went to 1800PetMeds, and had to step away from the computer. Almost three hundred and that was before the shipping! And when Vader runs out of his medicine for his knee, we can get it from PetSuppliesNet for $20 less than the vet and everyone else. Plus, they have this thing where you get ‘rewards’ for buying there. Basically what it is, you spend your money and then you have a small percentage of that to go towards reducing your next order’s bill. I think I have about $11 waiting around on me right now. Not alot, but when you need to save money, every penny counts.

Fourth:

Back to tech colleges. These are wonderful places, and I know they aren’t the only colleges that do it either. But the next time you need a hair cut, some dental work, and a slew of other things that you need done and don’t have a lot of money, call them up and see just what they might offer. You’d be surprised. Local beauty schools offer discount haircuts, and I heard of one that did the same for nails and other services. I know, I know, they don’t know what they are doing and I’ll look horrible. Not so in a lot of cases. The teachers are right there (as with the Vet Sci) and they don’t just let a brand new student do it. You also need to communicate what it is you are looking for and make sure it is clear. ou can even get some of the work done on your car at a few of them. And some even sponsor or are affiliated with health clinics and they can point you there to help you with your own medical needs.

So it certainly pays to do a little research into your local area and see just what it is you can save money on. I know our most recent and best find was through a local gas station that partnered with a local grocery chain. For every $50 we spend at the store is 5 cents off our gas bill. And it accumulates. You don’t loose it and I’ll tell you, it was nice paying ten cents less than everybody else for our gas. Yes, it means having a store card, but we already do a lot of shopping there and the gas station is on Hubby’s way to school, so we don’t have to change any of our habits, at all. Which is nice. Especially since gas prices are still up where nobody likes them.

Well, I hope you all get something out of this. If I can help someone out by sharing this stuff then good. If it gave you an idea or something, then great. If not, sorry. This stuff is not designed for everybody. I know some areas weren’t hit too hard when the economy tanked, mine was one of the harder hit (but not the worst), so I’ve seen a lot and discussed it heavily with many people. At work we typically do stuff like this. If one finds out a great sale or bargain, we automatically let the rest know and it spreads. So I hope you all are doing well, that you are all healthy and having some fun with your life. I’m off to get dinner started and to sweep and mop the kitchen, then it’s time for Heroes! Yup, from 8-10PM tonight I will be ignoring the phone (you better be dying!) so I can hopefully see Heroes newest season recapture some of the magic from the first season. From what I’ve seen, they have a shot at it, as long as they proceed carefully. So later all!

Good Morning… Good Morning…

Ok, it’s really evening. Oh well. I have a Tux in the window by my desk and a Vader at my feet. The Hubby is somewhat happy, the cable was turned back on, but the Panthers lost . Seriously they need to pick it up. We had a decent season last year. Why not this year? Kids have been in and out all day playing with friends, which is a switch from yesterday where the oldest was gone from 9AM till almost 9 PM for the Marching Band. They had their premiere performance last night to kick things off for the Band Competitions. They did a great job. I got a lot of pictures and videos. One or two of the pics I might post in a minute here, but the videos, well unless you request it and I feel like it (Grandma’s are exempt from this) I might burn them on disc for you. But we were told last night NOT to post the videos on line. Ok they said Google and You Tube, but I’m gonna play it safe and go with ALL the net. They did an awesome job and I cannot wait to see more from them! BTW, the Oldest is in the Colour Guard. It’s her first time with it, and I have to say she did a wonderful job. She didn’t drop the flags during the performance (can’t say the same for the practice run ) and she began to look a little overwhelmed but dealt with it professionally. Hope she can keep it that way, especially with some of the crowds she’ll be facing. It’s not easy for anyone to be in front of that many people for the first time.

The Colour Guard

 

Spent most of the day playing Sims today. Why? Well, a couple of reasons. First and foremost is I felt like :p. Second I wanted to do something that I could easily put down for when the Cable guy showed up. You see, we scored an amazing two year deal with our cable company where we get net, TV, and phone for about $110/month and the TV portion was scheduled for today. Between 9 and 11 this morning. I had to call twice to find out what was going on, and Hubby was understandably upset since Kickoff was at 1 PM. Guy didn’t show up till around 1-ish and almost an hour later we were up and running. Apparently he got tied up at another place whose wiring was all kinds of messed up. Wonderful.

I’m actually getting a little excited about the start of Stargate Universe. Go figure. I guess the craving for some new Stargate is getting to me, that and the fact that Ming Na is in it. You may know her from the Joy Luck Club, Mulan and Push. She’s been a favorite of mine for a while now. That and Daniel is in two episodes . Still can’t wait for them to get the new SG 1 and Atlantis movies out. I know they are sitting on them due to the current state of the economy, but I really want to see them! Fan Fiction isn’t cutting anymore. A lot of the good authors are either busy, retired or lost interest. And that makes room for the crap ones.

Oh well, here’s the obligatory Vader pic:

He's Mommy's Retarded Baby

Lots of stuff is actually going on right now, and a few people know what, but I’m purposely keeping it that way. Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll spill the beans with some good news. Hell, my mother doesn’t even know, and I don’t keep much away from her (not like I did as a teen… then again isn’t that what teens do??). But trust that it is good, and will cause a lot of changes in many ways.

 

Ok, I’m off before I spill it now ! Later all!

Obama’s speech

Ok, first and for most, let me make a few things clear. I did not vote for our current president. I am not a big fan of him, either. Somethings in his administration has happened that have made me wonder exactly why the rest of America put this man in charge. But, unlike a lot of the opposition, and even some of my fellow political party members, I give credit where it is due. I recognize something good, decent and helpful. I was a little worried about the speech President Obama will be giving tomorrow to the students. I have two, very impressionable daughters and I was worried that some of the reports of the parental outrage were founded in truth. Well, tonight I read the President’s speech. You can find it here on Fox News. Yes, ultra conservative Fox News. And believe me, in some of the ways they’ve been reporting lately, I’ve been wondering myself. Anywho…

I think the speech is quite good, and even though a bit long winded for the attention span of any kid, any age, he brings up a lot of things, a lot of points that we as parents have tried to drive home to our brats. Yes, I refer to even my own as brats, because all kids can be that way . And as I see the way a lot of them act and behave, regardless of what the parent does or does not do, it scares me. I hope that a lot of the kids (too much of  a realist to believe they all would pay attention- Free period, man!) actually get something out of it. Maybe some inspiration to actually do something about and with their lives. Too often they are taught the lazy route, the route that it is always somebody else’s fault. I didn’t see that in the President’s speech. I saw him saying things about ‘yeah things are rough, but you can do it. You just need to work harder!’ Classic Amercian beliefs that I thought the majority of the country had forgotten about.

Go and check out his speech. It’s not the evil that many have said it is. Am I comfortable with the lesson plans that were sent out to be used with the speech… Not really. But my kids know that when we go over things they learned in school, I can smell bullshit, and I can see inaccuracies a mile away, so can their father. We have no problem with them opening their eyes to other beliefs, etc, etc. Which is why, as a registered Republican, I am not going to take my kids out of school tomorrow. I want them to hear the same things I have been telling them, that their father, grandmother, other family members, teachers, etc, have been telling them, come from the President of the United States. Maybe it might make it more clear to them just how important an education is, especially in today’s age. That although it is all right that their father is finally going to college, life would have been drastically different had he done it years ago. That staying in school and learning something is worth while and an achievable goal, no matter the situation you are in. There is always a way and there is always a will. It just depends on how you use it.

Ok, I’m done with my soapbox for now. I am tired, its been a long day and I’m not feeling well, still. Going to see the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully will find out what has been going on.

First day of school

Today is the first day of school for the kids, and even though I am off today, I am up this early because we live in a house with one bathroom and four people, three of whom need to leave at the same time. Basically. Still debating taking the kids in this morning or letting them ride the bus. Either way, I still need to do some grocery shopping and make a few phone calls. And most importantly, I have a date with OverLord II this morning as soon as everyone is out the door . I’ll have about three hours of quiet bliss to myself, with no one else around. It will be heaven and I will be ignoring the phone and the door… It’s extremely rare that I get the house to myself, so I may be inclined to pull a Tom Cruise. Yup.

Other things on the To Do List today include cleaning the oven, cooking meals for the rest of the week with all the craziness that ensues from our schedules, cleaning the fridge and freezer out, spending time with the animals (Vader and Ryoko have been most upset about my less time at home lately, the others not so much). Oh and I need to recharge and add a few things to the MP3 player.

Ok, that’s it for now. I may post more later on when the kids are home from school/band practice.

It’s hit me…

Well, I think whatever it is that I have been fighting on and off for nearly two weeks (mainly sinus issues) has hit me ten fold today. About an hour before work it began to hit me and then went down hill from there. We ended up being shorthanded today, otherwise I would have pushed harder to go home early, but it seemed everyone else was jumping ship and leaving the Bossman by his lonesome. That and we need the $$$. So I figured, I have tomorrow off, I can rest up and feel better tonight and tomorrow. I hope I can anyway. Just tried resting with the family while watching Leverage. Still hurting and achy all over. Joy. So I am doing a quick check on the cyberworld (ok, I’m checking to see if a new RT Short was released) and then off to bed. Can barely keep the old lids open. Anywho, during my check here, I saw an e-card from the Hubby. And even though my bpdy still feels pretty bad, the mind, heart and sole feel a ton better! Check this out:

If only it were true...

 

Hubby doubts it will make it to the official LOLdogs site, but one can only hope.

Uh-oh… Seems the kids are not feeling well, either. Great. Methinks some hot chocolate is in order, with marshmallows for theirs. And then some rest and then tomorrow, maybe a Red Vs Blue marathon- the Youngest will watch it as many times as she is able to and the Oldest is still a little behind in the series. Or we might do a Madea marathon. I don’t know. Just something to make us all feel better.

Good night world.