Well, the site is starting to look a little more normal.

A protected post will be going up later. I’m not sure that anyone is even reading anymore, but if you need the password, let me know.

I’m still trying to get used to this Wordpress shtuff, but I think I’m going to like it. In fact, it may just make me more willing to blog. Wink.

I haven’t been up to much lately… school and work is basically all I do. But for the most part, things are going well. I have lots of ranting and raving to do about work, but I’ll save that for another time. In the meantime, here are some pictures! Because I’m a serious, hardcore procrastinator. 

We took the Little Monster to the park a couple of weeks ago, and I documented the little outing. 

Here we are preparing for our adventure by putting on the proper safety gear, albeit a little crooked.

Here we go!

Showing off our skills. 

Getting Daddy’s help to remove the helmet, so that we can…

… SWING!

It was a good day… and I got some great shots out of it, so I would call it a success, and a great start to summer!

So, I’ve been working on moving to Wordpress and updating/upgrading the site. Bear with me for a few.

Me and the tech peeps at GoDaddy are about to exchange addresses for Christmas Cookie Exchanges, we’re that close.

Ugh.

I’m not dead! Here’s some bullets!

• Those crazy Duggars are at it again. My thoughts? I think they’re irresponsible and wasting economic resources. Read the comments on that post. That alone? Is worth it.
• I had a root canal a couple of months ago, and it was horrifying. Well, until I took the valium. I am not even kidding.
• The Little Monster turned four last week, and we had a super fantastic time (snort) and that godforsaken place, with the EB and her boyfriend and about 400 screaming kids. Good times. The FOUR year old got $30 for his birthday. WTF?

• I wasn’t going to post this, but I must get your opinions. The EB is looking a little (ok, a lot) pregnant lately. She didn’t ask or give permission for me to post her picture on the internet, but I don’t really give a shit. So, internet, what do you think? Pregnant or fat? I must know.

• I’ve lost almost 35 pounds. Holla!
• I recently went to visit one my besties in Denver, and it was a good time. I have a couple’a pictures, but I look like hell in them, so you don’t get to see!
• We’ve been playing outside a lot, since the weather finally cleared up, and it isn’t raining anymore.

• Yesterday was Easter, and the Little Monster woke us up at 7:30, whispering into our faces, “Wake up! The Easter Bunny came!” We dyed eggs Saturday night with Grandpa, who’s living the bachelor life while Grandma is in South Carolina (we’ve been feeding him, hence his presence for dying Easter eggs).

That’s three generations of Madden blood right thurrr. 

Painting eggs is serious business y’all! 

And finally, sorry. I’m a bad bad blogger.
I really need to stop apologizing for that.
What’ve YOU been up to lately?

Scene: I work at a wireless retailer, and, as a perk, certain employees get lines of service paid for by the company. Each month, I get a detailed bill for each line, which includes what people downloaded. I was going through that today…

Me: Somehow, I don’t think “Jungle Sex” movie clips are appropriate to be downloading on your WORK PHONE PAID FOR BY THE COMPANY.

Co-worker: What?! Let me see that.

We begin to go through it, and there’s about 400 downloaded movie clips, one of them entitled “How to Have Great Sex.”

Me: You shouldn’t be downloading “How to Have Great Sex” at two in the morning – you should HAVING great sex!

Coworker: Hey, 400 clips for $4.95! You can’t even rent a porn for that price!

End scene.

As I keep losing weight (Which, by the way? 25 pounds gone, baby!), I find myself becoming more and more judgmental of those who are larger than me. I realize this is completely hypocritical of me; I am by no means “skinny” or even close to weighing what I want to weigh, but I just can’t help myself.

I was in Subway today, getting lunch (Which, by the way? Carbs! Holla!) and there was a girl in there ordering her food, wearing Wranglers and one of those stretchy t-shirts that was approximately four sizes too small. I mean, seriously. The shirt was probably a medium, and she should have been wearing a 2x. Her pants weren’t much better – they were low cut, coming just below her hips. And, boy, did she have hips. The pants were also approximately four sizes too small, which didn’t do much to help the shirt situation. The girl was squeezed so tightly into her clothes, that I thought when she sat down, everything was going to pop off (oddly, like that Subway commercial).

To top it off, she was wearing boots. With spurs. Judging by the similar outfit of the girl she was with (albeit, in proper sizes), I assume that they either a) work on a ranch and ride horses or b) have equally the same bad taste in clothes. I chose a) and couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the poor horse this girl had been riding.

That’s terrible, right?!

I couldn’t get my fat ass on a horse if it ran to get a step stool, placed it in front me and then layed down on the ground for me. But, despite knowing that, and not even having a positive body image or thinking that I’m hott stuff, I still found myself being extremely critical of this girl just trying to get a sandwich. Being that way is not something that I aspire to.

I just don’t know how to fix it.

Did I mention that she had the biggest, fattiest, sugar loaded Starbucks frappucino possible?

I’m changing the name of this site. Somehow, “Daily Ramblings” just doesn’t seem appropriate. Any ideas? I think I’m also going to change up the design, too. Just as soon as I get some time.

Heh.

Y’all should take bets on how soon that’s gonna happen.

Boss: …everyone got sick while we were there, even Betty*! (Betty is the boss’ one year old daughter)

Me: Aww, that sucks! You guys finally get away to relax and even Betty got sick?

Boss: Yeah… we thought it was the food at first, but Betty’s only on the boob and Jennifer* (Boss’ wife) wasn’t sick yet!

Me: Um… yeah. That sucks.

Somehow, even though he’s ultra cool and laid back, hearing your boss say his daughter is “on the boob” is still a little jarring.

*Names changed to protect the innocent.

I’m struggling lately with how I feel about changes that are happening in my life. On the one hand, I’m happy for those that are moving on, moving up, doing new things. On the other hand, I feel as though I am left behind, in the same daily routine that I’ve been grinding through for the past few years.

In November, my brother asked me what I thought about our mom moving to Idaho. I knew that she had been talking about it – we talked about it when the two of us road tripped to the potato state. However, my brother broke the news that my mom had bought a house, and was moving – in two weeks. I struggled with the fact that I hadn’t heard the news from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. I cried. I was angry. I was hurt. And then I put the wall up that has been up for the majority of my life, and I was disappointed in myself for letting it down. My mom didn’t tell me that she was leaving until about a week before she left, and I didn’t see her before she went. The last time I saw her was in July for my brothers birthday. I was going to make an effort to go and see them before they left, but then I got bitter and decided not to. Do I regret it? Not particularly. As much progress as I felt I had made with my mom in the past few years, I don’t think that things will be the same again. It’s the same story, a different day. Twenty six years is twenty six too many to constantly be disappointed by someone that you care for.

Jeff’s parents’ house is still for sale, and they’re splitting their time between here and South Carolina, but it’s on the downswing, where they’re spending less time here and more time there. I miss them. Jeff’s mom and I are pretty close, and it sucks not having her around here.

The icing on the cake came from my brother. He recently ran into some problems with his security clearance (he works for a private company contracting for the Navy) and had to start looking for a new job. He ended up getting a new one – in Indianapolis. So, two weeks ago, the brother that I’m closest to packed up and moved 2,000 miles away.

I’m having problems figuring out how I feel. I feel abandoned, I feel sad, I miss them all terribly, and I’m happy for all of their new beginnings. I feel selfish for feeling abandoned, but I can’t help it.

What do I do? Does this go away?

Dear Tampon Makers (oh yes, I went there):

I understand that to reduce my risk of toxic shock syndrome, I should only use the lowest “absorbency” needed. However, your chart confuses me. I should use the Super when my “flow” is 9-12 grams, and the Super Plus when its 12-15 grams. So, pray tell, Tampax… how do I know how many grams my “flow” is? Do I collect it? (Which, um? No.) Do you mean 9-12 grams PER DAY? Or PER “FLOW”? (I clearly have no clue how much 9-12 grams is, do I?) Do I guesstimate? I don’t want to guesstimate, because then I might guess wrong, and use one too large and then get TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME AND DIE!

In closing, I should have never read the side of your box (heh…get it?), because now I’m paranoid. In the future, can you please refrain from putting such notices right in plain view? I’d like to continue living my life unparanoid.

Always (heh…that’s another punny),

Girl Who Always Gets Generics