Welcome all to my disciplined breakdown

(Because if I'm going to go looney tunes, I'm going to do it my way, dammit!)

Before you even ask, Larry, my week sucked.

If Daniel and his smashed up thumb wasn't enough, I had to stay home from school on Tuesday because of some stomach bug. And, because it was raining cats and dogs and chickens and goats when I attempted to walk to school today, I ended up staying home again. I can't miss any more school, so I HAVE to get my transportation issues taken care of, like yesterday.

And there's an issue with the internet service I have from Cox in my neighborhood, so the connection has been iffy since last night. To finish my homework last night, I ended up on someone's wireless signal. Cox assures me that the issues should be resolved by this afternoon.

Now, I'm at the library, on my laptop, typing away. Oh. Joy.

Here is my view from the library:


This is S.E. 15th Street in Del City. Off to the right somewhere is the baseball field at Del City High School.

And this is the library's view of yours truly:


Stef being her usual smartass self.

Right now, as I type this, it's raining again. It's raining hard. I might be here a while.

This just hasn't been my week. Maybe next week will be better. It certainly can't get any worse, can it? (Wait! Don't answer that! You'll jinx me!)

hope your week off was better than mine. see ya soon, cowboy!

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

The Post wherein Stef talks about the Comedy of Errors her weekend turned out to be

or, "How an innocent trip to the Redhawks game went horribly wrong".

Granted, it didn't go horribly wrong until after we got home, but still and all, it was quite an interesting weekend.

Dean had won an auction at Marc and Amalia's school for a block of tickets, in a box, no less, so all ten of us in the family, plus people that work for the medical group that Dean practises with to the Oklahoma Redhawks game last Saturday night.

We were in a corporate box, where food and snacks and sodas were provided, and we watched the Redhawks get beat by the Round Rock Express (the Redhawks left their pitcher in much too long, IMHO, and he got tired). It was pretty fun, even if Dean, Scott and Marc left in the third inning to meet up with a group of Boy Scouts to go camping in Colorado.

Scott got his learners permit, and he has this habit of not smiling in pictures (he got it from Jeff), and he looks more and more like his father every year. It's almost scary.

He's also getting a job this summer, so he's one of the throng of teenagers looking for work, but not until after he gets back from Colorado next Sunday (Father's Day).

It took us forever to get out of Bricktown after the game, and Daniel took me, Jeff and Mom home to Mom's house, and he went to Tori's because she had to go pick up Dean's Yukon from wherever it was parked. When Daniel got to Tori's, he somehow slammed the car door on his thumb, and the nail was getting black. Tori didn't think it was broken, but it hurt like hell.

Daniel ended up calling in to work, explaining that he may have broken his thumb and was going to have it looked at. Then he went back to my sister's to get his medical insurance papers. On the way there, he lost control of his car because his thumb was swollen by this time, and hit another car.

He eventually got to Tori's and she took him to the emergency room, where he found out that his thumb was not broken, and that his insurance only covered injuries suffered at work. The ER doc poked a small hole in Daniel's thumbnail to let the blood collected behind the nail drain out (which is why it was so sore and swollen). He was given a prescription for pain meds, and took one at Tori's and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, I had no way to get back to my apartment, so Mom said I could borrow the van if I stayed over, then drive back to my apartment to take a shower, change my clothes (because I was still wearing the clothes I'd worn to the ball game), and go to school. I have to return the van this afternoon, and Daniel, hopefully, will take me home this evening so I can go to school on Tuesday.

I have a test in math, so I have to be there.

So, that was my Comedy of Errors weekend. I should have read my horrorscope first, ya think?

miss you cowboy

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

My two year quest is almost over! YAY!!!

What quest is that, you ask... Why it's the quest to get my name changed on my damn Social Security Card, of course.


(The OKC Social Security Office at Sheppard Mall. I hate this place!)

This was the fourth time I've tried to do this. The first time, I didn't have my name change papers with me.

The second time, I had the name change papers, but they weren't certified copies.

The third time was last summer when I was still in Wyoming, and despite the fact that there was a Social Security office in the town where I lived, I was told that I had to go to Cheyenne to do that! With no car, I couldn't do that.

Today, I was told that I needed to produce a picture ID with my former married name on it. Of course, I don't carry it with me, so I didn't have it. Why didn't anyone tell me this the previous three times I tried to do this?

So, to preclude a fifth trip there, I am being allowed to mail in my old Oklahoma Driver's License, where they will copy it, and send it back to me with a receipt.

Barring any last minute crap (like if they want to see my marriage license, which Jon still has), I should have my new card about 7 days after they receive my ID in the mail.

I got there at about 3:15pm. The office closes at 4pm. The guard locks the door and puts up a sign that says "CLOSED"... this guy didn't seem to grasp the concept of "we're closed"...



(It was about 4:05pm at the time this guy showed up. After I took this picture, he actually knocked on the door! )

And he wasn't the only one. About 10 people showed up in the time since I left and sat on a nearby bench waiting for Daniel to come back from wherever he went because he didn't want to wait with me (and I don't blame him. Sheppard Mall is a rather depressing place).

Then it was back home to do homework. Oh. Joy.



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Waiting on Daniel Time

I'm going up to the Social Security office at Shepard Mall this afternoon, and Daniel is picking me up from school. He always does everything on his time, so now, I'm on Daniel Time waiting for him.

Let's see if he gets here before too long.

In other news... while waiting for him to call me (because he was out when I called him), I was waiting outside the Admin building here on campus and two things happened: one, I was sitting on a wall when I felt something wet on my backside. Turns out I was sitting on a sprinkler that had gone off shortly before I arrived there. Now I have a wet spot on my butt. Two, when I realized I was sitting on the sprinkler, I hopped off the wall and heard something crunch under my shoe. I looked down and saw that I had stepped on a small frog, and said frog was now deceased. It didn't have a chance.

And this right after watching the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" in Music Video Production, just to check out the editing... now I know why I never saw it... it's a little too realistic for me.

Better go out and see if Daniel has arrived...

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Nine pairs of khaki pants! Count 'em: NINE!!!

I'm in Edmond and spent the night at Mom's house. Got some of my laundry done, because, after all, I can't hand wash everything...

Daniel has to wear khaki pants to work as part of his uniform. He washed all the ones he has last night (why he waits until he has nothing clean to wear to work, I don't know. I've never been a 23 year old man). I took them out of the dryer this morning and there were NINE PAIRS OF KHAKI PANTS!!! I'll bet my last dollar that Daniel goes out and buys a new pair when he doesn't get a chance to wash the ones he has. I do know now that Daniel wears 34 X 34, so at least I know that I can get him pants for his birthday and Christmas. I doubt very much that he'll be growing any more (He's 6'2").

Jeff's here at the library with me reading a book on how to draw anime, and just asked me when I was going to be done. I told him it better be soon or his grandmother will start calling and my bra will be ringing (no pockets in the pants i'm wearing, so guess where my cell phone is).

Better wrap it up here for now. More later after I get home... oh, wait, I better go to bed when I get home because there's school tomorrow.



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I'm jonesin' for some Chinese food...

I probably should head up to my mom's house, because she wants someone to have Chinese food with. The boys don't like it (though Daniel has been known to eat sushi ---ewwww!), so the only time Mom has any is when I come over.

Besides, I need to do some laundry, and her dryer works again.

Guess I better give Daniel a buzz to come get me...

wish i could have Chinese food with you cowboy

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I'm done! (Stef does Happy Dance)

Walked to school... only took me 30 minutes to get there. Still had plenty of time to do some last minute studying.

Then I went and took the final. Couldn't believe how easy it was... probably because I studied for it. I was done in less than an hour (two hours had been scheduled for it).

Walked to WalMart, grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home.

Now, if all the days this summer are like today, I could probably walk to school for summer classes. It's the rainy days and the triple digits we usually get around here in the summer than concern me.

Daniel's going to come over here this afternoon and take a looksee at the car. The water pump he can probably replace. The other thing with the steering column, I don't know.

(I've got Larry on Yahoo! Mess-up-enger, and we're talking about scooters/Vespas, and how much a used one would run... I should ask him if I do get one, will he teach me how to ride it, since he's ridden motorcycles...?)

It's a thought...

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Mother's Day and studying for two finals Monday

This is my Mother's Day card from Daniel and Jeff. Scott and Marc drew cards for me, but the pix didn't come out :(

Didn't really do much except study. Mom wasn't feeling well so we didn't go anywhere. I spent a good deal of the day here:

in my mom's van, running errands.

Then I put my part of the presentation for the English Comp project from hell together, read a little from my notes in my editing class, some US History stuff (that final is Wednesday), a bit from my English text, then went out and got Mom and me some dinner.

Daniel came home from work and brought me home.

I'm hittin' the hay. Wish me luck tomorrow!

(i'm gonna need it!)

hey, cowboy, ya wanna get tweaked tomorrow?

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

"All the President's Men"? or more studying? Hmmmm

Thing is, I've seen "All the President's Men" a few times. It's a good movie, and it'd be great if we had actually gotten to that point in history in my US History class this semester. But, we didn't. Besides, you know how it ends: Woodward and Bernstein risk life, limb, and career to figure out the Watergate break in, and that knowledge leads to Nixon's resignation in August of 1974.

But if I have to look at my notes for the two classes I have finals in on Monday one more second, I think I may scream.

I'll be glad to get the English Comp project from hell out of the way. I think all the grey hair I've discovered lately is tied into my worrying about it. Geez, do I have a lot of it!

I think my resolve not to dye it is starting to crumble.
=====

Last night, I felt like a complete idiot. I'm not at liberty to say why I felt that way, but I did. It's a trust thing.

You'd think I'd have learned something about that by now. But, noooooooooooooooo!
=====

I'm waiting for Daniel to make up his mind and come over here to pick me up. Both he and Jeff have to work tomorrow, so I'll be spending Mother's Day with my mom, and possibly with my two younger sons. I don't know what's planned for tomorrow. I'm always the last one to know anything in this family.
=====

When I moved here in 2002, my sister and brother in law had four dogs. Their Jack Russell terrier was hit by a car; then, Buffy got really sick and had to be put to sleep. Just recently, their husky, Nicky, had to be put down as well, mostly from old age (he was like 14 years old!). Now the only one left is Betsy, the border collie, and she's moping around because she misses Nicky. Tori and Dean don't know if they're going to get any more animals in the event that Betsy goes on to her great reward (she's still pretty healthy, but she's no puppy, either).

I'd like to have a cat, but the $200 non refundable pet deposit the apartment complex requires is keeping me from it. Right now, I'm just trying to take care of me. I don't know if I can take care of a cat, too. But, having a purring and playful ball of fluff is comforting.

There'll be plenty of time for that, I guess.
=====

I hope all you moms, grandmas, stepmoms, adoptive moms and foster moms have a wonderful Mother's Day!



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Daniel will L-O-V-E these!

I saw this car in the parking lot of my local neighborhood WalMart:

This is a 1968 Ford Mustang California Special. Only a limited number of these cars were made and were only sold in California (hence the name). Daniel tells me that Ford is bringing out a 40th anniversary edition next year that will be available everywhere. I've only seen two or three prior to this, but that was a long time ago in a land far, far away (um, California...LOL).

I had to take these quickly, because some people are real weird about others taking pictures of their cars. I didn't want to have to explain that my son is a car nut.

I better send these pix to Daniel. Then call him to remind him to look in his email.


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

I'm so tired!

I slept past dinner... I'm so mad!

I don't like to eat past a certain time, like 8 or 9 pm, because a full stomach so late causes me to be wide awake instead of sleeping. But, I was starving, so I went and made fish and chips at 10pm. Now, I'm going to be up later than I want to be.

Just as long as I can sleep til 7:45am tomorrow morning...
===

Yesterday, I got my US History quiz back and learned that I got all 25 questions right, in addition to four of the five bonus questions. I knew the answer to the fifth one, but was hesitant to write it down, so sure I was that I was wrong. Turns out that I wasn't. I should have just written it down!

The thing that gets me is that some of my classmates were talking about not studying for this quiz, and still getting what they felt were "decent" scores. Coming to class regularly and taking notes (and not talking to the girl next to you while the prof is lecturing), does help.

But, I guess that they will figure that out much later. As long as mommy and daddy are paying their way, they don't really care about grades. So why in the hell are they in school to begin with? Probably because their parents expect them to go on to college.

Daniel didn't go to college after high school. That was his choice. I wasn't sitting there bugging him to go if he was not ready to move on to that next step. It would've been nice that he went, but if he wasn't ready, then what's the point? Now, he says he's ready, but worries about the costs. I told him that if he's serious, to look into financial aid, or maybe go part time so he can still work full time.

On the other hand, Jeff went to college after high school... for a year. He liked it, but I think that he was still a little overwhelmed by the college experience, even at UCO. He might go back someday, if not at UCO, then somewhere else.

Clearly, some of my classmates are only in school for the social and monetary aspects. Attending classes is not real high on their priority list. Of course not all teenagers/early 20 somethings fall into this category. Some work their butts off. They have a plan, a goal they want to reach. At Rose State, a 2 year school, it's to go on to the bigger 4 year schools like OU and OSU.

Whether I do that or not is not really a concern at the moment. Maybe I don't need that Bachelor's degree. I don't know yet. After all, if I graduate when they say I will, I'll be 45 years old! I want the Associates. That's a given. After that, I don't know.


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Well, my weekend included a lot more than doing my laundry and washing my car...

That is to say, I did get the laundry done. The car will just have to wait. Again.

Friday, Scott had his Confirmation. It was the longest Mass I had been to in a long time. The Archbishop of OKC was there officiating, and he tended to draw his speech out. The Irish priests in the parish I grew up in did the same thing, but I think they did it just so we could understand them with their heavy accents.

Ironically, the parish here (or rather in Edmond) and the one I grew up in have the same name. Maybe there are a lot of Catholic churches named that.

Anyway, the Mass was three hours long!

Compared to the Mass for Amalia's First Holy Communion Sunday morning (about an hour). Amalia looked so cute in her white dress, tights, shoes, and the veil (I think Tori made it, I didn't think to ask). Afterwards, we went to TGIFriday's near Quail Springs Mall for lunch.

Then I had to wait for Daniel to get home from work to bring me back to my apartment. And he kept telling me, "give me an hour" (half hour; in a while, etc). I finally got here about an hour ago. Now I have to go to bed so I can be bright tailed and bushy eyed for school tomorrow (um, later this morning).


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Hey, Mom... ya wanna couch? It's free...

Jeff calls me this afternoon to ask me the question that is the title of this post. I told him, yes! I'd take it if he could find a way to get it here to my apartment.

So, thinking nothing more about it, I went on about my business... doing homework, reading all the uncomprehensible stuff going on in Darfur that is going to be part of a group project in my English Comp class, and baking chocolate chip cookies.

Then, I heard someone using the doorknocker to knock on the door... it was Jeff. He and Daniel had borrowed their grandmother's van to get this big blue couch to my apartment. It barely fit in the back enough to close the tailgate (2nd and 3rd row seats removed, of course).

And the damn thing was heavy! Turns out that it has two recliners at each end, a fold down "table" in the middle, and, amazingly enough, a drawer under the center seat! It took the boys about 1/2 an hour to figure out how to get it inside my apartment, because it appeared to look like the doorway wasn't wide enough. But, they got it inside, and now all I need is a real bed.

That, however, I will gladly shell out money for. A used mattress? Ewwwww!


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Happy Easter...

Daniel finally came to fetch me about 20 minutes after the last post.

I dragged the laptop to Mom's, and I can't even get a wireless signal there. So I messed around on MS Word 07 and watched a couple of old cartoons on DVD that my sister had left there.

Easter was good. Joe is talking better now, but he's still not going to be able to go to Pre-K in the fall because he's still not completely potty trained. He's just now, at just past his 4th birthday, grasping the concept.

Jeff, Scott and Marc were climbing trees and generally goofing off. Daniel had to work :(

Dean brought home yet another new computer a few weeks ago. He got a Mac! I swear that man collects computers like I collect pens. And I have a lot of pens... but the draft of this post is being written on it, after I asked to have the parental controls removed because Google is blocked.

Hope your holiday was grand...

That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Well, good afternoon, Sleepin' Beauty

Daniel (who sounds like I just woke him up): Oh shut up!

Me: When are you coming to get me?

Daniel: I don't know, but I'll come get you.

Me: Can I at least have a ballpark idea of when?

Daniel: Don't worry, Mom, I'll come get ya.

Me: I guess that's it. See you soon.

Daniel: (has hung up the phone by this time)


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Oh that noise!

It's been so noisy here lately. This morning for what seemed like forever, but in reality lasted about an hour, there was a van out in the parking lot making the loudest noise! It was from a drain cleaning service, and the machines they used were almost deafening. I almost wished I had earplugs!

Great, my one day every two weeks I get to stay home and this is what I have to deal with.

I have to get out of this cranky/crabby/moody deep blue funk... or else I'll be impossible to live with. And since it's just me... well, you get the idea.

And, spending Easter with the family... I gotta be in a good mood for that! I'm going over to Mom's sometime tomorrow (whenever Daniel gets his butt outta the bed, that is). I'll probably have to run errands for her. I don't mind, though. After all, it's my mom...

The only thing that bugs me is that it might snow Sunday. I've heard of a white Christmas, but never a white Easter...

Go fig...



That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Waiting for the tornado that never came to wipe my house off the map, and Jeff's 21st

Larry and I have some of the strangest conversations on Yahoo! Mess-up-enger. Yesterday, we were talking about tornadoes after I told him I heard the tornado sirens going off.

So for what seemed like an hour, we reported (okay, to be fair, I reported... Larry just came back with one and two word answers) what we were seeing on TV, since the weather people were dominating the airwaves around here.

There was one up near Mom's house, maybe a little north of her. Then there was a ton of rain here, and the weather guys were saying that there were heavy thunderstorms near Rose State and the surrounding area (where I live), and that they were going to keep an eye on it. Nothing ever happened with that, it just rained a lot.

We're supposed to see more of the same today, but so far, it's been grey.

Tornadoes scare me. I've seen what they can do, and I have no wish to go thru that. But, I live in tornado alley, so at some point (waaaaay in the future, I hope), I'll probably go thru one.

Not looking forward to it, though.
===

Today, 21 years ago, I gave birth to my second son at about 6:30 pm pacific time. That particular day happened to be Easter Sunday.

Fortunately, I will not be waiting up to see if Jeff comes home drunk. He's probably not going to go out (unless Daniel and Kathy have their way... don't ask!).

Happy birthday, Jeff. Love you-- Mom


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Jeff's buying a car!

It's a '91 Chevy Camaro (Chevys are our family's car maker of choice. I have the Beretta, and Daniel has the Cobalt. Jon has had 2 Caprices, but now has a Ford), white with red interior, with see thru t-tops. Jeff is paying the majority of the money for it, and Dean's helping out. Jeff is, understandably, excited beyond all belief.

Now he can drive himself to work! No more dragging his grandmother or his brother out of bed to get him to Johnnie's just down Danforth from the house.

I'll post pix when I get some.


That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

Daniel and the amazing earwax cure, and fine tuning my resume

Guess someone got to do all those things they wanted to accomplish this week.
===

Daniel shows up at my apartment on Wednesday afternoon. He was in the area because he'd just been to Dean's office in Midwest City.

Daniel woke up that morning not being able to hear out of his left ear. He didn't want to call anyone at first because he thought he could take care of it. Finally, his grandmother prevailed on him to call Tori, which he did, and explained his problem. Tori said she'd call Dean to see what he suggested Daniel do. Tori called back later and told Daniel to go to Dean's office, as an appointment had been made for him to clear out his ear.

Turns out that Daniel had a huge ball of wax blocking off his ear canal. Dean tried to remove it, but it was not going anywhere. While Dean tried to get at the wax, he noticed that Daniel's ear was slighly infected.

The remedy for this problem was to use ear drops, take ibuprofin, and put a couple of drops of Dawn dish washing soap in his ear and let it sit for a minute, then rinse it out with warm water. In about 5 days all of that nastiness should drain out.

Dawn dishwashing soap? For earwax build up? Um, okay... whatever.
===

Later, Daniel brought me to Mom's house, but we had to go to Home Depot first because Daniel agreed to fix a hole in the wall in the upstairs room that used to be my bedroom. I stayed in the car, and my phone rang.

Some guy asked for "Dan" (which is what all of Daniel's friends call him), and I told him that Dan wasn't available. The guy wanted Daniel call him back, saying that he lived next door. I thought nothing of it, because I don't know any of Mom's neighbors (people move in and out of her neighborhood all the time), but Daniel probably did.

Then I thought, why is Daniel giving out my cell number to people? I thought he didn't know that number.

When Daniel came back to the car, I told him about the call, and Daniel looked a little puzzled. I asked why he was giving out my cell number to people. He said he didn't, because he didn't know it.

He called the guy back, and it turns out that the Dan they were looking for was not my son. Someone named Dan had my cell number before I did.

Daniel took me to Mom's and he went to God only knows where.
===

Yesterday, I went to the mandatory job search seminar at Francis Tuttle's Rockwell campus. I had to attend in order to continue to receive unemployment. It was scheduled to be 7 hours long, but the gal who led the seminar was so good, and so thorough with the information, that we got out about 45 minutes early.

I'm glad I went. I learned a lot. And, I learned that my resume needed to be updated, because of my age mostly. So I'll be working on a new resume, and maybe then I'll finally get a job.

I hate being on unemployment. I don't know how Jon did it for years on end the way he's wont to do. I'd rather work, thanks.

Anyone in the OKC Metro looking for someone who can talk a blue streak, relate to the public, and will show up to work on time everyday? Because of school, it'll have to be part time for now. But even part time I'll be making more than I get in a month of unemployment.




That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--

The essay that was kicking my butt is now in the capable hands of my professor

Hopefully, I didn't screw it up too badly.

No homework this weekend, but I do have a midterm in US History that I need to study for. It's worth 100 points! How come I have this feeling the whole test will be over World War I?

Better bone up on some names, dates, and other fun stuff. It's all essay questions. Fun.

I need to find a portable DVD player somewhere. I have a movie to watch during Spring Break. I found one at CVS in Edmond for about $40. I wonder if it's a good one or a piece of crap.

And maybe I'll check out the car show this weekend, if my 23 year old son remembers to pick me up!




That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--