Life is full of dumb asses

Okay, so tonight is venting night (or another bitch session in my case). I can not believe how many dumb ass people I run into each week. Tonight I met a few of them - on the road, at school. You find them everywhere. Fact is, it's kind of hard to avoid them there are so many.

The first dumb ass of the day I saw while driving to school this afternoon. Now, I have to admit, I'm a twirler. You know, people that twirl their hair as a nervous habit. I've done it since I was two. In my sleep, in the car while driving, at home while I am studying and thinking.  When I am worried, sad, stressed, mad. Where ever, when ever twirling is my thing. But this is normally a GIRLS habit. Girls with hair. I don't think I have ever seen a guy, even one with long locks mind you, twirling his hair. Gay right? Yep. Well tonight I saw that guy . In his car, while driving. Problem was, he had no hair. He kept pulling at nothing in his hands and trying to twist it in his fingers. And he was like feeling the ends and shit. Weird huh? I thought so. I just could not stop looking at him (he was in front of me waiting to turn) because it was one of the stupidest things I have seen attempted by a man. And boy was he persistent! He did not give up. Just kept trying to grab and twist twirl like he had somethin there.

The second dumbass was in my first class at school. I have a real problem with people making noise in class when I am trying to pay attention. TRYING is the key word here. It's hard to do in a school full of dumb ass college kids. Honestly, I don't know how half of them get in and pass. I've come to the realization that their parents must just have money. They are not there to learn. They are there to plan the next party and socialize. They show up in pajamas and slippers. They try to run you over on bikes, skateboards, skates and golf carts. Hell I even almost got run over by Dale Jr. in a sand rail type thing a few years back. Don't even know how he got that thing on campus! Anyway, they text in class faster than you can talk, and it is a quite common thing which is annoying as hell. Click, click. Clickety, click, click, click.  AARRRGGGHHHH! The girl in front of me was doing that the whole time we had a guest speaker. How rude! I am not in class to hear your little click, click, clicks. No excuses - that shit should be off limits in class as well as in the car.

Anyway, in addition to the girl the guy two people down on my right was making this annoying noise. A squeaking of sorts. I thought it was the girl next to me. When I finally could not stand it anymore, I turned directly towards her and gave her THE LOOK. And she promptly told me it was not her and that it was the guy next to her doing something. I finally figured out he was bouncing his leg up and down and his moccasins were squeaking. Yes, I said moccasins! The rubber soles of his mocks to be exact. But anyway, it was loud, it was annoying and you know damn well he heard it as well as the rest of us. Loud and clear. But yet he still did it on purpose. I wanted to smack him right out of his chair at that point.

The third dumb ass was in my second class during a group presentation. Poor guy, I kind of felt sorry for him because one of my team mates and I were laughing about his slip up and I am sure that others were as well. But I am not even sure he knew what he did wrong. He was talking about segregated neighborhoods and mentioned African Americans and Chickeenies. Yes, that's right - Chickeenies (is this the 'word of the day'?) Kinda like combining Chick's n Bikini's. Anyway, I knew he meant "Chicanos", but how do you tell a totally white young midwest nerd boy that he made a mistake like that? Worse part is, how do you grow up in today's day and age and NOT know what a chicano is? People, I swear. How do they get through life?

Last but not least, I am not without fault. I had my feet in the chair next to me and the chair gave out and something went flying. My group was laughing hysterically out loud during their presentation (It was rude, but unavoidable). This caused our teacher to laugh out loud and for her to ask if everything was okay with us. I had to confess "I think I broke something". The two guys in my group and I looked at the broken piece and were baffled. What was it? It was a large plastic piece that I thought was the arm of the chair (brand new chairs by the way). We finally figured out it was something that clipped on underneath the tables and there was a bunch of them. The chair arm had put pressure on it since my feet were putting pressure on the chair and it popped. Not broken thank god. I fixed it. But all I could think of was 'DUMBASS'!

Done venting now. Thanks. I feel much better.

Peace!

Photo of the Day admission and Dumbass of the Day for 9/3 (I think)

I have been meaning to make this post but obviously I have been caught up in my busy schedule lately. I've fallen off the photo of the day bus (sorry!) a few weeks back. I can honestly say, it is a project that I have to undertake and stick too at some point, but right now it's just not going to work. My schedule is too hectic to be posting every night and I am sorry. I have missed some great pictures from not having my camera along my side at every moment. On Patriots Day, I missed a red white and blue hot air balloon right over old town Gilbert when I went to work in the morning. I also missed all the beautiful flags up and down the street that day. Each light post in old town Gilbert has two flag holders on each side of it and on this day, the had put them all out to commemorate the 9/11 event. In addition, the American Legion across the street had all their flags up, which when I counted was 9 that I could see, and they had tied big yellow ribbons all the way down the little iron fence around the building. It was beautiful! Sorry that you could not all see it.

In addition, I have missed photographing some great clouds, my family and friends and some other odds and ends type stuff that I have seen while I have been out. I saw the strangest thing going to school the other night - a man riding an electric cooler. Yes, I said cooler! I saw it and was like 'man, I should have my camera right now! No one will believe this one!"

Truth be told, I want one of those things! It was cool. I decided to research it on the internet. Turns out there is such a thing! It's called the "Cruizin Cooler" and costs about $500. The guy is making a fortune off of these! I had some flashbacks of this being the perfect ride for NASCAR races. Screw taking the tram back and forth in that large parking lot - just ride your cooler to the bar! You can drink along the way!

Personally, I like the 'Cruisin Cooler Wagon', which I think is the ultimate redneck ride. It has the wagon fer yer kids or yer dog. Oh, or yer guns.

See what people come up with? I swear, one of these days my inventions are going to fly. Anyway just wanted to share that little story with ya cause I could not believe my eyes when I saw it.

Now on to my families "Dumbass of the Day" story. This happened 3 Thursday's ago and I have been meaning to post it, but well, you know, I got kinda busy. Anyway, I was briefly checking in on Facebook and my sister had posted this note: "I spent the day thinking I was going to make enchiladas. What I came home to was an ordained minister husband and news that I was hosting a wedding in my back yard. Interesting....". Of course this comment was reason enough for me to pick up the phone. Turns out the neighbors, we won't mention any names but will just call them "the bartender and the sheriff", decided they wanted to get married. And not in the future but in the NEAR FUTURE. Like now. So Drew went online and became an ordained minister. Then he set up the backyard with candles and added some lights to the bar. And then Mandie came home and was thrown into the mix. So she went to the store, bought a cake and some flowers, dug out her wedding glasses and cake topper and got ready to host a wedding. In her backyard, after work, with 6 people and the dogs in attendance, on a Thursday night. But THEN Drew wondered how legitimate his training was in ministry. So they called up a friend who is an ordained minister and she came right on over and performed the ceremony.

Huh? My family seems to be moving more towards the 'redneck' status than I thought. And at a quicker rate of speed than I thought. Anyway, on to more productive things. I gotta get some homework done. I have a test on Thursday and have not read a thing. I'll check back in in a few days.

Peace and Love and all that crap!

Funny Mom's - another draft that should have been posted on 8/28

Today my friend's wife Donell posted this on Facebook:

I have now formally resigned my position as FT Mom....WANTED:  FT maid, cook, taxi driver, medical assistant, fashion adviser, personal assistant and PT referee. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. No pay or benefits available.

To which I replied:

I already had that job and the pay sucked, so I decided to take up other job positions - Head of the "I don't give a shit" club, Leader of the "Not my problem" society and President of "Mother's Against Kids"! The pay(back) is much better and it gives me a sense of joy and happiness...

To which her friend Debi commented:

Tina, you are my kinda CEO!

And now I say - MOM'S UNITE! WE ARE NOT STANDING FOR THESE SHITTY JOBS ANYMORE! We are overworked, underpaid, get no benefits and little satisfaction from our jobs. It's time to do something about it! Let them cook their own dinners, clean their own house, dishes, laundry and bathrooms. The yards you can forget about. Who cares if your neighbors look upon you with disgusted eyes. Put a sign in the yard that says "Not my job ~ Mom" and forget about it. Let them walk their asses to school, come up with their own lunch money and write their own excuse notes. Force them to take the bus, ride a bike (or horse or cow or whatever) and get to where ever they are going on their own accord. Just imagine the laughter when their friends see them pulling up to the mall by those modes of transp. You got hurt? Oh poor thing! Go find the bandaids and the Neosporin that are probably in your room somewhere hiding under one of the piles of crap you are collecting. Go fish through all the shit like we (as moms) do. And by the way,  at some point I would like to find a couple of dishes in the cupboards when I go to get one. I do not buy them for you to grow experiments in while you are hiding out in your lab watching fungus grow.

All I can say is, payback is a bitch and I can't wait until these little leeches find a new host. Any host will do - boyfriends, friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, strangers on the street. Let them suck the life out of someone else for a few weeks!

Anyone want some FREE children?

Photo of the Day for Friday, 8/28

I tried to get some photos at the dog track last night (haven't been there in years) but apparently they don't allow flash photography due to scaring the dogs. Just to keep up with my photo of the day, I took pictures of Mo picking the first of the fruits of her labor (literally) out of her garden. Why she decided to pick them at just about midnight is beyond me.

For centuries men have been obsessed with shootin guns, titties and beer. Fortunately in today's world, we have video games. Men still get to go shootin and still get to see titties (ever played "Backyard Wrestling"?) but as far as the beer, well that's still real world style. It's not beer with your horses anymore. Today it's beer with your video games. So, last night when we came home from the track, it was cold beers and a round of "Big Game Hunter" on the Wii. Here's a photo to prove men never grow up. A pic of my biggest kid playing his videos. :)

A great quote

I love to read quotes. I love to find quotes that are appropriate for certain times and share them with people. I like to read quotes that are posted on others sites. I like to see just what inspiring words have made the person stop and say "this is really good advice". Tonight was one such night, only better. I had a high school friend named Bill Stone post a quote on my wall that I just loved. I asked him where he got it and he said it was his. He said "This world would be a much better place if people used my 3H Plan. Think with your heart first, then your head and yours hands will do great things." This is soooo true! Thinking with your heart is the true lifeblood of humanity.

There is one thing that sets us as humans apart from every other species on earth - the capability of having feelings and showing emotions. Good or bad, they are part of our genetic makeup. Remember all the times when you have had a 'feeling' about something, but changed your mind at the last minute? You usually end up being right the first time. That's why experts always tell you to go with your "first hunch" about something. Anyway, Bill is right. Follow your heart and everything will work itself out.

I actually thought of a pretty good quote myself a while back. It came to me when I was deep in thought about writing a book. I have often thought about writing a book, but can never seem to get it together enough to start writing. I have lots of ideas written down on paper for book subjects/stories that I would like to write, but starting seems to be the hardest part. I finally told myself  "Tee, without a beginning, there will be no end." Then it dawned on me. These words that had so thoughtlessly came to mind applied to life in general. They apply to everything! Just think about that for a moment and you will see I am right.

As a last thought, I heard a good quote tonight at school in my Ecosystems class. The TA had posted on the board the following: "We're all made of sunlight". It was written by a man named Thom Hartmann in a book he wrote called The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. Perhaps I should read his book. It has to do with the fact that "the earth's energy and its organisms' life forces are fueled by sunlight in some form or another, fossil fuels being ancient sunlight" and what we are going to do when this light burns out. You know me, it all goes back to the same thing - living sustainably.

Not many people can write a good quote. And if you ever have one, whether it be yours or otherwise, post it! Share the wealth and good thoughts with us! There is this quote site where you can post it at http://www.great-quotes.com. I found it a while back and posted mine just for fun. :)

Happy reading!

Cool Invention

Hey guys! I'm in study mode right now, but for those of you that have a minute, please scroll to the bottom of the screen and check out the water bottle invention I heard about through school. See what one person can accomplish? :):):)

Old School

Remember Atari? Atari was like the first video game to come out after pong I think. Those were the good ol days - Asteroids, Galaxian, Space Invaders, Pac-Man. Recently, we saw something on TV that had the old sit down Pac-Man game in it. Remember that one? The table top deals with a place on both sides of it for a player to sit on a chair and play? I want one of those. Gotta find one for the house.

In the meantime, tonight at the grocery store, Will found a little game on the sale table that had some of the old Atari games on it - Adventure, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Circus, Gravitar, Missile Command, Pong, Volleyball and Yar's Revenge. Old School, back to basics fun. He's sitting here playing it now. Do you know how primitive those games were next to the ones the kids have today? And to think, at one time my Atari 5200 was all the rage! I still had it (even though it did not work) probably 10 years ago. I think I finally threw it in the trash, although I was hoping someone would someday fix it for me. But today with all of the fancy technology we have, we have things like Playstation III and X-Box whatever and Wii. With a shit load of games! Games from real life golf (Tiger Woods 09) to car racing (Driver) to surfing (TransWorld Surf) to beating someone's ass (Backyard Wrestling). You can do just about anything you want through a video game. No need to go outside and play anymore when you got it all inside!

The thing that bugs me the most is, kids are missing out on so much! What about making mud pies, or chasing stick boats down the gutter when it rains? What about playing in forts and treehouses and playing kick the can after dark out in the street? What about riding your bike, skateboard or roller skating? What happened to being a kid and not having to have your parents check out the rating on a video game that you want?

We as adults need to think back to a better time and remember what being a kid was all about. KICK YOUR KIDS OUTSIDE. Make them step away from the TV, video games, DVD players and Ipods. Make them go out and play and enjoy life a little. Get them back to nature. Take them camping, fishing and hunting. Go water skiing or snow skiing. Build a snow man when you can, lick an icicle and go ice skating. Take them back to a simpler time when being a kid was having fun outdoors!

Enough ranting and raving for now. Gotta go make the big kid take a break before he gets thumb cramps or has joystick injuries.

Anyone have a table top Pac-Man for sale?

You might be a redneck if...

You know Jeff Foxworthy's "you must be a redneck if" jokes? Well today I had to take a serious look at our actions and realized, we might just be 'citified' rednecks. We just took a little trip that was quite interesting and something I just knew I had to share.

First we went to buy chicken food at the feed barn. Then I proceeded to ask the guy the 'dumbass question of the day' - DO YOU HAVE ANY HAY? That guy probably looked at me like I was a complete friggin idiot. There was two huge stacks of hay right behind my car. Truth is, my car was parked on hay. How could I have missed it? Anyway, he proceeded to give us a bag to scrape the parking lot of all the scraps we needed. We needed it for the chicken coop. For the soft little beds that they will lay those glorious eggs on. I can't wait.

Anyway, after getting that done, it was on to the man store. You know guns and ammo type stuff. Willie has been working really hard these past few months and never asks for anything. But he's been asking for something for a while now and he really deserves it, so I relented. With my dad's encouragement, Will has gotten into guns lately. He loves my dad's 9mm Browning and he decided that was what he wanted - a 9 mil. A green Ruger SR9 to be exact. One never before owned by anyone else. How could I deny him that? So, we went and bought one. Ordered it up like chicken fried steak (Will's favorite meal) off the menu. To be delivered later this week. Two minutes in and out. The benefits of living in the old west I suppose.

To top it off, on our way home I realized before we went to the feed store to buy the chicken food, to get the hay and to buy the gun, I had gone to the bank to get the cash. And bought a coffee mug. What does it say on it? John Deere of course. So I ask you - Are we rednecks? You be the judge.

The beauty of Clouds

From the time we are small, we notice clouds. Clouds are one of the first things that we drew with crayons. We've all played the game of trying to find things in clouds. Shapes and figures of our imaginations. Have you looked at clouds lately? I have. All the time. Clouds make me think. Clouds relax me. Clouds remind me of monsoons. Clouds are beautiful, fun, romantic and just plain cool. Clouds can be whispsy or poofy, little or big, numerous or few. Clouds are amazing. A little bit of nature free floating above us.

There is one thing I love about Arizona - how the clouds make beautiful skies. The sky here is so blue and there is nothing better than seeing those white cotton balls (thunderheads) against the blue of the sky. I also love seeing the sun reflecting off those clouds. It makes them pink, orange and yellow. Just about every day there are always cloud formations for me to photograph. And I have taken TONS. Some of the ones posted here are from this past week. A few others are just ones from my collection that I like. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Whatever the case, clouds are to be watched, admired and photographed. They are one of nature's gifts to us. We may not be able to touch them, but they somehow affect the senses in a way that nothing else can. They are visual and inspiring. They are part of what makes our earth's atmosphere so beautiful.

If you are not much of a 'cloud watcher', I encourage you to take a look sometime. And if you are a watcher like me and have any cloud photos to share, send them on over! I would love to see them!

Peace and love. And poofy cloud wishes :)

Transitioning to a more sustainable life

I had to write something for school today that I thought I might pass onto my blog so here it is.

It really bothers me to think that so many people of the world are more concerned with fashion and having the latest gadgets then with the state of our earth and our kids futures. Worst part is, we are helping to 'train' our future generations to think just the same way, maybe even worse.

We have a disposable life. Everything we buy usually needs to be replaced within a years time just to have the 'latest and greatest'. Why do we need new Ipods and computers every year? Cell phones? New clothes?

We also have a wasteful life. Why do we need to take 30 minute showers? Why do we need to wrap hamburgers in paper and then put them in a box, only to be put into a bag? Why do we need to have 40 pairs of shoes in our closets? Why do we buy things that we sometimes don't even use?

It's all just stuff. What people don't really take the time to think about is, what happens to all the 'stuff' when your gone? You can't take it with you. It's going to be left, sitting in a landfill somewhere for future generations to deal with. Continuing to pollute our land, air and waterways. Just because more 'stuff' is being produced, bought, used for a short time and disposed of. All in the name of being 'cool', staying current and having the need to keep up with the Jones's.

Worse part is, while we are worried about having all this 'stuff' to keep up with the Jones family across the street, people all over the world are fighting to just keep their kids and themselves alive. They don't have food, water, a comfortable place to sleep at night. They can't afford to get shots to help from getting sick. They don't have shoes to protect their feet. Doesn't bother us, right? Their over there and we're over here. But is it morally right that this is happening? I don't think so.

I often think if all of us were just willing to give up one stop to QT or Circle K a day, to give up just one soda, energy drink or $1 bag of chips. Do you know how much food could be bought for others with such a little sacrifice? We could probably feed everyone all over the world just fine. I would be willing to do it, but most people aren't.

The people of earth really need to think about what is morally the right thing to do. It's more important that we distribute our wealth a little and help those in need. Our fellow humans here on earth. They have just as much right for the basic essentials for living as we do. They have a right to a better life. Not one filled with all these "extra" things that we deem as 'necessary'. Shelter from the sun, food, clothing and shoes. Health care. And not just this generation, but the next one and the next one. Their futures are all in our hands NOW. Are we going to continue to destroy earth, or help to save it so that other generations after us can enjoy healthy, happy lives too?

People need to get creative about this. Use their brains. Come up with solutions to real life problems. Start passing laws and not just talking about them. Small changes in our lives could make a huge impact for someone else. We all need to get on the bandwagon so to speak.

We can have all the technology in the world and it will not solve these problems. It will have to be the human beings that have caused these problems that will need to resolve our sustainability issues. Question is, when are we going to act and stop just talking about it?

Yahtzee

I know. I'm lame. It has been a while since I wrote. Well you too!

Anyway, life happens, ya know what I mean? Since school started, my computer crashed my car broke down. Shit happens. I've been busy. Truth is, I have wanted to write MANY, MANY times. But I had to make myself stop. School comes first a and  I had to get away from the Facebook, the MySpace and my blog. Anyway, I have had several times I have been meanin to write, but I have prioritized my life in the order of importance right now, yaknowwhatImean?

So, with that said ( you'll be hearing that a lot - I LIKE IT!), here is my blog for the day. Although its not from today. It’s from various days. Weeeelllll…..YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!

Will just beat me at Yahtzee. Again. His all time high score is 599. Tonight, he got a  452. Not bad. Definitely  the one to beat. He always beats me. And everyone else for that matter. His high score pisses me off. He calls himself the “King of Yahtzee. For god’s sake (or his own), can someone not beat him? Perhaps the perfect  someone needs to be me. Perhaps not. I have played numerous games against this man and still his title stands. Are you going to put up with this shit? I'm not. That's why I am turning to you people. Does anyone out there think they can beat him? I doubt it.

The point is, someone needs to bring him back down to earth and it cannot be me. He just won’t believe it. He thinks he should retire while he is ahead, that's how good he is. Sean? Everyone and anyone? Where are you? I bought him a damn Yahtzee game for Christmas so that we all could play more. Now he plays a little too much. Truth be known, his head is big, NO ONE seems to beat him and everyday is good for him at this point.

I am telling on him. SOMEONE NEEDS TO BEAT HIM!!! He is only addicted to the electronic version and seems to think he is the world Champ or something! Bring it on brothas! Help me beat this primadonna asshole! Why not? Got anything else to do? Any goals in life? Not us. We’re easy. Try us out some time!

Peace, Love and all that crap :)

A little catching up

So it's been a few days since I have posted and it is because I finally have a life again! New job, new semester at school, car breaking down - I'm a busy girl. To catch up a little, I am making one post for the last few days. I have managed to squeeze in the Photo a day and am still on track as far as taking one a day. My postings are just a little late. With that said, here we go.

Saturday morning it was pretty much a boring day and I really had nothing to photo. I managed to take a few of my sisters garden in the day light and of my sisters dogs - Remy and Winnie - Remington and Winchester to be exact. Yep, you guessed it, named after the guns. Perhaps that is because since Andrew moved from Torrance to Phoenix, he has gotten way into shooting and has become a redneck! They even have a 'bench' made out of a log (of course) with braces on it so that they can mount their clay shooter when they go out. Waaayyyy to into it if you ask me.

Her garden is also swarming with wasps. While they are not the best of the bugs to photograph, I did find them quite interesting and caught a few good ones. 

Onto Sunday. Sunday was also a boring day. I caught a few of my dogs and of the Barbie's that I finally convinced Will to put up in our bedroom. Yes BARBIES. I love Barbie and have collected them since I first found out I was going to have Jessi. I kept telling myself that they were for her, but truth be told, half of them were given to ME as gifts. I started with buying and "Air Fordce Thunderbirds" Barbie when I was pregnant with Jess. Then for her first Christmas she got the Christmas Barbie in 1991. Then my dad showed me something he probably shouldn't have. My dad had a neighbor that collected Barbies in a BIG way. He took me down to her house and they took me out back. She was probably in her 40's and her dad had built her a detached garage to keep all her Barbie's in. It had shelves from floor to ceiling and Barbie's everywhere. She had glass cases with Barbie 'scenes' in them. I remember seeing Barbie's on Vespa's, in living rooms and driving Corvette's. That was it. That was all it took. My goal is to someday have a Barbie room like that. No matter what anyone says!

Yesterday was the first day of my new job. I had a wonderful morning that started with seeing the sun rays beaming out of the clouds at QT when I stopped to get my energy drink and some gas. Then on a little smoke break, I caught some photos of the building, the courtyard area inside underground and the internal area of the office itself. My little office is a an office of little "suites". You can see all the little offices going down the hallway. Strangely enough, there are probably 8 of them that are all rented to some attorney. Why not rent a regular office?

Last night, I was lucky enough to catch a few of this dragonfly. We never get to see them up close and for some reason, he got stuck on our patio by the light. After flying around and dodging us, he finally got wore out and collapsed in to my craft bin. Thank goodness Will got him out :)

Today, nothing eventful happened. We are loving Miranda's 'Dump Soup' recipe (Thanks Miranda!) so I took some photos of that. Quick, easy and delish. Perhaps I will post the recipe soon. Right now it's on to homework.

Anyway, hope you have enjoyed this little journey. I'll catch you in a few days!