Christmas Recap

Sissy said this was the "best Christmas ever!". I suspect it's the first one where she really understands the whole "Santa/Presents" thing.

The Evil Twin had approached me a week or so earlier and said he wanted to get me a Kindle as a gift, but he wanted me to choose the one I wanted. After researching my options, I picked the Kindle Fire and also a handy protective case.

So far, I've watched a movie on it and downloaded a few books, but I'm still figuring it all out. I think it will be handy for the moments in my life I have a few minutes to burn waiting on [doctors, dentists, children, etc.]

The family has been enjoying the Christmas BREAK by doing only the bare minimum around here. Relaxation is our middle name now.

Unfortunately, we must make the soul killing visit to the Mart today. We are out of so much.... I'm STILL sick, but I think I can buck up and deal with the general public on a limited basis today.

Christmas Day at Casa Evil Twin was berry, berry good, indeed. I hope all my hooligans had happy holidays as well!

Love,

Other Bugs Aren't Welcome, Either

It may be even worse than the stink bug invasion. On Tuesday morning, no one seemed to be feeling all that great. I even asked Buddy if he wanted to stay home because he looked miserable.

He said, no. He didn't want to have to do all the make up work. The Evil Twin took him on to school. I took Sissy a bit later. At 9 am, I get a call from the elementary school. Sissy has some sort of unknown rash or hives on her midsection, sides and back.

I went to pick her up and then to the store for Benedryl. We got home, got settled, I gave her the medicine and then my phone was ringing again. This time it was 10am. Buddy calling, "Can you come pick me up?" Picked him up and we all settled in for the day.

Sissy's rash did go away, but had returned the next morning. Gave her more benedryl and went to check on Buddy. He was still under the weather and decided to stay home and rest.

I had been up and down all night with vomiting and the "other thing". The Evil Twin also had a bad cold, so it was a family sick day!

This morning, Sissy woke up with no rash, but I gave her a small dose of the med just in case. This is their last day before Christmas break and I didn't want her to miss it - they'll probably do some fun stuff. And, it's only a half day, so that won't be so bad.

I'm hoping that Santa brings lots of goodies to our house and yours and I also hope he scoops up all the germs around here and magically makes them disappear, as only Santa could!

I've got a million things on my mind, but due to the stomach flu (?) and a mild sinus infection, I haven't been able to cobble my thoughts together. Lord willing, I'll be back tomorrow. Christmas is almost here! YAY!

Love,

Dirty Bugs Are NOT Welcome In My Home

I make an exception for spiders, because I do love them, but I also scoop them up and deposit them back into nature.

This year has been exceptionally bad for a really gross looking bug we call a "stink bug". I don't know if they actually stink or not, because I'm not inclined to get my nose close enough to find out (living or dead).

In our first house, we always had the ladybug invasion every fall. At this house, where we have lived for over 7 years, we haven't had really much more than a few ant situations, and I'll see a ladybug or two. Not like the Amityville Horror house of ladybugs at the old neighborhood.

Anyway, I looked up "stink bugs" for y'all and found this disturbing image:

Isn't that gross? They like to get into the house somehow and then circle around the ceiling fan lights. It drives me and the cat nuts.

This morning, one got in and proceeded to buzz around my person. At one point, I thought it had landed in my hair. If I had a camera from a psych ward watching me, I'd be in a padded cell by now.

The Evil Twin has sprayed heavy duty bug spray on nearly every minute surface of our lawn (a double lot) and the exterior of the house. He has also managed to kill most of the plant growth around the property after he suffered a severe case of poison ivy.

I'm off to do some research on eradicating "stink bugs" now. I swear, if one ever lands on me, check the obituaries because I will have died from a heart attack, stroke or aneurysm.

Do you think a "No Dirty Bugs Allowed" sign would help much? Yeah, me neither.

I hope all you hooligans have a bug free Friday and enjoy the weekend.

Love,

Busy Week

Sorry to go all MIA on you, my faithful four readers.

We set up our (fake) tree this weekend, but that was about it. The Evil Twin wasn't feeling well and went to bed as soon as he got in from work. So, we didn't do anything to the tree.

Tuesday evening, we checked the lights. One strand worked and one did not. I hauled my carcass to the Mart of K and bought new lights. We work as a team for lights and garland, cause it's easier than one person circling around the tree a million times.

The Evil Twin started the 2nd strand from the wrong end, so we had to unwind and redo. Then, we plugged it in. The top half of strand one (which had worked the day before) wasn't working (!!???).

Went to Rite Aid and bought another set. By the time we had done all the doing and re-doing and me going out to the store late, we decided we'd just have to fix it on Wednesday - now keep in mind, he's still sick and stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday. I had also come down with the creeping crud on Wednesday. I feel worse today, even.

But, it's hard to get motivated when you feel like crap on a cracker, ya know? Just to spice things up a bit, in addition to my mystery stomach problem, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and sinus pain. AWESOME! Now, I feel like two craps on a cracker.

Because I am old, my vision is not as good as it once was. I need prescription glasses for reading. Because I am lazy, I leave them in the case next to my computer. I put the school lunch menu up on the fridge. Well, I'm certainly not going to walk from the kitchen to the den (maybe 10 steps) to get the glasses, so I squint at the menu and read that today is an early dismissal day. That means I have to get Sissy at 1p. I bust my sick ass to get ready in time, then sit outside the school for about 10 minutes. I'm noticing there are no other parents there and the children weren't let out at 1, so I call the school office and find out the early dismissal is NEXT Thursday, the 22nd, not the 15th.

I suppose it's time for me to stock up on cheap readers and leave them all over the house. That's not really ideal, since my prescription is odd and not the same on both sides. In addition to being lazy, y'all know I'm cheap and I'm not paying a fortune for extra prescription glasses.

Luckily, the school is only a mile and a half from our house, so I just came on back, feeling like a douchecanoe, and here I sit waiting for regular pick up time to roll around.

I have so much to do today...the house needs a thorough vacuuming, if I don't get to the grocery soon, we may starve and there's something in the fridge that doesn't smell right (time to clean 'er out).

I'm going to zone out here for a few minutes, then go pick up my girl. I hope y'all are having a more productive week than me. :-)

Love,

The Blasted Economy

Alrighty, I'm not here to cast any aspersions or point any fingers. I'm just going to relay a true event that happened yesterday.

While my daughter was in testing, my son and I walked across the street to get lunch. Gino's (mostly known for their pizza, but they also offer other lunch foods) is a local thing. Owned by the same guy who owns my beloved Tudor's Biscuit World.

Tudor's is like crack wrapped up in crunchy paper. If you eat there, you will never forget that experience, and in fact, it might make you want to move to West Virginia. That's how good the food is.

Gino's - another fine food establishment known only to WV - also has tasty things on the menu.

We walked across the street. I had my mind squarely set on a pepperoni pizza bread. Buddy looked at the menu and chose an Italian Sub combo (with fries and a drink). Since I don't drink sodas, I had my handy water already in my handbag.

Now, I have eaten at Gino's many, many times in my sad existence in this pee-pee soaked hell hole (nearly 26 years) and have always loved the pizza bread. I figured it would be a nice, not too heavy lunch and all would be right with the world.

When my plate came, I observed an itty bitty "hoagie" roll. The pizza breads USED to be much larger. This little dingle dangle couldn't even fit a regular sized hot dog on it. My 5 year old would be starving after eating this disaster.

Plus, it scalded the roof of my mouth like an SOB. So, thanks, Gino's of South Charleston. #1. I was paying a load of money and #2. You ruined the top of my mouth with your stupid, hot, tiny sandwich (I'm not sure if it deserves the title of "sandwich".) The word "dinner roll" comes to mind much easier than "sandwich".

After the roof of my mouth cooled down and I ate a handful of Buddy's fries, it tasted really great. I could have used 3 of them. And, I am not a person who eats way too much.

Of course, I had to laugh about it later, because OBVIOUSLY. Teeny "sandwiches" are really funny (yet, not filling).

I won't be going back again.

Happy Friday, hooligans!

Love,

OK

I received a lovely and heartfelt email from a long time reader and also several other inquiries that made my heart feel all warm and happy.

So, I've had a difficult week and my head hasn't really been in the game, but I feel like I need to go on doing what I've been doing - no matter how boring that may be.

I don't have anything major or bad going on in my life, it's just been all the stupid little details that are weighing me down. I need to shake off the holiday stress, I suppose.

Just let me get through this week and weekend and I will try to be better about humiliating myself on a daily basis. Because, that's what I'm all about.

Thank you, secret messengers. You all lifted my spirits and made me see that maybe I needed to keep writing. I do love to write and I see so much funny on a daily basis, it would be a shame to keep all that crazy to myself, right?

Love you guys, and gals. Have a happy Wednesday and I'll catch up soon!

Love,

1,170. The End.

I'm taking down my shingle. I will not block this site or make it private, but there will most likely be no more posts here.

If you want to remove me from your blogroll, I understand. However, you all still know how to get in touch with me: eviltwinswife@gmail.com.

Thanks for the readership over the years. I'm not going away completely - I will still be visiting and commenting on other blogs. :-)

Love,

Facelift for the Home

The Evil Twin and I have wanted a ceiling fan in our bedroom since we moved in 7 years ago. We had one in our bedroom in our first house and really liked it.

Buddy had one in his room there as well. He was the first one to have a lighting change in his bedroom here. Couple years later, Sissy came along and I wanted to get her a fan, too.

#1. Everyone knows I'm cheap. #2. The Evil Twin does not like to deal with electricity issues (see #1: that means I have to hire someone to do the work AFTER the lighting is purchased....ca-ching.) #3. It can take me days, months, years or merely minutes to decide on a purchase. I know it when I see it.

Finally, finally, finally, we decided to buy the lighting. Then, it took me about a month or more to muster up the ability to call the electrician. We have used this same electrician a number of times and he is really nice and his rates are reasonable, but I just have to "feel" like I'm ready to deal with stuff before I make the appointment. That's just how I roll.

Today was the big day! The ceiling fans look amazing and the kitchen light was also replaced and looks fantastic!

Plus, all the rooms are so much brighter. The Evil Twin and I do not enjoy the "bat cave" environment. Not that I have anything against bats (I think they're adorable), but lighting - particularly overhead lighting - is something we enjoy.

Yay for new lights!

Now that the electricians have finished and moved on to their next job, it's time for me to move on with my day, too. Hooligans, have a fab Friday and even better weekend!

Love,

Running Out of Steam

I just can't seem to get my act together these days. Last night, I slept comfortably, but my brain would not shut down - in other words: I was in a good position, but I couldn't quite get the thoughts and weird "dreams" to go away.

Maybe now that I've purged them, they can hit the trails.

I ordered Buddy the Alienware M14x laptop. It's the only thing he has asked for this year. I told him that it would be a combination Christmas and birthday gift (his bday is Jan. 21). He will get other gifts from relatives, but I figured if he *knew* the only gift he'd receive from us was the laptop, he could check it out when it arrived.

I hate ordering electronics and then waiting 4 weeks to make sure everything works correctly. But, I was told the earliest shipping date would be Dec. 16. The laptop arrived yesterday, which caused all kinds of chaos in the family unit.

I've never been a stickler for "It has to be THIS certain day." As long as the recipient knows the score and agrees to the ground rules - and, at nearly 14, I think he does, then why would be have to wait?

My thoughts: Let him enjoy the gift and let me feel better that the product at hand actually functions the way it should before it's too late to be returned/exchanged.

BTW, that laptop is AWESOME!!!! :-)

I hope all my hooligans are having a good week and a great Thursday! I'll be here tomorrow - same (loosely available) bat time, same bat channel.

Love,