Maybe it is me, because I just don't get it!

A friend asked me a week or so ago if I had Christmas pajamas for the kids to wear and look cute in for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Ummmm....Never occurred to me!! I think my kids look cute in the mismatched jammies that were from last year and are ready for the flood!! You think my kids will remember anything beyond what they got for Christmas? I sure as hell don't remember if my sister and I ever had matching special Christmas pajamas!





This isn't the only thing I don't get, so I have decided it must just be me!





I do not get that evil looking elf that you have to move every night. I feel bad enough lying to my kids about Santa and holding it over their head, but to add something else to my list to try to remember to do.....FORGET IT!





I do not get how people search and search for the best deal and the perfect gift. My ass sat on my couch and pointed and clicked my way thru Christmas shopping. If someone does not think it is perfect, then so be it. Don't use the shit, but make sure you tell me, so I won't waste my time on you next year! See, to me, my time is of value and I would much rather spend it doing something fun and I do not enjoy shopping!





I do not get dragging a ton of shit out of the attic/basement for a month to make anything look pretty. I am slightly jealous of people that are able to pull this off, but I am not one of them nor do I have the patience to attempt it!





I do not get waiting with the masses to see Christmas lights or paying to see them. We have several places nearby that are free and win top award on our tacky light tour!!





I do not get glitter as a decorating item. I will suck glitter up for the next 6 mo. from bows, ornaments, cards and kids. My husband has left in a nice clean uniform covered with glitter from a stupid pair of pants the girl child had to have. He looked like a drag queen all shiny and flashy!





I do not get being all fixed up for every event every day. I don't own a single tube of lipstick, let alone many shades for various seasons or outfits or event types. Burt's Bees lip balm is my friend.





I do not get buying my kids 10 pairs of shoes. The girl has several pairs, but only one good pair that I paid good money for. Then she has a pair of winter crocs, a pair of tennies, and a couple hand-me-downs. The boy has 2 pairs of shoes. A pair of winter crocs and a pair of tennies. They are kids, they will only wear them for 1/2 a year and then they will be destroyed or too small.





I do not get having good clothes and play clothes for my kids. We have clothes for them. All they do is play, so I guess all they have are play clothes. If it doesn't go in the washing machine and dryer, I don't buy it. I hardly buy anything new for my kids and I don't feel guilty about it. Really, consignment is the only way I go or I make them for the girl. I might fill in a gap here or there, but does anyone really care? I sure don't! Clothes do not make my kids cute.

I do not get why people have to brag about the name brand of their clothes or items. My coat (until last year) was still the FedEx one I used to wear when I was still driving! My shoes are Dansko knock-offs. I will never own a Coach purse and really don't give a shit if you do! My dog is a full blooded lab, FROM the POUND! My kids destroy everything, so it doesn't matter if it is from Target, consignment or Gap. My house will never have a Pottery Barn look to it because my life is about function, not look.

AGAIN, I do not get stuff, so I guess it is just me!

Cleaning....my approach

So, most people that know me well know that my house is a disaster. It isn't crawling with bugs and growing stuff in the corners disaster, but I pile. I mound. I don't believe in dusting. I keep too much shit. And, I have a small house! 2 Dogs, 1 cat, 2 kids and a husband often make huge messes just after I mop or run the sweeper, so I skip the deep cleaning and do what needs to be done to keep it sanitary. Plus, I have 1 million things I would rather do than clean. Watching the grass grow is far more exciting than cleaning!

So, the father-in-law and his friend will be staying with us for some time while they are between houses. It is the holidays and it doesn't seem right that they'd be in a hotel. I realized that there will be 6 of us for meals and that with all the shit on the dining room table, I had a little work to do. Well that little chore developed into a full blown 3 day house cleaning job now! It should have been done long ago! I have done it all! The bathroom was bleached and scrubbed. I realize that if Santa brought me a new bathroom or even just a new bathroom floor and vanity, I'd be in heaven! The kitchen was de-cluttered and the counters were found. So, what is my favorite thing to clean with?

In case you can't read it, it is simple green max automotive cleaner and degreaser! It is awesome!! It took my stove from yuck to newish looking (which is what is beside the 1 gal jug and is about 18 years old, but still works)!! If Santa brought me a new 30" Wolf gas range, I would be in heaven, too. See....I LOVE to cook (and eat and those that know me realize this when you look at my husband and I)! The knobs to control the stove no longer have writing on then, but I get it done without them. Anyway.....back to simple green: It cleans soap scum in the shower! It is great on laundry. I use it on the hot-tub filters. And, it doesn't smell 1/2 bad.

Now, you may wonder how I, the trucker turned Momma came upon such a fab cleaning idea. Well this goes way back....

I worked my way thru college loading package cars at UPS at 2am (that is their fancy term for a truck). It is a dirty job. Their uniforms are brown and FedEx's blue for a reason. If they were white, you would not want anything to do with that delivery! Well, one night I didn't make it home in time from a social engagement to change for work. I wore a decent shirt and pants to work. Mike Zipko and I worked across from each other on the belt and we both had used tape before to protect our pants from the dirt on the belt, but I couldn't tape my whole polo up! I got an ugly grease stain on it from somewhere in the truck. Driver Charlie Hughes came in and asked what was up with my fancy get-up. He told me to go buy simple green at the auto parts store. Spray that shit on my shirt and scrub. It worked! Since then, I have graduated from college, got my master's, worked as a manager for FedEx Ground, worked as a driver and co-owner of our own trucking company, and still LOVE simple green. I also use baking soda and vinegar for lots of stuff. Good old bleach is awesome! RainX helps lessen bathtub rings from 2 kids that love to play in the dirt. Who needs some fancy household cleaner isle at the store. Use what you have in your garage!!

It is no biggie

I know that there will come a day when my kids will REALLY want some special toy or something that their friends want. Until then, I am going to be a cheap mean Mom. They are ungrateful as it is and to just give them the moon now will not be cherished. I look over at our tree and they have 3 gifts each, a joint gift, and then will have what Santa brings, which is a couple stocking stuffers and one gift. What else does a 4 year old that will hardly play by herself really need? The boy could be given a stick and be thrilled! So really, why go all out?!?!? I would rather take a nice family vacation with the money we are NOT spending on Christmas this year! Call me cold. Call me selfish. Call me cheap. I think it is brilliant!

Holiday Deviled Eggs

Who would think I'm crafty and Suzy Homemakerish? Since we have 6 chickens laying now, we always seem to have eggs to give and eggs to spare. With a holiday party on the books, I decided to make deviled eggs. I searched the web for a Christmas Holiday presentation idea and came up empty. So, I asked some facebook friends for a little input. I combined several ideas with my favorite deviled egg recipe and this is the result.

Ingredients:  
Eggs (1 dozen)

4 Slices of Bacon
1 c GOOD cheddar cheese
3/4 Mayo
1 T Honey or Horseradish Mustard
1 t dry mustard
Dash of Tabasco

I started by making the hard boiled eggs first. Put eggs in water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and let them sit in the hot water for 10 min. Remove to an ice bath. Because I use fresh eggs, I peel them right away to help with the tough shell removal.

Cut peeled eggs in 1/2 removing the yolk and setting it aside. Use food coloring to dye eggs green. I used 1 c water, 1TBSP apple cider vinegar and 10 drops of green. This is where the kids helped. They put the eggs in and stirred them. Remove them to a paper towel to dry.

Now, the filling:
Cook to a crisp 4 pieces of bacon and then drain well on a paper towel & cool completely. Mash the yolks. Add 3/4 c mayo, 1 tbsp honey mustard (Or horseradish mustard) , 1 tsp dry mustard, dash of Tabasco, salt and pepper to taste. Grate 1 c good white cheddar cheese and add to the yolk mixture (I always use Cabot, because I have a special attachment to the Cabot co-op cheese)! Cut crisped bacon into very small pieces with kitchen scissors and add to mixture. Make sure it is all blended well and creamy. If it seems a little stiff, all another spoon of mayo. Cut the corner of a baggie off and then add the yolk mixture. Use this like a piping bag to fill the dyed eggs. Add a sprig on rosemary and a slice of cherry tomato and you have some awesome Christmas Deviled Eggs!

The Holidays

So, we enter the Christmas season and the peak season for our business. This will make my 17th year in the crazy shipping industry. Some years, the hours have been crazy and I have cursed the holiday itself. Other years, the holidays have been wonderful! The kids took me off the road, but not away from some of the stresses of the business. They have added joy and excitement to the season, especially now that they are a little older and have an understanding of what is to come.

One thing I can not get into is decorating! We put a real tree up every year and have stories of trees of old that we laugh about. (The one brought home from the cut your own place in Patrick's old Mitsubishi Eclipse with the dog on top of it and 1/2 of it dragging on the road. Or the one that we had to cut almost 3 feet off of because high ceilings in our old house did not exist after we moved, but traditions were set.) The husband and I rotate who is in charge of the exterior decorating each year. I am more of a traditional person and he is all out who gives a flying f if it matches. He has lights of every shape, size, and color all going at once. I enjoy traditional live greens and wreaths with white lights. We have worked out a deal where when it is his turn, he can add to his display with the $$$ I didn't spend on the greens. Seems fair. Over the years, though, his collection is growing. To drag all that shit out, set it up, look at the power bill, then pack it all back up is a huge pain in the ass! I can't imagine doing it for every room in my house. I love going to other people's homes and seeing these displays, but I don't have the time or passion for the holidays to make it happen.

I would be in the same spot as Cain....

I am not saying I am a Herman Cain supporter, but I am saying that if I were to run for President, I would be in the same spot he's in. What spot is that? The one where people come out of the woodwork about your past. How can so much be recalled from one's past and how can one's story be so believed if some of the context comes from retaliation? If you are lost, let me tell you a story from my past:

I was training newly hired managers for the big box company in Chicago. We had a class of 20 proactive hires that knew nothing about the company and were being housed in a nice hotel in a nice part of town and being trained in a state-of-the-art new facility, also in a nice part of town. This is not reality. Most of the big box buildings are in places where land is cheap and tax breaks are given and public transportation is readily available. My home facility was in a BAD part of town. I made reference to this and also said something like the women of the night that hung out on the corner at all hours of the day give you the idea about where I usually work. Training continues.....AND a primary election is 2 days away. One of the new hires approaches us about missing class for a day to drive home (3 hours away) to vote. Um....NO! You failed to plan knowing well in advance you would be here at this time. If it was so important, you should have filed to vote via absentee ballot, as I did. Now there is a pissed off new hire. Training continues.....I draw a picture of FL to demonstrate a triangle run. Training continues.....Managers are put in trailers to load, because if you expect it of your people, you better be able to do it, too! I made a comment about loading being an art. Training continues.....We play big box company Jeopardy and Hollywood Squares (power point games I helped create for a little training help fun). The people in the squares were part of a presentation that I found on-line and tailored to our needs. One of the characters is a weird looking cartoon person. I cannot remember his name, but it was also something goofy.

Now, what do you think came out of the above events? YEP>>>>Sexual Harassment claims filed by the student I would not let leave class for a day to vote! He took notes on all of the items and found it all VERY offensive personally since he was a gay black male. The women of the night, FL, something being an art, and some goofy cartoon character were all harassing? Who knew?!?!? I almost lost my job over this and the amount of time spent to investigate it let alone the changes on policy were crazy! It is one of the reasons I decided not to take a further promotion and instead left the company to work for my husband instead of moving and running my own big box building as a top manager. I feel for Herman Cain as people come out of the cracks and re-hash pasts that might have been similar to this. Similar to what really is nothing at all!

Economics 101

So, almost 9 years ago, I sold a house in PA for about $92k. We moved here with my job and bought what was my second house and my husband's first. We looked all over and ended up in Dallas, GA. It was a little smaller than the house in PA, but it was all we needed. It was just the 2 of us. We paid $121k and used the equity from my old house as our downpayment of 15%. Time has passed and here we are now in the days of government bail outs and a downward spiraling economy. I am not saying that we are better than anyone, but this downward turn has brought lots more than the economy down. My husband and I work very hard. I worked my way thru college, had a career and left to help my husband grow our own business from the ground up. We provide jobs for 6 other people now. Our neighbors on one side worked for many years at careers and are both now retired. Our other neighbor has been with the same company for years as a Project Biller and will likely retire from there within 10 years. Our neighbor across the street is a nurse. Our neighbors 2 doors down are both teachers. A house across the street sold about a year ago now from foreclosure at a price of under $55k!! Our new neighbor has brought the whole street down. We have had more calls to 911 since he moved in than we've had in the almost 9 years we have been here. He has not yet worked an honest week since he has moved here. He is going to try being a cook at Waffle House where his 17 yr old girlfriend works. He is OVER 50!! This is the 2nd woman in the house. He has had a pitbull and a litter of puppies in the year he's been here. His dog has killed a cat and attacked another dog outside of his fence. It goes on and on!! So, what has this government help done for hard working people like us or our neighbors? In my book, it has put us in the red!! Plain and simple, it pisses me off that I have scum that bought the house across the street for next to nothing because the gov't felt it was necessary to bail out the banks. Would it not have been better to work with the former owners who were both laid off from real jobs but couldn't make it? How did the bank recoup any $$$$ with the sale of this house? And in case you were wondering how he managed to get a mortgage....his MOTHER is also on the title of his house although she lives in another state. LOVELY!