The person to the left, is me this morning! You just won't believe this one!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I recently started a new job as Front Desk Clerk at a local hotel. Reading below, you will see that things haven't exactally been "hunky dorey", but I've been biting my tongue trying to make it work because I really need this job! I've been waiting patiently for the time to come when GM just leaves me alone and suffering through the two weeks of training. I love the work itself, (when there is work to do, that is) I really do.

I've also been struggling to make my funky training shifts work with getting Samantha to and from her afterschool cheerleading events. Finally... my schedule for my 3rd week is created and it's workable and looking good. I'm only on two split shifts and the rest are normal 8 hour shifts and I spend Sunday arranging with other Mom's the to's and fro's of cheerleading. They were willing to help me out with some rides home & vice versa on the days I could help them too, a little give & take goes a long way...

I get home last night to the news that "work called", which obviously can't be a good thing. 9 p.m. I'm told that my schedule has been changed! I am now scheduled for split shifts Tuesday thru Saturday, 8 a.m. - noon & again from 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.! I immediately call the Front Desk Manager Lady (FDML from here on out) to tell her I just can't work these hours all week. Not only have I already made my arrangements for the week with Sam's stuff, but I also can't afford the gas. I might as well be working in Roanoke because going to work TWICE a day is the same amount of gas. Afterall, I took a 3.50 per hour pay cut to NOT work in Roanoke!! But... I need this job right? So, if necessary, I humbly admit that 'll make it work.. However, because I haven't yet gotten a paycheck, I may need a little help with gas this week. She agrees to talk to GM to see what can be done, either way, and I agree to at least work the split shift Monday, giving her a chance to talk to GM.

I get in this morning, 8 a.m. as assigned, and GM is awaiting. I didn't mention the hours issue to him, thinking it'd be better to let FDML do that and bid him good morning. He tells me to go ahead and get started and to begin with the Housekeeping Reports (essentially assigning the maids to the rooms they are to clean that day). "Ok, Great" I say, as I reach for my notes. "No Notes" he says. I was flaberghasted. For one thing, I had only done the housekeeping reports once, while taking my notes, and FDML, who is trying to fill her day with busy work because we aren't busy, has done them on the other days, while I worked on other things up front. For another, thats how I learn. Everyone has their own way and for me, its writing down each step and following as I do.  I will admit I'm a VERY fast learner and with my notes, I could have run that Front Desk on my 2nd or 3rd day (and both shifts, I may add). I look at him kind of funny.... "no notes? I need my notes... thats how I learn" - "no notes" he says, in his India accent. Sorry, but my Photographic Memory just through me for a loop!  ;-)  After 15 minutes of degrading conversation:

GM: "are we in kindergarden?"

Me: "no"

GM: "are we in middle school"

Me: "no"

GM: "then you don't need your notes"

finally.... I get started on the reports. (I don't think I need to tell you how mad I was at this point, do I? I SHOULD HAVE walked out then...) He shows me how to print the report, with his "photographic memory" and I begin listing the rooms out for the maids. I make a simple mistake and ask for whiteout. He looks at my mistake, looks at me, and says "Just go home for the day, ok Chrissie?" And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the start of my morning!

OH MY GOD! Anyone hiring?

Happy Monday morning! On Monday's I drive for the Auto Auction. Mondays at the Auction consists of parking the cars to be auctioned off as they are brought in by the sellers/dealers and then, after they are all parked, driving them into the bays for the actual sale. The Auctioneers are really neat to listen too and boy can they ramble.... and you really have to listen closely for your que to "drive it out" or "roll it out" (or whatever they feel like saying at the moment) as your signal to bring the car out of the bay and go get the next one.  It's kind of fun and cash money at the end of the day, which is always needed. It's not alot of money by any stretch of the imagination... only about 25 to 30 dollars for an afternoon, but "Anything is better than nothing"! It helps with my gas for the week (and in the case of this week, whatever groceries I can scrounge up too). 

It's been a rough three weeks because I've had to wait that long for my first paycheck, which will finally arrive on Friday (and is already spent, no less). I worked yesterday, and because it's the end of the VA Tech "move-in" week, it was completely dead and boring is an understatement. I'm a very independent, "do what I want as long as the work it done", employee and I've mostly been in job roles where this is the norm. It's real hard for me to conform to anything. I have to stand at a front desk and have to "pretend" that I'm busy, even though there isn't a stitch of work to do, not even busy work. My feet hurt so bad. Even though there is a stool there, you can't sit in it during "day shift", it's only for nights - does that make sense?  Make a person suffer....  It truly sucks. I love the work, when there are cusotmers, but I HATE the down time, which essentially was ALL DAY yesterday. Boy, did the day drag! In addition, I'm still not "on my own"; had I been, it would have been a little better....  but no.... so I have to make what I consider "pretend" small talk with the woman training me and for every customer that comes to the desk, she manages to snag, because she too is as bored as I am! I'm still sending resumes for another office position, my norm., but there isn't much out there right now and unless it's for the "big bucks" or something I would absolutely love, I'm not really into driving the 45 miles (each way) into the so called "city" in our area. Of course, this is where all the jobs are, so it's hard to win, either way. I am holding on, at the hotel, until something else materializes! Anything is better than nothing!

We didn't have much luck selling the cookie dough the other day. It's kind of expensive, 15.00 a box, and my neighborhood is not exactally an affluent area. It's also close to the beginning of the month and most people are ready to pay those monthly bills again, with nothing left to spare. The plan for this evening is when I pick Sami up from cheerleading, we are going to try some of the neighborhoods between the school and where we live. Hopefully we will have better luck. So far, our only orders are from my family members, 6 boxes, 34 more to sell. The only downfall with the family orders.... I will have to ship them to Massachusetts. That's ok though because when the cookie dough finally comes in, I won't be as financially hurting as I am now. Thank you to all who bought so far, At least we sold some...

"Anything is better than nothing", is truly my motto this month!

I have the day off and I'm thrilled! I've got housecleaning to catch up on and my truck is being worked on, so I have no intention of going anywhere today! Which, is actually a very nice feeling.... Samantha is taking a nap. She spent the night at a friends and I'm sure they stayed up very late, only to have to wake up early for competition cheerleading practice this morning. She is slightly worn out, I would imagine. The coaches work them to the bone.... 

Samantha has been waiting forever to get the 4th book in Stephanie Meyers Vampire series, Breaking Dawn. It came out a few weeks ago, but I didn't have the money to buy it for her, especially because it's new it's only out in hard-cover. She brought it home from school yesterday, a borrowed copy from her friend! So this afternoon, she came home from cheerleading, with the intention of reading, and is out like a light! I don't think she made much of a dent in the first chapter.

We are planning to sell cookie dough later today, once she finally awakens. We'll go house-to-house, and it'll be a nice walk, if nothing else. We still owe about 200.00 on her cheerleading uniform & supplies and if we sell 40 boxes, she will have a 0 balance - a very good thing indeed!  40 boxes is a high goal, at 15.00 a box, but I guess we can give it a shot!

As for me, until we leave, I plan to putt around the house.  I've got dishes to do, laundry, and of course there's always a little blogging. I love having no obligations, a very rare happening!

Sami is enjoying high school, so far. I finally got to talk with her some. I've been working nights and she has been at school and cheerleading and by the time I've gotten home she has been asleep. We are "passing in the wind", so to say.  Sami likes the school so far though. She says it's a lot different from middle school and is thrilled that they are allowed to chew gum and don't have the strict dress code that the middle school had. At middle school, Sami's biggest issue were the rules for shorts lengths. As I'm sure you know, they don't even sell shorts that aren't short-shorts, or at least ones that any teen would wear, so it's real hard to find shorts that are at "arms length". If her shorts were shorter than her fingertips, when hanging her arms down straight, then she couldn't wear them. This, however, was middle school, thank god.

The high school has a website and each teacher has a homework schedule posted! I'm in love with this! She won't be able to claim "no homework" this year! I also got to read the teachers bio's, which was enlightening too.

Work has been uneventful the last few nights. I'm wondering how boring it might get when it's not student "move-in" week, because even during "move-in" week, there has been some boring downtime. I do have internet access and plan to bring my book, but only when there isn't management hanging over my shoulder. According to other co-workers, once your fully trained and it isn't any special Tech event weekends, they pretty much leave you alone.

I'm also having an issue making arrangements to get Sami back and forth to cheerleading. I am under the assumption that I'm mostly going to be working 3 - 11 and this kind of puts a snag in her practice pick-ups. The other mothers can help some, but 11 p.m. is quite late for a pick-up from me on school nights. It'll all work out, I have faith.....  

Becky and I like to trade work stories, when we talk. Her "war" stories tend to deal with corporate Bullshit (with a captial B) or irrate customers. I always loved to hear about the irrate customers and her interesting stories and now we can compete!

Working in the service industry is interesting, to say the least. There is never a dull moment and last night was a whopper. Anything that would go wrong, did!

I work at a local hotel and this week is Virginia Tech's "move-in" week. The hotel is completely booked for the week, with no free rooms. With the exception, I should say, of the 3 or 4 rooms that were reserved under the GM's name for emergency situations. I'm still in training, but am more or less on my own now (need I mention I love the work, but already hate the management). Last night I got to deal, on my own.

Story #1: I got a call from another local hotel, asking if we have a room. We were told it's ok to release those rooms under the GMs name at 7 p.m. and give them to "walk-in" customers (at an exorbitant amount, I may add), so I said "yes, send them over, we have a walk-in room available". They came in and were so grateful that we had something available. They had driven from NY State, with their 3 kids, one of which was beginning her first year at Tech, and arrived to the news that the other hotel had "lost" their reservation. Apparently they confirmed this reservation 3 times since they booked it. I made their night!  I got them all checked in, with the woman in tears the whole time, at which point they asked "this is for two nights, right?"  "No, no-one had mentioned two nights at all" Chrissie searches for a room for the 2nd night and Yikes..... The only thing I had were two rooms for the next night, which also had been reserved under the GM's name for emergency purposes only, and were not supposed to be used. Here come the tears again and of course I gave it to them and of course I got in trouble. Can't win for losing!  

So that's Story #1, watch out, it only get's better....  A man and his daughter check in from Maryland, again the daughter is beginning at Tech this week. They stayed at the hotel about 6 months previous and enjoyed their stay. The day they got back to Maryland, they made a reservation for this upcoming "move-in" week at a rate of 110.00 per night. When they arrived last night and checked in, the rate popped up to 159.00! (After the fact I learned that the GM didn't change the rates to the higher amounts until after they made the reservation. You would think that he would honor those reservations already in the system, but no.... I wonder how many other people thought they were paying 110?) Needless to say, the man was quite upset, but because my co-worker (person training me) told him all the rooms in this area were pretty much competative with our rates and were also completely booked, he heatedly went ahead and decided to stay. About an hour later they came back down to the front desk, hotter than before, demanding their money back. Apparently, they went to the room and called around and found that our "sister" hotel, on campus no less, had an available room and it was Cheaper! In my mind, fine, go ahead. In managements mind, he could leave, but he wasn't getting a refund, because he had checked in and been in the room for a period of time, he was getting no refund! The man, understandably still very upset, insisted on talking to the GM (at this point it was 10 p.m.), who stubbornly refused to speak to him (I couldn't believe he wouldn't get on the phone). The man claimed he would make "such a stink, we'd never forget him" (Thank God they knew I was the "Good Guy"). He screamed that the GM is a coward (which apparently his is, hence the photo to the right), called our dispute center for mediation from the front desk phone (with no luck), couldn't get ahold of his credit card company and then refused to leave the front desk until we refunded him the money, which we refused to do! It was a stale-mate. After about an hour he said he would stay in the room, but only so that he could confront the GM in the morning. It'd like to be a fly on the wall this morning..... I wonder if the coward showed up? The general consensus, amongst us front desk people, was that he wouldn't.

Sami is off for her first day of school. She looked very pretty today and was ready to go by 5 a.m. She doesn't like the people on her new school bus, so opted to wake up an hour earlier and ride with her friend Lindsey, who also doesn't like the people on this specific school bus, and gets a ride to her grandmother's every morning to ride a different bus. So Sami rode with them to the grandmother's - she is off and in high school! Good Luck little Girl!  

My house smells like both. Yesterday we happened upon someone who gave us a huge box of each.  Why? That's a question and story for a different day - but they were being thrown away! Both the tomatoes & strawberries are close to perfect and now I've got to make some use of them. I started with about ten 32 oz pkg's and a plastic grocery bag full of strawberries. So far I've froze three packs and gave a few away to neighbors, but I still have 4 packages in my fridge and the bag full. What to do with all of them? I guess Samantha will turn into a strawberry.  I'm glad she likes fruit. I might try to make a pie too. 

We also have about 3 plastic bags full of tomatoes. I made tomatoe & mayonaisse salad with dinner last night & today before work I plan to do some homemade sauce, which I've never attempted, but am looking forward to.  Samantha also likes to bite into a tomatoe and eat it like it's an apple, so there will be plenty of that....

Because of my recent financial situation, tomatoes & strawberries are both luxuries to me. Something I never would buy right now....  added extra's. I'm living off pennies and normally would just buy the main ingredients needed to make a cheap lunches & dinners - so this is definately a blessing!

Tomorrow is Sami's first day of High School! We did the Open House thing last night and went to all her classes, met her teaches and scoped out the school. It's an older school, but I really liked it. The teachers were all great.  It was very nostalgic. Not that I went to this specific school, but it made me wish I were going back there to do it all over again. It's funny how High School comes at a time when kids are only worried about socializing, yet they have so much at their fingertips to learn from, and really don't care, like they should. I also learned that my Samantha is truly a social butterfly... but I know she will succeed!

Rough.... but I'm back!

Yes, it's been forever and a day since I've written. What a few months it's been.... Things are starting to get settled again, though. In May & June we lost our house and had to stay with friends for awhile, which as I'm sure you know, is never easy. I rented a new place at the end of June and am feeling a little more settled now. In looking for a new place, my goal was to be in Sami's school district, which I did manage to find, finally, which is mainly what took so long to accomplish.  All last school year I drove her back and forth everyday, which was hard on scheduling, not to mention gas.  In the middle of this homeless period, I also lost my job due to car problems (or as they claimed a "lay off"). I have been unemployed for the past two months and my finances have been less than normal, actually, pretty non-existent, with the exception of help from family and friends!  (Thank u to those I love & have helped!!!)

I finally started a job last Monday - Thank God!  It's not great pay and is in the service industry, which I haven't worked in forever...  but it's work and the plus is that I won't be driving the 100 mile round trip to Roanoke anymore.  I am still hurting financially, until the end of this month, but hopefully things will smooth out.  I also have another interview tomorrow morning, about 5 miles from the new house and for about the same money I was making in Roanoke, and if I "Ace" it, everything will be so much better.  If not, at least I have the new job, until something better comes along.  

It's not a good time of year to be so broke.... Samantha starts school Wednesday and her cheerleading uniform alone is $400.00 (we've only pd. half of it, to date). She starts High School this year!  Wow! Where has the time gone?  Life goes by in a blink, does it not?

Hello!  Just popping in to say "Yes I am Alive!"

I love you all and will be posting again soon......

Life sometimes brings lapses.

I love rain! I woke up late this morning, the house completely empty, with the exception of Samantha and Lindsey, who were sleeping. I awoke to a nice breeze whipping through the window, it felt like rain! It felt so good.... I felt so good to be alone too.... It's been so long since I've actually been Alone. I crave and love my time alone and this is the first time in probablly 6 months that I haven't had people by my side 24 / 7. I mean it! First I was staying with Becky, and sharing her house with the 2 of us and 5 "kids" (ranging from 7 to 24) and now I'm staying at Kevin's brothers house and Kevin and Bo are always at home.  Neither are working right now ~ which is very frustrating to say the least!

K did have good luck at an interview Friday and is supposedly going to take a drug test on Monday, meaning that he probablly got the job & Bo is disabled, so he can't work right now anyway. It doesn't look like I'll be there much longer anyway ~ which is a very good thing!

But back to the rain.  There's nothing like the sound of the rain pattering on a metal roof. It's heaven. Don't you agree?  I could have stayed in my solitude all day! Instead I got up, poked around, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, did a load of laundry and then hung it out in the pouring down rain. (There is no dryer at Bo's...)

I'm sure I looked quite silly hanging clothes in the rain, but hey, the rain will eventually stop and they will dry when they want to. I can't speed things up or make them dry any faster... it's better than getting that horrible smell from laundry that has sat too long in the washer!

I forced myself to leave the solitude and... finally, after driving Lindsey home, headed off to work. I came in and an hour after arriving, got a phone call from a potential new landlord ~ which made my day! I'm about 90% positive that this house will be mine. It's far out... meaning far away from work....  but it will be set up as "Rent to Own"! Amazingly enough.... 

Rain... I love it!

I have a new cousin! Well, I guess actually he would be my 2nd cousin. My cousin Dylan welcomed Bryce into the world on May 14, 2008. Another Taurus - and only a few days before my aunt Colleen's birthday - which happens to be today!

Stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday and check out the New Baby!  

 Dylan and Baby Bryce (left)

The proud Grandmother, Colleen (right)

CONGRATULATIONS!

In honor of Mother's Day, I was trying to find a nice picture from previous blog posts of my Mother & I. I didn't have any luck, but I did find two photo's that are fitting. One of my Mother & my Daughter and one of my Grandmother and I. Four generations of girls!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY SUNDAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOM'S OUT THERE!

And especially the wonderful Mother's in my life!

MY NANA & I!

MY MOTHER & MY DAUGHTER!

 Some Georgous Gal's huh?

Hi all -

Long time no hear huh? I've been busy with my changing life, as usual. Lots of new stuff, yet nothing publically notable.  I've been well.

Last night was a tense one, hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for the "cheerleading decision"  - after an hour longer than we expected, we found out Samantha made it! She is officially on the Junior Varsity team, beginning her upcoming 1st high school year. I can remember well, being the same age, and not making it. I was heartbroken. I truly thought I was going to make it at the time...  but it wasn't meant to be for me.  I was however, the mascot of my aunt's cheerleading squad, so I guess that made up for it in some ways.

Another aunt of mine, sent me this today and I thought it was precious... and fitting for the upcoming Mother's Day weekend.

The answers below were given by 2nd grade children

Why did God make mothers?
"She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is"
"Mostly to clean the house"
"To help us out of there when we were getting born"


How did God make mothers?
"He used dirt, just like for the rest of us"
"Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring."
"God made my Mom just the same like he made me, He just used bigger parts."


What ingredients are mothers made of?
"God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and a dab of mean."
"They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think"


Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
"We're related"
"God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me."


What kind of little girl was your mom?
"My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff."
"I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy."
"They say she used to be nice"


What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
"His last name"
"She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?"
"Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?"


Why did your mom marry your dad?
"My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot."
"She got too old to do anything else with him."
"My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on."

Who's the boss at your house?
"Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball."
"Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed."
"I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad."


What's the difference between moms & dads?
"Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work."
"Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them."
"Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's."
"Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine."

What does your mom do in her spare time?
"Mothers don't do spare time."
"To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long."


What would it take to make your mom perfect?
"On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery."
"Diet. You know her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue."

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would
it be?
"She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that."
"I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me."
"I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head."

Intense Quivers

By: Samantha (my 14 year old daughter)

Dedicated to Toby

I sit here feeling all alone,

my legs shaking all the more intensely in every second.

I think about the memories we have endured and breakdown,

into a mess of tears.

I can barely see,

when I think that you will not be,

taking that morning ride in the car!

I feel numb and empty,

something’s missing.

When I think about how I will never again

see your eyes glow with the love that you have

Given us….

I only wish that love could go on forever.

When I wake up in the morning

and realize that this tragedy wasn’t a dream,

I will cry!

Because... I will never get your morning greeting...

Never again!

When I look at the things you left behind,

I feel like I can’t breathe,

I can’t think,

All I can do is remember!

When I think about where you used to lay,

under the pine tree,

I accept that I will never see you again

Laying there, content

Watching us so carefully

The feelings that come over me are intense

Overwhelming memories that

Invade my mind

I keep going back to it….

Presuming that you will never exist again

All I can do is

Remember all the fun times

And TRY not to dwell on

This heavy hearted truth.

But at this moment in time

I feel like the world around me is all a blur

Like the world has stopped

Like my whole world

Crashing down

I don’t know why

I could never understand

Why me?

The only thing I’m sure of

Is that you will

Always be in my heart!

All I have is memories

To last an eternity

To last forever

To last infinity

Come around please....

Watch over me please....

Remember me please....

My Toyota's fixed, finally! After all I've gone through with cars and trucks, running out of gas, stalking policemen (long story, different day ;-), it turned out to be a 30.00 timing belt and only a half days worth of work for Kevin. I thought the engine had blown, so this was a pleasant surprise! Now we've got the two auto's again! Yip yip!  

Yesterday, on my day off, we picked it up from James' house, after filling our faces at the chinese buffet. I drove the Toyota to work today, because it gets double the gas mileage than the truck! I guess I'll drive it Wensdays and Thursdays, when I'm usually close to broke. It feels so different from the GMC Jimmy that I am now used to driving. It's so low to the ground and the steering and brakes are alot more sensitive. I'll be going back to driving the car full-time after the 1st of May and will use the truck still, Fridays thru Tuesdays, when I have money for gas.

In other news, Samantha had her cheerleading banquet Monday night. It was a pot luck. The 8th graders brought desserts, the JV squad supplied the side dishes and the Varsity squad, the main course. All was very yummy! I love pot lucks because there is such a variety of things to try! They each got a certificate and Cheerleading T-shirt with the school's logo. Samantha and her friend Katy are going to a cheerleading camp at Virginia Tech. It will be taught by Tech cheerleaders and the end reward for joining is they get to cheer at a pre-game show for Va Tech Football. The girls, of course are ecstatic! Sami will be entering High School this year and she will be trying out for the JV squad next month.... She spent the evening last night outside practicing her jumps and gymnastic skills. I really hope she makes it. I think she will, myself, she's pretty good, but there's always that slight chance that something will go wrong and that would truly suck and she would be heartbroken!

We had our obituary meeting yesterday, where we got the results of the Myers-Briggs Type test I mentioned that we were taking at work. I wasn't too surprized with my results and thought they were pretty accurate. It was fun, we went over the different results and did activities in small groups of the same personality "type". Plus, lunch from MacAdo's was a bonus! Here are my results:

The test reports preferences on four scales.

Source of Energy: Extraversion vs. Introversion.

Taking in Information: Sensing vs. Intuition.

Decisiion Making: Thinking vs. Feeling

Lifestyle: Judging vs. Perceiving

A Snapshot of my type: ENFP

In life: Warmly entusiastic, high-spirited, ingenious, imaginative. Able to do almost anything that interests them. Quick with a solution for any difficulty and ready to help anybody with a problem. Often rely on their ability to improvise instead of preparing in advance. Can usually find compelling reasons for whatever they want.

In the workplace: Lively, charismatic and encouraging, ENFP's work well when they can innovate and be creative, persuade others to action and stimulate positive change. They generate enthusiasm for startup activities, are tireless in pursuit of newfound interests, and anticipate the needs of people and organizations.

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY???

I went back in time and picked one of my older photo's for a few good reasons. Mainly, this picture stood out in my mind the minute I learned the topic for this Robin Challenge! Also because my camera is in storage and won't be free until the next "round" of Robin.

Oh, how I love this picture of my daughter Samantha and my niece!  It truly does say it all! It could be in a magazine.. their expressions are priceless and it just speaks volumes!

Now that my daughter is a 14 year old, sometimes it feels quite the opposite:  Guilty until proven innocent!  

It's definately a Friday night! I work downtown and visit the sidewalk regularly for my hourly cigarette break. It keeps things interesting, if nothing else. During my last quick break, I about witnessed a kid getting completely demolished in a T-bone bicycle with car accident. Three young teens found it ever so entertaining to drive directly down the middle of Campbell Avenue on their bicycles! Sure, the empty road probablly looked pretty inviting at that age, with not too much traffic and people walking the sidewalks, but apparently they forgot that each city block has a cross street and totally disregarded street lights. As they were toeing that yellow line on their BMX bikes, a car came through the intersection, coming within fractions of an inch of hitting the middle boy. I'm not sure what the last boy did to avoid hitting the car himself, he must have been just that much..... more behind the rest. I almost screamed, but stopped myself, it was too far away to make a difference. I thought that I might have had a new obituary to write tomorrow.  Thank God, not. I did however manage to tell them, as they passed, that they need to watch their hind ends! Of course, they didn't hear me. The two riders who safely made it through the light were too busy telling the middle boy that he "about got creamed," in a joking manner!  I'm thinking he probablly didn't have much to say back and really just need to change his jeans.... It made me feel for their mothers! 

Wow - I'm 40 today! 

1.    Christine is my first name, but I mostly go by Chrissie or Chris - in the blog world I'm Chris-sea

2.    Marie is my 2nd name and Sarah is my 3rd (confirmation) name.

3.    My Mom's name is Kathleen

4.    My mother's middle name is also Marie, or so we thought.  She recently discovered that her birth documents lists her middle name as Maria.

5.    I wonder if that means my middle name is Maria too?

6.    My father's name is/was Robert & his middle name is/was Frances

7.    I'm not sure if he is alive

8.    I am almost positive that he choosing to live as a homeless person in Hawaii

9.    I suppose if you were choosing to be a homeless person, Hawaii would be the place to do it

10.   The last time I physically saw my dad was in 1996

11.   We used to be very close

12.   We did not have any sort of falling out, he just hasn't gotten in touch

13.   I was conceived in Florida

You can read all 100 things about me by using the link on my left-side bar!

The ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE is "First signs of spring"

I had so much fun with this one and couldn't pick which photo's to use, too many goodies....

Spring or Fall, I can't decide which is my favorite, but it's definately one of the two. The first day of spring was upon us on Thursday! I find it hard to believe, I guess time really does fly. Days turn into months, which turn into years! Another spring upon us, my 40th. Thursday I will turn 40 years old! I do not feel 40, I thought I would be different at 40, I thought I would feel different, but I still feel like me! 

I am really looking forward to Spring this year. Winter wasn't very spectacular. Spending two winters in Massachusetts recently, has spoiled me to the awesome snowstorms and Nor'easters. In Virginia we didn't get anything, with the exception of a bunch of forcast mistakes from our local meterologists! I also spent a lot of time at Becky's this winter, meaning I was cold most of the time. She heats with Kerosene, in one room, which saves her money and does what is expected, but I've spoiled myself in the past, paying outrageous heating bills and having my home at a constant comfortable temperature, morning, noon and night.

I have no problem saying, "bring spring on!"

I am surrounded by beautiful countryside, tall mountains, fresh mountain air and of course wildlife!  Wildlife wanders around here, where I live, on a fairly populated mountaintop. It doesn't matter how many times it happens, it's still exciting when you spot that rare creature running free. The cow, who got out of it's fenced area and is grazing in the road, or the deer, running so close you could reach out and touch, are normal around here. Bigger and better sightings seem to happen often too! Everyone who live in these mountains have their own wildlife sightings of some kind or other. I grew up in the suburbs and I guess I never even considered such things as I grew up.

The other night, while driving with Samantha, we saw a cougar standing on the side of the road. It was about as big as my (huge) german shepherd, Toby, but was a cat! Since then I've been corrected, it wasn't a cougar but a mountain lion or a panther. Regardless, it was a BIG ass cat! 

I've lived on top of this mountain for about 15 years total and have seen a bear, a wolf, a smaller sized cat (of some type), families of fox and now my cougar. Don't believe they live here in Virginia?  Read about Cougars living in the Applachians.

Samantha saw the cougar first and pointed him out to me as we drove past. (The aftermath of her first sighting was interesting, to say the least). Cougar was simply standing on the side of the road, staring us down. It's times like these that I wish I could freeze frame life, so that I could share!