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By MsBatman, on  September 1st, 2010  Last night I took my Valentine ring to the jewelry store last night for the 6 month inspection. The prongs around the stone were loose. It’s a heart shaped stone so the prongs don’t hold it tightly to begin with. And I don’t take it off, ever. He bought it for me to wear, so that’s what I do, I wear it.
I told the chick, yes, the stone is loose.
Do you want to send it off to be fixed?
Let’s do whatever it takes to fix it.
Well, it’s covered on the warranty, so it won’t cost you anything.
Let’s send it off.
So, she’s looking up the information, our warranty, and filling out the paperwork required to send it off.
So, uh, do I get a rental?
Excuse me?
A rental? Will I be getting a rental while you have my ring being repaired?
Uh, no.
Oh, B apparently didn’t get the rental agreement when he bought the extended warranty. I’ll have to talk to him about that.
Uh, yeah, sure. Ok, your ring will be back on the 11th. Just like new.
Ok, and you’re sure I don’t get a rental? I have to be ringless the whole time you’ve got my ring?
Yes, I’m sorry.
Yeah, me too.
By MsBatman, on August 29th, 2010  I was sitting here this weekend, doing laundry, refereeing fights, bandaging battle wounds, settling scores, and surfing the web, I thought to myself.. “Self, you need something to do to occupy your time.” As though keeping up with a personal blog, photoblog, and two daughters isn’t time consuming enough, I’ve gone an added one more site to maintain. You know, because I’m an attention whore.
Actually, I am jumping on the product review bandwagon, and an hoping to start writing reviews. I would be lying if I said “It’s not for the money, it’s for the joy of writing.” It’s for the money. Well, no, it’s for the benefits, the freebies, the samples, the whatever. I am under no illusion that I will make any significant money at this, but even if I get free books to read and review, great. If I get nail polish, or lip gloss, or ink pens and markers, (did I mention I’m raising two divas daughters?) it’s all good.
And it’s for the joy of writing and exercising my writing muscles.
What’s the absolute worst that happens here? Nobody reads anything I write, and I get nothing for any post I may write and I shut the whole damn thing down? Ok, well, no harm no foul.
But it could lead to something more.
Maybe.
So. I’ve got the website set up. Now, I just need something to write about. Somebody, please, help! Give me a map, or tell me where to go…
Wait, what?
Help.
By MsBatman, on August 28th, 2010  It’s a right of passage. One we’ve all been through, on THAT side of the vehicle. It’s a whole different ballgame on the passenger side of the vehicle.
Scooter has his permit and he’s learning to drive. In the process his mom and I are learning boys drive WAY differently than girls.
Scooter’s spacial awareness (yes it is a term. I may or may not have just made it up) is different than mine. He has no problem being bumper to bumper with the car in front of him in stop and go 5:00 rush hour traffic. I can promise you this, nobody is going to be cutting him off. There is no way for anyone to *walk* between him and the car in front of him, let alone get a car in there.
He drove Brian to work this morning. There is little to no traffic on the highways at 6:00 in the morning. The perfect time for a first time driver to be on the highway, with the exception of it being dark. He did great for a first timer. Brian also let him drive home from picking Brian up from work. That was at 4:00 in the afternoon and there was a lot of weekend traffic. He did fine. Even better? My butt cheeks didn’t clinch. Not once.
By MsBatman, on August 26th, 2010  Coming home from Brian’s the other night, Tate was sitting in the backseat with the windows down. The wind was blowing her hair and she starts in….
“My new bangs that I just cut keep getting in my face. Speaking of face, I need to do my eye brows when we get home. Oh and I totally need a mani and a pedi my nails look awful, but we need new colors. I’m so over the ones we have. Oh and Newt, I need in the bathroom first tonight because I have to shave. Mom, why won’t you let me tan? My tan is fading and I’m starting to get pasty white and icky and it’s not even September yet…”
Did I mention she’s 13? Just 13.
I’ve never been more proud.
By MsBatman, on August 22nd, 2010  Do you remember when this blog was fun? No? Some of you might. Trust me when I say there were times when this blog was fun and not all opinionated and political and mouthy. Wait, that’s what blogs are supposed to be… mouthy.
This place used to be a lot of things. I place to tell my ex-husbands exactly what I thought of them. (They *are* exes for a reason). It was a place to shed more than a few tears over a broke heart. It was a place to put the pieces of that broken heart and shattered dreams back together again. And maybe it still is that place. If I ever need it to be that place again. But right now, I don’t need it to be that sort of place.
I am rebuilding my archives, slowly but surely. And in doing that I am given the opportunity to go back and re-read everything I’ve ever written here. When I read some of that crap (and oh god, it is crap) I cringe. I wince. And I fight the urge to rewrite it, better than it was, or just eliminate it altogether. But doing that is not being true to myself. At least not being true to the me back then. The me then that has become the me now.
It’s also a chance to look back at where I was, where I’ve been and see how far I’ve come. It’s a chance for me to look at my life and go “Yup, you fucked that one up pretty royally, didn’t ya?” and then “But look, you came through it. Now, don’t do that bullshit again”.
Lately this place hasn’t been about me personally. It’s been about my perception of my place in this world. My opinion of my world around me. That’s a huge step for me. Putting voice to my own opinions and putting it out there for the world at large to see and hear. I used to just go with the crowd because I was afraid of losing readers, or offending people. Turns out that’s just giving people the power to determine who and what I am. Nobody gets to do that but me.
I’m stretching my wings, I’m warming up my voice. I’m trying to figure out exactly who I am and where I belong in this world. I honestly hope it will be fun and entertaining in the process. I hope you’ll join me on this journey I call my life.
By MsBatman, on August 21st, 2010 We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ~The United States Constitution.
The First Amendment states
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Declaration of Independence states
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
There are a whole lot of rights granted to us as American citizens in those three statements. Justice, domestic tranquility, the blessings of Liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the unalienable rights of Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There is a whole lot of liberty being bandied around in those statements too. So, we speak a whole lot of Liberty, but what exactly are we talking about. I have the unalienable right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So what is liberty?
Webster’s Dictionary defines it as
1. the quality or state of being free. a: the power to do as one pleases d: the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges e: the power of choice.
So far I’ve thrown a whole lot of quotes and definitions at you. I’ve looked… it seems to me that all United States Citizens, all citizens (natural born or not) are created equal and are guaranteed these rights. The same rights, liberties, and freedoms. I read the Constitution this morning. I read the Declaration of Independence this morning. No where in either of those documents does it make exceptions for gender, race, country of birth, color of hair, eyes or skin, choice of religion, choice of life partner, level of education or rate of pay, or ability to gain employment.
In those documents there are many rights, liberties, and freedoms granted to all American citizens. But in all of the reading I have done this morning, there was one right that was very glaringly absent.
No where are we granted the right to not be offended.
Let me explain what that means to me. That means that of all the citizens of this country, we are all different. We all have different sensibilities, we all have differences of opinions, and we are entitled to those. EVERY. ONE. OF. US. And that means that in enjoying and exercising our rights, liberties and freedoms, we are going to, somewhere along the line, going to offend someone. Hello?! Take a look around the blogosphere, people are always voicing opinions, writing posts that offend someone. It’s a way of life. It’s human nature. It just is.
We all have the right to disagree with each other and the opinions we have, the truths we hold, the choices we make, the life we live. I have the right to believe that cheesecake is manna from Heaven, and you have the right to disagree with me. But just because you disagree with me, doesn’t mean I have to give up my cheesecake because you think it’s disgusting.
And yet, that is exactly what is happening in this country. There are people in California who are not being allowed to exercise their right to live their life, pursue their happiness, because there is a group of people who are offended. There is a religious group who are being told they can not practice their religion because a large portion of the country is offended.
I’m sorry, we’re not granted the right to not be offended. And offending people is not a reason to grant people less rights than everyone else, or take their rights and freedoms and liberties away from them. Both sides of the issues have the ‘right’ to their opinions, but those opinions are not reason to take away rights, liberties or freedoms.
When are we going to stop trying to tell people how to live their life and understand that they have the same rights liberties and freedoms we do? They just chose to exercise their rights differently. There’s nothing wrong with that. Different is still equal.
By MsBatman, on August 19th, 2010 My last post I may have mentioned that I might like to be a writer some day when I grow up. Miss Britt said there is exactly one way to become a writer…. write.
It sounds so simple. Just write. I mean, that’s what I want to do, so why not just do it?
Then Aunt Becky writes Why I do what I do, about why she blogs. But not just why she blogs, but why she blogs the way she does. It seems that the ‘life blogs’ are a dying breed. Blogs about real life. About laughter, love, joy, sadness, tears, fears, embarrassments, failures, successes…. life.
My blog is just that. It’s me, uncensored. It’s my life. I’d say unfiltered, but it’s filtered, it’s put through a spin cycle or two. There are some things I’m too embarrassed to admit without some degree of spin. But for the most part, This blog is (was when the archives were here.. will be again, when the archives are rebuilt) real.
Sure I don’t have a huge following. Hell, Ill be honest, I would love to have more readers. But I know that, like Britt said, “If you build it, they will come.” If I write a blog worth reading I will have readers. I just have to keep in the forefront of my mind, I’m not writing for an audience. I write because I have to. If I’m not writing here, I’m writing in notebooks, pen to paper, by hand.
Then, Dad Gone Mad, comes up with his 500 word a day challenge. (The interwebs were apparently trying to tell me something yesterday.) Again, there was the whole “Don’t just talk about it, sit down and just do it” message. (The internet must have a contract with NIKE.)
Ok, so I get it. I hear you. I get the message. If I want to be a writer, the first step, the most important step is to shut up, stop talking about it and just start writing. Of course it’s not going to be Pulitzer worthy. It doesn’t have to be. It’s not supposed to be. All it has to be is, well, me. Mine. My voice. My story. My words.
There are no ads on my blog. I don’t have enough readers to justify putting ads on here. They wouldn’t make me any money, and they would just clutter up my side bar. I don’t do reviews mainly because I’ve never been asked. I’ve never asked anyone if I could. I’ve never put it out there that it is anything I’m even interesting in doing. I don’t even know the first step to take to do that. But I don’t want a review blog. I don’t want to sell things. I make no bones about my ability to sell.
I can’t.
Not even a dollar for 50 cents.
Not even a bottle of water in the Sahara.
It’s important to know your limitations. I know I can’t sell. I know that I can be a photographer if I put my mind to it and put in more practice. And so with a lot of determination, I am going to be a writer.
500 words a day.
Every day.
Today, is day one.
By MsBatman, on August 17th, 2010 Pst…
Hey bud.
Yes, you. Com’ere
Can you keep a secret?
I want to be a writer.
For as long as I can remember, I have had a love affair with paper and pens. Back to school was always a favorite time of year for me because it meant new notebooks, new pens. Even now I’m not allowed in Office Depot unsupervised. Ask Brian or the kids, they will tell you that on any given day I will have no fewer than a dozen ink pens in my purse.
I have, since I was a teen, kept notebook journals. I would write in my notebooks every night. Mostly I would write about my day, who I thought was cute (and thanks to FB I will not be naming names here) and who I thought was a bitch. I would occasionally write short stories about crushes I had, or dreams of my future.
I know that it’s possible to make money writing on a blog. But that’s not why I want to write. I want to write because it’s something I’ve always done and I know I could do it better. Oh don’t get me wrong, I would totally write for money if ever presented with the opportunity. I would write for other things too like shoes, or chocolate, or books, or trips, or comments or attention or well, whatever because I’m cheap. And easy. Wait… what? Ahem
I want to be a writer. Sometimes I write really good blog posts but most of them have been eaten by WP goblins that ate my archives, so you’ll have to just trust me on this. At least until I get everything recreated. Sometimes I write brilliant Tweets and FB status updates. You’ll have to follow me because I don’t have time to dig back through my Twitter or Facebook history to find shining examples.
I want to be a write. And every time I type that I hear “I wanna be a millionaire, so friggin bad” in my head. Small steps. I’m not going to make a million from my blog overnight. Clearly.
By MsBatman, on August 15th, 2010  Because I am an uber dork, I subscribed to my own blog feed in my Google reader. I did that basically because I wanted to see what the feed looked like to readers. Now, I am glad I did. With the exception of a few months when, for whatever reason, the feed was truncated, I have a complete record of my blog saved.
Having said that I have spent the day copying and pasting from my reader and re-posting everything to my blog again. Even back dating the posts to the original date, therefore recreating a fairly accurate history of my blog.
So, for those of you new to the neighborhood, there actually are posts to read from my past. Not a lot.. and some of them may not make a whole lot of sense out of context, but there is a bit of back story to read if you so choose.
The girls start school tomorrow. I think it’s a cardinal sin to start school in the middle of August. Oh don’t get me wrong, I am glad they are going back to school, because I’m tired of trying to find things for them to do for entertainment while I’m at work every day, but still. August? It’s so early. Clearly there are SAHM’s on the board of education.
I did change the layout of my blog yet again. I truly love this theme, just because it’s so easy to change around when I get bored. But that’s the problem, it is so easy to change around when I get bored. Clearly a problem. I’ll try to keep the redecorating to a minimum.
My blog is now on Facebook. I hope you’ll go ‘like’ me, because, well, I’m insecure and need to know that you like me, you really like me. That and I’m a huge attention whore.
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. For all you parents with school bound kids in the AM… pop that cork, it’s time to celebrate! We survived the summer. And so did they.
By MsBatman, on August 13th, 2010 Brian has been working a lot of hours at his new store. He’s the new store manager, he’s a manager short, and it’s been a 100-bazillion degrees outside with 150% humidity. It’s not exactly a vacation for him.
Last night I new he had been really busy and had had a pretty rough day. So, on his way home from work I called him…
B: Hey, what’s up?
Me: Nothing much, just wanted to call and say I love you.
B: What’s that? I couldn’t hear you.
Me: Uh, Just wanted to say I love you….
B: I’m sorry Sweetie, you’re cutting out. What did you say?
By now, the girls have heard my conversation and are standing there listening, and laughing…
Me: Well, hell, this started out cute and sweet, now it’s just creepy and awkward… I called to say I love you.
Tate: AAAWWWWWWW how sweet?!?!
Newt: Yeah, this isn’t awkward at all.
B: What did you say? I still can’t hear you.
Me: Never mind. I’ll just text you.
B: Oh, well, ok, I’m just trying to get home. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.
Sigh
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