black friday...

we started our traditional black friday shopping at 7 a.m. today with a trip to sams - cause they had free breakfast. but it really left a lot to be desired. i really wished i had an extra $500 laying around because they still had about 25 wii's...

the we went to walmart where i bought jeff 2 pairs of $8 jeans and nina 1 pair of $8 jeans, a woman's world magazine that i already had, and a $7 rubbermaid container set.

then it was off to target where i got me a spiffy $30 dirt devil broom (beware remaining fleas - yes i think there are still a few hanging about).

then to k-mart where i got a $13 cordless telephone for the chatterbox who seems to get more calls than i do lately. note - she's not getting her own line - just her own extension in the house. oh. i also got a pack of gum. k-mart was by far the craziest store we experienced today.

then we went to garden ridge where i got nothing. i was proud of myself.

then it was michael's where i got nina a $15 art set (she really wants a "real" art set this year - i have no clue why) and the crayola glow station - $16.50 after a 50% off coupon.

then it was off to the mall where i spent $20 at bath and body works to get my favorite hand lotion - look ma new hands - and a nice sugar scrub hand wash. this is where i started to lose my patience - cause there were 3 ladies in front of me - who were together - but occupying 2 checkers. they had these coupons that were something like "buy $30 get $30 free" and they were splitting up their orders - like - four times each - to get maximum coupon usage. PLUS they were trying to get the "spend $40 get this bag of stuff for $15 more" on each order as well! the one lady kept stepping away from the register, grabbing another bottle of soap or lotion and coming back and saying "what does that put me at now?" hello? only had two small items and just needed to fork over a $20 bill. they made me want to scream cause i was stuck in the same spot for 10 minutes just WAITING for them to get done...

and after that we went home where i fixed leftover pizza, cucumber slices, and leftover mac and cheese from yesterday for dinner. i'll make it up to them tomorrow.

i'm pretty proud of myself - i paid cash for everything. this shopping trip was funded by my pay from jury duty (all $72) and cashing in all of our loose change. and with the exception of the gum, hand lotion, sugar scrub, rubermaid containers, and magazine - i only bought things that were on the list of things i set out to buy today.

i am FAR from being done though. nina has grown 2 full inches since school started so she needs clothes. there are several cd's and movies that she wants. but nina's hard to shop for this year. she's going to be 11 which is a rough age. i'm afraid to buy her bratz or petshops or hannah stuff because i'm afraid in six months she won't want to play with them anymore. and dammit, chastity belts aren't as easy to come by as i had hoped....

my thoughts on this lori drew case...

i've been watching this case kinda closely because i think it's going to set a great precedence for the future regarding cyber laws and terms of usage. i really kinda feel like this federal case is a stretch and the loosest possible interpretation of the crime she is charged with. for example, should she be found guilty, it sets a precedence where, for example, an individual using someone else's username and password to spy on their myspace/email/facebook/ebay etc activity for no reason other than to know what they are doing and saying and what not - could also receive prison time for the act of fraud - not to mention stalking - and hacking and whatever other interpretations they can come up with....

think about that. prison time for reading your ex's email.

it's a stretch - but i think it's true.

and for the record, i just don't really buy the defense of "i didn't read the terms of agreement so how did i know i was violating them" - well you clicked that you read them. it's like saying "i didn't open and read my gas bill so i didn't know i had to pay it".

the whole story is tragic. and unfortunately appropriate cyber laws were not in place for her to be held responsible for the cyber harassment she allegedly inflicted and she can't be charged in retrospect after the laws are created. this case is the only way for justice for the alleged acts and i kinda feel it's really reaching. while i think that the alleged acts are horrible and wish the laws were in place to begin with - i kinda think that this case isn't going to bring any more closure to the situation for anyone. mark my words - no matter the outcome, there's a civil suit down the road. i've been saying that since the story broke a year ago.

the jury begins deliberating tomorrow. the judge is stalling on his decision to dismiss the case. i am putting this in writing now so i can say i was right later. i fully think that judge is going to let that jury decide on a verdict and after it comes down, if they have found her guilty - then he's going to dismiss it.

sigh. i've said this before and still feel this way. we need to teach our kids that they don't have to like someone - but that everyone deserves respect at the very least. and until the people of the world learn to respect each other - this crap will continue to happen.

90210

kelly taylor you will never learn will you? brenda is poison! poison i say!

hmm...

maybe it's the wine i just finished - but i was looking at the cats and wondering if we might have better luck with the flea issue if we could just shave them down like you do with dogs.....................

back from the vet

so i took the little flea farms to the vet and they got happy little deworming shots. and bailey got a butt bath from the vet cause her butt looked icky with worm goo. tmi tmi - i know.

she also said they could be released from solitary confinement - thank goodness cause sandy was okay with it for the first 24 hours but at the start of the next 12 she turned into a pill. kept me up last night crying.

and we brought some pills home for rolen to take - just in case....

i think the shot had some effects on them. sandy - who's the less than clumsy kitty - kinda fell over earlier. she was just standing there and woopsie! she was on her side...

i also picked up some advantage and now we're giving that a try. everyone please cross your fingers....

mavericks owner accused of insider training...

so i just saw this article on fox news. i always knew that mavericks couldn't be trusted...

that's all i'm sayin...

GA!

okay - as if the fact that we've been fighting the flea battle for a month now. now both cats have worms (tapeworm we suspect).

we swear frontline is a crock - it's not working hardly at all. they've both been frontlined twice and bathed in flea shampoo twice and we keep cleaning and vacuming and using flea spray on the furniture and dammit they just keep showing up! only rolen's spot checks for fleas seem to come out clean.

bailey even had a shot that was supposed to kill everything on her at that moment - but if anything jumped back on her when she got home, it wouldn't kill that. that was on election day. and now she and sandy both have worms.

i've locked each of them up in a room with a litter box - because of course these things happen on saturday evening or sunday when the vet is closed. have to call the vet first thing monday, AGAIN!

why me?

wish i could have gotten away with that!

for a concert where cameras that did video weren't supposed to be allowed, there sure was a lot of videos of the nkotb concert monday night on youtube....

see?

kitchen nightmares

so we're flipping between kitchen nightmares and csi. i often wonder if these restaraunts close after chef ramsey has been there. the pr from this show can't be that good.

i mean - this mexican place is really grossing me out - and makes me hate to think what's going on behind the kitchen door at my favorite margarita hang out....

no cliff! don't go!!!

i was really unhappy when marc cheated on cliff. but now he's TOLD cliff - which may have been the right thing to do - but now cliff is all sad and leaving and on the verge of tears! marc and cliff are the cutest gay tv couple EVER!

the writers better find a way to fix this...

nkotb concert photos...

photo album 1

photo album 2

so i didn't run off with the band....

but i did get natasha bedingfield's autograph for nina....







and this is always nice....

so if i don't show up tomorrow...

i've either run off with NKOTB to kansas city for the next show or i got arrested trying to sneak backstage.


this is a really, really, REALLY happy day.

ps. jeffy - i still love you best!

the email i received at 3 a.m. today...

judging by the text of this email below - i'm apparently on a first name basis with the 44th president of the united states of america...

i'm so cool...

"Karen --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack"

as of 10:07 pm ...

you know - i kinda feel like i've effected change today...

judging by this photo...

they work with some really sophisticated equipment in arizona - just check out that sophisticated ballot reader they have for mccain...

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=15104773&ps=938&cat=&cps=0&show=big&lang=en

gonna have to run down to target and get me one of them...

i voted today!

i know what you're thinking.

yeah. so. what's your point - so did, like, a hundred million other people.

but you see, this was my first time ever voting. ever. ever ever. like, as in never having done it before 8:30 this morning.

i know what you're thinking - and just read me out before you start judging the fact that i've been old enough to vote for 13 years without ever exercising my right to do so.

when i turned 18, i didn't feel like i was smart enough to make well educated decisions on the issues at play when the time came to vote. think about it - the internet wasn't around back then. i didn't read the paper. there just wasn't a lot for an 18 year old girl like myself to go on with this stuff.

i thought it would be irresponsible to vote just because i could. that's like taking the driver's test because you are now 16 - but never studying or spending time practicing or even paying attention as a passenger in the car.

"because i could" or "because i was old enough to do so" didn't seem like a good enough reason and i thought it would be more responsible to just wait until i was more mature and had more of a clue.

and perhaps, just a tiny bit, i felt kinda like my one vote didn't really matter.

so what took me so long? i don't know. i don't have a good argument for that. for awhile, i guess, the issues just weren't very important to me. and all that "hanging chad" nonsense was discouraging.

i kinda started paying attention around 2004. i was starting to get the itch - but i didn't act on it. then again in 2006, i seriously considered registering - but i debated the issue in my head for far too long and missed the deadline for the issue i was concerned about.

it was also rough for me because i felt like i was surrounded by people who's views were the opposite of mine. i kinda had it shoved down my throat quite a bit, in settings where it really wasn't appropriate. settings where politics really shouldn't be discussed and people really shouldn't be judging others based on political views. but there were times that i almost started to think that my views were wrong based on the environment i was in. i loved when i was able to get together with friends from college and have the opportunity to hear the other side of the coin for awhile...

so anyway, fast forward to 2007 when i finally made the decision to vote. i've spent all of 2008 trying to pay attention. i had some delays getting my registration in - so i missed all of the other voting opportunities - but made sure to make the deadline for today. i had my ideas of who i liked, but i did actually do research between the two to make sure i was comfortable with my gut decision. hell - i even visited the missouri GOP webpage and the missouri democrats webpage - so if that's not doing extensive research - i don't know what is.

and that brings me to 8:30 this morning when in only 10 minutes or less (because there was no line at my polling place) - i voted for the first time. and then i went to starbucks and got free coffee.

i'm not going to go too much into who i voted for and why. my cartoon for today only gives enough of a clue.

if you're reading this after i took the cartoon down - and you worked with me at WU and think you know who i voted for - you're probably wrong.

and if you went to college with me and think you know who i voted for - you're probably right.

and if you are of a blood relation to me - i'm most likely the political family outcast. i admit it. end of discussion. let's move on now.

wishing everyone a happy election day - no matter if you choose blue or red...

finally...

they have identified bones found at steve fossett's crash site as being that of steve fossett. finally - some closure for mrs. fossett and the rest of the family.

and a way to put a cork in all those people who cried conspiracy and claimed he parachuted out of the plane and planted some personal effects to make it look like he died and was living the high life someplace else under a new name - like cliff.

again - the number of people who believe in conspiracy theories really surprise me...