Do you remember?

I was thinking today about how much things have changed in my lifetime - stuff I remember that makes other people around my age go - "oh yeah I remember THAY omg".

Does anyone else remember the first "remote controls" for the tv? The box with the cable that ran to the tv? It was the height of technology when my parents first got it, I can remember how excited we were not to have to get up to change the tv channel lol.

Do you remember the little yellow swirly bit of plastic that you would put in the hole in your 45's? I found some of my old 45's and the kids were asking what the yellow thing was. The kids were also fascinated with 45 and LP records - they were trying to figure out how something that big fit into the cd player lol.

Can you remember your first microwave oven? My mom got one fairly soon after they first came out - it was HUGE lol. I can remember her fascination with it - for about 2 weeks we were eating all kinds of things she "cooked" in the microwave. Thankfully that didn't last long lol.

My hair is pretty much dead straight and it was my grandmothers mission in life to get some curl into my hair. She tried everything but the WORST was these steel rollers that stabbed my scalp and were impossible to sleep on or worse even, she would hook up this weird little counter top hair dryer with something like a shower cap attached with something like a vacuum cleaner hose.

Does anyone else remember how cassette tapes were going to bankrupt the recording industry? LOL Ohhhhh or better yet, an 8 track player - I think everyone had one at some point lol. I remember our first VCR - it was a Beta and enourmous. I can remember when that was considered cutting edge technology lol.

Maybe more later - probably enough strolling down memory lane tonight.

Catch up

Well, it's been a boring week so far. No excitment at all here other than I was down with the flu at the beginning of the week. All better now. I spent today getting the house cleaned up and did laundry and went grocery shopping. I'm just so gosh darned proud of myself lol.

Clarification

Jamie's job in the wild and wooly world of the roofer is basically pack mule. He gathers the shingles off the ground for the dumpster and totes the new bundles of shingles to the staging area. We live in the land of ice and snow up here lol - not many roofs with tar mostly peaks with shingles nailed on.

A meme

	Friend Bear You are everyone's ideal friend because you are sincere and genuinely kind. Sometimes you worry about your friends' problems so much, you forget about your own responsibilities, which can get you into trouble. For you, it's the little things that really count. You also happen to be the main driver of the Cloud Car. No speeding!
Take the Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!

Jamie and a story

Jamie was here on Friday night - seems he likes living at the youth shelter and only came to pick up some clothes. He also tells me that he has got himself a job with a roofing company and that's good as far as it goes but it's going to be far far too cold to do any roofing in about two weeks so I don't know what he'll be doing after that.

Anyways, I like Cathy at Domestic Psycology's idea about telling stories on the weekend so here are a couple about Jamie when he was little and cute.

When Jamie was about 3 he would follow me all over the house copying everything I did so he had toys to mimic that - his own little kitchen (I know it's a girl toy but he loved it so much), his own play vacuum etc. One night we had one of those vacuum demonstration guys in the house and he put baking soda on the carpet and then vacuumed it up to prove how great his vacuum was. Next morning we get up and can hear Jamie happily vacuuming away with his toy vacuum. We come downstairs and there is white stuff all over the living room carpet and Jamie is trying to vacuum it up. He had taken the container of Old Dutch (kinda like Ajax or Comet) sprinkled it all over and was trying to vacuum it up with his toy vacuum like the man did last night. Such a helpful boy. lol.

One morning Potsie made pancakes for breakfast and Jamie was allowed to help by stiring the pancake mix in the bowl. Next morning, Jamie is up with birds and decides to make mommy and daddy breakfast. He decided to make us pancakes so he got a bowl, spoon and pancake mix and sat on the floor to mix it up. He was getting very frustrated by the time we came downstairs because the mix wouldn't stay in the bowl - seems Jamie was stiring the mix in a collander.

Lost - the series

Cathy was looking for theories about Lost (the tv series) = I got a few lol.

Locke - the guy in the wheelchair- I think his problem must something like MS or possibly a tumour. He said his "condition" had been around for four years. If he was in there for a spinal injury, he certainly wouldn't have been up and walking after the crash. He certainly has had some kind of miliary fantasy which prompted him to think he's the great white hunter.

The selfish little bitch who (barely) speaks french probably won't die - too bad. Don't think the drug addict rock star will either. The korean couple are pretty strange and I'm wondering what will happen there.

As for the guys in the suits that the doctor saw, they were either halucinations (mangled THAT word bad lol) or they are the remnants of that french group. Hell maybe this is a lead up to a new King Kong movie lol. I think they'll find a research facility a la Jurasic Park where there was a little genetic manipulation going on explaining the large boars, polar bears etc.

I just hope nothing happens to the fat guy - I like him even if they are using him for comic relief.

Lame lame lame

I am soooo lame for not posting sooner, maybe lazy? Anyhoo, Monday I went for Thanksgiving dinner at C&A's house -yummmmmmm. It was just me and Katie this year although Jamie did give me a phone call just about 10 minutes before I was leaving. Seems he's staying at the youth shelter downtown but I don't see that lasting very long. He wanted to come and get some clothes but I said he would have to come Tuesday as we were leaving for dinner, just before he hung up he told me he loved me. He hasn't done that in such a long time, it made me want to just drive over there and pick him up but I have to let him make his own mistakes.

Tuesday rolled around - I went for therapy in the afternoon (fun wow *yawn*) and then just waited for Jamie to show up. I dont' know why I got my hopes up - he never came.

I got a phone call today from the school that he didn't go to school today, I can't understand why they are calling me as THEY are the ones who sent him to the youth shelter in the first place. Potsie also called me today from Florida - bloody lucky for him that I had already talked the bank into returning my money. Told him that we really need to talk about this when he gets back because if it happens again I'm going to a lawyer. This is the third or fourth time this has happened and I've had enough. Time to put my foot down and shock the hell outta him.

OMG I need a valium or a large rubber mallet

I'm sooo pissed off right now I could just scream.Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. I have a pretty good relationship with Potsie my ex and I work hard at keeping things friendly and calm - better for the kids to have parents who can smile and laugh together. We only have one leetle problem - money. Not all money just a line of credit that we had on our house - when we went our seperate ways he got the house and agreed that the LOC was his as well. Seems he forgot to inform the BANK of this and today when I went grocery shopping, there were was a hold on my account. They took MY money to make HIS payment and of course he's on his way to Florida. When I called his house, his g/f starts giving this heart wrenching story about how broke they are yadda yadda yadda. He makes at least four times more than I do a year plus her earnings and the bank is taking my grocery money??? I'm absolutely furious with him for putting me in this position. I can't WAIT until he calls me from Florida. I wish I could say I hope it wrecks his week but that would be vindictive wouldn't it? When I calm down, I'm sure I'll be a better person but right now I think I'll go and stew for a while and stick pins in my Potsie doll.

Life goes on

Time to catch up - yet again. Got a call Monday from the Guidance counsellor at Jamie's school, he wanted to talk to me about my kicking Jamie out. I can't believe he's telling people again that I kicked him out. He doesn't even mention that he just couldn't be arsed to come home and he's playing out the "my mom is soooo awful" scenario with all his friends I'm sure.

Talked to Tonya's mom on Tuesday and we've agreed that it would be better to let the two of them (jamie and tonya) get a place together and see how it goes. Tonya is 19 and already has Disability so that wouldn't be a problem. Hell I'll even help them move stuff in, take them to get groceries and do laundry etc. It would have to be better than wondering and worrying where he's at. Tonya's mother agrees with me but we'll have to see what Tonya's dad has to say about it. Of course Jamie is back hanging out with the troublemakers around here. Katie went over to the Harveys just down the street and as she was coming back, they were egging Jamie on telling him to take the food from Katie because "your family doesn't do anything else for you". Yeah he was soooooo mistreated here. Katie ran all the way home, she was terrified that the whole gang of them were going to mug her. So now I can't even send her out to the store alone without worrying that she's going to get mugged or something.

Potsie is off to Florida with his mom ( hehehehe better him than me) for the week so I've got Katie for the weekends too. Not that that's a problem, she's a sweetheart. She's inclined to be a good girl anyways but with Jamie acting like a gigantic asshole - she just shines. Time for me to really start looking for a new apartment and get her out of this neighbourhood before she's too scared to leave the house because of those idiots.

My Dad - Batman

Cathy over at Domestic Psychology is telling stories this weekend to I decided to share one.

One night when I was about 10 my dad woke up my mom at around 2 am and says Mom look at the size of that moth! My mother wakes up, and looks at what my dad thought was a moth fluttering on the curtain and says "That's no moth - that' s a bat". At this point, my dad bolts from the bedroom - closing the door behind him. Leaving my mom in the room with the bat. (and she has NEVER let him forget that either lol). So there is my mom in bed with the covers pulled over her head, suffocating, just waiting to feel little clawed feet walking up her body. She can hear running feet and hear slamming doors and my dad talking to himself downstairs. After about 15 minutes , the bedroom door slams open and the light goes on. Mom stayed under the blankets until my dad said he couldn't find the damn thing, and Mom comes out of the covers and got one look at my dad and collapsed laughing.

There was my dad in his bat fighting outfit. He was standing there in his underwear with workboots, a golf jacket (zipped all the way up), gardening gloves, a balaclava (full face of course - can't be too careful) and a broom. Mom wishes to this day that she had a camera that night.
Next day, Dad was climbing all over the house trying to find out where that bat had got in and trying to find out where it went. No dice - can't find the bat and Dad decides the bat came down the chimney for the furnace (this was the good old days of oil burning furnaces) so he put very very fine gauge wire over the chimney. Off to bed we go, with the furnace on. In the morning, we all looked like we were part of a minstrel show from the 1920's. The wire was so fine that all the soot from the chimney backed up into the house, and it was quite a mess. So days (and days and days) are spent washing walls, carpets, clothes etc etc etc still no bat. Then Dracula starts making guest appearances again so my mother says either the bat goes or she is sleeping the car with me and my brother - Dad can fend for himself.

Dad borrows a fishing net from the guy next door and is prepared for the next bat emergency. My grandpa took us all out to dinner and when we came home Mom locks herself in the downstairs bathroom and puts my brother and I in the den while my grandparents and Dad are hunting Dracula. Nada they can't find a thing. Then my bad luck bitch slapped me - I needed the bathroom - BAD and my mom will not come out of the downstairs bathroom. Being 10, when I gotta go, I gotta go so I go merrily tripping up the stairs and flick on the bathroom light and there I was face to fang with Dracula. I don't think I've ever moved so fast in my entire life - certainly not screaming at the top of my lungs. I made it down the stairs and back into the den in about 1.5 seconds - slamming the door behind me. Seems Drac couldn't corner quite as sharply as I could and the next few minutes I can only testify to by sound, but there was alot of running and shouting - the holes in the fish net were so big that the bat just crawled back out when they trapped him with it. Eventually my granddad took off his jacket and threw it over Drac. Drac was then taken outside and set free. Episode over? You would think so but Drac was fond of our house. My mom then put her foot down and they called an exterminator.

Mr. Exterminator shows up and identifies the bat hideout in less than 10 minutes. Now I dont' know if your mother had them but god knows my mother did and my grandma still has, but we had a fabric shower curtain that stays outside of the tub just for decoration and it seems that up inside there was the chosen bat cave. Mr. Exterminator then sprays the bathroom full of DDT and closes the door telling us that this WILL kill Dracula. An hour passes with Mr. Exterminator havin a beer with Dad and talkin man talk. Time comes to collect Drac and when he opened the door, Dracula flies out - high as a kite, flyin wobbly but definately not dead. Now we have a hopped up bat flying low around the house with the dog trotting behind it snapping at it. Mr. Exterminator borrows a pair of garden gloves and a hammer, catches Drac and then brings him outside to a waiting audience of ALL the neighbourhood kids. He showed us all the bats wingspan with the bats knawing away at those gloves and then with perfect disregard to our kiddy psyches bashed Draculas brains out with the hammer. Poor little fruit bat. Exterminator guy told my parents that Drac was probably rabid and he could have it tested but my parents figured they just wanted the bat gone and they had already paid this guy to contaminate their bathroom (DDT wasn't exactly legal I think it had just been banned shortly before this), drink beer with my dad and tramatize a bunch of kids so they weren't paying him to test a dead bat for rabies. Took my mom two days of vacuuming while wearing a face mask to get that 1/2 inch of DDT out of the bathroom.

So ends the tale of my dad - Batman. Hope you enjoyed.

Jamie strikes again

So Jamie didn't bother to come home on Wednesday night. I had a migrane on Wednesday afternoon so when the kids came home from school BT told them to go to their rooms so I could rest. After a little nap that left me feeling so much better, I went upstairs and Jamie had taken off again. I haven't seen him since. Seems he took Tonya with him this time as her mother has been calling me every day first looking for Tonya, then telling me that Tonya has informed her that she is moving out with Jamie. I've got a call into the agency that is supposed to help me with Jamie and his problems. Hopefully they can help to get him somewhere else to live since my "rules" interfere with his life so much - maybe they can get him into a group home or some kind of assisted housing. Turns out that Tonya's mom has the same worker at this place so we'll see what they can for the two of them. Jamie has me so upset I just don't know what to do any more - it's not like I'm terribly strict and I don't even make them work much around the house. You'd think he was living in slavery the way he acts. I made him clean his room- HIS mess- and it was like pulling teeth. He had this large nasty spot on his carpet - I'm not sure what it was but I have my suspections - so I made HIM scrub it out of the carpet with a special carpet cleaner I got for pet messes. I had even made a doctors appt for him - I think he has a planters wart that needs to be removed - and I've had to cancel that now. BT says I should just let the little bastard freeze and not let him back this time. *sigh* I'm just so tired.