LaToyia Figueroa

 

This is LaToyia Figueroa. She is the 25 year old mother of a 7 year old and is 5 months pregnant. She has been missing now for 10 days and there has been no activity on her credit cards or cell phone during that time.

I'm amazed, totally amazed.

Two days ago Pax posted about a pregnant Philidelphia woman who has been missing for 10 days. Part of the post was about how CNN seem to be obsessed about that girl in Aruba whilst there are people missing in the US who could use some of that coverage even if they aren't blond and white. One of the things requested to do was to write an email to Nancy Grace and ask her why she wasn't covering LaToyia's disappearance. Well, yesterday CNN actually had a story about her and mentioned the blogging campaign to get her disappearance noticed.

Colour me shocked, I was watching Nancy Grace tonight and dammit if she didn't cover LaToyia Figueroa's disappearance and the reward that has been posted for her. We actually made a difference. Wow.

Moving sucks

Have I mentioned that moving sucks?
Well not the moving really, just the packing and dealing with everyone else preparing for the move. There are boxes all over the house and still so many to pack, all the stuff that I'm donating to charity (that won't be picked up until the day before I actually move!), garbage bags full of broken stuff ( I'm a klutz, what can I say?) and just plain garbage.

All of that isn't even the worse thing. I let Bell know that I would be moving - the date etc. - so I could get my new phone number up and running (and unlisted). I got an email a couple of days ago - seems they have had some kind of strike and have a backlog of service calls soooooo even though I'm moving on August 15 and the phone HERE will be cut off on that date, my new phone won't be connected until SEPTEMBER 6TH!!! That means no phone and no internet for over two weeks. I am so going to go into withdrawal. I hate the phone company oh yes I do.

I need to go to Philly

I've been watching a show about sandwiches (of all things lol) and at this point, I NEED to go to South Philidelphia. I need to try the sammiches at Pat's, Geno's and Chickee's. I've never even seen ones that look like these and omg my mouth is watering. How could you turn down a sammich piled with beef, onions and cheese. I think I need a snack.

Another horror?

I was watching the news this morning and unbelievably bombs have gone off in London again today. Two weeks ago today four bombs went off in London - three in the subway and one on a bus - today, according to BBC World, four bombs have gone off, three in the subway and one on a bus. WTF. The only bright spot in all this is (so far) only one person has been injured and none killed. Thank your favorite diety. Why do people do this?

Goofing off? Me?

Erm, well, not really goofing off, just not posting LOL

After Jamie's birthday I was down for a day or two, it should have been a happy occasion but it wasn't. Anyhow, I've decided not to dwell on it, I just have to hope that he gets himself straightened out eventually.

I went to Oshawa on Wednesday with Katie to drop off the last months rent at the new place and stopping in to see my grandmother while we were there. Her nutso cat has bitten her AGAIN. Last time, Mittens bit her on the hand and she ended up with a cast on her hand because the cat bit down to the bone and it got infected. The part that bugs me is my mother and I got Mittens for her for her birthday about 12 years ago. I named the little monster - she has an extra toe on each foot and it looks like she is wearing mittens. What can I say - I'm not very original LOL Anyways, THIS time my gran stepped back and accidentally stepped on Mittens' tail and the creature bit her on the leg. Bit her rather efficiently it seems as this one has gotten infected too. Grandma's leg is swollen from mid-calf down to her ankle and the actual bite is festering. I swear I am NOT taking that animal (which hates me by the way - hisses her head off whenever I come near lol) if by some chance it outlives my gran.

So Saturday morning I took Katie to get her copy of Harry Potter. I did put a condition on my getting up at 5:30 am on a Saturday and that was she couldn't read it until she had cleaned her room. How difficult could that be? Right? HA
Her dad came to get her on Tuesday night and her room is STILL a sty. I warned her what would happen - now I'M going to clean it. By the way, I let her take the book to her dad's house even though her room wasn't really clean. I'm such a softy.

On Saturday evening I got a call from someone had seen the ad for my car and I made arrangements to meet him on Sunday where the car was parked at Rowan's house. He was almost an hour late BUT he bought the car - cash on the spot with no haggling - so I really can't complain. BT and I had a fun time chatting with Rowan and Mr. M after the buyer had left. I miss hanging out with them.

Tuesday Rowan, Mr. M and their youngest were in the neighbourhood and stopped in to see me. We sat outside and gossiped and giggled for a few hours and a good time was had by all.

Just minutes ago, Mr. M and his dad, The Golfmaster came and collected my patio set for transport to its new home in Rowan and Mr. M's back yard. I'm going to an apartment so it really needed to be adopted lol. Now I just need to get rid of....oops RE-HOME (hehehe) a few other things before I move, pack a few hundred more boxes and do a miriad of other things I'd forgotten you need to do when you move and then I'll be off to my new home.

In other news, I actually won something!! I answered the questions on Pax's blog and for a prize, he'll be sending me a CD. I NEVER win so I'm quite pleased. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday Jamie

 

18 years ago today, James was born at 5:31 am and he was such a good baby. He slept through the night the second night home. Well I suppose through the night is a relative term, he slept from about midnight to 6 am. And now he's grown up into someone I don't know anymore and I'm afraid of sometimes. No matter what happens, I love you Jamie, I always have. Happy Birthday.

The cutest Jamie pictures I have. 

Jamie when he was a happy baby. 

Ahhhhh Monday

Well, I'm in a much better mood than I was last week, I'm not hating the world anymore and I'm back to annoying everyone within hearing distance. Imagine if you will me singing over and over in the most irritating way "I've got an a-partment, I've got an a-partment". Yeah. I'm pretty sure if I dont' stop soon the murder plots will really get off the ground LOL.

Sooooooooo yes indeedy do I've got an apartment in Oshawa, away from Hamilton, armpit of Ontario. Seriously, this place SMELLS, oh if you live here you don't smell it but newcomers surely do. It's the steel mills, think of Hamilton as the Pittsburgh of Canada. LOL Not that there aren't wonderful people living here, and I'll miss them but even after all these years living here it's still not home and I wanna go home.

Anyways back to adventures in apartment hunting. I had no idea there were sooooooo many sleazy, dirty, grimy, overpriced apartments out there. I was wrong lol. The first place I looked at had cameras in all the corriders, elevators, lobbies etc., security guards (some of them with dogs) 24 hrs a day AND the apartment was small and grimy. The building was so old, we thought the elevator wasn't gonna make it up those 7 floors and would come crashing down any second. Needless to say, I didn't apply for THAT apartment, we skedaddled out there pretty damn quick. The next two days were a whirlwind tour of apartments, some good some bad some awful. Then I found this place, roomy apartment, clean building (the elevator didn't stink woohoo),all the mail boxes were intact and a really nice super. So I applied for that one with my fingers crossed and went to see the building across the street. NOTHING could have been farther down the spectrum of apartment building than this place. IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!! No elevators (only four floors) and I actually SAW a roach run across the apartment floor. You could hear the people in the apartments above, below and on both sides. It was not where I wanted to move to. So I waited to hear from the good aparment super and I GOT IT!!!!

I'm happy as a clam and I get to move in the middle of August, heaven. BT is not quite as happy. He's happy to be getting out of Hamilton but this new apartment is north facing (kinda) and that means the satellite dish won't work. I don't think I can go back to cable after being spoiled by satellite. Other than that the apartment is wonderful (utilities included woohoo) and as a bonus Jamie won't know where we are. Katie and I don't have to be afraid anymore when we leave the house and I don't have to wonder when he's going to do more damage to everything around me.

Speaking of Jamie. Today is my little boy's birthday. He's 18 today. I miss the little boy he used to be.

A change of pace

GEORGIE PORGY Pudding and Pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play,
He kissed them too 'cause he was gay

What the hell is the matter with people?

I was going to blog about my trip to Oshawa and the triumph of finding a new apartment that wasn't a)overpriced and b)disgustingly filthy, then I turned on the TV.
What the hell is the matter with people? Why has killing innocent civilians become a sport to terrorists? I'm just so sad about all this, I had to hop right on the net and check all the people that I read in England just to make sure they were ok. So far everyone is alright (thank whatever god you believe in). This is just so awful, stupid and disgusting. I'll blog about my adventures in apartment hunting later when I don't hate the world quite so much. (I don't hate you all btw just assholes who kill innocent people in the name of religion)

RIP Luther. 

Requiem for a star

The voice of a million weddings and seductions died Friday in New Jersey.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross passed away and we'll never have any new songs from that velvet voice. Rest in peace Luther, we'll never forget you.

Recycling time - My dad, Batman

I'm recycling one of my older posts because, well, I'm just too friggin tired to write up a new one LOL. Besides, Snicks just posted about bats a few days ago so I thought I would post one of my own.

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 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. We never did find out how that bat got in.

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