Letters from Santa

      My son wrote his first Christmas list to Santa this year.
I made sure, even though I got laid off recently, that he had just about everything he asked for. He had straight A's on his report card. For a six year old good marks and a happy mom is important, but I not only got to see straight A's, but his teacher raved about him so when I went in for the parent teacher conferences that I knew there was no way it could be a bad Christmas for him.

    Then there was that inspired moment. people kept posting all these sights willing to take your money to send your child a  Letter from Santa. I thought to myself 'Why give them money? I can do this just as easily as they can. I can even make an envelope with a post mark on it. I wouldn't even have to waste the stamp, so that's exactly what I did! I had some marble looking stationary that I printed it on. You can get cheap stationary from the dollar store these day...

Letter From Santa

Post marked Envelope from North Pole

Halloween Creations 2014

Halloween Props Creation. From this year and last year.
I made some of my best large decorations. Pumpkin Monster is my favorite right now.

Alien mask  stuffed with a balloon, metal fence post, material, scary gloves and eyes drawn on paper.
Garbage bag ghost is  a tomato cage a balloon and face drawn on with a marker.

Home made Headstones made of wood, bag of bones and dollar store skeleton heads and some old garden fencing.

Skeleton - Bought skeleton frame on sale, dollar store knight armor and rats, twig painted like a cigarette and a beer bottle.
Ghoul - Dollar store mask, my kids clothes stuffed with newspaper and dollar store hands and feet.
Bought the small skeleton for 10$

Spider Victim was a Walmart buy. One after seeing the quality I regret. Next year I buy spider cargo netting ) Bungee cord that looks like a spider web and put my own skeleton in it and dress him in some cloth with spider webs on him.  Yeah it would be that easy.

Pumpkin Monster - On clearance Pumpkin mask stuffed with newspaper, scary gloves I had in the shed, cloth I already had at home, fence post pieces of wood tied to it with rope a few hair bands and twist ties to make him stay.That Stomach he's sporting is a balloon tied under there, Looks harder than it was. The worst part was pounding in the pig fence post in the ground. Oh yeah, some paper in the eyes and I drew in eyes

When I bought  the skelton he looked so funny driving him home in my car.

$5 dollars at one of the local dollar stores.

He was a little more expensive. $15 and his eyes light up.

3 foot reaper from walmart for $15. He's vocal and animated by sound.

30$ on sale at Smiths.. My other big splurge this year.

Dollar store knocker

Striped Witch socks for $1 at Walgreens

Witches broom made from a branch that broke off our apple tree and weeds from up the road and some rope.

$2 witches hat from Walgreens, $2 spookie cloth Walmart, Old clothes and my witchy socks from walgreens stuffed with newspaper, $10 on sale witch mask from Smiths, I bought a $4 couldren from Smiths and filled it with my body parts from the dollar store from last year. Logs from my yard

The call ever parent fears.

So I got the most frightening phone call you could ever get about your child.
His school called telling me he was absent today......
I text my Fiance and checked, who said he dropped him off 5-10 minutes late, but he took him to school.
I called the school and had them physically go check his class for him.
He was not there.
So completely panicked I called my boss freaking out and got his voice mail. I left a message on his phone. One of the leads at my work walked in while I was leaving the message.... I was already bawling at this point. I explained to her and told her I needed to check my house. That was as calm as I could get about the situation. I'd check the house then if he wasn't home I'd call the police.
I called my Fiance on my drive back home to find that he was there already and that My son took it upon himself to walk home this morning.
Meanwhile, while driving home I continued with my nervous breakdown. I cried in my driveway for at least ten minutes while I debated on beating my kid or hugging him to death. I go inside and my boy's back on the computer playing.
That wasn't going to fly. I grounded him from the computer and X-box.
I explained to my little boy that his school calls me when he doesn't go. That I though a bad person had gotten him and when bad people take kids, they don't usually come back.
He went to his room and I went out back to continue my nervous break down before calling my boss to let him know we found him. Told him I'd be in tomorrow because I was going to have a nervous breakdown for the rest of the day.
My boss told me to give him a hug and then slap him in the back of the head for him.
That option sounded good to me too.
 

I'll tell you right now. Thinking your child may have been taken by some sick-o drains the energy and life right out of you. The next day all my muscles hurt. I had a head ache that that has now lasted 2 days.  I'm emotionally drained. 

But I have come to realize I would do anything to save my child. I was adding up all the money I could get a hold of in my head while wondering if I knew enough thugs to offer as reward to attempt to get my child back and bring me the offender dead or alive. If brought to me alive, I'm not sure, depending on what they did to my child, if I could have let them live.

Thankfully I'll never know the answer to that.... My son was safe and I could breath again.

Well, such as it is. My phone went off the same time of day as when I received that frightening call today. My heart leaped out of my chest again. My son.... but happily no. It was the pharmacy reminding me my prescription was ready.... but the terror remains apparently. I fought the urge all day to call his grandmother to  check on him after she picked him up from school.

My only son.... my only child.....

I'm not sure I could live with out him. I can't understand how other mothers do. The thought of losing him that day was as if I was sentence to die.

2 Year Anniversary - September 13, 2014

So the impending  Anniversary of my fathers death was yesterday. But this year I was feeling it a bit.So to deal with my angst I did this............

So what if the neighbors think I'm weird... Lately, since he's died, I dive into this holiday. Just not usually in September... I've been adding a little every week since I'm in overtime at work. There will be more to come... I'm having my Fiance' build me a coffin this year to add to the collection. I found a witch mask so I've decided to build me a which and buy a plastic cauldron or make one who knows...

My son helping me with the placement felt he needing to be in the picture, but trying to hide. I made the Headstones last year
My fiance' cut them out of wood we had around the house. The joy of being with a construction workers. My son and I painted them. Obviously I did the lettering, but painting the base color lets him feel like a huge contributor. Which he is.

My son got to place all the bones.
You should always let your children help. They get a kick out of it.

My $5 dollar store find!

My son, an angel, and my skeleton dog from Smiths.

So a little update to my yard.... 10-3-2014

Yes, I drove home with the Skeleton showing in my seat just like this.

My son and the skeleton

A few humorous props don't hurt your Halloween any..

The witch I made this year.

My son keeps taking and playing with the skeletons helmet....

Work Conversation

It was almost time to go when a supervisor came in and we were started chatting. The lady from the Temporary service we use was there too.

 He asked if I've ever heard of Stinko De Mayo. I looked at him funny and asked him what it was. It's basically something a Radio Station did. Where you would bob for prizes in mayonnaise. He said it was so gross. People would throw up in it and and other people would still bob for prizes after they had...

The Temporary Lady said "My stomach just twinged".
I looked at her totally horrified at the though of bobbing for prizes after someone puked in it and blurted out "Your stomach just twinged? Mine just jumped and hid behind my uterus!"

Epiration Date of NEW Clothing

Have we all noticed the EXTREME decline in quality clothing?

So far no brand has been exempt. JMS (Just My Size), Wrangler, Faded Glory, Riders & Levi Strauss all have a basic life span of 6 months or less these days.

It's truly disgusting how badly we are being cheated by these companies. Not only have the prices gone up, but the quality has gone so far down, that none of them has quality you can trust. 
I recently bought a pair of JMS jean that literally wore out in 3 months. The pants were slightly to big to boot! I am distrustful of all these old trusted companies. Their lack of quality has sent even one I know looking for clearance and hugely discounted sales for clothing.

I am currently trying out the Costco brand 'Kirkland' and the brands running through their store in hopes that Costco standards have been enforced on these companies.

I bought a pair of Kirkland brand shoes (they were only $16) that has recently just past the 6 month expiration date that any other brand of shoes I have bought fall apart by.

I think some sort  of quality regulation should be enforced.
I am thoroughly disillusioned with all of them!

Someone give a name we can trust!

Change Your Path

In reality, there is no perfect life. No perfect relationship.
You have to assess the pro's and con's of your life, your relationships and your jobs.
Most things that are really worth it in life, are a long hard struggle. If it was easy, we couldn't appreciate it.
~
In your life there are things that you can and can not change.

You can't change the past. Deal with the wounds and move on as best you can.
Know that nothing heals instantly. Everything takes a little time.
Don't let something wound you so badly that you can't move past it. Living in the past can and will only harm your quality of life. I'm not saying forget your past, learn and grow from it.

You can change the path in your life. But no one said that that is easy.
If your life depresses you so drastically that it affect your health, your quality of life and the company of your good friends, perhaps it's time to change it. It's scary and its a hard thing to do, but change it. Even the smallest change for the better, can be in your benefit.
If your friends, partner and family love you, they will accept you've changed and love you all the more for it. Unfortunately, if they don't, it's part of what you may need to change in order to better yourself..... sometimes even to save yourself.
Harming others will not make you feel better. In fact it will make you unhappy with yourself. Or in some cases unhappier. ....

And I do swear, if you've changed things in your life for the better, life will occasionally remind you of what you chose to leave behind. Give you a glimpse of the improvement when you least expect it.
I've more than once in my life have had to say "I didn't realize how stressful my life was before until I had to deal with it again".. on several aspects of my past in fact.

Right now after my view again of what I could still be living with, I'm extremely grateful for the Man and the Son that I have.
The love and support of family and friends (you know who you are) who have been an asset and have stayed in my life through all my changes good and bad.

But right now, I'm extremely glad that I changed my path.....

Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy

So yesterday at work they were trying to figure out how to put an allergen sticker on cream containers. Since we all know those gallon containers tend to get condensation on them the stickers wouldn't stick on them. I was out at my last break and could hear them paging me to receiving. Them I heard my boss call me to receiving. I finished my break and went into the office. Then I was told my boss wanted me in receiving. So I went strolling on up only to find they were trying to get an allergen label to stick to the jug. Then they were apparently looking for a color code marker to write on them. I laughed and said "watch this."..
I walked over wrapped the label around the handle and slapped on around the other side so that they suck to each other.
 

 Problem solved in under a minute. Apparently, they'd been working on it at least a half a hour. So I sent my boss this photo and wrote on it the following message "easy peazy lemon squeeze. Problem solved ". He never commented back... lol

"Its not my job!"

My boss comes in and says "Why didn't you tell me that you still have that? I could have had So and So do it"
This in regards to the lot trace data entry I've been doing for years...
"I've been doing it every day." I said Probably a little pissy. I've heard will have someone help or do this for several years now...
Then I looked at my boss and asked "Can I tell everyone it's not my job."
He looks at me and starts to say "yess.... Wait in regards to what?"
"I'm not the computer tech.... I'm.." I started to continue...but he cut me off. "Yes you can. But you are not ALLOWED to tell me it's not your job." He stated firmly then was looking at the Temp resource lady and asked me but a moment later "Are we out of large hairnets?"
I looked at him and said " I don't know. " and as quick as a wink while starting to laugh I said "IT"S NOT MY JOB!"
He started to say something then stopped and stated "You're right. It's not your job."
At this point I totally lost it laughing. For several minutes in fact. So hard that he kept looking back through the office windows as he walked away. ....... and several times on the way home I was laughing...... LOL cause "Its not my job!"