Thursday July 31^st

So, I haven't typed anything in a while because other than bitching and moaning, there really wasn't much to say. And still now, there isn't much to say but I need to vent, to get this major frustration out of my system.

I don't even know where to begin, there is so much bugging me right now. Luna and Pagan are driving me crazy. Pagan hasn't been the same since he's come back from his vacation. He barks at everything and is driving me nuts. He's only 9 years old but I swear he's going senile - or seeing things.  Luna is afraid of her own shadow, every time someone moves, she scrambles up from where ever she's laying to jump in front of you, trip you down the stairs and sit at the back door. Of course, when you open the back door, she just sits there looking at you like a moron and then rolls over on her back so you have to throw her out the back door. Just tonight Luna decided a pillow was an evil monster out to get her. This house is so empty it echoes like crazy. I found an old pillow with an elephant print on it and placed it on one of the chairs. Luna noticed it and spent the next 20 minutes growling deep in her throat and barking at the damn pillow. I finally had enough, grabbed the pillow and beat her over the head with it, making noises like an elephant. To the casual observer, you'd think I was crazy. Yep, definitely need a padded room right about now. Currently she's hiding under my bed because I brought the pillow upstairs and left it on the floor.

The sale of the house has been postponed again. We're on 2 months now since we agreed to this sale and they keep putting it off. We've been in this house since April and have had to pay both mortgages. We've lost all our savings and any hidden stash money we had and now are dealing with the worry of having a bad credit mark after I've worked for the past 8 years to clear it all up. Can't pay the damn bill if you don't have the money right? So, we've added an additional mortgage and additional electric to our monthly bills. It's NOT good. I've got a way with moving bills around but now, I'm out of tricks. We're screwed until this house sells and if it doesn't sell soon, it will be a nice foreclosure on our record. SUCKS! But, my realtor promises that it will sell within the next 30 days. Of course, she promised that 45 days ago too. Chris is working his ass off, never home except to say hello and then good bye and back to work. He's going to burn himself out before this sale goes through.

School and Girl Scouts will be starting in the next few weeks and the calendar is steadily filling up. I've already had a few training classes this summer for Girl Scouts and another one planned for this weekend. Plus, our summer cook out for Girl Scouts is planned for this weekend (come rain or shine). We've got a new program to introduce to the girls and I've got to work on setting up 3 other troops at our location. I was dumb enough to agree to become a coach (aka PC - program consultant) and that means I get to train new leaders for our cluster. Nothing like adding more stress to my already full plate huh?

I am still working on getting my day care up and running. I've received all the paperwork, filled out said paperwork and am hoping sometime soon, we can come up with the money to get our finger prints done and send back the paperwork for background checks and police reports for DCF. Once that is done, I'll have my counselor out to inspect the house and interview me. After that is all done, I can start advertising and get to work. Oh and of course I've got to get all the vaccinations updated for the dogs and figure out what the heck I'm going to do with them during business hours. Then I've got to purchase playpens, nap mats, toys etc.

The guilt eats me daily that Chris is working so hard to keep us in this beautiful new house and I'm doing nothing, not bringing in the bread.  I should get my butt out there and find a part-time job (at least) until I get my business up and running. What did I do this summer? I took a month vacation to Pennsylvania and then brought Liz down here for a month to hang out and play. Chris spent his summer working his ass off in Miami.  I seriously need to get my license and soon so maybe he can take a real vacation.

And on a funny note... Kids nowadays are crazy or I should say, mine is an absolute nut that sometimes has no common sense. We're having an issue with the wiring at the new house. For some crazy reason we've been having little power surges throughout the house that we are working on getting fixed. One of these surges caused the microwave to stop working. It wouldn't heat but it would turn on. So, we're trying to fix lunch and since money is tight, there's not a lot of variety. Becca complains she's hungry, I tell her to fix something and then she bitches cause there isn't anything. I tell her there is a cabinet full of Beefaroni, SpaghettiO's and Ravioli's and she then so innocently informs me, she can't eat those because she can't heat them up. The microwave is broke and she refuses to eat them cold. I look at her for about 10 seconds trying to figure out if she's serious or not and then double over laughing because by God she's serious. I asked her if she knew what a sauce pan was and what a stove was. She just looked at me like I was crazy and stormed up the stairs. I pull out the beefaroni, dump it in a pan and heat it up on the stove. Five minutes later, I call her down and she's dumbfounded that she has hot beefaroni. Seriously, dumbfounded. I haven't laughed so hard since the mushroom incident.  Of course, she then bitched that instead of it taking 30 seconds, it took a whole five minutes. Gotta love that kid!

Tuesday July 15^th

It's been a crazy hectic month here in the Morgan household. My time in Pennsylvania was awesome and we were all sad but glad to leave the beautiful mountains to head home to the heat and humidity. The drive home was uneventful except for the bitching and moaning from the back seat and of course Julia puking out the window while we're driving 80 miles and hour right next to a state trooper. Oh what a site that was!

Dad was only in town a day to recover from the drive before heading back home to PA. Liz began her vacation here away from her friends but with her email, instant messaging, cell phone and texting readily available. I swear I think that phone is glued to her hand as it's never out of her sight and constantly buzzing.

Liz has been begging for the past few months to get her ear pierced again. She wants the cartilage (upper ear) done and dad decided it was my decision. After weeks of going back and forth on telling dad I didn't think it was necessary but it wouldn't hurt anything, he finally agreed and we headed out to get it done. She got one ear done because she thought that would be cool. The lady informed her to keep the other earring in it's container and if she changes her mind and wants the 2^nd ear done, just come on in.... 4 days later, Liz is buzzing in my ear like a pesky fly that she now wants the other ear done. GOD it's annoying!

Girls weekend has come and gone and I'm so glad it's done. We began this past Friday at 5pm and the last girl left at 1pm on Sunday. Why do I torture myself? It was crazy. We had 6 girls in the house ranging from 11 to 17 and it was like having a whole army of elephants in the house. They were so loud and crazy! Actually, it was a great time but totally exhausting. Friday night Liz allowed her mom to come and join the festivities so the adults were Me, Zephyr and Karen (with Chris being the responsible one hiding upstairs in case of emergencies). The girls were Becca, Liz, Kristin, Catlyn, Julia and our newest addition, Julia's friend Becka. Friday night was our cut loose night where the adults drank themselves into a stupor and the girls were allowed to do anything they wanted (within reason). We danced, sang, screamed, hollered and had a wonderful time. Redi-whip christened my beautiful wood flooring and Pagan made himself sick with licking it all up. There was a lot of banging around but luckily no structural damage.

Saturday we woke up (slowly) and kicked Karen out for the remainder of the festivities. The girls went over to the pool for an early afternoon swim, watched a movie then headed out to the beach for our annual beach pictures. I got a handful of awesome shots; except the girls thought that giving the peace sign or sticking their tongues out was appropriate in EVERY picture. That drove me nuts! We came home, fixed ourselves some homemade pizzas and then hung out, listed to music, danced, played hide and seek in the dark and then played with the henna. Sunday we woke up, packed up our belongings, took the mandatory SERIOUS annual picture and then everyone was booted out of the house! WHEW, peace and quiet at last. Zephyr and I are talking about having it next year as a one day event instead of two. It was exhausting. But, it was fun and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I love my girls and hope they enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to next years event. Pictures to follow after I clean them up!

The stress of having two houses is really getting bad. We've had the promise of a closing for weeks and then at the last minute with no warning, we ended up with an extension and now have to wait until the end of the month. I'm terrified they will cancel out of this contract like they have the past two and if they do we're going to be in serious trouble. It's bad enough that we're going to come out of this with nothing in our pockets, the least they could do is make it a speedy closing. Keep your fingers crossed folks... we need all the help we can get right now.

The new school year is still a month away but Girl Scouts is already crowding my schedule. I've had to deal with my GS bitchy mother (you remember her I hope) already and I seriously pray she won't be in our troop this year. I've actually removed all her daughters paperwork from my binder because she rudely informed me she WON'T be back. Which is fine with me because I'd likely end up in jail and fired from the troop after I punch her lights out! One of my mom's (her friend) actually called me to apologize for her behavior. She said she "didn't know why but statistically African American women seem to have serious chips on their shoulders and can't control their tempers."  I don't know if it's truth or not, but hey, it made me feel better. She said she thinks her friend is either bi-polar or a serious manic depressant. I don't care what she is, if she comes near me again, I'll deck her! What a way to start the year! The next few weeks are crowded with a meeting this weekend for Leaders to check out the new format of our program, a Service unit Meeting to sit down and discuss the schedule for the year, a Girl Scout Cook-out with our troop to sneak in one meeting this summer for the girls, and of course my favorite, Coach training for the idiot who decided to take on the additional responsibility of helping out 4 other troops in our area with paperwork, training, their meetings and anything else they need. Yep, I'm an idiot and took on more responsibility this year and now handle a total of 5 troops (if not more). I am training to become a coach to help out new leaders. DUMB DUMB DUMB! And all this BEFORE school officially starts! UGH!

And on a good note, I'll leave you with Becca's favorite quote of the weekend

"Sarcasm is the bodies defense against stupidity"

I don't know where she heard it from.... but I love it!