Back in business

I got my laptop back today! Hooray!



It almost seems brand new too. New battery, new keyboard, soldered power plug (the old one wouldn't stay in place) and best of all, what amounted to approximately a half loaf of bread crumbs removed from the interior.



All's well, and now I can post entries on here whenever I want to.



This isn't necessarily a good thing. I might start talking about lunch again.



I'm debating whether or not to bring the laptop to Italy with me. Probably won't. If I need to dump pictures, I'll just find an internet point. Yes, that's what they call them over there. I'm so European already, see?



Apparently my in laws want to bring the girls back the day I get home. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't driving straight home from O'Hare (two hours at least) after a 14+ hour plane ride home.



I assume I'll miss them and everything, but I kind of wanted a few hours to sit on my couch alone and cry that my trip is over. Jim will gone that weekend, so I won't have him here to buffer the full force of my darling heathens after a week spent split between both sets of grandparents.



It's OK. I'll live. What am I even complaining about? I get to do something every stay at home parent dreams about doing. Leaving home ALONE for a week.



I'll shut up about that now, and share some funny shit that's happened 'round here lately.

Almost every time my kids go up to see my parents, they go to the mall and buy something from the Disney store...because my kids need more stuffed animals and/or princess shit. Right.

Apparently the one they go to is going out of business. This upsets Mina very much.

"Maybe we should go visit Grandma more so the store won't close."

That one's got an eye for business, eh?

Audrey has recently joined her sister in her obsessive safety scissor fetish.

Audrey cut a hole in her dress yesterday because she, "forgotted that it wasn't paper". Uh huh. She also cut a hole in underwear today.

Maybe she was hot?

Mina keeps telling anyone within earshot that I won a trip to France. I've stopped correcting her.

A few nights ago, at bedtime, I laid down next to Audrey to tuck her in etc. and she snuggled up to me all sweetly and asked, "So how was your day, Mama?"

Yeah, I'm going to miss them next week for certain.

Stuff and Things

Is anyone still checking in on me?



I'm lame and have slacked once again. Part of it is that my laptop is still dead (but I'm very lucky to have a friend who knows his shit about computers, and is graciously working on it for me--Thanks Rick!).

I had to miss Katie Schwartz's reading at the Pilcrow Lit. Festival because Mina had an end of the year picnic with her class, and I would have never heard the end of it if I had been the only parent who wasn't there. Sorry Katie. I had every intention of going until that came up.



School's out now, so it's been a nonstop circus of excitement 'round this parts. It's nice to not have to get up at any certain time and be able to enjoy the warm weather and the kick ass thunderstorms we've been having.



We planted all kinds of flowers and some vegetables too.



I finished my volunteer training and have the pager this weekend. I haven't gotten any calls yet, and that's a good thing.



A little while back I was having fun making fun little cards, and finally made so many that I put a few up on etsy to see what would happen. I sold one so far, and that pretty much made my year. Even if I don't sell anymore, at least I can say someone out there liked my stuff so much they were willing to pay actual money for it.



Here's a link if you want to see: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5923697

I leave for Italy two weeks from today, and I am nowhere near ready. I'm not even sure what clothes to bring. I've had a couple people tell me to bring something to cover my shoulders if I want to tour any cathedrals. My cousin said not to bring any shorts (I don't own any anyway), but that capris and sundresses were OK.

I have a 5 hour layover at JFK, and my brother is going to come out from his house in the Bronx to have dinner with me. It'll be nice to see him as I only get to visit with him about once or twice a year.

I fly into Milan where I'll spend the day wandering by myself, then I'm going to take a train over to Venice to meet up with my cousin. From there I think we'll make our way down to see this and that until we make it to Rome by the last day, where I'll fly out.

I'm excited. I don't think it will really hit me until I am on the plane.

Oh, and I'm going back to school in the fall. I signed up for one class at the local Community College (Intro. to Criminal Justice). I met with one of their academic advisors who went over my old ISU transcripts and plugged in the 90 credits to see what I had left for an Associates.

It looks like I only have a handful of classes to finish my two year degree. Then it's back to ISU for a Psychology major and Criminal Justice minor.

Most of my gen. ed. stuff has already been covered, but times have changed since I was in college last and I'm sure I'll need a few computer classes to catch up with the rest of the world.

I'm really excited about this new career path. I've done some research and found that there are professional vicitims' advocacy jobs out there. I'm just going to get those pieces of paper and go from there.

During training to be a rape crisis volunteer, we got to speak with two Assistant State's Attorneys and they were amazing (and really cool to boot. I would so go out drinking with those women). No, I do not want to go to law school, but helping to put sex offenders, child molesters and wife beaters behind bars very much appeals to me.

So....

Yeah. I've had a lot going on.

Forgive me?

It's Official

Not having my own computer sucks a whole lotta' booty.

I'm going to have a friend of mine take a look at it, but he just got back from a long vacation so I don't want to thrust it at him 5 seconds after he gets home (I save that sentiment for my husband, thankyouverymuch).

I will say that I have been getting a lot more done around the house during the day without the distraction of the internet. Maybe this laptop death was a good thing.

Yesterday I started training to be a rape crisis volunteer. It was an all day training session, and I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach by the time 4:30 rolled around. I'm not complaining. I kind of expected to feel emotionally exhausted by this venture.

I'm glad I finally got signed up to do this. It's something I thought about back when I was in college, but somehow never found the time to get it done. It's kind of sad that I didn't think I could fit it into my schedule then, but somehow have found the time now that I have a real adult life thing going on.

In a way, I am glad that I didn't volunteer back then. I think I was way too self-centered and lost to be of any help to anyone. Now that I have a few (OK, more than a few) years on me, I am more equipped to handle what I am about to do.

We live in a world where some men still feel it alright to use their inherent social stature over women for carnal gain. Where "no" can mean "maybe" or, sadly, "yes".

We live in a world where children, the elderly and the disabled are preyed upon as "easy targets" of sexual assault and rape.

We live in a world where young women are told that their worth is calculated in direct correlation to how men rate her desirability.

What does this say about us?

I know I can't save the world. Unfortunately, along with those "years of experience" I've racked up, I seem to have lost the genuine idealism I had as a young adult. However, I can do my part.

And it feels really good.

The Shakes

My husband's laptop died so he took mine to work with him on Friday and I just got it back last night.

Is it just me?

Lasr night I checked my gmail account and all was well and good until I tried to reply to an email. Suddenly, I was "timed out" and had to "sign in again" even though it still said I was signed in.

Now I can't even access my gmail inbox at all. When I type the address in, all I get is some ask.com search results page. When I click on the gmail link, I get an error page.

Forgive my computer illiteracy. Seriously, I embarass myself sometimes. But what the holyballsfuck is going on here?

It's starting to piss me off a little.