The MAD White Woman

Saying Goodbye....

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:02:00 PST

Just popping in to say goodbye...the MAD White Woman is closing and has "moved" operations to Life in a House of Testosterone which is where you can find all the fun and madness now! I've combined my two blogs - TBK Designs and The MAD White Woman over there so you can stay up-to-date on all the fun and shinanigans there! Come by and see us and follow the madness there. This will be the last post here....

Catch you all on the flip side!

ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS & FOLLOWERS

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:21:00 PST

As of December 5, 2011 - this blog will no longer exist. I have combined all of my interests into one central blog, Life In a House of Testosterone. I would appreciate it if you would follow me there!

I thank each and every one of you for your love, support, and comments over the years. It's been an enlightening journey - and one which I will be continuing at the new blog.

Just click here to visit the new blog - Life In a House of Testosterone. (If you have an issue with the Google Friend Connect widget, please try viewing it in Internet Explorer...I've been having the same issue and I am trying to work with Google's Help forum to get the issue resolved. Thanks!)

Scrapbook MAX! Giveaway Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:38:00 PST

I would like to congratulate our two winners of the Scrapbook MAX! giveaways that were held on the TBK Designs blog and The MAD White Woman blog!!! They are as follows:

The TBK Designs blog winner is:

and The MAD White Woman winner is:

Be on the lookout for an e-mail from me with [Giveaway Winner!] in the subject detailing how to claim your prizes! Thanks to everyone for entering the contest!!! Stay tuned for more great giveaways coming up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:30:00 PST

To all of my fellow American Bloggers…have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving tomorrow. Allow bygones to be bygones, and move forward with the holiday spirit in your heart. Be thankful for all that you have, for the good friends and family by your side, and for having a Higher Power that you love and believe in. For if you have those simple things in your life, you have everything that you need.

And on another note – a dear friend of mine whipped this up this morning and I just had to share it with you all.

THANKSGIVING EVE

It’s the day before Thanksgiving,

children are running and tearing up the house,

I could only wish they were quiet as a mouse;

As I stand in the kitchen reviewing my list,

my little one Zoey, says Mama, Papa’s pissed!

I search for her Papa and what did I find?

He is up to his knees in her toys spread about,

as he screams and he hollers,

I'm gonna throw these things out!!

Seeing that he has all his ducks in a row,

out to the store I get ready to go…

but caught in the driveway who does appear,

but my youngest, our son John who bends my ear.

The day's almost over, Thanksgiving soon to come,

I'm broke, my mind scattered, food waiting for prep

and all I can say is, Why can't they help?

I sit and I wonder and what do I hear?

A vacuum is running, someone is sick I fear,

and so with a sigh I think on the day

and know to be thankful, its now time to say…

Come one and Come All, tomorrow's the day,

give thanks for your friends and your families today.

Give thanks to our troops who are so far away,

defending our freedoms this Thanksgiving Day.

Eat your turkey, your stuffing, your veggies my dears,

for this domestic goddess is outta here!!

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

-- Poem Copyright Linda Childers of Artistic Dreams Imaging
www.artisticdreams.us

Wishing you all the love and happiness the holiday season brings all year long!

Decorate this Holiday Season with Become.com!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:17:00 PST

Become.com is a new site for me and I couldn't be happier to have found it! I am notorious for doing last minute Christmas shopping - and I do mean last minute - we're talking Christmas Eve, three hours before the stores close - I'm rushing around town like a mad woman trying to find everything that the kids had on their list and who has the best prices (and still has the item in stock). Let's just say that it has been an absolute NIGHTMARE and most times the kids end up getting a knock-off of what they actually wanted because the name-brand item was sold out weeks ago because I waited till the last minute to go shopping.

Well this year is going to be different! I've been looking for a good online comparison site that has a large selection of products. Become.com's site allows you to shop for online discounts and the lowest prices available from name-brand retailers - for everything from diamond rings to smart phones. They even have online buying guides for LCD televisions to product reviews and editorial tips for the hottest deals and products for this shopping season.

I was looking for two particular items - some decorative throw pillow covers and comforter/sheet sets for myself and a recliners for tall men for my dad and my Man Thing. Since the house fire this past October where he lost everything, my poor dad is at a total loss without his comfy recliner and his big screen television. It's his only form of entertainment really - and I've been on the lookout to find him a comfortable recliner that will fit his tall frame that he can sink down into and get comfortable while watching his favorite show - HSN.

Become.com has a beautiful Catnapper Teddybear 4517 Chaise Rocking Recliner that is exactly what I was looking for and a great price at $449.00. The Man Thing likes recliners for tall people that are leather, so for him I found a gorgeous Sierra Big & Tall Recliner that comes in a wallsaver that would be perfect for our apartment at only $599.00 to $839.00, depending on the options you choose from and colors that are available.

Next I went on the hunt for some decorate pillow covers 20x20 size. I absolutely love having pretty throw pillows in my living room and bedrooms. They just add extra flair to your furniture and bedding ensemble, and I am in desperate need of some new ones. I found just the perfect pillow from MaggiesDirect.com - a Cotton Down Throw Pillow in 245 thread count and 100% cotton twill with hypoallegenic 600 fill power goose down in ivory. Absolutely stunning and at $36.50 each - a bargain for goose down fill!

So take a moment this weekend to gear up and get your shopping list in order before the Black Friday sales - and let Become.com help you find the best bargains in town before you head out to brave the cold and the crowds!

This is a CMP.LY/3 Paid Post. I have a material connection because I received a cash payment, gift or item of nominal value from a company affiliated with a brand, topic and/or product that is mentioned herein.

Don’t Forget!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:00:00 PST

If you are entering our Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 Giveaway – you must leave a comment as your mandatory entry regarding which Expansion Pack AND which Kit/Template you would purchase from Scrapbook MAX! 2.0.

ALL OTHER ENTRIES DO NOT COUNT unless you have posted your comment!

Scrapbook MAX Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:27:00 PST

Do you have boxes of photographs or disks full of digital photos that you would love to scrap, print and frame to hang in your home or create a family scrapbook – but haven’t got a clue as to where to begin? Well join the club! There are plenty of us out there who would just love to scrap our family memories and photos but going out and buying all the supplies and equipment needed to do so at your local craft store can be a daunting endeavor.

Well fear no more! Scrapbooking your family memories and photos is SUPER EASY with this wonderful program from IndigoRose Software Design Corporation called Scrapbook MAX! 2.0. Just look at some the of the scrapbook pages I created in a matter of minutes with Scrapbook MAX! 2.0.

Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 is a digital scrapbooking software program for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008 and Windows7. Normally $79.90, you can purchase Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 for just $39.95 now – or try it completely free (and fully functional!) for 30 days. Of course, you could just enter our giveaway and WIN a free copy for yourself!

Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 is an award-winning digital scrapbooking program, that gives you everything you see below (from the Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 web site)

Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 digital scrapbooking software for Windows. It’s packed with all the features you need to make incredible layouts!

FREE BONUS! Exclusive Life is Beautiful mega expansion pack! Once installed, you’ll have a total of:
- 100 unique, customizable Template Pages
- 475+ Embellishments
- 1,550+ Paper Scraps
- 100+ Backgrounds
- 360+ Shapes
- 40+ Fonts
- Show me everything I get!

Important! This isn’t anything like the plain, boring old “clipart” that some products include. Instead of giving you a million pieces of useless “clipart”, we give you top quality, unique and stylish digital scrapbooking art! It was designed and created exclusively for Scrapbook MAX! by some of the top scrapbooking artists on the planet and you won’t find it anywhere else!

PACKED WITH SCRAPBOOKING GOODIES AND EXTRAS!

But that’s not all! You’ll also get…

FREE! membership in our fun, online digital scrapbooking community! It’s the largest and most popular digital scrapbooking software forum on the Internet!

FREE! Scrapbook MAX! online digital scrapbooking layout gallery where you can share your pages online!

FREE! access to 2,695+ scrapbooking kits and 1,036+ FREE scrapbooking templates in our online sharing forums!

FREE! subscription to “The Groove”, our fabulous digital scrapbooking magazine. Every month you’ll get a new issue in your inbox and it’s packed with great ideas, layout inspiration, freebies, discounts, coupons and lots more!

Amazing discounts on digital scrapbooking kits and other items!

FREE! customer support!

The possibilities with this program truly are endless. You get so many wonderful items with the initial program – and a selection of beautiful kits and templates for you to choose from so vast you can literally spend HOURS looking through all the beautiful kits available from your favorite scrapkit designers!

Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 is not one of those programs that you buy and use and then becomes obsolete within a few months. There are oodles of fabulous Expansion Packs to choose from with new packs being added all the time. If you need some ideas on where to begin or what you can do with the Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 program – check out the tutorials here (including video tutorials!) or take a look at the Digital Scrapbooking Magazine for some layout ideas or wander through the Member Galleries – with over 43,900 photos posted of layouts created with Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 – you are bound to find some creative inspiration here!

All of the layouts shown above were created with items included with your program and are absolutely beautiful!

Would you like to win a free copy of Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 for yourself? TBK Designs is hosting a giveaway of one (1) program with the free Life is Beautiful expansion pack for one lucky winner!

Contest is open to all individuals age 18 or older. Please read the Giveaway Rules and Information located on my other blog for additional information.

I received a review copy of the Scrapbook MAX! 2.0 software and Life is Beautiful Expansion Pack that I can keep for consideration in preparing to write this review and giveaway content. I am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. You can read more of my Disclosure and Review and Giveaway policies here.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:59:00 PST

My youngest little man and I were playing around on the webcam yesterday and came up with a few shots to share over the next few weeks with you all. This is my favorite.

Naturally Jonathan came in last night when I was reviewing the photos and was a bit miffed about not getting some *time in the spotlight* with Mom so we’ll be doing some webcam tomfoolery in the very near future as well!

Speaking of my eldest, those of you in my generation will remember the famed Beavis and Butt-head show that aired on MTV from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997. Well they have returned to MTV as of October 27, 2011 and already have a cult following with the younger generation. Beavis has always been my favorite, but little did I know that my son has developed an interest in Beavis and Butt-head as well – until this past week.

We had a rare moment where we were all in the living room at the same time and were discussing whether Jonathan had in fact caught Tre crying about something, which Tre vehemently denied. As I was listening to the two of them go back and forth, Jonathan broke into (what I now refer to as) his Beavis routine – and I just about DIED laughing!

He has both of their voices down pat and I swear that when he grows up he’s going to be the voice behind an animated character show – mark my words! In the unlikely event that you have never even heard of Beavis and Butt-head, here’s a video clip to tickle your funny bone.

Warning – content may not be suitable for young children. Listen at your own discretion.

Our Address Has Changed!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:30:00 PST

Please note that our new address for the blog is http://themadwhitewoman.blogspot.com. I could not afford the $10 to continue the domain name for another year so I'll be reverting everything back to the blogspot address. For those of you subscribed via our RSS Feed - no worries! You will still continue to receive all the latest and greatest from TMWW!

Looking For Assistance!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:09:00 PST

I’ve been stuck at 288 followers on Google Friend Connect for like – EVER and I want to change that! I’m looking to gain 500 followers by the beginning of December – but I need some assistance from those of you out there in the blogosphere. Any ideas on current promotions going on, people I should contact, etc. to get some awesome prizes to giveaway to get my followers built up again? I’m going to do my part by blog-hopping and visiting and leaving comments – but it would be nice to offer a great giveaway (or two or three) as an incentive for folks to come visit my blog as well. You can email me directly or leave a comment here with your ideas and suggestions. Thanks one and all!

Richmond Metro Zoo Field Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:05:00 PDT

I have to tell you, I am a sucker for zoo field trips of any kind. I am fascinated with being able to see animals from around the world that I would never have an opportunity to see in real life. So when school started in September and I noticed a field trip scheduled for the entire 3rd grade to the Richmond Metro Zoo in November – I was chomping at the bit to sign up as a chaperone for it and go with my mini-man! I think his teacher, Mrs. Magner, probably started to worry back in October when I began bombarding her with emails about the field trip and had the sign up sheets been released yet LOL!

Wednesday finally came and mini-man and I ran around in a flurry of activity packing our goodies and getting ready for our trip. I don’t know who was more excited – me (for finally being able to go to the zoo) or him (for having mom come along on one of his field trips)! We made it to the school on time and boarded the buses and off we went. It took us about 45 minutes until we finally arrived and exited the buses. (Insert ta-da! music here) There it was – the Richmond Metro Zoo entrance!!!

When we finally got inside the actual zoo – there was a brief 30 minute program offered to explain the different types of animals we would find that day as well as an introduction to three members of the zoo – a baby penguin that was only a few weeks old, Zoe – a baby orangutan who was 2 years old (and just as cute as a button!), and a Burmese albino python that was rescued from a truck stop.

Zoe (pictured above) was my favorite out of all the animals at the zoo. She was just so adorably cute! She kept playing with her feet and when the handler put her hand out to show how her hand was the same as Zoe’s hand – Zoe latched onto it and went to suck on her thumb LOL! Major cute factor! Rosie was Zoe’s mother, she was 42 years old when Zoe was born. Usually, Zoe would have stayed with Rosie and nursed from her mother for 8 to 9 years, but unfortunately Rosie passed away last year from congestive heart failure so the staff has taken over being “mom” to Zoe. Just like any normal toddler, she gets quite fussy when she doesn’t get her bottle on time each day! (She takes two bottles per day along with other fruits and vegetables that the staff feed her)

Once the program was over, we were allowed to explore the zoo on our own for the next two hours – and explore we did!!!

If you think I’m pulling my nose out so you can take a picture – think again!

I absolutely love flamingos – they just look so regal and elegant!

Naturally had to take a picture of these three characters. Did you know that monkeys cannot swim? Nope, sure can’t! But boy were these guys VOCAL! They held an entire monkey-talk conversation while we were there which apparently didn’t end well because the one on the left took off in a huff and went and sat in their perch and turned his back to us LOL!

I have an obsession with all things Australian, so these kangaroos were seriously peeking my curiosity – but no matter what I did – they wouldn’t run for me. Sigh.

What YOU looking at human?

The giraffes were absolutely adorable and so extremely friendly!!! They came right up to the fence so you could pet them (and feed them!!) and even though they are extremely tall, they seem like such gentle creatures! That face is just absolutely priceless!

I have two videos of the giraffes uploaded on YouTube if you’d like to see them. You can find them here --- Video 1 and Video 2.

You want me to pose for a close-up?

The next four photos are from the Aviary. These birds are absolutely gorgeous I tell you – so beautifully bright and the singing was just – phenomenal. I purchased a bird seed stick for Tre and Kenny (one of his friends who I was chaperoning as well) and let them feed the birds. The minute they walked in there and held those sticks out – they were inundated with birds from everywhere!

These little guys are the most adorable creatures in the entire Zoo right after Zoe! I could not believe how fast they swam around the pool!

It took me about 4 photos to finally get a good shot of this momma monkey and her baby. Isn’t he just the cutest? Speaking of monkeys – have a video of two little ones chasing each other around and getting into a tussle with each other uploaded to YouTube.

This guy was enjoying a relaxing soak in the sun and deemed me worthy enough to give me a full on facial shot! Thank you sir Tiger!

The boys and I had a very spirited discussion about how a Tortoise, that can weigh up to only 700 pounds, moves so very much slower than a Rhinoceros that weighs anywhere from 1,500 to 7,000 pounds. We’re still pondering the wonder of it all…

This guy still amazes me. All rough and leathery-looking on the outside, with that large horn ready to just gut you in an instant – yet he walked right up to where we were standing and posed for a photo and had just the sweetest disposition. Maybe he was thinking we were on the lunch menu for the day.

Another animal I have a huge fascination with is the cheetah. I love to watch them run on television shows – so graceful and fast but I had absolutely NO IDEA that they were as BIG as they are! They are roughly the same size as a lioness, yet when you see them on television for some reason they seem so much smaller! This lady here was absolutely gorgeous and even gave me a bit of a show by playing in the dirt under the tree LOL!

Last but not least were the adorable little prairie dogs! There was only one of them brave enough to venture out when we went by initially around 9:30 a.m. but when we came back around at about 12:00 p.m. a few more had ventured out into the sunshine and to see what was going on for the day.

If you would like to learn more about the Richmond Metro Zoo just click on the link to visit their web site. My son and I most definitely enjoyed ourselves and we will definitely be returning in the spring with the rest of the family to see what’s new!

Win a PDX11 Portable Player Dock from Yamaha!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:01:00 PDT

I am always on the lookout for a good giveaway or sweepstakes to share with my readers and this beauty from Yamaha is NO exception! I’ve been keeping my eye open for speakers that my son can use with his computer as well as with his MP3 player and this totally fits the bill!

Yamaha designed the octagon-shaped body to deliver stability, toughness and style in four colors – white, dark blue, green and black – each with a matching colored grill. You can purchase the new PDX11 Portable Player Dock for $99.95 from Yamaha – or you can click the image above and head on over to Facebook and enter to win one of 20 that will be given away on December 21, 2011!

To win – all you need to do is “like” the Yamaha Home Entertainment – Win a PDX11 page at Facebook. You are then automatically entered into the sweepstakes drawing to win one of these fabulous speakers. Want more ways to win? Then click on the “Enter” tab at Facebook and enter your email address and a unique password and you then have the opportunity to get an additional FIVE ENTRIES PER DAY by sharing it on your Facebook wall and/or on Twitter. It’s that simple!

Good luck to everyone!

Procrastination 101

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:02:00 PDT

Thought for the day – why do children procrastinate to the absolute last moment to do a homework assignment that will take them HOURS to complete, that they have known about for a WEEK, until 5 minutes before bedtime – the day before the assignment is due?

Have a good night all – I’ll be up helping with homework…

The Mechanicsville Miler & Halloween 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:32:00 PDT

The Mechanicsville Miler is an annual event held by the mini-brat’s school each October where members of the community, faculty, and students can enter to run the 3 mile run/walk, a 1 mile fun run, and a 100 yard dash for the little ones. This year there were 100 entrants for the 3 mile run/walk. Tre was adamant that he wanted to do the one mile fun run, so we signed him up by the deadline and got his registration packet and he was ready to go.

And then he got sick.

My mini-man came down with one of his horrible fall season colds where he coughs like a ninety-year-old man on his last leg the Tuesday before the race (which was this past Saturday, October 28th) so we broke out the Nyquil and started pumping it in him. By Saturday morning, he was mentally ready to go but physically – not so well. It was pouring down rain, and the temperatures were only 41 degrees. We bundled up and off we went for the race at 10:30 a.m.

We huddled under the overhang outside the playground where the race was to start, trying to stay as dry as possible until the actual race time. I bundled my little guy up inside my coat and held him close to keep him warm, but the coughing started anyway. In short order, it was race time and off he ran to the start line. When they yelled, “Go!” he took off like a shot and did really good at keeping up with all the other kids…till about the quarter mile mark. He had his back to us where his dad and I were standing, and I saw that he started to walk and wasn’t running any longer. When he came around the bend and I could see his face my heart just fell. He had tears streaming down his little face and he was holding his arms across his chest. We both rushed over to him and asked him if he was okay and he tearfully replied, “I just can’t do it mom, it hurts.”

So race day was over. I bustled him under the umbrella with me and we hustled off to the car and headed home. Put him in the shower and got him all nice and warm again, then slipped him into his warm sweats right out the dryer, gave him another dose of Nyquil and made him some hot cocoa. When he was done sipping on that, we cuddled on the couch together and we both promptly fell sound asleep.

Mom was sick too, you see.

I felt it coming on Thursday, but it didn’t hit me full force till Saturday (and I’m sure being out in the rain and the cold temperatures just hurried it along) but I couldn’t get any rest at all Saturday save that little nap I had with Tre. The Man Thing didn’t think I was “really” sick and kept waking me up … until I’d finally had enough Saturday night and cussed him out and told him to leave me the hell alone. He finally got the hint when I woke up Sunday and looked like death warmed over and finally let me spend the day sleeping like I needed to.

ALL HALLOW’S EVE, HALLOWEEN, BLESSED SAMHAIN

So Monday came, All Hallow’s Eve, and I woke up feeling so much better. I was so glad to be feeling better because I seriously did not want to traipse around the neighborhood with the kids all night feeling the way that I was feeling this past weekend.

This was an um – interesting – year for Halloween. Costume requests ran in a variety of directions for a month or more in advance. They just could not seem to make up their mind as to what they wanted to *be* this Halloween until the very last minute – as usual.

The head brat decided he wanted to be Andy Sixx from Black Veil Brides and the mini-brat decided he wanted to be Jason Vorhees from Halloween or Friday the 13th (I can’t keep them all straight anymore) so that’s what we worked with.

So home from school they came and headed to their rooms to costume up. Here are the pictures of each of them.

Yes dear readers, that is PERMANENT MARKER that my son used on his neck and both arms. Sigh. He did have the forethought, however, to purchase some eyeliner to do his face drawings – thank heavens!

I, however, nearly had a coronary when I saw that PERMANENT MARKER all over his neck and from his wrists up to his forearms!!! I told him that even if I had to use Comet and a brillo pad to get it off – that marker was coming off of him tonight – come hell or high water!

He didn’t care.

His brother, on the other hand, was feeling bad again and was less than thrilled about going out and about. Yes he wanted to, but I do believe if he could have hired someone to do his trick or treating for him, he most certainly would have!

So finally my brood was ready to hit the streets (after I was so “mean” as to make them wait till it was actually DARK at 6:30 p.m. before letting them leave) so Jonathan called up his friend, T., and we were ready to go.

Mollyanna, however, couldn’t figure out just what the heck those two “things” were in her house and stood watch over her domain (our bedroom).

So before we headed out, I had to snap a picture of the motley crew I was escorting that night:

And as soon as we turned around to leave…it started pouring down rain. Not to be daunted, as the weatherman had promised it wouldn’t rain “heavy” till after 8 p.m., I grabbed the umbrella and off we went.

Within 45 minutes we were ALL soaked to the skin and the BOYS were the ones asking me to call Dad to come pick us up. They were D-O-N-E.

So the world is safe from my little maniacal ghouls another year…

Changes for the MAD White Woman…

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:05:00 PDT

Those of you who know me (and know me well!) know that I rarely am satisfied with the “status quo” and the way things are for any length of time. I am always looking for new ways to do things, or new things to do, or designing different layouts – but always and forever tinkering with things to make things better than they currently are. Some work out great, others not so great.

Since I’m a mom of two young boys still in school (elementary and middle) I always feel as though my “new year” begins in September. As with most people, a “new year” means “new beginnings” and I am no different. There will probably be a billion resolutions for the “real” new year on December 31st, but for now – these – my blogs – are my new year resolutions.

I’ve neglected TMWW this year – seriously. I half-heartedly tried to get back into the swing of things this summer, but there just never seemed to be enough time to do everything. I seriously MISS my writing though – telling you all about my day and what the brat pack has been up to. I started posting more “personal” aspects on a private subscribers-only blog, but I haven’t had time to keep up with that one either. My blog, here, was to be my main blog, my blog for everything that interested me in the world apart from my creative designs. So I’m going back to that original theme. I will keep some aspects of my personal life just that – personal – but I do want to be able to share the joys and the fun that we have cooked up for this holiday season with all of you!

So, with that said, you might also notice that the blog is a bit *lighter* as well. I’ve deleted a LOT of old posts – everything prior to 2011 to be exact – and have it archived on my hard drive. Due to how I was uploading pictures and the like (from my hard drive instead of from the Internet), whenever I would make changes to the design of the blog (which I change like I change clothes!) it would end up leaving a big empty hole and I hate big empty holes. So I’m going to go back through and repair whatever pictures I can that are missing from this year and, going forward, will be inserting photos and images that I have uploaded to the web so they will remain no matter what I get into my head to do to the blog!

I want to get back to doing my Wordless Wednesday posts, my Weekly Deals, as well as my Pink Saturday posts and whatever other memes I come across that might strike my fancy. For those of you who don’t know – this is PRIME SHOPPING AND GIVEAWAY TIME for bloggers! There are so many great bloggers out there offering absolutely frigging fantastic stuff on their blogs to giveaway and/or win – that I don’t want any of YOU to miss out on them any more than I want to miss out on them – which is where the Weekly Deals comes into play again.

One day each week, I will post a listing of all the current awesome giveaways, deals, discounts, etc. that I have found from MY blog hopping to share with you. You would be absolutely AMAZED at the Black Friday deals I’ve been finding on the Internet already – and why should you miss out on something truly fantastic if I’ve found it or popped across it just because you’re a busy mom and don’t have time to subscribe to the gazillion blogs I subscribe to? YOU SHOULDN’T! So there is a poll up on the home page of the blog that asks “What day would you prefer to receive the weekly deals?” Please take a moment and go cast your vote for any day of the week that is the best time for YOU to be able to sit down and have an hour or two of uninterrupted computer time to check out the awesome deals I’ll be bringing you. The poll is open for one week and will end on November 8, 2011 so please get your vote in as soon as possible. Thanks!

The Design World

I have been really active in the various Yahoo groups that I belong to in the PSP (Paintshop/Photoshop) community these last few months (one of the reasons that I’ve been neglecting this blog as well) but I have cut back on a lot of the groups that I am a member of – I just cannot handle the huge volume of mail and I really don’t want to spend my entire day sitting here in front of the computer going through email after email after email and not LIVING my life. I cannot recall the last time that I took the dog out for a walk just because…or even took her outside to play if you want to be honest. I have things I want (and need!) to do around my house, I have things I need to shop for for the house, birthday parties to plan, gifts to buy, Christmas lists to work on, meals to plan – and the last thing in the world I want to be doing is trying to do all of that while the brat pack and The Man Thing are hovering or interrupting me every five minutes. So it all boils down to (once again) time management and getting my priorities in line.

So I have taken a break from quite a few of my groups and I am focusing on doing something that I love – scrapbook layouts! I’m not as talented as some of the ladies I have seen churn out layouts – but I like to think I show some promise! I’ve been signed to several creative teams to work with various digi-designers and their products so I am very excited about the coming months!

The PSP Blog Hop’s Holiday Hop 2011 was absolutely fantastic! I was so happy to have been able to *iron out the bugs* so to speak because being able to offer the prizes and pick a winner and have it all done in less than 12 hours was absolutely awesome – especially since I was sick that weekend LOL!

FACEBOOK

Sometime in the very near future, I am going to be revamping my Facebook page as well. If we are currently friends on Facebook and you suddenly find yourself unfriended, please do not take it personally. I am no longer playing games religiously as I did once before, and I have over 700 people on my Facebook page as “friends” that I don’t even know half of them. So those that I do not know personally, will be unfriended. You are more than welcome to join me on Google+ which is where I am going to focus my attention on my blogging friends as well as my design group friends. It is much easier to keep up with the two very separate groups there and quite frankly, I hate this new layout that Facebook is using. It sucks, I want my old news feed back, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. Sigh.

Not to mention the constant in-fighting that seems prevalent in groups that certain individuals are members of. It’s as though they just cannot be happy with their lives so they must do whatever they can to make “more” of themselves within our Yahoo groups and Facebook groups by putting others down based solely upon heresay. They take a comment made and they run with it until they gather what they deem to be “enough dirt” and then just blast it all over the Internet without any regard to the person’s whose name they are rubbing in the mud. Just another reason why I’m “cleaning house” on Facebook and in my Facebook groups because quite frankly, I just don’t need that drama and negativity in my life. I design and I create to relax and enjoy myself and share my creations with others…not to gossip about the latest “scandal” that they have brewed up.

And with that I bid you all a good night. There is one more post coming, our Halloween 2011 costume post! Have a blessed evening or day where ever you may be!

Seagate–We’ll Get it Back.

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:24:00 PDT

I received this via an email from the fine folks at Seagate today and had to share. Too many people I know have had hard drive failures lately and lost information – hopefully this will help!

“Losing your digital memories and documents can seem like a disaster, but Seagate Data Recovery Services (SDRS) delivers an array of solutions to help you get your digital life back fast, regardless of the storage type, media type or brand.

- A full range of cost-effective in-lab solutions
- Premium 24x7 onsite data recovery
- Free trial of our do-it-yourself (DIY) File Recovery software. Download now

For a limited time, you can get 10% off SDRS simply by mentioning the promo code 'HOLIDAY' when working with our expert technicians. (The “HOLIDAY” promotion ends December 31, 2011 and does not apply to DIY File Recovery Software.)

Call us at 1-800-475-0143 or contact us online to get a free quote!

Ready for Halloween?

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:33:00 PDT

You all ready for Halloween? It’s right around the corner you know. Check out this house down the street from us. They are TOTALLY ready for Halloween…but you can bet your sweet patootie that they won’t be seeing ME at night with this thing hanging from the house!

Showing Off Two New Goodies!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:04:00 PDT

I am so totally psyched to be debuting my two new blinkies for TBK Designs and The MAD White Woman today! The beautiful, talented, loving, sweet, kind, generous (want me to continue?) Lesia from Deadly Desire Tagz made both of them for me and I am absolutely thrilled to death! She did a fantastic job – right down to reading my mind and using the MAD font (from the magazine) for the MAD in The MAD White Woman! Sending Lesia oodles of hugs and kisses!

So get busy downloading and adding my new pretties to your blogs people LOL!

Fire Destroys a Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:33:00 PDT

In 1979, my mother and father – David and Gloria Wildermuth – had a dream to build and own their own home. For many years they scrimped and saved and built their money up and we finally began. My brother and I carried cinder blocks and bricks till our hands bled, we hammered well into the wee hours of the morning, we slathered mortar between the bricks to hold them in place, we sawed and chopped and cut for many months until it was finally finished.

This is our home – will always be our home. There are memories wrapped up in this home – holidays, birthdays, celebrations – memories that cannot be replaced. We moved into this home when I was just 12 years old. There was a laundry room, a room for our woodburner and a place where my mother (who had arthritis really bad) could hang our laundry indoors, a huge kitchen with an island work station and connected dining room, a huge living room, bathroom, and separate rooms for my parents, my brother, and myself. My brother and I had an unfinished bath between our rooms that we were to share – but we were in no hurry…and to this day it still remained unfinished but that was okay with us. It became a toy room for us and later a closet for my sister.
At 8 a.m. this morning, a fire broke out in my ancestral home. My sister and two nieces were woken up by my little nephew, Shane, only 4 years old, alerted my sister to the fire in the living room. By the time they were able to get from the bedrooms to the living room where the fire started, it was apparently already engulfed in flames. My sister tried everything – water hose, buckets of water – but nothing could stop it.
This is what our ancestral home looks like today:

The Republican Herald (our local newspaper) did an article here and will have more information available tomorrow they reported.
The local news station, reported the fire on the 5 o’clock news this evening also.

The only roof remaining is the roof over our back porch. The entire inside of the home is gone, destroyed. The local Red Cross chapter is putting my dad and sister and the children up in a hotel for three days, but after that, they are homeless.

My dad is 63 years old, and on monthly medications that total over $120 each month. He lives paycheck to paycheck and this is just devastating to him. My mother and he built a life, a family in this home. It is where she died, and where he refused to change anything so that it would always remain “her” home.

I have set up a Wildermuth Family Fire Fund. If you would like to donate anything to help my family, you can do so via the donation button below. If you would like to donate clothing, household items, toiletries, necessities, etc. you can EMAIL ME HERE and I will get you sizes and what ever else you need for the family and an address where you can mail items to.

As you can see, the Universe is unforgiving. Told you I had first hand experience with Karma being a beotch.

I thank you on behalf of my father, my sister, and my nieces and nephew – for any assistance you can offer.

What I’ve Been Doing While I Wasn’t Here…

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:35:00 PDT

September has been an extremely busy month here in Mad White Woman Land – and that is an understatement!

The beginning of the month had us scrambling to get the kids ready for school – much as I wanted to be prepared and *on top of things* this year – just never seems to pan out that way. However, we got them what they needed and off to school with the minimum of fuss and carrying on – just a few major panic attacks on mom’s part – nothing unusual.

I must admit; however, that having one child in elementary school and one in middle school is a bit discerning. It was much easier to manage when they were both in the same school – but I am starting to adapt a little with the help of my trusty calendar and color-coded entries for each kid and different colors for appointments for the rest of the family….damn calendar looks like a box of markers threw up on it though roflmao!

Things have been really busy around here for me as well. I’m in the midst of putting together the PSP Mini Blog Hop being held October 17th thru October 21st as well as being on the creative teams for three wonderfully talented ladies – Kaklei Designs, Jenny’s Designz, and Honored Scraps. You can check out all the wonderful things I’ve created on my design blog at TBK Designs using the beautiful work of these talented ladies!

Did I mention the attitudes? The testosterone squad are in total angst for one reason or another at the moment. The youngest is just PISSED that it is pouring down raining outside (accompanied by some very loud thunderstorms I might add) and I will not allow him to go outside and ride his bike in the rain, or allow him to go to a friend’s house to play (the friend is currently doing his homework and then is going off with his father for a few hours when he’s finished) and now he’s ticked because its 80 degrees outside and I won’t turn the air conditioning off and he’s cold. Go in your room where the vent is closed – you can be miserable AND warm at the same time, oh little son of mine. The eldest is having a mini-meltdown because he wants to download some music to his MP3 player and – gasp – Mom’s busy at the moment and cannot just drop everything to do what he wants done – so he’s attempting to locate and download it himself. Such a shame that I’m not at their beck and call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that my life does not revolve around their wants alone. They are beginning to turn into little man things – God help me.

Speaking of Man Things – anyone watching the Conrad Murray trial that started today? I could be wrong, but from what I’ve seen of the opening statements today – the prosecution has an air-tight case of gross negligence against the good doctor and if I were him – I’d be asking for a plea bargain and not waiting to see what the jury was going to slap me with. To be perfectly frank – the man is digging a hole for himself that he is never going to be able to climb out of if he continues this trial.

Mother Nature 2 / The MAD White Woman 0 (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:59:00 PDT

…ah yes, Hurricane Irene. What a tale to tell this is. If you ask The Man Thing, it was a huge disappointment as hurricanes go. We both remember being in the midst of Hurricane Isabel that came through the area in 2003 when our youngest was just shy of 6 months old at the time. It was the hurricane that buried our town car in the mud up to the doors and took us two days to get dug out.

Personally, I think Irene packed a hell of a punch too – and found it just more than a bit ironic that we also had an earthquake and a hurricane in 2003 as well – just like we did this year. I wonder if that is any indication of what we have to look forward to in another 8 years?

I had been doing all that I could for the past week to prepare for the onslaught of Irene – no matter how bad it got – I was going to make sure that we were as prepared as we could be. All the blankets were washed and at the ready, flashlights dug out from underneath dressers and beds and stocked with fresh batteries. Water bottled and ready to go, bathtub filled with water, just in case it was needed. Food we could eat without power was at the ready, and the truck was filled with gas. It wasn’t everything we should have – but it would get us through for a few days if necessary. We were hoping that it would not come to that.

Friday I started watching the Weather Channel religiously. If the guys wanted to watch something else, fine. I went in the bedroom and watched it there. I was not about to let this thing sneak up on ME.

When we woke up Saturday morning (I was up around 8am) it was already raining and the wind had picked up some – nothing major, similar to a regular thunderstorm. The Man Thing woke up shortly afterwards and just barely had time to go through his morning routine before there was a page for emergency maintenance. Off he went into the rain and the wind and came home about an hour later. Apparently someone else had the same thought (to fill the bathtub with water for a “just in case” moment) but didn’t turn it off before it overflowed into the apartment below them.

A few minutes after, there was a knock on the door and it was his cousin who lives three buildings down from us. A tree had fallen in front of the 7205 building and was laying on three cars that were left in the front row of the parking lot.

I took this image from our front steps as it was pouring down rain. This is how it looked yesterday morning before the crews were able to come out and get it out of the parking lot. Thankfully the residents were able to pull their vehicles out from underneath it with minimal damage.

There were additional calls about leaks here and there, but with the hurricane bearing down on us, there was not much that emergency maintenance could do in the thick of things. Around 2pm, we had our own tree disaster to contend with.

I know the date says the 28th – but this actually happened on Saturday, the 27th. I snapped this picture just moments after it happened. This tree is directly outside my kitchen window, as well as the boys’ bedroom windows. None of us heard a sound as it just toppled over from the force of the wind and the heavily saturated ground. The area in which this tree once stood was a literal pond of water at the time that it fell.

You can see here (the day after when it was a balmy 90 degrees and the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky) where the top of the tree landed on the fence which is directly outside our bedroom window. It did hit the corner of the building on the way down, but I don’t think there is any structural damage to the building – fortunately.

My home phone and internet service went out early Saturday (which I expected due to the heavy cloud coverage and the intense rain) but I still had my trusty TracFone to send text messages on, so I kept in touch with folks that way. The internet would come back on for a few minutes here and there, so I would post updates and the times I was typing them and sent them to my groups to keep them abreast of what was happening.

Long story short – we survived Hurricane Irene. We were 100+ miles from the eye of the storm when it passed by us here in Virginia, and for that I am thankful. We maintained power, for the most part, throughout the entire event – with just a couple of instances where it blinked out for a few seconds but then came right back on. We never really had a need for the flashlights or the bottled water – but the blankets sure came in handy because the temperature dropped drastically and it was C-O-L-D. (Of course, that could also be attributed to the fact that The Man Thing would NOT let us cut the A/C off just in case the power did go off so we could keep it cool in the house as long as possible)

Mollyanna and I took a walk around the neighborhood and took photos of the damages – we only had three trees fall near the apartment buildings, quite a few lost branches and their tops in the picnic grove area, and a few of the houses behind our complex suffered some downed trees but for the most part everyone’s homes remained unscathed and they had power as well come Sunday morning.

You can click the link above to view the other photographs that we took, and would love to hear how you survived the 1st major hurricane of the 2011 season. I’m hoping that it is our first and last here in Virginia for the year.

In addition, all those who suffered flooding and severe damage as a result of this storm, or are without power, my thoughts and prayers are with each of you. I am still waiting to hear from a few friends who live up north on how they faired but have not been able to get in touch with them either. Please know that you all are in our thoughts and prayers.

Mother Nature 2 / The MAD White Woman 0 (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:55:00 PDT

I spent the last week battling the forces of Mother Nature – and losing. Last Tuesday, on August 23, 2011 around 1:51 p.m., I was sitting here at the computer, minding my own business, and trying to work out just how I was going to make $30 stretch to pay for food, school supplies, gym uniforms, agendas, school clothes and a million other little things that need to be paid for and taken care of before school starts. While I was obsessing, I was chatting with some friends via instant messenger, and the kids were in the bedroom playing video games. I heard this low *rumble* at first and didn’t think anything of it, but then it got louder, and I started to hear things rattle. My first instinct was to yell at the kids to stop jumping on the beds…but then that rumbling noise got louder and that’s what scared me into stopping what I was doing and LISTEN. As I listened, I started to feel the ground under my feet shake and the things on my desk started to shake. My first instinct was a plane was crashing into one of the apartment buildings (which would have accounted for the rumbling sound) and if the floor was shaking and the stuff on my desk was shaking – I figured we only had seconds to get the hell out of dodge before we were flattened under a 747 with a blown engine. I screamed for the kids about the same time they screamed for me and we ran into the hallway at the same time and just huddled together for a second. As the floor started to move more and the noise became louder, my eldest started yelling, “We need to get out! We need to get out!” So out we went. I grabbed the dog up in my arms and shoved the kids out in front of me while grabbing my shoes in the other hand and just left everything else behind. My only thought was getting them out of the house and to safety.

When we opened the door to our apartment – we saw all of our other neighbors coming out and meeting out front and everyone was asking, “Oh my God! What just happened?” I checked out front and out back, no jets laying in a building anywhere so the only other logical conclusion – it had to have been an earthquake.

Earthquake it was. A 5.9 on the Richter scale as a matter of fact and the epicenter was just a mere 47 miles away from where we lived. The last *major* earthquake felt in Virginia was from May 31, 1897 in Pearisburg which was a 5.8 to 6.0 on the Richter scale. In addition, when we lived in Powhatan County in 2003, there was a 4.5 earthquake in Goochland County – but we did not feel that. Just heard what sounded like a huge BOOM and the paintings on the wall shook a bit, but the floor didn’t move. ( http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/quake.html )

THE FLOOR MOVED THIS TIME. And scared the living daylights out of us all. To make matters worse – we were alone. It was just me and the boys that day – the Man Thing was on a business trip out of the city. Naturally, when I attempted to call him directly afterwards I could not get through because every single other Tom, Dick, and Harry were on their cell phones trying to get in touch with friends, family, and loved ones as well.

We survived, even though Mother Nature had shaken us up quite a bit. There are images all over the internet of the devastation caused up and down the East Coast from this particular earthquake – but I am especially thankful for the fact that we did not feel any of the repeated aftershocks that occurred. I don’t know that the boys (or I) could have dealt with more shaking and rolling.

It took me a few more days to bounce back to my normal self than it did the boys…but I believe that had something to do with the fact that I had epilepsy as a child and in my 20s I had sporadic seizures – so I don’t think my brain is exactly *wired* like everyone else’s brain. That shaking feeling didn’t leave me till a good 24 hours afterwards (like my brain was still in earthquake mode) and it took me a good 48 hours afterwards to regain my normal equilibrium and sense of self.

By the time I got my head on straight after that – it was time for Hurricane Irene to come through and land us a few blows as well. But that’s part II…

The Libby Whisenant Fund

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:44:00 PDT

I know that I am not the only individual who has sat here in the still of the night and contemplated their own mortality. I shudder to think what would become of my boys, my daughter, my family, my friends, if anything were to happen to me unexpectedly. Would I be prepared? Have I done everything that I can to make sure that my final arrangements can be taken care of without placing any undo strain and heartache on those I love left behind?

Unfortunately – it is a reality that far too many people are left to face alone. We all know that we can be taken from this world at any moment – from a car accident, heart attack, innocent victim of a random bullet – so many different ways really when you think about it.

Such is the case of a friend’s father at the moment. My friend, Angel, just went through the ordeal of having to bury her beloved mother last year. It’s been a painful and emotional year for her. This past Friday, however, caused all of that pain and emotion to come crashing back when her stepmother, Libby, passed unexpectedly. Her father – Glenn – is having an extremely difficult time dealing with the loss of his wife, as he has never been alone before.

He is also in a heart wrenching situation in that Libby did not have a life insurance policy or funeral benefits of any kind to take care of the costs of her funeral and her burial. Like most Americans nowadays, they lived paycheck to paycheck like the rest of us.

Angel is absolutely heartbroken and is reaching out to anyone who can offer any assistance for her father. Glenn has set up a trust fund for Libby – and they are asking for donations to help with the funeral and burial costs.

If you would like to help and show your support for two wonderful people going through an extremely difficult time right now – it would be greatly appreciated. You can click here to go to Angel’s blog and leave a donation (no matter how small) from there.

Thank you for your support and prayers for them. I appreciate it.

The Chicken Has Officially Lost Her Head!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:19:00 PDT

I have quite literally been running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off the past few weeks. I cannot believe I haven’t posted anything since August 2 here! Good heavens – why didn’t somebody bang on the door and yell at me?

As those of you who are moms know – school is about to start again (or has already started for some of you lucky ladies out there!) and I have been literally going ballistic trying to get accurate sizes and measurements for the mini-testosterone set so when we do finally brave the stores (no, I have not stepped foot in a store yet to buy anything heaven help me) I will have everything I need at my fingertips and we can grab clothes off the shelves, hit the dressing rooms, and be out of there in record time. The Man Thing absolutely HATES shopping – he’s a *get what you need to get and get out* shopper, so hitting several different stores and checking out clearance racks and shopping around for the best deals is not his idea of a fun afternoon. Little does he know; however, he’s just gonna have to suck it up and deal with it – because I am going to make every dollar stretch as far as I can and get as much as I can this year.

A very wonderful, kindhearted woman sent me a $20 Old Navy gift card for Jonathan. He is starting middle school and is extremely worried about being able to fit in and have the right clothes and the right things that a middle schooler should have. He’s adamant that he wants nothing but skinny jeans for school, so she sent me the gift card for him so he could pick some up. I think we’ve all had a time or two in our lives when we were dealt some pretty harsh comments and criticisms from our peers over our clothing, so I thought that was pretty dang awesome of her to do that! Love you S!

There’s oodles of real life stuff going on and various activities and challenges to dabble with in the various Yahoo groups that I belong to so yes, all in all, been extremely busy, busy, busy! But I’ll write more about the group activities and such over at TBK Designs.

I’ve also been working on a schedule to get the boys back on track FOR school and a schedule that we all can live with DURING school. Things that they need to do each day, things that I need to do each day, and times and places for everything in between. Jonathan is wanting desperately to try out for football this year, but at only 72 pounds – I am not all that eager to see my son get slammed by another child in a flying tackle. I did, however, promise him that I would *see what I could do* about getting some health insurance for him, so I’m in the midst of fighting with the Department of Social Services to get them on the FAMIS health care program once again. Seeing as I have been out of work for a year – perhaps now they will see that I HAVE NO INCOME and will come to their senses again.

It’s a beautiful, relaxing, Sunday here … I’m doing the ever-present mountain of laundry and washing sheets and bedspreads today and just generally relaxing and trying to unwind. A neighbor of mine and I have started walking each evening around 7 pm and walking about a mile around our neighborhood – and when school begins again we’ll be heading out first thing in the morning once the boys are on the school bus and extend it a bit longer. She’s hoping to lose a few pounds before a class reunion – I just want to tighten up everything that seems to have started sagging all of a sudden! I hate *exercising* but since I have to walk the dog anyway 100x a day – might as well do us both some good (she’s getting a bit chunky herself from being a lazybones all day long) and firm and tone ourselves up before winter comes and it gets too cold to walk for long periods of time. End of summer, beginning of fall – its my favorite time of the year for walking anyway so I’m looking forward to it. When the leaves start to change, I’m going to take my camera along on our walks and try and get some great shots to share with everyone, so stay tuned!

Have a great week where ever you may be – and I’ll try not to go 20 odd days between posts again!

Customer Service Isn’t Just Dead…It Was Murdered!

noreply@blogger.com (Kimmi Miller) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:44:00 PDT

You know what I’m talking about people – remember the “good old days” when you went into a store and the salesperson or front office person greeted you warmly and asked you what it was that they could do for you today? Those days just do not exist any longer.

I always thought that the folks at Wal-Mart who handed out the shopping carts were greeters, individuals whose only job was to greet you as you entered the store and ask you if there was anything that they could help you find today. A recent trip to my local Wal-Mart store earned me a sideways look from the day’s greeter as she was pushing shopping carts out for customers to take themselves so she would not need to interact with them personally. This seems to have become the norm for most of the greeters.

It’s not just Wal-Mart either. I have walked into other stores and gone to the counter for assistance, waiting patiently, only to be talked to in a tone of voice that left me with the feeling that the other person would rather be anywhere else but assisting me.

Where has our willingness to help and to assist others gone? With the job market here in the United States virtually cut throat at the moment due to so many being unemployed – one would think that the average American who has a job to go to each and every day would be only too willing to go above and beyond to assist their customers and give the best possible service they could each and every day.

I have always strived to leave my personal life at home when I was working outside the home. Whatever problems were going on at home, that’s where they needed to remain, at home. It was not for my co-workers or boss to have to deal with my problems at home when there are plenty enough issues going on in the workplace each day that need tending to. No, I didn’t always succeed in separating the two – there were times when I came to work in a completely and totally bitchy mood and didn’t want to have to deal with clients period. Some days I was able to avoid dealing with the general public, but on those days when I could not, you had to pull up your big girl panties, face the world with a happy face and just get on with it.

I’ve also found that there are those individuals in positions that effect your day-to-day lives (such as your boss, your landlord, your teacher, your mechanic, politicians, etc.) who actually relish the ability to make your life a living hell because they are having a bad day. It is as though they do not have to be friendly and courteous to you because you need them for something – whether it be a job, your home, your grade, your vehicle repaired – and since you need them for something, they do not have to treat you with courtesy and respect.

We have grown accustomed to these types of behaviors as well; have begun to consider them the “norm” and to accept them as “normal” behavior from those who are supposed to be serving us. They fail to realize that without “us” there would be no job for “them” and they would not be in the position that they are in currently.

I for one say that we need to stop accepting and start questioning. Why should you have to deal with someone’s snotty attitude or lack of attention because they have had a bad day and you need something from them? They should be thankful that they have the job that they have and that they are in a position to assist others with something that is needed.

You do NOT have to take it. You do NOT have to deal with it and just ignore it. Stand up for yourself! Do not accept half-assed responses to your questions and walk away frustrated and angry. Demand answers! Go above them if they cannot assist you to their manager or their supervisor. Demand the respect that each and every human-being on this planet deserves from one another. They are not any better than you – and you are not any better than they. Treat each other with the respect, kindness, and courtesy that you yourself would want – and see if that does not make a difference in your day!