Hello All,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and joyous holiday last week. It was great to have my family around and enjoy laughter and good food and stories of the past but I must make one declaration. I AM BOYCOTTING NEXT YEARS HOLIDAY SEASON ALL TOGETHER!!

Sure, I had a great time and Santa was really good to me (I received a fanfreakingtastic digital camera so you all might see a motherload of pictures popping up on this blog. I'm just saying) but the cooking and cleaning and hosting is exhausting of which I'm still not recovered so I decided I'm not doing this crap again next year. I am completely boycotting the whole thing.

Just think how much time and energy I will save not to mention money if I don't have to run to the store and elbow or gut punch people for the last roaster chicken or ham or turkey or sweater I simply must have. No more cleaning, cooking or gift wrapping. I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.

Yeah, I think a boycott is the way to go.

I have a question I’d like to pose to the masses. What if you had children and you wanted to raise/discipline them in a certain way but their other parent had very different ideas on how things should be done. How do you handle that?

• You think the kids should have a curfew. The co-parent thinks they should be able to stay out all night.
• You feel spankings are in order but the co-parent says no way, no how!
• You want to enroll the kids in extra-curricular activities to expose them to different things but the co-parent is adamant that it’s not necessary.
• The co-parent is a meat and potatoes person but you are a vegetarian.

If you both are actively raising the children together then the co-parent’s view can’t very well be discarded. How do you navigate these difficult waters?

I was reading a fellow bloggers post today and she was talking about past loves and it got me to thinking about mine. It got me to thinking about Bernard Mackey and James Stewart.

Those two were the loves of my life. They were the air I breathed. They were my first thoughts when I awoke in the morning and the last thought when I laid my head on my pillow at night. They were my everything……when I was in the 5th grade.

See, I hear the scoffs of you non believers but trust me, our love was real. Well, maybe just my love. They really didn’t know my name, but that is beside the point. It didn’t mean our love was any less meaningful.

We left 5th grade, had different homerooms and somehow lost track of each other.

It’s sad really. I strongly feel that if I were able to muster up enough confidence to tell them how I felt, one of them would be my husband now and my pesky 2 year marriage 13 years ago would never have happened. I’m sure of it. A 32 year love affair thwarted.

Bernard or James, if either of you are reading this, call me.

You know what, I changed my mind. Bernard looked back then as if he'd wind up in prison someday so scratch him. James, it's just you and me baby.

As many of you know, The Analyst and I have been over for a little while now. I have been working hard to distance myself from him. Making sure he understands that we are done, all without coming across as a cold, calculating, unfeeling bitch.

I have told him many times that I have moved on. Things between us are damaged beyond repair. Even though I’ve told him these things I don’t think I have made myself very clear.

He came this weekend to pick up a few things from my house. I want him to take everything but he whines about not having enough room for everything and asks if he could leave the rest until he can figure out his next move. I relented and agreed but I am not very happy about this decision at all.

He made a statement to me while picking up his things that “we are going to be married before you know it.” I simply looked at him and said “You think so huh?”

What’s more disturbing is that he went on to make another statement when I asked for my keys back, “No! I don’t want to. We’re not done yet.”

He honestly believes that we will somehow find our way back together again someday. I could have insisted upon the return of my keys but looking at him I realized he was simply not ready. Not ready to let go. Not ready to move on. At that point I didn’t push the issue any further. I figure in time, when he’s ready. He’ll come to understand the finality of this situation and be more willing to let go of those keys.

As for now, he needs to still hold on and I’m not sure if I am hurting him more by being understanding and patient or if I should be the bitch I can be which would prove to crush him in the end. I’m at a total loss right now.

Ending a relationship is not always as cut and dry as we’d like.

Who knew men had a hard time letting go too?

I am a firm believer that customer service is extremely important. It can make or break your business.

With that said, if you are not a people person, please do not get a job in customer service. I beg of you.

Case in point, I had to return some curtain rods that were the wrong size at Wal-Mart. This is a “super” Wal-Mart in that it is fabulously large with a Subway, a nail salon, a bank, an ophthalmologist’s office and acres upon acres of grocery and household fabulousness.

I walked up to the customer service office armed with said curtain rods and was terribly disappointed to be confronted with a painfully long line with only one girl at the register and she looked all too pleased to be working at this time. Sure, I had nothing else better to do at 12:45 pm on a Tuesday afternoon anyway.

Finally, someone noticed how the line had stretched out of the office and wrapped around to the ophthalmologist’s office next door and decided to jump on the register next to Ms. Speedy Cashier there and help out.

Lucky for me when it was my turn at the register I got Ms. Speedy Cashier and instead of greeting me with a smile and asking what she can do for me today she stared at me without a word uttered, took hold of my receipt and began punching numbers into that register machine thing of hers. About 3 seconds later she looks up at the line and uttered not once but twice, “Gosh! People still keep getting in line. Dag!”

I merely turned my head to look at the end of the line, which I could not see, then I turned back to face her. I said nothing. I hope she wasn’t trying to get sympathy from me because she was ass out today my friend. This is your job. Get over it.

Since when was it OK to grumble and complain in front of customers?

If you don’t like your job then you need to find another. I'm just saying.