The end of summer means.........

YORK COUNTY FAIR 2009

there were rides.........

and more rides..........

Animals........

And Tractors................

And food..........

then it got dark.........

and the fair was over for another year. WE celebrated with a sleepover at my house.

And then I PASSED OUT.

Huh......

So if you remember from last week I had a rather crap week. Well I'm glad to report this week has been better. Compared to last week every week of my LIFE has been better. Friday (however ended the crap week in full swing) I had an appointment to get my car inspected. Oh Joy. Here in Pennsylvania we need a new inspection and emissions done every year. GREAT. I'm all for safety but man it tends to hit me hard. My car is a 2003 Saturn Vue. Shouldn't be to bad for inspection, still new(ish) low miles runs like a champ. HUH.

they called me to tell me that it failed the emissions test. APPARENTLY i needed some new hose (?) and a gas cap. But since it failed i would need to drive the car another 100 miles before they can retest the emissions, and since it failed they could not do the inspection either. Oh yeah and "you'll need new tires to pass. So today's charge is $220." GREAT.

Well last night my gas light came on so i did what everyone does when that happens. I stopped for gas. This was the first meeting between myself and the new gas cap. With out further delay meet the new gas cap.
And that my friends is what a $35 gas cap looks like. Needless to say I WAS NOT impressed. this one doesn't have the cord like my old one did and my gas door doesn't have one of those slots to hold the cap while you are pumping. So i just sorta have to hold it while I pump. Worth every penny of that $35. (insert eye roll).

I should have taken a picture of the $620 tires (you can sort of see them in the photo). so needless to say $840 later and the darn thing STILL isn't inspected. but the guy told me i wont have to pay for the emissions test again they will do that at no charge. AHHH thanks, how nice of you.

Vying for Worst Week ever

My boss called me into her office yesterday to “talk”. However, we didn’t talk. She told me that I seem to be a miserable person. And she doesn’t think I’m capable of handling the customer contact that is required on the 7-3 shift. Because from her perspective I’m not a happy friendly person. And that she doesn’t think I have very good customer skills. She went on to say this is just her perspective since she doesn’t know me, has never witnessed me working with a customer, and hasn’t had any complaints about me.

I’m sorry, back up the crazy train for a second. You have nothing to back up this statement, which is REALLY HURT FULL, except it’s your perspective. Great. Thanks. I asked her if she was aware of how rude the morning shift girl is now to the customers, she said he wasn’t. I told her I have customers who will only deal with me because of how they have been treated by her. My boss said there was no reason to get so DEFENSIVE. No reason. You just attacked me on a personal level. You sad I appear to you to be an unhappy, miserable, unfriendly person and you don’t think I’m capable of being the face for the obit desk, but you have NOTHING to base that on. Yeah I think I will get a tad defensive after that. I deal with customers just as much in the afternoon and evening as I will in the morning. She continued to say she has “reservations” about my abilities, but she doesn’t know enough about me to not give me the shift. She said she wasn’t criticizing my work as I’m a great employee who brings in a lot of revenue, is dependable, and hardly ever writes a credit, but she just thinks I might not have the people skills to work with the high volume of customers that come in. I DO IT NOW! How can you say this when you follow it up with “but I have nothing to base this on but MY perspective of you”, how can you say that to someone and not think they’ll put up a fight. I’m not just going to sit there and say nothing while you tell me I can’t do my job, which I’ve been doing for 3 years without any complaints.

You, who were here 5 months before you even, bothered to learn my name. You, who has no idea what I even do. You, who asks me all the time when I work (like it’s fucking rocket science). You, who don’t give a damn about the fact that you, keep giving us more work and no help to do the work. You, who said raises aren’t in the budget for the 3rd year in a row, but you can hire more new people every week for the call center. I get it’s busy back there but we’re busy up here. I told her to ask anyone and they’ll tell you how I handle customers, they will tell you I smile, laugh and have a good time. She said when she comes up front to talk to the morning girl know she’s all smiles and chatty. Yeah, she’s a kiss ass, I’m not. I’m not going to kiss your ass. I don’t think you walk on water, so I wont be treating you that way. That’s what she does. That’s how she’s kept this job as long as she has, because she’s an ass kisser and we clean up all her messes. It’s not because she’s good at her job. So don’t sit there and tell me you don’t think I can handle it. You don’t even know me, you said so yourself. I felt like I needed to go get the file I have of all the THANK YOU’s people have sent me for being so helpful and throw them on her desk with a post-it that says FYI GO FUCK YOURSELF! But It seems kind of petty.

She then informs me I can start 7-3 with her noted concern on October 1st. Ok. The morning shift girl is done on Sept 18th. I asked her who would be working mornings until I start. I received a blank stare. I’m sorry did I miss something? There’s time period that isn’t being accounted for CORRECT? Then she says “well, what REALLY needs to be done before you come in at 12:30?” I said “Everything”. Like sending the page, helping CUSTOMERS (that thing you think I suck at) doing obits, legals, counter work, proof of pubs., checking the neg., memoriams, uhm…..should I continue? Her response, “Well isn’t there anyone else here that can do those things till you would be in at 12:30?” Yup. Ruth and she doesn’t come in til 2 p.m. So she, in her infinite wisdom, decided I’ll start 7-3 on Sept. 21st. GOOD IDEA.

And that was how my day STARTED Monday. GOOD TIMES.

Fast forward to Tuesday.
Back story. Mr. Ship is a jerk (different guy TAB) that I’ve known for 3 years. 3 not so wonderful years. Mr. Ship the kind of guy (or girl depending on your choice) that gets under your skin. The kind that no matter how many times they hurt you, you just keep going back for more. The kind that every time you think you’ve FINALLY become immune to their crap, they suck you back in. I’ve told myself a MILLION times I was NEVER going to talk to him again. But I always did. I’m a dumb girl sometimes, and I do what dumb girls do best. Let dumb guys walk all over them. So needless to say we’ve had this love/hate relationship going for a long time. He liked me, he didn’t like me. It was going to be “different” this time, I was great, he was sorry, blah blah blah…….NOTHING ever changed. NOTHING. I haven’t talked to him since………February or March.

I haven’t seen him since then I haven’t given him much thought. I’m over him. For real. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still piss me off. See, the last time I talked to him he was getting tickets for Trace Adkins for him, myself, and my cousin and her husband. We would all be going together, like we had in the past. Fun times. But, me knowing how things ALWAYS turn out for us, wanted to buy her own ticket. I told him I had the money I would pay my own way, that way there wouldn’t be any problems come concert time. But he wouldn’t let me. “I’ll pay for it, don’t worry about it, I’m sure we can work something out”. Well ladies and gentlemen what he thought we could ‘work out” wasn’t exactly PG-13, more x-rated. I told him I just wanted to pay for my ticket because I’ve been down this path before. But he said things would be different. Long story short. They weren’t. He stood me up…..again. In 3 years he stood me up more times then I can count on 1 hand. Like never called just didn’t show up. And then I wouldn’t hear from him for a long time and he would never mention it when I did. Just a straight JERK.

My cousin reassured me he got me a ticket and that I was still going, but then in April I got wind of the fact he was dating someone (lucky girl) and assumed I was no longer going to the concert. And I didn’t want to go, I didn’t want to be around him anymore. Fast forward to today.

Cousin~ “Hey are you going tonight?”
Me~ No
Cousin~ “I told Mr. Ship you weren’t, that you had to work”
Me~ Fuck him I think getting stiffed for a ticket after the way he treated me for the last 3 years is fair
Cousin~ “Yeah, I know”
Me~ Why doesn’t he take his girlfriend?
Cousin~ “Oh, he is. He had 3 tickets, his, yours and an extra, so she’s going anyways”
Me~ WHAT! Then there’s no fucking way I would have gone regardless, why so he can sit there all-smug like he always does. Fuck that. Would anyone have told me she was going, because I would have been pissed. I can’t be the bigger person. Not anymore”
Cousin~ I would have told you
Me~ He would probably get some sick enjoyment out of sitting there with her two seats away from me, with that stupid little smirk that always sucked me in. I hate him! He always did enjoy making a fool out of me.
Cousin~ (laughing) I know. He’s an ass.
Me~ Well have fun at the concert; tell him I said GO FUCK YOURSELF.

So that’s been my week so far. To much excitement for me, way too much. I got off the phone with her and beat the crap out of the ice in my freezer, see I don’t have one of those new self-defrosting freezers, so I have to bust the ice out of mine. It was very helpful for my mood. I would stop every now and then laughing hysterically and say “that son of a bitch, I can’t believe him” I’m so glad he’s not in my life anymore. What a jerk.

Polar bear plunge

Let’s see rain all weekend until TODAY. So what do we do (me and the nephew) go SWIMMING! In my parents icebox of a pool. WOW. I’m the biggest baby when it comes to cold weather or water for that matter. Ask around they will tell you I’m ALWAYS cold. But it’s mid September and the last week and a half hasn’t provided us with good temps for swimming, so this was our last chance (most likely) for a dip. It is after all NOT summer anymore. But it is after all turning into my FAVORITE time of year FALL. My mom wanted to vacuum the pool today, after all the rain in the last couple of days the pool was running over with water and leaves. Kanyon and I stood around watching her when she said, “You guys can get in if you want”. Now, Kanyon and I were both standing there thinking “sure would nice to go swimming”, but both figured Nanny/Mom would say it was to cold. So when she didn’t it didn’t take us to long to throw on our suits and hop in. And that’s how we did it. I put some lotion on him, we walked up to the edge, looked at each other and went 3,2,1, KANYONBALL! And then I thought I would die. It was so cold. Knock the wind out of your cold. So cold I momentarily forgot how to swim and forgot to NOT open my mouth under the water. It was cold. We jumped in over and over, while my mom laughed and laughed each time we came up out of the water screaming bloody murder. I smacked my butt on the bottom of the pool pretty hard which made Kanyon laugh when I came up rubbing my butt.

My nephew is sneaky. I like to say that’s the part of him he got from me…well that and the speech problem. All summer long he would try to get me to jump in with him. Hold hands. Count backwards and JUMP. All summer long I went along with right up to the JUMP part and let go so he was the only one that jumped in. Then he would laugh, call me a baby, and splash me. So today I say, “Kanyon come on let’s jump in together”. We walk up to the edge. Look at each other laugh and start counting. 3,2,1, and I was the only one that jumped in. As I started to jump I felt him let go of my hand. In the split second before I crashed into the ice cold water, I thought “that little shit got me”. When I came up he was running around the deck going “I got you I got you!!! Nanny I tricked AMY for once. HAHAHAAHHAH” Nice job Kanyon. Nice job.

My dad and my brother said we were stupid, that the water was to cold but we just swam and swam. I stayed in for about an hour but then the numb feeling in my toes and shivering got the best of me and I sat out in the sun to warm up. Kanyon was still swimming when I left for work. We had fun. And now we have to close up the pool, as my dad has decided it must be closed and covered before the Halloween party. Yeah I know it should be since it’s OCTOBER then, but closing the pool sucks. I loved going back to college every year because it got me out of closing the pool. TRUST me there is nothing that brings the loveliness that is my family out like working together on a project. And closing the pool is a PROJECT.

My nephew

We went fishing on Sunday. The men of the family and me. The tag-a-long, like always. My brother took my dad, nephew and myself to the spot where his girlfriend caught 2 24 inch catfish the weekend before. We didn't have one bite. My nephew had more fun playing in the mud, what a shock i know. So here are a few pictures of him. Doing what he does best. entertain himself.

Kanyon playing in the mud at the river

playing in the water at the creekI found a bunch of pictures like this on my camera after he was playing with it. And a bunch of pictures of the mud, rocks, trees, bait bucket, and fishing lures. Thanks.

UPDATE!

Thank you to everyone for caring about me and my family. My mom called and the doctor told her while these are things we should be concerned about they aren't nearly as bad as we thought. She said he told her that it's not MS, or early onset of Alzheimer's, and that she will NOT need sugary. He told my parents that the matter and lesions on her brain were most likely caused from mini strokes she's had over the years and that while the cysts could be more troubling he sees no reason to remove them now. She also told me that he said this could all be genetic, which is what her doctors have been telling me for years, basically watch out this could be you in another 30 years. So for now, everything is ok. She's fine. I'm better. and my family is ok.

Thanks so much guys!

I think today could possible be the worst day of my life. Here i sit at work while my mom and dad are at the neurologist finding out about my mom's MRI results. Her doctor sent her in for an MRI on her brain two weeks ago. They called last week to say things "didn't look good" and that she would need to see a brain doctor ASAP. According to the report she has lesions, white matter disease and cysts on her brain. But i don't know what any of that means. and GOOGLE isn't helping. I swear medical information online is the worst thing a person can find. So here i sit waiting for her to call, even though I know she will not call while I'm at work.

When i came home from college (5 years ago) my mom suffered a few minor strokes. However she had surgery to unblock the two main veins in her neck and almost died. Like light at the end of the tunnel saw herself outside of her body DEAD. But she pulled through and I held my dad and my brother together until they told us she would be fine.

I can't do that again. I've never been so scared in my life. What if it's not ok? My dad lost a child I don't know what he would do if he lost my mom. She's only 51. She has a granddaughter on the way.

So here i sit at work, the last place I want to be, waiting for someone to tell me what happens next.

Why I don't gamble

I never win. NEVER. Ok. Wait. I win things. I won that cool apron from Mama Kat's give-a-way, and I just won a purse, which i'll post pictures of when i get a chance. Oh and I won some baseball tickets for our minor league team. But I never win anything else. Oh an a few dollars on some scratch off tickets. hmmm.....Maybe I should amend my statement. I win things SOMETIMES.

Well The final ruling has come in and drum roll please (baddddddddddammmmm) It's a GIRL. BB and his girlfriend are having a GIRL. A little PINK RIBBONS and SUGAR girl. They are not having a puppy. Looks like I'm out $50. I thought for sure it would be a puppy.

So my mom will be thrilled, she's getting what she wanted a little granddaughter. all is right in her world now. And BB and Jan will be have a little girl to complete their family. Poor Kanyon, he was really hoping for a brother. He has a little sister at his mom's house and she bites him, and he SAYS she doesn't get in trouble. My mom told him that this baby would be different. That since Kanyon doesn't live with BB and is only there on the weekend THIS (at that time) brother or sister would be so HAPPY to see him when he was there. Kanyon seemed happy with that news. I however, told Nanny she really needs to work on these HALF TRUTHS she tells this kid. He's 6. Not 2. What happens those first 3 months when the baby cries ALL the time. So didn't look pleased.neither did Kanyon.

Hoping for a puppy

My Big Brother (BB) and his girlfriend are having a baby. Well the girlfriend is, BB will be more then likely stand around looking stupid while she pushes a CHILD out of her You. Know. Where. If BB had to birth a child it would be a HUGE deal. He thinks he'll die every time he gets sick. And that's just the common cold.

Well tomorrow is Pre-D-Day. Maybe that sounds to dramatic. To Devastating. Tomorrow is the day they go to find out what IT is. I'm hoping for a puppy. One with floppy brown ears and white spots on it's back, OH and those huge doggy paws on a little tiny puppy. to cute. Everyone else is hoping for a boy or a girl. But let's be honest. A puppy would make a better story don't you think?

My mom hopes it's a girl. I'm not sure if anyone else has any strong feelings one way or the other. Well my nephew is hoping for a little brother. Mainly because he already has boy toys to give the kid. I'm hoping for a puppy.

They picked their names. Since Kanyon is well Kanyon and not named after BB, who was named after my dad, who was named after his dad, who was named after.... well I think you get the point. Kanyon SHOULD have been George Herbert Macneal, V. However his GEM of a mother said no. and What Mommy says goes. So he ended up Kanyon Reigns McCandless Macneal. I'm not sure which was a worse fate.

So if it's a boy it'll be George Herbert Macneal, V. I think my dad is hoping for a boy. If it's a girl it'll be Sarah Catherine Macneal which sounds WAY to HOLY CATHOLIC for me. and we aren't even holy catholic. or catholic at all. I said WOW why don't you just drop her with some nuns right away. Oh maybe I'll make her a little nun outfit. That would be so funny...well to me at least. and let's be honest, that's all that matters.

My mom wants a girl because she already has a grandson so she would like a granddaughter. This was decided at dinner a few weeks ago. Here is the conversation i had with my parents.
Mom~ I hope it's a girl then I'll have a grandson and a granddaughter.
Me~ Wow mom. how very PC of you.
Dad~Well who knows if you'll ever have children this could be our last shot.
Mom~ Yeah. by the time you ever have children, if you ever do, we'll be too old to even recognize them.
Me~Wow. I'm not that old.
Mom~ Yeah well you aren't that young either.
Me~check please!

I think i might never have kids just to spite her! Thanks for the vote of confidence mom and dad. Christ. I like how they have changed they ton from "when" you get married, "when" you have children, to "If". Makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside.