If only I were invisible.

Sears has made me a little perturbed. You see, Mr. Incredible and I are attending a couple birthday parties this coming weekend.  I ordered a cute sweater and a t-shirt to wear under it for these events, I also ordered Sidekick a new pair of sneakers and another sweater for myself that was on sale.

I placed my order on November 9th.  The important sweater arrived yesterday, the rest of the stuff is supposed to arrive today.  I ordered the sweater in a Large.  They sent a SMALL.  Obviously since it took them a week to get the original order to me I have run out of time to re-order the sweater and send the other one back.  So I called.

The first lady I talked to hung up on me.  So I called again and although the guy was very nice, I didn’t like the reasoning behind getting a sweater two sizes to small.  What happened was they sold out of the Large’s in between the time I placed my order and the time they packaged it.  So instead of letting me know that and crediting my card, they just sent me a Small. Obviously, I DO NOT wear a Small.

This has happened before.  I ordered a few shirts from them when Mr. Incredible and I went on vacation this year.  One of those items, a red tank top, was not in the box but there was a thin 3/4 sleeve top.  It was a nice looking top so I didn’t bother calling Sears on it.  At least it was the right size but if you are just going to try and guess what the customer might want if you sell out of something, at least send something similar.  Like another tank top?  I mean shit, why order at all, just call Sears and tell them you would like 3 shirts and let them pick them out for you since that is what they’ll do if they sell out of what you want anyway.

I’m really looking forward to receiving the rest of my order today.  Let’s hope they get it right because if they don’t, I may never shop there again.  Oh and customer service’s only option for me was to pick up the sweater that I wanted in the right size at a store and they would give me 5% off.   Which would amount to $1.25.  The nearest Sears store is 45 minutes away.  Don’t make me laugh!

I figured it’s about time I threw up some words over here.  That and Sidekick is hogging the TV and I’ve done all the domestic duties tonight that I care to and I’m out of wine.

To be really honest about my absence, I have one word…Netflix.  It is of the devil.  And it kills ALOT of time.

The weekend with the girls in Pittsburgh went well.  Friday night we went to dinner at Chili’s and then headed over to Dave and Busters where we encountered the creepiest guy who was hogging the Dance Dance Revolution game.  Saturday we went to the Carnegie Science Center and then went trick or treating before the Halloween party.  The party was fun but having the girls there was distracting, Goth Girl was bored and Sidekick started getting a little disturbed by the drunken antics.  Sunday we went to the Zoo.  Here’s my favorite picture I took there:

Two weekends in Pitt in a row was more than enough for me and I was happy to be home last weekend.  Mr. Incredible’s friends were up at camp so we spent most of the weekend over there.  It was nice and relaxing and I got nothing done at the house which is in desperate need of some attention so I’m trying to work on that this week.

This weekend we have to attend Goth Girl’s Dinner Theatre Show at the High School and Sidekick has a sleepover to attend.  Mr. Incredible’s friends are coming back up too so I know we will be spending some time over there hanging out, playing darts and drinking homemade wine.

Weekend after that it’s back down to Pitt for two different birthday parties on the same night.  A 50th and a 16th.  Should be a good time.  Hopefully after that I won’t have to go back down to Pitt until Christmas Eve and Mr. Incredible usually drives both ways so it won’t be too horrible.  Kenneling the dog for all this is getting expensive though but Mr. Incredible helps out with that so I guess it’s not so bad.

That’s about all I got.  Very little drama which is nice but I’m sure it is only a matter of time before the fit hits the shan.

The wedding was fun but I know that I put way too much thought and effort and time and money into it and I didn’t need to.  I won’t make that mistake again.

The Groom forgot the rings.  The Bride and Maid of Honor got sick at the alter.  I couldn’t get my camera to take a decent picture.  I drank too much coffee and got the jitters real bad right before the reception.  Took me almost two hours to get to feeling normal again so I missed dinner.  After that it was fun though.

Mr. Incredible and I were cutting up the dance floor which was a blast since it doesn’t happen very often.

Mr. Incredible’s grandmother may have lit a fire under his butt about getting married.  She asked him when he was going to get married because she wanted to dance at his wedding.  Well, that made him tear up because she is quite old and you never know how long you have on this earth.  So he may be thinking that he might want his grandma around to see him as a married man.  Hurray for me! Sad to think of it that way though.  His grandma is a wonderful lady and it will sad day when she is no longer with us.

At one point his Aunt came out to get everyone rounded up for a family photo.  I told her I wasn’t family and she said I was close enough!  That made me feel pretty special because I was the only one in the photo that wasn’t family.  Yet, anyway.

The grils and I will be heaing back down to the Burgh next weekend for a halloween party, trick or treating and the zoo.  Besides the drive…I am looking forward to it.

I’ve been sitting around thinking about all the time, hassle, and money going into attending Mr. Incredible’s cousin’s wedding this weekend.  Here is my break down:

Dress  $106.00

Shoes  $52.00

Push-up Bra $12.00

Pantyhose  $14.00

Haircut  $21.00

Hair Color  $10.00

Vet Visit $69.00 (Bazooka needed some vaccines so the kennel would take him for the weekend.)

Kennel Stay  $34.00

Gas  $40.00ish

Cardigan  $36.00

Nail Polish  $2.50

Lost Wages  $82.00

Card  $4.50

Dress Alteration…$30.00

Purse  $30.00

Purse I bought but not using and lost the packing list so I can’t return it  $27.00

So in total, I’m looking at over $500.00 in expenses to go to a stupid wedding!  It would be more if Mr. Incredible wasn’t going to cover any expenses once I get to Pittsburgh and he’s taking care of the gift.

Isn’t that just crazy?  I’d say it is.

Oh and I got suckered into attending the rehearsal dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town so now I have to buy clothes ($52.00) and shoes  ($14.00) to wear to that too.  Might as well just bump that total up to $600.00.

Side note:  an empty dog food bag fell over and scared the bejesus out of my dog.  Hilarious!

Anywho.  The garage ordered the parts I need for my car but when they were delivered they were the wrong parts so they called the dealership.  Turns out those parts were on recall by the manufacturer.  I had to take a day off work but I didn’t have to pay for the parts.  I can handle that since eight hours of my time is worth less than those parts would have been.  And I got to spend the day at the mall!  I redeemed my gift card for my free pair of GAP jeans and got myself a pair of boyfriend jeans.  I love em and no way would I have been able to justify spending 59.50 on a pair of jeans with holes in them but since they were free…  I also picked up a few things for Sidekick to finish off her school clothes and got myself a couple pair of athletic pants.  The serpentine belt still isn’t changed and I have an appointment for an alignment then maybe, just maybe all this car drama and expense will be over.

Again nothing much has been spoken about cohabitating with Mr. Incredible but he did say he would be willing to add me to his cell phone plan to save me some money.  It’s a step.  A baby step but we’ll get there.

Are any of you having a lot of rain.  I swear it has rained here almost every day.  I’m so tired of it.  That and the cold.  It can all just stop.  This has been one miserably wet year and I’ve had enough.  My garden tending to, the dogs kennel needs cleaned and my grass needs mowed all before the snow starts flying.

I’ve been slacking on my diet.  So much so that I can now eat carbs without feeling sick.  That is not good.  I need to start cracking down again.  I am happy with my weight loss so far but I’m not done losing yet.  I’m only a third of the way there.  I’m giving myself until the end of next year to lose 50 lbs.  That sounds impossible but if I think about it as I lost 25 lbs in 5 months it doesn’t sound so bad.  That’s 5 lbs a month.  Totally doable as long as I don’t plateau for too long and I don’t give up.

I’m looking forward to another peaceful Saturday as long as Mr. Incredible stays out most of the day hunting, it will be.  I always feel like I need to be entertaining when he is here and I never get anything done and I don’t actually do much entertaining either so it’s usually a wasted day.  I hate wasted days, they make me feel stressed.

Just found out that the adults have to dress up for the Halloween party we are attending in the Burgh.  Mr. Incredible is totally against it.  I think it would be fun but would have no idea what to dress up as.  I also found out it is the same night as the local Halloween parade so the girls have to choose which one they would rather attend.  Somehow I think they are going to pick the party!  I’m ok with that since it rains every damn year.

It seems Sarah is getting impatient with me. Let’s see if I can bang out an update.

There hasn’t been a lot of developments on the cohabitation front. I did apply for a job in the area we were looking to move to. I had applied at the same place before but nothing came of it. We’ll see how this once goes. It is at a college, the same one my sister works at. The position is Staff Assistant for the Registrar’s and Financial Aid offices. They should have gotten my resume on Tuesday. Here’s hoping they take their sweet ‘ol time getting around to hiring someone. I’d like to start after December 1st. Two reasons, both financial. One, I get my vacation pay at the end of November. Two, I have to be an employee at my current job on November 31st in order to be eligible for the Christmas profit sharing bonus which should be super huge this time around. With the economy in the slumps, we are actually doing very well.

My sister also picked us up a “HOMES” book for that area. Not sure if you have them where you are but they are books with the current real estate listings. I did a little searching online and I am pretty sure we can find something suitable when we choose to do so. I figure if I start commuting down there, which is 45 minutes away, I can just tell everyone that I am tired of commuting, just one more good reason to move. Or so I hope.

I’ve been dealing with car issues this week. My car’s inspection was up at the end of September and I knew I needed tires and an alignment. So I took the hunk ‘o crap to get that done on Tuesday. When I picked it up I was $564 further in the hole and they tell me they couldn’t align it because my lower rear control arms were rusting out. Joy. Today I took the car to a different garage to get the inspection. I tell them what it needs plus a couple other little things I wanted them to fix. They call be back six hours later to tell me my car failed the inspection because I need two new lower control arms. Really? Seriously? Holy sheet! So I not so calmly ask them if they replaced them. No. Well how about the belt I wanted replaced? No. Did they do anything? Oh, they replaced a fog lightbulb but it was only $10 so they didn’t bother calling and would I like to leave it there another day so they can order the parts and fix it tomorrow? Oh man was I hot! So I am still carless and it’s going to cost me another $400-$500. I heart debt.

Mr. Incredible was told to take this week off because they didn’t have any work for him. He went home Monday to get his bills taken care of and was going to come back up tonight (Wednesday.) Well, that didn’t happen. He got called back to work starting Thursday. So it’s good that he isn’t laid off but bad cuz I could really use a chauffeur and I kinda liked having him around. As crazy as that sounds.

Well, there is your update. Not much going on these days except kids school stuff and being way too busy at work.  Oh and Bazooka may have a Staph infection and all three of the dogs are due for vaccines and my anti-anxiety prescription ran out and I have absolutely no money to take care of any of that.  And my increased child support from two months ago…still has not kicked in.  I hate bitching about money but my god! When will it end?

So vacation was good and I’d love to tell you all about it but I have bigger, more pressing issues to deal with right now and I need you guys to talk me down off the ledge.

Last night, Mr. Incredible asked me what I thought about us buying a house and moving in together. Someone hold me.

Don’t get me wrong, I love him, I want to marry him and have a life together but the logistics of the whole thing are stressing me out. Need examples?

New home
What to do with my current one
New schools
New job
New neighborhood
Insurance
Address changes
No nearby friends
No nearby family
Goth Girl’s Grandparents
Sidekick’s Father
Finding a house
Goth Girl is going to hate us if we make her move again
Need I go on?

Also, since we won’t be getting married first I can’t use that as a legitimate reason. Instead I can just tell people I’m moving in with my boyfriend. I think it would be easier if we were at least engaged so I could explain that we are going to get married. And we probably will but it won’t be right away, it could be years from now.

I know it could take us over 6 months to even find a house but you know me, I like to stress over everything.

Oh and for the new readers…Mr. Incredible and I currently live 100 miles apart. His job is too good to let go so we would have to live no more than 45 minutes away from his town. Which is about 1/2 way between where each of us lives now. And I guess that wouldn’t be too bad but I have a feeling he is thinking he’d rather live closer to work.

We didn’t talk too in depth about it last night because he decided to bring it up while we were in bed and I was half asleep. So I guess I should brace myself for a big brainstorming session tonight. He said he’s been thinking about this for a year and I’ve thought about it too just not real in depth. So maybe he has some answers that I can’t wrap my head around right now.

Ok, I need to get my mind off this for a while or I’m going to need a happy pill. So what do you think? Should I do it? Should we wait? Am I being neurotic over nothing? If it’s meant to happen, it will? Help.

I’m sitting here sipping on some peppermint tea rehashing this weekend’s events.  I don’t even know where to start!  So I guess we should start with Friday and work our way forward.

Friday.  I got home from work and I could see that my company had arrived but were not at my house currently.  I then had to leave to take Sidekick to the wedding rehearsal.  It went fine, one of the bridesmaids got caught in traffic so I had to stand in during the first run through.  After all that, I went home and my company was back.  My aunt’s had made the macaroni salad I was responsible for, for the wedding.  Sweet.  Mr Incredible had not yet shown up.  He said he’d be late but it was 10 pm before he pulled in.  That completed the 7 people in my house and 3 dogs.  It was quite crowded but we made it work.

Saturday, I got up kinda early because I still had to cook some stuff for the wedding.  So I made some coffee and soon my Aunt’s joined me.  It was a pretty lazy morning and I was able to get everything done without rushing around too much.  Before we left I had to catch my Aunt’s dog and put him in the bathroom.  He had other plans.  I finally cornered him on the couch and the little shit bit me and peed everywhere.  So I had to strip the couch and throw everything in the washer, change my pants, and scrub my hands and arms.  Finally we were off to the wedding, but we had to stop at the store first.  They needed roasting pans and I needed to get my sister a card.  The wedding went fine.  My step-dad handed me his fancy camera so I was playing photographer most of the day.  They had a couple professionals there but I think I did a pretty good job, my sister agreed and said she should have just hired me.  Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures now.  They are all on my step-dads camera.  Hopefully I will be able to get some of them from him.

After the wedding, the groom proceeded to get trashed and whenever someone would tell him they were leaving he would say “I want a hug first….come here and smash them big ol titties up against me.”  Classy, ain’t he?  He even said it to my mother!  After he said it to me, he then proceeded to tell Mr. Incredible that he got the wrong sister and should have went after me since I know how to cook, clean and can and his now-wife doesn’t know how to do anything.  I got away from him as soon as possible but Mr. Incredible stayed to chat with him.  The groom then tried to get Mr. Incredible to go hug my sister so she could “smash her big ol titties up against him.”  Mr. Incredible stated that he was not interested.  I told my sister about what had just happened and she just blew it off.  She just has no idea….

Sunday, Mr. Incredible’s Aunt and Uncle stopped by to visit.  Luckily it was after lunch so I had time to get my house back in order after my company had left that morning.  So we visited with them a bit and after they left we headed over to Ohio to Mr. Incredible’s friend’s wife’s camp.  (Did you get all that?)  We had a lot of fun.  It is located in a campground and they have all sorts of activities for kids and adults and everyone drives around on golf carts.  Sidekick was having a blast and we didn’t leave there until 1 am.

Monday was supposed to be a lazy day but I wound up doing some more dishes, laundry and mowing the grass while Mr. Incredible played around with the Bobcat.  He cleaned up my burn pile and a pile of rocks.  Well, he only half cleaned up the pile of rocks.  I didn’t notice that he didn’t finish or I would have made him because it looks like crap now.

My shoes and matching purse came via UPS yesterday.  The shoes are too tight, I have to return them.  And of course they matched the purse perfectly.  I found another pair of shoes but now they don’t match the purse so I will have to return it too and find a different one.  What a pain in the butt this is turning out to be!

I leave for vacation in two days!  I never made it to the boarding kennel to see if they would take Bazooka so I HAVE to do that tonight!  If they don’t take him, I have one other place he could go but it’s not as nice.  I have not packed a single thing for vacation yet!  I need to get on that tonight after I get home from the kennels.  I have to pack for 4 of us for an entire week!  Me, the girls and the dog.  And you just know I will wind up packing most of Mr. Incredible’s stuff for him too!  Someone hold me.

This is too long already.  You probably won’t hear from me again until the 21st or 22nd.  Don’t miss me too much.  I am taking Goth Girl’s netbook with me so maybe I will be able to post while I’m away.  Most likely I will since I get up early and Mr. Incredible likes to sleep in so I should have time in the morning to take my blogwalk and maybe do a little post and maybe some pictures.  Send positive thoughts for good weather and safe travel my way!

Lots of things going on, hope I can remember it all.

Domestic Relations when very very well!  The amount was doubled and he wasn’t even a dick about it.  Makes me wish I would have taken him back years ago.  The last time we had a review hearing was 5 years ago.  Now I worry about what happens in 4 years when Goth Girl turns 18 and I am out $600/month.  That’s a huge “pay” cut to adjust to.  I guess Mr. Incredible will just have to marry me then so I can afford my lifestyle.  Ha!

My sisters wedding is this Saturday.  It’s gonna be a disaster.  Not the wedding, the marriage.  We’ve been over that already though.

It’s gonna be another busy weekend.  I will have 7 people in my house this weekend and at least two dogs, maybe three.  I have no idea where everyone is going to sleep and there is no food in the house.  Should be interesting.  I have to cook for the wedding, get Sidekick ready to be a flowergirl, get myself ready then attend the wedding at 2 pm.  Also, sometime this weekend we need to go to Mr. Incredible’s friends camp and hang out with them.  And!  I have to take Bazooka to the boarding kennels for a tour and to see if they will even take him while we are on vacation.  They so better!  It’s a very nice place called Maxfield’s Pet Resort.  The place is gorgeous and very structured.  It’s $15 a day which adds up pretty quick but no one I know wants to take him for that long and I know he will be cared for.

I finally found some shoes for my dress I am wearing to Mr. Incredible’s cousin’s wedding.  And a matching purse.  I spent too much on both of them but here they are:

The shoes are not what I was looking for but I got tired of looking.  At least I should be comfortable in them.

Well, this post has taken forever to write becuase I left in the middle of it for a long lunch so I need to get back to work.  Have a great weekend everyone!

My sister’s bachelorette party was Saturday night.  Although I did not plan to stay out for long, we were still there for last call.  It was a little more than my system could handle and I slept until 2:30 pm on Sunday.  I think I could have stayed in bed all day but stuff needed done and I was getting hungry.  The party was fun but it’s pretty sad when three out of four of your bridesmaid and your sister think you are making a mistake.  Of course, I’m the only one ballsy enough to tell her and of course, I am probably the only one she won’t listen to.  I guess we all need to make our own mistakes.

Not a whole lot else going on.  Kids start school on Wednesday, I think we are almost ready and well, I guess it won’t matter if we are or not come Wednesday morning.

I’m still looking for shoes for the dress I bought for Mr. Incredible’s cousin’s wedding.  My sister’s finace’s mom might be able to do the alterations on the dress for me so that is good, or I found a place in the mall that does that kind of work so I guess I’m going to keep the dress, get it altered, find shoes and a shawl to go with it.  Easier said than done it seems, but I do have almost two months to do so.

My vacation is only two weeks away!  I’m so friggin excited.  And there is only 8 working days until I leave with Labor Day Monday and taking the following Friday off to kick off the vacay!  I’m so excited yet apprehensive about losing a full weeks pay.  Things are tight as always.

Speaking of which, I have to go to Domestic Relations today.  It is time for a review of the child support agreement with Goth Girl’s father.  He has gotten off way easy and I am tired of struggling so I’m sorry but I’m just going to have to take him for all I can get.  He has never paid the full amount the state says I am entitled to and Goth Girl only has a few years until she turns 18.  It’s time he paid.  Don’t think I’m an evil bitch by saying so.  I have been lenient on him…mostly because he stays out of my life.  Being several states away helps but he also has not taken any interest in Goth Girl’s life either.  And Goth Girl is getting expensive!  And will even more so once she wants to start driving and such.  We still have a little while until that happens but it’s better to be prepared.  Also, his parents used to buy almost all of her clothes and shoes but she is getting to a point where she has an individual style that they don’t totally see eye to eye on so all of her school clothes were on my bankroll this year and probably will be from here on out.  The whole Dom. Rel. thing causes me to have anxiety so don’t think I am doing this willingly, it is all out of necessity.  And yes, I have a happy pill to take before I go because that places causes me to freak out!  The only good part is that he will have to phone in and I won’t actually have to see him face to face.  Oh and for the record, he hasn’t spoken to me in 13 years.  I’m not even kidding.

We are missing a cat.  Smoker has gone astray.  Not sure where he got to but he hasn’t been around in about a week.  The neighbor’s kittens are also missing.  Very strange.  Asher is still around but he’s a scaredy cat so he doesn’t stray far and hides from the smallest noise.  I think he is lonely though, he even came out to play with my cousins puppy, which is very very strange.  He and Bazooka do not have a good relationship.  It involves a lot of barking and running away.

Well, time to start thinking about lunch, I’m starving!  Oh and I weighed myself yesterday and I only have 1.5 lbs to go to meet my first goal of 25 lbs lost!