Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The end of 2008, the beginning of a wonderful NEW year!!


Finally, and I'm not one to wish time away, this year is almost over. 2008 has not been kind to me and I have not been kind to me in 2008.

But...as always, I have just kept going, kept pushing, kept praying, kept hoping, kept trying. Weebles wobble but they don't fall down, just ask Autumn. She got hit by a car last Tuesday, December 23rd and to look at her now (this picture was taken yesterday, December 30th), just a week later, you would never know it. That's God working, watching over her, healing her.
Pablo went to Mexico to take care of his visa and he made it back early Monday morning. Now he's in this country legally and they will be getting married in 2009!! That's so exciting!

I have a new job with wonderful people, actually wonderful people. It is a small office (six of us here), fun, laid-back, but working hard to further stem cell research. I feel blessed to be a part of this organization.

My hope for 2009 is to STOP SMOKING and take a dance exercise class regularly. My 50th birthday is less than four months away and I am soooooooo excited about that!! I honestly didn't think I would live to see 50, but I am extremely thankful that I have. THANK YOU GOD!!

Happy New Year to my family, my friends, and may God Bless You and keep you.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Sadness today...

Well, at 10:27 am this morning Autumn's kitty, Stevie, went on to kitty heaven. He was only three years old but he had been sick on and off during the two years she had him but he always got better. This time he just deteriorated over the past two weeks. We took him to the Humane Society (there is nothing humane about this society when it comes to their money though) this past Wednesday to see if they could help him. They gave him an antibiotic, fluids and showed Autumn how to force feed him. We tried that over the course of the next three days but he couldn't keep anything down. So, last night we decided to take him back to the Humane Society this morning to have blood work done to see if they could figure out what was going on with him.

It turned out he had a luekemia virus and the only option was to put him to sleep. If you are an animal lover you know that this is heartbreaking. I was with Joe when he had to put Conrad to sleep a few years ago and it was extremely difficult. Autumn was so heartbroken and had to leave the room. I stayed with Stevie while they gave him the medicine and helped him pass over to the fields where he can roam and play without pain and suffering. I cried so hard but I know he's happy now.

He's a beautiful cat, part Siamese, part tabby, just sweet and lovable. I know he will be watching over us forever.

God Bless You Stevie! You brought joy and love to our lives during your short time here on earth! Thank you!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Rainy days and Tuesday...

G'day, my friends!!

Well, I started my new job last Thursday and I have to say...so far, so good. I like my boss, even though she's a woman (LOL!!); I like my co-workers, even though 85% of them are women; and I am enjoying the work.

I am really looking foward to that first paycheck on October 24th. I will be able to fully pay my rent, start getting caught up on my car payments, get some car insurance, pay for my Carrie ticket, put gas in my car (I might even fill 'er up!!), and get back to trying to clear up my credit report. I'm working toward getting that bad credit turned around by the end of next year. It's only taken me 30 years to get it to this horrible point, I'm hoping, if I focus, that I can get it back to decent in a year. Motivation is THE key.

The main bill that I'm really focused on right this moment though is the gas bill. We've been without gas for a little over two months now. Taking baths with heated water out of a bowl is not fun but at least I can do it with hot water because, luckily, I have an electric stove!! Thank you so much to Joe and Rodney for allowing me to occasionally take a shower at their house. My family is soooooooo jealous!! LOL!!

Now to the sadder version...my brother is leaning toward becoming a drunk. Who drinks TWO, 30-packs of beer in five days unless they're a drunk? It makes no sense to me. The house smells, he smells, my couch smells, everything is pretty disgusting and he drinks all day and plays online poker. I don't get it. I have talked to my friend Warner about this situation and I know what I have to do, the problem is finding the backbone to do it. There's just no reason why Jim can't get a job, even if it's at McDonald's or the cigarette shop, anything would do, just so he could contribute more. Why do I have to ask for something to be done in that house when he's there ALL day, EVERY day?

When I asked him to come here nine years ago it wasn't so I could take care of him for the rest of his life or mine. It was to get him off the street and on his way to a better life. He's got a better life alright but not at his own hands. And yet, he has the nerve to constantly berate my daughter to me. Have you looked in the mirror in the past 10 years?? Yes, she has her faults, as we all do, but she does try, she does work, she is going to school, she is trying to better her life and Pablo's, that's more than can be said for him. It's so frustrating.

I want to give him an ultimatum but I don't want him to be homeless again just because he's weak, you know? But I'm getting to the point where my compassion toward him is at an all-time low and something's got to change.

Oh well...fuck.

So, that's my soapbox for the day. It's rainy, gloomy, but I'm at work and I'm going to delve in to some stuff that I need to take care of.

Here's to LIFE!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Finally...

WOOHOO!! I finally found a PERMANENT, FULL-TIME postion with HEALTH INSURANCE!! I will be working at National Hospice Management, Inc. as the Executive Assistant to the President/CEO. I start next Wednesday, October 1st, the day before my 21st anniversary of my move to St. Louis. All I can do is give my best each and every day and pray that this one lasts.

I miss Joe...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Life...

My mind is overflowing today. I so wish I could type 10,000 words a minute so I could get it all out.

I lay in bed for three hours last night, my life flashing through my mind, I'm still not sure where it came from, why it started but I have decided to write it all down. Maybe if I do that I will be able to let it go...

I was born on April 23, 1959. Two years later my brother, who was four at that time, and I were abandoned on orphanage steps, just left there. Over the course of the next five years we were in and out of foster homes. I guess it was by the grace of God that we were kept together.

During the summer of my 7th year, my brother's 9th year, we were adopted by a couple who lived on a farm in Upstate New York. My mother was a teacher, my father was a maintenance man at the school that I went to.

My brother and I were basically treated like work slaves over the course of the next 12 years. From the time we moved in with them we took care of the house, the gardening, the livestock. If things weren't done to their satisfaction, we were beaten, period. My brother lasted for six years before he took off in the middle of a snowstorm one December when he was 15. I didn't see or hear from him again for six years.

My father abused me in ways that...I don't even know what words to use to describe it. He gave me weekly enemas until I started growing pubic hair. I didn't realize until I was in counseling years later that it was his perverse way of getting off. Once I started into puberty and grew breasts, that became his focus. He was an alcoholic. He and my mother started drinking EVERY night at exactly five o'clock. She would never have more than two drinks, my father would drink, drink, drink and then get me somewhere that no one could see and suck on my breasts. I didn't understand what was happening to me at the time, I just knew that if I didn't cooperate that I would be out on the street again, that's how things were presented to me.

I endured this treatment for three years and then I finally mentioned it to my friend Julie, who told her mother, who then talked to me about it. She let me know that if my parents ever put me out, they would take care of me. Saying no to my father that first time and not being afraid of being an orphan again was enlightening. He didn't know what to do with himself for years after that. He just took things out on me in different ways.

I often wonder to this day if my mother knew what my father was doing to me. If she did, why did she never do anything about it? I sometimes believe she knew but it was easier for her to let him abuse me so she wouldn't have to put up with him touching her. I do honestly believe that, as horrible as it is.

It's so strange to sit here and write this, to see this in words on the screen. There are so many more sickening secrets in my heart and soul from this family that I endured but this was the worst.

Have I gotten over it? Never. Learned to deal with it? For the most part.

My daughter's father abused me, beat me while I was pregnant to the point where he almost killed me.

I was raped while I was in the Army, turned the guy in, went to the hospital, had the rape kit done, everything. What happened to him? He lost a stripe. Wow, too bad for him, huh?

I spent four years in a relationship 11 years ago that was abusive physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

The cycle has continued throughout my life. That's why I haven't been in a relationship for all these years. I don't trust myself, I don't trust men, I really don't trust much of anyone. Just God totally.

I want to love and be loved. I want to be happy. My mortality is coming to the forefront of my thoughts alot lately. I will be 50 years old in seven months and I have NEVER have a stable, loving relationship with a man. I just want to be happy. I have so much love to give but no one to share it with because of the fear that creates the glass pane around me.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Summer has come and gone...

It really was a wonderful summer. I had so much fun with Joe and Rodney and all our friends. The pool parties were hilarious and, at time, outrageous. The food was fabulous and playing volleyball was great!

I also went with them a few times to sing karaoke, which I never thought I would do but it turned out to be a great time too. Especially the first time I went with them to Hummel's. That night was THE most fun I have had in a very long time. Lots of drinking, singing, eating diner food, Rodney throwing up, it was all a good time. Well, maybe not for Rodney in the throwing up part, but the rest was wonderful.

Still no full-time job for me. I applied for two jobs at two different banks, got a call to interview at one, when I realized that there was NO WAY they would ever hire me when they got a look at my credit report. After all, it is a bank, they have to be thorough and they would not like what they saw when they started searching out information on me. I called that interview off. I stressed myself out so much over it I made this damn cold sore come back above my lip and now I look like a fucking monster! It's so disgusting and it takes at least two weeks for it to go away. Great...

My brother's been sick all week, Autumn's still not working because of her herniated disc, we have no gas at our house, which makes for cold showers (although I'm thankful that Joe and Rodney occasionally let me take a shower at their house!!), and I'm getting concerned about the cold weather approaching and no heat. Oh man...what the fuck.

I have been in a horrid mood all week, know I've been bitchy to everyone, especially when I get home. It just pisses me off because Jim will not cover his face when he sneezes and coughs and he lives in the damn living room, which means he's just spreading his germs so everyone else can get sick too. That would be just what I would need right now. I went to Walgreen's yesterday and bought him some of that gel that you rub on your hands to sanitize them, wishful thinking on my part that he will even use it.

Oh well...

Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday...

Well, another work week coming to a close...nothing exciting there, but I'm thankful for the hours and the pay.

I lay in bed at night and think about this writing business, trying to get past the fact that it's just me writing to myself, seems so strange.

Depression has set in again and I'm really fighting it at every turn.

Going home is stressful. It's horrible to dread going to my own apartment, knowing that stress is abundant, I can feel the tension as soon as I open the back door.

I love my daughter so much but I can REALLY see (when she's living with me) how truly spoiled, selfish and self-centered she is. She really does not have ANY respect for me, my things, or my privacy. If she wants it, she takes it, period. If she doesn't get her way, she actually pouts and gets mad, like she's five instead of almost 27. It's my own fault, I do know that, I just don't know what to do to change things. No, I take that back. I do know what to do to change things, I just don't have the backbone to do it. I still care too much about wanting to be loved, not wanting her, or anyone else that I care about to be mad at me, maybe not love me, to do anything to upset her or them. That sucks.

It's going to be a LONG weekend. I'm hoping I can find something to do so that I don't have to be in the house with them all weekend. That's so sad, to not want to be around your own family.

Crap...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Contemplative today...

This seems so weird to sit and write to myself...

But maybe it will help.

I couldn't sleep last night, so many things whirling through my mind. I was exhausted and still tossing and turning. I finally got up at midnight and took a sleeping pill, needless to say after waiting another hour it kicked in and I was able to get to sleep around 1:30 this morning. It was difficult to get up and I almost didn't...I wanted to stay right there in bed with the covers over my head. Feeling like - "What's the point?". But, alas, after hitting the snooze 20 times I finally managed to drag myself out of bed and into that VERY cold shower. That just added to my pissed off mood this morning.

I am in that mood of disliking everyone and everything today. Just angry with life, I guess. I hate feeling sorry for myself, hate it, hate it, hate it. It just makes me angrier to feel this way.

I lay in bed last night wondering why I can't cry. I used to be able to but it's an extremely rare feat for me over these past few years. I guess I'm 'all cried out'. I would like to cry, I think it would help release some of this pent-up emotion but I don't know how to get myself to that point. Instead the stress keeps building, I get angrier, and my head and stomach get sicker. Whoa is me, huh? That's even more disgusting.

As I was driving to work I was thinking about what I could do to make myself happy. I am almost 50 years old, my life is passing me by and I can't honestly say I have ever been TRULY happy. What does that feel like? What do I need to do to feel that? If I knew I could probably work towards it but I don't even know myself what would make me happy so I don't know where to begin...

Enough.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Hmmmm...

Friday night I went with Joe, Rodney and friends to Hummel's for drinking and singing our hearts out. It had been a rough week, I'm very stressed with so many people living in my apartment, having a hard time finding a full-time job, finances going down the drain, shall I continue? I don't think so. What's the point is where I'm at right now. No one wants to hear my problems, no one has the time to hear my problems, so I keep them to myself for the most part.

But then Laura looked across the table at me Friday night, motioned me to come sit next to her and she asked me what was going on because I didn't look life I felt good, which I didn't. Next thing I know I'm voicing my woes to her. It felt good to say some of these things out loud to someone who was actually listening, sometimes you just have to have someone to do that with. But after we left and I thought about it, I felt guilty for telling her those things when we were supposed to be having a good time. I sent her an email this morning thanking her for listening and hoping I didn't bring her down but, once again, she was generous and thoughtful in letting me know if I needed to talk she was there.

Some excellent advice she gave me was to write my feelings down. I've never been a writer of feelings so that's a new venture for me. What if I write something that someone reads and it upsets them? Well, then they probably shouldn't be reading what I'm writing, right?

I'm just a mixed-up, confused 49 year old, single woman who keeps going around in circles, the same circles, over and over again while everyone around me (for the most part) moves forward. I try to be happy for everyone, try to treat everyone with love and respect, but sometimes it's hard to keep a smile on my face.

When someone treats my friend with disrespect and they don't want to see it, it's difficult not to draw the line and confront that person who is doing the disprecting. Love blinders are the worst...but, unfortunately, one day it will come to light for that person who is being disrepected, and they will be hurt, and I will be there to comfort them, but I always wish it wouldn't come to that. It's difficult to watch it unfold...

Life goes on regardless...