What a trip!

I know, I know, it's been ages since I have updated. Things have been up and down here and issues with work and me almost losing said job due to having a dozy a-hole of a boss haven't helped things.

Cut a long story short, my boss sent me on a very boring training course almost 60miles away in North Dallas and promised to pay me my expenses, hourly rate and lunches. I did the math before he signed me up for it and knew I would clean up.

When push came to shove, he threw a cow when I showed him how much he owed me. He then went on bitching saying that he wouldn't be able to afford to pay me for the rest of the month if he paid me what he owed me. He whined about how bad business had been and how I should be thinking about the secruity of the company. SCREW the company! I WANT WHAT'S OWED to me! I was SOOOOO mad at him. I kept my cool though and he duly paid me what I was owed.

I put forward an offer to him that I take some time off and that would reduce his pay out to me, and would give me some space from him. He agreed.

The good thing for me was that I had a good friend flying over from London to come and visit with me for ten days, so this would wok out well for us both.

Enough about the work saga as it pisses me off just writing about it.

My friend S has flown almost 5000 miles to see me! Woo hoo! We haven't seen each other since the wedding over 2yrs ago and have a LOT of catching up to do!

She flew in on Tuesday evening and when she walked through the glass doors at arrivals, I hugged her (and cried) so hard, I thought I was going to break her back!

So far, we have shopped, eaten out and visited South Fork Ranch. I've already been there, but I knew she wanted to go there. Tomorrow, we're going to the 6th Floor Museum and Reunion Tower. I've been to those too, but we're going late afternoon/early evening when the sun will be going down so we get a different view and some good photo opportunities hopefully.

Sunday we're going to the outlet mall in Grapevine and onto a BBQ at my outlaws for the FIL's b'day.

Monday I think is time to go to the Stockyards. Not sure what the rest of the week has in store, but we are enjoying having girly days out and catching up on all the stuff we have missed out on!

The puppy is getting big. She last weighed in at 26lbs and is only 6months old. Puppy training finishes tomorrow. She has learnt a lot in a short space of time, but still needs more guidance. Or is that me that needs more guidance? LOL

We finally kicked Directv to the kerb after their stupid DVR box quit working for the LAST time. Dish network are now installed and so far, so good!

Anyway, I'm getting off here now. I can't promise when I can next update as it's really nutso this end, but I will try to get here more often. TTFN

Time flies

Don't ask me where the time has gone, cause I just couldn't tell you! Things have been manic as usual here and lots has happened.

We got a BRAND new Chrysler Pacifica. We were going to get a used one, but with the employee discounting they have been offering, it worked out the same payment as buying a used one. It comes with virtually all the nifty gizmoes and gadgets as a fully loaded one -just without the navigation system, memory/heated seats and dvd screen. Other than that, it pretty much has it all. We ended up leasing it as again, the payments worked out better for us. It's called "Butane Blue Pearl, but to you and I, that is pale blue metallic. I have wanted one for the longest time, so this was like a dream come true for me, and it kind of softened what hubby did by getting the Camaro.

Work is still same ol', same ol'.He is sending me on a training course towards the end of this month to get my group 1 license. This basically means I can handle life insurance applications. I'm not looking forward to it to be honest, as I am just not interested in this career (if you can call it that). It could work out really well and make me a LOT of money, but the passion and drive is simply not there. Right now, for me, it is just a means to an end (or the car payment) LOL

Daisy is doing well at her puppy training and will sit, lay down, drop it, leave it, go to bed and come when called (most of the time anyway). We have figured out that she needs a gentle leader collar to stop her yanking my arm out of the socket when I try to take her for a walk. It got to the stage where I just wasn't enjoying the walks, and even the trainer said it was going to take longer than usual with her as she was so stubborn. Within minutes of wearing the new collar, she had stopped pulling. Hopefully, she will be able to walk normally after a while without it as honestly, I think it looks like a torture device.

It was C's 10th birthday on Sunday and we took her to IHOP for breakfast, then went and picked up her friend and spent 5hrs at NRH20. Despite us covering ourselves with factor 50, we all managed to come out looking lobster-esque! It started to thunder just as we were getting ready to leave and we decided to go to On The Border for dinner. We let it slip it was her birthday and they came out at the end of the meal with a huge hot chocolate fudge brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and nuts. They then made her stand on the chair and dance whilst they sang to her. It was cute! The dessert was good too....they brought out 4 spoons! Hehehe

Sorry if I haven't blogged or been hopping lately, I have just been rushed off my feet. I will try to get caught up and post some photos on here as and when I find some time.

TTFN

Don't even go there!

Immigration was a waste of f****** time. Apparently my work permit is sufficient evidence that I am pending and in the system. Well according to the college, it's NOT and they are still insistant on that stupid I797C Notice of Action form. Grrrr. I guess I won't be going to school after all. :-(

Things have been strained again this end with the kids issue. I don't know what to do to make it all right. I can't force them to want to be with me, or to like me, but when they totally disrespect me in my own house, what the f*** am I supposed to do? Just ignore their rudeness? Just ignore it when they are tearing up my home? Just ignore their lack of manners in general and say nothing? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?

I KNOW full well that TSS is poisoning them against me. I can't do a damn thing about that. I just hope that in time, they will see I am not this God awful person she has painted me out to be and that in fact SHE is the bad person here. The kids came with dirty, ripped up clothing again this past weekend and the youngest one K didn't even HAVE anything clean to put on the next day after her shower. C gave her some of her old panties to wear, but I drew the line there as whatever was given or lent to her would never be seen again. I asked K what happened to the cute new sandals I bought her about 6 weeks ago and they have been "Lost". Yeah right! More likt TSS resented ME buying her something NICE to wear and threw them out! It irritates the shit out of me that E is paying that bitch $600 a month in child support and the kids are walking round looking like paupers! SHE is living it up smoking, drinking, doing drugs, going to parties and clubs and getting her hair and nails done whilst her own kids look like shit. Ok, I need to shut the f*** up cause it's just irritating me further to write about it. *sigh*

Miss Daisy is enrolled in puppy training classes over at PetSmart. She starts on Saturday. It's an 8 week class and I am hoping it will help a lot. She is very stubborn (as Staffies are) and I want her to actually COME when I call her as opposed just looking at me and flipping me off LOL I'll let you know how we get on with that one!

Work is boring. My boss is a real flake when it comes to almost everything. He is hopeless at remembering stuff and has forgotten to pay me when pay day rolls round.

He sent me on a training class last week, only to tell me 30mins before it was due to start, that I didn't have a confirmed place and could I try to get squeezed in anyway? Grrr. Not only that, but he'd given me the wrong frigging address to go to too! It was actually miles in the opposite direction. It ended up being a total waste of time. I DID get 48cents per mile out of him for the gas and wear and tear on my car though and got to meet E for lunch and go shopping at the mall. Hehehe. Not all bad then I guess!

He went to install Office 2003 on the new PC he got me and he'd LOST the product key! How can you spend hundreds of dollars on software and then LOSE the frigging key for it? He went all around the houses and finally called M$ and got another key from them. Cost him $10, but he got one. *sigh*

He's out of the office today which is why I have some blog time available. Yay! I WAS going to do some promotional letters for him, but seeing as he had NO HEADED PAPER, I couldn't do that either. Everything is on a go slow here. It's like I start this awsome project trying to get this man organized, and it gets stopped in its tracks cause he is so laid back. I set up a data base with all of the names I had called off his lead list. I told him who needed to be called back and who was interested in changing companies. Did he bother to contact any of these people. NO. *shakes head* Why do I bother?!

I've been doing some of my web design stuff but have gotten bogged down with some issues pertaining to that. I need to get my thinking cap on...

I've gotten interested in my genealogy stuff again and have actually been making progress with tracing my ancestors. I'm hoping to get a membership to ancestory.co.uk figured out again so I can get a bit farther back on the UK side of things. That is more affordable than the worldwide membership which I would love to buy, but is out of my reach right now. *sigh* I need to order some birth certificates and marriage certificates etc from the UK, but will need to enlist in some help from a friend of mine to do some looking up in the indexes first *winks*

The 1901 census being online has been a huge help, but with them charging £5.00 (about $9) for 500 credits, and them taking an average of 50 credits per look up, that £5.00 doesn't get you very far! I got through 1,000 credits like they were water the other night. I DID make some interesting discoveries though and was very pleased with my findings. My Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother and all of their living children all under one roof in London, 1901. TEN people in one house! *gasp*. I think I have also located my Great Great Grandfather too. Just trying to do some more checking around on that one though ;-)

We're hopefully going car shopping at the weekend. Not sure how much finance I can get given to me, but we're hoping to get a Pacifica. My parents are coming back next May/June time for a visit and we want to go to Graceland by car, so that would be ideal for us!

Anyway, I hope this is a big enough entry for you. I will try to update a bit more often, but things are real hectic at the moment.

Big Update!

Ok, so I am back by popular demand. No, I'm being forced to blog by someone....and you KNOW who you are...LOL

Lots and lots of stuff has happened since I last blogged and I haven't really had too much chance to catch my breath, let alone blog hop or write my own journal. So if I have been away and distant, this is why.

The puppy has been keeping me real busy. It's like having a baby that can run and has very sharp teeth! Her eating habits have gotten better, but she is showing signs of a grazer as opposed a two meals a day kind of dog. Kind of frustrating to be honest as I would prefer her to just eat the two meals and be done with it! She's really starting to fill out now and her face muscles are coming in which is nice. Her ears don't look too big for her now and she has grown into them LOL She has piled on some weight too. At last weigh-in, she tipped the scales at 17.8lbs. That was on Sunday and she is now 18 weeks!

The cats still hate their new housemate and see her as the enemy within as opposed to a new friend. *sigh*

I have been doing some contract web and graphic design work which is keeping me ticking over too. It comes along in dribs and drabs, and the money is nice when it does, but I never plan on it as it's not a reliable source of income.

Fathers' Day was nice. We went to the outlaws with the pup and all three kiddoes in tow. My outlaws had AJ and UD over with their two dogs, so with my MIL's two, there were 5 furry beasts running riot! I had to make another one of THOSE yummy cheesecakes which won me a lot of Brownie points from all corners, so that was good.

TSS has turned to women now. We had our suspicions for a while now, as she has been spending rather a lot of time in the company of one woman in particular and it finally came out. No surprise there as ever since her and E split, she started stating she was Bi. Oh well, each to their own I guess.

The step kiddoes have been stressing me out quite a bit of late, to the point where I am on the brink of tears. They have no respect for me and no respect for our house. They have little respect for E either which I find very saddening. TSS doesn't give a flying crap about them or their behavior when they are here and we are fighting a losing battle with table manners and general attitudes in general. I feel like packing my bags and buggering off for the weekend when they are here, it can be that bad. *sniff*

We had our 2nd wedding anniversary two weeks ago. We went to my fav restaurant - Red Lobster and of course I had my usual coconut shrimp bites, loaded baked potato and garden salad with 1000 island! LOL We were both too skint to buy each other presents, so agreed to postpone the present side and just get cards for now. I was kind of upset about it, but didn't have any choice as the house has to come first.

And my biggest news: I GOT A JOB! It's for a small insurance agency. I am working with one agent and will eventually be trained up to get my license and own client list. It's not what I want to do honestly, and I am going to enroll in night school to get a degree in what I REALLY want to do. It will take me about 3 yrs to do, but will be worth it for the degree and also the dream career. NO, I am not going to tell you what it is at this point in the proceedings, you will just have to wait!!!

I have to go to see Immigration tomorrow to get a notice of action to show residency for the reduced rate of classes at college which is a pain. Maybe they can give me an update as to our pending status. It's sooooo frustrating. You know the Homeland Security are dragging their heels when a form is introduced before you're fully immigrated and you need one for college! "We don't care if you started the process before this form existed. We don't care that you have a work permit, SSN, Drivers' License, Credit cards, bank account, pay taxes and social security or OWN A FRICKING HOUSE IN THE COUNTY, you NEED an I797C!" Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhh.

Ok, I have some stuff to be getting on with so am signing off for now. TTFN

Woof!

Miss Daisy is settling in slowly, slowly. I am still having issues with her eating though. She must have had a hard time eating when in her litter as she is grabbing food from the bowl and running with it. She never finishes what I put down for her, and sometimes I have to hand feed her. I don't want her to be one of those dogs who pick at their food all day long. I'd prefer to know how much she is actually getting. I know I went through this with my other Staffie pup, but it seems like it is going on longer this time around. Maybe I am just forgetful of how it was back then!

The cats aren't too impressed: especially when Miss Daisy chases them around the house. There has been some hissing, spitting and fuzzed up tails so far, but no teeth or claws.....YET!

I feel very sleepy due to the fact that Miss Daisy had me up at 4.20am crying to come out of her crate. I managed to get her and myself back to sleep again, but it's left me feeling like crap. I should have just gotten up instead of going back to sleep for another 90mins. I think it's made me feel worse, not better!

Ok, I have had my drugs and breakfast, now I need to grab a shower. Bye for now.

A dollop of Daisy?

San Antonio was a nice getaway. It was only a couple of days, but the change of scenary and chilling out was good. The drive down was a bit frustrating trying to get through Austin, but other than that, it was pretty much cruise control 65-70 most of the way!

Saturday morning we got up early and had a good breakfast at the hotel. We then headed off to downtown San Antonio. We got parked up in the multi-storey there and thank God we left when we did, cause it was filling up fast, even at that time!

We walked around to the Alamo and did the tourist thing there. Quite an eerie feel to the place when you think about all the men, women and children that died there and the fact that we were there on Memorial Day Weekend too. I figured this was as good a place as any to start learning some of America's history.


The Alamo

We walked along the River Walk and found a British Pub Eric had discovered on the internet and settled on lunch there. I had the most fantastic Bangers n Mash covered with onion gravy with Heinz Baked Beans. Only an ex pat could understand what I went through devouring that meal!! LMAO


Some of the decor at Mad Dog's (and yes, that is an ORIGINAL mini, not one of the larger, trendy ones seen driving around today!)


My lunch, complete with Union Jack!

Well, after we were done with the River Walk and River Center, we went to see the breeder and I fell in love with the older puppy. She had the prettiest green eyes I had ever seen! She was pretty scared coming away from her siblings and mom, but she soon got used to us and after the intial shock had worn off, she slept all the way home! We made a brief stop so she could go potty and have a snack and some water, but she wouldn't "go". She held it in all the way home and another hour and a half after we got in! But since then, she has been potty OUTSIDE a lot. In fact, she has done it all outside and no accidents. Maybe there are some advantages of getting a slightly older pup. We initially thought she was ten weeks but then after being told the dates it worked out to be 13 weeks. Then I emailed the breeder and asked if she wss sure about her birthdate and it turned out she had got it mixed up with another batch and it should have been March 05 which makes her TWELVE weeks old today.

She slept in her crate all last night and didn't cry or bark once to come out. She has been a bit picky with her eating today, but I am sure she will settle in a few days.

Here are a few pics of my "dollop of" Daisy, the blue & white Staffordshire Bull Terrier (NOT to be confused with an American Staffordshire or a Pitbull please).


At the picnic rest area


On the patio: "He's my daddy!"


Ok, so I am a couch PUP-ato!


Do you like my bling, bling collar?

A Sad Day

I feel sick to my stomach. My puppy Lily is dead. The breeder called me about an hour ago to say the mom must have sat on her as she went in to check on them and feed them and her neck was broken. We are still going to go to San Antonio as planned and look at two other puppies that may or may not be suitable. I'm not saying for definite one way or another whether we will get either of them, but I do favor one more over the other. I don't want to get one for the sake of getting one either. If neither are right for us, we will wait for another litter. I feel so low right now.