My DUH Moment

Let's rewind back to Wednesday night, shall we?  I was getting my lunch ready for Thursday. I was pretty excited about a salad I was making. It had romaine lettuce, some diced green and red peppers, sliced strawberries, and some fat free cheddar... SO delicious!  I also packed a little container of frozen chicken pieces. My dressing is a strawberry vinaigrette.  Doesn't that sound refreshing?!?!  Well... On the way to work on Thursday, I realized that I forgot my dressing.  My options were to either save the salad for Friday and bop on over to Subway for a salad, or "borrow" some dressing from the fridge at work.  I told a couple people that I forgot my dressing and they both offered theirs!  Perfect!  I found a tasty balsamic vinaigrette in the fridge and was good to go.  Bonus, someone brought in a bag of nuts so I was able to have fresh cracked walnuts, almonds, and pecans on my salad, as well!

Lunchtime comes around and I am probably more excited for this salad than is normal, but who cares?!  I popped the chicken into the microwave for a minute and began cracking my nuts.  I was getting too frustrated with the stupid wrench that we had to use to crack the nuts (note: if you take a sack 'o nuts into your workplace, take a freakin' nut cracker!) and finally gave up.  I was able to get a few walnuts, a couple of pecans, and one lonely almond.  I poured the dressing on and ate that salad right up!  It was really good!

After we got home from Jaden's school carnival last night and I got both girls in bed, I grabbed my lunch bag from my diaper bag so I could pack my lunch for Friday.  That's when it hit me.
MY CHICKEN WAS STILL IN THE MICROWAVE.
That's right.  I never took the flippin' chicken out!  Are you kidding me?!  I was looking forward to that salad all night and day!  How on earth could I have forgotten the chicken??

I got to work this morning and immediately went into the lounge and saw that the microwave still said "END."  That means I was the last person to use it and sure enough, there sat my warm, smelly chicken.  Today, I packed another salad.  I brought my dressing and another piece of chicken.  Let's hope I still have half a brain by the time lunch rolls around again!  Totally explains why I was so hungry by the end of the work day yesterday... TGIF.

Seriously.

Yes, I believe this is IN error.

Just so you know, I found this devastating news out only when I tried to access the site for a work-related search.  Love it.

Friday Fun: M&Ms vs. Eminem

As I sit here listening to Lighters on YouTube:


Other Person in the Room: "Is that Eminen?"
Me: "EminEM, like the candy, and yes it is Eminem."
OPR: "They're still making music? Aren't they getting old?"
Me: "He. It's not a group. Eminem is a person."
OPR: "Oh, when did they break up?"
Me: "No, Eminem is a person, not a group."
OPR: "Oh, I thought it was Eminems."
Me: "No, that's the candy."
OPR: "No thanks."
Me: "Huh?"
OPR: "Oh, I thought you asked me if I wanted candy."

Dead serious.

Stephanie Tanner said it best, "How rude!"

Listen up, ladies (and the few guys that read, too)!  When somebody so kindly invites you to a party (or any event that would warrant an invitation), répondez s'il vous plaît!  Seriously, it is just rude to not reply.  Here is your lesson.  Pull up a chair and grab a piece of paper... You'll want to take notes.

If you can not attend, or don't even want to, THAT'S OK!  That is an option!  Just call me, email me, text me, get a hold of me SOMEHOW and tell me, "Sorry! Ain't happenin', sista!"  I don't care what your excuse is.  I just want to know if I should plan for your attendance or not.  Obviously I want you there because I invited you, but if you can't, NO BIGGIE.  I hate the excuse, "Well, I didn't call you because I didn't want you to be mad at me for not coming."  To that, I give you a mental punch to the face, NOT because you didn't come, because you were rude and didn't tell me.  If attendance was REQUIRED, the invite would have said that.  When you see those four letters, that means that I understand that life happens and I may not be your first choice... Just RESPOND!

If you can come, don't assume that I already know that.  If I did, I would not have requested an RSVP from you!  Duh.  When I plan birthday parties for my girls, I usually don't request an RSVP from family.  For one, I'll most likely make the same amount of food whether or not one or two people don't show up.  Secondly, their parties are usually at my house so I don't need to give any sort of facilitator a head count.  BUT, should I happen to request a reply, there is most likely a reason behind it.  Do it!

Now, I get that it's not always black and white (dot blogspot dot com).  You may have an instance of, "Gosh, I already have something going on that day but if I can leave a little early, I may be able to make it..."  Than TELL me that!  I will probably just quickly text you a few days in advance and be like, "So, do you think you might be able to make it?"  To that, RESPOND.  Don't ignore.  Don't say that you never got the text because I will ask you to prove it.  Just reply to my text. 

Lesson learned?  GOOD.  If you are already taking the time to open and look at the invitation I sent you (and marvel in my creativity), take the time to look at your stupid calendar and at least text me!  Trust me, I'll be more ticked off at the fact that I can not read your mind and so therefore I have to call YOU, than I would be if you told me you can't come.  Deal?  Oh, and in case you were wondering, this applies to ALL invitations you receive, not just ones from me ;o)

Oh, and just so you know... I have not recently planned a party and not NOT got a reply.  This is just a general kick in the tush :o)  You're welcome!

Have a great weekend!

You are NOT a mother...

I am so tired of hearing these sick stories of people that are abusing and neglecting their own children! Here are a couple of recent news stories that have happened in Fort Wayne (names and addresses have been omitted).

Published: March 22, 2011 3:00 a.m.

5 home-alone children found near rat poison
The Journal Gazette

Five young children were left alone for more than two hours inside a south-side home with an open container of rat poison within their reach early Sunday, court documents show.

Fort Wayne police found five children ages 3 to 9 unsupervised Sunday in a home in the ### block of [street name]. Four of the children lived at the home with their mother, [mother], and the fifth was left in her care.

[Mother] was arrested on an initial charges of public intoxication and five counts of neglect of a dependent.

Fort Wayne police responded at 3:20 a.m. on a report of a burglary alarm. A 9-year-old boy living at the home said the alarm was sounding, according to court documents.

The boy told police his mother left two hours earlier and didn’t know where she went, court documents said.

Police said the home was filthy, an iron was found plugged in and set to high heat, an empty .45-caliber handgun case was on the dining room table and an open container of rat poison was found within reach of the children, court documents said.

[Mother], 28, called home about 45 minutes after police arrived and told them she was out back having a cigarette and her alarm went off, court documents said.

When [mother] returned home, police said they could smell alcohol on her breath.

[Mother] was booked into Allen County Lockup at 4:20 a.m. and was later released on $12,500 bail.

She left an iron on, a gun on the table, and an open container of rat poison within reach of the children?!  She obviously wanted her children to "accidentally" hurt themselves.  I am wondering what it was that pushed her over the edge.  What could have been SO bad to do this to children??


Published: April 13, 2011 3:00 a.m.

Mom hurt baby girl, 6-year-old tells court
Rebecca S. Green

With his head about a foot above the wall of the witness chair, [son], who had just turned 6, testified he saw his mother punch his infant sister in the stomach.

The little boy’s testimony came at the end of the first day of testimony Tuesday in the Allen County Superior Court trial of [mother], 26.

Johnson is charged with battery causing death of a child, neglect of a dependent causing death and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury.

She was arrested late in the day on Dec. 9, hours after she took the lifeless body of 4-week-old [daughter] from the [name] home in the #### block of [street name] to the home of friends [friend] and [friend], who lived in an apartment on [street], more than three miles away.

Along with the infant, [mother] had her three other small children in the car and told [friend] she thought the baby was dead.

[Daughter] was dead, having suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on her brain. The Allen County Coroner’s Office later ruled her death a homicide.

According to court documents, [daughter] had obvious injuries to her face and chest area, including burns in different stages of healing.

An unidentified substance was found in her stomach during the autopsy and the pathologist believed the burn to the chest appeared to have come at a different time as the facial burn.

[Mother]’s friend [friend] wiped tears from her eyes as she described how [mother] did not want [daughter], the youngest of her four children, either before the baby’s death or afterward.

[Friend] said [mother] seemed to have an “attitude” about how she felt about the baby, telling everyone she only had three children though she obviously had four.

“I told her she needed to accept her daughter,” [friend] said. “I don’t think she had any attachment to the baby at all.”

At one point [friend] saw an obvious black eye on [daughter], who also seemed to have bubbly saliva. The baby’s condition was so striking [friend] took a picture of her with a cellphone camera.

The picture clearly shows a black and blue left eye and the infant’s lips coated with saliva.

“I don’t know, I just had an instinct something might happen,” [friend] said of her decision to take the picture during cross-examination.

When [friend] asked [mother] about [daughter]'s black eye, [mother] told her the other children had hit her.

But when [son] took the stand Tuesday afternoon, he put the blame on his mother.

In his small-child’s voice, he told the court he once saw [mother] twist the baby’s legs and tell [daughter] she was ugly.

[Son] said the baby slept in his room – sometimes in a car seat – and other times sleeping in the bed with [mother].

During cross-examination, [son] said he told [mother] to stop when he saw her punch the infant and “bend her legs.”

Throughout much of the day, [mother] sat calmly, but was obviously saddened, occasionally wiping tears away from her eyes and clutching a tissue in her hand.

The trial is scheduled to continue through Thursday.

How sick is this?!  I can not believe that somebody could do such horrible things to a child... an infant... HER OWN daughter!

Sorry for such a downer post today but I just wanted to share these stories.  In the second one, the friend admitted that she thought something was up and even took a picture!  She might have been able to save that poor baby if she would have went to the police.  It's just so sad.

French Toast Warning!

Fort Wayne is under a Level 1 Snow Emergency.  You know what that means, right?  Time to eat french toast!  Everyone goes to the grocery store when we are expected to get a big snow storm and buys milk, eggs, and bread... I only wish they would remind us to buy syrup!

Apparently my neighbor didn't get the memo...

He got stuck getting out of his driveway, driving 20 yards down the street, reversing back to his driveway, and then getting back into his driveway.  He was a determined idiot though.  He shoveled his way out and left.  Some things are just too important, I guess!

We opted to just stay in and make some Valentine's Day decorations!

 Lovely!

Then, Taylor found her bellybutton... Thanks goodness, I was worried we had lost it forever!

It's been a fun morning!  Enjoy the snow :o)