My husband has been giving me grief lately, because he feels like he married the next John Grogan. The only thing I seem to post about on this blog are my dogs.

Well, let’s face it, I’ve had a rough couple of years in terms of my life with dogs. First, I lose my best friend and our first family dog. Then we bring home Mugen and he starts sewing us up and then we adopt Lucy and feel like the family is complete only to have her taken from us by cancer less than two years later. Along the way, we adopted Jazzmin because she needed someplace to go and when Lucy was gone, I was so horribly lonely without her that my husband decided we needed a third again and we adopted Jet. That’s a lot of doing with dogs in three years, so I have a lot to talk about when it comes to my crew.… [Read More]

So this is Christmas…

I cannot change the ignorance of younger generations. It is not my fault, nor my responsibility that the rest of society has failed these children. I cannot change the fact that members of the younger generation feel that they are right, even when it is glaringly obvious that they are wrong and not only that they are wrong, but that they are completely and utterly stupid, because they defend their factually incorrect positions with phrases like “Whatever.” and then proceed with the argument.

If you claim you are not going to argue, then don’t. That means you have to shut up first. That does not mean you get to say, “I’m not going to argue” and then go on about how you are absolutely right. That’s not how it works. Either you are arguing, or you are not. Commit to one course of action or the other.

If you claim that you are right, maybe you could do something simple like… check wikipedia and post a link to back up your point of view, and then if you should happen to prove yourself wrong, which you will find will happen a LOT more than you think it will right now because you are young and think you know it all, and I know that you do because, believe it or not, I was once young too, then admit it and apologize for being a jerk.… [Read More]

A letter to the entitlement generation.

This is not a meme, but if you want to do it on your facebook page or something, I suppose you could turn it into one. One of the gals on the Lab board posted and asked what our pet peeves are. These are mine, if you post yours somewhere, send me a link in the comments!

Door to door anybody. This is my home. It is a place of peace and serenity where I attempt to write novels that will probably never get published and periodically have to chase Mugen down because he stole a dish towel off the kitchen counter. I do not have time to answer the door. Mugen might be swallowing a sock while I am telling you to go away, so just get the hint when I say, “No thanks.” and shut the door in your face. Do NOT knock again. Go away!

Spam. Seriously?… [Read More]

Pet Peeves

Every time I have headed up to my local wal-mart shopping center this summer, the savings have NOT been worth the trip.

There are solicitors standing outside trying to sell me girl scout cookies or popcorn tins or otis spunkmeyer cookies or wrapping paper or are trying to get me to sign a petition for some political cause. The ones that REALLY tick me off are the jerks that are standing on the grass with a laundry basket full of puppies stuffed in the bottom of a shopping cart with a sign that says, “AKC Puppies! 250$”

The AKC could go a long, long way toward stopping this practice by sending out paperwork to every dipwad that has a puppy that informs them about local low cost spay and neuter programs in the area, but I’ll take the AKC to task some other time.

I’m here to talk to you about wal-mart.… [Read More]

Dear Wal-Mart, You and I Are Through.

Bullying isn’t a new problem.

When I was a teenager, I was bullied. My parents talked to the school. I talked to the school and told my teachers about the bullies in each of my classes in junior high. Every single time that someone called me a name, or hit me, they got caught doing it. Every single time, they got suspended and a phone call went to their parents that grounded them until the end of the school year.

I was never bullied by the same person twice.

When my kids went through a similar experience, I noted that the students that were bullying them were often not handed any disciplinary action. When I demanded action and insisted that a meeting be held between myself and my husband and the parents of the other child, I was informed that they would not be telling the parents of the other child and I was told that the school believed there may be abuse in the home and they were afraid of making it worse on the student.… [Read More]

Why Bullying is a Problem.

The last few years have been very cathartic for me. I have had to say good bye to a lot of things that I loved from the time that I was very small. My grandmother passed away last summer, just ten days before my birthday. I had to haul ass to get home to talk to her just one more time before she left and she didn’t even get to say good-bye to my children. That was how fast I had to move just to be with her. After I said good bye to her, I said good bye to the house where I grew up. The yard was overgrown, but the trees were still there and I could still see the scars on the old maple where my swing used to be. I never knew how my grandfather managed to get the swing put up there, or if he made my dad do it.… [Read More]

Facebook Sucks

As a parent, I have tried very hard to make sure that I do not buy my kids clothes that I will be embarrassed about later. Still, somehow, things manage to find their way into their closets that makes me stop in my tracks in the midst of my morning routine, stare at them, and say “Oh no… you are NOT wearing that!”

At least three times a week, I say this to my daughter, who comes out of her bedroom wearing some tank top or otherwise sleeveless contraption that she wore in the 6th grade. Since she will be starting high school this year, those 6th grade tops really do not work for me and I keep trying to find them as they come down the chute and dispose of them, but somehow they keep passing me by. This morning was a shocker though. I never have to have this lecture with my son, but today he changed all of that.… [Read More]

The Teenage Song of Despair

For those of us that tweet, getting new followers is a bittersweet event. There is that moment when you think, “Wow! Cool! Look at this! I’ve picked up ten followers in the last 24 hours! That’s great! People really care what I have to say!” and then you go to look at the people that followed you and you find that most of them are places like JimBob’sShoeShack, or Kedida’sLovelyHandMadeHandGunSales and you know… you have been plagued by the vague, but ever present.. twitspammer.

I’m sure that top 10 lists like this abound on the internet, and every blogger that tweets has written one, but I felt that for the sake of my sanity, I had to write mine as I blocked and reported ten spammers to twitter admins today alone. One of whom, only tweeted links to his ebay sales page… and somehow thought I would be interested in an xbox 360 controller, even though there is absolutely no mention of the console on my user info, or in my tweets.… [Read More]

Top 10 Reasons I Won’t Give You a Twitter Followback.

It is not often that I find myself inventing new words in the English language. I know lots of people that are fond of inventing words that are appropriate to the situation. My grandmother is fond of “hookenpocky” to describe when someone is sick and you have no idea what’s wrong with them. My husband, having spent several years of his youth in the South frequently rolls out the word “aight” which isn’t really a word, but is a contraction of the two words, “all” and “right”. For years, my friends and I have used “w00t!” to express celebration, but only after someone else coined it.

I’m not responsible for coining this one either, but it makes sense and I think we should consider adding it to our mental vocabulary because seriously folks, it is a legal word and it is the past tense form of “shit”. It is also infinitely more amusing and sounds hilarious when you say it, unlike the present tense form of the word.… [Read More]

The Case For “Shat”

I’m not just talking about the thieves that break into your car and steal your stuff, though I can’t abide those either. I’m also referring to those who do not give credit where credit is due. If I borrow a graphic from your website, I am going to ask your permission to use it before I download it and place it on my site, and I’m also going to provide a link to your website because you deserve credit for your original works. Likewise, I expect the same courtesy from others who reference my works. I should at least get an reference in the bibliography.

So understand that when I find that I have been referenced, or you have clearly read a post on my blog… and not given me credit, I will take you to task for it.

As a writer, I do my best to protect the interests of other writers.… [Read More]

I Cannot Abide Thieves