The start of many random entries...

I sliced the crap out of my finger with the metal cuticle pusher I was using to get the screws loose on the photograph frame I got for my dad. It says "DAD" at the bottom and around it, it says "You have a special place in my heart" and "You encourage me greatly." I put a really cute picture of my sister and I in it (once my mom gets her scanner hooked up to the new computer, I'll post some pictures: stay tuned!). I started to swear, but caught myself as my Little Shadow was sitting next to me, watching the process of preparing presents and wrapping them up. As I bit off the words that came to the tip of my tongue, I looked at her and she started crying seeing the blood.

Instantly, the fact that I was dripping blood everywhere and the fact that my finger was throbbing like a mo-fo became second. I had to take her into the bathroom with me and let her see the blood rinse off from my finger and show her that it "didn't hurt" as I put a band-aid on it. She calmed down and is now laying next to me on my bed watching "Nemo" for the 9th time in two days while I type this entry. She loves that movie and doesn't want to watch any other. And since she is a night person like me, she stays up quite late and it takes watching the movie two times minimum before she finally tells me she's sleepy.

It's great being the favorite cousin at times. I get all the "luvins" (hugs and kisses), she always wants me to hold her, she gets excited when I come home from work and runs to me for me to pick her up; then proceeds to cling to me for a good fifteen minutes. She won't say anything at all to anyone, just hangs on to my neck. She listens when I tell her "no" (yeah, like that happens very often, I know!), and she loves being my "helper."

However, it does have some down sides...

Like she copies the things that I say, so I have to be very careful about what I say around her. She's started to say "chill out!" and "haha neener-neener!" among other things. It cracks me up but I can just see her saying that at the wrong time and getting into trouble. She also is saying, "I'm a pretty princess" and, a quote she picked up from me that was jokingly made to my mother, "don't question the princess!" Oops. And when I call her my Little Shadow I'm not kidding. I can't even go to the bathroom without her coming in or at least trying to open the door. She won't go to sleep unless she is tucked into the corner of my arm, with her head sharing space on my pillow. And I have to give her my undivided attention - which includes at 2:00am when I think she's finally asleep so I start drifting off only to hear, "Amer, I have to go potty." I dizzily got up and helped her to the bathroom and she thought it was so funny that I tripped and stubbed my toe that she told me she had to go potty three more times just so I would have to get up. I'm assuming she was hoping I would stub my toe again.

She has been singing Christmas songs all week (at least all the words she knows) and Jingle Bells is included in this. Today, after she finished singing it, I sang her another version:

Jingle Bells
Batman Smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile, lost its wheel
And the Joker got a way!
HEY!

Now she's trying to memorize that and sing it but mostly she just sings, "Batman smells, joker got away, HEY!"

She is seriously too cute for words. But of course, I'm not biased at all! Judge for yourself:



But seriously, I'm so glad she got to stay this week and I'm getting to spend so much time with her. She is the youngest grandchild there will ever be (as all of that generation has been snipped or tied) and I am the eldest grandchild. Our names both start with "A" and our birthdays fall on the 25th of the month (mine in September, hers in March). There's exactly a 19 1/2 year age difference and when I was living in GJ, I baby-sat her every day while her mom was going to school for her LPN. We have a definite bond and I haven't gotten to spend much time with her over the past few months.

Anyway, suffice to say, I'm lovin' every minute of it - even when I have to chase her out of the bathroom so I can pee.

Today is my parent's 19th wedding anniversary and they had a nice dinner together. They're going to cut out the thing in the paper about them and frame it to kind of commemorate their anniversary.

My boss called my parent's phone again this morning after I specifically told her not to. Not only that, but she woke me up at 8:00 in the damn morning after being up with the baby. I am the world's worst morning person under normal circumstances (like when I get a decent amount of sleep maybe?) - Teresa can vouch for that. I was still half asleep when I called her back and I said, "TweakerBoss, did you just call my parent's phone AGAIN?!" She started apologizing all over herself and said she had been trying to reach another girl and didn't realize she had called my parent's house. I said, "okay, no problem... sorry, I'm still half asleep and only caught part of the message. Have a good one." Tonight, she had been drinking (as usual) and told me that I was an asshole and we would talk later, but not to worry; I wasn't fired. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with her shit so I just said, "you know TweakerBoss, I don't really think there's anything to discuss later. I apologize if I was grouchy this morning; I didn't get much sleep, was half asleep when I talked to you, and thought that you had went against an expressed wish." She just said "okay" and went back to her drink.

Really. How appropriate is it for the boss to call you an asshole? But then, she really doesn't care about what is and isn't appropriate and what is and isn't professional given the fact that she parties with her underage staff and asks teenagers to score dope for her.

There are some days where I am very thankful for my job. That I have a flexible schedule, decent pay, and the freedom to study during down time. Then there are the days where I'm like FUCK! WHY DO I STAY AND PUT UP WITH THIS SHIT?!

Hopefully, I won't have to put up with it for much longer. As of today, I completed Lesson 13 out of 20 and they are shipping me my last seven lessons before I get my MA Degree. As it stands, I've scored 10 100's and 3 95's on my exams so I'm still a straight "A" student. I'm hoping this will get me a good job and prepare a great foundation for me as I go further with my education. I cannot wait to be finished and have an actual degree under my belt. I think it's really going to give me something to feel good about myself.

I got the treadmill I asked for for Christmas. My parents went with Mike and Danyella and Mike and my dad hauled it in the other day, huffing and puffing. My mom said, "well sis, it's too heavy to wrap and there's no place to hide it so Merry early Christmas!" I cannot wait for Friday when Mike stops by and he and my dad set it up in my room. It's one that you can store upright or store under the bed and has quite a few settings that I'm anxious to explore. Mostly though, I just want to get my ass in gear with the whole exercise thing, haha.

New Year's Resolutions here I come!! :)

We're spending Christmas down in GJ (I think I've mentioned this) so I will be AWOL for a few days starting, probably, Saturday. I think I'm going to take Friday night to unwind after this long week and have a night to myself.

My mom's surprise party is Thursday night. All the guests have RSVP'ed (23 in all), the dinner menu has been turned into the cook, and all the other arrangements have been made. All that's left to do is get the flowers, balloons, and her present(s) and get her there without her expecting anything. Little Shadow is going to my mom's 2nd grade class's Christmas present and she'll be taking her for the rest of the afternoon which works out perfectly for me. I have a lot to do Thursday afternoon - it's just a matter of getting everything taken care of and keeping her under the illusion that I'm at work. No pressure, right?

Well, I'm being paged to "look! NEMO!"

Apparently, she's decided my computer time is over with for now, haha. I hope to update again soon - hope everyone is having a great week! Sorry I've been so horrible with reading your journals but I promise to get caught up next week!