and back!

I had to change my passwords and somehow managed to forget what this one was, but now I REMEMBER so here I am!

UPDATED FOR YOU MARV

sorry about the whole Lady Gaga thing dear

and I really didn't mean to pass it around to all the other boys as well either - TOTAL ACCIDENT I promise!

Good Luck with the whole boob job though! You never did say if we could come watch!?!

OMFG! I just realised I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe the amount of people that are totally stalking me. Please don't abandon me!.

I am tied up with my obsession of saving money, being distracted by the shiny, just generally being a biatch to anyone unfortunate to cross my path, my day is full to overflowing from crawling out of bed at 6.30 to sun down and beyond. I am not complaining though. but who cares.

I swear I will make more of an effort to blog more often. I promise! I really, truly promise!.

(this post brought to you buy the dang hilarious Lazy Bloggers Post Generator!)

I received a prompt reply!

"Good Morning (name edited to protect myself!),

Thank you for your email. I am answering on behalf of the entire City Council in my role as Ombudsman for the month of July. I am forwarding this response to our Parks Director for his review. Regardless of who created the mess, as a city leased property, the cleanliness is a matter for our action.

Best wishes-

Hank Myers"

to which I followed up with

"Mr Meyers,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

I do realize that the City Parks will clean it, as they do every year.

What I was really hoping was that perhaps the City would discuss these things with the Funtastic group and their employees.

The City has always been great with keeping Redmond looking very nice - this I know as I have lived here most of my entire life!

I just feel that it is unfair that Parks have to deal with the trash this company leaves behind and feels they do not need to pick up.

I personally watched them pick up the wash station yesterday morning and saw the man leave behind the green astro turf and boards used to level the wash station. There was no reason he could not have easily picked those up and added them to the truck as well.

Please also let Parks know that I think they are doing a wonderful job and this letter was in no way inteded to suggest otherwise!

Thank you again, "

and now the reply that I was sent WHILE POSTING HERE (WOWZERS - GOVERNMENT WORKING AT A QUICK PACE!!)

"Hi (I have edited out my name again :p),

The Parks Department not only keeps our parks clean, they plan and operate Derby Days, including the contract with the carnival operator. I will be seeing the Director this afternoon and will discuss your comments with him.

Thanks again for your comments

Hank Myers"

The Flipside of Fun At Redmond's Derby Days

Every July I dread the sounds of the trucks rolling into Redmond Elementary to set up for the yearly Derby Days Carnival.

Now the dred has nothing to do with the sounds of the carnival itself, nor the noises of everyone enjoying the fun rides and games.

The dred actually comes from knowing Monday morning following the fun, after the last truck rolls out, that the field at Redmond Elementary once again will be full of garbage and damage.

Now some of the garbage is from patrons of the carnival itself, however what bothers me more than anything is the trash and damage done by the carnival and it's employees.

Last year it was the horrible soggy stenchy ground from their "laundry room" as well as the tipped over porta potty that was there along with a portable sink for many, many weeks following. Then there is always the piles and piles of cigarette butts scattered throughout where they park their bunkhouses.

This year, they may have not drained as much from the laundry, or left a porta potty or skin, however the trash is there - again, along with damage to the field itself.

I am not sure why exactly they needed to make trenches in the grass or leave large pieces of concrete, boards, zipties and holes everywhere but the fact remains that it is something that their company SHOULD have delt with in the cleanup process before leaving.

Yes, during the summer there seems to be more trash at the school than during the school year, however, the amount that is left there by the Funtastic Traveling Show in just a few days is pretty equal to what is there ALL summer long.

Restaurant.com again.. this time it is 70% off with an added $10 certificate for orders! Just use "RECIPE" in the code!!

Lots of fun at Weekly Scavenger if you like scavenger hunts! They are a new company and they offer $$$ rewards for playing online scavenger hunts. Check it out! A bunch of great guys/gals!(sorry not sure of their specific sexes, just that I have a blast helping them out, playing the games and testing possible new things!)

And I said I would share my daughter Izzy's last play from school so HERE!


She is Miss Tortoise by the way and this was her first year, first semester in Drama and she was a wreck before we left for the school. I think she did an awesome job - her voice was strong and she didn't act like she was too nervous at all!

OK on another subject just because I want to stop walk around the house grumbling about it so I will just get it off my chest here...
Yes, Michael Jackson died - but so did Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, both of which were ALSO iconic figures in their way. Farrah WAS Charlie's Angels - yeah there were 2 more but everyone remembers her! I'm sure people could name Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts but when you think Charlie's Angels you think Farrah - admit it!

And Ed McMahon - COME ON! "Here's Johnny!", Star Search, American Family Publishers, MDA Telethon, acting, announer, all around guy!

Yet all I see on TV is Michael.. really? honestly? COME ON! Yes, the King of Pop, Wacko Jacko but honestly.. we really do not need to dedicate SO much air time to him. Yes when I was in Junior High is when "Thriller" came out and yes, like most of my friends I was totally into Michael and yes, his career spanned MUCH longer than that but we do not need to dedicate every show possible to him. I can see a special or two (for ALL of them) but every damn national news show does not need to spend most of their programming time on the life and times of MJ - honestly! and the whole, "but he broke down racial walls" thing.. HELLO! I am pretty sure that Bill Cosby did MUCH more of that than Michael did...

alright, /rant off for the day!

HAY
My phone is the coolest phone in the WHOLE WORLD! And the Super Awesome Boyfriend gets a gajillion brownie points for getting it for me..
Latest thing I learned it does is...
PANORAMIC PICTURES!
so sweet!




Click and make bigger dangit!

Well we went out to dinner the other day at the Woodinville Cafe.. it was CRAP!
Don't bother!
$40 for crappy food that was COLD!
really? seriously?! wtf?!?
And when I told the superslow waitress who only managed to move fast when it was time to bring the bill to the table 2 MINUTES after giving us our plates we waited forever for, she could have cared less..
Maybe I will just give them a call and vent a little..
I knew it was going to be bad when Super Awesome Boyfriend got his salad and it was SWIMMING on the plate in water...

EWWW!
So, Kiddo's fried eggs were cold rubber, Super Awesome Boyfriend's potato's and gravy were nasty cold and it took forever to get our order taken and brought to us in the first place!
AND THEN!
Waitress girl had the nerve to ask if we wanted any change back with our bill... uh yeah - you earned NOTHING but my CONTEMPT you dingbat!
I have issues with crap waiters/waitresses.. I used to do it, I know the rules.. I know HOW to EARN the tip - obviously these days more lessons are needed..

and now..
you are up to date with the latest Random Ramblings of a Crazy Lady!

OK
I have been lame not updating but YAY update!

First off Restaurant.com is having an 80% off sale again, just enter the code PRESENT when you are checking out. A good deal - $25 gift certificates for only $2!

And I have been asked about the whole surveys, free things, and focus group things I have been doing.
I found a link online one day doing a search for something (I can't even remember what I was searching for now) that got this whole thing I do started. It is Real Women Real Money Work From Home. Jen (the lady that does the blog) posts every day except Sunday. Each day is it's own theme - Monday is Money Saving, Tuesday is Two-Fer, Wednesday is Wonderful Wednesday, Thursday is Thrifty Three-Fer, Friday is Focus Group and Saturday is Reader's Choice where you get to possibly win prizes too!
Go check it out and do some signing up! Jen only posts groups that she ACTUALLY makes money from, not just any old group at random!

Now on to the personal stuff with pictures!
At some point this week I am going to post a link to my daughter in her school play. Just because she said I can't put it on YouTube... she never said I couldn't put it elsewhere now did she! HA!

Today I want to share my birthday flowers.. birthday as in quite a few years back but *gasp* THEY STILL LIVE! Which is only because Super Awesome Boyfriend takes care of them. If I were to touch them they would sadly die as I have a terrible Black Thumb whereas his are both GREEN to match the rest of his fingers.. He can make anything grow and thrive!


They are Asiatic Lillies. Pretty aren't they!?
I love their color and this year they have bloomed out like mad!

Today we watched Super Awesome Boyfriend Play with his RC Crawler some more..
I giggle when he flips but that doesn't happen too much anymore dang it!

Also - pictures and video from Memorial Day Camping are up if you wanted to be snoopy and see them!
Pictures are here and video's can be found here
Well that's it for now! Will post more interesting pictures and gossip and other stuff later - including that link to Aesop's Fables starring my munchkin!

OK
First off -
HAPPY BDAY TO ME
(yay)


Now...
So this morning, Super Awesome Boyfriend is out on the deck watching the dudes across the street tear up the parking lot so they can redo it and he comes running in to let me know how STUPID one of the dudes is..
Seems the dump truck driver got there first (I saw him race in - way too fast for the dump truck whaddajerk) and then another car pulled up when I was inside. In this car was another guy and a girl. The guy was driving - he got out, then the chick got out and went around to the drivers seat. Then DumpTruckJerk got in the passenger's seat and they pulled into our lower drive where they sat and proceeded to PACK A BOWL!
Seriously... really?!
And being brilliant people they looked to the left, and looked to the right.. but never ONCE looked in front of them where Super Awesome Boyfriend was standing in PLAIN SIGHT on the deck.. LMFAO!
Reminds me of the old tenant we had that sat half pulled out of the carport in the upper lot with his sun roof open while we were turning over the unit above the carport (and we were out on the deck) and packed himself a nice fatty.. looking left and right but never up..
DUUUUR!

See.. there they are.. and so far they aren't such a great company.. wouldn't ever hire them.

NOW OTHER STUFF
Plant stuff!

Lookie the CUUUUTE baby red pepper! It's so purty!



OMG JALEPENO! (ON A STEEEK!!!)
(If you don't get that go here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DT41m86N4 )

[This entire post has been censored due to smoke alarms going off at 3:45 a.m. and the lack of sleep and such is making me TOTALLY pissed at Super Awesome Boyfriend]

Heading off to Seattle - where I do not drive!
Super Awesome Boyfriend will drive there.... however...
*looks around and whispers*
he scares me

So we ride METRO! Go Go Sound Transit Express Bus Service to downtown Seattle.
Only $2.50 per person as it is a 2 zone (wtf) ride - the damn transfer BETTER get me back or I am not going to be a happy camper!!



Watching down the road for the bus - c'mon 545! or was that 454?



They are building a bunch of new buildings around the Transit Center - it used to be the PARK and RIDE however, there isn't anywhere to park here anymore - not until they are done with all this crap at least...



Oh look! We are finally on the bus! Semi-cushy ride on the ST - not so cushy if we were on the Metro..



And here we have arrived at the Lawyer Dude's office. I love past tenants being all Butthurt Betties and having to sue us - where us really means Super Awesome Boyfriend as my name was removed ha!



Oh look - it's deposition time. I'm not sure if I was supposed to take pictures into the room but nobody told me not to and I didn't see any signs about photography!




OK so I found this HILARIOUS! I was reading a book from 1991 about Seattle and they had a Microsoft section where they talked about William Gates III and his company. (Note the lack of calling him Bill) And OMG look at those computers in that picture!?!
According to Wikipedia Microsoft has "Employees: 89,809 in 105 countries (2008)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft) so I am guessing that they are higher than the 4,000 now here in "Microsoftville".



Heading back to the Eastside YAY! Wow - there are some tall buildings down here and LOOK it's one of Seattle's finest standing in front of the Verizon Store - I think he may be texting actually!



I had to share the view across the lake on our way back. I love all of the awesomeness of this area - mountains, lakes, oceans, deserts, it's all here right in my backyard!

Off to camp

WOW i forgot to post this.. so now that we are HOME i will post it haha

Crack Monkey Drivers and Crappy BK

OK we stopped at Burger King (ew) and got some food since Super Awesome Boyfriend was driving and HE made the decision..
Did you ever notice that the food you actually get never looks anything like the burger they show on the menu? Amazing!



Not only did my burger LOOK like crap it was cold and tasted like crap - but let me tell you boys and girls, no way was I going to go have them get me a new one. I KNOW how that works! I used to work at one of them there fast food joints and spitting in the food is all in a day's work! I have seen it, never done it.. I'm much too much of a sweet sweet angel to do something like that!

Then, upon leaving and heading out into the looovely (insert eye roll here) Eastside traffic we encountered our first of several Crack Monkey Drivers.
This young lady obviously can not read the directional signs as it is clearly stated when leaving the Burger King parking lot that you can not turn left, you must turn right, go down a half a block and use the U Turn that they added for such endeavors - which WE did, and upon coming back past the BK Crack Monkey Driver number 1 pulls out in front of us, going up on the yellow raised curb median thing which was supposed to prevent such things. After that lovely manuver, she then proceeds to head onto Highway 520 in front of us driving a slow as a 90 year old grandmother while eating her burger.
Needless to say Super Awesome Boyfriend passed her lickety split.



Our next Crack Monkey Driver Contestant managed to RACE from the fast lane on the freeway into the exit only lane on the right directly in front of us.
I can only hope that he rides his bike that he is packing along in such a manner and that I happen to come upon him doing such things again.
Bike vs Mini Van, 10 to 1 I win that competition!


And here we have the Largest (litereally) Crack Monkey Driver of the 3.
Meet Mr. Sunbelt Rentals truck driver that apparently does not need to heed such warnings as Stop signs and other traffic on the roadways.
He is obviously from the school of "Bigger wins" and doesn't mind sharing that knowledge with the other drivers on the road.

Oh the fun of taking someone to a doctors appointment and waiting to drive their drugged butt home.
At least there is a coffee shop and I remembered a book!

Another glorious Spring day in the Pacific NorthWET!

Well today has been an eventful day.
Went to the mailbox.. had 2 checks for surveys from OpinionOutpost, a Gillette Fusion Phenom razor, a Schick Quattro Titanium Trimmer, a sample of Head and Shoulders Shampoo and Conditioner and a sample of Volpi Italian Dry Salami....



AND my bank statement...
along with my bank statement was Bank of America's "Important Information Regarding Changes to Your Account" and in said Important Information was this little bit which basically said Hey! Your free checking isn't going to be free anymore - in fact, it is going to cost you $9.95 a month to put up with our bullshit..
oh no no no
So I went on down to the hard to get into and out of branch here and closed my account, drove directly over to the nice to get into and out of WaMu/Chase branch and opened a new one.
Screw BoA..
really...

using the night setting never works out well

Friday night redneck fire... Nothing better!

Especially for Marvin!

I am SO proud of you for actually SPENDING some money and DOING IT ONLINE!
well not IT it.. but it as in buying a restaurant.com certificate!

WOOHOOOO!

(edited to add: If you were spending money and doing "it" online then your name would be SPANKY!)

70% Off certificates at Restaurant.com

OK so http://www.restaurant.com has some good deals on certificates for dinners.
I was leery at first when I bought one, but I figured for $2 at the time I may as well try.

Anyhow, you go there and you buy a $25 certificate for a local restaurant you like or want to try and usually it costs $10.
You take that certificate with you and have to order like $35 worth of food and then you get the $25 off your order. (all of that is covered in the "fine print" which you can see before you get the certificate)

Well, if you get over there before tomorrow (Saturday May 16th) and use code "TASTY" (without the quotes) at checkout, then the $25 will only cost you $3 which is a damn fine deal if you ask me!

Stimulate the economy, support your local food establishments, eat out and GO GO GO!

Pretty doesn't always mean anything

aww dinner - doesn't it look nice? All festive and colorful and cheesymeltyyum?

Obviously looks can be deceiving HA!

Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna:
Tortilla Shells
Pinto Beans
Cilantro
Shallots
Baby Spinach
Peppers
Cheese
and it was not well liked. Well, I didn't hate it, but then I LOOOOVE cilantro - however the Super Awesome boyfriend does NOT.. at all.. ooops I forgot that again huh..
He was a trooper and ate a plate but the faces he made said it all...
See what happens when dinner is left up to me and it isn't some sort of chicken?!?!

Guess you will learn next time huh!

Poor Kitteh

It was kitty shaving day..
Poor Dozer...

Here we have Dad going at him with the razor..



Closer -



He actually doesn't mind this too much.
He just really gets tired of it after a while

and here we have PILE O EXTRA KITTEH



He was quite the harry monster!

Now.. PROOF why we have never done any animal grooming and the real reason that Cocoa and Annie go to the groomers and we pay so much!







The poor baby.. he can't find anywhere to lay down because IT'S COLD ON HIS BELLEH!

hahahahah

He is horribly uneven and looks pretty crappy but YAY no more mats and even better YAY no super extra expensive costs at the groomer just because he is an insane crazy Siamese!

LOOONG one

(that's what she said)
I couldn't resist!

Well I forgot to share my Mother's Day flower!
I LOVE LOVE Carnations and this one is yellow with pink tips!



It makes me smile so much!

OK the super awesome boyfriend is making Pork for dinner!
AND because the dogs are super spoiled brats, they are getting their own piece (to share)
They liked to hear of this getting dead pig deal
see!
Cocoa likes it so much he can't keep his tongue in his mouth!



Annie, on the other hand, can not look away!



Spoiled spoiled dogs!

OK on to the sample of coffee I got from Dunkin' Donuts -
Now, I don't think I am a coffee snob or anything but ...
YUCK!
It looked like tanish water/weak tea and tasted like - eraser dust..
you know, that taste you get when you chew on the eraser end of a pencil on accident.
Yeah.. that's the one!
I am glad this was 'sampled' before being bought - saved myself some cash!