Yes, I'll Take Cheese with this Whine

Yes, I need to whine – I mean vent – a bit. And I'm sorry to be such a PITA, but I gotta get it out. I'm feeling frustrated, discouraged, and mildly defeated. I am getting obsessive, I fear – and you'll likely agree when you see where I'm going with this.

It's about Proud Book Nerd. You know, my new – DOUBLY new – book blog. I was so excited – I had NINETEEN Google Friend Connect followers in less than a week! I was so proud of myself and so happy. People wanted to read me.

Then the corruption happened. And I lost the blog.

Unfortunately, the blog's followers didn't come over when I did the URL switcheroo. And now, three. (If you are one of those three - THANK YOU!) Yes, three is better than zero, but it's not as good as NINETEEN! :-(

Breathe. Count your blessings. Breathe some more. Ask God to ease the stupid anxiety over this. Remember you cannot change anything at this point. Just wait and see. God is in control. Hopefully the new friends will find their way back. In the end, this WILL be worth it. If nothing else, Ramblings is going to be much less cluttered – that's worth something, isn't it?

Google Sucks

I never thought I'd see the day when I say that, but I'm ticked. Ever since they acquired FeedBurner, I've had nothing but problems. My feed doesn't display correctly, and I have no idea how to fix it. Their troubleshooting comes up with issues, but I haven't the slightest idea how to go about fixing these issues. Check out my blog's feed, and you'll see what I'm talking about. I've been trying unsuccessfully for quite some time now to figure this out. And, there appears to be NO WAY to contact support about this! I am ticked - and considering ditching the product altogether. The reason I have it, though, is primarily so people can subscribe by e-mail. That works - I know it does. I've tested it. And twitterfeed works, too. But, if I try to view my site's actual FeedBurner feed, I get nothing.

While I use lots of Google products - AdSense, Blogger (obviously), their search engine, Gmail, etc. - I am just fed up. Unfortunately, when everything's working properly, I'm a Google fan. And, really, I don't see that changing. BUT, I don't particularly appreciate the lack of support. If they're going to kill FeedBurner, then do it already. I just wish they'd allow for e-mail subscriptions built into Blogger.

And now we're back to love ...

Whatever I did seems to have worked! :-) The feed is working again. So, frustration - good-bye! :-) MUCH better! Thanks for "listening" to me complain about this! LOL

Oh, and in case you're wondering, DH got home later than expected - but before Abby went to bed. And he did finally call about an hour before he got home. It's better than nothing, right?

Good night, all, and God bless!

Day 5

Seriously? Only? We have 25 days still to go? Man, this time is creeping by slowly!

I had a ton I wanted to say about an hour or so ago, but - of course - could not get here to write until now. So, I've lost most of it. But, as I type, Grant is supposed to be lying down on the couch. He and Abby AGAIN were bouncing off the walls a little while ago. This is deja-vu, as Sunday night was like this. Why is it only school nights when they pull this shit? I love my kids ... I love my kids ... I love my kids.

OK. The boy is now in bed. Heads will roll, should they start screwing around again tonight!

Today wasn't nearly as bad as the weekend was. Thank God Abby had school yesterday! It'll be a lifesaver this time around, I am quite certain! Poor kid is having a bit of a hard time with her daddy gone, so I'm trying not to be too rough on her. But, I'm also not going to cut her too much slack. You know kids - you give 'em an inch ...

I have so much to do right now it's not funny. I don't like being the only person around to do stuff. But I think that's the lazy side of me. The other side of me thrives under these circumstances. It's fulfilling to get everything done that needs to be done. Even stupid things like taking out the trash. Of course, that could be in part b/c I finally get an opportunity to get rid of a bunch of crap DH had been letting pile up in the garage! But, that was yesterday. Today I have dishes - again. Thankfully, we have a dishwasher, so that means I need to empty, load, and start it up. Not too bad - not even when it's on a daily basis. But, I'll do it tomorrow. (LOL No, I'm not going to say that tomorrow, too!) Today has been nuts, and I need some downtime. I also need sleep. See why I'll do it tomorrow? ;-) I did get a small package to send to DH ready to go. After dropping Abby off at school, the other two and I will be heading to the grocery store. Milk - it's always about the milk! Either after that or before we pick up Abby (or maybe immediately after - it all depends on Grant and Natalie), we'll mail the package. He forgot something, and Abby wanted to send him a couple of things. He's also getting a bunch of candy! LOL

I gotta sit down and look at the checkbook. I've no idea where we're at right now, but my brain is mush. The good thing is with Abby gone, I can get more done during the day. Natalie sleeps all morning, and Grant's pretty easily occupied. So, I can get the dishes and maybe even checkbook taken care of after shopping. I just gotta get us ready to go before I go to bed - make my list, find any coupons I have, put my reusable bags where I won't forget them, etc.

I must say, though, that I did get a TON of stuff done today, not the least of it is finally getting the clean clothes put away - on time to start laundry again in a couple of days! LOL I also got the drawer under Natalie's crib back in place. A couple of months ago, Abby jumped on it while it was open. DH and I could NOT get it back in, so it had been placed under the crib, out of the way of walking feet. Today I decided it was enough. It'd be a PITA to have to deal with that next time I change Natalie's sheets. Plus, I was tired of not using the drawer! We paid for the damn thing. I had better get full use out of it! ;-) I'm not entirely sure how I got it in, but I did. I cleared plenty of room for me to work at getting it back in place. I said a quick prayer "Lord, please help me get this thing back in its place" - or something to that effect - and set to work. Once I finally got the rollers in place, I pushed until it resisted. Then I sat and pushed with my legs. That was cake - and I still can get it open. It sticks a little, but it's easily opened anyway. And, yes, I did remember to praise and thank God for that little bit of help. Proof once again that He does care about the little things, too! :-)

Well, it's getting late and I gotta prep for the morning. I also need to sleep.

In a Bad Mood

I guess. Or something. A ton of things are bothering the hell outta me right now.

Firstly, and most importantly, it's freezing. It's currently 45 degrees outside - the high is supposed to be about 64. As of about 30 minutes ago, it was 61 degrees here in the house. And, no, I cannot run the heat. I WANT to, but can't. We need to have it looked at. About a week ago, we noticed the house fan (at that point we were running the a/c - gotta love the Midwest) was making a weird noise. And DH wants it kept off to be safe. OK, I understand that - and I agree. But, the SOB FORGOT to call someone until TUESDAY morning - when I reminded him. (Nevermind he was off work last Friday and could've called no problem!) So, no one can come until TOMORROW morning! Poor kids and I are freezing. Oh, and DH is gone - he had to go for an overnight trip last night. Must be nice to NOT have to deal with this. Jackass! My poor babies! :-(

Secondly, with DH being gone today I had to drop Abby off at school. That's cool. No problem. We're running a tiny bit later than usual, but she was on time no problem. What pissed me off? On one side of the school is an alley. People drop off and pick up the kids over there all the time. I decided to go over there, b/c I could park quickly and I could watch her walk to her class. Or so I thought. But, apparently when dropping off one's kids all courtesy goes out the window. DO NOT BLOCK THE ALLEY SO NO ONE CAN GET BY! Seriously. It didn't happen just once - several people did it. I finally squeezed by some assholes to pull over and get Abby out and to the playground. And guess what, no one was stuck waiting behind my van while I did that! I just wanted to shout "Get the fuck out of my way people! In case you weren't aware, your child isn't the only child attending school today!" Idiots.

OK. I feel a little better! LOL Maybe having frozen toes feeds the foul mood?

Stupid jerks on eBay

A few months ago, once my daughter got into the wonderful world of Webkinz, I bought her a couple I knew she'd LOVE off eBay. The reason for eBay is that they are retired. I bought her the unicorn and the pegasus. I gave her the unicorn right away, and she has been so happy with it. I saved the pegasus for later. Dumb move. I FINALLY opened it, and as I went to fish out the tag, I could tell it'd been tampered with. I knew that meant it had been used. Jackass. And, of course, I waited too long to attempt to use it, so I can't complain - and my feedback was already positive. Doh! I should've known better! Good news is that jackass is no longer on eBay - at least not under that name. ;-) (I'm not dumb enough to think he/she didn't come back with a different name/e-mail address.) I'm kicking myself - if I'd opened it right away and attempted to use it right away, I'd likely get my money back. Lesson learned. So, I contacted Webkinz (following the prompt to do so in their "Adoption Center"). Hopefully they'll give me the benefit of the doubt and give me a new code or just give me the pet! I'm not holding my breath, but since it's actually under my son's account, maybe they'll have pity on him - afterall, he's not quite three yet! ;-) Stay tuned for an update when I finally hear back! ;-)

Oh FFS

I'm feeling a pull to Facebook. As if I need one more thing to be unable to keep up with online! GAAAAAH! But, I have so many friends who are there and NOT MySpace. Or are on both but never go to MySpace anymore b/c they have Facebook. Sigh.

I know, this is a petty vent, but hey. What are you gonna do?

One more vent. I can't believe I haven't mentioned this here before - I'm sure the lack of power last week is to blame! ;-) Anyway, we have recently had an issue on FROGs, and I'm shaken to the core by it! I can't believe how much it's affecting me. If I think on it too much, I get sick to my stomach, my throat feels tight, and I can feel my heart racing. So not good.

What happened? How did I know you'd ask? Here goes.

We have a member who recently returned to the board after being away for a while. After her return, she sent me a private message to explain her absence. At risk of pissing her off and chasing her away from FROGs for good, here's her message:

Hey Heather. I didn't want to post this on the board and make a issue of it, but I want you to know the main reason I haven't been around and the same reason I am kinda worried about coming back. One of my last posts was about how I felt like I was having a hard time connecting here and that I felt lost sometimes. Well...I recieived a email from someone and I was hurt to say the least. Basically they said that it was God's way of letting me know that FROGS wasn't to be my home and that maybe I would feel more comfortable somewhere else.At first I was just kinbda stunned and was trying to figure out what exactly that meant. But as time went on, I just got mad and decided to stay away for awhile.

I am not telling you this for any other reason than just to let you know why I disappeared. On a different note, it looks like there have been a lot of changes here in the past few months...it looks nice and you are doing a wonderful job!

I read this and INSTANTLY was angry beyond belief and grieved more than I'd have thought possible. How DARE someone on FROGs do that to a sister in Christ? HOW DARE SHE? Despite our best efforts, we could not get the individual who contacted me to reveal the offender. That ticks me off to no end. I understand that she wants it over and done with. She wants to move on. I get that. I also get that she has extended forgiveness and wants to walk in forgiveness. OK. But, why tell us if you don't want something made out of it? Seriously. This is a HUGE deal. So far as I'm concerned - so far, at least - it's the WORST offence to have occurred on FROGs!

And, in addition to being angry and disappointed that it happened, I feel betrayed - by both the offender and the sister who shared this with me. I don't think I should feel that way, but I do. I'm also afraid we'll never find out exactly what happened, and that worries me. I want to know who so I can talk with her and make sure she understands that it is NEVER to happen again. It's not about punishment or revenge or anything like that - it's trying to make sure EVERYONE on FROGs is safe! My biggest fear is that this individual will do this again.

I have so many thoughts and feelings on this, but I'm spent. I can't think clearly or find a way to write it out. So, I'm going to end this post for now. I just had to get some things off my chest.