Just another one of my normal posts where I blather on about useless stuff without proper paragraph transition.  Try not to get lost in the shuffle.

I’ve been a cell phone user with one company for a long time.  Not super long, but with a short 2 year gap in between it’s been 11 years.  I’m not a major user, but I consistently pay my bills on time every month.

The company has always been fine and is definitely the best for getting service in odd areas.  But here’s the catch, and you knew there would be one.  I’m a girl, I’m a stay-at-home girl with no income, but again, my bill is always paid on time, but it’s only $35 right?  So why give a gal a nice deal when her contract comes up, oh no, only her income earning dh gets nice deals with new phones and such, but we’ll just stick it to the gal who wants a pretty pink phone, and make sure to charge her the $10 switch fee.

I’m having a cleaning moment.  No, not that I’m super-power cleaning my house or anything, but I’ve actually been cleaning things, which is odd for me.  No, I don’t avoid all cleaning (i.e. bathrooms, dusting, etc), but I rarely do the extra stuff like cleaning windows or wiping down the front of my dishwasher.  I know, not normal, but I really don’t care.

Today I wiped down the dishwasher.  It was weird and very non-chalant, as if I’ve always been doing it.  And just the other day, I scrubbed my stove top and the microwave.  What the heck is coming to this world when I actually clean?  My cleaning usually consists of randomly selected areas each day that get cleaned up.  Sometimes it’s a scrub down of the shower and bath while I’m in it, other times it’s a wipe down of the faucet and mirror of the toothpaste splatters, and others would be dusting the table before I set my library books down on it.  It’s just aimless cleaning that happens sporadically throughout a day or a week.

I’m getting frustrated with the fight to remain against the products of a major software company.  The more I try to get away from the products, the more the alternate products fight with my computer.  It’s quite frustrating.  The latest thing was Thunderbird email program that I’ve had now for 2 years.  Just in the last few weeks I’ve had problems with the program continuing to tell me there’s a new email when there’s no such beast when I open the bugger up.  I loathe bugs, but I detest even more when they are ignored as a problem and continue to happen into the new version of the product.  Plus, what freakin’ email program doesn’t include a means of exporting email files?  That’s just messed up man!

I had to resort to the ‘other’ program of the dreaded big-box software company.  I hate the company’s products, but haven’t much choice.  It seems to be a choice of the less annoying of the two.

I love blogging.  I’ve mentioned this before, I’m sure, numerous times, but blogging has been a real God send for my mind.  Of course I’m a blithering idiot, and I’m okay with that, but they aren’t taking me away in to the padded room with that oh-so-stylish jacket, all because I come here.

I also love to read blogs, but I’m picky.  There is a list of criteria before I’ll become an avid reader of someone.

– You must post more than once a week.  Yes, I’m sure that puts a damper on those that I know who don’t do as such.  It’s not that I don’t have you in my favourites if you don’t post much, but you get slid into a different list of “Rarely Updated”.
– You must have slight humour, even slight is fine with me.  I don’t become an avid reader of ‘i went grocery shopping today and here’s my list’ kind of posts.  Just not my thing.
– Your blog must reflect at least some reality of your life.  Not that I would know for sure, but anyone who continuously posts about how wonderful their life is (or how bad) is not going to be on my blog list just because it’s not a whole bag of reality, just the part you want others to see.  I want to see it all (minus the naughty pictures please).
– This is probably a strange one, but I am not as keen on being a reader of a blog under your own url.  Of course there are exceptions to these, but they are rare, so let me explain, especially since I have like 4 of ya on my blog links.
1. Owned url’s aren’t always kept, and I want a blog that is going to outlast my own (Antique Mommy is now gone from the internet and from my links ).  Sometimes the renewal comes up and they just don’t renew.  I can’t take that kind of loss (I miss Antique Mommy).
2. Owned url’s are often up because they can make a smidgen of moolah off of their readers who click on ads.  So, by having ads, that means that I have to dig through shit, or be inundated with blinkies or something in order to read.
3. Owned url’s are often more than just a blog.  They can be a store, a picture thing, a forum, etc, whatever the owner wants, and again, that means wading through the crap to get to the blog (Pioneer Woman – an amazing read, but a mess to weed through).

To continue my pickyness:
– You must be human, and post as a human.  Please don’t post as your dog viewing your household through Scruffies eyes, it’s annoying and demeaning.  Aliens are okay though.
– Political, religious, and other strong posts are perfectly fine, but absolutely bashing or degrading a certain group is usually a killer for me.

My daughter is becoming a bit of a pre-teen nightmare (see, told you I was switching without transition – I prepared ya, don’t blame me).  She’s starting to get mean and just slightly vindictive.  It’s really quite strange for me as this is Bing, my soft-hearted, empathetically-gifted child, but she’s been doing things that make me think she is skipping through to those years where just the blank-glazed stare she gives back when she’s getting in shit makes ya wanna just smack the look right off her face.  Oops, regressed there a bit.  It’s a wait and see thing where I just gotta wait and see if I kick her ass soon or Punk does.  It’s anyone’s guess.

I have no clue how close to being done Christmas shopping I am.  We are not buying for adults, so that is all good, but I’m not sure what to get the raging hormone from the above story.  She still likes playing with toys but is also cognisant of our attempts to declutter the house and has been asking for clothes and such.  Do we get her the clothes, or will she open them Christmas morning absolutely deflated that she didn’t get much to play with?

I love online shopping.  Even though I’ve been rather pissy about shipping lately, I still love shopping online, even from the U.S.  I’m hoping to continue my tradition of not stepping in a store in December, and thanks to online shopping, it is much easier.  This year I no longer have teachers to buy for (oh wait, I could use that for me, right?!), so it is a bit easier.  I still shop for my mail lady and garbage man (the guy takes deer carcass from our place, he’s getting a gift), but I don’t really want to get the same old chocolates.  Although I know everyone really likes the favourites, I don’t want to keep getting them the same gift year after year.  The mail lady’s gift can only be 4″ X 4″ and about 10 ” long because then it’ll fit in my mailbox.  Otherwise I have to guess at when she’ll be there and wait there with 3 kids in tow for a while.  Not my idea of fun.

Please, if you’ve read this, snag me some ideas for these 2 on my list in the comments section. I’ll be truly grateful and make you a cyber-margarita.

Mmmmm…. margarita.