My Mother is coming home from Florida today. For me that means I have to catch up on the cleaning I've been neglecting. Not that it matters. Soon after she comes in the door she will start doing it all over again. I've come to see this as reclaiming her territory. I can't see how I could do such a poor job that she would need to do everything over again. So, it just makes sense that she does it all for some other reason. The territorial thing is the reason I came up with.

She is mostly here to see the new baby. My sister had Roxanne Claire about a month ago. Her older brother, Zack, picked the name Claire.

Anyway, I'm still out of commission with this cold and lack of a speaking voice. The coughing is really killing me. I'm starting to really think I will cough up a lung, not just kidding about it any more.

But, a little thing like that isn't going to keep me from going out. Besides, I really do need to gas up the car and pick up an asthma inhaler. While I'm out I've decided to treat myself to Swiss Chalet. Not that it's in the grand scheme of things budget. But, if I don't treat myself who will?!!

About Christmas, since you asked... I lost my voice, crashed my car (no damage luckily) and no one gave me anything for Christmas. I brought over all the presents I bought for them and the buns I made (from scratch) for the dinner. I thought I would have at least a couple of gifts to open. I was surprised and a bit disappointed. But, being me, I said nothing.

Anyway, on to the New Year. Surely it can only get better, right?

Carol is a woman I met while at work. She was shopping for men's jeans the first time. We got talking about how she takes a tuck in the sides and turns them into jeans for herself. (The men's clothes do tend to be better made/ quality than the women's clothes).

Anyway, after half an hour of chatting I found that Carol is the person I was not so long ago. Her husband and son belittle her and she feels lost in the world. She doesn't know where to go from the rut she has gotten used to. I tried to help her. I told her about my own exploits and how things are better now. So, Carol grabbed onto my small lifeline and asked for my phone number. Maybe we could meet for coffee, she said. I knew Carol would never phone, but I hoped she would.

Today I saw her again. Not for very long as it was Christmas Eve Day and the store was fairly busy. Today Carol wasn't alone either. I saw first hand how she is treated by both her husband and son. She's a second class citizen, the door mat who makes their life easier by not being a bother.

Carol asked for my phone number again today. I hope she phones, but I don't expect she will.

Doesn't it seem like we are all here, working for our few dollars an hour, to keep the banks, insurance companies and lawyers in silk ties, priceless antiques, custom high rises and money to burn? The government seems to have made it impossible to avoid the three evils. It just makes me so mad!

Tomorrow night I have a meeting with the owner of HerPlanet, the network that hosts HerCorner. I'm not sure what she wants to talk about. If there is even a plan or if we are just keeping in touch. I know communication and keeping everyone involved is high in importance to Dottie, the owner. I think that's great. It shows that each of us does matter and has a big part in the whole network.

Anyway, it's much better than BellaOnline where I was ripped off and then ignored. Bitches! I've heard there are new owners there now. But, there is no way I will ever go back and I will never have anything good to say about that organization. They were a pretty shifty bunch, I'd take any rumours about new owners with a bucket of salt.

I sort of re-pierced my ears tonight. The holes have never healed really but it's been about 20 years since I tried to stick anything through them. Yesterday at the store I noticed a necklace with a birthday fairy and thought it would be cute to give to the girl next door, Jade. It originally came with a matching ring and earrings. But, the ring had been stolen in this package. So, I asked how much it would discount for. Turns out it was down to $2. In my price range. I plan to give the necklace to Jade this Christmas. I was just going to toss out the earrings but they are kind of pretty. Plain and simple but nice: one tiny glittery stone. So, I gave into temptation and took them into the bathroom so I could see which of the holes in my ear looked most promising, and hopefully straight. With a little careful poking they went through. I wondered if at least the back of the holes had healed over but it was no problem to push the poles through. Anyway, I'm wearing them now. Not sure if I will have a problem with them but they are ok so far. I'm sure they aren't hypo allergenic so I might take them out at some point.

What other flabergasting news do I have....

I've been listening to a radio station that promises to play just Christmas/ seasonal music until Christmas comes along. It's nice, cheery music most of the time. I like hearing the oldies, like Dean Martin. They keep pushing "I Wish I had a River" by Robert Downie Jr. I don't see the relevance of it as a Christmasy song. I guess he has paid for the air time or some such deal. It's not a bad song. Kind of strange when you think that he has made a big mess of things. I wonder if he is doing any better for himself. I'm certainly doing better than I was six months ago. I think most of it is littered all over the Bewitching Vagabond column.

Anyway, there's about all the news anyone could stand to read. My brother is coming back this weekend and my Dad is planning to leave. So, soon I will have the house to myself. At least for a few hours now and then. I won't have to bother cooking dinner, which is nice. Also, I will do one big clean up day and then I won't need to worry about house cleaning again. I'm only using three rooms in the whole place. It will be easy enough to keep those going.

I just got the first statement from my US bank that I have seen since the divorce in July. Guess what they have done? Over drawn my account! I have no idea why they did this. Don't banks usually freeze an account if its a penny over the money in the account? I expected they would. But, for some reason without my knowing anything about it they have my balance in the minus range, by quite a lot! I'm not sure how I will manage this. It's not like I have any real access to the account now that I'm not in the US. I just keep thinking how strange it is that they let this happen. Also why does Sympatico send me an email about my payment not going through when I emailed them about a month ago to ask that the account be closed. The really ridiculous thing is that the email address they wrote from is the same one I wrote to a month ago. Just proves they don't read their email.

Well, I plan to do more than blog tonight. There is a ton of stuff I want to do with my personal site and I have to catch up on the BackWash newsletters for Home & Garden and Wordcraft. Kids BW has gotten behind too. I had a good idea for a new erotic story in the Little Chris series for the Adult BW column too. Chris gets tormented in a Santa Claus suit. We'll see how it goes. If it doesn't seem to be going anywhere I won't use it. Just like the car sex idea that wandered off into boring. Someday I'll find a way to use the original idea. It just wasn't working that day.

Talking about ourselves seems so boring at times. I think it's that inferiority complex thing. Everything some one else is doing seems so much more interesting and worthwhile that whatever we are doing ourselves.

My sister is having her second baby on Thursday. That's my biggest news and it's not even about me, directly.

I have a hundred things I need to be doing but this cold is sucking the life out of me. I coughed so much at work I was feeling light headed. Then, in the car I coughed so much there was actual leakage in another area. I had to go home instead of taking a trip to Chapters for an hour after work. Being sick really messes things up.

New ASCII Collection

I'm working on HerCorner tonight. I got the OK to put up an ASCII art gallery there. I had it already started on my personal site. But, I'm moving it to HerCorner for the traffic boost. The ASCII art part of my site has always done well, about 200 hits a week. I really need to get back to doing more ASCII. It must be boring seeing the same stuff every time they come.

It's after 1:00 am. If not for the insanity I would already be in bed. I work at 9:00 am and it's not a short day like today. I've washed the uniform all I need to do is log off the Internet. Silly me, I seem to have forgotten how to do that.