Christmas Without Her

This is my first Christmas Eve without my mom.  I grew up in a broken family.  My parents divorced before I was two years old.  My mother always allowed my father and his family to have Christmas Day with me.  I always had Christmas Eve with my Mom and Grandma.  It was great!  I got to open my presents on Christmas Eve around midnight.  I got TWO visits from Santa!

As I grew up and my Father disappeared from my life, I started spending Christmas Day with some of my friend's family and then eventually with Nick and his family.  The Christmas Eve with Mom tradition was always a given.

This year, I just find myself so sad.  I am going to go today and light one of her eternity candles, but it's not the same.  I am trying to remember the good times, but all I can think about is last Christmas Eve and all the crap that was going on at the nursing home and it just pisses me off that that is the last Christmas I got to spend with her.

My Mom loved Christmas.  She decorated like there wasn't a tomorrow.  Every year, she would decorate her tree differently.  She crocheted snowflakes one year, then the next year pastel snowflakes, then the next year she crocheted angels and hearts.  Each year totally different.  I never inherited that from her.  I really don't like the holidays.  Someone said this morning that they don't either that all they bring is disappointment and rejection and that is how I feel.  Yes, my mother made sure the holidays were nice for me, but there were just some things she couldn't fix.  She couldn't make someone love me or want to spend time with me when he didn't.  Here I am, 43 years old and still suffering that same disappointment and rejection.  Why do I care?  I don't know.  All I know is the one parent that loved me and thought the world of me and would have done anything for me, is gone.

So, I am going to try to get through this day, with a smile on my face and try to remember my mother when she was the most happy, loud, boisterous woman.  She was me times 10.  That's what I will focus on, not the small, frail, weak, soft spoken woman that she ended up being in the end.  I will hug my dog tight, knowing that if she was here, she would be doing the same.  I will light that candle and I will always love my Mom and I will always miss her the most on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas Mom.

Happy St. Nick Day!

Today is St. Nick Day and today I am really thinking of my mother.  Up until I was 21 years of age, St. Nick visited my house.  Sometimes, I wouldn't have a clue that it was St. Nick Day until I went to go out of the door to go to school and would nearly trip over a bag of goodies.  Sometimes I would go to put on my shoes and find money in them.

The goodie bags usually had candy bars, Bubble Yum (which was a hot commodity back them) oranges and walnuts.  All the goodies were in a brown paper sack that was twisted closed at the top.  As I got older and stopped believing in Santa, I also questioned who St. Nick really was.

My mother swore that it wasn't her, yet I reminded her that she would never let me eat things from strangers.  I thought for awhile that she may have invested in the help of my Great Aunt Marg.  I really don't know.  My mother never admitted doing it.

I am almost certain it was my mom.  It had to be.  And she never forgot.  Neither will I.

Happy St. Nick Day!  May you find some money in your shoe!

Trick or Treat

So, Wednesday was Trick-or-Treat in the Ford City area.  I finished up at the salon at 7:00 and headed down to BFF Jill's Salon to help pass out treats. 

I was greeted by this sign.  Teens in no costume is a big pet peeve of Jill's.  Hey, if you have a costume on, cool!  This is even despite the fact that Trick-or-Treat is for 12 year olds and under. 

We heard of a lady who solved her disgust of teens coming with no costumes, smoking cigarettes, while they are TOTing and never say thank you.  She saved all year.  Ketchup packs. From Wendys, McDonalds, you name it.  When those kids came to her door, that is what she gave them!  GENIOUS!!  They had no clue, either!  Can you imagine their surprise at the end of the night when they check out their loot!

So, next pet peeve on BFF Jill's list is tiny babies, either in strollers or being carried around and the adult has a bag and expects a treat.  So, are you telling me that the baby eats that candy?  Um no..............the adult does.   We all love to look at little ones in costume, but is it necessary to give them candy that they can't eat?  To solve this problem for next year, BFF Jill is purchasing a case of baby food and will be giving that to babies under a year old.  GENIOUS!!

Now, my pet peeve is the mothers that are taking their kids TOTing and dressed in costume as well.  I have no problem with this except for when these costumes are obviously stippers or hookers.  I am telling you I have never seen so many ass cheeks.  Roller Derby is more modest than TOT night was.  I am talking tiny booty shorts, with ruffles and ass hanging out with a tail back there with a Madonna bra on and nothing else.  First of all, what the fuck are you?  Madonna with a tail?  A stripper with a tail.  What is up with this tail?

To solve this, next year, I will be handing out clothes to these hoochies.  See, between three of us, we have solved all of the issues!

Tonight is the annual, getting dressed up and going out night.  I am not all about dressing like a slut on Halloween, I am all about dressing Scary.  Remember last year?  Carrie.  I won Scariest Costume.  This year is Medusa.  Will I out due myself?  We will see!

MOM

Well, today is Mother's Day. Mom is still in the hospital. She had surgery on Wednesday. They had to amputate the middle and ring fingers on her left hand due to the Osteomylitis and MRSA that was spreading. I am not sure which came first, but the Osteomylitis is a possible side effect of dialysis.

Her heart rate elevated when they were bringing her out of anesthesia so as a precaution, they put her in ICU. She is still there and should be going to a regular room soon. I don't mind ICU, she gets individual attention there.

One thing in honoring my mother today, I remember what a strong woman she was. She was married to an abusive man, who was an alcoholic and drug abuser. She stood up for herself and her child and left him. She was a single mother. She did the best that she could and I would say she was successful. Look at me. It's because of her.

I am amazed that 40 some years later, there are women that are still controlled by the men that are supposed to love them. They don't have any friends because they aren't allowed. They are told what to do, where to go, when to do things. Their lives are totally controlled. That is absolute horse shit.

I am thankful that Mr. Bruises is not that kind of man. Let's face it, if he was, he wouldn't be Mr. Bruises, like my mother, I would have moved on. That's one of the many things that she taught me.

Thanks Mom. I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

Happy New Year!

It's 2010!  Yeah!  Mr. Bruises and I celebrated last night with BFF Jill, Brandon and company at the Ford Cliff firehall.  We had lots of fun, especially with a baby and making fun of the redneck followers of the disc jockey.  We have video footage, so don't worry, you will get to enjoy it all right with us!

The boys were left home alone for the celebration.  Looks like they partied a little themselves!  Happy New Year!

Christmas Loot

I must have been a good girl this year. I got a Garmin, a Flip Cam, the Glee 2 soundtrack, a hundred dollar bill, racing nuns, and a purple Cuddlie (Snuggie knock-off). Yes you read that right, racing nuns. I've even named them after nuns of my past so that when I race them, I know who wins.

Not pictured in the group shot is the Kris LeTang bobble head, who was left at the salon so that we can admire his sexy hair while we work.

Coming soon, Flip Video of Sister Tharsilla taking on Sister John Mary on the kitchen floor!

The Christmas Blahs have set in..

Well, I've been doing so good this year. Usually my blahs come about three to four weeks before Christmas and climax with the holiday. This year, they didn't come. I blamed it on the unseasonably warm weather. Cold, snowy weather always makes me cranky, especially when I have static in my hair and my skin feels like it will itch itself off of my body.

Well, my blahs set in last night. Last night was the most joyless Christmas Eve I've ever had. It started out good. Riley went to work with me and we sold gift certificates. BFF Jill stopped and we swapped gifts. I got a Letang bobble head, Racing Nuns and a purple Snuggie. All three of those gifts made me smile and laugh in some way. Riley and I then headed to Kibuk Cycle Sales to see Mr. Bruises and crew and participate in their holiday party for the staff and customers. Everyone was jolly there as well.

Then came the downslide, I headed to the nursing home to visit my mom. We went to her room with her gifts and her name was no longer on the door. Her bed was empty. An aid saw my confusion and told me that they moved her. No explanation why. She proceeds to take me to a whole other unit and I find where my mom is. I walk in and she's having a breathing treatment and she doesn't look good. She seems confused when I ask her if she wants presents. She says no. I ask why and she says because she has nothing to give me. I explain that that is okay and we would really like to give her some presents.

I start to ask her when and why she moved. She said she moved about a week ago, while I was returning from vacation and in the midst of non-stop work for the Snowball and the holiday. I asked why and she said it was because she has an infected finger. She holds it up and it is disgusting. It wasn't even wrapped. I don't know if she has MRSA or what and no one could seem to tell me. It was Christmas Eve so I am going to look for answers on Monday.

First, I want to know why the hell no one told me that they moved her. I mean I am not only her only child, I am her POA for everything. Second, why the hell did no one inform me of her infected finger. I mean really, they call me when they change a dosage on one of her meds, which I could really give two shits about and something important like a move because of an infected finger, I get no call. Needless to say, I am pissed. Then, I get all depressed seeing my mom like that. Even worse than normal. That's when all the blahs hit me all at once.

We had a nice visit and Riley seemed to enjoy seeing her as much as she enjoyed seeing him. She opened her gifts, I got her two outfits, a new fleece blanket for dialysis and a big tin, filled with her favorite candy. Normally, she would have dug right into that candy. She smiled and thanked me and set it beside her bed.

We headed home after that and I started to immediately make the pie, dessert and cole slaw for dinner the next day. Mr. Bruises insists on having a full Thanksgiving dinner for Christmas. Why? Because his mother always did that. You know what? Nancy HATED doing that second dinner. How do I know? Because I was the one that always cooked with her. We both hated doing all that work again. Me especially since I just work my ass off non stop for weeks. So, last year I put my foot down and told him if he wanted it, he will cook it. Well that was a disaster last year. Looks like I will be doing most of the work this year as well.

All I wanted to do last night was eat a little, drink a little, watch The Hangover and play Rock Band. I sat alone until 10, when Tammy came down. Mr. Bruises came home from church about 30 minutes later. I am Catholic. I don't go to church, long story for another post. I have a big problem with people who go to church once a year and Mr. Bruises and his dad fall into that category. I take that back, they go twice a year. Christmas and Easter.

So we did get to watch the movie and it was awesome. I went to bed right after that. I was just physically and emotionally exhausted.

I know that I really should be happy with the things that I have, but sometimes it is just so hard to get past the things I no longer have and Christmas really brings it all back.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hug your loved ones and keep them close.

The Parade Marshall

I've got a helper for today and he is going to the the Parade Marshall. That's The Penis Parade Marshall. Today is the annual Penis Parade at The Purple Pinkie. It's Christmas Eve and there will be a constant parade of men coming in to purchase gift certificates. Every year, I open up from noon until 3:00 just for them. It's a tradition now.

Here's to hoping that the penis in your life starts and finishes his shopping today and gets you something nice!

Smile Therapy

Today is the last full day of work. We are open tomorrow for gift certificate sales only. There will be LOTS of Smile Therapy today.

There will be the slew of phone calls. People who want squeezed in today or tomorrow. Most of our appointments today were booked months ago and sorry, if we worked on Christmas Eve, your one hour appointment would take three hours due to all the interruptions of people calling and wanting us to write out gift certificates.

Then we will have the few people that will either no show us or call and cancel an hour before their appointment. Since we've been booked for months, we've been turning people away for months and then we end up with open slots.

Smile Therapy is what gets us through it all. It's either that or we will start drinking at work.

Shopping with the BFF

Sunday, we had The Purple Pinkie Christmas lunch at The Olive Garden. I am truly blessed with the people I work with and I am very thankful for them. I am also thankful that BFF Jill was able too step right up and jump in and help us fill in some gaps that were left from Kylie going to Florida for three months. After lunch and cocktails, BFF Jill and I hit the mall. I didn't need anything, my shopping and wrapping has been finished for weeks. I went to help BFF Jill spend her money.

We went into Dick's and this is the sight that we saw. Way too many people, spending way to much money in what we are told is a recession. Before any of you get your panties in a wad, let me tell you, almost everyone was paying with CASH. Lots of cash.

When we arrived at the mall, I went to pull into a parking space, after circling the mall for nearly 10 minutes looking for one. A man jumped out at me and told me I couldn't park there. What? I was ready to rumble with him. I asked why and was told that people were parking three deep and he was parked in and needed to get out from that space. I told him I would sit there until he was able to pull out so that I could have that spot.

What the Asshat didn't realize, is that people didn't park him, and the others in, those Asshats, parked in the MIDDLE of the lane, then the others just followed the parking lines. Seriously. You can't just make your own parking space. You deserve to be parked in. When we left, hours later, there were still people parked in.

So, we have people paying in cash. We have to drive in circles for a parking place. People are making their own parking spaces and parking three deep, but we are in a recession? I think not. I think people need to stop buying into all the bullshit the media, is shoving down our throat.

One thing is for certain, even Santa needs to pee sometime! Can you imagine being a kid in the potty and the big guy walks in! I think a hidden camera needs to be set up!

Oh Christmas Table....

Oh Christmas Table, Oh Christmas Table,
We eat dinner on you all year long.
Oh Christmas Table, Oh Christmas Table,
You hold our gifts now as I sing this song.

Where oh where is Mr. Bruises? I asked him two weeks ago to find and bring up our tree so that I no longer have a Christmas Table. It's not like we have a real tree and actually decorate it. It's a prelit pencil tree.

So, this is what I get for being early for once. A Christmas Table.

December

It's hard to believe that it's December already. December usually equals "Hell Month" for me. With the holidays we are busy in the salon, add in a couple Christmas dances and you got full blown chaos. Then we have Christmas Eve, which is our highest gift certificate selling day of the year. I am usually sleep deprived in the month of December.

For the past two years, the local high school had their "Snowball" dance in January. It's a SNOWball, so it technically isn't a Christmas dance. The other local school started having a Fall Ball, so that left only the junior high dance. So, I thought, this year would be tamer. When we were asked months ago if we wanted to go with another couple to Sanibel Island in December, I quickly said YES! I then found out that the Snowball was moved back to December. UGH!

So, we now have the junior high dance to deal with this week, I will be in Sanibel December 10-17 and then will go straight to the salon from the airport to start doing all the Snowball appointments. Then comes the Christmas rush.

The Florida trip will be during Mr. Bruises' birthday. I have agreed to spend a couple of days at Disney World, because it's his birthday and he loves all things Disney. We will then be heading to Punta Cana in January for my birthday. We really only have each other, family wise, to celebrate our birthdays with, so we figured, we may as well be somewhere nice on our birthdays.

I am so glad I got just about everything done for Christmas already. I guess I won't have to deal with all of that in addition to the crazy busy salon schedule! Now, let's hope this weather keeps holding out!

Well I Did It!

I've wanted to participate in NaBloPoMo for a couple of years now. I finally did it. It stands for National Blog Posting Month and you pledge to post once a day, every day in November. Well, I did it!

I have actually blogged every day since October 2o. You see, I have this competitve streak in me. If I blog daily until the end of the year, I will beat last year's total number of posts by two. This should be interesting with a vacation throw in before the holidays!

In other updates, I am feeling great after my surgery. So far, it seems to be working ;o). I've just been hanging around, watching movies, trying to take it easy before I go back to work full-force tomorrow. I've had three little furry nurse mates at my side, which is nice, but they are still hogging the bed.

Happy December everyone! I am still loving this weather and I hope Mr. Bruises brings up our pencil tree soon, so that I can relieve the Christmas Table of it's duties.

Presents are Wrapped!

Well, I've gotten all of the Christmas presents that I bought, wrapped. It's no surprise that Riley and Travis have the most presents. They were the first presents bought too. I guess I am not finished shopping, I totally didn't get Kallie, Chip or Jeffrey anything. Shhhh don't tell them, they will never know!

Thanksgiving Eve

This was part of the group that went out for "Thanksgiving Eve". It's been many, many years since I've went out the night before Thanksgiving. I made sure that I got all my prep work, that I normally do on that evening, completed early.

We all met at Becky's house. The plan was to go to Stanley's for a hot sausage and then head to Nite Courts to listen to a local band. I was excited about the hot sausage since I was busy working all day and hadn't had a chance to eat yet.

Imagine our dismay when we arrived at Stanley's to find out that they weren't cooking that night. BOOOO! So, I figured I would hit Sheetz on our way to Nite Courts.

Well, we never left Stanley's. We got word that Nite Courts was so busy that people were parking in the salon parking lot. We also, got totally jammed into a corner table and it was nearly impossible to get out. I am sure that the fire code limit was met and exceeded.

Finally, at near midnight, it cleared enough for me to make my escape. I finally ate for the day, two death dogs with chili and cheese. I didn't have a drop of alcohol since I had a totally empty stomach.

I did have fun, though, writing quotes of the night, making fun of douchebags and skanky hoes so the night wasn't a total bust!

Holidays

For the first time in MANY years, I am actually in the mood for the holidays, especially Christmas. Those who know me, know that I am usually a Bah Humbug kinda girl for Christmas. I think a lot of that came from working for a company, for years, that was Christmas 24/7. Add to that, working retail for years. Add to that other issues and you get the picture.

I think this year's mild weather has got me in the mood. I HATE winter with a passion. The only reason why I live here is my mother. Mr. Bruises would prefer to be in Florida, I would prefer to be in California. We compromise and stay here. Some compromise.

Well imagine my surprise, yesterday, when I finished my holiday shopping. BEFORE Thanksgiving! I've never done that. Ever. I am considering decorating the salon today. Again, never early before and usually I am grumbling. I am actually looking forward to it.

So, all of you snow lovers out there that are just whining about the weather, just know that it has made a difference in one Bah Humbug Gal's attitude this year!

Snuggle Buddies

Sunday, I did a little Christmas shopping. While Mr. Bruises was in Best Buy, I went to Pet Smart to shop for the animals. I had some time to kill, so I browsed up and down aisles I usually don't go down. I came to the section that housed the kitties that were up for adoption. OMG, these two were totally snuggling in a bed, sound asleep.

I couldn't resist, I had to take a photo. I know people were looking at me like I had grown a second head, but you know, I am used to that. I just kept snapping away. They never woke up. Look how the black one is totally hugging the gray one.

Pet Smart works with local animal shelters to help find homes for these kitties. I am always amazed at how well they take care of these cats. Their cages and bedding are always clean and they get them out and play with them daily as well. I sure hope these kitties find a new home, until then, they got each other!

GNO Shopping Trip

I have many groups of friends. I have Nail Tech friends, I have Roller Derby friends, I have Stampin' Up friends, I have the ultimate friend, BFF Jill and I also have my GNO friends. I am so blessed to have so many friends. Now I am not talking about casual friends, I am talking about GOOD friends that would help save your life if something were ever to happen.

GNO (Girls Night Out) Friends are all friends I used to work with at the credit union. None of us work there any more, thank God! We have all stayed close through the years. As we all started leaving the credit union, one by one, we didn't want to lose touch with one another, so we made a pact to have dinner once a month. We used to go out on a Friday evening.

Friday evenings have now turned into Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Some of my friends have little ones now, so it's hard for us to get together in the evening. Also, we are more spread out now, so our middle meeting point has changed as well. We usually meet somewhere in the Pittsburgh Mills area now.

We used to go on weekend gambling trips, we haven't been on an over nighter in ages. Nothing will EVER top the Bachelorette Trip when we were celebrating the upcoming nuptials of TWO members. We also, always, go on a holiday shopping trip. We've went a couple different places through the years, but our favorite place to go is The Prime Outlets in Grove City.

We always take The Pimp Van. It is a 1987 Astro Van, complete with blinds, lighting and upholstered walls. We LOVE The Pimp Van. We all fit in there and all of our packages too! We even now have a CD player! We used to have to bring a boom box to play our music.

Yesterday was our shopping trip and I decided to film some of the madness. As you can see, we have a good time when we are together. I love ALL of my friends, especially the GNO Girls!

Happy Founder's Day!

Founder's Day is really on Tuesday, November 17, however Ford City is observing it today. Captain John B. Ford is our town's founder. He was born on November 17, 1811. He established Ford City in 1887, which was a company town for Pittsburgh Plate and Glass (PPG) which he also founded.

In 1891, in honor of Captain John B. Ford's 80th birthday, the workers of PPG erected a statue of him in the Ford City Park. He died May 1, 1903. You will recall this spring, when BFF Jill and I found the site of his grave, totally by accident in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville, PA.

BFF Jill and I have been taking questions for a few weeks to make a "Everything you ever wanted to know about Ford City" video. We had some great questions, that made the video. We also had some silly ones like "Did Karl Troth and Ellie Mae Walters ever hook up?" that we left out. We also had a lot of great questions about things in the area that are NOT in Ford City, they would be in Manor Township. We focused on Ford City Borough for this video.

We hope you enjoy it. If you are in town on Tuesday, please visit the Ford City Park and go visit John and thank him for the beautiful town and community that he founded for us.

Happy Founder's Day, Ford City!!!

Becoming Carrie...

I've planned to be Carrie for Halloween for three years now. I've had most of the supplies to do her for at least three years. Between working at Scarehouse and other issues, I wasn't able to pull the costume off until this year.

It started with the dress and wig. On Monday, I had Tammy help me by squirting four tubes of fake blood on me while I was wearing the wig and dress. Little did I know that fake blood, when it dries on objects, turns purple. Now usually I am all about the purple, but not when it comes to blood. So I mixed up some acrylic paint and went to town adding about three layers of paint over the next few days. I finally got it bloody enough.

Halloween night, I started getting ready two hours before we were all to meet. I wanted the blood to be really dry on my body so that I didn't ruin the car seats or furniture. I decided to take progression photos. This is the start photo.

I then used pale face powder to make my tan skin look pale like Carrie's is. I then applied light blue eye shadow and the basics.

Then came the fun. I started dripping my face with blood. I then moved onto my arms, neck and chest. I used a hair dryer to assist in drying.

After it was all dry, I got dressed. I was ready to head to Becky's to meet everyone!

Becky was Octo-Mom!




















Jill was Ugly Betty




















Natalie was a Pirate Wench




















Amanda was Erica Estrada aka Punch




















Sandy was the Original mother of the year. We got her in a witches hat later that evening.

As we made our rounds, we met up with some old friends, here I am with Miss Ween, my former boss Bryan.

We met some new friends too, here Carrie meets Mike Tomlin!

We won some contests. Natalie won Sexy Costume, beating out the Slutty Cop. WHOO HOO! Take that slutty girls!

I won Scariest and Octo Mom took third in another contest at a different bar.

I hope everyone had as great a Halloween as I did!