Merry Christmas from a bitch, part I.

Remember my post about, “hey, I’m not really a bitch?”

Well, I am. A big huge bitch who rains on your pretty pretty Christmas parade while you’re shopping at Kohls and not one, but TWO people cut in my damn line. I have the brain/mouth filter on 98.9% of the time but yesterday, the filter failed.

Oh, and I have no respect for religious people, either. After my first column ran in the DMN, someone e-mailed a letter to the editor complaining about me, and copied me for good measure.

I don’t know how the Little Ball of Hate does it. She must have a really really thick skin, because I know people are meaner to her, and about her, than this silly woman was about me. She said I was smug, and acted like I was better than religious people. I haven’t responded to her yet. I’m not sure that I’m going to (even though the DMN wants us to at least write a cursory, “thanks for reading, write a letter to the editor.”) since she’s already written to the editor. If I do write back to her, I think I’m going to say, “Thanks for your opinion, I’ll discuss it with my pastor, who I see (almost) EVERY SUNDAY IN CHURCH.”

Sigh. Merry Christmas. I’m in the spirit, I really am. I even tried to take a picture last night of both girls; E in her elf hat, and M in her santa cap. But the two year old whined about sitting next to her sister, and took off her sister’s hat. The 6 month old just wanted to chew on her Robeez. Not a good look for the Christmas picture. Maybe I can pose them when they’re asleep.

Turn on the a/c mama, I feel some hotness in here!

You haven't hit the heights of hotness until you've appeared on Titty Thursday. Granted, I practically had to beg to have my picture taken, but if it wasn't hot, it wouldn't have been posted... right?

High five!

Who is Clay Manning?

This made me laugh out loud. Gotta love the Onion.


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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Take Chance On Long-Lost Fourth Manning Brother

Apparently, I'm a bitch.

My self-confidence these days, sadly, is a little low. But that will happen to you when you have a 5 month old and look 5 months pregnant. Plus, I just feel completely out of control or a total fraud most days. Again, most of that has to do with struggling with the working-mom-of-two- small-children situation I've found myself in.

Then yesterday, something horrible happened.

I got a negative feedback on ebay.

I sold a purse, the buyer was unhappy with some flaws that admittedly, I had failed to mention in the description. Therefore, I offered to accept a return and refund her money. We e-mailed back and forth a few times, about my address, and a few other things, and then I log on last night to find my first negative feedback, and an e-mail from her saying it wasn't worth her postage to return it to me, that she didn't want someone else "stuck" with it, and basically accusing me of lying about her paypal money being slow (it was, and I had only let her know that to explain why I shipped the item slowly to her to begin with).

Anyway, as Football Widow can attest, this bothered me last night. Not only that I got a negative feedback, but that someone, out there (in North Carolina to be exact) thought I was a lying, deceitful bitch.

Then, today at the gym I go to my locker and someone is disrobing across from my locker. I've seen her before, we're often both there at lunch. She's cute and thin and young and blond and tan, so of course I feel fat and flabby and white and huge, which is why I just try to make myself as small as possible next to my locker so that I'm not in her way. All of a sudden she walks off and I hear "mumble mumble works wonders." I say, "Sorry?" And she doesn't turn around.

So I continue getting dressed, and all the while I'm so paranoid about what she said. "A Stairmaster works wonders?" "Jenny Craig works wonders?" "Deodorant works wonders?" I'm trying to hurry up and leave before she gets back, and I tell myself to just Let.It.Go., like I need to let go of the mean ebay lady.

When Miss ThinBlond&Tan gets back, she suddenly says, "I said, 'Excuse me works wonders.'"

"Oh, I was wondering... I only heard the last part."

"Yes, you could have just said 'Excuse me' and I would have gotten out of your way. "

"I would never have asked for you to get out of my way, you were here first. I was just trying to be as small as possible and not get in your way."

"Well, you never say 'sorry' and we're all scrunched up in here. I'm just having a bad day."

"Well, I'll say 'excuse me' from now on, but again, I would have never asked you to move. I hope you have a better day."

And with that I walked out.

And I still stressed about it, all the way back to the office (obviously). I mean, I think I'm a nice, considerate person. I try to be respectful and mannerful, even in traffic. I racked my brain - surely I had said 'excuse me' or 'sorry' to this person before. I can't remember saying it, but maybe I didn't because she intimidates me. Or maybe I didn't because we're naked and strangers and 6 inches away from each other and you don't talk to someone in that situation. Or maybe I did say it, sometime, and she just forgot.

So I came back to the office, and shot off an apology e-mail to a coworker whose private conversation I butted into this morning. Maybe I'm a rude bitch and I don't know it. Maybe I just have low post-partum self-esteem. But I try to be nice, right?

Voting is your Civic Duty

Blah blah.

Ok, I'm saying this now, the day before Election Day so you all can make appropriate plans to go VOTE tomorrow. Even if you live in Collin County, Texas, and your vote may or may not make any difference at all.

I've been thinking about a radical new idea, and just wanted to know what other people's opinions are. In other "democracies", voting is required and I know in Australia, Election Day is a federal holiday. Now I don't think voting should be required. We have free speech here, and a non-vote is a statement that all Americans should be free to make. However, I don't believe all Americans have the choice whether to vote or non-vote because most adult Americans have some sort of job they have to go to on a TUESDAY, which is normally when election day is.

I know all sorts of economics studies would have to be made, and having more voters would wreak havoc on the slightly unstable election system we already have (see, e.g., Florida 2000, Ohio 2004, hanging chads, et. al.) but what kind of a democracy do we have when so many can't exercise that right because the boss might get pissed?

So yeah - make it a holiday, or change election day to a Saturday or Sunday (then evangelicals can make organized field trips to the polls after church) but make the polls truly available. And then we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when we have a 16% turnout rate.

Progress is made

See ---> I have links up. Betcha thought I would never do it. But Beta is easier to do that in.

Slowly but surely, I'll get this together.

As a new columnist (doesn't that sound AWESOME), I've been running many writing topics through my head. Not all of them are fit for the Dallas Morning News, so I might subject my blog to them.

And of course, post pictures of cute kids. 'Cause I suspect that's all people really care about.