I just took a shower after visiting everyone on my blog list. I was going through my regular routine in the shower and God tried to tell me something. I picked up a bottle to get some shampoo and it would not come out. At first I thought it was odd. I messed around with it a bit and ran hot water over it. Finally it dispensed and damn it, it was not shampoo… it was conditioner. I should read labels when bottles are identical. Good way for Him to get my attention.

 

I had to reboot because MSN crashed again. I am almost ready to migrate this space if I keep having problems, but I will leave a forwarding address. I have a lot of friends here. This is just a thought that keeps niggling at me.

 

Ran into some truly crass people out in the blogosphere today. Leaving really despicable comments on other blogs. The thing is the idiots don’t leave URL’s so they can be followed into their own territory. It is unfair for them to cause trouble in the community.

 

I am going to go ahead and post this and will be back later.

 

Always,

Jo Ann

We went to town and I got so mad at Wal-Mart that I pitched a small fit. I had exactly $67.00 on a credit card and I told the cashier to only put that amount on the card because otherwise I would have to pay a $30.00 over-limit fee.  The woman got an attitude when I said I had to watch everything she scanned in. Then she put an extra 43 cents on the card. That  was going to cost me $30.00 so I got pissed off. I really lost it for several minutes and stopped at the door to tell the greeter what she had done. I wanted this cashier reprimanded, but the woman sent me to the service desk. I stood there in line fuming. Finally I got to the counter and the person at the returns desk did not want to give me a refund. I told him exactly what I wanted and showed that I was willing to pay the $1.01 with another card, but this charge had to come off. He acted like it was piddly shit and not worth his time. Finally, he did it. However, I am still mad at the powers that be in the Wal-Mart corporation. I even had witnesses of what happened. I wish I could just never go there again.

 

Moving on… I bought $167.00 worth of food. We now have meat, Pop Tarts, and Caffeine Free Diet Coke (they did not have the cheaper colas I usually buy so I had to pay $5.98 a case). We should not run out of food nor beverage for a week. Then I will have to figure out a creative way to come up with enough money to go shopping again.

 

I have a grand total of $15.00 to make it to the end of the month. Thank God Alex gets free lunch because otherwise I could not put gas in the car.

 

By the way have you seen the ad on BlogShares about the company that makes your blog into a book. I keep thinking this would be a neat thing, but I have not clicked the link because then it will be just one more thing on my I Want list.

 

Well, that is my little rant for the evening.

 

TTYL,

Jo Ann

By the way, yesterday marked my third consecutive month of blogging here on Spaces, so I guess I ought to post something truly different today in acknowledgement of the date. Now what the heck could I put up? Any suggestions?

 

I would put up a picture like I see talked about on  FastBikerChic’s site Wish You Were Here. I wish I did have a body like Melissa, she is so pretty… but nah, my body would scare everyone away! I am taking suggestions though.

 

Smiles,

Jo Ann

I did not get to the paperwork I am resisting it intensely. I still have to make up my mind what I really want to do about it.

 

I am not hungry tonight. Fixed supper a couple of hours ago and still have some of it lying in front of me. I weighed today and found that I have lost three more pounds. I wish it came off faster.

 

I accidentally created a new blog this evening:

 

I don’t like it so much but may use it a little now and then. It is on blogspot. I think Spaces is much cooler. I really did not mean to create another blog, stupid of me really. Now I have to learn new software. Like I don’t have enough to do already.

 

Alex’s monitor died tonight. It has been failing for a while, but now it is gone. Four years is a pretty good life for a CRT. Now I have to find a way to get him a new monitor.

 

TTYL,

Jo Ann

The story I was thinking about earlier was triggered by JNuts saying something about looking into the barrel of a loaded shotgun over on his blog.

 

In the mid eighties I lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a while. That is where Alex was born, but I digress. I was working for the Scott Fetzer Corporation which in case you are unfamiliar with the name sells Kirby vacuum cleaners. That’s right I sold Kirby’s door to door. For the most part this was a wonderful experience for me although the hours were long and the pay was not wonderful. I got to go into all kinds of people’s homes and talk to them. Sometimes it was a mansion and sometimes it was a little above a cardboard box. You never knew which would be the filthiest either. I honestly meet people all over North Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and portions of Tennessee who seem to recognize me, and I figure this has to do with working Kirby all those years ago. Kirby never failed to impress.

 

One day I knocked into a house on Sand Mountain, this was an average home. The wife invited me in and I did a portion of my demo routine. She loved the Kirby and was super nice. If you’ve ever seen one of the demonstrations you know at one point we go into the bedroom and show all the stuff you get out of the mattress. Well I was going through that what you pulled out was dead skin and dust mites and showing her the literature about it when her husband came home. This man was a little brusque when he came in and saw me and all the pads of dirt laying around, but I figured all was well when he left the room. Now this was kind of a tough looking fellow and in a couple of minutes he came back with a shotgun. He pointed the gun at me with his finger on the trigger and told me to get the hell out of his house. The wife told him to calm down, but he continued to hold the gun on me. Knowing that you never point a gun on someone unless you are prepared to use it I was understandably shaken. I gathered up all the Kirby parts which are numerous, and hurried out of the house. I swear I stood in the driveway with him pointing that weapon at me while waiting for my supervisor to return with the van. She dressed me down for leaving the house. I told her that the man was still standing in the doorway with a shotgun pointed at me if she wanted to talk to him. She of course looked up and declined. I became a legend in the Kirby office. I think that was the most forceful eviction anybody there ever experienced. I did not like to go into houses on Sand Mountain after that day. Some of those people are real hillbillies up there.

 

I can honestly say looking into the barrel of a loaded gun makes your blood run cold. I love to shoot, but I am a little uncomfortable when anyone else has a weapon in their hands. I have looked into one of those cold pieces of steel enough times to never have to do it again.

 

Well, that is all for now.

 

Always,

Jo Ann

Went to bed at 2:30AM and rose briefly at about 7:10AM to turn the alarm off. I lay back down and did not take Alex to the bus. Mom took him, I woke up at 7:45AM and soon after got a shower. I am sleepy, but am staying up. There are things I need to get done.

 

I checked in on BlogShares and thankfully things look better this morning. I bought some more stock in several different blogs. I have this thing with these kind of games, years ago in like 1991 I bought a game that was stock market stuff and I played it constantly. Such things fascinate me. Does not take much to entertain me.

 

I am going into town a while. Business to which I must attend. Mom is anxious for the rent so I must cash a check and give her my money. The books are due at the library so I must stop by there and renew some items. Mom wants to pay her insurance so we will stop by the agent. She also has some gift cards at Borders so we may stop by there. I think she will probably give me at least one of the $25.00 cards, so that will be nice. We will have lunch too, not sure where we will eat, she says she does not want to choose so I must pick. I am not really hungry for any special thing so the choice will be difficult.

 

I added a few more links on here. I hope to put some more of the books I read last year on later. I just have not been dedicated to that because frankly I do not remember much about some of the books. Seems when you read so many as I did last year that some get lost in the mix.

 

Well, I better get going. Thank you all for being so kind. I’ll write more when I get home.

 

Smiles,

Jo Ann

Well, I read my way around everyone’s blogs, there is a lot going on out there today.

 

I did some trading on BlogShares, and unfortunately I am less wealthy than when I started out today. I guess it is a good thing I don’t own real stock to speculate in. It is almost depressing just as a pretend thing.

 

I think there are some super people on the other sides of these computers.

 

I do not have enough time to write much right now, so I will just wish you all a wonderful night and a pleasant Tuesday.

 

TTYL,

Jo Ann

I did not go to bed until 3:00AM and so I slept in until noon. My order from Amazon.com came this morning, so I now have the book my counselor and I are going to work through. I think it will be really helpful with dealing with my emotions. I need all the help I can get on this endeavor so I am glad we are working on it. The book is Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life by Scott E. Spradlin, MA. I like the conversational tone of the book.

 

My ex-sister-in-law is here again. I am staying in my room to avoid her. I really think I could deal with her today, but am not sure how she would react, so this is probably the best place for me. I just hope she goes in a timely manner this time. She has been here about two hours already and I kinda want to get something to eat. I just have to control the urge.

 

I have been making my rounds to other blogs. It is so good to be able to visit friends. Lots of good writing out there. I added a few new faces to my list last night and think I may add a few more today. This group keeps growing larger which is really cool.

 

I’ve been thinking ( I know this can be dangerous ) about some postings I read about religion, judgmentalness and condemnation, and I think I may have to write some about this here. It relates to my feelings about narrow-mindedness, which if you have been following my blog for a while you will know I find very appalling. I have to reason this out so it comes out clearly, so I am not going to write it right now, but it will come up in future entries. I feel so strongly in this regard, but I want to make sure I express what I truly feel. Sometimes words fail me.

 

Thank God my ex-sister-in-law left. I started something to eat right away. By the way my hands are working more normally now. My nerves are just about back to their regular state, not that that is necessarily "normal" but it is more stable.

 

Hope you are having a great Saturday.

 

TTYL,

Jo Ann

I changed the theme and the layout on here. I don’t know how long the changes will last, but I like it for now. I echo others on here that I wish themes were customizable or that there were more choices.

 

They still have not caught the killer. I hope they find him soon. This makes me a little nervous. I am glad I have no plans to go out tomorrow. The house is locked down tight. We live out in the country and this area would make a good hide out for someone trying to escape the authorities. That is why I am so uneasy. I really thought by now they would have caught him.

 

Well, XP shut down all my security programs that run in the background and I had to reboot in the middle of writing this so this entry is going to be short.

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Always,

Jo Ann

Lazy daze afternoon. For some reason my ex’s are on my mind very much today, but I am being good and resisting the nagging urge to call them. I really am letting go of them for good. It is lonely wishing for a relationship. I just have to keep my chin up and remember happiness is not dependent on having a man in my life. I actually have a lot of other things that are good right now. I love that I am sleeping at night and being up during daylight. I love that I have lost some weight. I love that I am writing some every day. I have even made some new friends through blogging. I love that I am learning new things and growing personally. I love having a dependable computer. I love that Spring is near. Happiness abounds, if I just think of all the positives.

 

The manhunt for Brian Nichols continues. I hope they catch him soon. I have the house locked up tight because we are in an isolated area and I have warned Alex not to open the doors unless he knows who is there. This is a very dangerous man. I suspect he is out of Georgia by now, they have mentioned connections to the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, so he may be headed that way. Television coverage of this story has monopolized all the stations here today. I actually sat down and watched a little of it.  I feel so sorry for the families who lost loved ones.

 

One little disadvantage to using OneNote to edit my blog entries is that I can not add links in this program. I do not understand why that feature was omitted because if you are using it for research notes you might need to include links to sources. This is the only thing I find lacking in the program. When I do my entries that include links I still use the new mail message in MSN as my editor.

 

I want to thank each of you who visit here and especially thanks for the comments. I enjoy the connection we have forged in Spaces. I am always pleasantly surprised to find links to Chronicles on other blogs I visit.

 

I have noticed that there is one particular google search that shows up in my statistics a lot. It is for naked+girls+spaces+msn. I bet they are disappointed when they read the entry they are directed toward. I am surprised google ever links to my blog at all. I guess my notoriety is published far and wide.

 

I checked to see if my name would bring up my blog. It does not, that is reassuring. There are people I would rather not have access to this personal account of my life. I was thinking how if I ever became famous this space would have to be edited somewhat. For now though it is not an issue. It is a safe place to be myself.

 

Alex is feeling a little better, he told me a while ago that he was rejoining the land of the living. He must have really felt bad, because when he is home he is usually at his computer and he only logged on about an hour ago.

 

Mom is on her computer playing games. We are all in our own little worlds even though we are only several yards apart in space. I am still amazed by computer technology, it has enabled me to live a much richer life.

 

MSN has been iffy today crashing on me several times. It seems that maybe it is a bug in the Spaces software because it only seems to happen when I am on Spaces. I try to post a comment and MSN crashes. I try to get into my blog and MSN crashes. I hate it when these things happen. I would call MSN, but I figure support would tell me that there is nothing they can do about it as Spaces is a beta release. I already cleaned out temporary files and cookies to fix the issue, but that has not helped. I wonder does anyone else have these issues, and what have you done to alleviate the crashes?

 

I will be back a little later. Hope you have a good evening.

 

Smiles,

Jo Ann