Did you watch?

Let me admit this first: I used to watch Jon & Kate + 8....when it was actually somewhat entertaining. I even Tivo'd it for a time.

Then it became annoying. And fake. And Kate turned into Superbitch. So I took it off the Tivo schedule and stopped watching.

When the show first started it seemed to be about a real family dealing with real issues and struggling to make it all work. Now, it has turned into a show about a ''tv created' family dealing with the tabloids and struggling to get as many freebies and product placements as possible. It's not reality TV anymore...it's just crap.

That being said, I (like 7 million other people out there) tuned in to Monday's "Season 5" premiere.

What a train wreck.

Here are a few thoughts:

- in the 'flashbacks' Kate actually looked like your normal mom - frazzled, hair not quite done, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts to run errands .... this was when the show was more about the kids than Kate...but....

- ...flash foward to the present day and her trip to the party store: hair perfectly styled, designer high heeled boots paired with jeans and a cute top and coat. I'm sorry...but are you freakin' kidding me? What mom gets dressed like THAT to go to the party store with 8 kids in tow? I'll tell you who....the mom who KNOWS the paparazzi will be there and she wants to be sure that the next cover of US Weekly has a good photo of her! Gah. She's a horrible disgusting person.

- I don't feel any sympathy for Kate. She tried (very hard) to put on this air of being funny and witty and friendly and it all felt forced and fake. The whole laughing-at-the-bugs part was so contrived. No one who is that big of a control freak would laugh at swarms of bugs crashing her kids' party. Please. And she tries to put on this air of "oh poor me"...well, girlfriend, you brought this upon yourself. You are a shrew. You treat your husband as if he's the 9th child. And all this 'boo hoo why is the media picking on me' crap is just that - CRAP.

- Those poor kids. They are the only victims in this whole train wreck.

If Jon & Kate had any compassion they would stop this charade now and kick out the cameras and focus on fixing their family (if it can even be fixed -- it might be totally beyond repair).

Overdrafts and rejection letters...oh, so it's one of "those" days?

Today has been less than stellar, let me tell ya.

Long story short #1: We closed on the refi of our house last Wednesday and paid the closing costs - which included our May mortgage payment - on Friday. This meant that the automatic withdrawl of funds that normally occurs each month at mortgage payment time was NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. Well, fast forward to today when I saw that our checking account was overdrafted nearly $900!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the bill payer company (who I will name: BillPayer2000) didn't get or pay attention to the memo from our bank that the mortgage had already been paid, so keep your grubby little hands off their money this month, thank you. In A TOTAL STATE OF PANIC I e-mailed the mortgage guy who assured me that he had (1) called BillPayer and told them to PUT THE MONEY BACK IN MY ACCOUNT. STAT. , and (2) would then put the $826.77 overdraft "protection" back into my savings account from whence it was removed last night to "protect" my checking account.

Long story short #2: I got a rejection letter today. While it was somewhat expected, it still sucks. My favorite line in the rather short letter is this: "After careful consideration, we have decided that, while you have much to offer an employer, your strengths are not a close enough match to our current need." [And yes, it DID have that many commas in it]. I have this to say: Really? Are you serious? My "strengths" aren't a close enough match to your current need? Did those needs change from the time you saw those strengths and brought me in for an interview? Because I'm guessing that at that point in time, my "strengths" must have matched your needs just a little bit, or you wouldn't have called me.

In all honesty, this was one of "those" interviews, where you walk out thinking "what the hell was that?" The interviewer (who would have been my boss had I matched their needs) had only been on the job for SIX WEEKS when she was conducting these interviews. They had NINE people coming in for 1st interviews (WTF?). She didn't ask many relevant questions about my background, experience, etc. And when I gave her my portfolio .... well, she glanced at it for about 2 minutes and then HANDED IT BACK TO ME. No see, when you are handed a portfolio, you're supposed to KEEP IT so that you can really review it. Whatev.

And that, my friends, is my day in a nutshell.

I suppose this means my life is boring

Yes, it's been about 11 days since my last blog post.

Why?

I guess there's not much new and/or exciting going on.

I just haven't felt the urge to blog about anything. I think I'm just not in the mood.

I've been a bit stressed since coming home from Florida. As anyone who reads my blog knows, I am losing my job. Six weeks from tomorrow I will be unemployed. And to add to my stress level, Kevin's company is talking MAJOR layoffs sometime very soon. I cannot even imagine how horrible things will be if we both lose our jobs.

OK, see...that's why I haven't been blogging. I'm just not in the mood to be all cheery and witty and blog friendly.

So, sorry to my readers for the lack of blog posts.

However, if you'd like to read about my recent vacation head over to my other blog (Travels With Kids). I promise those posts are much more FUN.

Thanks for sticking w/ me...even in my current mood.

This is rather amusing

Finally!!!!

And now, a mere 24 hours after the unpacking started, I am finally finished.

All the suitcases are empty. The laundry is done and put away (yay me!). The carry on bags are unpacked. And, all the little things we bought and/or collected on the trip (including photos) are in a pile on my dining room table. Those will be dealt with later.

Now I would just like to relax a little bit. And unwind. And think about our trip.

I've come to the conclusion that the first couple of days after a vacation (especially a Disney vacation) are tough. Honestly, it pretty much sucks. A lot. At this point, I'd rather be in Disney World, sitting in the Magic Kingdom, eating Dole Whip, waiting for a parade to start.

But I'm here. Back to reality. [sigh]

It's an adjustment to come back to the 'real world'. It takes a bit of time to get back into the swing of things and not feel a bit 'blue' about it all.

That, and after months (or in our case, almost a year) of anticipation, planning and countdowns...well, it's all over. You wait and wait and wait and count down the months/days/minutes until it's time to GO and then just like THAT it's over. And you're home. And it's a bit of a (major) let down. I mean, what the heck am I supposed to plan for now? [Disney 2011 anyone?]

I think a lot of it has to do with the magic that is Disney World. It just sweeps you up. I didn't watch the news the entire time I was down there (mostly by choice, but also because the TV was always tuned to the Disney Channel for the kids). We had a USA Today delivered to our room each morning, but I only glanced at the headlines. I honestly wasn't that concerned about what was going on in the 'real world'. I didn't crave or miss Facebook or Twitter or e-mail. I was just happy being at Disney. It's so easy to lose yourself in the magic.

It's also easy to get overwhelmed, overheated, and over wrought while there. Trust me, we had our share of drama on this trip -- but then again, we also had 10 people in our group (4 of whom were under the age of 5 1/2). And you try spending a week with your family and not have any drama. Go ahead, I DARE you.

Over all, I'd say FUN was had by all about 98% of the time. The other 2% of time was not all fun and games. But you'll have that. And then you move on and have more fun. And, for the record: I had FUN. A whole lot of FUN.

And now, I have to go back to work tomorrow and think about the fact that at the end of next month I will be unemployed. And then there's the swine flu, and the economy and all the crap that goes along with that.

Gee, I wonder why I'd rather be in Disney World right now.

Back to reality

Well, I'm home from Disney. Not much more to say about that part.

The trip itself was AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FULL OF FUN...and all that stuff. The weather was perfect all week -- not one drop of rain fell! The crowd levels were great....and Olivia and Emma had so much fun.

A few highlights:

- watching Emma's reaction as she met the characters for the first time (she was only 8 months old the last time we went)

- Olivia being transformed into a princess at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!

- watching Olivia and Emma dance the waltz w/ Cinderella and Prince Charming

- seeing Olivia meet Prince Caspian (from The Chronicles of Narnia)...oh what a story I have for that

OK...I would love to post more, but I am exhausted and still unpacking. I will be journaling about each day on my other blog (Travels with Kids) ... so once those are up, I'll post a link if anyone cares to read about our adventures.

Oh, and I should mention that I took 1,025 pictures during our week-long trip. And four full video tapes. Yeah, it might take a few days to post any photos. :)