WhiskeyGirl's blog: "GYPSY'S RAMBLINGS"

Several days ago, I put up a status asking for prayers & positive thoughts for a co-worker who lost her child due to a senseless act of violence. This woman is one of the sweetest people I know, and it tears my heart out knowing that she is going through this.

Thursday night, Feb 6th, her boyfriend came and picked her up from work. Her daughter was unconscious in the carseat. The boyfriend claimed the child was asleep. The woman knew something was wrong, and it was confirmed when they stopped at a traffic light. She made the decision that the child needed to go to the emergency room. The local emergency room called for life flight and little Lanie was flown to Cleveland Rainbow Babies & Childrens hospital where she died early Friday morning as a result of severe head trauma.

The boyfriend was arraigned in court Monday afternoon and has been bound over to the grand jury. *What I wouldn't give to sit on that jury!

It is sad enough when a child has to go under the moritician's blade for natural causes, but its even sadder and far more disturbing when a child has to go under the mortician's blade as a result of violence committed against that child.

This little girl didn't get to start school, didn't get to learn to drive a car, go on a date, or live to see adulthood all because the man responsible for the loss of this young life was jacked up on heroin and he decided to beat her for whatever reason.

*We do not know all of the details - what we know is that he IS responsible and if there is a god he will not leave prison alive!

In the past 24 hours, that friend that I took out Saturday night, has people believing that it was way more than what it actually was. I told them that it was as friends only & at least two of the people said, "He doesn't think so, he's planning to get you flowers payday."

Imagine my shock when I heard this - it went from shock to extremely pissed off. This evening, at last break, he asked, "Are  you having a bad day?" Instead of simply answering "yes." I replied with - "Let's see, the first operator & I ended up in a yelling match, not once but three times over bullshit that was happening on the other side of the press. We are working until 10:45 instead of 10:30 because the stupid little bitch on the other side can't comprehend how to press buttons when the light comes on, and all I want is for this night to be over - so, yes, it is safe to say that I am having a bad day." Then he says, "I can call you after work and we can talk."

I looked him dead in the face and said, "That would be a BAD IDEA." put out my cigarette, and walked away. I felt it was better to just walk away instead of starting that conversation when I was as pissed off as I was. This of course, will all be explained to him when I feel I can talk to him without ripping his throat out.

Tomorrow, I am supposed to give him a ride to Ashtabula to cash his check after work - of course, that isn't happening now. He can get someone else to take him there.

I am sure that, by the time I am ready to discuss things with him, he will have figured out what the problem was and simply apologize.

Why, when I try to be nice to people and do something to cheer them up, does it always backfire?

This is what happened when I took that friend out Saturday night. In one of our many conversations, it had come up that all he does is work & go home & drink - I don't care who you are - that isn't healthy. A couple of mutual friends were concerned about it. So, at first, when he asked if I wanted to hang out & watch movies, I had said ok. Then, the I got the idea of going to hear a friend DJ at a local club and asked him if he wanted to go. I figured it would be good for him to get out of the house.

Even though it was all innocent, he apparently got the wrong signal - and has been all clingy. I don't do clingy at all! Doesn't matter if it's a friendship or relationship - if it's clingy - it's out! He has gotten all of these ideas in his head that I am going to dump the guy I'm seeing now, for him. That's not happening.

I think part of the problem is that this guy is lonely - he's been separated from his wife almost 5 months, another part of it is that he is very insecure - worse than I am - and it causes him to latch onto anyone who show him any kind of attention.

I don't want to hurt this guy's feelings, but, at the same time I don't want him thinking that the friendship is going to evolve into something more. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens. *fingers crossed that is doesn't get messy*

So, being off of work the last 5 weeks has really taken its toll on me. I was depressed - more so than usual - and I just didn't want to do anyting. The reason I was off: high blood pressure issues and possible heart problems. My blood pressure isn't stable, it is still all over the place but I simply cannot afford to be off of work any longer. I burned through what I had in the bank, including my savings, and the bills just are not going to wait any longer.

My doctor ok'd me to go back to work next week, that was only after I explained to him that - even if we got my blood pressure to stay in the good range with me not working, what guarantees did I have that it wouldn't be all over the place again once I went back to work. So, instead of being off of work until December, like he originally wanted - I was told I can go back to work.

Admittedly, I am nervous about it. I know some changes have been made. My boss called the other day to give me a choice between several target jobs - I chose the one that -of course - is the easiest. That was another reason I didn't want to be off of work any longer: my boss had said that if I was going to be off another month, I would get bumped off of that job and be stuck signing again when I went back. Another reason I didn't want to be off - even with the FMLA paper - since I hadn't been an employee for 90 days, I could only miss 12 weeks. If I had been there past my 90 days, I would've had 18 months.

So, I used the last few weeks to get some stuff taken care of: my online store opened, more designs to put on merchandise in the store, I made up business cards & flyers advertising my design business. I guess the medical issues made me see that life really is too short & if I don't take chances I will never know what could've been.

The only thing I haven't changed - my relationship situation - it is still the same f'd up, bulls*** situation that it has been for the last 10 months of almost 2yrs we've been together. I am seriously getting tired of the nonsense - it's been complicated for quite some time - I've tried (probably not as hard as I should have) to walk away several times, but the pain gets to be too much and I say "Let's give it another shot." I don't know if I could do better so much as I know I deserve a better situation than this one. NO, he is NOT abusive - I mean he can be a douche bag but then again, can't we all?

I've been tempted to find a 'friend with benefits' but I'm not the cheating type - regardless of situation. I guess only time will tell as far as that is concerned.

Anyway, if you get a minute, please stop by http://www.cafepress.com/gypsyheartdesign

Have a great day & Thank you!

Right now there are a few items available: iPhone cases, mugs, a few home decor items, and I am adding more as time permits. If curious or interested, you can find it here:

www.cafepress.com/GypsyHeartDesign

Thanks in advance for visiting - be sure to check back often for new items!

T-shirts coming soon!

Have a blessed day!!

And decided that it was time for the neighbor across the street to leave this life. Apparently, Tuesday evening he had a cardiac episode. I had come downstairs to get some ice and saw the flashing glow from the squad lights on the wall. I didn't want to watch - I had a feeling that the squad was there for him & not his wife or stepson - but I couldn't help it, I wanted to see how many rescue workers it took to get him out of the house.

You see, the neighbor across the street was a rather huge man. I swear he topped the scales at 500-550 lbs. (he had not always been that size, I remember when they were neighbors of ours when I was younger and he was barely 180lbs.) It took 7 rescue workers to remove him from the house. Yes, that is very sad. It is also somewhat pathetic - as this man had gained all of that weight over the span of a year or so becasue he foudn out that if he weighed 300 lbs or more he could collect disability!

I know it sounds horrible, but he chose to do that just so he wouldn't have to work everyday like the rest of us, and in doing so, he cut his life short - one of his grandkids told us that he was only 53.

Your heart is only about as big as your fist and is not meant to be overworked like that, by carrying around so much extra weight. We were actually suprised that he hadn't died sooner.

The point is, why endanger your health just to get free money from the government? It doesn't make any sense. It never has. (He had come from one of those families that made welfare a career and if they couldn't qualify for welfare, they found a way to get disability - sad, very sad.)

I understand that some weight problems are genetic and harder to manage than others, but I honestly believe that we each make the choice whether to accept things like they are or to try and change them. I, have never been willing to accept the idea that I am about 40 lbs overweight - I have been and continue to do whatever I can to get my weight down and keep it down. It doesn't sound like much, but almost 6 months ago, I was about 10lbs away from weighing in at 200 lbs. I'm only 5' tall and there was no way in hell I was going to hit 200. I cut way down on a lot of garbage that I ate & the amount of soda that I drank a day, and getting the factory job helped as well, but I've lost almost 35 lbs. I am planning to be back down to 115-120lbs by the first of the year.

Here's what some large people fail to realize (in my opinion): Just because you are a large person and or oeverweight, you do NOT need to eat like a hog! Stop and think about it - those extra slices of pizza, extra 2 liters of soda, the extra Big Macs & fries - all of that stuff helped to get you where you are - nastily overweight & probably with some unkown health issues. It really is not that difficult to cut down on the calories you take in everyday.

*I said this because when I worked in fast food, I saw a family of obese people - the children were maybe 7 & 5 - come in one evening and ordered enough food to feed 3 families. The children ate just as much as the parents did. And of course I had seen other large people eat like that. Hell, I worked with one woman a couple of years ago, she was overweight and always complaining about how she wanted to lose weight, yet when we order lunch, she would overeat every single time. *

I don't know who the neighbor on the left is going to argue with now, I do know that he was saying how sorry he was that the guy across the street died.

My condolences go out to this man's family - I also know that his wife and stepson are going to know peace now, they no longer will have him yelling and screaming at them to get this or get that.

When it comes to the next door neighbor and the neighbor across the street. We've lived in this house going on 10 years & there has never been a dull moment.

When we first moved in - the neighbor on the left and the guy who owns the garage on the right were constantly having yelling matches across our backyard. We got a charge out of it. The guy who owns the garage also races cars (this is what the neighbor on the left always complained about) and, when the neighbor on the left would start to complain about the noise, the race car engine got louder and louder. I'd sit outside with a beer listening and laughing at this - needles to say, the neighbor on the left doesn't like me much! I would wave at the cops who showed up to handle the 'noise complaint'. They always told the neighbor on the left the same thing - the car is being worked on during normal working hours and there is nothing they can do about it. This went on every spring and summer until last year - I guess the neighbor on the left decided to give up!

Now it has been the neighbor on the left vs the neighbor across the street - the complaint - they were poarking one of their 3 vehicles in front of his house (back story - the neighbor across the street has 2 driveways so there really is no reason for them to be parking in the street.) and he finally had enough and started parking his car and his scooter in the street in front of his house, so the neighbor across the street had no choice except to use their driveways.

It seems they take turn calling the cops on each other - last weekend, they called the cops on him because he was mowing his lawn at 10AM. Two days later, he called the cops on them because they were laughing too loud! If ya ask me, this is all  petty nonsense. I know the cops have got to be tired of getting called to either one of their addresses.

The most recent incident - the other morning - um, Wednesday I think - my mom was up getting ready for work and she heard something outside. She didn't really pay any attention and finished getting ready for work. Next thing she knows, there's a knock on the front door. It's the police, they wanted to know if there was a possibility that anyone here had seen or heard anything concerning the neighbor on the left's vehicles. She told him no, she is usually in bed by 11 & I don't get home from work until a little after 11.

They asked her to wake me and ask if I'd seen or heard anything after I got home. (Getting woke up at 5AM when I don't have to be to work until 3PM is not my ideal way to start off the morning.) I told them I hadn't seen or heard anything and went back to bed.

As it turned out, someone hit the side of his car, then hit his scooter. Of course he is pointing the finger at the neighbor across the street. Here's the thing. His car is parked so that it is directly in front of their driveway and the chances of it getting backed into are, well, very good. So, Wednesday I was woke up around 10:30 to the neighbors yelling at each other!

My opinion - if you have a driveway you should have to use it to keep your cars in or get cited. If this was the case, this whole problem would go away. It's only going to get worse this winter - again - because either the neighbor on the left will keep his car parked there (unless there's a snowban in effect) or he will keep it in his driveway and the neighbor across the street will start parking one of their vehicles in that spot again.

I do have to wonder what type of excitement this fall and winter hold for us, whatever it is, you can bet your ass that I will be somewhere nearby with a beer in hand!