Well, I stink.

I wrote my Sunday blog post and Blogger wouldn't post it. AND- It's terrible because it's my MOMS FRIGGIN BIRTHDAY and I had a lovely post written all about how great of a mother she is, and it didn't post. I didnt' realize it until right now.

So I KIND of missed a post yesterday, but I SWEAR I wrote it. You can blame blogger for it.

I'm cheating by writing this right now and scheduling it to have posted for Sunday.

Dammit, almost EIGHT MONTHS without missing a daily post. CRAP!!!

Mom, I'm a shitty daughter. I'll write you a wonderful Happy Birthday blog post today..I PROMISE!!! I LOVE YOU!

Caturday.

When Did This Happen?

When did men stop wanting to take care of women? Now, guys who read this blog, I'm generalizing men here, not ALL men are like this and I'm not saying YOU are or that every man is, so chillax.

Anyway, when did men stop wanting to take care of women? It's something I've noticed since My Breakup. I feel like it's all around me. Men who are 30 or older who just DON'T want to get married or have kids. Or 30-year-olds who still live with their parents. I was recently catching up with a college friend who lives in NYC and he was saying his relationship was hanging by a thread because he's almost 30 years old and doesn't see himself settling down any time soon. I'm not bashing him, he has every right to feel that way, BUT- since when does it make a girl crazy to anticipate the next step in a relationship when you've been together for a few years? Felix made me feel like I was doing something WRONG for making plans to buy a house, or ask about marriage. Call me crazy, but after being together for almost 3 years, I was making plans. There's nothing wrong with planning my life. I think it's normal...isn't it? If I WANTED kids, I'd be screwed. I'd have to go out and unknowingly get knocked up by some guy. BECAUSE now, by the time a man is ready to have kids, a women's childbaring days are almost over!

I feel like men my age just don't feel the need the older generation did to marry a woman and take care of her. Ladies, maybe it's OUR fault. We're so independent we send off this vibe that we don't NEED to be taken care of. Which we don't, and that's good. But NEEDING and WANTING something are two different things. I WANT a man who is ABLE to take care of me, and WANTS to. Call me old-fashioned, but that's what I've always pictured. I recently read an article that says women are becoming more successful than men. More women are graduating from college and getting good jobs, while it seems as though men are slacking. It's in a women's nature to be with someone successful. Maybe successful women are just outnumbering the successful guys out there? And there's less of a choice? Maybe men feel emasculated by a women's success?

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. And I'm not man-bashing. I LOVE men. It's just been my observation that men just don't want to get married anymore. But who can blame them? Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Happy Birthday Lauren!!

Oh, Miss Lauren McKinney, now Mrs. Lauren Gilligan..where do I even begin with your happy birthday wishes? Lauren and I go way back to the junior high days. I credit her for taking me under her wing when I was brutally dumped by my First Love. I was devastated, and Lauren and I hung out with the same people, but really weren't friends until after The Dumping. I thought it was the end of the world (as we all do when our first "real" relationship comes to an end), and Lauren was nice enough to start asking me to hang out with her.

One thing led to another, and soon I was spending weekends at her house, and even took a trip to Florida with her. In Florida, I found out my mom was pregnant with Morgan (a day I'll NEVER forget), and I took my first and only trip to the Florida Keys. After high school ended and I went off to school at Clarion, and her to Lock Haven, we grew apart, but still kept in touch. The girls from Brookville made it a tradition to go to the truck stop for coffee when we were all home, and Lauren and I have kept in touch regularly throughout the years.
Lauren has recently been a great friend to me, once again, after I got The Boot from Felix. She calls and texts me regularly to see how I'm doing, and I can't thank her enough for that. She's been one of the greatest long-distance friends I've ever had...So thank you, Lauren. I'm so glad you've found happiness with Matt in your little home in Kane, and I wish you a spectacularly happy birthday!!!

Winter Has Arrived in Northeast Ohio.

Seriously, someone needs to do SOMETHING about the travesty called winter road conditions in Youngstown.
I've been complaining about it since I moved here. I have NEVER lived in a place that does sooo little to treat it's roads during the winter. They don't plow. They don't salt. They don't do ANYTHING. I'm sick of having treacherous drives to work every year during the months between December and March!
It began last night. I had to be into work at 9:00 PM, so I left around 8:30. That should be MORE than enough time to go get gas, grab a latte at Dunkin Donuts, and make it to work right on time.
I hadn't been out of my apartment all day, so when I hopped into my car, I noticed it was WAY colder than it had been that morning, and cars were driving REALLY slowly. When I pulled out onto Mahoning Avenue (the main route from my apartment in Austintown to work in downtown Youngstown), the shit hit the fan. It was HORRENDOUS. An absolute ice-skating rink.
I made it to the gas station and Dunkin Donuts ok, and was breathing a sigh of relief because I was thinking maybe the roads looked worse than they actually were.
Still, after years and years of my dad pounding it into my brain that I was going to DIE if I drove in a dusting of snow, I creepy-crawled my way down the street towards the direction of work. I'm talking, MAYBE 15 miles per hour. First red light comes up, I brake...and aaarrrooouuunnndd I go. I do a complete 360 degree turn on the road, at a speed so slow, I actually had time to say out loud, "PLEASE DON'T HIT THE POLE, PLEASE DON'T HIT THE POLE". I stopped approximately 2 feet away from said telephone pole, and bumped into the curb before coming to a stop. I was right by a restaurant parking lot, so I pulled in to get my wits about me and sit for a few minutes because I was shaking so bad. I sat there for about five minutes, and in those five minutes, I saw four other cars do basically the same thing I had done. The roads were PURE. ICE.
When my trembling calmed a little, I pulled back out on the road. I get no farther than a few stop lights down the road (keep in mind, Mahoning Avenue is a steady slope DOWNHILL from Austintown to Youngstown), when the same thing happens. Around I go, slowly spinning into oncoming traffic. This time my concern was not getting hit by a car coming the opposite direction. So there I am, facing the WRONG way, waiting for other cars to pass me and praying they don't slide into me, before I can gently put my car in reverse and maneuver myself safely into the right lane. I slid AGAIN approaching one of the bridges. I really REALLY thought I was going to slide right into the side of it, but I somehow managed to keep my car on the road. It wasn't just me, either. Cars were spinning out left and right. There was NO ODOT truck as far as the eye could see. Just lots of Youngstown cops parked near accidents, or on the side of the road with their lights on, warning people of their impending doom. It was horrible. It took me AT LEAST 20 minutes to stop shaking after I finally got to work.
And it's like this all the time here!! I think the only reason it's usually not so bad, is that normally I'm heading to work a little before 11pm, so the traffic isn't as bad as it was last night.
All I want to do is win the Mega Millions, so I can move some place warm. Wait. Scratch that. I just gotta move some place that SALTS IT'S FRIGGIN' ROADS and I'll be happy.

Is it just me or is the Tiger Woods scandal the best thing to happen to Kate Gosselin since her tummy tuck? She's never in the tabloids anymore, and no one has heard anything from Jon McDoucherton Gosselin, either. Now Tiger's up to 14 ladies (According to Perez Hilton), and sponsors are dropping him left and right.

I'll lose all hope for humanity if I find out Seal is cheating on Heidi. The divorce of Nick and Jessica was enough to devasate me back in the early 2000's. I can't take much more.

On another note, MTV has decided to take out the scene of Snookie getting hit in the face on this week's episode of Jersey Shore. This pretty much ruins my weekend, as I've been patiently waiting to watch it over and over again on my DVR. In slow motion. For those of you who have been hiding under a rock (or aren't as obsessed with MTV's latest trashy reality show as I am), one of the little Jersey Shore Guidette's gets punched in the face at a club by a dude at the bar. Apparently people caused an uproar, saying MTV was sensationalizing violence, so they pulled the segment. Ugh. What a buzzkill.

That's all I got on a Tuesday!

Happy Music Monday!!!

I don't know what it is about Lady GaGa that I just love. She's a freak. An absolute freak. But maybe ya gotta respect her a little for having the balls to do some of the stuff she does. Anway, I know Leah has sent me a bunch of music to listen to, but I haven't had the time to listen (I spend a lot of time laying in my bed feeling sorry for myself...maybe I should start bringing my laptop...). ANYWAY- in honor of me getting my ass back in the gym today and stopping feeling sorry for myself, I'm posting "Bad Romance" by Lady GaGa. When I had been going to the gym faithfully and working on the Couch to 5K running program, this song really pumped me up...sooo hopefully when I head back today, it'll do that same! Happy Monday!