Fun but windy weekend...and a small tragedy

I went to see Kelly this weekend and really needed to spend the time with her. I miss her so much. On my way down there Friday, I got to Conway and this little dog tried to run out in front of my car. She jumped back at the last second and I watched her in my rearview mirror. I just knew she was going to get hit...she made it across 3.5 of the 5 lanes when an SUV clipped her and send her tumbling across the road. I was mortified. I turned the car around and went back to check on her and noticed 2 other people were out with her. I thought she was dead for sure b/c she wasn't moving...but she was still alive. One woman was palpating her to check for injuries, but there was no blood and the dog made no yelp of pain at all. I called 911 to see if they sent out animal control or if there was an emergency vet close by, but one woman said she knew a vet and would take her to be seen. She was soaking wet from where she had landed in a pond. I'm not sure if she made it there on her own or what. I just felt horrible..started crying. Cute little black stray who was just trying to make it back across the street to her friends. I wish I knew what happened to her...I need some kind of closure. The people who hit her didn't even stop. How cruel!

Anyway, we ate at Salsarita's Friday night and then Saturday morning we got our stuff together and headed out to the marina to catch the boat to Bird Island. We ended up on Andy's boat, so we got there ahead of the big boat that they rented. It was really windy b/c of Hurricane Ophelia, so it was a little chilly. We set up our chairs and ended up having to move them 7 times b/c the tide kept coming in. For lunch, we had sandwiches but couldn't really eat them b/c the wind was so strong that every bite was covered in sand. Shortly after that, we had to cut the trip early b/c the tide had come so far in, there was no beach left. We took naps after we got back, took showers and then had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Sunday, we went to the mall so I could get some more Proactiv and only went to a couple more places and came back to the apt. so I could make dinner.

Monday, I hung out until lunch time and ate lunch w/ Kelly when she came home from work. I left right after that. That was it. Nothing else really happened. It was awesome spending time with her though. I wish I could do it more often and I need to get down there and see her more. I know she's lonely and I hate that she doesn't have any friends down there to hang out w/. She's looking for jobs around Roanoke and can't wait to get moved back up there. I hope she finds something!!

Hurricane Katrina Causes Gas Prices to Soar...

Holy crap...I paid $2.75 per gallon last night when I filled up. Two hours later, the same station was $3.10. Several stations have been guilty of price gouging b/c NC is under a gas shortage. Katrina hit the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi and devistated New Orleans and Gulfport. The estimate thousands dead, there's no power, no water, no food and the looters are causing a huge problem. There's people even shooting at the rescue helicopters. People are dying in the shelters b/c there's no food or water. The water's contaminated and 80% of New Orleans is under water. People don't even have anywhere to use the restroom and they're having to move people out of the hospitals to the triangle and other areas b/c of it. There was even a sniper at a hospital shooting at the building. What the hell is wrong w/ people!?!

NC's problems is that 90% of our gasoline comes from the Gulf pipelines, and they have no power, so we have no way to get more gasoline pumped in. There's something like 9 refineries down there that are without power or damaged. Also, a lot of the oil rigs were damaged in the hurricane...so gas prices just shot straight up. In Sanford, 2 stations across the street from each other went from $2.45 to $2.80 overnight. I should have gotten it at 2.45 before the hurricane hit, but I didn't even think about it. I'm so pissed off! Why don't these refineries have nuclear generators to run them when the power's out?? Is it just so they can have a reason to jack up oil prices? They said it would probably hit $5 a gallon before it starts coming back down..and I know that's just so that when they lower it to $3, we'll think that's cheap. What the fuck ever dude.

Another think that chaps my ass is that the prices went up immediately after the hurricane. What we're using now was made weeks ago at a cheaper price...so we shouldn't be having to pay higher prices on that..they're just doing it b/c they know we need it and they have us by the throat. Brooke and I are going to start commuting and just suck up the 2 hours OT every week so our hours can be the same. On the weeks we work w/ Bonnie, we can commute w/ her too. There's so many of us in the same area, it's a shame our hours or shifts aren't the same..we could save a LOT of money..if there were 4 of us on the same shift, each of us would only have to drive once a week.

I'm really considering getting a smaller car, like another Civic, or a Jetta TDI. Diesel is just as expensive, but the gas mileage is much better and they're meant for people who drive long distances. Since I drive 52 miles just to and from work, I think I qualify. My Nissan will need some work before I sell it though, and I don't think I can afford that right now. I do get my raise on my 2nd check this month, and it'll be back payed to July 1st...but it still won't be a whole lot.

Anyway, I'll update again when there's more..I have to quit talking about this now or I'll get angry again..

Well, vacation is over and life begins again..

Vacation went by reallly fast...I'm not sure why. The girls were terrors the whole week and Mason was an angel. He only cried when the other 2 were in trouble or we took his food away so he would stop playing w/ it. Jeff and I tried to get away from them as much as possible. Tuesday, we went shopping and Hailey wanted some shoes b/c the ones she had were too big..but she wanted some that would be just as uncomfortable as the ones she was wearing, so Misty said no. Hailey pouted and threw a fit so I went ahead and got a pair so that Misty and I could take advantage of the buy 1, get one half off deal. About that time, Hailey comes up w/ the ones she wants and Misty said no, she'd had her chance and missed it.

As soon as we left the store, Hailey goes up to her dad and says, "You're going to let me have those shoes." Ronnie told her she needed to remember who she was talking to and Hailey then proceded to block his path and say, "I'm not moving until you let me have those shoes." I think he scolded her or spanked her or something b/c she did nothing but pout the rest of the time. Then she was irritating Jeff in the car and after he told her to stop 10 times and she didn't, he smacked her...and she still kept doing it. She is so desperate for attention that she doesn't care what kind it is. She's always asking if she can help, and I let her when I can, but a lot of times it's just faster for me to go ahead and do it. She broke the dvd player and lied about it, never listened, fussed, stomped around and pouted and always tried to be the center of attention. Every time I'd try to take a picture or video of Mason, she was always trying to get in it. It just got really annoying to the point where I'm glad we're not going w/ them next year.

I got to spend some time w/ Kelly and got some sun and had a blast w/ Jeff in the ocean. It was really great to spend time w/ him...not to mention that the sex was phenominal!! I needed to get away from work...and I didn't even watch the news while I was there. Jeff and I also went geo-caching on the island. That was fun!! If you're not familiar w/ it, you use a GPS and go on the internet to get the coordinates. You go to that coordinate and either find the "treasure" or another set of coordinates. When you find the "treasure", it's a box full of trinkets left by others who have found it. There's a log for you to sign saying that you've been there and then you take an item from the box and leave one in it's place. We got photos of the whole event and I can't wait to go on another one. We left a pen and then took a nose flute..lol. It was just so funny that it seemed like something we should take.

We shopped a lot more than I'm sure we should have, but I didn't get much that wasn't already on my list of stuff I had been looking at anyway. I didn't even get everything that was on my list, so it balanced out. All in all, it was a good vacation and I had fun despite the kids being irritating. Next year, Jeff and I are hoping to take a 5 yr. anniversary trip to somewhere really nice. Cough, Cayman Islands, cough.