Decisions......Or Not.

So. Last night we had dinner at Red Lobster with the fam. It was yummy and I had a drink, which is rare. A banana daiquiri, and it was yummy. Yay. Way more got done at the beach house yesterday too. The boys put up cedar shingles along the entire back part of the house and it looks SOOO good. Also, Kurt put most of a tile floor in the kitchen.....That looks great as well.

Today was a normal day at work. We have been so slammed and I don't get it, this is normally our "dead" time of the year, and we are crazy busy. But that's OK, I'll take the extra business....

OK, on to my topic of the day. Since I love to use names to protect the innocent on this blog, I am going to call my topic girl "Norma". I would like to call topic girl "Loser, Stealer, Cheat, Disrespectful Moron", but that wouldd take some time to type every time I refer to her here.

Years Ago

So. Said story starts some time back. Norma graduated from college. Norma had a very marketable degree, but chose not to pursue her career, as Norma was living with her boyfriend who was not yet done with school. Norma instead basically sat around and lived off her parents money, constantly borrowing money from them to live off of and working at dead end, low pay, part-time jobs. Norma continually quit jobs. About two years went by with this same pattern. During this time, Norma was also pulled over for drunk driving. After said drunk driving, Norma allowed friends to drive her car, including one friend who wrecked the car totally. Norma then drove her car and was pulled over and thrown in jail again for violating her DUI. Thrown in jail a second time. Bailed out yet again by family.

More Recent

Norma text messaged her brother and cousin late one night, simply stating "Help." Norma could not call, because unfortunately, Norma also rarely paid her bills, and her cell service had been cut off some time ago. Norma's parents were called by her brother, and the police were apparently sent to her apartment to check on her. Upon arrival, the police were told by Norma that her boyfriend had "beat her up". Said boyfriend was thrown in jail. (Before you feel sorry for Norma wait until a later chapter in the story where it is discovered that Norma made this entire incident up for "attention"). Norma's parents, who have always been there for her (sometimes to a fault) showed up to take her and her things back to her hometown, Oak City.

Even More Recent

Norma moved back home and did not pursue the charges against her boyfriend. Norma's testimony was needed to go any further and Norma was fearful boyfriend would go to jail. Umm, isn't that where people who hit others belong? Apparently not, in Norma's world. Norma's parents then got her really decent waitressing jobs and Norma began working. Even though Norma's parents did EVERYTHING for her, Norma was still a nonthankful brat, complaining about anything and everything and acting like a total spoiled child.

The Talk

Because of Norma's selfish behavior, Norma's mother sat her down for a talk. During said talk, Norma tells her Mother she has been in contact with the boyfriend because "he has a right to know..." What, you may ask? A right to know she is pregnant. And of course, not surprisingly, Norma has no interest in an abortion. She plans on "working all summer and saving money to support her child." (intelligent thoughts, I know. I am sure all mothers out there were never aware that you can support a child on ONE summer of working???). As you might have guessed, Norma is not saving her money. Norma is spending all her money and sending it to her boyfriend. Norma also continually buys herself luxury items, while Norma's mother works a second job to help support the household and pay the bills Norma has incurred.

It Gets Worse

Just as you thought this story could not get any worse, it does. One weekend, while Norma's mother is out of town, Norma's sister is working at the mall and looks out the window of her store into the mall and sees....drumroll please....Norma and her boyfriend, walking about with a ton of bags........Norma's sister tells her parents and they confront her. She tells them that her boyfriend never hit her, she made it up for attention and because she thought he was going to leave her. Nice. Nobody still knows if she lying or not, but at this point, I don't think anyone cares either.

More Recent

Norma's mother calls my husband crying. I guess Norma stole her parents identity and opened credit card accounts fraudulently, racking up $15000+ in charges. Norma bought mostly items for her boyfriend and herself, including stereo systems, diamonds and the like. Norma's father called the police and when they ran her license, an outstanding warrant popped up in another city for her nonappearance at a DUI hearing. Norma was carted off to jail. And, bailed out by her parents. Nice. I am truly starting to think at this point that Norma can do no wrong. Would murder equate to consequences for Norma? Who the hell knows.

Conclusion

My dilemma through the years with this situation has been this. Norma and I have always been close.. She used to come to me with her problems and ask for advice and has not throughout all of this. I believe because she does not want to hear the truth, or an honest opinion. Everyone has been babying her and no consequences have been set for any of her actions.

I am extremely disappointed in Norma's actions.

I am mad that Norma disrespects her entire family.

I am annoyed that Norma never came to me through any of this.

I am devastated at the way this is affecting Norma's younger sister, who has to look elsewhere for a role model because her sister is, for lack of better words, a complete and total idiot.

It makes me sick that one person's actions are tearing an entire close knit family apart.

And I am sad that the person I once knew is obviously no longer there. That I have pretty much lost a friend, a family member, a person in my life.

I never thought in my life that I would stop talking to someone, or choose to disown a family member, but I simply can't do this anymore. If SOMEONE does not take action, Norma will never get better. Everyone sits around and acts like everything she does is forgiveable, or that her actions are freaking personality traits. OK, maybe we need to accept that she is having a baby when she can't even take care of herself (which if I might add, i think is one of the most selfish things one could do). But, I don't have to accept that Norma is a liar. That she steals. That she is a fraud.

It's sad that I am afraid for a family member to be near me, because I think she will steal from my house or my purse? How sick is that?

Sigh.

Monday Before the Exam:

Well....have not posted in forever. I am done. Monday, I left to pick up Kellie in New Hudson and head to East Lansing to take our test. Got there in great time, and checked into our hotel, which was awesome. Called TownPlace Suites and it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, etc. We took a ride to stake out the exam location, and pick up food for the cooler Kellie bought for lunch the next day, and breakfast. Then we had a really early dinner at Olive Garden. I had baked ziti and it was soooo good. Highly recommend that meal. Went back to the room and studied for the rest of the night.

Day One, Bar Exam:

Cassie met us at our hotel on Tuesday morning and we all drove together to the exam. Got there early, so we hung out outside talking until we had to go in at 8:30 a.m. SO MANY SEATS. It was at the Breslin Center at MSU, and there were over 1000 people there taking the test. I was seat number 338, Kellie was in the 400s and Cassie was in the 600s, so we were nowhere near eachother. The proctor started going over all the instructions and off we were......That day was essay day. We had 9 essays to do in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. Got out around 430 p.m. that day. The morning was OK, but the afternoon was sheer hell. One of the property queestions intertwined Secured Transactions, which is never tested, so that sucked. One good thing though, they usually test Corporations, and instead they tested Agency Law, which I like a lot more. So that was kewl. That night, we went to P.F. Changg's for dinner by Cassie's hotel. Stopped after dinner and picked up our food for the next day, went back to the room and studied for the rest of the night (except our short excursion to Coldstone for ice cream. I had never been there and Kellie loves the place. Wow. Great ice cream).

Day Two, Bar Exam:

Next morning, Cassie met us and we went over again. Day two was multiple choice. Ugh. 200 questions, got out at 5:00 p.m. It pretty much sucked. Every question, you can pretty much narrow down to two answers, and really, both of them "could" be right. You have to pick which one is "more" right. Fun. And the bar tries to say that this is teaching us about the real world....Umm, yea. That.

Some funny things. The proctor was SOOO loud. He had a mike, and when he said STOP, meaning put your pencils down, he literally SCREAMED it. It made me jump a mile out of my seat the four times this happened and almost throw my pencil......

So, of course, on our way home, it POURED. The entire way from East Laning to Newport. It's strange that it was literally raining from one side of the state to the other. So, my trip home took much longer than it should.

To sum the exam up. It sucked. I have no idea how I did. Besides the fact that the test is graded on a curve, I pretty much have no idea on most of the questions if I picked the ""right" answer between the two possiblee right answers. But whatever. I did the best I could. If I don't pass, I will just take it again in February. Most people don't have to work full time plus while studying for the test.......Oh, and I dont get word on results until November at the earliest. Blah.

It was exhausting. Funny too, people are just so retarded sometimes. I got home and Kurt's brother was here. His first thing was, he asked me "How was the test? How many questions are on that test?" I told him. His response was "Oh, the pilot's exam is much harder......700+ questions and you can only get 3 wrong...." OK, I am sorry, but you are not going to compare another test to what I just went through. Three years of schooling, studying for three plus months and a test that takes 12 hours.........What's even funnier is, he has not even taken the bar exam OR the pilot's exam, and he is comparing the two........"Insert me rolling my eyes."

So, the rest of the week I had to work.

Friday night, I went to a jewelry party at my friend Tammy's house. Julia and Rebecca went with me. It was.....what word shall I use? Interesting. The woman running the party was freaking insane! She was probably the most obnoxious person I have ever met in my life. She literally was screaming through her presentation.....So, to make it more interesting, Rebecca, Julia and I text messaged eachother through the whole thing. I ended up buying a cute bracelet.....After that, the three of did dinner in Southgate at Applebee's.......

Yesterday, it finally sunk in a little bit that I have free time. I started out by going to an eye appointment at 1230 p.m. in Dearborn Heights at America's Best. That place rocks. I lost my glasses (which is very unlike me) about three years ago and have not really had time to go in for new ones since. So, that place has great deals and I got two pairs for about half the price one pair would have been at Sears Optical (where I have my contact appointments). I got one pair that is "rimless" meaning you can barely tell I have them on. The other pair I got so I could look "lawyerly". They are black, kinda thicked rimmed.....I can just see myself wearing them in court, hehe. Anyway, those get delivered in about a week. After that, I saw this place that had really cheap mani/pedis, so I stopped in to try and relax, which it did help me do. Then stopped at SAMS Club to pick up some necessities......Came home and hung out at the beach house for the rest of the day. Britton, Kory's cousin, was there hanging out and not really working like the rest of them, so I hung out on the deck in the sun with him all day and talked. It was great. The beach house is really coming along....the upstairs looks like a totally different place. It's insane. They also made a deck off the top of the upstairs looking over the lake--so now the place had two decks. That night, we all went to La Fiesta for dinner in Luna Pier. It was really yummy as usual.

Today, I have no idea what I am going to do. Prob some chores around the house, need to stop at Kroger's....I need to get outside and figure out what the temp is. I have this idea for a photo project, but if it is still 100 degrees outside, I dont know how long I will last walking around taking pics.........

So, sorry everyone, that I have not posted lately, but I truly had some valid reasons! My friend Cynthia in Texas was actually worried about me (love you girlie) because I had not posted. So, to answer your question, I am better than ever! :).

Free Time

You take free time for granted until you don't have it. For the past three years, I have not had much. Even when I had free time, I really did not have "free" time, I would just put something else on the back burner and prioritize something else. Out to dinner? I should be studying. On vacation? I should be writing a paper. Getting a massage? I should be in class. Thus, even when I got to have fun, I was thinking about everything else going on in my life. And you just get used to it. almost to the point where you forget what it's like to have free time.

I was just talking at lunch the other day about this with Cassie and Kellie, on break from our PMBR lectures. Neither one of them is really grasping the concept either, that we will have LIVES again! Like, when we leave work for the night, we can DO WHATEVER THE HELL WE WANT TO!

So........I have been thinking of all the stuff I want to do. For those who know me, they know that being busy is something I actually kinda like. But, I will like it much more when my activities are things I choose to do, rather then things I am forced to do.

Here is the start of a list of things I shall do when the bar is OVER.

1. Really concentrate on my Photography. I really started being into photograpy last summer, but have not really had the time to focus on it. I want to possibly take a photography class to learn more about the use of my camera. I also want to plan hikes, and other outdoor activities, where I can find unique things to put in my online albums.

2. Tennis. I want to start playing tennis again. Kurt and I played all the time in Lansing, and I loved it. Kory likes to play too, so we can all go.

3. My Bike. I got this awesome bike for free from using my Westlaw points. We got them last fall and still have not rode them once. Want to get the bike out of its storage thing, and actually ride it around the neighborhood.

4. Kickboxing. I was very into this, and just started the combat classes when law school started. I was in the best shape of my freaking life and was learning so much. I want to start going back.

That's about it and after an entire day of multiple choice questions and studying, I need to go to bed.

New Bugsy Weigh-In

Bugsy had to go to the vet on Thursday to get his final shots and he now weighs 5.01 pounds. The vet could not believe it. She said she has never seen a kitten grow so fast and she thinks he is going to be a really big kitty........I took him in his new little denim cherry covered carrier. Everyone there loves him. He does not like being held down for shots though, LOL.

Other than that, NOTHING going on with me besides studying. I am exhausted and need to get back to it.

Talk to everyone later.

**Picture above is of Jessica Bottorff's doggie, Ruby.

This is Me---Truly.

This site is super kewl. If you want to make your own version of "you", go there, and send me the results. Hilarious. Notice my extras, the deck of cards in my hand (because I love poker and Vegas), the camera around my neck (because I never leave the house without it), and the pugs at my feet (the site even had both black and fawn to post, unbelieveable). Anyway, totally adorable site. I may need to order something from it in the future.

Back to studying.

Nothing Day

Today, I was invited to do a ton of things and guess what I did? Stayed home and studied for the bar. Yay for me! :). Not. We did go to dinner.

My body is so out of wack. I went to have a massage today because I have been getting a ton of headaches and the chick told me one of my shoulders was literally an inch higher than the other! She fixed it, but no wonder I am in pain. :). She also gave me this stuff called BioFreeze to try, you put it on spots that are in pain and it is supposed to help, so we will see. I will try anything. :). Kory said he used to use it in football practice for pain, so I am guessing the stuff must work.

The mayflies are back! Kory and I took a walk to the rental house tonight and there were SOOO many. We were joking that we wanted Rebecca to come over and we were going to blindfold her and take her back there and then run, leaving her there; just to watch what would happen. (Rebecca is painfully scared of mayflies, I know WEIRD). HAHA. She gave me permission to make fun of her, so I am now! Hopefully, she reads this and yells at me! Bets were on she would either start crying and fall to the ground, or run as fast as possible back to the house, screaming.......OK, we would never truly do that to her, but it is funny to talk about. I have never seen anyone as scared as something so harmless as she is with those things.

We stopped and looked at an old Volkswagon Bug convertible today. Very kewl, but overpriced. I really want one of those once my cars are paid off. It would be a really fun summer car for around here. Although Kurt informed me he would not be driving it.....hehe. I guess it's too girly of a car for him.

Oh, Kory got home from being up north today. He had issues being up there with lack of technology, LOL. Nobody had wireless Internet or the baseball package on their TVs. He is now sitting on the couch, surfing the net and watching baseball. HA.

4th of July Fun

So........we had a fabulous 4th of July weekend! Sunday morning, we left for Pittsburgh and the Tigers game. The drive was really quick (only 3.5 hours), but being a geography idiot, I thought Pennsylvania was lightyears away.....Not so. At least Pittsburgh, anyway.

Got there in plenty of time to walk to the game and check out the park, which is beautiful. Their park is the kewlest I have been to....there are a ton of places to eat outside the stadium, and the seats seem closer to the field and the players. Also, the City closes down the main bridge leading to the stadium, so fans can just walk right across the center of the bridge. we especially liked the bum who had a sign that said "I Need a Buzz." At least he was honest.....
To make a long story short, the Tigers won, but barely, and it was an awesome game (weather was a little hot, but hey, at least it did not rain, right?).
Next, we headed to our hotel to take showers and get ready for dinner.
We all wanted sushi, so Kory and I found a place online called The Original Fish Market,
which had both an extensive seafood menu and a sushi bar. We walked there from our hotel,
and the sushi was prob the best I have EVER had. And miso soup always makes me happy! :). I had a lobster roll and a shrimp roll.......And creme brulee for dessert.

Click here to see all pics from the trip.

The next morning, we headed off to the football hall of fame in Canton, OH.
Did not take long to get there, and we spent a few hours roaming the place and taking pics. It was pretty kewl, especially the really old stuff they had............
The next day for the 4th, my Aunt and I decided to go hiking. There is a place near her house that she likes called Mattheai Botanical Gardens, which I have never been to. I have had several friends tell me it's nice and I would like it, especially for the great photo ops it provides.
I love photographing outdoor anything that has to do with wildlife or nature, so this place was right up my alley. I had a field day at the indoor conservatory, outdoors gardens and hikes on the grounds. Got some amazing shots, my fav being one of a flower and butterfly. I love capturing stuff like that, as it provides me with material for the house that literally cannot be bought. That butterfly at that point in time, can never be shot in the exact same way........which is so kewl to me.
Other things, like flowers in the gardens, can be shot the same way by many there with their cameras (I was surprised with how many people had cameras thre besides me, I thought I was the only nut who lugged my camera with me everywhere), but the animals/insects....you can get the most amazing shots.

I can't wait until I am done with the bar so I can start framing my stuff for the house, I have so many ideas. Damn the bar exam and studying, ;). We walked on one 1.8 Mile hiking trail and then headed to Parker Mill to check it out, and dinner.

Click here to see all pics from my hike in the gardens.

Other than that, not much else going on. Am staying in all weekend to study. Kory is up north, but will be back tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, Busgy is getting so big. I think he weighs about 4 pounds now and still followsme everywhere, he is such a Momma's boy.
And Vito was caught in the act of trying to steal quality beer the other night.....

Just have to say......

I am not going to go into detail here, because I don't have time and have better things to do (i.e. work, study).

But, I just have to say that some people have WAY too much time on their hands to overanalyze everything and believe that they are better than everyone else. The world does not revolve around you, sweetie.

Cue the music to "Psycho" please...... **

**For those of you who read my blog, this is not concerning anyone that anybody knows or cares about. So, please don't write me asking if this is about you, LOL. I love everyone who reads this blog! :). Said person does not even know I have a blog....Or at least I hope they don't.....I just needed to vent.

Saturday at School

Yes, folks, I spent almost 8 hours today at Wayne State for a BARBRI class. fun, fun, let me tell you. Best part of it was going to lunch with Cassie..........After that, stopped at the Tastefest in Detroit to see Rebecca, who was working at the Burt's Bees tent doing hand massages with their products. She made me feel so much better after writing for the past two days straight in class.....Came home and did dinner with everyone at the new mexican place in town......

Below is a picture of Bugsy from yesterday. He weighs about 4 pounds now and seriously looks like a little lion. So super sweet. He was chillin' on the back of a chair here.

Also, bought tickets to the Pittsburgh/Tigers game tomorrow in Pittsburgh. Kurt, Kory and I are getting up early and heading to Pittsburgh and spending the night. We booked a hotel at the Omni and are going to stop at the Football Hall of Fame on the way home in Canton, OH.

Below is a picture of a catarpillar in the back yard. For a minute, I thought it was part of the plant I was taking a picture of--it was kinda like a chamelon, blending in so well...

Gotta get to bed. Early morning tomorrow!