To my nephew:

Dear Aaron,
I would normally wish you a happy birthday, since it was your birthday, but instead I must insist that you cease having birthdays. Not only does it make me feel old, but apparently it likes to snow on your birthday. Alot. And people are stupid when it snows. I offer up the following pictures of my morning drive to work as proof:






I just wonder how that many people ended up in the ditch when we were only going 10 mph.

And this road wasn't even that bad!!!


So, Aaron, I hope you like snow, because it seems to like you.
Oh, and Happy Birthday

Don't make the nice little girl start biting off heads

Hey everybody! I'm back! New job, new friends, less stress!
That's right. You know that old saying about not worrying about the friends you had in the past, there's a reason they didn't make it to your future. Turns out, it's true.

And also, Mean People Suck.

On another note, I started selling Mary Kay. I don't do shows, but I sell the product. The moisturizing stuff is great!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Expect more from me soon!

Happy Anniversary!

10 years! WooHoo!
This is apparently the countertop anniversary...

Its quartz. Less damaging than granite, and it looks just as nice! (I think)
We chose the rounded edging, which I like more than I thought I would...

And we got the undermounted sink with it...


Yeah, my husband is pretty keen.
And he had a birthday.
Happy Birthday Heath.

Eres un congrejo

My name is Lucy and I have some 'splaining to do.
First off, I'm a crab.

This is me in my home on Wanda's desk:
I like it here.
It's very entertaining and I'm very popular.
I like being popular; except when people wake me up so that I'll swim around for them. But I'm getting used to that.

I really like being on Wanda's desk mostly because of the attention I get, but also because I learn a lot. I'm learning Spanish; and just the other day I learned what a Yoda was. One of her friends started calling her Yoda.
I didn't know what a Yoda was, so I looked it up.
I found this:

Other than the height, I see no resemblance.

So, I asked why she was being called Yoda. They said because she was smart. This seemed to embarrass Wanda, and she denied it. I don't know what smart is, so I just swam around in my bowl.

It wasn't always so great here, though.
At first I was afraid. Wanda informed me that I was being purchased as the office pet because there were a lot of changes going on and everyone was stressed out. She thought I would cheer everyone up with my crabbyness.

I don't follow her logic.

Then it got even worse. I saw my deskmate.
No, not Wanda.
This guy:

What's with the pimp hat?

She tried explaining it to me. Something about a present from a secret in the office for a holiday with a tree. Again, I'm not sure I understand.
Wanda said that her and another girl, who was no longer there, decided to dress him up for the season. Maybe I'll be safe as long as that other girl doesn't come back.
That hula skirt sent me into anaphylactic shock.

Anyway, Wanda mentioned that she hadn't had time to write a post for her blog in a while, so I decided to do it for her, since she has been around the office a lot more than usual. She seems to be busy because her attorney only comes in the office a couple of times a week. She's always wearing some sort of thick cloth slung over her shoulder that makes little crying noises, and she always drops off so much paperwork that you can barely find Wanda's desk when she's done!
I'm watching out for her, though. She is doing great and we are having a good time.

Well, back to my bowl for now to learn more about things like lumbar strains and the circuits in the courts.
<3 Lucy

I have a what?

A blog? Ohhhh right, that thing.

I'll get back to you on that.

Latter Days

1. My bag.

Made by my talented sister-in-law, Sarah. I love it! Thank you!

It holds all of my stuff! And it's pretty!

2. Baby showers and donuts (not the edible kind)
There are two ladies in my office who are pregnant, one of which is the attorney I assist. They're both due within 2 days of each other at the end of August.
Thursday evening was their office baby shower. Dinner, presents, games.
As I was pulling out of the parking garage I hear a loud, repetitive ticking/flumphing sound.

ti..flumph..ck

So I pull into the the side garage to not-so-surprisingly discover a flat tire that I am surprisingly not too upset about.

The culprit:


I called my husband and after the usual "How was your day" "Are you working late" I informed him, nonchalantly, that I had a flat tire.

To which he replied "When? Now?" Ummmmmm......

He then proceeded to heroically drive down to rescue me. Not that I can't change a tire, but he did insist he had a full size spare (which he didn't) and considering he had to stand on the tiny tire iron to get it to move, I don't believe I would have been able to change THIS tire.

While he was changing my tire, we saw this:

Ouch. I have no idea what happened.

So, I drove home on my little donut spare and my wonderful husband traded me cars the next day and had everything taken care of by the time I got home the next day. I'm spoiled and I love it!

3. The neighborhood kids scream. Alot. This bothers me in several ways. The obvious is that it's annoying. The second is this: What happens when that child is really hurt or in trouble and tries screaming? We are so used to that child screaming that nobody will think twice or even glance to see if there is a problem. I have a lot of respect for parents who teach their kids that they shouldn't run around screaming for these two reasons. I wish more would do it.

two birthdays, a holiday, and more painting?

Here it is at last. My sister-in-law's birthday post. I'm late because.... I want it to be special and stand out from everyone else's? Ok, it's because I'm lazy.

Happy birthday, Sarah. Since your domestic skills are too many to list, I will simply state that you have done well with the food pantry and I appreciate everything you bring to this family.

Also, you have a great birthdate; as it is also my own. It's such a great day that animals came from all over to wish me a happy birthday.


Including her. She waited in a perfect picture taking pose in my backyard while I ran around frantically searching for my camera. After I found my camera, she was so happy for me that she began prancing around the backyard, pausing long enough for me to get this shot before darting into the veritable jungle behind my neighbors fence.

On the morning of my birthday, a baby bird visited our window well to wish me happy birthday, and had to be rescued out of said window well by my husband. And, of course, who could forget the chipmunks who realized it was a great day and therefore, lounged around themselves....



I hope everyone had a good Independence Day. Mine consisted of painting. I figured that I hadn't done enough of that these past few years and needed more practice.... Anyway, our room is now a calm soothing green somewhere between mint and sage. Pretty. Though, our bedding hasn't come in yet. The current blue bedding makes the room considerably less soothing and more of an unfinished tensy sort of feel. I will be very happy when the bedding comes in.

Also, if anyone has a pair of dark brown or black dress shoes size 12 wide or 13 regular that they are getting rid of, please let me know. Thanks!

Feliz Dias Del Padres y Feliz Cumpleanos, Hermano

Happy Father's Day, dad!

Thank you for always adding humor, for your willingness to help us when we were finally ready to ask for it, for you and mom making sure all of our holidays were great, and for waking me up on Saturday mornings joking and loudly singing country music... which I believe I may have yelled at you to be quiet for, but I now appreciate the funness you were trying to share.

Ohh..wait... the cat is taking over the keyboard...

4jdi*mb ckae( jil;a$1e

I think that's cat for Happy Father's Day. Or it's a message to the rest of the cats who are planning on taking over the world.

Happy Birthday to my brother. You're a good pastor, friend, and father. Thanks for encouraging me and sharing my vision for the job search program!

Anybody want to buy strawberries? Yummy strawberries!

I blame Kathy

I hadn't checked my sister-in-law's blog lately, so I decided to. I was not so shocked to find that she scored a -9 on the 30's housewife quiz. I have always thought that I would have made a great 50's housewife, not quite Donna Reed, but generalistically speaking. So I thought I'd give this quiz a shot.

82 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Hmmm.... Kathy, we are two very different people! But I think you rock, anyway! Love ya, sis-in-law!

Another Late Post

I wouldn't be surprised if it were the man himself who beat me to this, but:

Happy Birthday, Dad! (which was yesterday) To a man who can grow anything, anytime, anywhere; whose endless supply of jokes can induce an eye-rolling smile everytime; and who taught me by example a work ethic that has gotten me a good job with good pay, I hope you had a great day.

I was going to attempt to make it out to see you, but I didn't. I didn't attend my CPR class either, so please don't choke.

Good news is I'm on my way to sleepful nights.

Swedish nerf

I have little to post about this week, so I'll tell you about my new bed.

It's made of swedish nerf. Sort of. It's a Tempurpedic "celebrity" and it came with two pillows as a promotion, also made of swedish nerf.

The salesman did not mark down that they were supposed to deliver the mattress with the boxspring and pillows, so I spent a day with a lovely, queen sized boxspring in my living room. Good times.

But it's here. It's weird, comfy, and who knows, maybe I'll sleep more than three hours a night (that's three interrupted hours... not straight). Or maybe I just forgot how to do that since it's been so long.

Also, today was a beautiful day.

Picture-rific

Despite my husband's food poisoning Monday night, his sore back all week, my allergies (I was just happy it wasn't a cold, like I originally thought) and the more than slightly chilly weather Wednesday morning; Asheville, North Carolina was a good vacation. Relaxing, romantic, waterfally and mountainy. Arriving at the beautiful Albemarle Inn on Sunday afternoon gave us an evening to explore town and hang out.

The staff was friendly, the Inn was beautiful, and the few other guests were polite. Pretentious, but polite.

Beautiful picture of the lobby area. Behind me is the dining room leading into a beautiful yellow sun room where breakfast was served.

This is the door leading out to the front of the house shown in the first two pictures.


This is the cute little reading area found halfway up to the second floor. We were on the third floor.


We went to the Biltmore estate on Monday, which was amazing. I can't help but to think that there must have been some bitterness amongst the servants after viewing both their living area and the main house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house, but it was amazing. Especially the library! It's also interesting how utilitarian the bathrooms were. Purely a necessity. Elaborate in the day they were built, I am sure, but our bathroom is almost nicer than these.

The rest of our trip involved touring the downtown area, similar to Madison as far as the stores lining the main streets, though not quite as collegey and... eccentric... as Madison.

We also visited several antique shops.

And waterfalls.
These two were in the same mountainous area, and although the drive was a bit different than what the book suggested, we were glad we took the trip.


Play me.


After finding the "parking lot", which was actually a dirt-packed area wider than the one lane two-way road we drove up, we hiked about 15 minutes to the next, 80 foot waterfall

Play me, too.


On Thursday, we decided to take one more "waterfall viewing" trip before stopping in Black Mountain to visit more antique shops. This last waterfall was on Mount Mitchell, and could only be viewed from the Blue Ridge Parkway. In case you haven't heard of the BRP, it is a long stretch of scenic roadway winding through and up the mountains. As we started toward the Parkway, we ran into a detour and followed the interstate about an hour North East before we were able to enter and had to head back South to get to our destination. Mile 361.1 on the Parkway. As we traveled South on the Parkway, stopping at all of the lookouts to view the amazing scenery, we both grew excited at the prospect of the waterfall we were headed to see. This wasn't just a waterfall. This was an estimated 800 foot waterfall winding down Mt. Mitchell. 800 feet! The waterfall above-only 80 feet. Yeah. The word spectacular was running through my mind.
Onward we traveled on this very thin, two lane road. Onward toward the Mt. Mitchell turnoff, at mile 153. Onward toward the sign that read "Road Closure, 1000 ft.; Mt. Mitchell turnoff, 500 ft." Wait. That means the road closes 500 ft after the turnoff to head to the top of Mt. Mitchell. But we're at mile 153! Only 8.1 miles left to go to view the spectacular waterfall!


As we both sat staring at the barricades willing them to not be there, we decided to take the turnoff and travel the rest of the way up the mountain. The tallest mountain in the U.S. East of the Mississippi. The view was amazing. The wind was cold. And now we had to drive an hour North to get off the Parkway, then an hour South to get back to where we needed to be, instead of the 20 minutes South on the closed Parkway to get back to the Interstate. Good thing we had a full tank of gas when we started. And good thing the drive was scenic and beautiful or we might have been more than just frustrated.


I leave you with two last pictures. This one is from the garden on the Biltmore estate: And this one is Dena's tree. Which was also on the Biltmore estate:



Also, whose the genius that let me get a digital camera? These things should not be allowed in my hands. I get carried away.

Country Roads

I-40 South East from Knoxville to Asheville is one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have seen. Right up there with Albuquerque, NM. But, I don't have pictures of either to post right now.
Instead:
Today we went to the Biltmore Estate.
George Vanderbilt's 250 room home.


We saw a Japanese Lantern plant.



And a waterfall. On the estate. Because when you're that rich, you can own a waterfall.




Hooray for insane amounts of money.



P.S. I LOVE my digital camera!

Feliz Dias De Las Madres

Or something like that.

Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Almost Vacation day.
The countdown begins. And I would like to say thanx to Jim for staying at the house whilst we are away. And to our guard cat who has bitten several people and is not likely to stop any time soon. And to our friends who own an alarm company and gave us a great deal on a rockin' alarm system.

That about does it for the generalities...

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. Who Rocks, and, not only can she change a light bulb, but she can also handle a shot gun. And make homemade noodles, and knit a blanket enormous enough for the entire family to use at the same time while sitting on different furniture in the living room.

It's not too late!!!

Happy Birthday to Grandma (on the 7th) Who is wonderful for many reasons, not the least of which is that she is 81 years old and can send text messages!! You Rock!

Happy Birthday to Dena (on the 8th) Who is wonderful for many reasons, not the least of which is because she is my sister and that makes anyone cool! Also, she's a great mom. And person. And maybe even an elf.

I love you both!

Hello, my name is "No! No! Bad Dog!"

Our Office Manager found employment elsewhere. Her position has not been filled, though we did hire a part-timer to help out a little bit. I was using that computer the other afternoon, as it is the only one with a scanner, and fell in love with the keyboard. It was new and had all sorts of extra buttons; volume control and cd player buttons, as well as quick internet buttons. There are two other computers located in the vicinity and as I was working I indicated to the other two ladies that "I love this keybaord! I want this keyboard!" Of course, I was not planning on switching keyboards, as I assumed the part timer enjoyed the newness and useful buttons as well. I went on about my business and never thought more of it... until the next morning when one of the two aforementioned ladies (whom, by the way, has worked in the office little more than a week) came to me and said exactly this: "You know that keyboard you wanted? Well she doesn't want it 'cause it doesn't fit in her drawer, but I tried to hook it up and I don't think you can. It's not a regular plug, it's a weird rectangle thing."

When I informed her that it was probably a usb, she asked if I could help her hook it up. On her computer. Which I did, politely even.

GRRRRRRR

I post like I sleep

I have been taking melatonin pills for about a week now. I don't think I know how to use them correctly. I still feel like I am falling apart and I still find myself doing and saying things that are neither cohesive, nor anything like me. And I still have yet to break 3.5 hours of sleep in one night.

It's pretty bad when I listen to the neighbors dog bark incessantly for 45 minutes and don't care that it is 2:35 a.m.

On the other hand, last week was Administrative Assistants Day and I got a 10 minute massage from a nice lady who told me I had 'hair-comercial beautiful hair' (and she didn't mind that I was totally uncomfortable...stranger giving me a back massage=awkward), then had lunch at.... that restaurant on Riverside and Main (no sleep=no memory), which was pretty good minus the waitress who kicked me and my chair two inches forward, spilled soda all over the table and some of the food, and came within an inch of elbowing me in the nose. We also received a basket of chocolate. Yum. Chocolate.

Hooray to finally finding a decent job with decent people. (I thought that before the luncheon... anyway...)

Next up vacation!
We head to Asheville, N.C. to stay at Albemarle Inn. The reservations are from May 18th through the 23rd, but if you know us at all, you know I cannot say exactly when we will leave and when we will get back. Especially since our return trip is during a holiday weekend (unknown to us at the time of our planning.) We do enjoy the 3:00 am start and driving in one straight shot, but check in and check out times mean we may do things differently this year.

Insomnia and wet-mop

In an attempt to be clever (don't look for it, I failed miserably), I looked up the word insomniac in a thesaurus. The word insomniac is actually listed in the list of synonyms. And my brain is too tired to make something funny out of that...

My lack of sleep is making this post difficult. I reread my sentence and found half of it missing. (sigh)

Not having the vast knowledge of herbs and vitamins and their uses as both of my sisters-in-law, I consulted the internet (or interweb, to some people-another story for another time.) only to learn from the 6 websites that I did visit before I angrily threw the pillow and unplugged the laptop, that I am either too stressed, or too mental.

Well, isn't that just peachy. I don't feel stressed. Work is fine. Not work is fine. So according to everything I just read, I'm a mental case!?!? Of course!

I think some guy, possibly named Bob, was sitting around one day, completely bored. He looked over at his friend, Joe, and said "Hey, let's mess with idiots who can't sleep and are already irritable, grumpy, and exhausted. We could put up a bunch of websites telling them they're mental. It'll be great!"

Thanks, Bob. You're freaking swell.

Insanity

My husband bought 216 Cadbury Eggs.

A moment for that to sink in.

216.

There's really nothing more to say about that.

On top of that, his boss introduced us to U-Bake. They have a location on Perryville just north of Riverside in Rockford. My husband has been raving about this cookie dough since his boss brought them in to work for everyone to try. So, we finally went. We stayed at the first freezer, which was cookie dough with stuff in the middle. We purchased two of the chocolate chip with a chocolate middle, a chocolate cookie with peanut butter in the middle, and the "turtle"- a chocolate cookie with carmel and some nuts in the middle. There is 1 dozen per bag. I cannot say enough about this stuff. We ate the first chocolate chip dough without cooking it. We decided to bake 6 of the turtles, which we didn't think cookies could get any better, then decided to try the dough for the turtles and realized that it did get better. Then we ate the peanut butter dough. We have one dozen left and I would be worried about getting back to the store before we run out were it not for the 216 cadbury eggs.

216.

Statement of the week...

"She just called me. I forgot to answer the phone, or something."

And on that note...

Check out the Tailored To Hire Blog!

Happy Spring

My secret santa got me a picture frame for Christmas. I decided to seasonalize it.

Funness

Thank you to everyone who helped me get started with my nonprofit Job Search Assistance Program.

I have a laptop nicer and newer than I expected, which I cannot seem to put down, I have clothes in my basement that I need to finish cataloging, I have the prayers and support of my family and friends, and I have THREE PARTICIPANTs.

WOOHOO!!!!

My brother made the announcement at the last food pantry (I'll leave the public speaking to him) and I met briefly with those interested. I was also chased into the pantry room by one who did not want to do the whole program, but wanted help with his resume, which of course I will do.

This week has been busy. Aside from doing a lot of research (I know nothing about plastic mold machine operators and what they should list on their resumes), work has been insanely busy... but good. I just had my review, received a great raise, wonderful feedback, and am now eligible for their amazing benefits. There is constant assessment of the workload of the staff and monthly individual meetings, which is good, because as I mentioned, the workload is insanely high. But I like it. I really can't complain.

Also, Kohl's is having a sale and these are my new shoes (those are not my feet):


It's been a pretty great week.

Think Springish thoughts

My husband sent me flowers at work the other day. Just because.

Hi.

I am still in need of a laptop. Nothing fancy, just need to run MSWord and hook a printer up to it. If anybody knows of anyone who is getting rid of an old one, or who has a cheap one, or who is looking at making a donation to write off on their taxes, please let me know. It will be used for a program to help people without jobs learn how to do a job search, fill out applications, prepare a resume, and prepare for interviews. This program will also be donating interview clothing to those who need it, as well as approximately a week's worth of work-appropriate clothing, if necessary.

Thank you.

Bye.

Dear Blogger,

You Suck.

I accidentally posted this pretty sparkly ribbon in the wrong place and your "easy to use layout click and drag" won't let me take it out. I tried editing your HTML/XML page and received error after error. I know I need to close tags, but there are so many freaking tags that I have to take out to remove this stupid image that a half hour later I am giving up and going to bed.

In short, You Suck.

Sincerely,
Wanda

New Business

Today I reaffirmed that I am not a public speaker. However, I do get to start my not-for-profit job search coach position under the church. This makes me very happy. So, thanks to my brother for all of his advice and opinions and allowing me to take this opportunity to the church meeting. Thanks to the church for voting it in. Thanks to my brother-in-law for his opinions, advice and ideas. There are a lot of people who are helping this to work, and I appreciate it all.

Anybody need a job?

My Blog, My Values...

The other night I was telling my husband that the only reason I would want to be famous was to promote my own set of values.
I guess a blog could be used for the same. And I have been given ammunition! I was at a small get-together of sorts and the topic of discussion had, once again, swung around to the Transformers movie. I have not seen the movie. I do not wish to see the movie. I hope I never have to watch the movie. Anyway, a member of the group asked a male member of the group if he had seen it; he had. Apparently, he didn't like the movie too much. His response was something very close to "I think it's only redeeming quality was that the lead girl was really sexy." At which time both his wife and I stared at him, dumbfounded at how openly he said it.

Now I impart my values and wisdom.

Seriously, that was just inconsiderate. For all of you out there thinking "Hey, he thought some chick was hot. So what? He's human.”; it was inconsiderate. Let me put it this way. Say you are an attorney and you are defending some guy on a criminal case. You lose. You're standing in the courtroom when the judge announces a life sentence. You turn to your client, who is now going to rot in jail and say, with a stoners laugh "Oh man, I lost so bad! You are so going to jail!"

Yes, that is my comparison, and I stand by it. That comment really brought nothing to the conversation. We already knew he wasn't impressed with it. So, the comment was really nothing more than saying he more than remembered how much he enjoyed the leading lady; and that would have made any woman unhappy, whether or not they'd admit it (I find that in these situations, most won't readily admit it... not to the guy, anyway.)

Next time, try something like "I thought the movie was awful, but they picked good actors, and those robot guys must have been in Cirque Du Soleil when they were young to be able to do all that transforming."

My brother says "If you want to be happy with what you have, stop focusing on everything else. Focus on what you have." (Yeah, I know, other people have said it too, but he's the one that I listened to.) It's more than a nice saying, it's true; I speak from experience.

Enough ranting. Off to finish cleaning!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Please, sir, I'd like some more.

I'm taking up a collection.
Please help save the freezing bunnies... no. Ummm... Please help fund Basenji dog vocal cord operations... no. That won't work either. Ummm... Nevermind, it's for me.

We bought land, and now we're poor. Not really. But I am trying to spend less money. Of course, merely days after closing on said land I found a software program I really, really want. For $45.00. So if any of you happen to have any $45.00 checks lying around that you don't want, you just let me know.

It's this cold outside...

You know you're getting old when you don't care who sees you like this





My legs were numb, but my head was warm.

MmmMm... Hippo

1.) Experiments

Out of curiosity, I decided to see if my cat could learn the difference in the type of food we feed him. We usually buy a case of his cat food, which comes in assorted flavors, so I began to wonder if he would be able to learn the difference between the three choices, and perhaps express in some way which one he might prefer. I've heard of crazier things. To begin this experiment I simply repeated the name of whatever I was feeding him; beef, chicken, etc. My husband, of course, couldn't let it go at just that. He decided he'd make it more interesting. Every time he fed him, he would repeat Hippo. He was also more loyal to the cause, and while I would occasionally forget, he rarely did. So, the other night while feeding the cat, he was wandering around aimlessly, waiting for me to set the food down while I repeated whatever I had randomly pulled out of the box. I think it was beef. After repeating this several times I had a sudden urge. I cannot explain why I had this urge, but I did. So I said it. "Hippo." The cat stopped wandering, looked up at me, and meowed.

2.) "Paris Needs No Embellishment"
While walking through our local mega-groceteria the other night, I witnessed a sight so horrifingly disgusting that it needs no embellishment. Having just grabbed a half dozen eggs, my mind wandering to the next item on our list: an ice-scraper for the newest car, as apparently the two we have are forever lost in the other car and I had to borrow my brothers earlier that week (thanks!), I turned toward my husband and froze halfway. There, about 5 freezers down, was a young boy, perhaps 6 or so, doing something so disgusting that can't even be excused by the fact that he was a 6 year old boy. For there he was, walking toward me, tongue out, and up against the glass freezer doors. Sliding from freezer door to freezer door as he walked, never once lifting. Not even to pass over the frame. I have no idea where his parents were, and didn't hesitate to loudly and openly mention how gross that was and loudly and openly ponder where his parents were and that obviously they should be keeping a better watch over their child.

3.) Did He Just Say That?
We have a couple of spanish speaking employees at work. The other day, we had a vocational expert in the office and while waiting for his meeting to begin, was wandering around. I am located in a fairly busy area and I overhear a great many conversations, for which I can't complain as the entertainment value is far worth the distraction. This particular expert stopped to chat with one of the spanish speaking employees who has been with the company for over 4 years. He said "Hey (girl), how are you doing? Are you still speaking spanish?"
Yes, I laughed. Yes, he realized what he said quickly and tried to laugh it off.

4.) "Late To The Story That Had Been..."
Happy Birthday, Cyndy!
Happy Birthday, Alyssa!
Happy Birthday, Kathy!

Moving

Our website has moved. We are now located at heathnwanda.com. Hooray.
I took this opportunity to partially update my neglected page. I didn't do much. Changed the color, added the link to Souls Harbor Church's official page. That's just about it for the noticeable stuff.

I finally got to see Lydia today. All cute and babyish. That's about it. What else can be said about a 9-day-old?

Now I leave you with more keyword wacky-ness:

Ferret Names: I don't suggest listening to my family on this one. Drut is not a good ferret name.

Unintelligent employee: Bahahahahaha. I have a blog for you to read...

I Don't Have Issues I Have a Subscription: Want to be my friend?

Is It Legal For My Boss To Go Through My Desk When I Am Not There: Short Answer without the ability to ask follow up questions, Yes. What were you hiding in there, anyway?

And of course, the never-endingly popular:
Shut Up Baby, I Know It: Are there really that many people who know what that line is from, and are there really that many people typing this in to search engines?

Happy 8th of January!

I was all excited and ready to post on New Years Eve. We had a ton of snow piled on our deck and I was going to write Happy New Year and take a picture with my pretty, new digital camera. But I didn't get my pretty, new digital camera. The shipping company didn't want to deliver it until the 2nd of January. While I could have done the aforementioned writing and taken the picture with my phone, I was too grumpy that I didn't have my camera. So I didn't.

Then, of course, the day my camera was delivered I had to go work at one of my previous jobs that I left for better pay and benefits and I did not get to play with my pretty, new camera until late. Having respect for my husband not wanting his picture taken (so that he, in turn, respects my wish to not have my picture taken), I could only take pictures of the cat (who is not at all camera shy and seemed to enjoy having his picture taken-and more to my surprise was the fact that he could be photographed! He actually showed up in pictures!); but both he and I got bored of that fairly quickly, so I spent the rest of the night flipping through the features.

Then my sister-in-law's doctor finally told her that it was time for her to let that baby out, which I had been telling her for close to 2 weeks, and I got to babysit my neice and nephew.

I was going to take pictures galore!

I planned on it, anyway.

I knew I would have them overnight, what I didn't plan on was having them for 2 nights. 37 hours, actually. If I'm not mistaken: 37 hours and about 15 minutes.

37 hours of a 6 year old, a 3 year old, and a cold.

I love those kids, and I would watch them anytime, but Gary - Sarah: I can't believe you had another one. And how do you try to explain that fire DOES NOT live in the smoke detector and that the clothes in the closet WILL NOT come to life while trying not to laugh.

Sick or not, I loved it. I got some cute pictures (and video of them racing stuffed animals down the stair railings),but I was sick and wasn't as excited over the new camera/cute kids combo as I should have been.

I'd do it all over again, preferrably without the cold. In about 3 years, right?

Welcome home Sarah and Lydia. I can't wait to see the baby, whom I haven't seen yet, because "as previously discussed" (hehehe--Dear Biller: that will never get old!) I am sick. Knocked-on-my-butt-staring-at-the-ceiling sick.

So, any visits to newborns, pictures from new, pretty camera, or noteworthy posts will have to wait.

My desk has this

Merry Christmas to me!

(Click to enjoy a much larger view.)

Finally! It only took 4 months to convince someone that I was worth the $7.84. Thanks, Dad and Mom! I love it. So do people at work, even those who think I'm a little weird for putting office supplies on my Christmas list.

In other news, the job is going well. Training procedures, zero tolerance of unprofessionalism (i.e. yelling at other employees), excellent pay and benefits. So far, so good.

With a support staff of 12, 1 attorney, and 3 associates, I apparently made friends quickly (or so I'm told by other fairly new employees who say it took months before some of the girls talked to them). Of course, my husband helped out a bit.

Gorgeous, I know. And everyone in the office stopped by to inquire if it was my birthday or anniversary. I simply smiled and responded "Neither." then listened politely as they told me about the last time they had received flowers for no reason, if they had at all, and realized, again, just how lucky I am. I did not get a picture of them right away, so forgive the starting-to-droop look, but look at the amazing colors:


And for all of you Cheyenne-atics, he is doing well. Taking over the house and making himself comfortable wherever he wants.
He likes my pajama drawer.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Search Engine Sillyness

Not only can I track who has been to my site, I can track the keywords used on search engines that lead people to my site.

Recent Keyword Activity:
"Directv Refund Request" - I feel for ya, buddy. Good luck getting your money back.

"I Like Felines" - You can like your felines, just don't LIKE your felines.

"Fuzzy Toilet Seat Covers Talking" - I don't even know how to respond to that one.

"My Sister Hates a Clean House" - Mine does not, she actually does pretty well considering the two kids, dog, cat, turtle, and husband. But I feel your pain.

"Shut Up Baby, I Know It" - I know it, too. So do a lot of other people. This is apparently a common search.

The Short Version:

Happy Birthday, Michelle! Enjoy the numerous flowers, even if they weren't all for you.

The picture of my anniversary present would be posted here (I finally got a picture of it, blurry as it may be) but for some reason, if you unplug the card from the computer once you have to restart before the computer will read it again. And yes, I did use the Safely Remove Hardware. It does this with a lot of things. We are annoyed.

Speaking of restarting computers, allow me to strap on my superiority complex and tell a story. A story about a lady who has been "doing this for 30 years". A lady who does not want your advice. Even if you overhear her tell a client "He's here, but not excepting calls" and you know that the attorney does not want his clients told that. Simply advising her that perhaps she should say something like "I'm sorry, he's not available at the moment, but I can leave him a message." will only instigate a tirade (in the reception area) about how you are not her boss and she has been doing this for 30 years and she was not hired to answer phones anyway.
My story takes place about a month after the aforementioned outburst.
I was making copies when I overheard the lady-who-has-been-doing-this-for-30-years on the phone leaving a voice mail. It went something like this:
"Hi, so-and-so, this is "secretary" at "attorney"'s office. I restarted my computer, so you can resend that email. That should help with the "Recipient Error" you said you received."
I ran upstairs laughing. Ask the receptionist, I really did. I tried to hold it in; kept making my copies, but by the time the secretary hung up, I was laughing and had to leave area.

If you don't get that, reread it.

I am baffled as to how restarting your computer is going to help someone else on another computer in another city send you an email.
(If you do not like me and live in Byron, which is where the recent activity on my site from my "friends" is from, or Davis Junction, you probably should not read this next part.)
If I received that voice mail, I would have to listen to it at least 4 times.
The first time, I would be confused and simply figure I need to listen again as I did not hear everything.
The second time, I would stare blankly at the phone and think to myself "I need to listen to that again. I heard that wrong. Right?"
The third time to confirm that yes, she said what I thought she said
And the fourth time to play for my friends.
Mean? Yes. It is. But when you act like you know it all, I expect you to know it all.

On another note, my last day is Monday. I start my new job on Thursday. Which means I have 2 days off! 2 days in which I plan clean and organize every inch of my house. My husband and I are both excited about this. I am actually looking forward to this.

Grandma, I hope you feel better. If you need anything, let me know.
Julie, I hope you feel better. If you need anything, let me know. - also, how interested are you in that A Nickel for Alice book, because I think I can get ahold of a copy.
Dena, Hi.
Family, What do you guys want for Christmas? I am obviously not going to be able to work in a cookie party this year. If everyone really enjoys them and wants to do it, maybe we could try in January, after all the holiday stuff is over and everything settles back down. Let me know what you think.

Moderation

I cannot imagine having so little to do that I monitor a blog that belongs to someone I dislike. Since I track the traffic on my blog, I know who it is. This particular person is a Mediacom customer in the Davis Junction area, who has visited my site at least 109 times since I began tracking. I know a few people in that area. But I don't care, too much. I managed to get beyond the everyone-must-like-me stage a long time ago. Besides, I usually take insults well. It's easy to put someone down, call them names and point out shortcomings, and if that's all you can do, I don't take them too seriously. My point is that it's all about perception. There are so many points-of-view and I am all for hearing another side, but this is my blog. If you want to say something, do it nicely or get your own blog. If you are mature and intelligent enough to voice your opinion without the childish name-calling, I will not delete it. I do, however, appreciate the post. Not only because of the humor current and previous coworkers and I found in it, but because, even though I deleted it, I do not want to be a jerk; and posts like that make me think about who I have become and whether or not I am happy with myself. (The answer, by the way, is yes. I am very happy with myself.)

If you think it is bad of me to switch jobs because of the pipe smoke, consider that there are worse things I could do. I could report him, since it is now illegal to smoke in buildings in Wisconsin, unless more than half of your business is a bar. But I won't, because aside from this, I like this guy. He's very knowledgeable, down-to-earth, funny, and we get along.

And seriously, folks, nobody is forcing you to read this blog. In fact, it's mostly meant for my family. And after years of being so shy that I would blush when anybody said "Hi" to me, I am proud of how far I have gotten in life. I may not be intelligent, but I'm not an idiot, and I will be proud of that.

What I know

I know that it has been a long time since I have posted.

I know that I still have to post a picture of the wonderful anniversary present my wonderful husband gave me (9 years!!! WOOHOO!!), which will be coming shortly. It seems that every time I remember to take the picture (I take those pictures on my cell phone since we don't actually have a digital camera yet--shocked? me too.) the battery on my phone dies.

I know that I am a picky employee and am looking for a new job. Again. With good reason. One of the partners walks around smoking a pipe ALL DAY LONG. He comes in at 9:00, so I have an hour every morning before my door closes and the window opens. And then about 15 minutes before he walks into my office with the pipe and starts talking to me. And with the 50-some-degree weather we are having, and my tendency to be cold unless it's over 80 degrees, I am very uncomfortable. My office is currently at 64. The 55 degree weather is blowing in the window at my head, and my space heater is blowing heat on my feet.

I know that I am cold.

I know that I did testing at one of those temp places and I apparently rock. I type 87 words-per-minute (for those who have no sense of judgment on this-most places require at least 60 wpm...), I am still at the expert/master user level on MS Word and Excel, which is the highest level possible, and I completely aced the proofreading/grammar test, which is a pass/fail test but the lady was impressed with just how well I did on it.

I know that my husband is very, very tired from all the work that he is doing for his mom. I wish I could help more. I wish his guy at work would return from vacation so he could sleep in a little later and not go in to work insanely early.

I know that I have to get back to work.

I know that I don't want to get back to work.

I know that I love my grandma's new place, and I hope she does, too.

Sassy-ness

It definitely runs in my family. We are a sassy group. It should be no surprise that when a certain member of my family called to inform of the need to set up service in her new abode, she showed every bit of sarcasm and sassiness that was shown to her. Apparently the oh-so-friendly customer service rep was taking some information about service starting dates then asked for the "code". When my family member replied "Pardon" the customer service rep said "Code. You know, as in Zip Code. Z-I-P." My family member replied with "Do you want the new N-E-W or old O-L-D code." The customer service rep paused before continuing; with less sarcasm.

That's why I didn't hesitate to contact anyone and everyone I could when DirecTV wouldn't give us our money back. On July 17 we called to cancel service and request a refund (as we had paid for the year of service), which we were told would take 4 to 6 weeks. On July 18 or service was shut off. On September 9, I called to inquire about the refund and was informed that it is actually 6 to 8 weeks, and the request wasn't entered until July 24th. I told Latoya that it was not my fault that the request was not entered until a week after it was requested. Service was terminated, they obviously got that part right, and we were 7 weeks and 3 days from the date it was terminated, so even if it is 6 to 8 weeks we should have the check within the next 4 days. She "escalated" the order. On September 11th (the day before the 8 weeks was up) I spoke with Angel and told her that I was calling to confirm the check would be in my mailbox by tomorrow... she transferred me to a supervisor. Joyce told me she would again "escalate" my request and follow-up with me in 8 days (apparently it was going to take her that long to hear back from whatever department she was contacting). On September 19th I spoke with Michelle who told me the check was released, but she couldn't give me a check number. Instead, she gave me the number of the billing department, which I happily dialed. I spoke with Ruth, who tried and tried to pull up my account to get me a check number but just couldn't get in to the system. She did assure me that the check had been written on the 14th and it would take 7 to 10 business days for it to reach me. But she couldn't give me a check number. I politely informed her that if I didn't have a check number I was assuming that a check had not been written and if a check had not been written at this time (9 weeks from the date of request) I was contacting the Better Business Bureau. Eventually (about 45 minutes later) I spoke with her supervisor Jason who told me that the check had been done on the 14th and I had to wait 3 to 7 business days from the 14th. I told him that I had just been told 7 to 10 and inquired as to why nobody could give me a check number if one has been written. He told me I had to wait. I told him I had already waited 9 weeks and if I did not have a check number when I got off the phone, I would be filing complaints and contacting an attorney (my boss told me to write a letter stating I had retained his services and he would sign it... I love working for attorneys) The conversation ended with "You will just have to wait." So I went home and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. And the next day I filed a complaint with the FCC. Then I received a voice mail on the 24th indicating that the amount was credited to my account on the 20th. I was pretty upset. After all, we had already received 2 statements showing the credit balance and I was supposed to be getting a check. So that evening I contacted them again and explained everything I had gone through, and that I had retained an attorney and filed a complaint with the FCC and the BBB. To my surprise she gave me a check number. And told me the check had been written on the 20th. So I filed a complaint with the company about Jason (I had his ID#) and indicated that he had outright lied to me and told me the check was written on the 14th. Then I received my check. 10 weeks to the day.

DirecTV's customer service is very polite, but that does not make up for keeping my $500.00 for 10 weeks. If I hadn't paid my bill for that long they would have sent me to collections. I am following through with these complaints and hopefully, maybe, someone else won't have to wait an unrealistic amount of time to get their refund.

And if you experience problems File a Complaint. We should not be punished because they can't manage their money. That is exactly what is happening here. And if you feel up for some interesting reading simply google the phrase "Directv refund" and you will find hundreds of similar stories. If everyone of these people would file a complaint, something might change.

That's disgusting

Very disgusting. What is so disgusting that I had to post about it?

This:


I am, of course, referring to Elvis Presley as much as the Peanut Butter and Banana Cream flavor.

My family apparently finds my disdain of the guy amusing, and a certain member of my family decided to leave this hanging from my door one afternoon.

I was not even going to eat it, considering the overwhelming feeling I have to bang my head against a wall (which burns 150 calories an hour, by the way. Glad I wasn't the one who had to figure that out.) anytime I hear one of his songs or even his name.

But my husband really wanted to try it. So then I had to try it. Stupid.

Speaking of stupid. Here's a story...

Once upon a time there were two employees. One was intelligent and had common sense, the other was unintelligent and had no common sense. One day intelligent employee told unintelligent employee that she had listed the name of the Attorney General incorrectly on a document. Unintelligent employee got upset and immediately snapped back "How do you know." After explaining that she watched the news and read and that you could find the information on the internet, unintelligent employee got on the internet and typed in "Attorney General". She clicked on the first link that appeared. When intelligent employee said "You have to type in Illinois Attorney General" unintelligent employee replied "Oh, I thought there was only one."

Unintelligent employee then went on to state "You know, the one that puts the warnings on the cigarettes."

Intelligent employee laughed and said "Do you mean the Surgeon General?"

The End.

Again?

I woke up this morning to the sound of geese flying south for the winter. Already! I'm not ready for that, yet.
Though I am not complaining about the geese leaving town. Evil birds who make any child sorry that they asked to go down the slide one more time and then have to do a Dukes of Hazard impression and jump through the window of the car because they are chasing said kid.

I had horrible luck with birds when I was a kid.

Labor Day

I love Labor Day. I don't love labor. Don't get the two confused.

I have fond memories of this holiday. The MDA telethon, fondue, and family.
Every year, mom would prepare all this stuff for a fondue and we would turn on the telethon (back when it was on all night long) and we would settle into the living room and watch, occasionally heating up our food/snacks throughout the night. It is a tradition that I miss. While I still turn it on every year to see how good ol' Jerry is doing, and to see if I can understand a word Charo is saying yet, it will never be the same (except that I still can't understand a word Charo is saying).

(p.s. today was a three-post day, so if you're really bored, don't forget to read the rest of them below)

Name that Ferret

Knowing that I have always wanted one, my sister-in-law bought me a ferret.


It's cute, and soft, and needs a name.
I am currently taking suggestions on names.
Names that I will not accept are:
Elvis, or anything relating to (i.e. The King, etc.)
A certain plant from the bible
and other names to be added at a later date as I am sure I will receive some bad names I haven't thought of yet.

De-cis-what?

We all know that I can't make a decision unless it has to do with work and I am being paid to do so. So it should come as no surprise to you all to hear that I needed help purchasing my new purse. As I walked helplessly around Kohl's the other weekend carrying two of the exact same purse in two different colors around the store I tried to reach a couple members of my family, thinking they would help. I was, however, informed that my sister was much to busy buying a door and couldn't help with my crisis right away and would have to call me back, and then I was hung up on when I tried to reach my parents house. (Ok, not their fault that they live in the middle of nowhere and have to suffer through dial-up and the modem picked up the phone when I called) I did eventually talk to mom, who told me to go with the grey and black as Dena was FINALLY calling me back on the other line. I spoke with her just as she was leaving a conveniently close location and she kindly ran over to see my two choices, much to Aaron's shock and dismay. She, too, chose the grey and black.
Here it is:



Isn't it cute. Thank you.

Next...

This part of my post has been edited. After reading my aunts board, I realize I may have spoiled something...?? This will be reposted at a later date. However, I would just like to say that not all of my family reads this blog so it may not be spoiled yet

I have a cold

I have things to post, like my new purse that I needed help picking out and the amusing story about that, but I have a cold and it is kicking my butt. I feel weird.

Very weird.

Just wanted to let you all know that.

My desk wants this

If you are ever out and about and feel like buying me something (because I am just that great) but don't know what to buy me, try this:


(my precious)

It's pretty. It's mesh. And I wants it.

I found it at the store-that-must-not-be-named. The store that is disliked by many members of my family and in-laws. And I agree (the whole major corporation getting away with immoral things thing). But it is so close and it has pretty mesh desk organizers. I hate that it is so close (with all the traffic and lights and whatnot), but it is SO CLOSE.

My desk is incomplete without it. I promise to take care of it and keep it pretty and organized. Look at all of its organizational purposes. Look at the drawer in front. Pretty.




It is only $7.84. Don't you love me $7.84 worth? (I had a picture of this beautiful caddy centered perfectly over the price, but when I got home it was not on my phone. I think it's jealous.)

I need my own show.

A show where I can tell people not to cut holes in their roof if it's raining.

Story #1
If you are going to say something stupid, I am going to laugh at you.
The setting: the local Farm & Fleet (this is important)

I was walking down an isle, headed straight for some guy and his Beverly Hills girlfriend/wife, half-ignoring the announcement on the speaker about visiting a certain department "for all your ag needs" and, (seriously, guys, I cannot make this stuff up) Beverly Hills turns to her boyfriend/husband and says "I didn't know they had eggs here. I need to get some, and some milk, too."

I laugh. Her boyfriend/husband turns away without saying a word. She glares at me, though she doesn't know why I am laughing. I continue on my way.

Story #2
Stupid-R-Us
I received a change-of-name card in the mail from a business at work today from a company I will refer to as Stupid Enterprises. It read something like this:

Stupid Enterprises
123 Fake Street
Dumbsville, USA, 12345

Please note your records that our official name is now

Stupid Enterprises

All other contact information will remain the same.

That's great, geniuses, but would you mind telling me who you were before?

Story #3
At least she wasn't still sitting at her desk.
(I didn't get to witness this one, I have taken this story from a friend, but I couldn't resist.)

While punching out at 5:00 on Friday afternoon, two employees (whom I will call Peggy (hehehe) and Ditzy) said goodbye to the third employee (whom I will call... Oh, what's that bird ladies name in Mary Poppins???) okay, let's just call her Bird Lady, who-for informational purposes I will point out has been employed with this company for 1 year and 4 months-ish). Peggy also reminds Bird Lady to lock up when she leaves (since she was goofing off on the internet and not ready to go when everyone else was).

Bird Lady yells to Peggy and Ditzy "Wait, I don't know how to lock up. Don't leave me." (Again, employed 1 year 4 months).
"Shut off the lights and lock the door." Peggy replies.
"I don't know how to shut off the lights." says the Bird Lady (without laughing... wait, she can't be serious, can she?)
"Use the lightswitch. There's only two switches." replies Ditzy. (who is not looking so ditzy right now)
So Ditzy and Peggy proceed to leave stupi... I mean Bird Lady behind because, seriously, she is in her 50's and surely she knows how to work a light switch and lock a door.

That is what Peggy thought; until she returned to work on Monday morning and found the lights still on, and the door unlocked.

Well, Peg, at least she wasn't still sitting at her desk.

There and Back Again

We returned from Charleston after a 17 hour drive. That's right. We left around 2:00ish here time (3:00ish there time) and arrived home at 7:15ish here time. Only stopping for gas and a brief food break. It was nice. Accomodations were great, food was good, plantations were beautiful, ships (U.S.S. Yorktown and a Submarine and a Destroyer) were neat, I was tired. After walking so long that I had blisters covering the majority of my feet and I never thought I would regain feeling in them, the car ride wasn't so bad. It got uncomfortable, and there was the hour where we only traveled 7 miles or so due to road construction, but road trips are nice.

I have pictures and maybe I will post some sometime, but right now I'm feeling lazy. And a bit depressed.
I got an unexpected call Friday from an attorney in Rockford who wanted me to come in for an interview. I went. The job description was pretty much exactly what I wanted. Actual paralegal work (going into trial with the attorney, meeting with clients and prepare documents, research, etc. and also office manager with a staff of 5 or 6 full timers) but, (yeah, there's a big but here...) she works in family law. Lot's of divorce cases. (sigh) If I don't stand against it, I am condoning it.
When the attorney called and spoke with my husband this morning, she made it abundantly clear that I had to call her back today. So I did. And when she asked me if I was interested, I cringed as I told her that yes, I was interested in the job description, but unfortunately I was not interested in the area of law that she practiced.
That was not easy.
But, hopefully Michelle got a job out of it. She also interviewed there. And I said good things about her. Good luck, Michelle.

Update

For those keeping track, we are now leaving on Saturday. Not Sunday. My original idea, but then again, I'm just a girl. :)

Yeah, I started it.

What babe?

1 week

Woohoo! We have a plan! Thank you all for your great ideas, but as of 12:50-ish this afternoon, we have decided to head to Charleston, South Carolina, for our vacation. We will be leaving next Sunday (check in begins at 4:00p.m.) and will be headed back that Friday (check out by 12:00p.m.)

Thank you all for your great ideas. For those who might be planning a vacation of their own, we received suggestions for:
Mackinac Island,
Door County (not really our scene, but it's obviously someones)
and this post on the previous vacation post:
My other post didn't post but I'll try again. Not sure when your vacation is but I can come up with a few interesting tours.
1) go to the Hershey's dairy where, in 1917 Harry Burnett Reese took a job, later to open his own company which was sold to Hershey in 1963. To find out which company this was… take the tour. 2)The Tufts University to see Jumbo's remain in a Peanut Butter Jar. Find out what they are doing in the jar by taking the tour. 3)Laguna Nigel in Orange County, California on the second Sat. in July to the Moon Amtrak event. 4) The rocport County store in Washington State or the Tom Haywood Store in Croatan North Carolina to see what user-operated amusement apparatus holds the U.S. Patent number 6,293,874 (hint you'll get a kick out of it). 5)If at all possible go to the Museum in San Antonio, Texas to see what Barney Smith is famous for. Gee I should be one of those tourer settup people.
Posted by "anonymous"

Anyway, we have decided to go to Charleston. We will be staying at Wentworth Mansion.
(Click here for the Virtual Tour) (We got the room, not the suite)

We are looking forward to this and actually got a discount because we waited so long to book the room! Yes! Unplanniness works!

People Make Me Angry

Remember this rant about the wife who took her husband's picture off of her desk because she didn't want to give her employees something to talk to her about even though her office was full of numerous conversation-eliciting items? I have to add to it. I am just upset and what's the point of having a blog if I can't vent in it. So, here goes:

Not only did the wife come up with some bull reason the picture was taken down when no reason was necessary, but as it turns out the wife spends a lot of time talking to the other employees. So much so, that several of the employees knows an awful lot about this woman and some of her personal belongings (i.e. appliances, and other such items--not "personal" personal items), favorite drinks, etc.

Nice. Real nice.

Anniversarys

Happy Anniversary, Dena & Zach!

Birthdays

Yeah. I'm old.

But, I did get a cooler that I can bring in to work on Mondays, leave for the week, and bring home on Fridays. It plugs into the lighter socket in the car, and my car is so great it even has one of those in the very back for the very purpose of plugging handy-dandy things like this into. It will be great when we go on vacation! They also bought me an adapter for it so I can plug it into an outlet. I plug it in for about 1 1/2 hours every morning at work and its good for the rest of the day!


See how cute it looks next to the air purifier in my office.

I also got flowers...



I love getting flowers. I get them randomly throughout the year, which is nice because when my birthday rolls around and I get flowers, nobody knows that its my birthday. They just figure its yet another day that everyone else remembers what a wonderful husband I have. Except, this year, the place he ordered them from decided to do things a little bit differently....



Do you see it? The Happy Birthday stick in the middle. Yeah. I get a call from the receptionist desk "Could you come down here, there's something at the front desk for you." So I trot on down the stairs and around the corner and Tah-dah! There they were. All beautiful and smelling pretty, and one of the girls says to me "Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday" and I said "What?" They pointed to the cute little stick.

Luckily, I really didn't mind if they all knew it was my birthday, it was just the act of telling them myself that I minded, so it all worked out fine.

Thank you to everyone, I had a wonderful turning-old-birthday.

Also, I have to say, Happy Birthday, Sarah. I'm getting old, and you're not too far behind me. :)

My Grandma is Weird

Yeah. That's right. I said it. She's weird. And here are 7 reasons why (straight from her hands--she sent it to me in an email)

1. Can't stand things that are sitting or hanging crooked. Like pictures and
the folds in curtains.

2. Must have horseradish on my eggs

3. Bed made and dishes done by 9 o'clock or my whole day goes downhill from there.

4. Shop for groceries once a month. Hate to shop!!! WalMart? NEVER.

5. Cannot ride an elevator above the 5th floor.

6. Addicted to reading. ( Bible, clean novels, newspaper, phone book, notes on
other resident's doors that are none of my business.)

7. While others claim to have the best family in the world, I actually do.

Thanks, Grandma, you're the only one who responded! You Rock!

Shhhh, tv.

I got a break in my going-on-4-day-long headache last night, so I sat downstairs (where its cooler) and watched a couple minutes of tv. There was a show on called "Ten Things You Must Know" and this particular episode dealt with skylights. I have no intention of putting one in; however, it's what was on, so I watched.

From the title of the show, I assumed that it would be a tips, tricks, and "must know" kind of thing. For example, when you play the flute, there is something you can do called overblowing that will turn one note into another note in a higher octave. Overblow a G and you get a high D. an A is a high E; B is high F; C is high G, etc. Handy little tip to know; all those happy little runs in The Hounds Of Spring (Alfred Reed) just got that much easier.

So, anyway, that's the sort of thing I was expecting from this show. I don't really remember what numbers 10 and 9 were, (though I am sure I could find them if I could remember the network the show was on and check out their website), but I remember number 8 because that is where I started to become concerned.

Number 8 was something along the lines of - If you remove a supporting beam to install the skylight, make sure you replace it. Huh. Seems kind of obvious to me. But, maybe somebody didn't put together enough gingerbread houses to know that leaning 4 walls and a roof together with a frosting adhesive is not enough to keep a house from falling. Okay, I'll let this one go, and wait for good ol' number 7.

Number 7 Check your local weather to be sure it isn't supposed to rain before cutting the hole in your roof.

Alright, what?

Dear person who needs to be told to not cut a hole in your roof if it is raining,
Hire someone else to install the skylight. And consider sterilization.
Thank you,
Me.

Happy Fathers Day!

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to say Happy Fathers Day, Dad. Since I completely bailed and didn't make it out there to see you yesterday. We had an employee miss 2 days last week, and I'm not sure if I'm fighting off what she had or if I was just tired and lazy because of the weather. Either way, hope you had a great day!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Gary! Brother, Pastor, Mechanic, and Friend! :D

Vacation!

We have our next vacation dates scheduled. Now all we need is a place to go. Absolutely loved Savannah, Georgia, and would love another vacation like that. There was so much to see and we could walk just about everywhere. If you have any good ideas PLEASE let us know!!!

Also: Michelle, Marni, Dad and Grandma--you have been tagged! <---for the weirdness meme. If you don't have your own site, get me your answers and I'll get them posted.

What I dislike

Here's a post that could go on forever. However, I have one particular story to share with you:

A man's wife has his picture on her desk for a while. It eventually gets moved to a drawer as there is not a lot of desk space and the picture gets knocked around. The husband does not really care, but one day offers to get her a frame so she can put it up on the wall, or somewhere out of the way, but still visible. The wife says "No. I don't really want to bring my personal life to work, and it would give everyone around me something else to talk to me about and I don't want that."

The husband doesn't think much about this until the next day when he remembers that her walls are full of "personal-ish" items (cartoons, calendars, and other odds and ends that would cause plenty of conversation.)

Is it really that big of a deal that she can't just tell him, I don't want your picture up. There doesn't have to be a reason.

I dislike fake answers.

That is all.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Oops. So, I get online today to write another post, and I find that my Happy Birthday, Dad entry from Thursday (his birthday) is still in Draft and was never actually "published". So now it is an I'm Sorry, Dad post. And Happy Birthday, too.

Bellevue

There's a street in our favorite-to-walk-through sub-division called Bellevue. I want to live on that street just so I can say I live there. Anyway:

"Seven Weird Things About Me"

1. OCD-level-organizational/cleanliness. One day a week I spend several hours cleaning, dusting, sweeping, mopping, etc. (that's not the weird part...) Sometimes I will try to make my once-a-week cleaning easier and clean 1 room a day that week. However, when that week is over, I still feel as though the house is a mess. I have to clean all of my house all at once in 1 day or I don't feel it is clean. And if I break that up during the day (do half in the morning-leave the house for whatever reason-then come back and finish) I don't feel like it's clean because it wasn't all done at once. (that's the weird part) also-see previous post.

2. NyQuil does not work for me. In fact, it has the opposite desired effect; it keeps me awake.

3. I don't like ice cream. I do love the coffee ice cream drinks that all the major ice cream chains carry, though.

4. I learned how to type in a chat-room on a local BBS when I was 10. (Technically, my parents bought me typing programs so I could learn when I was 10, but, even though I used them, I spent way more time on-line, so I attribute it to that) Not unusual now-a-days, but I was 10 in the late 1980's. I had a brief flirtation with MySpace.com (yes, that is embarrassing to admit), have a blog, and use instant messaging like my life depends on it, but none of that will ever inspire the anxious watching for the cartoon keyboard (or was it a disk; a computer; a phone?) that would run across the bottom of the screen half-way through the software loading process to dial into whatever local BBS was the place to be at that time. I will never again feel the incredible rush of anger as one of my sisters friends asks me to get off after I had just spent 15 minutes redialing through busy signals just so that they could call her. I will forever remember the feeling I had the day that I was no longer known as "Dena's Sister" and heard her introduced as "Wanda's Sister". Ahhhh. Good times.

5. I am actually really good at dealing with people. I can make anybody feel good about themselves (if I want to); I can motivate, calm down, reason with, etc. just about anybody. I believe I have actually had this ability for a long time, but I was not aware of it until recently, during my brief 6-month period in Human Resources where my job was people and I was actually good at it. But I can't stand people. That doesn't mean that I am not nice to them, when I have to be.

My knew motto is not to waste my time waiting for a person to prove to me that I don't like them, and to instead dislike them from the beginning and see if they prove me wrong. It's much easier this way.

6. Whenever anyone says "Bird" (think Bambi-learning-to-talk) I always laugh (and think of my mom.)

7. Of all of Kenny Rogers' songs, "Lucille" is and always will be my favorite.

Tagging is coming. Be prepared.

p.s. the cat's picture is on my desktop, but the screensaver was turned on so you can't see it. And also, I hope you are not delusional enough that you actually think you are winning points with him... he still hates just about everyone. :)