Happiness... of the holiday kind

Christmas. I love Christmas. It’s so magically colorful. My parents always went way overboard on Christmas and we kids reaped the benefits. It still holds that same magical spirit, though I do remember that somehow without fail, every year on Christmas Eve I did something incredibly stupid and got into trouble. Oh well.


Due to the holiday, and other reasons, many people have too much time off right now. Namely, my dad.


Knowing the overwhelming feelings that overcome me every time I am subjected to the nauseatingly over-loved Elvis Presley, my dad finds it amusing to educate me on any Elvis facts he can find. His newest bombardiness comes by way of email, where he has been supplying me with “This date in history--Elvis Presley” news. Yea. Lucky me.


Just remember--you haven’t gotten your present yet. And after Saturday, just remember--your birthday is in 6 months.


Have a wonderful Christmas!

The Top of the List

This last week definitely made its way into the top ten Worst Weeks Ever. My stress, part of which is by default as I sit helplessly by and watch my amazingly wonderful husband take on more “weight” than the cables on the Golden Gate Bridge, my cold is not helping either. This just keeps getting better.

Since my husband and I are freakishly linked and co-dependant, when he is stressed and having a bad day I feel that I should somehow spend even more amount of time with him and spoil him as much as he will allow. And since I have been extraordinarily tired lately (I blame the extra work and now this lovely cold) I had no problem using that as an excuse to... well, if I am being completely honest here--blow off my bible reading/study and devoted prayer time, which I have been doing a lot lately (under the excuse of “We’re flipping a house and working full time--I’m tired"--and I now hang my head in shame as I remember my pastors’ wife reads my blog). Those of you now gasping in horror--yea, I know. The reading has been a little lacking lately anyway, though I do pray a lot. Mostly at work. The “Lord, I am one more stupid question or having to repeat myself away from losing it--please help.” variety. Of course, this week has been more focused on home I really have not taken the devoted time I usually do as I have justified it by saying that my husband needs me. Now he would flip out right about now if he knew that I was indicating that my reasoning was because of him as he fully supports me and my beliefs so I will point out for those who may have missed it the line above that states “I had no problem using that as an excuse” meaning that, while I did want to be with and comfort my husband, it was not BECAUSE of him.

Anyway, as the week progressed each day got a little worse, and each day I just wanted to spend more time with Heath making it better. Until Wednesday. When it got way more worse. About double. Then it hit me. What we needed was not for me to lazily lounge in my oh-so-comfy chair watching cartoons and hanging out with my husband. We needed me to pray. And not the “Oh-no Lord, please, help us through this” then move on to something else. So I did, and I grabbed my study bible again which, I will embarrassingly admit only for the sake of accountability and I hope it does not attest to my house-keeping skills, had a small but still noticeable layer of dust across the top.

Thursday morning I found something important that had been lost and was able to make Heath much happier; Friday morning I received a voice message my brother sent the Thursday night that made me much happier, and a cold, but other than that I can say that I definitely feel much better.

So, I have decided to give the Bible Through The Year another shot. Stay tuned for more on that.

Return of Anonymity

It's back. Or at least it will be. My anonymous blog where I can vent and rant as much as I need to without naming anyone. My staff will all be characters from movies and tv shows that they remind me of.

So, if you are interested and you know the address, drop by, feel free to post your stories as well, or email them to me and I will post for you, or just drop by when you want to laugh, cry, or just see what it is like in a day of the life of me. If you do not know the address but feel you would enjoy visiting, let me know. I know it is not so anonymous if you all know about it, but I am merely concerned with protecting the people I may be venting about, and anyone who is actually reading this blog would probably hear the stories from me anyway.

Of course, stories like this one are nothing compared to what I really deal with everyday, so be prepared--you really can't fix stupid.

"You Can't Fix Stupid"--Ron White

After a weeks worth of stupid in three days I was looking forward to my four day weekend--which I will get to later. But first I feel I should let you in on some of the stupid as it really is such a waste to not share it. Overheard last week--
Employee #1: “Check in (client name here) files to see if this bill has been paid--there will be a copy of the check in one of (name three files here).”

Employee #2: “What do you mean?”

Employee #1: “We need to see if this bill has been paid. If it has there will be a copy of the check in one of (client’s name) files. It would have been put in (name three files here).”

Employee #2: “What do you mean?”

Employee #1: (who at this point is not sure if employee #2 is just being funny or not, so she checks) “Seriously?”

Employee #2: “I don’t know what you mean.”

Employee #1: “You need to check the file. The physical file.” (employee #1 walks up to employee #2 desk and picks up a file.) “The file that is in the accordion in the drawer…”

Employee #2: “You want me to look in the file?”

and I will end here as it is pretty much the same for about 3 more minutes. There was also an instance of incorrect filing in a binder with pockets, to which I said without an attempt to hide my incredulity, “Did you really not notice the pockets were upside down?” There is more stupid, but if you imagine that from two different employees, all day for three days, you can understand how much I was looking forward to my weekend.

Which I enjoyed. Thursday, after working on the house for a few hours in the morning, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with Heath’s family. Followed by a relaxing evening at home. Heath spent the rest of the weekend at the house working, while I spent most of the rest of the weekend at the house painting and washing tile. The part that was not spent in church or home sick.

But I did get to spend most of the weekend with my husband (I love you, Heath), avoid being run over by a semi (I love you, Subaru), and prove everyone who says you should not work so closely with your spouse wrong.

A Tribute

Heath and I learned yesterday that his brother was hit by a deer on Friday. We found out inadvertantly when somebody thought we knew and started discussing said accident. Then I read about it here, in his wife's blog.
He's okay. Some stitches and scratches. His new-used car with barely 16,000(?--this information keeps changing on me) miles on it is another story, though.
He got hit by a deer. Of all the people for deer to do this to, it really should not be him. I think the greatness runs in the family.

This is the guy who, when checking on our house and cat during one of our vacations, endearingly apologized to the ants that were invading my cat's food while he killed them. Because he had to. And it was not easy for him.

This is the guy who will not eat a tic-tac because it has a product in it that may or may not contain a trace amount of milk (or something like that).

The guy who rarely complains and when he does it is usually followed by something nice about whatever he complained about.

The guy who has been polite and accepting of me since the first time we met, and who found an incredible wife who has done the same (these people are very smart, intellectually and worldly--while I barely graduated from a small town school).

So, my point is--We are glad you are okay. And glad that you have insurance.

My Gratitude

Thank you, Walmart.

Thank you for building too close to my home.
Thank you for closing off one of two entrances I always use to my subdivision while you are constructing.
Thank you for the soon to increase traffic in my area.
Thank you for making it nearly impossible for me to leave said entrance once you are up and running and the increased traffic is in my area.
Thank you for all of the new stop lights going up outside my subdivision.
and most importantly:
Thank you for scheduling your contractors to do plumbing today; for leaving me with almost no water on the day of my cookie party.

Rhode Island

So it begins. My weekend consisted of helping to load up the remainder of the items at the new soon-to-be-ours house, going to church, cleaning my live-in house, and tearing up carpet and washing walls at the new soon-to-be-ours house. We did, however, find that the hardwood floors are just as gorgeous in the living room as in the closet where we first discovered them. Or at least the part that we saw. We are leaving the padding down as an extra drop-cloth for now, but we pulled parts of it aside to admire its beauty. Aside from saving on carpeting, Heath and (business) partner ran into some help at a home improvement store when glancing at water softeners and was given some valuable advice. Thank you helpful person.

And it gets even better. We received in the mail a coupon from our favorite home improvement center that said if we present said coupon with our store card we have no interest no payments until 2008. Silly store. Our shopping list grows (appliances, flooring, tile, paint)and we perfect our imitation of good old Mr. Burns... "Excellent"

Sweet Providence.

Systematic

My nephew had his confirmation party on Sunday. It took almost 15 years, but yes, he is human. Congrats.

Remember the rant I was on at the beginning of my blog? Well, I am still on that, but here's a new one for you.

While I was attending said party, sitting on the couch next to my nephew, exchanging sarcastic comments as we do in my family, I overhear a conversation in which three women discuss computers and how little they know. They are talking of virus protection and the alarming amount of viruses on their computers considering they do have software--and I start to become annoyed. Not because they do not know how to use their computers (well, okay, maybe a little. Seriously, why have one if you have no intention of figuring out how to use it. Previous statement not intended for those who actually try... hi grandma...), but mostly because they assumed that all females had no idea of how to use this here tv screen with a typewriter attached, and while most of my great computer stories contain females as the main subject ("I keep hitting the backspace and trying it again, but my letters keep coming out in caps"), I would like to point out that there are a few of us out there who know what we are doing. Not to mention the numerous manager/executive level males at my last job who relied heavily upon their (female) assistants to help them with their computers.

I know stereotypes become stereotypes for a reason, but the next time you are about to generalize someone, please make sure I am not around.

Apathetic Passion or Passionate Apathy

Apparently, I missed work day at the church yesterday. I was holed up inside my own house working, cleaning and such, and while I am enjoying the lilacy-clean goodness resulting from my day of labor, I kind of wish I could have helped out. Cell phones are great and all, but mine does not work very well in my house, and that's where I was when I missed the work-day informational telephone call.

In other news, my brother-in-law drew up the papers for the sale of the house and we are in process of getting all the necessary signatures. I always thought that when I finally owned two houses, one of them would be a nice vacation house on a lot surrounded on three sides by trees and a lake on the fourth. This is a far cry from that. I would mention how happy I am that we are only fixing it up and selling it, but it sounds as though there will be many long nights spent working on it, and we have even discussed the necessities that will need to be left there (of which our air-mattress was mentioned) for those nights when it is just too late to go home.

Maybe I will stay out of trouble this winter.

Legal speak

The following is a true and correct portion of the Code of Federal Regulations:
d) All public agencies are covered by FMLA regardless of the number
of employees; they are not subject to the coverage threshold of 50
employees carried on the payroll each day for 20 or more weeks in a
year. However, employees of public agencies must meet all of the
requirements of eligibility, including the requirement that the employer (e.g., State) employ 50 employees at the worksite or within 75 miles.
29 CFR 825.108
So… the company is covered but not the employee? What?
While I find humor in listening to conversation after conversation between my boss and other attorneys as they discuss laws they cannot figure out (Before you think it--I am not technically eavesdropping as the reason I sit where I do is because I have a knack for hearing conversations when I am working, not realizing it, and being able to remind or follow up on some of her discussions and she likes that), after two days of phone calls and unreturned phone calls from federal entities to clarify the above, I am as frustrated as she is. Do they mean that the employee is covered as long as the agency employs at least 50 people regardless of the number of weeks? Or are they just outright contradicting themselves?

Food

It's Saturday. It's cold. I am getting ready for dinner tonight. One of the companys that Heath's company buys from is having a we-rented-out-the-Musuem-of-Science-and-Industry-tonight dinner and we are going. I am wearing my fancy dress that I just bought for Nick and Kathy's wedding this summer. I also just bought a pashmina to go with it. I did not even know what a pashmina was until a few years ago. (Is there anything we did not learn from Friends?) Off I go to prepare!

Beginnings

Amidst my daily duties of supporting my husband as he plans and prepares to flip a house, take care of my house (not because my husband does not do it, but because I have an unnatural love of cleaning and organizing that seems to have sprung upon me since moving out of my parents house, all those years of telling me to clean my room finally paid off), manage a staff of four (two of which do well on their own; two of which need babysitters) and make sure I do not miss my Thursday night 1 ½ hours of tv viewing (The Office and Grey’s Anatomy--and now I await the phone call which will come from someone in my family Thursday night), creating long, unending sentences that annoy anyone with any grammar skills (oooh that reminds me of a story), I often forget to keep in touch with those that I should (and want to). So here is my attempt.
But first, my story--I recently saw a job ad on-line which read “Organizational and good grammer skills a must”. Grammer. Does anyone else find it amusing that while good grammar is important (which I can only assume they mean as any searches on the word grammer come back with “Did you mean 'grammar'?”), but spelling apparently does not.

Also, I am planning my second cookie party. (MMmmMM Cookies)

Thought for the day: Generally speaking, after a certain amount of time, most people can tell when someone does not really like them. My family is pretty smart like that.
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. ~Matthew 12:34.
Selfishness can only be hidden for a brief amount of time.