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. :)

I don't have issues, I have the whole subscription...

I was tagged for a weird meme.

No, really, its a "seven weird things about me" meme (thanks Kathy I take this to mean you think I'm weird). My first thought was: "I only get seven?"

In preparation for this, I began to think about which of the many weird things about me I should list, and then I realized that I am not only weird, but suffer from OCD.

So, to start, I give you my desk. Complete with a drawer full of Clorox cleaning wipes, a swiffer duster, several different bottles of Purel and other lotion-y sanitizers, all of which are used at least once-a-day.

If you click on the picture, you can almost see the pictures on my desk

This is my desk. And now that I am looking at the picture I feel it is a bit untidy, and have the urge to reorganize! Even though two of the attorneys have been in trial for a week-and-a-half and it has been relatively quiet, I actually have a lot to do. However, I can't think with everything all over, so it all sits nicely piled in my in-box or a stack on my desk that I put in order of importance and keep pulling from the top throughout the day.



I am an organization freak. I love office supplies and accessories. Over half the items on my desk are literally mine. There is 1 particular item that is not on my desk yet that I must have. Michelle, are you reading this?? There is a really neat mesh organizer with little drawers and pencil cups on the side at The-Store-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. Have you seen this yet? I will post a picture soon!

Aside from my desk I have another table against the wall with the hanging shelves. Currently housing 6 stacks of paper (end-of-the-month-billing), which are driving me crazy.

And here is my "to be filed" pile (a little hard to see here, but it is in the basket on the little table. There was a lot of filing not getting done before I started and I'm still trying to get caught up. This area is a little messy and I hesitate to post this picture because now it is here, mocking me with its messiness.



Also, my office is not green. I don't have a digital camera, so I used my phone, and while I don't have lines running across my pictures, they are kind of green.

So, there it is. Weirdness #1 - I am an organizational freak. We went to the local office supply store twice in the last week so that I could pick up labels for my label maker (I love my label maker) and to pick up divider tabs for my binder that I am using at work.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for the remaining six.

Feelin' so small at the bottom of the world

I thought it was about time for a change. Something new and different.

My mood finally seems to be breaking. A new job, lunch with an old friend, and an incredible husband can do wonders for a person--namely me.

I have no idea what my deal has been lately, so I will attribute it to being completely burnt out, to prescription drugs that seem to have completely messed up my hormones and other important chemistry, and to the unfortunate truth that I suck and don't fight my mood swings hard enough.

Now I have reached the point where I ask what's next, 'cause something has to change.
It wasn't too long ago (just a few years) I was sitting on my bed, staring out the window across the hall at the trees outside, when it hit me just how blessed I was. I remember this moment clearly; it was an overwhelming feeling that has never really left. I looked around and had an incredible appreciation for everything I had. My house, personal items, my husband. I openly admitted that I was probably the happiest person I knew, and I really believe that I was at that time. That lasted for a little while, until I grew careless and things got a bit messy. However, I've always heard that if you can't keep growing, at least maintain where you are. So I tried that, and I attempted to "maintain". Then I found myself complaining about anything, everything more and more; my old attitude, the one that seriously dislikes the world and has low tolerance level for anything. Now, I feel that by hanging in there I have actually made things worse for other people. Face it, we've all been there--you try to do something nice to help out other people, but your heart's not in it and you're lucky to not make things worse.
Basically put, in the last few years I have gone from Christian-in-training to happy-go-lucky-Christian to I-don't-know. Somewhere, I missed something.

Walking away from a Christian life, in my mind, is the stupidest thing a person could do. I know that the happiest, most blessed time of my life was when I was completely into the Christian life. Not that I didn't have mood swings, bad days (or weeks) or trouble, but there was a contentness (or hope, as I have often heard it put, though I think contentness describes my sentiments better) that can not be explained unless you have experienced it yourself. I will continue on and hope that I find whatever I missed, but don't be surprised to see the writings of someone who doesn't know where she is standing.

As an attempt to keep you entertained while I ride on this roller-coaster, I will be adding new sites and trying out new things. I am even looking into a new blog-host, as Get Your Hook On has just moved, and there seem to be some definite benefits to moving.

Look around, hang out, post a response, and have fun!

Grumpiness and whatnot

For those of you who regularly check my blog, I apologize. But the fact is I have been grumpy lately. No. Not grumpy--freaking grumpy. So grumpy that I don't want to do anything. I don't want to deal with people, I don't want to deal with life, I just don't want to deal. My job is going well, busy and behind, but better than the last job, so that's not it. I have no idea what it is. But, since I currently run the risk of having no friends or family left talking to me when this grumpiness ends, I have chosen to not talk to anyone, or talk to them as little as possible. Sorry--but I hope you understand.

May the grumpiness stay far, far away from you all and not overwhelm you as it has me.

That's all I have to say.

Annoyedness

People often tell me that I am too nice. Let me start out by saying: I know that is not true. Incompetent people annoy me to no end and when I am annoyed, I get mean. Selfish people annoy me, also, and again, that makes me mean. There’s also stupid people, people with no common sense or analytical skills, and some little people--they all annoy me, also.

Part of my problem is that I don’t tell people when things are bothering me (the big things, anyway), especially if it is because of them. Usually, I figure that if whatever is bothering me is only going to happen once or twice, or if it is an undesired responsibility that is going to be shared, I’ll suck it up and get on with things--no big deal; if it’s limited. Except… I have found that for some reason, whether it be because I don’t voice my unhappiness or because other people find the same thing undesirable and decide not to take their turn, I deal with it more than originally planned, and by the time I realize this it is almost too late to say anything without seeming petty.

So instead I let it all build up until I break.

Then I get mean--and not the annoyed mean, the bear-going-after-food mean and I strongly suggest staying as far away from me as possible. And it doesn’t end after one instance, it actually gets worse; because I still don’t say what is really bothering me.

All I can say is I am thankful I married a man who is as annoyed by everyone else I am.

"Walked by the ocean, waited for a star"

It's Sunday night, almost 8:00, and I am not panicking about work tomorrow.

On Friday, I came up with a good idea, found and fixed an error (that wasn't mine), and figured out how to pay taxes--incorrectly at first, but I fixed that error, too.

On Saturday, I went in to work for my former boss (mostly because PL/Biller is stuck doing what was my job with very little training but she did it right so again I ask: Anyone want to hire her?) Talked to my former boss over the phone (she forgot she had an appointment and couldn't make it in--what a shame) for a few minutes in which she reiterated everything that happened that week, including finding out about a bench trial on Tuesday that I had not subpoena'd anyone for. Probably because I didn't know about it and to which I simply replied "Oh." I don't think she liked that.

Friday was, according to the person training me, a stressful day. I can handle that kind of stress. That was better than a good day at my former job!

Heath and I were discussing how we listen to other employees complain about how stressful their day was; comments like "I couldn't even take my break on time, I had to wait another half-hour" and we stand there thinking.... Break? I think I've heard of that.

Things are moving pretty quickly at work. Settling in nicely. It helps that I know what I'm doing. Now I just need to wait for the part-timer who is training me to move to the other facility so I can finish moving my stuff in. I cleaned up "our" desk and she seemed so lost. Probably best to save that til she's done training me.

And as for the cat, to whomever posted on "Green", he has been happy to see me when I come home on my lunch break. He has been extraordinarily cuddly and friendly. Except for when we are trying to sleep. I believe the hole currently reserved for Ms. A. (my grandma's cat--before anyone starts wondering) is soon to be filled by another cat if he doesn't allow my husband to sleep through the night.

"It's A Happy Day..."

So, I got attitude instead of cake and a request to give up my Saturday mornings to “help out”. Idiot.

But that’s okay. I put up with that for two weeks and now I have my own office with a cute little window that is bright and sunny in the morning (it faces east), a radio in my office, decaf coffee just a few steps down the hallway, and a seemingly amiable group of people to work with.

The President is (aside from his pipe-smoking) rather fun to be around, I am being trained by my sister (or at least someone who acts a lot like her and has her first name, though she spells it wrong, and is just as nice), and did I mention I have a radio in my office?

I have recently loaded my IPod with a ton of classical music and was listening to it (sneakily--having long hair comes in handy here) when I would get too stressed at my previous job (so, yeah, all the time) but now I can hook speakers up to it and play it all I want without hiding it… Hooray!

I got in my car at 5:08 p.m. and pulled in my driveway at 5:14 p.m.. Heath said I didn’t seem too excited, but I think it’s just that I am not about to have a nervous breakdown. I am content. And that makes me happy.

So, it will take a little while to settle in, but the lady training me will be in 3 times a week, and will stay at this office for about two weeks (or until everything gets caught up) before moving to the other office not too far away.

Ahhhhhhhh.