Bear Necessities

If It Doesn't Kill Me

2011-10-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

I have migraines and I’m going for an MRI then meeting with a neurologist to discuss new options for treating them. I currently take Verapamil daily to keep them at bay. Here are the side effects:

-Constipation Chest pain
-Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue)
-Symptoms of liver problems (eg, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, pale stools, severe or persistent stomach pain, fever, general feeling of being unwell)Light headedness, especially when standing
-Dizziness; fatigue; headache; light headedness; nausea
-Fainting
-Severe dizziness
-Shortness of breath
-Swelling of the feet or hands
-Unusually fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat

Pretty tame and I don’t experience much of them. A friend recommended what he takes, Topomax, so I looked it up. Here are the side effects and my comments:

I'm not sure I'm ready to be this healthy...

Faith in Humanity

2011-10-10T09:16:00.002-04:00

Last night my mother told me a story that enraged me then made me feel pretty good about my fellow humans.

She had gone to the grocery store and when she came out a middle aged man had pulled up next to her car and parked so close she couldn’t get in. As he got out of his car she asked him if he could pull out so she could get in, and his response was that it wasn’t his problem. She told him he was rude and pointed out he wasn’t even in a parking spot. He said he didn’t care. He said this to a woman parked in a handicap space carrying an oxygen tank. What an asshole! At this point in the conversation I am ready to fly out, track him down and make him eat his own bumper! I tell Mom I would have called the police. She tells me to wait, there’s more.

So while my mom contemplates the situation (I applaud her for not throwing her tank through the guy’s windshield) she sees a store employee on her cell phone. Then the guy comes running out of the store and moves his car, happily not running my mom down in the process. The store employee comes over and tells my mom she called the police and that if something like that ever happens again she should do the same. I have a feeling she also called the store manager who found the guy and told him they were calling the police so he’d better move his damn car.

I’m writing a thank you letter to the store. I am so grateful to this woman who took a moment to look after my mom. It’s comforting to know that there are still good people out there who look after each other, and reminds me I should do the same.

I'm Okay

2011-08-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

Little things at work that I used to be able to laugh off were now making my chest hurt when I talked about them, the pain becoming tension in my shoulders the longer I spoke. I could feel my first instinct becoming "no" when people asked me reasonable things, instead of my usual "let me look into it." When the chest and neck pain started I decided perhaps a trip to the doctor and perhaps a counselor were in order.

The doc confirmed my heart was fine, she suggested a counselor and gave me a prescription for those moments when the anxiety became overwhelming. Three weeks ago I met Dr. Laurie and had a good cry. I was wrong when I wrote I didn't have anything to talk about. I had the story of my Dad to tell someone who had never met him or me, had no background with either of us. And as I told stories I've told a hundred times before, I cried while I spoke. After a little over an hour of laughing and talking, crying and explaining, I was exhausted but I felt really good.

Among other things we talked about was how I think about things and cope with things. I had a list of concerns and by the time I came in for the appointment I'd pretty much resolved half of them. Like Dr. Bean before her (she's the one I spoke to after the divorce) she was a little confused by how I process things, but once she got the hang of it she felt it was pretty healthy. She asked if I'd come back so I made an appointment to see her the following Saturday.

And I had a line from a Dar Williams song stuck in my head for the rest of the day, "When I talk about therapy I know what people think, that it only makes me selfish and in love with you shrink, but oh how I loved everyone else when I finally got to talk so much about myself." You that pretty much sums it up. There is something liberating in being about to be selfish and just talk about yourself without knowing the other person has news to share that you want to hear, or had heard the stories before. Maybe it's a control thing, but it worked for me.

When I got home I filled Frank in on what we talked about and returned a call from Mom and told her about it as well. One session inspired a lot of talking and story telling, kind of neat. I felt pretty good, pretty whole and real again, though as I said, exhausted. All I wanted was a nap, but I had class with the puppy then we were off to the Game and Grill. A busy day.

The following week was great. I had my patience back and felt like I was in control. And no chest pain! When I saw Dr. Laurie on Saturday I told her all this and I continued to tell stories. Stories about me, my family, Frank and my friends too- how we relate and take care of each other. Okay, there was a little bragging there. As positive as the week had been we both agreed another session would be a good idea, just in case the next week wasn't so great.

And you know what? Last week was a definite challenge. There is a manager in my office that I don't report to, he's part of a separate group from my engineering group. It's a long story, but basically it boiled down to him screwing up with a new hire then telling me not to do my job when I attempted to help the new guy. His group has it's own admin, but she's in Massachusetts and the larger issue was he told the guy to start at 9 and he didn't stroll in until 10:45. Adding insult to injury was the lack of respect he showed me. I think of him as a chauvinist who gives lip service to trying not to be one, but fails and doesn't really care. He's commented how time was I'd be bringing him coffee. Nice. Anyhow, my engineering manager caught wind of the issue and offered to speak with the other manager, but I told him I was capable of talking to him about it myself, if I needed back up I'd let him know. When the manager got in he blamed everyone for the mix up but himself and told me he had everything he needed to get the new guy started and I verified there was nothing he needed me to do. Nope, he had it all under control.

At the end of the day the poor new guy came up to me and said his manager told him I had paperwork for him to sign. Nope. I sent him back to the manager but promised I wouldn't let this issue interfere with his paycheck. My day ends at 5 and at 5:03 my phone rang with the manager's extension. I ignored it and left to read in a conference room until Frank came to pick me up. The next day the manager came up to my desk and wanted to make sure I wasn't upset because I thought he was mad at me because he wasn't. I very professionally informed him I didn't think he was mad at me, but that I was upset with him. When he asked I explained why and he apologized. Yes, he's still snarky but I've made my position clear. And I no longer play nice and pitch in when it isn't strictly necessary. The nice part is that my boss has my back.

But the big deal here is that I didn't loose my temper, I was professional and patient. And okay, I took a bit of pleasure in saying no. All this made me feel like I was in a good place. I related the story to Dr. Laurie on our last appointment and we agreed I was coping fine and in a good head space, and unless something happened I didn't need to come back. She was cute, she asked if I'd thought about talking to others about how I deal with things. I don't do anything special I told her, its just me. She told me I was unique, I told her if she met my friends and husband she'd see I wasn't. And then she scolded me for not taking a compliment. I thought about it and then told her I take compliments when I feel they are deserved. Complimenting me on how I reason out things is like me complimenting her on being a brunette: It's a part of me, nothing learned or worked for. I think she finds me intriguing, which makes me laugh. Of all the people in my life I think I'm the least interesting, but I guess to people outside that circle we must all be pretty rare creatures. How very cool!

So the logic wall has been climbed and I no longer feel bad when I tell people I don't miss my dad (and yes, people actually ask). I have all the best parts of him and those will always be mine. I think about him and I smile, because I know he loves me and knew how much I loved him. No surprises, just pleasant reminders of an amazing man. And feeling that way isn't weird, it's just how I am and that is just fine.

Help! I Look Like a Corpse!

2011-08-04T14:59:00.000-04:00

As 37 looms and I started actually taking care of my skin I decided to play with more of the samples that my friend who works in a cosmetic store gave me. In doing so I discovered I liked Bare Minerals. She had given me a sample of bareMinerals Pure Radiance All-Over Face Color which I found to be quite fun, and decided I wanted to try their foundation. With coupon in hand I went down to Ulta and found myself totally lost. What on earth is a mineral veil? Do I need that?

Giving myself to the tender mercies of the cosmetic counter girl, I look pathetic and ask for help. She was very nice. It turns out that the product my friend had recommended would not have been good for me at all (I’ve got pretty normal skin and bareMinerals Matte Foundation would have dried me out. My friend has oily skin and I think she forgets others don’t). And the mineral veil? Apparently it sets your “look”. Still not quite sure what that means. So I headed out with my purchases, excited to try something new. I even watched the how to video on YouTube!

The next day I applied the product as directed and it made my skin look even and relatively flawless, hid the dark circles too. Of course, I looked like I was made of wax or had perhaps died. Not so much the look I was going for. Perhaps I chose too light of a shade? It seemed to match well, but it didn’t look right. Perhaps I just wasn’t used to seeing myself without the redness and circles? Perhaps I was just clueless.

Back to the store I went (I’d used a trial size for my initial foray so the full size container was unopened). I found another unsuspecting cosmetics girl and explained the situation. She agreed I’d gotten the right shade, so I thought perhaps I was missing a step. She suggested bareMinerals Warmth All Over Face Color, and offered to show me how these things should be applied. Well there we discovered my problem. Apparently if you are going on stage or have some sort of hideous birthmark you apply the foundation the way they showed in the video. For everyday you dust it one like any other loose powder, then brush a little color on your temples and cheeks. It looked quite nice, natural and I’ve managed to reproduce the effect at home! Success!

I’ve also fallen in love with Pur Minerals Pur Intensity Gel Eyeliner. It goes on so even and light, without feeling like you are going to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil.

Of course, this does mean I can’t snooze as much in the morning, but the dog has to pee anyhow so it isn’t like I was really going to sleep for those 9 minutes.

Aging a Little Less Gracefully

2011-08-04T12:26:00.003-04:00

I will be 37 next week, and that number doesn’t really bother me. The brown spots around my eyes are another matter entirely though. These aren’t the “beauty marks” I’ve been blessed with in abundance, these are sun damage magnified by wearing glasses, and they have begun to bug me. I decided to suck it up and join the millions of women who turn the cosmetic industry for help. I have two advantages that the average woman may not: 7 years of research done for the cosmetic industry (on people) and a friend who works for Ulta. I know what ingredients work and generally who has them. Oil of Olay Regenerist here I come!

So step 1: I trot down to the cosmetic store and stare at various anti-aging products while feeling silly. Silly is then replaced with consternation as I see most products are concerned with wrinkles, not discoloration. Damn you women who worry about looking like Shar Pei puppies! I finally find something that should work for a night treatment: Regenerist Continuous Night Recovery Moisturizing Treatment. I also picked up Regenerist Daily Regenerating Cleanser, because if I’m putting this gunk on my face I need to be washing it off.

Step 2: Go through all the stuff my friend who works at Ulta has been giving me (she gets free stuff for being awesome at her job). I find and eye treatment and a daytime primer (what the hell is that?) that both have color correction properties. Note to all who care, if you want to hide dark circles look for a product that has iridescent properties. They reflect the light and make the under eye area see lighter. Avon has a nice one that rolls on. As it happens the eye treatment my friend gave me has this property as well as fading the pigment spots: RareMinerals Active Triple Treatment Eye Cream

Now the “Primer”. It’s sort of what it sounds like, it primes the skin so make up has a more true color. Just like paint primer. And yes, they have spackle for those deep wrinkles, which I still think is silly. The primer I have is Fusion Beauty Prime Results Brightening Primer and I don’t use it so much for the priming as for what it does to reduce pigmentation.

So I’ve mentioned all these product names because it’s been almost two weeks and damned if it doesn’t seem to be working! The circles under my eyes are less noticeable and the pigmentation is lighter (being the geek I am I took “before” pictures). So, if you too have decided perhaps it’s time to embrace your vanity and do something about those dark spots, these things apparently work.

Next time: Help I look like a corpse!

A Little Glum

2011-06-17T15:26:00.001-04:00

I’m kind of sad today. It makes sense I suppose, Father’s Day is coming up. We were watching TV the other night and one of the relentless ads for Father’s Day gifts came on with the tag line “Hard to buy for father?” I just casually answered “Not anymore”. It caught Frank off guard, and I meant it to be funny, but I guess it really isn’t. Or shouldn’t be anyhow. I told Mom and she said she’s had the same thought when confronted with the ad. At least I know where my humor comes from.

I’ve actually been thinking a lot about grieving since Dad died. Things like, am I repressing my feelings? Am I reacting correctly? Why aren’t I crying? Why don’t I feel so sad? Why didn’t the world shatter like I always thought it would?

I know the answer to that last question. My world didn’t end because while my father was and always will be an important part of my life, he is only one part. And I knew that part would end one day, and he wouldn’t want me to fall apart. And also, when I first starting thinking about losing my parents I was worrying over what could be, what it might be like, where my own life would be. Worrying about things is always worse than when they actually come to pass. And of course, I am surrounded by wonderful people, especially my husband who just seems to know when I need a hug, when I need to be alone and when I need to be silly. He’s an amazing creature.

I’ve spent the last month helping my mom make sense of forms, find bills, contact various agencies and giving her moral support as she remembers she’s an intelligent, resourceful human being. She’s doing really well. And honestly, being concerned about her meant I had something to focus on. Oddly enough, when I do stop to consider how I’m doing the thought just kind of slides off. It’s like there is no data there, nothing to ponder. I call it the logic wall.

Written on the logic wall are the following, you may have heard them because it also seems to be what I tell people when they say they are sorry to hear about my dad:

• He was 74 and his doctor said he had the body of a 90 year old, and yet he wasn’t incapacitated by the various body parts that weren’t working right anymore. He’d have an issue, they’d fix it and he’d go about his life. He was never really sick.

• He had a great life full of interests and people.

• I had 36 wonderful years with my dad.

• I got to see him before he died, to tell him I loved him and hear him say he loved me. I got a hug. I know there was no time lost, nothing left unsaid, no regrets.

• He went out on his terms, with no pain and with a decision we all agreed on

• I got so much more than so many others have gotten

• Parents grow old and die, it’s how the cycle works. And given everything, it was a good death.

Nothing on this wall says I can’t be sad, but when I read it, when I feel it, part of me thinks I don’t have a real reason to be sad, other than my father isn’t alive anymore. Shouldn’t that be reason enough to cry? Can’t I just be a little girl who’s lost her dad? But when I cycle to that thought, the first thing that I think is that it could have been so much worse and everything worked out so much better than I’ve had any right to expect. It almost feels like complaining.

So I guess it comes down to not feeling like it was unfair, not feeling cheated and because of that I just can’t find words to express the sadness. And without those words for some reason the flood of tears I keep thinking should happen, doesn’t. I’ve teared up writing this; I did in the car this morning as well. My heart is heavy because I know I won’t be calling my dad on Sunday, but it isn’t upset. It’s kind of like the world is misty and damp when I keep expecting it to rain like hell. The weather just won’t break.

Then I think about a coworker who was encouraging me to be upset because she held it in and ended up passing out at work a year later after a freak out. I don’t think that one’s really a danger, but I’ve thought maybe I should talk to someone. But that brings me back to words. I don’t have anything to say. My father is dead. I feel his absence, but it doesn’t stop my living because this is how it is supposed to be. And then I feel heartless, like there’s something wrong with me for not wailing and rending my clothes. The answer to that is we all grieve in our own way, all look at death differently.

See? I have all the answers, it just doesn’t feel right.

Ah well. Oddly enough this reminds me a bit of my divorce. After a point I started wondering if I was handling things too well, if I was going to suddenly snap and become a Lifetime Movie. I went to a therapist. We sort of talked for an hour. There was a lot of her asking questions and me answering them in a way she didn’t expect. She pronounced me okay, my ex possibly slightly sociopathic and gave me some great advice which I followed to good ends. With the exception of one rather justified public screaming incident, there was no melt down.

So with that knowledge I think I just need to be okay with having glum days, and be okay with being okay. I guess I'm doubting myself because of what I think others might be thinking, going back to that old standby of worrying about people thinking I'm not normal. Well I'm not, none of us are, and that's what makes us interesting. It’s that whole being human thing. And keep telling myself all this until I believe it.

The inside of my head is a weird place, in case you were wondering ; )

Conflicted

2011-05-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

So they finally killed Osama Bin Laden. When I heard the news many thoughts ran through my head. Things like, how relevant was he now anyhow? I mean, the wars won't stop because he's gone. The insurgents won't stop fighting. It's a blow to their morale and a boost to ours, yes. Perhaps the families that have lost loved ones in fighting, on the planes or the towers will have a little closure. But does it change anything but approval numbers?

I was relieved he was killed. A trial would have been a madhouse, and a huge target for terrorism. And after Sadam's head popped off I think the world is a little camera shy about exicutions.

Perhaps they should send the body on a tour, like they did with James Brown. They could charge money to offset the budget deficit.

But of all the thoughts that ran through my head, one really surprised me. I found myself thinking of his family, his mother. No matter what has happened, he was still her son and losing a child is heart breaking. To have most of the world celebrating your child's death must be crushing. To not be able to openly grieve must seem so unfair. The world knows the terrorist, the fanatic organizer of devistating attacks. We don't know his first word, first steps. We didn't watch him grow. I assume since the family disowned him after he radicalized that she didn't approve of his actions, but no matter what they do, does a parent ever stop loving a child?

Who knows, maybe she is relieved that it is over, that he is no longer being hunted or hurting others. But I bet she's still sad, and even though it may not be popular and she'll never see this, I just want to say she has a right to be sad that her child died.

Puppy Love

2011-02-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

We have a puppy! Well, she's 4, but she's still cute as a puppy! We adopted Widget (nee Paula) on Saturday February 12. She's a grey and black Cairn Terrier mix and she's just about perfect.

Frank, Connie and I drove up to the Last Chance Ranch (LCR) in Quakertown to meet her after I talked to her foster mom Diane for 2 hours on Wednesday. I hadn't even seen a picture of the dog, but she sounded so sweet. Paula, as she was then called, had been given up to the PSPCA in Philadelphia in January I believe, and had been pulled from that shelter by LCR shortly after admission. Paula was adopted at the beginning of February by a very nice older woman who was totally in love with her. Unfortunately one day her granddaughter was visiting and knocked over a bunch of pans behind Paula (so the story goes) and the frightened dog spun around and bit the girl. Sadly Paula was returned to LCR after only being gone a week because the woman couldn't risk that happening again.

We pulled Connie away from the other fuzzy creatures in the shelter, renamed Paula "Widget" and she was soon settling into the house with us. She is definitely a momma's girl, but won over Frank at the first meeting. She's just a love bug. Sadly she and Natasha do not mix. Terrier + Ferret=Wild Kingdom footage, so we are working on that balancing act.

Interestingly, I dropped some stuff behind her on Sunday and she ran out of the laundry room, then came back all love and wiggles. I have a feeling that her last owner's granddaughter may have been forcing some affection on Widget before the pan incident. Ah well, our gain!

With all the trials of the past dogs this makes it all worth it. I have my cuddle buddy and walk buddy, and she even manages to wiggle up with Frank and I when we curl up on the couch. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

More Dogs that Aren't Ours

2011-02-10T14:58:00.000-05:00

So we've added Cooper to the list of dogs that were adopted by their foster parents, and now Precious joins those ranks. Precious was actually a close call...what I had thought was part of her coat turned out to be her tongue. I can't say I find dogs who can't put their tongues in there mouth endearing.

And yes, I said we weren't looking for a dog now. And then Susan from the Animal Alliance returned my inquiry about a dog from a month ago. And then I decided to take a walk and it would have been so much better with a dog. It was so much better with a dog. And I curl up on the couch to watch TV and find myself looking at the other end of the couch where once Callie would have been curled up, and I miss having a furry body there. Tasha scrambles up now and again just to get a higher vantage point but then scampers off, falling on her head as always and she's off to other venues. She curles up in her basket and doesn't have any interest in sleeping on the couch, probably because I move around too much.

She is getting slower though. Harder to wake up from naps, a little more clumsy than normal. She's eating less too. I admit part of me doesn't want the house to be quiet when she leaves. I just can't think of a house as a home without a critter I guess.

But there are more important things than puppies to sort out...and I fear I am becoming obsessed!

February

2011-02-09T21:26:00.000-05:00

February...traditionally this is a somber month for me. No real reason, probably just cabin fever creeping to maximum tolerance and the desire for spring to return so I can stop wondering if that is a puddle or black ice on the road. The sky is generally gray, evenings quiet...but this February is different.

This February a dear friend lost her brother in a car accident. No one's fault, just an icy road. She was the one who had to tell her family, her father. Now she is the one the family is turning to to make arrangements. She has a husband and two small children of her own. I find myself wondering when she will time fine for herself, time to grieve, time to come to terms with her loss.

There is no way I can begin to understand her grief, and nothing I can say or do will lessen it. But I remind myself that just because words won't make it better doesn't mean I should fade to the background. So I send hugs, try to plan some sort of movie night where she can be with friends and the kids can play instead of watched.

Meanwhile in Cumberland county a grandmother lies in a hospital bed, fighting to just stay where she is as congestive heart failure seems to be mounting a final assault. Another friend travels back and forth from here to there on the weekends to spend time with her grandmother. This is the anticipated end to a life, but that doesn't make it easier. Tension in the family is high, making a sad situation even harder.

Another friend is recovering from chemical therapy for a cancerous mass in her chest. It lightens my heart to say she is recovering well and looking forward to no longer being under her mother's care!

Such a serious month. I feel a definite lack of silliness this month, and an increase in that helpless feeling that comes when people you love are hurting and there isn't much you can do to help.

But February will end and March will bound in. There will be more birdsong, more sunshine and less snow. There will be more smiles, more silly and we will remember the ways those who have left us made us smile, and enjoy all the more the wonderful people who bring smiles to our days.

Blessings

2011-01-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

As I was writing up the latest in the doggie saga I took a moment to read Frank's last post. He was reflecting on our impromptu drive from Nashville to Ambler after Christmas, when our flight kept getting canceled. He says I'm the strong one, but it's easy to be strong when you have a wonderful partner in your life.

He's been my copilot, my partner in crime, my everything for 3 1/2 years. He still makes me cry happy tears when I think about some of the things he does. He makes me smile and laugh, and I miss him when he's no farther away than a flight of stairs. We've made a home together and a life together. He makes me brave because I know he's with me. I didn't give a second thought to that drive because we were together. It was another adventure, and one I'd like to do again in the daylight.

Though if I'd had it to do all over again I would have called out of work the next day. That was just dumb.

Bachelor #...I've lost count: Boomer 2.0

2011-01-28T23:39:00.000-05:00

So that Wednesday while trying to learn about Alley I came across Boomer: An 8 year old pit bull currently in foster care with a dog trainer in Delaware County. I speak to the foster coordinator for the Delco SPCA, fill out yet another form and she passes it on the Boomer's foster dad.

I heard from Michael on Thursday night and we made plans to meet at the SPCA on Sunday. Boomer turned out to be a great dog, a bit more energy than Goldie, but a total lovebug. We filled out the paperwork and were soon heading home with our boy. Such a change from Boomer 1.0-no barking in the car! Whoo hoo!

Once home he settled right in. He spent most of the day snuggled up on the couch with me. We took a nice long walk after dinner and he was great on the leash. Bedtime was around midnight and we put him in the laundry room with his bed and blanket.

In the morning I fed him breakfast and we took a nice long walk. We put him back in the laundry room before we left for work with a nice big bone to chew on. Once home from work their were walkies, then dinner and some play time and snuggling. Bedtime came again and he was not a happy puppy. He started whining and barking in his room and at 1 AM I caved and took him outside for a 30 minute walk. Once back home he still wasn't ready for bed and I was sick so again, I caved and rewarded bad behavior by letting him have the run of the downstairs. He really wanted to be with us, so this didn't help. I laid with him on the couch for a bit, but feeling as bad as I did that was not where I wanted to sleep.

So I let him upstairs. He jumped on the bed, Frank told him no and went to grab his collar...and Boomer snapped. He lunged at Frank, snarling and growling. I have no idea how Frank handled it so calmly and well, but he got control of the dog and no one got hurt, but we were both shaken. Boomer calmed down, but we just weren't comfortable having him in the house.

I have to stress I don't believe this was Boomer's fault. It think he was stressed because he wanted to be with us and then displayed guarding behavior when he got on the bed. He hadn't been with a family in 6 years, so I think this was just too much for him. He had been kept in a basement for years before being brought to the SPCA and when he was with Mike he was being trained, but not really part of a family.

So feeling frightened (at least I was) and not knowing what else to do, we took him to the Conshohocken SPCA, explaining the situation and that we didn't believe it was true aggression. I spoke with the shelter manager first thing in the morning, and the Delco coordinator and we picked Boomer up after work and took him back to Delco where he is safe and sound.

Everyone was so supportive, but I feel like I really failed Boomer. This will pass, and at least he is safe and has a chance at another family, but it feels awful. We've decided that right now a dog isn't for us. Maybe we aren't home enough, maybe we haven't found the right dog or maybe we just aren't a dog family. But for now I plan on annoying Tasha with attention and possibly getting a Webkin...

Is it Fate?

2011-01-28T23:20:00.000-05:00

So that same Wednesday we didn't get Cooper one of my coworkers who knows of the search tells me there is a Boston Terrier in desperate need of a home, she is going to a kill shelter if one isn't found. And she has 3 legs, which is kind of neat. I get the information and e-mail the person searching for placement.

The dog's name is Alley and she's an adorable 2 years old. Younger than we wanted, but according to the rescue worker a pretty calm dog. Frank agrees to meet her and I send a few more questions to the contact person, because now I've gotten another story about her background and I'm getting wary.

I didn't hear back from her until Friday and by then we'd decided this wasn't for us. And yes, the dog ended up staying in the home it was in so was safe.

So Close!

2011-01-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Cooper was a fantastic little guy. He was sweet, very attached to his foster mom but not so much that he ignored us. He barked a few times, but such a little sound compared to Boomer. I was in love. We decided to go ahead with the adoption, Cooper's foster mom would contact me by Tuesday about the next step.

Tuesday came and in the morning I got an e-mail saying that while the foster parents worked the same hours we did, but she realized that Cooper had her other dog to keep him company. She was concerned about his anxiety level and asked what I thought. I told her our plan and asked for her take on it. I didn't hear back that day, which made me think she was having a hard time giving him up. He'd been living with her for a year after all and way clearly attached.

So Wednesday morning I got the anticipated e-mail: They were adopting Cooper. She was so sweet about it and offered to be a reference for us. So the search continued...

Back to Square One

2011-01-09T17:34:00.001-05:00

So the search began again. Right now we are looking at Cooper, a 12 year old Westie. He takes the same meds I do, so that's pretty funny. He's even been around ferrets. We get to meet him on Sunday more than likely. My concern is that Frank had a reaction to Lydia's Shih Tzu Baxter and he was in the same "hypo allergenic" family of dog.

Thinking I was being all smart I found a Westie named Rudy in the Conshohocken SPCA and thought we might see how Frank did with him. Oh what a trip. The kennels were oddly empty and it seemed like there were way too many sick dogs. We couldn't see Rudy because he had a fungal infection, plus he had an adoption pending. There was another dog there we couldn't see because she didn't like the staff. It was weird.

So we shall see what the universe says about Cooper. If this too isn't a connection maybe I'll dress Frank in faux fur.

Bachelor #3: Fatty Boom Batty

2011-01-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

Or Spot. Or Spike. We called him Boomer. He is a 5 year old Dalmatian/Lab mix. When we first met Boomer at our house he wouldn't stop barking! It was the "okay, I want to go home" bark. He even stuck his nose in his foster dad's pocket to get his leash! Still, there was something about Boomer and his polkadot ears that made me want to see him again. This time we went over to his foster parents' place and he was such a love! He was all tummy rubs and kisses and we fell in love. Boomer came to live with us on December 30th.

Getting Boomer was an adventure. First we went to the wrong place in South Philly only to find we should have been in the Northeast. So we went back to Roosevelt Blvd and had to rely on Frank's memories from his adolescence to navigate because his phone had died. Almost 2 hours after we were supposed to meet Boomer's fosters we finally arrived. I'm a big believer in if the universe makes something silly hard it's trying to tell you not to do it...but I didn't listen very well.

On December 31st I woke up coughing, sneezing and itching. Through some calls to the doctor and our vet we learned that Dalmatian's have interesting hair. They shed more than most dogs and the hair is barbed so it sticks more too. And because of this people who have seasonal allergies tend to be allergic to them. I have hay fever, guess what that meant? Yup, with many tears, Boomer went back to his foster parents. He is very loved there and will likely be adopted by them if things don't work out with the family he is supposed to meet next, though they sound. pretty cool.

Our Countribution to Pet Rehoming

2011-01-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

I feel this is a good time to list all the dogs we were interested in, but had found homes by the time we inquired about them or before out appointment to meet them:

Grady
Sweetpea
Kyle
Rudy

Niles
AJ
Nana
Bender
Ringo

Bachelorette #2: Teila

2011-01-09T17:05:00.001-05:00

Teila, an 8 year old Lhasa Apso, was the next dog we met. After talking with her foster mom Sue Frank and I headed up to Allentown to meet Teila. She was a well behaved, dainty little girl. There was nothing wrong with her at all. But this is when I decided I wanted a dog with a nose. She had that cute little smushed face that does nothing for me. Plus, she wasn't particularly interested in us. As advertised, she was a bit of a princess. So, feeling superficial, we decided to continue our search.

In Search of Puppy Love: Bachelor #1

2011-01-09T16:54:00.002-05:00

So since last I blogged we met a few dogs. What are we looking for? An older dog, well past the hyper puppy phase who is house broken and affectionate. I think this is both reasonable and a wide enough definition that we should have lots of candidates, right? Well I am learning that I may be a little more picky that I originally believed. It's surprisingly like internet dating.

Nino: The Dog without a Personality

First we met Nino, a 10 year old pit bull. Nino is a pretty, well behaved pit from Polished Pit Bull Rescue. Let me state for the record I'm aware most animal rescuers are rabidly devoted to their selected species and a good many are on the nutty side. That said, D from PPBR was a bit much even for me. I learned more about her life than the dog's. Nino was...completely boring. There was no personality I could see. Admittedly I've only owned one dog, Goldie, and she behaved like all the other animals I've ever adopted: She was happy to meet me and there was something about her that just clicked. Nino was like tofu ice cream: A polite house guest but showed no real interest in anything. Except his tail. He started chasing his tail and kept it up for 30 minutes until we took him outside. Once at the rescue D was able to stop him by using a shock collar. I make no judgment on this, I know there is a place for these things. I have felt them and know that the lowest setting is less painful that a static shock. Still, call it a weakness in my personality, but I couldn't do it. Add to this the fatty tumor she was determined to have removed and analyzed (and if it was cancer wasn't going to treat due to his age, so why the hell put a 10 year old dog under anesthesia?) and well, this wasn't the dog for us. D was rather nasty when I told her that. Really nasty. Ah well the quest continues.

Why

2010-11-22T17:39:00.001-05:00

Frank and I are talking about getting a dog. Okay, I'm doing the talking and Frank is agreeing to it. I'm looking at paperwork to adopt and they ask why we think we would make a good home for a rescued dog. Well, there's the food, shelter and security thing. Knowing rescue animals as I do those are the biggies, especially the security thing. It takes a lot to make me give up on an animal.

But why do I want a dog? Tasha our ferret is a fuzzy handful. She's playful, adorable, goofy and affectionate when she slows down. She's awesome. So why do I want something else? True, it would be nice to have something that didn't poop in the house (at least not on purpose). I'm not a fan of carrying the plastic bag of nastiness, but that never has to come in the house. That sucker goes right into the trash can.

I guess I miss my cat. She wasn't overly needy, but she was her own little person who would curl up on the couch or the bed and I could pet her idly. Don't get me wrong, Frank does all that too, but he doesn't have silky ears...lol. Frank is allergic to cats so my Callie found another home. I suppose it's a semi autonomous pet I miss, one I don't have to wonder where it's managed to stuff itself into or if it's decided that corner is a good place to pee. There is a certain tension level that comes with owning a ferret. Tasha is great, but sometimes she forgets where to pee and I haven't figured out how spreading kibble all over the floor can be called a hoarding instinct. Kibble patrol before company comes over is always fun.

A dog would mean planning, no suddenly deciding a night out can be a weekend away...of course we haven't done that yet. It would mean having someone take care of her while we are gone, but then we do that for Tasha now. It would mean walks when I want to sleep in, barking at times (though since Tasha was digging for China this morning I'm not sure the barking would be worse).

So what does that mean? Do I just want another animal because I do? Is there something missing in my life? I know I'm not trying to substitute a pet for a child...I'm very happy being auntie Liz and people take a dim view of letting children poop in the street. I think I miss the quiet companionship. While I was laying on the couch the other night Tasha scrambled up and was rooting around on the blanket. I remember thinking how nice it would be if she just curled up and fell asleep, or would just lay there and let me pet her. But alas this is a ferret we are talking about...she found my toes, stole my sock and was on her way. Even when she does fall asleep by me she wakes up if I pet her and we are off to play again.

She's very affectionate, just not particularly stationary. Cuddling is pretty much by my choice and she generally reacts the same way a 9 year old boy does when Mom asks for a hug in front of his friends. Get this over with and let me play. This is the nature of ferrets, a generally entertaining one too. But yes, I think that's it, I miss a fuzzy head bumping into me for an ear scratch or a tummy rub. I miss an animal making the choice to ask for my affection.

Now if I could just convince Betsy to let us steal Brooklyn...

Waiting...

2010-03-25T09:41:00.001-04:00

I find myself wondering if I should have taken a vacation day today. My mind isn’t here and I’m not busy enough to stay focused. Ah well.

Dad’s surgery is scheduled for 11 AM their time, 1 PM our time. It should take between 1 and 2 hours, then there is the time in recovery, so I don’t expect to hear anything until close to 7 tonight. It’s going to be a long day.

Great Moments in Dieting

2010-03-18T13:38:00.002-04:00

So last night after the gym I had to run to Trader Joes for some odds and ends. As I was in the check out line I looked over and of course there was chocolate. Dark chocolate in face. And I caved. I bought a chocolate bar. As I sat in the car trying to figure out something I could cut out of dinner to make up for the calories I was about to eat I had a fantastic revelation: We were having veggie pot pie tonight, and calorically I could have two servings, BUT I hadn’t decided on a mono unsaturated fat to go with it (something good for my heart and cholesterol). Guess what one of my options was? You got it, dark chocolate! So I had half a candy bar, one serving of pot pie and was a very happy camper. Life is good!

A Quick Update from a Busy Mind

2010-03-17T16:52:00.001-04:00

The diet goes well, and work has me jumping so my blogging is going to slack off a bit. So far I’ve lost 15 lbs. I head to the doctor on Saturday and hope to have some good news about my blood pressure. We shall see. Too bad it’s bad form to go to the doctor naked…it would save me another pound or 2 on the scale ; )

The only change to report is that I’ve upped my cardio to 45 minutes from 30, 6 days a week. I think I can still say I have more energy than when I started, but we’ve kicked wedding planning into high gear and time seems to be slipping away.

Have I mentioned I’m actually looking forward to the wedding? I don’t mean being married to Frank, because that one should be obvious, but the actual wedding day? I’m not big into crowds and I hate being the center of attention, but this has been so easy and as we make decisions I’m getting more and more excited about seeing the day actually unfold! It isn’t just a ceremony, it isn’t just a party, it’s OUR party to kick off the rest of our lives.

And also in my exciting news, Jill is going to do some modeling for me this weekend and has added some after shoot games to sweeten the pot! Which means I’d better figure out which costumes I’m taking up there, I suppose.

And Sunday we will likely meet with the florist (assuming his son doesn’t have a basketball game). Time to update the big green book of wedding stuff!

Babies, Birds and Weddings

2010-03-15T09:41:00.001-04:00

Another weekend down. This was a good one by all accounts, though most in recent memory have been pretty good. Friday was gyming and laundry which left Saturday clear for sleeping in, goofing off and then hanging out with two of Frank’s sisters, 2 of his nephews, John and Mom and Dad Musick. Though Megan was covered in second hand sweet potatoes and Bridget was covered in second hand milk by the end of the night, it was really a great time.

Andrew and Lucas are getting so big! Yes, I finally got to touch Lucas! Mom M. had both boys for a bit so I was able to swoop in and snag a little Lucas time (he was in high demand over the Christmas holiday). Andrew is smiling more and more and has such the personality! I can add another two great babies to the ones I know, which is always awesome.

While Frank and I have no plans to have children I can honestly say I’ve never been completely disgusted by a baby…until this weekend. Lucas had a teething cookie. Not the kind Bridget normally buys I will add. Within seconds he was covered in cookie cement, for these cookies, like rawhide, are not meant to be eaten but gnawed on. It was vile, even Mom was looking a little green. Lucas was happy as a pig in…well, teething cookie.

We stayed until 12:30, which instantly became 1:30 much to my chagrin. Damned daylight savings. Frank and Bridget were well into their cups by that time. As we were saying goodbye in the kitchen John didn’t have quite a strong enough grip on his beer and Bridget helped him christen the floor. The rest of us were just happy we weren’t the ones who did it!

The drive home was as exciting as the drive up, route 70 was still closed due to flooding and my head was pounding, but we made it home by 3. My head was still a mess by 8 so I sadly had to cancel my trainer. I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not making it to the gym on Sunday, but we got a lot done and I think my eyes would have burst had I done dead lifts that morning.

But as I said we got a good bit done on Sunday. We got to the Joseph Ambler Inn and reserved our wedding night suite. Pretty Pretty. We also booked a first floor room for Frank’s parents for the night. It will double as a room for sleepy kids and nursing mothers to have some quiet. After that was groceries then home to make dinner and get ready for another Monday.

Of course, this morning I was reminded of the one reason that I am not completely happy it’s spring. That would be the birds. Don’t get me wrong, birdsong can be beautiful. But this is a lot of different birds that have songs that are truly reminiscent of car alarms. I ended up having dreams about shooting marshmallows at them! In another dream I was Lisa Simpson, horribly conflicted about shooting the damn things but so sleep deprived I couldn’t come up with another solution! Sigh.

Yay and Boo

2010-03-12T10:14:00.001-05:00

First the yay: 2 more lbs have bit the dust! Whoo hoo! I’ve been sticking to the diet and hitting the gym so I’m glad to see there is some effect on the scale. I actually had a moment with my trainer this week where I looked in the mirror (man I hate how they make us work out in front of those) and thought, “Hey, I think this is looking better!” This was a nice thing.

The boo would be my crazy downstairs neighbor. Now please keep in mind I’ve just been annoyed for so long that everything she does makes me want to slap her, even if it isn’t warranted. Mostly I think it’s the tone, very whiney and I’m starting to think she expects ME to do something to make her issues better.

Basically, my Friday morning started last night at 11:30. Yesterday was an exhausting day, physically and emotionally. Work was tense because 2 of our lower performing engineers were laid off. I will say I was truly impressed with how it was handled. Our Senior Vice President drove down from Massachusetts that morning just so he could deliver the news personally to the two men and then be here for the rest of the afternoon to reassure us that this was the only cut being made to our part of the organization, to let us know the company was okay and then he made himself available to anyone who had questions. He even checked in with me to make sure I wasn’t spooked since I was new. Like I said, it was handled with a lot of respect and consideration, I was very impressed. But it did make for a quiet day, and I was tired from a late night the night before so by 5 I was ready to drop.

But no! I went to the gym and sweated off cheesecakes past then went home and made dinner and my lunch (which of course I left at home this morning). I dropped into bed around 11 and was asleep when my phone started beeping in the tone I’ve chosen for my downstairs neighbor. I toyed with ignoring it, but figured she’d just knock on the door if I did. So then in that whiney, half crying voice she asked me if I’d turned down the heat. No. Then she tells me she’s been sitting in the basement and the heater keeps cycling on and off but no heat is coming out. I asked if the pilot light was out, she didn’t think so (I thought I smelled gas, but who knows). I cranked up the thermostat, no heat came on so I went back to the phone and said, yup it’s broke.

She then went on about how she was so cold and didn’t want to get sick again. Keep in mind it was 68 upstairs. I listened as she went on about how her electric bill was through the roof and she’d unplugged everything and she couldn’t afford it and maybe it was the heater. I groggily said we had gas heat, but she continued to go on about it and finally I said look, I’m a tenant too. There is nothing I can do about it. She said oh, then said she was going to call our land lord (who is in her 70’s).

This morning my landlady called (I really do like her) to tell me “dingdong” downstairs had called her at midnight to say the heat wasn’t working and asked her to send someone to fix it then. She has the heater technician coming out this morning at 8:30 along with her husband and has told my downstairs neighbor she doesn’t have to give notice to leave.

While we were on the phone my neighbor called and left a message that her CO2 detector was going off and telling her to get out into fresh air. I called her back to let her know I got the message and thank her for it. I told her we’d crack some windows and were leaving for the day. She went on a bit about how the landlady refused to send someone out last night…really? And how she couldn’t get a shower because she had to get out of the apartment. She was still there when Frank and I left for work. Frank has an interview so he’s got the car today, which looks like a good thing. I told him if they do end up saying he should stay out of the apartment for a bit that if he can he should take the ferret and rat with him. I can see them now, sitting at Starbucks using the wi-fi…lol.

The other positive to Frank having the car is that he is being a sweetie and bringing me my lunch after his interview. And I will now resume clinging to my coffee.

When Life Throws You Cookies---DODGE!

2010-03-10T10:41:00.002-05:00

This is a diet update and an actual blog! Aren’t you lucky?

The diet hums along. Lunch was something yummy I wouldn’t have thought of: Turkey, lettuce, tomato and pesto on a whole wheat English muffin. Quite good. I’m glad I stuck with it. Allow me to explain.

Yesterday morning there was an emergency meeting that involved just about everyone who was scheduled to be in a product management meeting at the same time, so the PM meeting was pushed back. At 10 AM one of our junior PM guys asks me to bring in lunch for the meeting, I told him I’d do what I could but couldn’t promise it wouldn’t be Chinese. He was good with that. The lovely folks at La Prima catering were awesome and pulled together something on the fly for us. Now, they do this thing where we get a free sandwich for me and I told them that wasn’t necessary, but they did it anyhow.

They sent my usual, a mozzarella-basil-tomato sandwich on marble rye. Very yummy and not bad for you either. But it comes with a fruit salad and a huge, very yummy cookie. I was strong and stuck to what I brought, thinking I’d bring the sandwich with me to Lydia’s if I went, or to the gym for my trainer. But there was this cookie…taunting me. Then Tony came in. He never eats breakfast and I was pretty sure he hadn’t had lunch so I offered him mine. He happily took my temptation away. Success!

And of course during this time I had to kick people out of a conference room they hadn’t reserved and someone else had. Happily the someone who had reserved the room was our Senior Vice President, so there wasn’t much they could say about it, though of course A. did.

She’s rapidly working my nerves. Part of it is attitude. The best way I can describe it is “haughty”. The first interaction was her informing me it was my job to run the dishwasher. Aside from the fact that I hadn’t put anything in the dishwasher so it didn’t occur to me to do, she could have phrased it better instead of sounding like she was talking to the help. But I chalked that up to tone.

The second encounter was when she filled out some paperwork and had it approved by the wrong manager. HR sent it to me so I’d be aware of it and I noticed the error so I checked with HR then sent it to the correct manager, ccing all involved. A. then comes up to my desk questioning that her manager had actually changed, because the paperwork usually takes longer. I told her that was one of the reasons they hired me, so things would go through faster. She then says “So you took it upon yourself to say my paperwork needed to be approved by []?” Dumbfounded, I put on my most neutral tone and innocent face and told her yes, that’s my job. I did relate this in passing to my manager, just so he’d be aware that there was some confusion over the transition (all our project managers are now under the same manager) and he was a bit stunned she asked me that, but liked how I handled it.

The third encounter was when someone left a pill case in one of the conference rooms. I sent out a note saying it was at the front desk if anyone was looking for it. She came up and retrieved it, we chatted about how we both have the “pill stash” and as she walked away she said, “and now everyone knows I do.” I stopped her and pointed out that her name was never mentioned in the e-mail so unless she was telling people there was no reason they would have more info now than they did before.

Yesterday it was the conference room thing. She was an attendee at the meeting that needed to move and she surprised all in the room by not knowing who our SVP was (she questioned why he should get the room). Personally, even if it were the janitor my response would have been “because he reserved it”. As it was our SVP I thought she’d shut up. Nope. She then said since he only had one direct report here (our senior manager) why did he need a whole room? I told her he needed the video equipment. Seriously, my manager has kicked folks out of rooms because I had them reserved, I don’t even want to know how he would have taken it if they challenged this room reservation!

Later I was cleaning up after their lunch and we had extras which go to the kitchen for anyone who wants them. One of the guys was helping me and asked if he could have the veggie sandwich that was left over. I told him to help himself. She of challenged me in a snide way, of course after the sandwich had left the room, saying I hoped I realized I just gave away my boss’ lunch. I smiled and said nope, I already gave him his so that was up for grabs. Not willing to admit defeat she countered with then I’d just given away another of our engineering manager’s lunches. Smiling again, I said nope, she didn’t want it. HA!!!

And this morning it was 5 of 10 and she was outside a conference room being used for a video gathering by our SVP tapping her foot and saying she’d reserved the room at 10. I calmly said it was 5 of and he’s usually good about wrapping up on time. She then tried to bump another meeting out of the conference room across the hall, but they stood their ground. At 9:59 she was telling me to go in and tell them someone had the room reserved and I just looked at her, then said it wasn’t 10 yet. At 10 on the dot the meeting ended and one of her attendees pulled her away.

I guess what bothers me is the sense of entitlement, and she talks down to everyone like she’s the most important thing on the planet. I take consolation in knowing others have an issue too. I’ve overheard some of the managers discussing the issue.

But this is a small wrinkle, amusing in its own way. Like a little game of “You can’t get me riled up and I’m still right”. Hee hee.

And I just learned Jill is going to let me us her as my Barbie Doll this weekend so I can take costume pictures! Whoo hoo!

Day 6

2010-03-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a hungry day. Breakfast was banana nut waffles again, and will be for the next few days both because I like them and because these bananas are living on borrowed time. Lunch was 2 slices of vegetarian pizza courtesy of SeaChange. Once again the planning was key. I knew what my options were and looked over my list to see what fit. It worked out just fine.

The end of my day got a little nutty, as these things will around here, so snack was eaten in the car. Not my preferred bistro, but no fatalities so we’ll call it a success. Snack was an apple and 2 tbsp of peanut butter on 4 rye crackers. You know, 2 tbsp of peanut butter is a LOT! Happily the apple was there to break up the sticky!

The gym was gym-y. 30 minutes on the elliptical then at home I did some floor work. It’s just easier that way since the ferret can run around and I can relieve some cage-guilt.

Dinner was tilapia, green beans and roasted red potato for me, a substitution of Morning Star Ribblets for Frank along with some fries. I stole another fry, not as good as the last one. Tummy was a little unhappy as I went to bed, I think it was that way after I had the fish the first time. I'm thinking my tummy doesn't like fish so much.

I did feel a little hungry yesterday, I’m not sure if it was because I was a little more active and burned more calories or what, but I’ll see how today goes.

Days 3-5

2010-03-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

Well I can see that the whole journaling/blogging thing in the weekend is going to be a challenge! But, here is the weekend in review:

Friday was pretty normal. Breakfast, lunch and snack at work-loving the MUFA wrap by the way. After work Frank and I met with Jen and Amanda and roughed out the wedding invitations. They are going to get us a sample card in the next few weeks. We then went grocery shopping and once home we made dinner.

Saturday was sleeping in! Whoo hoo! Love that sleeping in! Once my nappiness was sated I got up and made dinner-a Breakfast BLT that was awesome! 2 strips of turkey bacon, muenster cheese, tomato, black olive tapenade and lettuce on a toasted whole wheat English muffin. It was quite a yummy way to start the day.

After that I dragged my laundry to the Laundromat and caught up with my mom and dad. Dad’s having a bunch of heart tests done, but nothing to be alarmed about (so they tell me). When laundry was done I headed to the gym for some quality time on the elliptical, then off to Trader Joes for some produce.

I got home and made lunch, a Dijon turkey wrap, and got sucked into a video game. On tap for Saturday night was seeing Alice in Wonderland (which rocked) and we decided to go out to dinner-Chinese. I admit I over indulged, but this was a set back, not a failure. After looking over the evening I really just need to watch portion control, so that’s my plan for next time.

Sunday I was back on the horse. A breakfast of sprouted cinnamon toast, peanut butter, oj and skim milk (separate glasses of course) and then I was off to the gym. I also picked up a few bins at the dollar store to organize the fridge. I got home, played in the fridge then made lunch-one of those starkist tuna salad pouches in a whole wheat pita with sunflower seeds on the side. After that it was up in the attic with me to work on costumes for The Steampunk World’s Faire. I can proudly say I got the pants done and they are pretty darned cool if I do say so myself. That leaves the ball gown and underbust to alter. Not too shabby.

Dinner was broccoli tofu stirfry. I used young broccoli (looks like broccoli rabe to me), cubed tofu, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and green chile then put it all over brown rice. Another winner on the recipe list. Post dinner was curling up on the couch with Frank and zoning out before bed.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. And Alice in Wonderland was FANTASTIC! I want to see it again!

Day 2 of 28-The importance of planning.

2010-03-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another challenge, but in a good way. The day was easy enough, it usually is at work. I had my oatmeal with blue berries and walnuts for breakfast, pasta for lunch and a cut back snack of yogurt and sunflower seeds because I was going out to dinner with Will later.

It was actually a pretty productive day, personally and professionally. I got the office in order and then in my down time made 2 spread sheets: One for meals and one for exercise. My plan is to post the meals in the kitchen and the exercise stuff can stay with my gym clothes. I’d sat down Tuesday night and planned out the rest of the week and found it so nice to just go to the list instead of standing around thinking about stuff at the last minute that I thought this would be worth a try.

Anyhow, Will and I went to From the Boot in Ambler (next to the Ambler Theater). It was nice, got a little noisier and a little busier by 7:30, but not bad at all. I got a side house salad with a vinaigrette dressing and their margharita chicken. Beware it comes with linguini and sauce on the side, had I realized this I would have told them to skip it instead of waste it. After dinner Will had tea and I had coffee. We headed back to the apartment where we met up with Frank for some chatting before Will got on the road home.

After he left I crunched the numbers and yes! I came in just under 1600 calories! Oh the triumph! When I sat down to journal my day the question to contemplate was “What 4 things will help you stay on track?” I put down these:

1. Keeping my enthusiasm up

2. Frank’s support

3. Keeping a positive attitude even when there are set backs

…and I couldn’t think of a 4th until I thought about my day. Planning really is one of the most important things you can do to stay on track. I knew I was going to dinner so I looked up the restaurant’s menu and found something that sounded like it would fit well with my diet: Chicken, tomatoes, broccoli, garlic and mozzarella. I scaled back my snack to give me more caloric wiggle room with dinner. All I needed to do was go in with a plan and stick to it, and it really wasn’t hard. Now, I didn’t eat all the chicken (there were 2 portions, so I stopped at one) but everything else fit well within the foods I should be eating. So…

4. Planning

I have to tell you, I’m actually having fun with this. Oh and the math! But that is a story for another post…

Day 1 of 28

2010-03-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

So now I begin day 1 of a 28 day regimen which will hopefully be a lifelong lifestyle change. Having already done a week of this before I'll tell you what I like:

I like the planning it makes me do. I need to sit down and think about what I'm going to eat for the week to come. This makes grocery shopping easier too. And if I've planned what I'm eating when it saves a lot of staring into the fridge going "what should I pack for lunch?"
I like that some of the things I was eating before are actually meals on this diet, just without the bread and with a specific portion size. It makes this feel like less of a change.
I like the exercise schedule. There is something to be said for regularity and knowing what you should be doing on what day. Much like the fridge, it cuts down on standing around at the gym going, "what now?"
Also with the exercise I'm finding I was doing the right things, I just need to focus a little more and make a few tweeks. And the sassy water is great at the gym!
I like the questions to answer in the journal pages. It gives me something to write about other than am I hungry, what did I eat and how do I feel.
And I like the food. There aren't a lot of odd foods you've never heard of. It's stuff you know you should be eating but either you weren't or you didn't know what to do with it when you got it.

That said, yesterday I was reunited with my banana nut waffle and my morning coffee, although I completely forgot about the coffee until after noon! Lunch was a Mediterranean wrap (lettuce, tomato, turkey, olive tapenade, onion) and raisins. My snack was an apple and a wrap with 2 tbsp of peanut butter, but half the apple ended up in the trash due to a 3 PM meeting that I thought was canceled suddenly forming at my desk at 4:30. Bummer on the apple, but I decided that it gave me some caloric wiggle room for a beer with dinner which was quite nice.

After work, which I left 30 minutes later than usual, I talked to my trainer and rescheduled my appointment because there was no way I was going to make it on time. I toyed with the idea of skipping the gym-I was tired, keyed up-but hey, I needed to work out the kinks of the day! So 30 minutes on the treadmill and some core exercises from the book and I was on my way home by 7.

I got in, let Tasha out of her cage and watched her bounce around for a minute then cleaned up the kitchen and prepped sassy water for the next day. Frank got home and I started dinner, nothing fancy just whole grain pasta with sauce, meatless meatballs and a little extra olive oil (and garlic bread for Frank)-and we caught up on each other's days while it cooked. We settled in on the couch to watch Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

After the movie I cleaned up and made lunch for today, then took a little more time to play with the ferret before heading to bed, happy and relaxed.

Day 4

2010-03-03T09:16:00.023-05:00

I can almost smell the coffee! Actually it isn't that bad. But the big news is that in 2 weeks I've lost 10 lbs. Yes it's mostly water, but still I'm pretty jazzed about it. It's the same rush I had the first 2 weeks of Weight Watchers, but this one's gonna stick. Anyhow, on to day 4: Last day of jumpstart!

Breakfast was cornflakes and skim milk with sunflower seeds. My boss was still out so a lot of the things on my plate were pushed off another day.

Lunch was turkey with string cheese and grape tomatoes. It does make a yummy lunch actually. There was some chaos after lunch with an impromtu meeting taking on a life of its own and sucking other people into it, but all in all I learned the next step I needed to take in a process so all good.

Snack was frozen papaya chunks in milk, a non-blended smoothie. Yeah, that didn't work either so happily since it is the last day I won't have to try to figure out how to do this.

After the gym was a work out with Connie. Catching up and burning off!

Dinner was chicken, green beans and potatoes for me; masala burgers, fries and green beans for Frank. Then clean up, prep for Wednesday and settling down to catch up on paper work at home. I have to say I'm enjoying having more energy and not just zoning on the couch in the evening. I feel like I'm actually getting stuff done.

Tomorrow: COFFEE!!!!!

Dear Lord

2010-03-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, another rant. I'm starting to think people really are getting dumber. Last night I heard a story of a really befuddling jewel heist in the city. A man, woman and 4 year old child walk into the store and rob it. They run out of the store, the woman going one way and the man and child going another. The store owner pursues the man and child. As he catches up the man turns, cuts the owners throat and runs away, leaving the child behind with the body. The police catch up, take the boy into protective custody where he is able to identify his parents and they are arrest shortly after.

I have the same questions as the stunned police officer who was interviewed:

1) Why on earth would you take your child to a robbery?

2) How could any parent just leave a child behind?

When Frank and I were talking about it last night I made jokes about how expensive babysitters were, and they could have just left the kid in the car…oh wait, no car. He then pointed out the improbability of robbing a jewelry store without a car.

What the hell are people thinking? Or perhaps this was just an impulse felony…sigh

Day 3

2010-03-02T10:08:00.002-05:00

Well so far so good. Day three was the first day doing this at work. Of course being Monday it was also a day we brought in lunch. Yes, I managed to not succumb to the call of Boston Market. I did bring leftovers home for Frank though.

My plan for the morning was rushed a bit as I forgot I needed to pick up a condolence card for one of my coworkers. This being the case, breakfast happened at work. Cup of cornflakes, cup of skim milk, quarter cup of sunflower seeds and SW.

It was an interesting day. I found out from an overly loud conference call that my boss wouldn’t be in today. I really need to try to get him to send me a note when he’s not going to be in the office. We’ll see how that goes over. There was some tail chasing, a lot of explaining, and the delivery of a ball gown for The Steampunk World’s Faire. Whoo hoo!

Lunch was tuna, sunflower seeds and steamed carrots, with SW to wash it down. This was pretty much the least exciting meal so far. Around 4 I found out the hard way that you can’t make a smoothie ahead of time. Yuck. I had a piece of cornbread instead. Not a great substitute, but no one’s perfect.

I worked on some inventory stuff and soon it was time to go. I headed to the gym for some cardio with Connie then home where I met up with Monie and we did some grocery shopping. We stopped at BK before hand to get Monie some dinner and I managed to not steal a fry. The shopping and dinner was great catch up time, but we both agree we need an actual outing soon. Probably the end of the month.

Once home Frank warmed up some mac and cheese, and some mashed potatoes while I sautéed some mushrooms, heated some brown rice and grilled some chicken. I have to say I really enjoyed the mushrooms. And Frank loved the smell of the Mrs. Dash. I wonder how it works on tofu?

We sat down for dinner and caught up a bit on each other’s days and then he had some things to finish and I had dishes and sassy water to make. I had a burst of energy to I tidied the kitchen, organized the freezer and the fridge and then it was time for bed. The TV was never turned on last night, which is pretty cool.

The only down side was waking up at 1 AM with abdominal cramps. As I sat in the bathroom wondering if I was going to throw up too I realized it was quite possible I’d caught the same thing that has had Frank’s tummy upset for 3 days. It was not fun, but at least I was home. I felt fine this morning so whatever it was, it passed (pun intended).

Tomorrow: One more day until coffee!

GO TO THE POLICE

2010-03-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

Another rant, I'm full of them today! I spent a lot of time yelling at my radio recently.

NPR has been doing a series on campus safety, specifically the instance of rape on campus. The stories are sad, frustrating and scary for the most part. Women who are asleep in there rooms and someone comes in and violates them. Women who are drunk at parties and unable to fight off attackers but clearly saying no. One interview broke my heart. The girl had been really drunk at a party and two male friends were nice enough to walk her home, then took turns raping her. She couldn't believe it happened, tried to convince herself it was a misunderstanding and the year went by. It wasn't until a professor was discussing the use of rape to torture women in war torn countries, and took a moment to talk about date rape and say there were people on campus who wanted to know and would help, that this girl finally admitted she was raped. She went to the dean and they confronted the guys, but so much time had passed that it became he said/she said and nothing happened. The girl went on to file for a Title 9 hearing (equality on campus) but that fell flat.

Another story was a girl who came home from a party, crashed on her bed and was raped by someone in her dorm. She told the college, they had a hearing in which the guy and his father called her a slut who was just regretting a one night stand. The guy cried and admitted he had a drinking problem, the school thought this was a "teachable moment" and suspended him for a semester, later expanded to a year. The girl went to the board of education and sued for a Title 9 hearing, they went over the evidence and decided the school acted correctly.

Rape is wrong. I don't care who was drunk, how much time has passed or what the situation is. Once one party says no or falls unconscious it's no longer concentual. Period. If you are that worked up, man or woman, go into the bathroom and take care of your own needs. People don't report rapes because they are embarrassed, they think they lead someone on, they know how hard the process is and they worry about what others will think or say. And those are just a few of the obsticals to people reporting a rape.

But what I want to know is why weren't the police involved? Why weren't charges brought against these men?

In the first case I can sort of understand it. The rape was reported after almost a year. The woman herself had been trying to convince herself it didn't happen. The men were friends. There is a lot to work through there before a person is strong enough to be public about it. In her retelling she was hesitant, crying, embarrassed and just seemed so fragil. I don't know if the police would have been able to make charges stick, not that it makes it okay. And to me it seemed that her parents pushed the issue to the board of education, again I'm not sure if court would have done more damage to her.

But the second woman was screaming from the hill tops that she'd been raped and by whom. She was angry and wanted justice. She wanted the man to expelled from school so she wouldn't have to live on campus knowing she could run into him. She reported the incident to the school when it happened. Why weren't the police involved? Why didn't the school bring them in? And if they didn't bring in the police, why didn't she report it herself? I realize how hard it is to come forward, but she's been so vocal I don't understand why she wouldn't want this creep in jail.

As always, I just have part of the story. I just got mad because the second woman was so indignant that nothing was being done, but never once mentioned filing charges. I understand her anger, but I think if you are willing to go this public, willing to sue the university, you should be willing to file charges so the same thing doesn't happen to someone else. And to take back some of that power someone stole in the dark.

Parenting Rant

2010-03-01T10:22:00.000-05:00

First, I don't have kids. This is based soley on the parents I know and how my parents were with me.

As you may or may not have heard there is a pediatrician in Delaware who has been arrested for molesting over 100 children in the past 10 or so years who were brought into his practice for examinations. This is beyond horrible and I think he should be torn apart by wolves. And nothing I'm about to write is meant to blame the parents, it's just something I don't understand.

How did he get the opportunity to be alone with these children who are under 10 years old? I can't imagine a child going to the doctor alone. My mother always stayed with me when I had a doctor's visit because a) the doctor is scary and I wanted my mommy and b) she needed to know what he said! She goes with my dad to his visits so they have 2 sets of ears listening to what the doctor has to say! What a reason could be given for a parent to leave an examination? The only thing I can come up with is perhaps the doctor suspects abuse and in that case then a nurse should be present. In fact, I thought that was standard practice for a while.

Seriously, even when I was a freshman in college and I had to go to the health center because my eye swelled shut I insisted the nurse stay in the room with the doctor and me. The doctor was not happy with this, but had no choice but to let her stay. And you know what? That doctor was removed from campus shortly after because he'd been touching female students inappropriately! I didn't know that, but I did know that I wasn't comfortable being alone with him, so I spoke up.

I just can't imagine a parent leaving a child alone in an examination. This makes me wonder exactly how he got the children away from the parents. And I can believe one or two clueless parents, but 100? But then there is a lot about this that I can't understand, and obviously bug me. And make me want to vomit.

Day 2

2010-03-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

I survived the fish! And Lydia was very right in her description of tilapia as being a very mild fish, but more on that later.

Sunday was a rather lazy day in that I stayed in my jammies, but I did manage to clean the apartment pretty well so not as lazy as it could have been. Breakfast was a bowl of unsweetened cornflakes, a cup of skim milk, 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds and unsweetened pear sauce (I subsitiuted for applesauce just for something different).

I puttered around the house and soon it was time for lunch. Another 4 oz of deli turkey, string cheese and a pint of grape tomatoes. Rather yummy again. I have to admit that I’m feeling pretty good about the balance of this diet. Instead of my smoothie for a snack I had a tortilla, a little carb breakdown on my part.

Dinner was the challenge. Not only do I not like fish generally, I’ve never cooked it so I was off to the internet for a recipe. I ended up coating the tilapia in Mrs. Dash Italian blend and frying it in a tbsp of olive oil. It didn’t smell at all fishy when it cooked and it went smoothly. I also roasted a red potato (with more Mrs. Dash, how I love that woman!) and steamed some green beans. Once all was cooked I stared at my plate a bit, poked the fish, ate some beans, poked the fish, ate some potato, poked the fish…while Frank looked on and did his best not to laugh. He was having veggie pot pie, just so you know I’m not starving the vegetarian.

I finally took a little bite of the fish, and it tasted like warm Mrs. Dash! Yay! It was actually pretty good, nothing that will ever go on my favorites list, but not something I will be afraid of in the future. If nothing else this diet is getting me to explore foods I normally would avoid. I still hate squash though.

And I’m much less puffy, yay!

Tomorrow: Avoiding Boston Market and day 3 without coffee!

Jump Start Day 1

2010-02-28T14:53:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was day 1 of the jumpstart. Of course my plan of getting out Friday night and grabbing groceries didn't happen so Saturday was almost not the first day of this fun. Luckily I realized I had everything but dried plums that was required for the last day of the 4 so I shuffled some things around and the fun began. Cream of wheat, sunflower seeds, blue berries and of course, Sassy Water (SW). Lydia and I managed to squeeze out some time for coffee so I had to be a little creative, my first coffee challenge! I reserved the skim milk I was supposed to have with breakfast and had it at the coffee shop, in the form of steamed milk. Worked out pretty well!

It was great catching up with Lydia. Afterward I headed home to gather laundry and run to Trader Joes for supplies. They have frozen microwavable brown rice! Whoo hoo! There were only 2 things on my list that I disliked: Squash and fish. I hate fish. I keep trying it but I just don't like it. But it's only one meal so I'm willing to eat it. Of course, I've never cooked fish, so that could be fun. I'll let you know, the adventure is scheduled for tonight. Of course, it seems tilapia was quite popular around Trader Joes yesterday. The closest I could come was some that was rubbed with garlic and chili powder. I decided that was a little more adventurous than I was willing to sign up for.

With the laundry done and the groceries home it was time for lunch. I had 4 oz of deli sliced turkey that I cut into squares and topped with string cheese. I steamed some carrots (love my rice cooker/steamer) and found I actually like them that way-before I was a raw or not at all. And a glass of SW. All and all pretty satisfying.

There was still the rest of the list to complete so after a little nap (the couch was just too comfy) Frank and I headed to Giant in search of some staples, tilapia and the elusive Flax Seed oil. It's in the supplement section if anyone goes looking for it. It's a vegetarian way to get Omega 3 which is good for your heart and raises your good cholesterol levels, something both Frank and I need.

Once home I started our dinners. Veggie pot pie for Frank and grilled chicken with brown rice and yellow squash for me. It worked out well I much say, and I finished my 2 liters of SW for the day. We curled up on the couch for a movie and then SNL. I made strawberry smoothies with some flax seed oil (adding a little sugar to his) and it made a nice movie snack.

So day one is done and I feel pretty good, though I have stared longingly at the coffee pot a few times. I do feel less bloated this morning, so that's pretty cool. Tomorrow I'll tell you how the fish turns out!

Week 1...mostly

2010-02-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

So Monday was a very yummy flax seed waffle with bananas, nutmeg, cinnamon and pecans, and a cup of coffee, for breakfast. Lunch was brought in, but instead of getting the pancakes or French toast I went with scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. Too much salt in the eggs, but overall not a bad compromise. Snack was part skim string cheese, brazil nuts, baby carrots and an apple. Then it was off to the gym where Sean had me work my arms until I couldn’t lift them. Dinner was not in the book, we had Indian: Madras Lentils, Punjab Cholie and basmati rice. And 2 liters of Sassy water…and a beer.

Tuesday was ¾ cup of oatmeal with blueberries and pecans, and a cup of coffee, for breakfast. Lunch was brought in, this time a tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich on marble rye with fresh fruit…and a cookie. I at the cookie and truth be told, as good as it was, it was heavy. Snack was non-fat French vanilla yogurt (Stoneyfield Farm, really good), a cup of skim milk, brazil nuts. Then off to the gym for 30 minutes on the elliptical. Dinner was whole wheat penne pasta with red bell pepper, broccoli florettes, onion, garlic, fresh basil, Italian cheese blend and non-fat ricotta cheese. Not my favorite but I learned that I really should just make one portion for me and something else for Frank. Easy enough to do with pasta. And 2 liters of Sassy water.

Wednesday was that yummy banana waffle again, and a cup of coffee, for breakfast! Lunch was a turkey wrap that meant well. I couldn’t find a whole wheat wrap at Trader Joe’s so I picked up brown rice wraps…they are brittle chewy things. So what should have been a wrap turned into more of a salad. There was turkey, tomato, onion and romaine lettuce. Snack time brought string cheese, sunflower seeds and unsalted, unbuttered popcorn with parmesan cheese sprinkled on. That was a cool idea. Trainer Sean had me do 15 minutes of step aerobics and another 15 of leg work, then I bicycled with Connie for 25 minutes. Dinner was leftover cheesy veggie pasta (better the second day oddly enough) for me and masala burgers for Frank. And 2 liters of Sassy water…

Thursday was blueberry oatmeal, and a cup of coffee, again for breakfast. Lunch was a meatball pita-2 veggie meatballs, some Paul Newman marinara sauce with a little olive oil added and some Italian cheese shreds in a whole wheat pita. Quite good. Snack was yogurt, skim milk, pecans and an orange. No gym after work because I usually take Thursday off for gaming. I got home and plopped on the couch, and felt munchy. Hm…this is not good. So I got up and cleaned the bathtub. Then headed for the kitchen where I made my Sassy water for the next day, did the dishes and decided to start my dinner. Frank was working late and I was planning on having turkey with my pasta so I figured I’d go ahead and make my cup of pasta, brown the ground turkey and sauté the tomato and basil in olive oil. There was supposed to be broccoli too, but I forgot and used it all in the cheesy veggie pasta on Tuesday. So I added 2 tbsps of marinara sauce. Again, quite good. I did the dishes and when I sat back down on the couch I wasn’t munchy.

So all this makes me think that the actual food prep is important. There’s something relaxing about chopping the veggies and following the recipe. You aren’t thinking about what happened at work, or what needs to be cleaned. You’re just making sure you don’t lose a finger. And you aren’t sitting on the couch bored.

I have to admit, I do feel like I have more energy. And this morning? Well with all the snow I decided to wear jeans to work today, and they fit better! That was quite exciting. So breakfast was a banana waffle (and a cup of coffee), lunch is being brought in and I plan on doing tofu and veggies, snack is string cheese, nuts, an apple and carrots and of course Sassy water! I don’t know about dinner because it’s time to go to the store.

Oh, my greatest triumph of the week? I actually used all the fresh fruit and veggies before they went funky! Whoo hoo! That’s actually something the book strives for, which I think is pretty awesome.

Next: Anti-Bloat-can Liz make it 4 days without coffee?

Sassy!

2010-02-26T10:04:00.003-05:00

So here’s the story. Last Saturday I went to the doctor to get my yearly blood work done and have some prescriptions renewed. I also had a question about the annoying leg cramps I’ve been having for ages now. What I came away with was a potassium deficiency and he was unhappy with my blood pressure. Oh goodie. So more bananas for me and new diet as well. Again, oh goodie.

It seems I am fated to go down the path of my father. We are a lot alike in many ways, one of those being we like food. Neither of us eat to fill a void or as a comfort when life is rough. We like food, it tastes good. Dad comes from a family of “hearty eaters” and I’m not an exception to that. When Dad was around 44 he had bypass surgery and from then on there was a big change in his diet. Low fat, low salt. He took it in stride, mostly because my mom does the cooking and he eats what she gives him. There were still outings for ice cream on occasion, but those became very infrequent when he was diagnosed as diabetic. So he’s lost a lot of weight from the big man I remember as a child, and is in general good health for someone in their 70s.

That said, I’m now on a “Mediterranean diet”: Nuts, olive oil, low fat, low salt, more calcium…wheee! I miss the salt, but otherwise it’s not so bad. My doc recommended “The Flat Belly Diet” because the advice is good and the recipes have gone over well with other patients. So I picked up the book, put out by Prevention Magazine, went shopping and Monday started the new food vocabulary. As I said, I’m my father’s daughter so if he can do it so can I, without the bypass and diabetes.

The book encourages you to journal, so I thought I’d do it here. If this diet works out then I can encourage others, if not, well you’ll know that too!

So it wants you to start with an anti-bloat jumpstart for 4 days, but this week was not good for that (3 company lunches) so instead I followed the guide for the regular weeks and will start the anti-bloat part tomorrow (happily coinciding with the start of my period, so I could use the less bloaty-ness). The idea is you have four 400 calorie meals a day, each having some mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in them which are good for your heart. These MUFAs are things like olive oil, nuts and (whoo hoo) dark chocolate. The four meals should be spread through the day so you don’t go more than 4 hours without eating. This is working great for me because that 4:30 snack gives me the energy I need for the gym, and we usually don’t eat dinner until 8 or so during the week.

And then there is the Sassy Water. The nutritionist for this book’s last name is Sass, so that’s where the name comes from. Take 2 liters of water and add 1 sliced lemon, 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger (I’ve decided this is the best smell ever!), 1 peeled and thinly sliced cucumber and 12 mint leaves. Leave in the fridge over night then drink the next day. It smells great and tastes better than plain water, which is good, because you need to drink 2 liters of it a day!

Stay tuned for the week’s munching.

Monday took the Day off So Stupid Filled In

2010-02-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Initially I was thinking that the Tuesday Monster had taken over for Monday today, then I realized even it isn't this frustratingly stupid. We'll call this a filling by Monday's "special" little brother.

This morning started kind of normal, until I got to work. I walk in the door at 8:30 and there in the middle of the lobby is 200lbs of freight. Oh joy. As I'm trying to get my coat off and edge around this hill I notice the mood lighting over my desk. I go to turn up the dimmer only to realize 1) it's up all the way, 2) The face plate has falling off the switch and 3) The light bulb has burnt out. Sigh.

I get my coat off and am scaling Mt. Crap looking for a packing slip when our CSO (Chief Strategic Officer) comes in with her 3 children-one teenage and 2 under 8, all seem nice. She then heads into the conference room where I know someone else has a video conference at 9:30. And she doesn’t have her keycard so I let her and the children into the main office knowing just how much fun awaits!

She returns sans kids and I ask if she’s got a video conference, why yes she does. Great, no one booked the room so now there is a conflict and trust me CSO, Eastern head of Engineering and Global head of Engineering trump just about everyone. So I call the admin in Acton MA who scheduled the other meeting to give her a heads up. She suggests that at 9:30 the folks for the other meeting just go into the conference room and kick the CSO out. Really? I’m thinking this is a bad idea. I let her know how well I think that one will go over and set out to find Marshall, the poor soul who’s just been volunteered to interrupt the CSO.

Marshall is very happy I warned him, has no intention of doing this and I suggested he call Sandy to reschedule.

Shortly before this my boss came in and I’d hoped to get his take on the situation, but he was late to the CSO’s meeting. Ah well.

Fred came in and claimed Mt. Crap…Yay!

The guy from our alarm company came in to see our IT guy, who wasn’t in yet. I got Kep (who is rapidly becoming the I go to for sanity checks and general help) who serves in his place at times. Turns out that Tony never told the guy we didn’t need the motion detector light by the alarm pad so he was here to install it. Um, no. The guys are happy with the flashlight in the closet (which they suggested). We call Tony who says it would need to be approved anyhow and send the alarm guy away after relaying this message. Kep asks if we are having fun and I say not really. He kindly listens to my recitation of stupid.

Jaya needs markers for the CSO’s kids and do we have anything for them to play with? Um, no. I find some coloring pages and print them out. I must say the kids were pretty excited so that was cool.

I contacted facilities and they were going to see about resolving my romantic lighting issue (it’s now 3:30, I’m doubting I’ll see them today).

Then Fedex Ground showed up with 3 large boxes.

I attempt to make order come from the chaos of the mountain range and my boss comes out to see what I need. We sit down, I tell him about the situation, ask about finding out who owns the meeting and having them reserve the room going forward would be okay, he says yes. And then I say he could point to this moment as yet another justification for us getting another video set up and he agrees. He is then sucked into another meeting.

UPS shows up with 8 large boxes.

And thus the “Dear God What Is This?” Mountain Range came into being.

Oh, and then the lunch guy arrived. So with the help of my lunch elves, Ken and Eric, food is set up and the seething hordes descend upon meatball subs.

I head up front to check something then grab a plate of food and go back to the stack of packing slips I’m trying to match up with POs. Then there was some lunch, yay!

Fred comes in with one of our coops and clears the mountain range. I call the admin in Acton and straighten out the conference room stuff. My boss finally approves my timesheet for last week and two outstanding requests I’ve been pestering him about. Fred’s 2:30 appointment shows up, but Fred’s been sucked into a conference call. He gets off that to meet with this guy and 5 minutes later his 3 o’clock appointment arrives. I settle the new arrival, track Fred down and peek in the kitchen to wrap up leftovers. What leftovers? There was half a veggie hoagie and 3 potato chips left. So I clean up and come back here to make calls for our big end of month luncheon.

Tony stops by to fax something and asks why the alarm guy didn’t install the light. Hm, because no one approved the expense? I told him I’d bring it up with my boss, but $100 vs a flashlight no one is complaining about seems a long shot. He didn’t feel it was a big deal, but really it seems like using a shotgun to swat a fly to me. But that isn’t my call.

And that’s when my trainer called to cancel our appointment tonight because his grandfather passed away, which really put things in perspective.

Yes, there were a lot of goofy dumb things today, but nothing truly bad save that man’s passing. And hey, the day went really fast. Plus I just got a fax for a seminar on how to manage emotions under pressure. Creepy.

Now as it is 4 PM I am going to listen to an episode of Red Panda then start straightening the conference rooms for another day!

Did you hear that?

2010-01-28T09:33:00.002-05:00

So for the past 3 days I've been wondering if I need to put my car in the shop. When I've gotten to work in the morning and am pulling into my parking spot I hear this weird noise. It sounds almost like a honk, somewhere between a squeak and a grinding noise. At first I thought it was noise from the Turnpike because our lot is just a few yards from the road. But no, that didn't explain it. The next time I thought it might be a goose, because there are a lot of them around here, but there wasn't a feather to be found anytime I heard the noise.

So this morning I pull into my spot and hear the noise. I look around, no geese. I back up and straighten my park job, and hear the noise. I turn off the radio. I hear the noise. I get out of the car and look around, and as I walk toward the building there is the noise again!

There on the roof of our building were two geese. Every time I got closer to them they honked! So guess they were nature's way of not letting people back up too far, but it was still pretty weird. I've never seen them on top of a building before...I wonder where the pigeons will turn up?

They Like Me!

2010-01-26T09:50:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well since last I blogged I've changed jobs and am finding less excuses to put off wedding planning as the date gets closer. Other than that, not much has exploded, and for that I am grateful!

The new job is working out really well. I'm busy most days and learning a lot. And today I got some very positive feedback from the main office in MA so I'm feeling pretty good this morning. It's always nice to know you are meeting or exeeding what the folks who hired you were hoping for.

So far aside from my admin duties which include approving training funding requests, expense reports, employee action notices and delivering mail I've come through a few interesting events okay:

The main coffee machine broke! This is like losing a limb here. I made some calls and after 3 techs from 2 companies came out we were up and running.
Surprise lunch for big client! With little to go on I managed to get danish for breakfast and a nice lunch in for one of our larger clients on less than 24 hours notice.
Roof leaking! Okay, I just called the building manager, but still I did it before people started panicing.

Add to that a lost pocket knife and locating wandering coworkers and I'm feeling needed, which is nice.

And now something I really am not used to...off to a meeting!

Grumble Grumble Grumble

2009-11-23T09:25:00.002-05:00

I am finding it hard to stay chipper today. My day started nice and normal enough. Get up, get breakfast, pull together the things I needed for work, give Frank a kiss and off I go. For once even the drive in didn't showcase any creative drivers. Then I pulled up to work to see my boss getting out of her car...

Don't get me wrong, I like my boss, it's just that I know when she's in that early the day is going to be tense. It was then that I remembered she had decided in an effort to make communication better in the back shop she was going to come in early and "facilitate". This has not and will not ever go over well back there, partially because they are stubborn, partically because she isn't good at it.

But then I think, hey, I'm borrowing trouble. I get upstairs, she's in a whirlwind of tension and I just want my coffee. After 3 times asking if she could open a program I had taken offline to back up I finally tell her she can, and she's off to the next thing. She doesn't wait well.

Will came in and I yell my usual good morning...silence. I get up to make sure we don't have an unscheduled visitor, nope, it's Will. So I say good morning again, he grunts at me. He was sick most of last week and still looks it. I ask how he feels, he shrugs. I ask if there's anything wrong, he shrugs. I say he still looks under the weather, he finally verbalizes he's tired. I tell him the boss is in the back with Tony going over the orders of the day and he rolls his eyes. Really? How old are we? And this before he knows WHY she's back there.

Next in is Connie. Her mom is moving today so I expected her to be out of sorts. I call good morning, hear a mumble, and come out to see how she is. She mumbled something else at me, I have no clue what and slumped toward the back shop. It was at this point I sat down at my desk and started to feel a little grumpy. Seriously, can no one say good morning back? I've given up on getting an unprovoked one. I will say that at least Tony answers me back cheerily when I say it, so 1 out of 3 is something.

Then I think, hey, it isn't their responsibility to keep me chipper and I don't have to let their general funk infect me. This is when my boss came back up front complaining that the boys don't say good morning to each other and this has her in a nasty mood now. So I tell her what I'd just decided, she didn't get it and continues on the rant. Great. I find pictures of our gummy bears online in the hopes that cheers her up, it manages to distract her. Sort of like throwing a steak at a charging bear, it might slow it down but probably not for long.

Then the bright part of my morning arrives. Beverly comes in with a smile and big Good Morning. Yay Beverly! What would I do without her? She is unfortunately followed by the Fedex driver who has a truck full of puppets for us. He's about 2 hours early and the guys don't have time to unload him at this point. This is where my boss gets involved, whee. She decides that since the driver can run a forklift he'll bring the crates off the truck and she and Connie will take them from there. Have I mentioned that my boss recently had shoulder surgery? So down I go to witness the birthing of this fiasco. Will comes down after us (thank you!) and he runs the forklift while my boss does her level best to run me over with 6o0 lbs of wood and puppet 6 times over. I really hate unloading with her and try to head it off at every chance I can.

This is also the point where she tells us we are not allowed to lift anything over 10 pounds. Well great, I should just go home now because I can't do my job without lifting things between 20 and 25! If it's over 10 lbs we need a buddy. I understand why but I still think it's dumb. The logic seems to be you aren't allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs by yourself, but as long as you have 2 people 600 lbs is fine. So this is the latest issue, which will shortly be followed by "why isn't stuff getting done?" Well because I can't swim without a buddy and there isn't a buddy available!

It is now 10 AM and I want to go home. Any joy has been sucked out of me, the tension in the office is making me anxious and my nose is runny...whine whine whine...

Quitter

2009-11-09T09:47:00.003-05:00

Yup, as of yesterday I'm a quitter. Though I don't know if they've realized it yet...

So I went in on Friday to find they'd scheduled me to work on Black Friday, which I expected. What I didn't expect was that I'd be "manager on duty" which is their term for the chick with the keys. Or as I like to think of it "She who gets yelled at". Not really comfortable with that. The night was long, and though I like working with Suzie she stresses about how long we are there cleaning up so at 10 she asked me to clock out and I worked another 45 minutes. This isn't the first time, but I decided it was the last. It's just not cool.

So I got home around 11, saw Frank for the first time that day, had dinner and went to bed. Oh the excitement. I'd been feeling like I was absent from my own life since this experiment started and not liking it. I miss Frank even though we live together, the animals aren't getting much attention, the house is a mess, I'm tired all the time and I was talking to Greg about getting together and realized we couldn't find a time. All this and I had a party Saturday night.

My original plan had been to work until 9:30 then head to The Lighthouse after, but if I didn't get out until 11 again, and had to get up at 8 for work the next morning I was going to be miserable and there was no point in going! I'd made a costume and was really looking forward to it, so I decided to be irresponsible and call out of work. I knew we had an extra person on that night because I was "training," not that there had been much time to learn things because there was always something more pressing, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I called early and explained I had a family emergency and wouldn't be in. Well it was an emergency, I missed my family and I'd backed out on looking at wedding rings with Frank twice already, I wasn't going to do it again!

No one seemed to care, so I went on my merry way. We looked at some nice rings in the North East, grabbed some Chinese, braved the Franklin Mills Mall (where after 30 minutes I asked if we could go back to civilization), watched a little Batman and Robin from the 1930s and got in a nap before heading out. Oh the party was such fun and it was so nice to see folks! Plus I won a prize for my costume, as did Frank! Whoo hoo!

Sunday morning I crawled out of bed and headed to work where there was a hornet's nest of activity. It seems our manager was incommunicado, they weren't sure if I was coming in Sunday and didn't have my phone number, plus there was a computer issue the night before. So Sunday was completely over scheduled and we still could have used more people. I hate the way they schedule, there are never enough hands even when they know it's going to be a zoo because of a sale.

Anyhow, Sayrah and I were both shunned as we had both called out once that week. Sayrah was still obviously sick and I would have sent her home, but it wasn't my call and no one was talking to us anyhow. So by the end of the night I'd definitely decided to turn in the resignation letter I had in my pocket. But there was no one to resign to as the manager was probably on vacation (no one was sure, but there was a rumor) and the assistant manager wasn't in. So I labeled it with both of their names and left it on the keyboard in the office.

Unfortunately I left my jacket behind and I'm trying to decide how much I like it, if it's worth retrieving...

Things I've learned...

2009-11-09T09:40:00.002-05:00

So in the 3 weeks I worked at Joann Fabrics I learned some disturbing things:

1-My coworkers hate it there. So why stay?
2-You don't so much get trained as have instructions hollered to you from across the store as things come up
3-The customer is the enemy. I swear they complain about the customers when they are still present!
4-If you call out you will be shunned the next day-it's like you are an invisible fairy that works there but no one interacts with you.
5-After a week I deduced my manager's name was Sue
6-After 3 weeks I learned Suzie was actually the assistant manager.
7-I don't like working for free
8-Both the amount of the discount and when you get it are top secret. No one will discuss it. In fact, I haven't seen my coworkers use it.

Too Old

2009-10-20T09:57:00.002-04:00

Too old, too tired...but not dead yet!

So I hounded AC Moore and got an interview two weeks ago. After passing the background check I was put on the schedule this week at $8/hour. I was dreading working there on Black Friday, but what can you do?

I had put in an application at Joann Fabrics, but they weren't hiring at the time. Then over Columbus Day weekend we were picking up a few things there and they were insanely busy! So being obnoxious I asked if they were hiring. The manager's eyes lit up, she asked a few questions and then had me fill out another application. Last Monday I popped in to drop off my resume, just for kicks, and we made an appointment for an interview on Saturday morning. The interview really wasn't one, just letting me know they were looking for a closing key holder, would I be interested? It paid $9/hour...While I love the store and it's size I wasn't sure about having keys again. Walden was a madhouse at closing. But I said yes and we scheduled me for work this week...which conflicted with AC Moore. Sigh.

After a lot of thought and talking it over with Frank I was almost positive I wanted to go with Joann's, but just in case I held off on burning any bridges until I made it though my first shift. Which was last night.

The people are nice, I know the product and closing procedures have gotten a heck of a lot easier since I last did them, but 5 hours on my feet was a killer on my back and soles. As I crawled into the car at 10:15 I wasn't so sure I would be able to get back out. I got home, my sweetie had saved some dinner for me so we sat down and recapped our days. I took an Aleve and headed to bed where I promptly passed out.

Getting up this morning was ugly. I woke up at 5 and considered getting up and doing some yoga to stretch out sore muscles, but miraculously they were in pretty good shape, so I fell back to sleep. The alarm went off at 6, I ignored it. Again at 6:15, snoozed. 6:24, snoozed, 6:33...turned off. At 6:50 I crawled out of bed just before Frank was about to come check on me.

I stumbled into the bathroom to clean up, put toothpaste on my toothbrush and, I swear, almost brushed my armpit. I wasn't tired, not at all! I managed to get the brush where it belonged and get the rest of me ready, throw together some lunch and stumble out the door clutching a cup of coffee like a life preserver. I was only 10 minutes late for work! Whoo hoo! I get to do it again tonight. I'm not sure I'll survive.

I never thought I'd say this, but thank God I have my trainer on Wednesday and get a night off! I'll be back there on Thursday and by then should have a better feel for things. In the meantime I'm thinking of selling a kidney, if anyone's in the market.

In search of...

2009-10-20T09:35:00.005-04:00

So since Julyish our work hours have been cut from 40 down to 32. The first 3 months were tight, but not horrible. I started noodling around looking for other job possibilities when the news first came down, but in September I got a bit more serious about it and started thinking about a part-time job to make ends meet.

I quickly learned that when looking for part-time work in retail you have to be obnoxious, almost stalkerish. Remember all those youthful moments when you tried to restrain yourself from calling that person you liked too much? Did you know you could channel that energy into a job search? I knew it would come in handy some day.

So before I learned this but had put in a few applications and hadn't heard anything, I broke down and answered an ad to work as one of those people who hangs out in the mall and bugs people to do surveys. I got to the mall about 1/2 an hour early so I popped over to Things Remembered to find something for my new soon to be nephew (Megan had a healthy baby boy of 9/24/09). While making my selection I learned they were hiring so I took an application.

I went to the interview where I found chaos. Their internet was down and all hell had broken loose. People were collating papers on the lobby floor, some woman was barking about FedEx labels and a guy was on the phone with Verizon trying to fix things. It turns out the barking woman was the one I was to interview with, and she forgot I was coming (now I call to confirm interview times, lesson #1). I offered to reschedule, but she was insistent on doing this now so I settled in with a huge stack of papers and filled out an application while people ran around outside the cubby I was in.

Just about the time I hit the W-4 and started wondering why I would fill this out if I hadn't been hired yet the woman came bustling in asking if I knew what a modem looked like. Why yes, I do. Next thing I know I'm on the phone with Verizon. I introduced myself to Sylvia, the tech, and we both had a good laugh about my not actually working there. As I climbed on a chair, in heels, to look at their modem hub I told her if she heard a scream to hang up and dial 911. I got the new modem hooked up and gave the phone back to the gentleman who had been talking with her so he could do the computer testing, as I assumed I shouldn't be on their machines.

Not long after the woman I was to interview came in demanding to know if I thought he could handle this. After reminding her I didn't know him, I told her it wasn't that difficult and he should be fine. She left and soon was yelling in the hall again, and came back complaining about the "China-men" next door. It was at this point I began to wonder if she had a problem with the young black gentleman who was working on getting the internet back up. Great.

So it ended up that they offered me $10/hour and wanted me to start that Sunday. In a fit of desperation I agreed, but as the day went on and I told the story a few times, and talked things over with Frank, I decided to decline. If the best part of the job is going to be accosting people in the mall, well I don't think that's for me. I did put that application into Things Remembered though.

Things Remembered

2009-10-05T13:12:00.002-04:00

No not the store, though that may be a post in the future.

It's funny how you can put things out of your mind. We've been turning the attic into a sewing room so I've been sorting through boxes. Yesterday was toys from my childhood, some of which went to my new nephew Andrew, some will go to Charlotte and Molly, others...well they are too beat up to pass on, but too precious in my memory to let go. I guess they can just hit the furnace with me when I die.

But then there were the pictures. Just framed prints from a friend of mine who passed away in 2004. I'd taken some down (I have quite a few) to make room for other things. As I went through these I decided to hang them in the attic. But among these is also the memorial picture I put together of him, for a few of us who knew more than just the angsty guy. It made me miss him again, and have that little moment of "how could I have stopped?" A silly thought we all get in those situations.

Then Friday I got a note from his publisher, they had put together some of his introductions and fan mail in a little volume, proceeds going to his daughter's college fund, so of course I bought one. It will be here soon, and I'll read it, feel sad, mad and lucky at the same time again. Just funny how that sort of thing lumps up. And in October which has always been a nostalgic month for me. I think it's the wood smoke.

Anyhow, just felt like sharing...now on to thinking about Halloween and the fun to be had...

NPR Porn

2009-08-20T12:40:00.002-04:00

Have you ever (or heard the jokes about those who have) tried to watch a scrambled "Adult Entertainment" channel? You get static, a bit of flesh, more static, a headache...

Anyhow, the other Sunday I was heading home and listening to the radio. For those who don't listen to NPR, after about 5 on Sundays it becomes classical music and that just isn't my thing. I didn't feel like listening to music anyhow, so I was cruising the dial hoping for some form of talk radio to entertain me. I found nothing.

Well, almost nothing. Some little station just outside my listening area was rebroadcasting "What do you know?", one of my favorite shows on NPR. I'd get static, half a joke, static...and yes eventually a headache. And I had to laugh because it reminded me of nights up late at my parents checking out the scrambled channels. I believe it's the first time I've ever felt a little "naughty" listening to the radio!

Sleepless in Ambler

2009-08-09T02:02:00.003-04:00

Man I hate "Sleepless in Seattle", but the bastardized title works here.

So here I sit at 2 AM watching Jeremy Piven host WWE. In truth, it came on after Law & Order and then I was captivated, wondering why Jeremy Piven was on a wrestling program. Thankfully it turns out they are rerunning the original Star Trek series on another channel so I am saved!

It seems like life has been running at a gerbil's pace since mid July. We went from gearing up for Burning Man to being so excited about our engagement that we started wedding planning, then we had an impending baby decide to fake us all out for 3 weeks with "Here I come! No I don't." Throw in a little house hunting and I feel like I've been chasing my tail a bit. Happy to say it's been a happy whirlwind.

Things have settled into place a bit now, I'm finishing up a few things for Burning Man and have decided to put other things off until we get back.

Oddly enough I've spent the week feeling like I hadn't slept in ages. In fact on Wednesday I slept for 15 hours, went out for a few hours and felt like I needed a nap. Friday we went out to see friends perform and didn't get home until 5 AM (good times!), then it was up at the crack of noon to clean a bit before Frank's folks, sister and her husband came over. I should be tired. I should be curled up asleep next to my sweetie. But no, now I'm wide awake! Where was this wakefulness all week?!!!

Anyhow, since I have a moment I'll use it so say that it was really fantastic to have Frank's parents check out the wedding/reception site. As much as I wish my folks could be here and share the excitement, having his Mom and Dad really is the next best thing. I am so lucky to be marrying into such a wonderful family.

His folks were going to be in town working on his mother's parents house so they asked us out to dinner to celebrate the engagement. Since we'd originally talked about it a good bit has happened so when they and Megan and John arrived my mind was on wedding things and Frank's other sister's impending baby. The last thing on my mind was my birthday, but there was Megan with flowers and Mom with a card. Seriously, that should have been the last thing on their minds, but it wasn't and that's one of the things that makes them so sweet.

So we toured the Inn's grounds, hoping not to disturb a wedding, then headed to Ft. Washington for Indian. All in all it was a pretty great evening.

And now I am finally feeling a little sleepy...

No Words

2009-07-14T14:31:00.002-04:00

There was a time I didn't think I'd ever fall in love again.

Then I learned what love was really supposed to feel like.

Now every day I fall in love a little more when I look in his eyes.

And last night, in the lobby of the Roxy Theater where we first met, he got down on one knee and swept me off my feet yet again.

This man, this wonderful man, the love of my life...forever

Coma

2009-06-29T14:58:00.002-04:00

So last weekend I trimmed the hedges and got a nice case of poison ivy. It still itches, of course. It bothers me more at work than at home because I can distract myself better there, but there isn't a lot I can do about that.

So I'm at work, trying not to scratch. And of course it's on my chest too. Can't scratch that at work. So to avoid some impropriety I took some benadryl...and am now in a nice little near coma state.

I just went outside to send some puppets out and the sun seemed a bit too hot on my chest. Odd since it was covered by an orange tank top. So I come in and head to the lady's room where I take a little peek...yup, sunburnt my boobs at the beach yesterday. Itchy and burny...isn't that a hemorrhoid commercial or something?

sigh

2009-06-22T13:46:00.002-04:00

So this past Friday Frank did something no mere mortal male would dare: He went shopping with me. Now this might normally not be a daunting task, but this was for specific clothing...business attire. And did I mention he gave blood before we assaulted the stores?

Anyhow, after sticker shock at Talbots, lunch and then JC Penny's I found something I felt was appropriate and that he thought would work, though he wasn't so sure about the pants...hey, I gotta have some bit of me in a suit. Then came shoes. By the time we left the mall is was 9 PM, he'd been shopping with me for 6 hours. The man is a saint.

So the reason for the need of a suit was that I had an interview in the city this morning for a job that doesn't exactly light my fire, but I figured the practice would be good. It was kinda fun taking the train together this morning, I teased him about walking me to school on my first day.

Here are the directions I was given for the interview:

Time: 9:30 AM
Date: Monday 06/22/2009
Position: Department Assistant
Hiring Manager: Mary Pratz
Interview Location: The Wannamaker Building 100 Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107

And there was a map of center city attached. Have you seen the Wannamaker Building? Do you know how many offices there are? Well the company I was interviewing with wasn't even listed in the directory! It was under another company umbrella and if the security guard hadn't known the woman I was to meet I'd still be standing in the damn lobby!

Oh, and it was like getting into Ft. Knox! I had a little badge from security to use the elevators, then had to call someone to come let me into the office from a phone in the hallway! AND I was told "Professional attire required" which would be why I felt it necessary to have a suit instead of ensemble, but of the 3 people who interviewed me 2 were in jeans and one was in sweat pants! In fact, the only person I encountered who wasn't in jeans or sweat pants was the lady in the maternity dress! Seriously people, if your office is casual the least you could say is "business casual" to interviewees.

The position itself is a no brainer, which isn't really a plus to me, but if they offered me good enough money I might consider it...of course I have no idea what the job pays because THEY had no idea what the job pays. When I asked they were surprised the HR person I spoke to didn't tell me. In fact when I asked her she said to ask at the interview. And as far as the questions I had for them, the big one was about turnover and though there was a lot of talking I really have no idea if there is a lot or not. I really wanted to say, "I realize you are interviewing me, but do you realize I'm also interviewing you?"

So that's the latest. Frank's awesome, the job wasn't so impressive.

Huh...

2009-06-08T16:40:00.003-04:00

So really, this shouldn't be a surprise, and yet it was. Yesterday my boss announced that she was going to have to cut our hours down to 32 a week. It isn't permenent, hopefully, but this way no one has to be laid off. I know she agonized over it. She isn't paying herself at the moment. One thing I will say, she never asks us to do what she won't.

We are a little office. None us us can really afford the cut. Tony just came back today from being on leave after heart surgery. Not a great welcome. He supports his wife.

Connie's mom was laid off over 6 months ago and still hasn't found work (though how much of that is the market and how much is her I can't say). She announced last week that they would have to sell the house...then let 2 of Connie's sisters and a friend move back home without paying rent. As Frank points out, if everyone could pitch in a few hundred they could pay the mortgage, but there he goes again, being all logical. Connie's mom's reaction was "well you'll just have to get 2 more jobs". Nice.

Beverly wasn't full time to start with, lives with her parents and is getting out from under 2 divorces and 3 kids who are finally grown.

Will has been saving for an apartment so he can move out of the house he shares with his brothers. He just got a loan to finally replace his 25 year old truck.

Then there's me. Paying off old debt and new. So what's a girl to do? She goes home and talks about it with the man in her life and lets some ideas rattle around in her head for an evening. She crunches the numbers, realizes she's okay for a month or so, and the next day she sends out resumes.

Its been 12 years since I've had to do that, with the odd one passed around at interesting opportunities but nothing serious.

Life is an interesting ride...

Badlands, Highlands and Outer Space

2009-06-03T08:19:00.003-04:00

Monday morning we slept in a bit then headed to the Bisti Wilderness Area. This is the part of New Mexico referred to as The Badlands. It isn't as harsh as Road Warrior or anything, but its pretty desolate and there are some very neat rock formations called hoodoos. Its kind of like physics went a little wonky here:
Neat, isn't it? I'll have more pictures later. After wandering around a few hours we headed back to Mom and Dad's for some lunch then took Dad to see Star Trek. Oooh it was good! Dad and I have seen every Star Trek movie together and it was great to include Frank in the tradition, even if the poor guy did have to sit 3 rows from the front-I let Dad pick the seats.

Initially I wasn't going to see it, but was assured by 2 trekkies in the lady's bathroom at another theater that I wouldn't be annoyed by the movie. They were right. I highly recommend it. Not only is Shawn of the Dead playing Scotty, Harold (of Harold and Kumar...) is Sulu! Such fun.

After the movie Mom made dinner and we all caught up for a while. Dad is giving me a copy of my favorite rug of his for my birthday/Christmas and I'm sooo excited! Frank got a weaving tutorial and he and Dad got to talking about aerospace I think...Mom says Dad hasn't talked that much in years!

We made plans for Sunday's trip to Mesa Verde and Durango then said good night. It was nice just to get back to the hotel and crash. Oh, and make fun of the Lion's Club which was having a conference at the hotel. Hee hee.

Sunday we loaded up my folk's Highlander and headed for Colorado after a pit stop at the 7 to 11. You see we had no regular coffee in the room, so Frank went to the front desk to get some. They were out, but there was a pot of coffee in the lobby. He came back up to the room for a mug and by the time he was back downstairs they'd taken the coffee away. And of course this is the morning we learn that my mom's stopped drinking coffee, which made me wonder if she was trying to quit smoking (hey, unfiltered Pal Mals for close to 50 years isn't an easy habit to break).

The drive up to Mesa Verde was beautiful as always. Switch back roads up into the mountains, you start seeing trees, and prairie dogs! Mesa Verde is a national park with several cliff dwelling structures that you can hike up to and check out. It's always hard for me to wrap my head around how people built homes there. We headed down into a canyon then up to The Spruce Tree House site which is just so neat. Frank went down into one of the underground areas while I stayed topside with Bear Bear.

We joined Mom and Dad for a picnic lunch in the car and made our way to Durango to see my aunt and uncle. Aunt Janette was goofy as usual but opted not to nag my uncle Truman while we were there so that was wonderful. I love my uncle, he's like a giant Texas teddy bear. We caught up on the back porch then made our way back to Farmington for dinner at the Chinese buffet. On our way out to the car I realized I hadn't seen my mom with a cigarette yet so I asked if she quite. She responded "maybe..." She's taking it day by day but I think it's fantastic!

We sat around talking for a good bit after dinner then said our goodbyes since we were leaving early in the morning. Always so nice to visit and sad to say goodbye. Sigh. But I appreciate them more and Frank was wonderful about it as always.

Mom and Dad both loved Frank (of course) and say he's welcome anytime which just makes me smile.

The trip home was long and I proved to be a bad traveler. I forgot a bottle of water in my carry on so had an extended visit with security, and when we landed in Philadelphia I realized I never turned off my cell phone. There goes that myth. But we were home and in bed shortly before midnight and now we are back to the day to day stuff. One vacation down, 2 to go!

On the Road Again...

2009-06-03T07:52:00.003-04:00

Last weekend was a whirlwind trip to New Mexico for me and Frank. The fun started Thursday night around 11 PM when our sweet landlady called to ask if we were doing anything in the bathroom because the crazy lady downstairs said there was water dripping on her leg. Notice it wasn't "the ceiling is leaking". Anyhow, I'd gotten out of the shower 30 minutes before so we guessed there was a pipe leak. The plumber would be by on Friday and I told her to let him in since we'd be on the road. Plus: We didn't have to deal with it. Minus: No shower for Frank Friday morning.

So a few all to short hours later the alarm goes off at 4 AM and we wander around the apartment like zombies and out the door. We get to the airport valet, they drive us to the airport and we have tickets in hand a little after 6 with time to pee before the 7 AM flight. Yay! Soon enough we are boarded and sleep most of the way to Phoenix.

We had a 3 hour lay over there so we embarked on the adventure known as lunch. Frank was craving a burrito so we found a place that does them veggie...and it was a lot of egg as it turns out. I think the veggie fajita rice bowl may have made up for it. A little waiting and we were in the sky and heading to Albuquerque.

Once we landed and happily received our bags we headed for the rental car. A little travel tip: When renting a car in the Southwest always get the extra insurance. There are a lot of gravel roads and uninsured drivers. While traveling along US 550 we stopped in the Apache Nugget Casino (read: giant blow up tent) to pee and get more water and in 3 hours had made it to Farmington.

We checked in at the Best Western where the plan was to drop our bags, freshen up a bit, see Mom and Dad then get dinner. We deviated from schedule a bit.

Upon opening the door to room 236 we immediately noticed the shoes, coffee mug and iron which hinted perhaps the room was occupied. Back down to the front desk where the manager was stunned and embarrassed and found us another room. First though he sent someone up to make sure it was empty. Nope, people in it. We then learned that Jonie the trained monkey was apparently on desk that morning and made some boo boos. So on to room #3. We troop down the hall and enter an empty room...that reeked of cigar smoke. Sigh. Back to the front desk, promising I wasn't trying to be a problem but this wasn't going to work. Finally we ended up back upstairs in room 238 where we stayed.

It was at this point that Frank's hands, which had been itchy, decided to get really bumpy. Enter one of the things I love about Farmington: The Urgent Care Facility. When you need a doctor and can't get and appointment but don't want to go to the ER. So I called Mom for directions, assured Dad he didn't need to meet us there and headed out. 45 minutes later Frank had a prescription and we were filling it at Walgreens while we picked up some drinks and cereal.

We finally made it to Casa Pierce for introductions and stories, leaving around 9:30 only to realize we'd been up for around 20 hours and hadn't had dinner. Of course most things were closed, but Papa Johns delivers and we managed to stay mostly awake until the pizza got there, ate then passed out.

Next: Badlands, highlands and outer space!

Taking a Bite out of Terrorism...

2009-05-27T09:58:00.002-04:00

So since we are flying this weekend I decided to check in with our friends at the TSA to see what the latest security procedures might be. Here is what I learned:

1. Cranberry sauce is a liquid
2. Gift baskets with food items are prohibited. Wicker is a liquid, aerosol or gel?
3. Snow globes may be secret terrorist weapons and are not permitted in your carry on

But have no fear:

"You can bring pies and cakes through the security checkpoint, but please be advised that they are subject to additional screening."

Additional screening? I think my mom used to do this when she'd steal a fry and tell me that one might have been poisonous, she was just protecting me.

Up and Down

2009-05-27T09:15:00.002-04:00

So this past weekend was supposed to be taking Frank to New Mexico to meet Mom and Dad, but the universe had other plans and unfortunately they were of a very sad nature.

On May 16 his grandparents were in a terrible car accident and neither survived. Frank got the call Saturday night around 11 PM and the whole family was in shock. Over the next few days we got more information on the accident and the arrangements and made some changes to our plans. Happily it was not a case of elderly drivers making a mistake. The opposing driver drifted into there lane while coming around a curve.

So last weekend was the viewing and the memorial mass, and I think I've now met all of Frank's extended family though I wish it could have been under happier circumstances. In an effort to look on the bright side I inadvertently started a rumor we were engaged, so that was kind of funny. And of course there were the kids. Frank's niece Audrey has more energy than our ferret and is twice as cute at least. It's hard to stay sad around kids. And Frank got to meet his nephew Jonah finally. That is one adorable baby, let me tell you!

I think the highlight for me was at the luncheon after the graveside service on Saturday when Audrey asked for my ice cream and when I said no picked up a butter knife and started playing with it. I told Betsy and Josh their kid was trying to mug me for my dessert!

But the great thing about the weekend, no matter the sad reason, Frank's sisters, brothers-in-law, mom, dad and brother were together. And with a family spread out between PA, NJ, TN and Ireland that can be quite a trick. There were cookouts, late night chats and since his parents were staying with us we got to spend our mornings chatting over coffee before starting on the visits of the day. Very nice indeed.

If I sound too light about this past weekend forgive me. For me the thought that these two people died together was a kind of a blessing. No one had to be left behind. The family could focus on their grief and not worry about the state of mind of a grieving parent. John and Nancy Green lived very long and full lives. They had 8 children, I don't know how many grandchildren, two great grandchildren and judging by the filled church will be remembered well by many, many people.

So this weekend we are making the trek to New Mexico. Sadly with changing flights now we are leaving Friday morning at 7 which means we have to be up at 4 AM, but I'm hoping Frank will forgive me for that one.

On to the next adventure!

Great Moments in Economics

2009-05-13T09:54:00.003-04:00

So NPR's program "Market Place" is doing a series on The New American Dream. Basically it's about how the American Dream (home, car, 2.5 kids) is happening or not happening in other countries. They seem to be focusing on car and home ownership. Yesterday was China and we learned that there isn't enough room to have suburbs, much less homes in them for all the people there and that even if money weren't an issue that many folks driving cars would be a disaster.

Today was India. The guy they had on was great. Now you'll have to imagine the lilting Indian accent as he responded to the question of car ownership in India. "The wealthiest top 5% will follow the American idea of having a car as a status symbol. The next 10% will want to have that and work towards it. The remaining 70% don't have a chance in Hell." I had to laugh.

To me it really does seem silly and of course ethnocentric to try to apply a cliched American goal to the rest of the world. Why would they want the same things we do? Their economies are different, goals are different and opportunities are different. Perhaps that is what this series is pointing out, because it really does seem unusually naive for this program.

Stupidity in 2 Acts

2009-04-28T08:13:00.002-04:00

Character Translations is proud to present:

Great Moments in YRC Customer Service

Act I:

Me: Is there any way you would be able to give me a rough idea of when my freight in Amesbury MA will be picked up today?

YRC: Where is the pick up being made from? I will be happy to let you know what the shipment will be picked up from.

Act II:

Me: The day has ended for my client and if the driver isn't going to be there in the next half hour I'd like to reschedule the pick up for tomorrow. Do we know where the truck is?

YRC: The origin terminal in MA was attempting to contact the driver via the nextel phones but was unable to. Once they heard back from him (more then likely he was in another customer and was unable to talk) they are going to call you directly.

It seems the drivers in Mass. are much more "hands on" with customers than I imagined!

Evil Games and Irish Music

2009-04-28T07:52:00.002-04:00

Another amazingly fun and busy weekend has come and gone. Friday was the Cthulhu LARP at Adam and Andi's...wow it was fun! I got to be the insane chick trying to bring back her dead father. Frighteningly enough I seem to be pretty good at playing crazy and pragmatically immoral. I even got a quote on the wall, "I knew she was evil when she started acting sane." Though I think my personal favorite was "You're stuck between a rock and a dead guy." But for me the coolest part was that Jill complimented me on my acting, which was just a stunner for me and probably the biggest compliment I've ever gotten.

It isn't that I thought anyone would say "dude you suck," but we played with a lot of actors and for anyone who doesn't know, I consider Jill one of the best actors I've ever met. She's awesome at comedy, plays the best "villain" but the one that totally freaked me out was her audition for Veronica's Room in college. It was so hard to watch her up there being terrorized and abused...I hate to say it but I was kinda glad she didn't get the lead, I don't think I could have watched it-that's how well she played the character. I just wanted to rush up there and beat someone! As it was she still played a really creepy lady, once again making a "villain" one of the most memorable characters for me. Anyhow...for her to say she liked it really meant I did a good job.

The LARP was the official kick off to the annual Game and Grill so we were back on Saturday for more traditional games. Frank and I started off the day with a game that turned out to be a combination of $25,000 Pyramid, Charades and Taboo. Props to my partner Heather for great guessing and fantastic clues. Jill once again dominated at the bean game (one of the many reasons she is the mistress of the Beast Hat), I got away with a full tummy playing Werewolf, but we hung Frank and a few others in subsequent games, and after 3 or 4 attempts I actually won a game of Mad Dash against Jill!

By 7 or so I was completely wiped out so we headed home for some snuggling and a movie. Sunday was cleaning and grocery shopping before grabbing Julie and Connie and heading to Sellersville to see Ceann. It was such a fun show! Afterward we grabbed a very late bite at the diner, picked up some consolation beer for Chuck and got everyone home. 6 hours of sleep and I was heading to work.

Whoo hoo!

Sun Shower

2009-04-08T08:47:00.003-04:00

Sunday was beautiful, thank goodness. I headed into the city to Karen's (for those who will ask, not THAT Karen) to help set up for Melanie's bridal shower. Val was a blur of cooking activity, busting out with so much fantastic food! Aaron and I finished decorating while Karin, Barb and Melissa got fruit and veggies prepped. Soon folks started arriving and laughter insued.

Karen's apartment is amazing and has this great deck, so since it was nice and sunny a bunch of us headed out there to enjoy it. Around 3 Melanie arrived with Lynn and Sue, fresh from hooping in the park, and there were more pictures and tears.

After present opening Val set up her Goddess wares (sex toys, spa stuff) and we got down to some serious giggling.

It was a fantastic party, so much love and so much fun, and I'm so very happy for Pat and Mel...and of course there are pictures!

Switch! Braaaiiinnnssss

2009-04-08T08:37:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a busy day. Frank and I headed to scenic Boyertown for a Game On: Improv reunion of sorts. Susan and her lovely family came, so we got to meet Kaitlyn and Alison (thank you Jill for the quick update on names!), and were soon joined by Clan Reisse, Ray, and Nate and his wife. It was a small group, but it was great catching up and of course dishing on those who weren't there. We each keep in touch with different folks so it was good to hear what others were up to.

Around 6 we headed home for a nap then on to Theater 941 for the Zombie Butt Touch party. Mr. Keith has thrown this for several years now, but this time he decided it had out grown the house so he made his debut as a party promoter and it was a great success. The make up was awesome, music fantastic and as always the people were so much fun. Here are my pictures and Mel's for a sampling of the evening.

We got home around 3:30 and passed out-after a quick shower. Sunday was Mel's bridal shower so as much as I wanted to sleep in I was off on another adventure!

Contained Chaos

2009-04-08T07:58:00.005-04:00

Friday was doctor day. Natasha the Magnificent had her first vet appointment and then later I had a doctor's visit of my own. How exciting! Friday morning dawned...wet.

I packed up the intrepid ferret and we journeyed up the turnpike and route 1 to Fairless Hills to see Dr. Urbanick, just a fabulous exotics vet. Tasha, though unhappy at being confined, weathered the trip well. She charmed the vet tech who couldn't believe she was seven. Entertainingly both the tech and Dr. U assumed I'd had ferrets before and when I said no they looked uncomfortable and in each case said something about "you know they only live to be 7 or 8..." Yes, I'm am quite aware. Age doesn't mean they make bad pets, in fact in my experience it's quite the opposite. Older animals are set in their personalities and pretty much trained. And in most cases, though not this one, calmer. All good things in my opinion. End of lecture!

So Dr. U came in, cleaned some potatoes out of Tasha's ears (we both thought she had mites but there was nothing on the slide, Whoo hoo!) and showed me how to clip her nails. She did better with the nails than the ears interestingly enough. Unfortunately since I have to give her ear drops for 2 weeks it's added a whole new level of fun to our evening ritual. Anyhow, she's got a clean bill of health from her pink little nose to the bald tip of her tail (hair loss is normal in older ferrets).

The ride home was exciting. Tasha figured out how to open the zipper on her carrier as I was driving down route 1 in the torrential rain. So with no place to pull over I was forced to wrestle with her in my lap until I got to the turnpike tolls! No humans or animals were injured...hee hee.

She's been a wonderful little joker around the house: figuring out how to get her cage door open within an hour of being in it, stealing my socks and attempting to haul away a pair of jeans, doing the wiggly ferret dance of joy (which looks a little like a fun seizure...) and having a toe fetish. She's a very licky creature which can catch you off guard if your shoes are off.

But she's adorable and hilarious, and Connie keeps threatening to steal her which I take as a good sign. So here are some pics of our little girl...not the grand child Frank's mom was hoping for but she has 2 and 2 on the way so she'll be fine!

And a little video including some back wiggling and tail chasing...

Project Update

2009-03-25T11:04:00.001-04:00

My scanning project is moving along at a snails pace, but it is moving. I'm finding one of the benefits is that I can skip things I'm no longer interested in, or can't remember why I took the picture. For instance those pictures I took parasailing...yeah, 10 shots of the ocean at a jaunty angle from a disposable camera. You know those are quality memories. There isn't even a point of reference! And a few pictures of my ex-husband in drag, aside from blackmail (which since he's in theatre isn't really likely) do I need to preserve those? Nope. So that's kinda neat.

Then there are the weddings where I was someone's date. I have 3 pages of pictures from Mike and Chelsea's wedding...mostly of people I don't know and the car that was soaped. I did keep a couple shots from that, and added to my collection of pictures where Aly is doing something to Greg's head. Then there was Matt and Caren's wedding...nothing worth saving there. So more disk space for drunken pictures of Chuck and Dan!

As Time Goes By

2009-03-25T10:47:00.003-04:00

I shall attribute my lack of posting to having a life and being busy at work. Neither of which am I complaining about!

Frank and I had one of our patented much too busy weekends, well 2 in a row actually. We shook things up and did St. Patty's day at the Shanache and the Friday before the 17th, then took a drunken Connie with us to a Friday the 13th Pex party. Connie is like chum to sharks apparently. In a room full of safe people I know and trust the one guy no one's ever seen before and who sends out the creepiest vibe will find her. After ushering her away, body blocking while he circled and considering just kissing her to make him go away (since "no, go away" wasn't working) Frank stepped in and toward the end of the night had a 2 girl harem. The guy mumbled and apology to him as we left.

Saturday was recovery then off to Clan Lester to watch that cinematic tour de force "Black Sheep." Coming to you from the green hills of New Zealand with effects courtesy of WEP, this dramatic tail of man-eating sheep and wer-sheep is not to be missed. Not quite Evil Dead, but darned close! Happily Ben was too little to be scarred for life and Julia was in the other room watching Horton Hears a Who.

After our visit we planned on heading back into the city for another party, but I fell asleep on the couch while Frank was in the bathroom so we decided to call it a night. Sorry Aly, we aren't your heroes after all.

Sunday was spent sewing I think. It's kind of a blur. But Connie became an Aunt and there was much rejoicing!

Last weekend we were continuing the People who have Small Children Tour, but illness stepped in. Friday was playing dd for Connie at a friend's 21st birthday (I feel so old, but at least I can drink with out barfing most of the time). We left around 12:30 and missed the birthday girl hurling and another guest being taken to the police station for public intoxication, darn.

Saturday we headed to Lancaster to meet Natasha, a 7 year old ferret we decided to adopt. Isn't she cute?

Then we wandered our way to New Holland to see Jill, Dan and the Seat of Our Pants Players do 12th Night. Dan has once again breathed new life into Shakespeare. I'm normally not a big fan, especially if I've already seen the show once, but he keeps coming up with new angles. The man is talented.

Sunday was supposed to be our second stop in the People who have Small Children Tour, but by then Frank was really under the weather and I was starting to get sick, so we decided not to test Molly's immune system by having lunch with Clan Reisse. We have a rain date for this Sunday though, yay!

So instead of pizza, stories and cuteness Frank slept in and Connie and I went out to get ferret supplies and groceries. By the time we got back I was done and dead tired. Monday my throat started to bother me and by yesterday I was rather miserable. I left work at noon, drove out to pick up Natasha then came home and collapsed. Within a half an hour Natasha had stolen both my socks and figured out how to open her cage door. And had me in stitches. I'll post movies of her soon, lord knows she doesn't stay still enough for pictures!

Happily today I'm feeling better, though sounding worse. And looking forward to getting home to play with the new addition. Or at least act as a speed bump for her...

New Project!

2009-03-05T14:01:00.003-05:00

Hello, my name is Liz and I'm a recovering scrapbooker. Well, let's just say I'm taking it in a new direction...

Those of you who may be interested my latest project is taking my scrapbooking paperless. I loved doing them, but damn they take up a lot of space and weigh a ton! So I'm starting the process of scanning in the pages and uploading them to my flickr account. Once everything is digital I'll figure out what to do with the actual books (probably give people their wedding pictures and anything else they might want then take the books apart).

Anyhow, I have my freshman year in college done...check it out!

A Wonderful Weekend

2009-02-17T13:50:00.002-05:00

Actually, it was a wonderful end of the week through the weekend, but let's not be picky ; )

Thursday Frank in his infinite sweetness sent flowers to work, the card saying just because Valentine's was on the weekend didn't mean I shouldn't get flowers at work. I love this man. Thursday night we headed to Casa Gastongay for Frank's introduction to 7th Sea. Aside from a hatchet to the chest he did quite well!

Friday was a pop in at the doctor's then I was off to have lunch with Clan Reisse. Molly is still just a tiny bag of sand, but she's adorable. Charlotte is cute as ever and all is right with the world. It was great to catch up.

Afterward I headed home to clean up then meet Frank in the city for dinner. Since Saturday we planned on spending with his family and then going to a party he decided Friday would be Valentine's for us. We had dinner at Bistro St. Tropez, a beautiful view, good food and great company. I can't think of anything more perfect.

Saturday we headed to Megan's to meet her, John, Bridget, Alan, Mom and Dad for lunch then ended up trading stories until after 8. I won't share the stories, but I will say there was a lot of potty humor and at one point I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! I love his family.

Saturday night was the annual PEX Heartburn soiree. It was in Manayunk this time around. Interesting venue, though the warehouse will always be my favorite. There was dancing, exploring and finally sticking to the floor so badly I lost my shoes...we left a little after 4 then grabbed a bite at the Double TT (yes, technically that makes 4 Ts). Amazing pancakes and Jill, they did the bacon just right!

We collapsed into bed around 6 and slept until noon or so, finally getting dressed and heading to the movies to see Coraline. I heartily recommend it. Dinner at the dinner after with lots of giggling ended a lovely weekend.

I hope everyone found time for fun this weekend, and I did get some pictures up: Heartburn

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

Just a little earlier...hee hee

Hurdle Hopping

2009-02-03T14:06:00.002-05:00

I'm getting good at this! So last week after we finally got heat other things started to act up. I've mentioned up until the wireless part of the office router decided it was done...and after a long afternoon with various "experts" we decided to just hard wire the computer to the internet. Problem solved! And that's about when my printer started acting funny and I called it a week.

I believe Thursday was also when the towel bar in our bathroom finally gave up and crashed to the floor.

So Friday. Wake up late, zip out to Reading to the Mad Hatter- a little antique mall-then head back east for a dentist visit. I love my dentist. He's been seeing me since I was 11 or 12 and still says things like "you're too young to worry about that". Due to the mechanical failures around me I was a little worried about having all those instruments in my mouth, but Debbie the hygienist assured me this was the time my week started getting better. We were doing okay until the polisher thingy started making funny noises. That's when Dr. B decided it was a good time to lubricate it and the rest of the appointment went fine. No cavities!

Next I was off to meet Lydia for coffee then into the city for dinner with my honey. We planned on going to Pho Cali, a little Vietnamese place by the Troc. I'd been there before, it was okay but Frank seemed excited and they had bubble tea (one of my favorite things). We settled in, ordered drinks and perused the menu. As I decided on the one chicken dish available I looked over my menu and asked if they had anything veggie. Short answer: No. Soooo, we had drinks then moved on to another restaurant which was quite yummy then headed home.

Saturday the tub went from draining slow to draining at about the same speed glaciers melt. Great. But after the heater replacement I just couldn't bring myself to call the land lady, we would try Draino first.

Happily Saturday night we were going to Jill and Dan's for a murder mystery or in this case a Hoo done it...hee hee. It was much fun with puns, bad and in some cases inappropriate accents and of course, a mystery to solve which we flubbed. Adam did it and got away with it!

Sunday was a shopping day...and Home Depot was put on the list after the handle on the toilet broke. I think that's when I started giggling. But we made the rounds of Target, Petsmart, Giant, Home Depot and even the dollar store and got home by 5:30.

Have I mentioned how fantastic Frank is? While I put away the groceries he put up the new towel bar and fixed the toilet. Once that was done I put up the new shower curtain and Drainoed the tub which seems to be much better. Team work!

The rest of the evening was tidying up and finishing my costume for an upcoming party. All in all, an eventful week.

And this week? So far (knock wood) its bumping along with the normal stuff. I do have some good news though: I've lost all but 2 pounds of the holiday weight and that makes me a happy girl. The gain was no surprise, you can't eat bacon every morning and lord knows what else for 5 days and not go to the gym without consequences!

Whoo Hoo!

2009-01-28T07:52:00.002-05:00

So yesterday I felt like a paraplegic trying to jump hurdles until about 7:30. Woke up to a very cold apartment and didn't want to leave my warm bed, until I realized that staying home from work meant staying home without heat. So I sprinted around getting dress and zipped out the door. Got to work and the new time clock was down. Why? Because the computer it was hooked to was down. Fixed that. Talked to the boss who had trouble with my computer the night before. All was fine now, but I'm thinking there was a power surge.

Boss gets in and is online for about 2 hours then the wireless router decided it didn't want to be wireless anymore. I tinkered but to no avail. Her husband came in (we call Joe Second tier support) and he was at a loss. We ended up on the phone with Verizon, we need a new wireless router and I spent the rest of the afternoon snaking ethernet cable through walls so she could be hardwired in her office.

Oh and I found out that I'm gonna owe the IRS a bit more than I figured. Great.

After work I went to the store then met Connie at the gym where I realized I was done. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill then drug myself home where I was praying there would be heat...and there was! Oh it was fantastic! You know, I don't think I'll ever see being cold quite the same way again.

I immediately texted Frank to let him know it was safe to come home and after cleaning up a bit I settled into a nice warm bath. Oh so wonderful to be warm when you get out of the bathroom! No more cold potty seat!

Frank came home and we had a lovely dinner then snuggled because we wanted to, without the addition of it being necessary to stay warm! I no longer feel like I'm living in communist Russia and standing in line for toilet paper! Yay!

Brrrr!

2009-01-27T08:05:00.002-05:00

So I find myself feeling like I'm in a Steinbeck novel. Some part of my being feels that living without heat for 6 days should be something of the by gone past...not my present. Thank God for Frank. He's been so patient and positive about this, not to mention snuggly which is very important when trying to maintain body temperature!

The latest is that hopefully the new heater will be installed today, which is good because I think my brain is starting to freeze. Yes, we could go to the offered hotel, but now it's almost like an endurance test...we can do this! Last night I went to make dinner and found my coconut milk had turned into a slushie...in the can. Kind cool actually. And I now know our rat has cold feet. Little, horribly cold feet.

For me the hardest part is that I have some projects that need to work on and just can't bring myself to get moving on because of the temperature. Let's face it, no one wants to try on half made clothes when it's 50 degrees.

But aside from the cold I really can't complain. Thank you to all who have offered to let us crash!

AAAAARRRRRGGGG!

2009-01-25T10:12:00.002-05:00

Okay, having a frustrating weekend with some good bits too. So Thursday crazy lady downstairs calls to ask if the heat is working...I have no idea, I'm at work! Frank and I go to P-Town for some game playing and the landlady calls to say the heater isn't working, she's got the repair guy coming out to look at it but we won't have heat that night. No biggie, we have blankets and a space heater. It wasn't bad at all actually.

Friday I have off and the heating guy may need to come upstairs so I park my butt in front of the space heater and work on a sewing project. When I'd heard nothing by 5 PM I called the landlady...the guy was downstairs now, she was peeved because he knew they needed a part the night before and instead of ordering it he brought something he thought might work. Great. I go to the gym, come home and talk to the landlady again (I love her by the way, she's great) who is really stressed because we won't have heat...again. Okay, Frank is working late and when he gets home we have dinner, snuggle up and then head to bed. Again, not a bad night.

Saturday...still no heat. Landlady calls at her witt's end, she's changing repair companies and ordering a new heater but we won't have heat until Monday, would we like to stay at a hotel? Nah, it hasn't been so bad, and our stuff's here.

Then the mail comes. I get a letter from my car insurance saying the online payment I made on the 12th (because I hadn't received my invoice which would be due the 16th) hadn't gone through. That's right, made an online payment, got and e-mailed receipt on the 13th and they MAILED me a letter saying it didn't go through. Now my payment is late, and in car insurance speak that means you are moments away from being uninsured. Great. So I go online where it says I both paid and owe, great. I make another payment, this time with a credit card instead of my bank account thinking perhaps I typed something wrong. Okay problem solved.

Saturday we had tickets to see Dar Williams at the Keswick and she was amazing! She did The Babysitter's Here as an encore and was spectacular! I want the new album! So that was great. We then went to Michael's Dinner in Glenside to grab a bite...and that sucked. The waitress dropped off coffee, took our order delivered it and then was never to be seen again. We sat there for a good 30 minutes trying to get her attention because we wanted more coffee and milkshakes but had no luck so we gave up. Of course on the way out after wrestling for the bill I thought Frank left a tip on the table but as we left we discovered neither of us did so I ran back in and gave her some ones. Definitely not my usual dinner tip, and to be honest I would have been okay with nothing, but that would have been mean.

So we get home to a freezing house, jump into bed and shiver the night away. This morning has dawned brutal and I'm taking Frank out to breakfast to thaw him out. Seriously, I'm next to the space heater and my fingers and toes are getting numb! I think the rat is hybernating. Oh, and I get an e-mail from my insurance rep saying my bill is overdue. Arg! I write him back, explain the situation and thank him for the reminder (better than a cancelation notice). Then I go online where I see once again no payment has been posted to my account. Good Grief! So I call and make the payment over the phone. Now I've either paid the bill 3 times, once or possibly not at all.

Have I mentioned I'm cold? I think my pinky finger just fell off...time to pour some hot water on Frank and de-ice him from his chair...

Welcome!

2009-01-19T08:52:00.003-05:00

A warm welcome to Molly Elizabeth Reisse, born January 16, 2009 and weighing in at 7lbs 4oz. She came in 2 lbs over her sister and with more hair at 1 day than her sister had at 1 year! It looks like Chuck and Julie are going to have both a fair haired and a raven haired beauty. Sister Charlotte has already met her little sister and is in awe of the tiny bundle, but I don't think even this little cutie can upstage her sister in the adorable arena. Before heading out with Grandma and Grandpa Charlotte asked Mom if she'd like hugs and kisses. Julie melted.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-01-12T09:05:00.002-05:00

It was a busy but very lovely weekend. Friday I actually had to work for a change (but hey, it all go toward Burning Man so I have no complaints). After work and a nice soak in the tub I fought the urge to nap on the couch and instead played with Magellan until Frank came home. We grabbed a bite to eat, hit the grocery store and then settled in to watch Family Man's "Blue Harvest". Somehow it just doesn't get old.

Saturday was date day, yay! It was also Baby Day. I got a text at 5:22 AM that our friend Megan had gone into labor. 12 hours later she had a 9 lb bouncing baby girl named Kaia Anahata Petigara. As I headed into the library to tell Frank she was in labor he excitedly told me his sister Betsy had finally had baby Jonah! With all this babiness happening I felt it would be wise to check in on Clan Reisse. Chuck was a little confused when I asked if Julie was in labor, and asked her. She said no, why and I let him know that everyone else was doing it, perhaps she wanted to be a joiner? Nope, she's an individual, so we are still waiting on baby Molly. More on the Year of the Baby next post.

But after all that news Frank and I headed out for some food and shopping before going to a movie. We saw Grand Torino which I highly recommend. It is a truly great movie.

Sunday I headed over to Connie's to help clean out her basement. We got something like 12 bags of trash out of it...and that was just one area out of 3. This weekend will be tackling the workshop I believe. We did find a weeble-wobble and I came away with an original Connie P. tea lite holder. Very cool. My favorite moment was picking up a plaque in the office area and knocking the mouse poo off it only to walk into another part of the basement and find a dead mouse.

"That isn't a cat toy, is it?" I said.
"Not any more" Connie replied with a heavy sigh.
"Well, at least we can be sure it was a mouse that did all the pooping." And then we scooped it into a trash bag.

What wonders will next weekend hold!

Neither Rain, nor Sleet, Nor Dark of Night...

2009-01-08T08:21:00.002-05:00

First, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. I know mine was wonderful. And of course, there are stories!

Frank and I were all set to fly out to Yelm Washington on December 24th. The plan was that he would take me to work, then pick me up after our holiday luncheon and we'd go right to the airport to catch out 5:55 flight. Best laid plans...

Wednesday morning dawned covered in ice. After deicing the steps, sidewalk and car we headed to Norristown. The roads weren't too bad, until we got to Norristown of course. Salt? What is this "salt" you speak of? They obviously hadn't heard of it. An error in judgement on my part took us by the Elmwood Park Zoo where we hit a patch of black ice at about 15 miles an hour. We did a very slow slide and bumped the curb, no biggie right? I've had greater impacts parking! We braved the ice the rest of the way, and I even needed to jam my fingers in the lines of the car to get around it the sidewalk things were so slick...and get a hand from Frank. But I was safely at work and he got safely home. They day could roll on.

Oh, did I mention I hate airports? Love flying but I get stressed about missing the plane until I'm actually ON it. So I was a little anxious before the ice.

An hour or so later Frank texts that he has bad news. I text back "What?" He sends that there is something wrong with the car's alignment...great. I call and we make a plan of action. And did I know the little shelf with the figurines fell down in the bedroom? Sigh. No...I'll deal with it later.

Luckily there is a good auto shop 2 blocks from the house and they were open. Frank took the car in and by 11 AM I knew we needed a ride to the airport. The front spindle was bent. My car would be spending the holidays in the shop. So now I'm in plan mode. I asked Connie if she could give me a ride home and possibly to the airport which she was game for though she'd never driven to the airport before and feared not being able to get home. At this point I'm starting to think maybe I wasn't meant to go to Yelm. I firmly believe that if things get too hard to pull off then the universe is trying to tell me something. That's when the powers that be sent the second Christmas elf (the first being Connie).

I'd sent an e-mail to Lydia detailing the morning adventures and as I was about to throw in the towel she called to see if she could do anything to help. Why yes, could she take us to the airport at 2:30? So it was Lydia to the rescue! I also checked with Monie to see if she could be elf #3 and pick us up on the 30th which she so sweetly said she could. So Connie took me home, I gathered a few things then Lydia, Frank and I were off to the races thanks to some really wonderful friends.

On the way to PHL something disturbing happened. We were on 476 and a lawn gnome fell off a truck and was immediately obliterated by traffic. This is where I leaned back and begged Frank to tell me we didn't book with Travelocity. If we had there was no way I was getting on that plane! No, we were safe. We booked with Priceline and as far as we knew William Shatner was still alive and well.

From this point on everything pretty much went great. We got dinner in the airport, the plane was on time, the trip was loooong but uneventful, the rental car was there and we were soon on our way from Seattle to Yelm.

At 9 PM

After they'd had 12 days of snow

Did you know the environmental lobby won't let Washington state salt the roads?

Oh, and my cell phone decided to be a really expensive clock, but I wasn't dealing with that at the moment.

After some of the most misleading signage I've ever seen we finally made it on to I-5 and clear roads. We were doing pretty well until we had to turn on to Reservation Road. It was closed due to snow...mostly. We skirted around the sign and after about 50 yards saw the opposing sign and figured all would be well. Not really. the road hadn't been plowed, it was pretty much mountainous and we were trying to keep our car in the tracks that were left from cars before us. I have to say Frank did great, even with me as a nervous passenger. You know how it is when you are used to driving and now can't do anything but sit there. Oh, and then it started snowing again. I had visions of Donner Pass flashing before my eyes.

But soon we were back on plowed roads and the lights of Yelm were in sight. We checked into the Prairie View Motel and Frank called his family to see if they were still awake. They weren't so I grabbed a shower and we snuggled into the king sized bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Christmas morning dawned...rainy (it is Washington after all). Frank chipped the ice off the car and we headed to Josh and Betsy's. Everyone was still in their jammies, making breakfast and playing with Miss Audrey (Josh and Betsy's daughter, Frank's niece). Mountains of presents awaited the littlest of us and soon she set to work on them. We lost Megan behind them at one point...but we found her!

I have to say here that I love Frank's family. I feel so at home with them, it's almost like hanging out with my family. You know that comfortable feeling where it's okay just to hang out and talk, read, be goofy. Alan and Bridget were the Master and Mistress of bacon for the entire time we were there. I think when I get home I was suffering bacon withdrawal for the first few days. Audrey, who is 18 months old, was an angel. Not only is she sweet and adorable, but in 5 days there wasn't one temper tantrum or crying jag. The thing I found really neat was how everyone sort of took on parenting duty.

Audrey would wander into a room where no one was and someone would wander off after her. Betsy and Josh weren't left to fuss over guests and watch their daughter like hawks (especially nice since Betsy is 9 months pregnant and this is Josh's first Christmas home in like 4 years-he's in the military). If she needed changing Aunt Meg, Uncle John, Aunt Bridget or Grandmom could do it as easily as mom. Same with feeding. Uncle Sean was always available for playing, as was Grandpa, Uncle Frank, the girls and of course the dogs. I even got to accompany her watching Elmo in Grouchland (which reminds me I have to borrow that from Jack to I can see how it ends). Audrey was comfortable with everyone, even me. She knew she was safe and loved, and the center of attention at all times. It was that village people keep talking about and it was really great. And there are even pictures!

All to soon we were off to the airport again. Frank was expecting Betsy to go into labor about the time we hit Chicago, but as of this morning there is still no baby. We got in a little after midnight. Monie picked our tired butts up and we were soon snuggled in bed at home. Frank, crazy man that he is, went to work after a few hours sleep. I slept in, called the shop to find my car was ready and got together with Connie to catch up and get some lunch.

The rest of the year was devoted mostly to colds unfortunately, but 2009 came with the promise of another fantastic year.

2008 was another year with the love of my life, a wonderful family (both by birth and by friendship) and good health. 2009 has begun the same way. I am truly blessed.

Happy New Year!

Good Grief

2008-12-18T16:00:00.004-05:00

You know, sometimes in life you have to just shake your head and chuckle...though it is a patronizing chuckle this day, for today I was flamed on Facebook. Yup, that social networking site so many people know and love.

Personally, I'm on Facebook because Jill told me I could poke people. I mean who could resist a cyberpoke? Okay, get all those dirty thoughts right out of there! But as I have a page just for the poking I don't do a whole lot with FB. I dislike my info being shopped out to download an application, so if you've ever sent me anything and noticed it fell flat, well it wasn't personal, I just don't snowball, plant, pass the word on about world peace, play games, adopt kittens (though I think Andi did get me to adopt a bunny)...all those fun things. I pop on to poke Jill, put up the occasional picture and talk to Aly.

And I'm picky about friends. My general theory is that if I don't know you I don't need to accept your friend request. Reasonable I think. Now there are people out there that I know and still don't accept the request, like my ex-husband. I don't care what he's up to and he doesn't care what I'm up to and that's the way I like it. This category also extends to people I went to high school with and either don't remember or never actually had a conversation with...or that I found annoying. Again, except for the annoying group, it isn't anything personal. I just don't feel the need to have 5000 friends. Maybe if I was a band...anyhow, lets get to the flamage.

A girl I went to high school with sent me a friend request ages ago and I chose to ignore it. Why? Because my senior year was interesting and when I stopped hanging out with another friend (long story) this person decided to become a stereotypical teenage girl and be nasty. It didn't bother me much, she was much more the other person's friend than mine, we didn't hang out nor were we in the same classes. Once she was nasty it was incredibly easy to just not be around her.

Time passes...

And we are back to FB and me ignoring her request, which must have been months ago. Today I get a message from her, "Screw you sweetie". I'm finding it amusing that she cares enough to still be snotty, and a bit surprised, but hey I'm sure someday I will regret not accepting her request to be my friend. I'm sure someday I will lay awake at night thinking of how my life could have been different if I'd just clicked "accept..."

Or maybe, just maybe, I'll chuckle and blog about this silliness because much like only I can grow mushrooms on a car battery I'm probably one of the few people who would get flamed on Facebook.

Hee hee

PS...Spell check didn't flag "Flamage"

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-17T07:56:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again, where I deck my hall and put up the tree. This is the second year I have had a helper elf, and I must say Frank is a very good one. I think I'll keep him.

Saturday was the annual Christmas gathering in Ambler. While I'd hoped to get the Gaian Mind crew out, the monthly gathering at Zot turned out to be the same night so no GM for us. We had some early cancellations due to illness: Clan Lester was hit with the plague, Matt's date's father had a heart attack, and Don was sick and/or found something better to do. This was also the first year we didn't have Clan Wentzel, but I've tempted them over for cocoa and booze tomorrow night so it's all good.

Folks were due to arrive around 4. At 4:10 I realized the Lesters were going to bring the beer so I ran out to the beverage outlet in a slight panic. When I got home Monie, Lydia and the kids had arrived. Lydia whisked the beer out of my arms and it was nothing but hugs from there on out. Zoe and Jack were terrific as always and Frank had everyone settled with drinks and was busily pulling things out of the oven. He is a fantastic co-host.

On my heels were Megan and John bearing beer, ziti and the most evil-yummy brownies! As I said to Amanda earlier, we may not have had Jill's crack, but these were a pretty good substitute!

Greg arrived with a disturbing Yard-o-Beef and a smile having been elected the only healthy member of the family and sent as envoy to the party. We loaded him up with gifts for the kids and made sure his tummy was full. Much to my surprise Matt and his date did make it, though his date was a bit over excited. That is a whole other story though. I was glad Matt could make it out, he doesn't really socialize a whole lot since his divorce.

Clan Reisse arrived and Charlotte was soon zipping around from room to room with Princess Dora in hand. Connie arrived as the kids were opening presents and was just in time to see Julie open their card and gift for little Molly, the proto-Reisse. Charlotte made a wonderful Santa, though at one point started giving Bill money meant for her dad so that raised some eyebrows. After that Greg had to leave us to see to the sick folks, we'll be making a date for a private showing of the Gingerdead Man.

Lydia was her usual brilliant self and brought little stockings for the kids to make. And there was no mess! I have no idea how she did that! Charlotte set up the traveling play area, beginning in the living room, moving into the kitchen, recruiting Megan to carry the toys back to the living room and then settling in the hall. It was quite fun to watch, especially as Megan explained that she thought Charlotte needed help getting the little people into the car then too late realized she was just piling everything into her arms!

Amanda and Jen stopped by after another party bearing Amanda's wonderful humus, mint Baileys and a poinsettia. Coffee was made and spiked and after the little folks left we settled in to watch Gary Busey as a 12" homicidal cookie in The Gingerdead Man. It was as good as it sounds...hee hee. It only ran an hour and I have to say didn't have the entertainment value of Jack Frost, but it was campy if gross fun and that's what we were going for.

Amanda was off to yet another party and Jen was turning into a pumpkin so they headed out. Matt's date wanted to get home so they too said good night. That left Connie, Bill, Frank, Megan, John and I to chat away the rest of the night. Around 3 Frank called the evening and goodbyes were said.

Another lovely pre-Christmas gathering with my favorite people, big and small. There are even pictures!

There once was a phone from Verizon...

2008-12-11T14:15:00.003-05:00

That a fed up Liz had her eyes on
It came in the mail
but web access did fail
Now she wants a tin can to talk on.

I seem to be in phone hell.

For the past 2 years I've been saddled with an LG Chocolate slide phone. I have had to suffer through "soft keys" and having a strange woman's voice float up from my pants every time I sit down demanding I enter a voice command. Never mind the phantom calls it's made from my coat pocket while well out of my reach. Frank, Jill and sadly my landlady are all too familiar with my phone's loneliness.

So I decided to us my new every two deal with Verizonwirelss to get a simple flip phone. I found the Moto Limerick had just what I was looking for: Low price, simple design, mobile web, flip close and even a camera. In short, everything the Chocolate had but flippy instead of slidy. Yay!

It arrived yesterday and I excitedly activating it, saying farewell to the Chocolate. Next step was to transfer my contacts. Simple with Verizon's backup assistant...or it would have been if the phone would connect to the network. Now sometimes Verizon has a lot of traffic so I thought maybe things were just busy. When I got home I tried again. No luck. And I couldn't get onto the web. In desperation and curiosity I grabbed my old phone to see if it could connect, not knowing if the features were turned off or not. Well I couldn't make a call but I could surf the web. Great. If I carried all the phones I now have (Frank sweetly gave me his old pda) I have the perfect phone...and a really heavy purse.

So this morning I called tech support and spoke at length to Lisa, a really funny woman who had me pop the battery, update, and finally do a master reset. Nothing. She was puzzled that the Chocolate still had web access. She put in a network trouble ticket and they were going to get back to me. 10 minutes later I get a text saying the problem had been resolved and to try the application. Nope, still no luck. I call back and talk to Ethan. Another nice person confused as to why my old phone could still surf. Ethan does the battery pop and after a short interview determines we've done everything he knows to do. He thinks the phone is at fault, but he can't make that call so he bumps me up to Lester in 2nd tier service. Lester was also very nice and very close to not believing the Chocolate was still accessing the net. He too thought it was the phone but wanted to try one more thing. He had me turn off the phone while he did...something. He told me to turn it back on...and it wouldn't. So that pretty much answered that question.

He gave me my options on sending the phone back, 3 had me paying more money and one was just to send it back and wait for a replacement, but their stock was low so it could be a while. I suggested option 5-giving up. I decided that my Chocolate was pulling a fatal attraction so I was just stuck with it. I'd send back the Limerick and just stick with the annoying phone. Resigned to my fate (why does this sound like I'm in an abusive relationship with my phone?) I set the Limerick on my desk so I could scowl at it through the day.

An hour ago I decided to poke at it. I took out the battery, put it back in and tried to turn it on. And it came to life! And it now does everything it's supposed to! I think it's possessed, at least that's what I told Sara at Verizonwireless when I called back to tell the story.

I think I want a land line again. Sigh.

Diabolique

2008-12-03T07:30:00.003-05:00

For those that don't know Diabolique is the annual fetish ball in Philadelphia who's proceeds go to charity. This year's benefactors were Bread and Roses Community Fund, Women's Therapy Center, and Woodhull Foundation. As the slogan says, "come be bad for a good cause".

My last experience at the ball was much different than this year's. Back in 1997 (I think) the ball was very much a true fetish ball. You got the definite feeling that this was a big, not so public part of the lives of the people you were meeting. There was a timidity in the air mingled with joy...that these out of the mainstream behaviors had found a place, for one night at least, to come out and play in an environment where all were accepted. The music was fun, the fashion show just incredible. It was a very interesting evening for a 23 year old me (damn I feel old now).

Flash forward to this year and my first ball in 11 years. Frank and I were both jazzed about going, just because it is such a different experience. The theme was Super Heroes vs Super Villains. I was the Pink Avenger. Frank was Stripper Boy. We got there around midnight, and since it was at Shampoo my expectations were already a bit lowered. We'd gone to the Libertine Ball there earlier in the year and it was pretty much a bust. I partially blame the venue, not that it isn't a great space, but I keep looking for 16 year olds because of the "club" feel.

Perhaps because of the lateness of the hour we were greeted at the door only by security (usually there is a greeter). Tickets were handed over and body parts stamped, but no one checked for costumes (they have a policy of fetish, formal or stripped down to avoid people in street clothes who just come to gawk...at least they used to). Still, I was vaguely surprised when a few guys wearing jeans and t-shirts wandered past later in the evening. I don't believe that would even pass for a normal evening's dress clubbing, but it's been a long time since I did that so who knows.

The Super Hero/Villain theme seemed perfunctory, there were some, but most folks were just in various costumes. And sadly the over all feel was of a costume party where people thought they were being naughty. Not quite insulting, but not really a feeling of safety if you did have a fetish you were displaying. But happily the music was a good bit better so there was dancing and there were a lot of interesting costumes. Who knew you could actually walk in fetish boots?

For fun and a charitable donation I spun the wheel of torture and was tickled by a very nice young lady while Frank refused to come to my aid...as he said, he didn't want me not to get my money's worth...hee hee.

Shortly before 2 we hit the road, stopping at the diner in Norristown for what has become our usual post party coffee and fries. Sadly the oddly friendly waitress who gets such a kick out of our costumes is no longer working there.

But though there are no cameras allowed in the club we did get a photo taken...those are $5 in my hand. It seemed appropriate.

December

2008-12-03T07:29:00.000-05:00

Get to Work:

You aren't being paid to believe in the power of your dreams

Good Grief

2008-11-13T07:54:00.002-05:00

So it would seem Yahoo is holding my e-mail hostage...I can see the subject lines in the preview but when I try to read them I get directed to the dell search page. Which brings me to the point of this entry.

"Don't promise marriage, just get out there and date!"

You know how the "I can't find the page you are asking for" screen tries to come up with alternatives for you? Well dell has decided that a viable alternative to Yahoo mail is "onlinebootycall.com". And the above would be their tag line.

This kinda makes "adultfriendfinder" look classy, doesn't it?

Love Mediterranean Style

2008-11-11T11:17:00.002-05:00

Friday was a much looked forward to night out with my sweetie. We decided to meet in the city and check out the Art Museum's Art After 5 program. Since it was the first Friday of the Month it was also International Night. Special cultures for the evening were Turkish and Greek. The grand hall of the museum was filled with tables, a stage area was set up and the staircase was filled with people sitting and enjoying the music.

We grabbed drinks at the bar and found a spot on the bottom step to sit and listen to Animus do their thing. They seemed to be a neo-traditional Greek group. After a while dancing broke out, what I will call Greek line dancing only because they were holding hands in a line. Frank got swept up in the line and in true "Farmer in the Del" fashion I was taken along too.

And that would be how I found myself in a line of Greek women and 2 men trying to follow steps that kept changing and not let my end of the line turn into a game of crack the whip. It was actually quite fun and I laughed the entire time. At one point a woman popped into the line between Frank and I saying she just had to try this. When I made my "crack the whip" joke she said, "It looks just like the horah! Just do the horah!" I didn't have the heart to tell her I had no idea how to do that either. But it was still very much fun and I'm happy I got the chance to do it. Frank tends to make me a bit braver.

After the museum closed we wandered in search of food and decided to continue the evening in the Greek style. We ended up at Zorba's, as did a few of our fellow dancers. It really was a lovely evening and I suggest both Art After 5 and Zorba's to anyone who's feeling a like an evening of something different.

Whoo Hoo!

2008-11-05T07:30:00.002-05:00

Yay because we have a new, uncontested president!
Yay because he isn't crazy!
Yay because he makes sense and I think really cares about the duty of the office, not the prestige of the title!
Yay because we won't start WWIII with Russia due to a hockey mom!
Yay because Sara Palin can go back to Alaska and freeze!
Yay because I don't have to move to Canada now!

Everyone's Doing It!

2008-11-04T08:54:00.000-05:00

Or they should be...so get out and vote!

Halloween Just Keeps Going!

2008-11-03T11:13:00.002-05:00

I hope you all had great pumpkin days (hee hee)

Friday night was the annual pumpkin carve at Monie's. Our very own Shaun of the dead was toasting seeds when Gypsy Rose Pappas, the Furry Pimp and I arrived. I decided to embrace my inner bear...at least I was warm! Frank and Connie joined Steph and Shannon in gutting and carving some squash. I decided to abstain this year, as I was covered in whitish fur and knew I'd end up with guts all over it.

Dan-Bear provided ambiance with his musical selections, and somehow the only picture I managed to get was of his butt. Go figure. Shannon joined us from Spain as a Venetian Blind and proved a champion pumpkin gutter. We ended the evening watching/mocking Warlock and enjoying warm cider.

Saturday was the Wentzel Halloween Spooktacular in Boyertown. Since I'd almost suffocated on fur the night before and it was about 20 degrees warmer I opted for going as a cat...with purple hair. Frank shed the pimp duds and reprised his roll as Death, which gave an older gentleman pause as he pulled into his parking spot at the Acme. I'm not sure if it was my hair that made him give that look or if he thought his time was up, but either way it made Connie laugh her butt off. Connie was our resident gangster for the day, complete with brass knuckle earrings.

Jill was our yippee ti ie aye hostess and Dan was a man for all seasons, or at least most. Clan Lester came with the littlest pirate I've ever seen, complete with mustache. Julia Rose, who does a fierce dog impression, ended her visit by chasing me around the house, and at one point Frank. John and Dianna arrived a dice, and regulation dice at that! Adam was a partial dimensional shambler, having been forced to shed his hood as it scared the children.

Much to our surprise it turns out one of the new teachers at Jill's school is someone who Connie knows, and I do too from back in the Jenkintown days. Small world!

There was much laughter, many stories and so much horribly good food I don't want to think about it! Another fantastic Halloween season has come and gone...Bring on Friendsgiving!

And if you want some visuals check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/31411487@N03/

November

2008-11-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Sacrifice:

Your role may be thankless, but if you're willing to give it your all, you just might bring success to those who outlast you.

Wild Weekend #1

2008-10-28T08:38:00.002-04:00

October and November are the months of costume fun it seems! Last weekend was the kick off. Friday we were at Zot for a Gaian Mind monthly, much fun. And I got to wear the patchwork pants so I was a happy camper (I made them out of an old pair of jeans and fabric scraps from projects at work, they are flippy and fun!) When we were danced out Adam joined Frank and me for some post midnight falafel at Maos, very yummy.

I managed to sleep until 2 Saturday afternoon, rather impressive even for me, but it felt so good. The rest of the day was putting finishing touches on costumes for the PEX Decompression party that night. 3 floors of epic silliness, dancing, snuggling and fire. I have to say that the only thing missing was a trampoline! Pictures can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/31411487@N03/sets/72157608411016038/

We ended up at a diner around 4 AM for coffee and munchies, then home to pass out. Sunday was working on the next costume and visiting with Connie while Frank diligently did some work. Amazingly for as busy as the weekend was it was also rejuvenating. That turned out to be a good thing, Monday was an angry beast! But all is well now and I'm looking forward to pumpkin carving at Monie's on Friday and the annual Wenzel Halloween Spook-tacular on Saturday.

Boo y'all!

Dear Red States

2008-10-20T09:12:00.003-04:00

This was posted by a friend on Tribe and I thought it deserved a wider audience (all 3 of you!)

Dear Red States:

We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share. Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines, 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,
Blue States

Playa Del Fuego

2008-10-14T15:17:00.004-04:00

"Beach of Fire"

Well, it wasn't really a beach, but a camping park, but there was a whole lot of fire!

Friday afternoon Frank and I loaded up the car and headed to Townsend DE to set up camp and enjoy the events of Playa del Fuego, Delaware's baby Burning Man. We'd spent the last two Sundays helping Camp Bangarang (sister camp to arThou, the one we were camping with) build a funky ship for the event so we were psyched to see it put together.

We got there a little before 5 to find that their camping area was full and we were to start filling in an annexed area. At first I was a little bummed about this, but once we were joined by Mel and Pat it wasn't a big deal. We named it The Old People's Home/Stepchild Area and decided not to defect to PEX's camp. As it turned out it was nice to have a quiet spot to unwind.

Once the tent was pitched, and Mel and Pat's tent was up, we started the adventure known as dinner. We'd decided to try camping food ("just add water!") and had 2 ways to make it. One was army style with saltwater and a reactive metal, the other was sterno. This is when I started thinking of us as camp chemical. It was fun figuring everything out though. Dinner was fine for what it was and then we headed out to see who was out and about. First we helped set up Mike's tent. We were becoming pros!

We wandered to the boat where Pat was spinning and danced a bit, Frank took a spin on the stripper pole. Mel was helping Neff with deco at the chill dome so we got to see the orange fur laid out. It actually worked out pretty well. No fur for Sex-O-Dome though, and that was probably best. We caught up with Jen and Adam, a nice surprise and after some wicked fun on the trampoline made our way back to camp to call it a night.

The day had been hot but the night was cold! OMG! Morning dawned still chilly and dew filled. Frank basically got peed on by the tent overhang when he went outside. We had a breakfast of poptarts and Frank started coffee. Adolphe joined us with his grill and started whipping up a feast. Coffee took a can and a half of sterno, which was funny to a point. Mel and I broke ranks and traded jokes for coffee at the little cafe set up at the pavillion.

Unfortunately I started to not feel great later in the afternoon, but it passed enough for me to enjoy the rest of the day. We were gifted cookies as we wandered, saw some sights then headed back to camp to make chili for the potluck. And of course get dressed for the Pirate Booty Ball. We walked the chili over to the other campers then helped break up firewood (okay, Frank broke it up and I carried it over to the burn barrel). Soon it was time for the pony to burn.

An explanation: At Burning Man they set a giant wooden man on fire. At Playa del Fuego they light up a wooden pony. But this year it was a wooden seahorse, which was kinda cool.

It's amazing how fast that much wood can burn. And quite warm. Once the seahorse had fallen we grabbed jackets and did some wandering and dancing, ending up crashing in the chill dome before we decided to head back to the tent.

In the morning I was still feeling under the weather so I slept in while Frank hung out with Mel, Pat and Adolphe. Frank was once again my hero by preventing a small dog from wandering into our tent while I slept. I woke up to him shooing it away. Once I was up and dressed I felt a good bit better, but we still decided to call it a weekend. We packed up camp and headed home where there were showers and general collapsing.

All in all it was fun, but not quite what I expected. If you want to see pictures check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/31411487@N03/sets/72157608032221537/detail/

Connie Day!

2008-10-08T09:52:00.000-04:00

On Oct. 4th Connie turned 26 and we hauled her butt out to celebrate. With the help of her friends Nickie and Rayna we gathered her peeps and descended upon the Shanachie. A special thanks to Monie and Frank for being my sanity and keeping me from throttling Brianna.

After a stratagy planing session outside the bathrooms a few of us returned to find someone (Brianna) had told the band on stage that Connie sang. Though refusing to sing, she did gamely go on stage to beat a drum for a song.

Post dinner we went to hang out at Noah's and all in all I think every one had a good time. Connie was all smiles and tipsey by the time we took her home. Mission accomplished!

Something Furry This Way Comes

2008-09-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the family Magellan!

Sunday after checking in on Kitten Frank and I went on to do domestic things like grocery shopping. Along the way we stopped at Petsmart so he could handle a rat, and we could see if he was allergic to them. There we met Magellan and Frank discovered just how fast a rat's heart beats and its nose wiggles. We went on to do the shopping and when no sign of rash or sneezing occurred he gave the nod to bringing a fuzzy home.

Of course first we had to figure out which of the 3 grey and white rats was the one we'd handled earlier. After a little trial and error we found our guy and Frank played "no you can't come out" all the way home.

Magellan, named by Frank after he witnessed the little guys exploratory nature, has proven to be a self-leveling rat: When he's on a shoulder and you bend over he heads for your butt, then heads north again when you straighten up. A handy skill for a shoulder rat.

So once again there are little paws in the place. Yay!

Zoom!

2008-09-22T15:47:00.003-04:00

Another wild and woolly weekend has come and gone. Friday was a morning appointment with trainer Sean...and discovering hopping hurts! We went through a sample work out then signed up for sessions. Whoo hoo...happily he has agreed to rescue Connie and I from Creepy Chris, the acting manager of the gym. Hopefully CC will move on soon.

After the gym was a quick clean up then sushi with Connie, Andrew and Rayna. Good company and conversation as always. Then back home where my path crossed with Frank's and then I was off again to get my hair done.

Through a ballet of missteps the hair thing took a lot longer than expected and at the end I was tired and a bit cranky, and there was no way we were going to make the bonfire in Allentown so I called Julie with apologies and Frank, Connie and I ended up at a little Indian restaurant I had passed many times but never tried. It was quite yummy!

Saturday began with trying out new hairstyles on Connie, lunch then making fun of various products that GNC offers. You'd be surprised just how fun that can be! There was talk of Peddler's Village but time got away from us so we rescheduled for next weekend. I had a date in Boyertown that I had to get to.

I was checking in on Miss Kitten for Jill and Dan. She iwas feeling a bit under the weather and needed some banana flavored meds so I visited her humble abode in the laundry room for a bit. Happily there was no barfing and she seemed in good spirits if a bit lonely. We had a petting, medication, petting sandwich and I headed home.

Frank had survived a rather frustrating day but successfully wrangled 2 bookcases home and got his laundry done. We had a victory dinner then headed into the city to dance the night away at Zot. Around 2 AM I was ready to call it a night, too tired even for coffee and french fries. Luckily our walk to the car passed by Maoz and Belgian fries were scored. A happy ending to a lovely night.

Sunday was another date with Kitten who seemed to be in high spirits. She'd managed to find a pair of Jill's stockings and claim them as hers. She also brought down the legendary Pirate Ducky of the Potty. Quite an accomplishment for one lone kitten.

After pets and meds it was time for lunch with my honey then domestic duties. One of the boons of living together is that I'm cooking again. It's quite fun, I must say. So far the kidney bean Kiev and rice and lentil casserole have come out well. I forget what this week's experiments are, but I'll fill you in on them when they happen.

Life is pretty dang good.

Quiet

2008-09-17T13:40:00.003-04:00

I'm being reminded again of how quiet a space is when someone is missing. We notice it in the office when just one of us is out. It's just...quieter.

In August the apartment got a little quieter when Callie left. But then Frank moved in so it wasn't as noticeable. Sure, he doesn't try to trip me when I'm carrying heavy things up the stairs, but I'm kinda glad of that : ) Even though Miss Callie is in a good home now I still expect to see her head poke out the door when I come home some days, still expect to have to shove a leg in to push her back so I can get inside without her escaping. Eventually this will fade completely.

Then Frank went to Burning Man...and it was just the pig and I. Once again the place seemed a bit emptier, quieter. But soon enough he was home and the rooms were filled with laughter, stories and snuggling.

Now again the apartment seems quieter. Monday my little PJ passed over the rainbow bridge. Frank was wonderful. I came home to lots of hugs and he took very good care of me, which meant the world. I was sad, but this wasn't unexpected.

All things have a time, and his was passed. He was 5 or 6, a rescue pig. He had a good life and way more veggie snacks than he should have I'm sure. He put up with baths and having his nails clipped, even sitting in front of the hair dryer with a piece celery. It was a pretty plush gig by guinea pig standards I think.

Still, I came home last night and started to say hi to him as I always do when I get home, but there was just an empty corner, a cage cleaned and empty. No happy peeping, no frantic dash for the igloo just in case I was a hawk. This morning was much the same: I rounded the corner with "Good morning Pidget my Pidget" on my lips, only to remember he wasn't there.

This is the first time I've been without a pet since...wow, since just after I moved to Pennsylvania. It feels very odd. I know it won't be long before something furry once again graces the apartment, but right now my heart isn't in it.

So goodbye my Pidget...my wer-pig...my pig of many colors. You will be missed.

In a Pigs Eye!

2008-09-11T11:10:00.003-04:00

Okay, this one will likely qualify as a rant. Before I tear into this let me say that I know relatively little about Sarah Palin, though I am tired of guys telling me she's hot and I'm tired of hearing her say she's a hockey mom. That said, the following has nothing to do with her.

Barack Obama made a statement about how McCain was talking about change but it was just the same old policies shined up a bit. To be colorful he used an idiom, one I have always liked actually. One he had used in the past, as had Mr. McCain. He said you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. I happen to think he's right on both the pig and the policies, but that is my opinion. Of course if you actually manage to get lipstick on a pig...never mind.

The next day came the righteously indignant demand from the McCain campaign that he apologize for calling Ms. Palin a pig.

Hello, Obama didn't say anything about Ms. Palin, but you just did! Is their VP choice so flimsy that they have to tilt at imagined insults? And this was after the statement that she wouldn't be made available for interview until the press learned to behave themselves! I'm sorry, but man or woman if you can't hold your own in an interview how are you going to handle congress, foreign politics or even just meeting with domestic groups? I refuse to believe that Ms. Palin is this delicate and I really feel that the campaign managers are doing her and the campaign a disservice.

More and more I get the distinct impression that John McCain has no control over the people running the "straight talk express" or whatever the hell he calls it these days. Whether this is true or not, it isn't a good impression to be making and if he isn't careful it isn't going to be his politics that sink him but his employees.

But after this whole pig lipstick thing I have to wonder...if she boards a plane does that mean all those things that weren't going to happen until pigs fly are going to become a reality?

Will someone try to make a silk purse out of one of her ears?

If you eat too much are you now making a Palin of yourself?

Come on people. We use idioms to color our speech and make it more memorable, slightly humorous. What has been said in the past by both candidates was a criticism of policy, not an attack of character, personal hygene or physical appearance. Palin herself has described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull as that of the hockey mom wearing lipstick. A woman who can make that joke shouldn't jump to the conclusion that any reference to lipstick is about her, and I doubt she does.

But if I were her I would so smack the guy who came up with that apology demand. 'Cause dude, he just called her a pig.

Now I'm going to go see if they make special lipstick for pigs...I think PJ would look ravishing in pink!

September

2008-09-03T12:47:00.001-04:00

Possibilities:

With focus, dedication and steroids, men can achieve impossible dreams.

Like breaking world records, or growing their own breasts.

Slow Time

2008-09-03T12:36:00.002-04:00

Last week was a study in slow time, it looks like this one may be too.

Last week it was a little work tension and rattling around the house. This week it looks like the work tension will continue but now Frank is home and I'd much rather be there than working late. C'est la vie.

But yes, Frank survived Burning Man. As I said when he got off the plane, he was much cleaner than I expected. And much less sunburnt happily. He's pretty chapped and chaffed but it sounds like he had a good time. He'll just keep moisturized and should be fine.

One funny moment though. Since the playa is so alkaline the best way to get his skin reconditioned was a vinegar bath. I'd left work to get him, saw him settled into the tub and headed back. When I told my boss I'd left him soaking in vinegar she asked if I was pickling him! Hee hee.

But there was some fun last week. Jill, Julie and I got together to catch up and lounge by the pool on Friday...in the rain as it turns out. Well, it was warm and we are rowdy rough girls so a little rain wasn't stopping us! The pool temperature almost did, but we over came! It was great talking about work, babies, future plans, family and life in general. And Julie looked hot in her blue and white gingham "pregnant lady swimsuit"!

Now it's time to get back to work...I'm slowly but surely wearing the numbers off my boss' credit card!

Postcards from the Edge

2008-08-26T11:37:00.002-04:00

So Frank headed off into the wild blue yonder again on Sunday, this time for fun. He's off to Burning Man which is in Black Rock Nevada - a town that only exists a few weeks a year. After loading himself down with sunscreen, hat, water bag, clothes and costumes (he'd already shipped out his camping gear) I dropped him off at the airport and crossed my fingers that his flight would leave on time. It did.

I got home, fell asleep on the couch then had a lovely dinner/grocery shopping expedition with my Monie. Once home I did a few odds and ends checked that he landed in Houston then went to bed. He sent a message when he landed in Reno then set off for the automobile portion of the trip.

I know he's having a blast and will have lots of stories for me when he gets back, but in the meantime I've discovered TV Free Burning Man at Current.com where various participants are posting video messages and little shorts about what is going on. It's pretty cool I have to say. And though I've done the desert hiking thing I've never done the desert camping thing. You know, it looks a lot like Tattuin. So far my favorite is the guy sending a message home who says he hasn't grown a mustache, it's playa dust. What's so amusing is that he's trying to rub it off and it isn't cooperating.

Oh yeah, Frank will have stories. And a lot of desert I have a feeling. And yes, I am a wee bit envious...hee hee

Gross but funny

2008-08-25T10:43:00.002-04:00

Okay folks, if you are looking for something to make you laugh out loud and aren't too squeamish about severely ugly bugs then check out http://potatobugs.com .

I warn you, I grew up in an area that had these, happily we didn't see them much, but they freaked me out every time. Just really ugly bugs and big.

(FYI for anyone truly interested, they are not venomous but do bite, other wise they just eat dead plants and insects).

Southwestern Wisdom

2008-08-20T08:25:00.002-04:00

Mom sends me bits from the local papers that she thinks I'll find amusing. These two were in the latest letter and I liked them so much I thought I'd pass them along.

Cowboys and Rodeos for the Lay-Person 101:

For cowboys who enjoy the subtle thrills of whiplash, there's bareback-bronk riding. This is akin to grabbing hold of the handle of a suitcase containing 1,000 pounds of dynamite, then tossing it out of an airplane and hoping you won't let go of the handle for at least 8 seconds or you hit the desert, whichever comes first.

Bull riding is the epitome of large animals leaping about. It consists of a plaited rope with a bull on one end and a fool on the other. The object is to keep that idiot from opening the gate, which leads to mayhem and violence. If this doesn't work, the object is to stay on the bull for eight seconds without having him pick your teeth with a horn the size of a baseball bat. Bull riding is for guys who enjoy meeting pretty nurses, riding fast through city streets with sirens blaring, and being treated to legal narcotics.

Bear Necessities

If It Doesn't Kill Me

Faith in Humanity

I'm Okay

Help! I Look Like a Corpse!

Aging a Little Less Gracefully

A Little Glum

Conflicted

Puppy Love

More Dogs that Aren't Ours

February

Blessings

Bachelor #...I've lost count: Boomer 2.0

Is it Fate?

So Close!

Back to Square One

Bachelor #3: Fatty Boom Batty

Our Countribution to Pet Rehoming

Bachelorette #2: Teila

In Search of Puppy Love: Bachelor #1

Why

Waiting...

Great Moments in Dieting

A Quick Update from a Busy Mind

Babies, Birds and Weddings

Yay and Boo

When Life Throws You Cookies---DODGE!

Day 6

Days 3-5

Day 2 of 28-The importance of planning.

Day 1 of 28

Day 4

Dear Lord

Day 3

GO TO THE POLICE

Parenting Rant

Day 2

Jump Start Day 1

Week 1...mostly

Sassy!

Monday took the Day off So Stupid Filled In

Did you hear that?

They Like Me!

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Quitter

Things I've learned...

Too Old

In search of...

Things Remembered

NPR Porn

Sleepless in Ambler

No Words

Coma

*sigh*

Huh...

Badlands, Highlands and Outer Space

On the Road Again...

Taking a Bite out of Terrorism...

Up and Down

Great Moments in Economics

Stupidity in 2 Acts

Evil Games and Irish Music

Sun Shower

Switch! Braaaiiinnnssss

Contained Chaos

Project Update

As Time Goes By

New Project!

A Wonderful Weekend

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hurdle Hopping

Whoo Hoo!

Brrrr!

AAAAARRRRRGGGG!

Welcome!

Busy Busy Busy

Neither Rain, nor Sleet, Nor Dark of Night...

Good Grief

Ho Ho Ho

There once was a phone from Verizon...

sigh