Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

CRASH!

My computer crashed! At least that is what I think it did. It won't allow me to do anything-it drives me crazy. Jim and I have been talking for some time now about buying a new computer, but it just wasn't that important to me. We have a computer in the den and that is the family computer, although it is mainly Jim who uses it. I have a computer downstairs in the dining room that I use mainly for pictures and occasionally facebook or an update. So for my purposes, I don't really care how old the thing is-I only care that it works. And now it doesn't! Luckily, I had most of the pictures backed up on disc, or on my work computer so we didn't loose any pictures. Now we have to go about the process of buying a new computer. Oh how that thought sends fear and dread through me. You remember the refrigerator deal? Well, it is way worse with a computer! Jim knows NOTHING about computers. I am not kidding. Sunday night he was sitting in front of the computer and I handed him a disc and asked him to pop it in and tell me if something in particular was on it. He simply stood up and moved away saying he didn't have any idea how to do that. Really? Are you kidding me?
So you can imagine how much fun it is going to be shopping for a computer with him! Fear and Dread I tell you!
My reason for telling you this is so you will know why I am not posting any of the new cards or projects that I completed over the weekend. I didn't get a lot done, but I got a few things accomplished and I will show you just as soon as I can...
'Till then. :)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Missing in action!







Sorry that I have not posted all week, I have been having computer problems. Either my computer won't work or I don't have time to get to the computer! Ha! I don't know who I am apologizing to anyway, does anyone read this?



Anyway, it is Monday again. Every weekend seems to zoom by me in the blink of an eye. Each week I am determined to slow down and take it easy, but it doesn't ever seem to work out that way. I have been aching to get into my Scrapatorium and spend the day in there crafting and creating, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.



Last weekend I drove up to NJ to join my family at the wedding of my cousin Christine. It was her second marriage and it seems the second time is a charm for her! It was a lovely wedding and she looked beautiful! I know they say all brides are beautiful, but let's be honest, they're not! This one was! Me, the one who is usually good at details, can't tell you much about the dress. Christine and her new husband Mark looked so joyous I didn't really notice their clothes! It was a lot of fun though and a great opportunity to visit with family that I don't get to see too often. Problem was, it took me about the whole week to recover from the weekend. I just don't travel well, it takes a lot out of me and then on top of it all I got sick during the week.



Wasn't feeling well still on Saturday so I stayed close to home. I was determined to get to church on Sunday though. We did make it and I am always glad when I go, it gives me sustinance to get through the week. I saw an old and dear friend at church, Olive. I met Olive when I first became a member of the church in 1986 and we were both in the choir. Later, when I became a Deacon I was asked to visit with some of the shut-ins of the church and I one of my assigned members was Miss Grace, Olive's mother. She was a treasure of a woman and when I would visit she would talk about her family and her faith and books that she had read. One day I got a call from the church informing me that Miss Grace was in the hospital. I went to visit her, only to find out that she was in ICU and as I was not family I couldn't see her. Something made me go to the waiting room and sit and in a while Olive came out to find me there. I visited with her and listened as she talked about her Mother and what had happened. Miss Grace passed away that night and went on to her Heavenly Father. She no longer needed me, but Olive did and we grew close. But as sometimes happens, Olive left our church and moved to another one (she has since come back) and we lost touch. Years went on and one day at work we all went to see our new building and who was there at the reception desk, but Olive. We reconnected and have been close again since. That was 7 years ago. Olive is another red head and we are often asked if we are related. (I am 47 and Olive is 77.) At church she told me that she had to have surgery on her foot and needed to ask another member to take her. I said that if that person couldn't to let me know, I'd take her. She looked at me and said "But you work." I told her that I'd take off and she replied "You'd do that?" Of course I would do that! And I am honored to do it. I'd like to write about all of the things that we have been through together, all the laughter and tears that we have shared, the angst and the pain, but there just isn't enough time! So, please pray for Olive on October 16th, that her surgery goes well, that God is with her, and that she enjoys a swift recovery.


Then we went to the Pumpkin Patch, where the above pictures were snapped! That girl has my heart I tell you!
I can't figure out how to put pictures where I want them, they just go wherever they want!
Hope to post again soon!


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Wine a little and you'll feel better!


I love wine! On Sunday, we went on our annual trip to the Gettysburg Wine & Music Festival with our friends on Sunday. (Red wine, white wine, rose, bubbly wine and desert wines-we call this Group Therapy)Andy & Durinda join us each year (with the notable exception of last year) and we head on up to Gettysburg for a day of wine and music. The guys listen to the music and Durinda and I drink the wine. It works out well for us.
The last time we went, Andy & Jim found a spot near the bandstand and Durinda & I went about our merry way. Occasionally Jim would show up and at one winery in particular when I ordered a case, he insisted that I buy two. Who am I to argue? If you've never been to a wine festival, they have a service where you buy your wine and they bring it to the front and you pick it up on your way out. Problem with that is it can be difficult to keep track of how much you are buying. So, when we had had enough, we went to the pick up booth and gave them our claim tickets and they began to gather our purchases. Being as the car was parked a good bit away and our purchases were mounting up, Jim asked to bring the car around. The people working the booth said no, we couldn't do that but they did have a guy with a wagon who would help you to your car. Jim pointed to our purchases and mentioned that they hadn't finished gathering them together and soon enough, we were able to bring the car around. Not only that, the event co-ordinator came over and cleared the way for the car and helped Jim & Andy load up the car. The took our pictures, a picture of our car loaded up and asked us if we had a Bed & Breakfast or a Restaurant that we were buying for. No, we just like the wine were hoping to have enough to last us until next year's festival. They begged us to come back. Needless to say, we bought a lot! Between us, we bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 cases. (It didn't last an entire year.)
Fast forward to this year. The venue was changed from an idyllic park setting to a field near the highway. The area had had several days of rain and the place was infested with bees. There was thick, black mud everywhere and to help, they put hay over top of the mud which presented two new problems. You couldn't tell how deep the mud was and it smelled like a barnyard! The bees were so bad that you had to check your glass to make sure no bees were in it before drinking from it. So, we didn't stay as long as we might have. We did manage to do a bit of damage, not nearly as much as we had in the past but this time when we were ready to leave, they had a guy in a cart come over and drive our purchases to our car which was only about 20 yards away! Gotta love that service.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Men are Gross!

I have been married for nearly 29 years (to the same man) and I have a23 year old son, so I can state with certainty that men are gross. I don’t think that it is just the men in my life that are gross, but men in general. They are sloppy, dirty and disgusting. I’m guessing that it comes from having an appendage that dangles down so sloppily or something. I just can’t stand it!
Take their bathroom habits. Have you ever seen a man voluntarily change the toilet paper roll? Really, how hard is it? If forced to get a new roll, which I believe they avoid at all costs, they don’t remove the empty roll and replace it with the new one. Instead, it gets placed on the vanity or back of the toilet. Sloppy. I’ve also noticed that I am often forced to clean handprints from the wall above the toilet-handprints. What do they do in there? Do they have to hold themselves up while peeing or do they use going to the bathroom an excuse to do push -ups against the wall? I don’t know, but when they are not home I never have to clean up handprints from off the bathroom wall. It’s a guy thing. When my son was a little boy and we were in the process of potty training him, he sat. When we got that part down, he stood. When this part of the journey began I taught him that when he was finished he needed to take a piece of toilet paper and wipe the rim. He did. I remember thinking that it was a genius move on my part. He didn’t know any better, so why not?! He’ll grow up thinking that it is the natural thing to do, right? Then something I hadn’t quite thought through happened, he went to school with a whole bunch of other boys whose mother’s had not taught them to wipe. And so the teaching was very quickly ‘un-taught’. (Sigh) But if they won’t wipe, why not at least try to aim? They try to perfect their aim in baseball, football, driving, targeting women, why not in peeing? Doesn’t that make sense? Why do they dribble the pee down the front of the toilet? My guys swear it isn’t them. What? It must be Isabella, they say. Excuse me? She’s five and she sits to pee, thank you very much! Gross. Dirty. Disgusting.
And underwear, what’s with that? Why can’t they put it in the hamper? They must be genetically wired to believe that underwear belongs on the floor. One night I was with a bunch of women and this very topic came up. None of their men put their underwear in the hamper! None! One of my friends relayed how her husband took his off and twirled it around his finger before throwing it across the room! Like he is unveiling a masterpiece or something. Another told me how her husband shoots his underwear like a slingshot! Can you imagine, like they don’t have enough toys? I guess I should count myself lucky, as my husband just pushes his down and steps out of them. A friend of my mothers’ was so sick of picking up her husbands’ clothes that she threatened to throw them out the window. He didn’t take her seriously and so was surprised to come home and find his clothing strewn about the front yard and hanging from a tree. He learned to pick up his clothes. I’m not sure me or my neighbors are ready for me to go that route yet. With my luck I’d get fined by the Home Owners Association. Can you imagine that letter? I guess I am just destined to pick up and clean up after my husband. (And to apologize to whomever decides to live with my son.) I tried.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Love me a three day weekend!

I just loved having three days off in a row. What a luxury! I started painting on Saturday at around 11:30 and made great progress. I stopped for the day at approximately 4:00. (By stopped I mean had cleaned everything up, washed out the brush and showered.) Got back to it on Sunday morning and was finished by noon! I was so happy to have it done. The rest of the day I spent washing curtains and putting them back up, changing all the bedding, and cleaning up. Jim and I went out on Saturday after I had finished and picked up new light fixtures for the small hallways in front of the closets, but because he worked all weekend he didn't have a chance to put them up. I need to hang things on the wall and buy a tablecloth for the little wooden table next to the bed, but other than those few minor things, the room is done! We are in desperate need of new carpeting in there, but that is not a minor thing and it will have to wait for now. As I said, I am just happy to have the painting done. I love the way it looks. The walls are a deep chocolate brown and the ceiling and trim are bright white so the contrast looks great. I'll post some pictures once I have a chance.
Next up is the bathroom. I have decided to have the paint for that room color matched to the blue in my bedding and then add brown accessories. I'll get to that my next free weekend, which at this stage may not be until October.
I spent Monday touching up the cleaning in the rest of the house and ironing. I had an entire laundry basket of clothes in need of ironing and it was haunting me. Another job that I was happy to check off my list!
The down side to all of my weekend activity? I hurt-everywhere! Even my hair hurts. I knew that would happen, but I so wanted to get it all done that it was worth the pain. Jim wonders why I do it myself. The truth of the matter is, I like to do it. It gives me such a great sense of accomplishment to watch a room be transformed by paint. And, if I am being really honest here, I almost like the accompanying soreness. I know that sounds crazy, I am not into pain but it gives me confidence to know that my muscles are being worked and responding. I know that I am pushing myself, but I am not ready to sit out of the game yet.
So, back to work it is. Time to battle the traffice of 'Terrible Traffic Tuesday'. I take my fun where I can find it!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Work, it's not play!

I've been busy both at home and at work. Work especially. We are winning more contracts, which is a good thing, and work is getting busy again. I like to be busy, as I may have mentioned before. Remember that I wrote about moving into a cube? Well I have an update on that. I will not be moving to the third floor cube after all. I will be moving out of my office and to the front office of the executive suite. As I mentioned before, I currently work on the second floor but there is a door that seperates the regular executives from the 'top shelf' executives. Really. Anyway, I am moving to the front office of executive row. Why? Well, I can't really figure that out, but the President has said that he wants me there, so I move. Looks like next week as some point. I'll have more room and my job will change some as I won't have as much flexibility as I currently do-both with my hours and my moving about the building. My boss has also informed me that they are working on having my grade changed to allow for more promotions. So, that's a good thing.
The negatives about this move. Well, I'll be working more closely (as in proximity) to a co-worker who can be difficult, to say the least. This person has been with the company for a long time and knows how she wants things done. She is known for having a short temper and being very persnickity. Many people here don't know her despite the fact that she has been here for so long because she seldon ventures off the second floor. The powers that be think that I may be able to calm her down a bit and keep her temper at bay. Me. Do they even know me? They think of me as someone who will put up with a lot and do it with a smile and without complaint. Can't imagine why? Ask my family, they'll tell you! I am sure that they might have a different story to tell. Ha! I guess that I do have a somewhat different persona at work. Most of the time I just do-whatever is asked of me. Which is not to say that I don't stand up for myself, I do. It is more likely that in this day, in this economy, I am happy to have a job. Especially one that I like. I work with people that I like and enjoy and that is a big positive. I am paid pretty well and with this move, I will push for a raise to go along with the added responsibility. My performance review will come in November and I have been told that it will be favorable and will include a raise. I'll let you know how that goes. So, for what it's worth I'll be staying here a while.
And right now the best part is a three day weekend on the horizon! I can't wait! I have big plans which may or may not pan out, but so what! My plans include re-painting my bedroom and the mandatory weekend naps. I'd also like to get some crafting done, but I won't push too much. I would love to be able to finish the painting over the next three days. Of course, once I get the bedroom done the bathroom will look lousy and I'll have to start on that next. You know how one thing leads to another. But for the time being, I'll be happy to have my room done. I have been meaning to get to it for over a year. The time has come.
So look for me to take a blog break for the next few days. I'll get back to you with the results of my painting experience. Maybe even include a picture or two if it comes out well!
Have a happy Labor Day and I hope you all have off too!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009