Olafactory Overload

Today is my Friday! Woo-hoo! We leave tomorrow morning to drive down to Florida. My little niece is turning the big 0-4 and the party is on Saturday. (not to mention I’ll get to love all over new baby Emily!)

I’m also going to get to have some time with my Mom. She called me yesterday here at work. (my assistant said, “Your Mom called” and I said, “She did?” with a very shocked tone.) She hasn’t called me at work in… oh gosh… months and months. We used to talk all the time. She hasn’t called me at all – which is completely understandable, of course. I’ve talked to my Dad a lot & when I ask to talk to my Mom she’s either sleeping or not feeling well. (radiation is kicking her butt & making her really sick)

So – she called me yesterday and sounded somewhat like her old self. She wants me to come over and help her ‘go through things.’ She said that there’s some stuff she wants me to have. It’s not strange to hear that my Mom has stuff for me to take home. My parents would give me their bed to sleep on if they thought I needed it. But I feel different about it these days.

She was also very insistant on me bringing her back her jewelry. (I had to take it off of her when we took her to the ER back in December & have kept it with me since then) This has always been a joke between us… about me coveting her jewelry… so I guess I now have to hand it back over. *sigh*

Anyway… the long drive (6-7 hours) is tomorrow. Hopefully the kids will keep themselves occupied with some movies and snacks & hopefully we won’t have to stop every 30 minutes for bathroom breaks… and hopefully there won’t be too much whining. (and I hope the kids won’t whine either)

Side Bar: Why would a person come and apply for a job reeking… and I mean, REEKING of cigarette smoke? Could he not smell it? I couldn’t even talk to him. I was gagging & backing away from him for the 45 seconds he was in my office.

Maybe it’s the same kind of person who brings their kids with them when they apply for a job… or chews gum while talking to you… but, that’s another blog entry for another time.

I need to go find some air freshener.

Shootin’ the Hooch

A bit of a change of plans yesterday… our visit to casa de Moats was postponed until this afternoon. While we were trying to figure out what to do, my friend Kim called & asked if we wanted to meet for a picnic at the Chatahoochee River.

It was a beautiful afternoon - even a little cool. We had a picnic dinner… (lunchables for the kids, sushi for us – ’cause we’re fancy like that) and then we took a walk along the river.

I think we walked about six miles. The kids had fun walking Kim & Pat’s dog Jasmine. And I was wearing the wuh-rong shoes for a six mile hike. (my sneaks are at work in my work-out bag!) Even with me limping the last two miles, it was a good time. (ow! blisters!)

It was really beautiful! There were a group of young’uns (you know – people in their 20’s) all hooked together on rafts floating down the river. They even had a raft for their cooler!

I couldn’t wait to take my shoes off & get home. Harry Potter was waiting for me & I was 1/3 of the way through. I finished it this afternoon… really, really good. I don’t want it to be all over!

Oh well… soon the weekend will be over too! Happy Sunday!

You Can’t Stop the Beat!

Hairspray is AWESOME! One of the best movies I’ve seen in a LONG time! So great!

The theater was packed & people were applauding after musical numbers & cheering and laughing at certain scenes… it was so fun! I was happy that the kids could experience that… being in a crowded theater watching & enjoying a really good movie with an enthusiastic crowd. It’s definitely better than watching it at home.

I want to go and see it again!

And I MUST get the soundtrack!

Go see it!

Weekend Plans

Usually I enjoy a weekend where there is nothing scheduled, nothing planned… ’cause I am sooo not a planner. This weekend is different. We have plans. Fun plans.

Tonight the family is going to see this movie.

I cannot wait! It’s a musical! *swoon* And speaking of swooning… my little girl is even more excited than I am because of this boy:

 

Zac Ephron. She luh-uh-uves him. He’s also in High School Musical which she has seen about 12 times. Isn’t she a little too young for crushes? She’s six. She has a picture of him taped to her wall right over her bed. Although, I do recall having a picture of my first crush hanging over my bed - and I was probably about her age… Sean Cassidy. *swoon*

If that weren’t enough… we’re going to have a par-tay at the Moats’ house on Saturday night! I’m envisioning some red wine, some game playing, and probably a few shenanigans. Yeehaw! (Oh – I’d link you to Lew’s blog… but what’s the point? He never updates it.)

So… that’s the plan, Stan. And it still leaves me with Saturday day and all day Sunday to hang out and relax… maybe get some scrapping done. It sounds like a perfect weekend to me!

I need some Calgon. Stat.

This morning I have a meeting with a couple of managers who aren’t getting along. Okay, fine. I think we worked it out – at least for now. The yelling was fun though. (not) Then I meet with an associate who didn’t remember that she signed a workers’ compensation settlement through her lawyers for a big chunk of dough. In the agreement it also said that she would voluntarily resign from her position. Yeah. That was signed in MAY & she’s still working here. So I had to tell her that today would be her last day. That was just so fun. (not)

Then I get a call from another manager looking for the list of associates who have signed up for the payroll deduction plan for the cafeteria. Where is it? I run around looking in all the places it should be. As I’m walking in my perilous one-inch wedge flats, I slip and fall on a molecule slice and fall – in front of about six associates – aforementioned workers’ comp associate included. I hit the ground in my lovely burgundy skirt, with my ass, my wrist and my left knee. A maintenance person helped me up. I looked at the ground and didn’t see any water or liquid… unless, of course, my ass absorbed it when I fell.

Hmmpf.

The payroll deduction list was sitting on my assistant’s desk.

My knee hurts.

Then the Chef starts giving me crap about wanting to eat an oatmeal raisin cookie after I just told him how I’m trying to be healthy… It has oatmeal and raisins it it! It’s healthy, right?

Yawn

Not much going on around here lately…

I’ve scrapped a little bit, crocheted even less. I’m exercising after work and extremely thankful that there are TV’s attached to the elliptical machines. Whoever came up with that idea is a genius! Monday while I’m working out, Justin Timberlake was on a repeat of the Ellen show. That was the best work-out day ever.

Work has been fine… the usual drama and incidents keeping me busy. Can you believe I’ve been here five months already? Why does it seem like longer?

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday (Happy Birthday Jamie! xoxo) … today was my Grandmother’s birthday. We always celebrated them together (which Jamie hated!) in New York with cannoli cake (which Jamie hated!). It was my Grandmother’s favorite – and it was always all about her! That’s just how she was – it was her way or no way. It was frustrating to be a kid around that sometimes – but I adored her nonetheless. Maybe I’ll track down a small cannoli today.

I think that’s really about it. See? Boring. Oh – I’m not so gray anymore and my eyebrows look a lot better. *whew*

Can I call in ‘gray’ to work?

I didn’t pay much attention to my hair this weekend. So this morning I looked in the mirror and was absolutely horrified to see all the silver hair gleaming and shining at the top of my head! I am much too young to have this much gray hair. Seriously. It’s just wrong. Maybe I could just call out sick (cough) to work? (I guess that’s not too appropriate for the HR Director to say – but this was an emergency!)

I stood there thinking of ways to cover it… a wig? a hat? a paper bag? Hmmm… all of a sudden wearing a chapeau to work would raise eyebrows. Oh my gawd – my eyebrows are bad too!

Crap.

Being a girl is so freakin’ high maintenance. Keeping up with all of it is such a pain in the ass! Shaving, plucking, moisturizing, conditioning, showering, make-up, hairspray, gel, flat iron, hairdryer, hair color… it’s really annoying.

I’m way too much of a procrastinator to be good at all of it. The paper bag is sounding better and better.

The Girl Who Makes it Look Too Easy

This is the text message I received Wednesday morning:

“Eli couldn’t wait. Delivered in 7-11 parking lot on way to hosp. Not joking!”

The story is amazing… read all about it (and see pictures) here.

Vanity

I’ve noticed an unusually high amount of vanity plates around town. I don’t think there were this many down in Florida… or maybe I just didn’t see them?

Last night I was driving home behind “WTHRMAN” – and i think he actually might of been one of the local weather guys… but I can’t picture Flip Spiceland driving a big-ass Dodge truck.

I saw two on the way to work this morning… Are there a high number of vanity plates because the Georgia license plate is in itself pretty boring? Florida has about 50 license plates to choose from. (and that may be a low estimation)

Georgia has a few different license plates… but all of them have the same gray shaded background. There might just be a picture of a dog or a flower on the left side. Not exciting at all. Maybe that’s why the vanity plate business is booming.

The best one I’ve seen so far has to be,”PB4WEGO” – that’s awesome. It was obviously a Mom whose had to say that a few times in her life. 

It got me to thinking… what would my vanity plate say?  

• “HNGRYNW” (Hungry Now)
• “U R FIRED” 
• “MYRTSHW” (My Roots Show)
• “PROBLST” (Probably Lost)
• “BLTC” (Better Living Through Chemistry)

Hmmm… maybe I’m not a vanity plate kind of gal.  They are almost as fun as trying to figure out what movie is playing on the portable car DVD players as I pass by.

It’s so easy, a 29 year old could do it.

Okay, okay… a 34 year old! WHATevah.

Up until yesterday, we had THREE remote controls for the TV. Three. Why? Well, because one of the controlled the channel changing, one controlled the volume on the amplifier thingy and the other… I can’t even remember what it did. All I know is that no matter how many times it was explained to me, I couldn’t figure it out. And it frustrated the hell outta me. Big time.

If I wanted the TV turned on or off & my husband wasn’t around… I either had to read a book (oh the horror), sit there in silence steaming over the fact that I couldn’t make it work… or get the 9-year old to do it for me. The 9 year old and the other kid (my husband) were the only two people in the house who knew how to work that damn contraption.

The other night I stayed up later than everyone else… I was cleaning and being all kinds of productive. (Okay, not really, I just wanted to see how that sentence looked.) I was up late playing on the computer and watching TV. I couldn’t figure out how to turn the damn thing off when I was ready to go to bed. I had to wake-up my husband & ask him how to do it. I was pissed! I walked out to the living room muttering like a crazy person, “Why can’t we just have ONE remote control for the TV? Why do we need three freakin’ remote controls that I can’t even figure out? Stupid remotes. Stupid TV. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”  

COME ON – it’s a TV! How dumb can I be? (don’t answer that)

The next morning my husband asked me, “Why didn’t you just use the button on the front of the TV and turn it off?”

I calmly replied, “There’s a button on there?”

Anyway… yesterday he figured out how to program the ONE remote to do everything. Of course you have to hit different buttons in order to get those things to work. *sigh* The ‘auxillary’ button has to be pressed when you want to control the volume because the volume goes through the amplifiers so we can hear it in surround sound… then you have to hit the ‘cable’ button if you want to change the channels or record anything… I don’t even remember what he told me about using the DVD player.

I think I may just go back to asking the 9 year old to do it for me.