Long time no Blog

I can't believe so much time has passed since I sat down to blog. I had been involved in settling in the new apartment so blogging was taking a back seat to that - HAD to get the stuff put away! But so much more has happened my head just turned to mush. It has been hard to stop thinking about the so very Sad events that have taken place because they have been in my mind now for weeks. It's turned into a horrible nightmare and the only thing that is constant are the questions. Every day more questions and there are no answers. And no return calls.

OK - now I'm getting cryptic - those that know what has been going on don't have to ask. Others really don't want to know.

SO.....the new place is great. I love it - downsizing has been good. The complex is not as large as the last one and I think it gives it a more cozy feel. The people here all seem to be more friendly as well which is nice. Not to mention that when you walk by people they are all speaking English - that IS a treat ! I'll put some photos up soon. I still have to blog about the Ugly Green Chair. GOD it is ugly -- but it is soooooo comfortable.

I guess I can't let this go without saying something about Michael Jackson. Why I don't really know. When my daughter was little she was a big fan (we're talking 5 - 6 years old). Of course we indulged her (but she will blog about that). She explained to me today exactly how I related to his music - and to put it less racial - I liked his music better before he became a white woman........I suppose after my daughter grew out of the Thriller album in second grade we moved on. Unfortunately he ended up like so many other entertainers who abused drugs. I will leave it at that - his abuses were many. Rest in Peace and let's move on already. I think I was really more upset to hear that Billy Mays died. I hate to think that it may have been a blow to the head from the airline fiasco. What a cruel twist of fate.

The Move

The Actual move has been made. All I can say at the moment - sitting here after a shower with a Double Baileys is that I am looking forward to going back to work to rest. Initially I was upset that I couldn't get a second floor apartment - but after moving from a second floor to a first floor I can assure everyone I would not have survived a second story move. I don't think my movers would have either. God love them - Jason, Melinda and Kate. (Mostly Jason and Kate) The weather forecast for Sunday was supposed to be rain, but I don't believe we got rained on at all and it turned out to be a good weather day. Everyone was exhausted including the dogs, who though we were only visiting the new place. They're still not too sure about it, but they have stopped following me from room to room.

I took three days off to get settled in and move odds and ends out of the old place and clean over there some. I still don't know where all this crap came from. Melinda did take home quite a bit of her own (finally), but imagine my surprise to find Boxes of stuff that didn't quite make it down to Virginia. It's been quite a game trying to find room now for her additional boxes. I have a 2 bedroom apartment - she has a BIG house. There is something wrong with this equation........

So - I'm running between apartments Monday and Tuesday - cleaning - unpacking, collapsing. Tuesday tho I have to disconnect all the Comcast stuff and bring it with me so I decide to pop online - check mail one last time - and POOF - the new computer turns off. Try again to turn it on and - nothing. WTF??? The computer is what - 3 months old ? Do I need this shi*? So I pack it up and run down to Staples to get the problem corrected - since I paid for service out the arse when I got it. They tell me I can have it back that evening. Great - I'll pick it up in my spare time. Now I go back to the old place - pick up more crap and load the car - take out trash and head back to the new place and the kiddies. And.....I have a sick dog. Carmel decided to have a coughing fit. Since she is prone to upper respiratory infections I spend the rest of the afternoon listening to her hack like a cat trying to cough up a hairball. It just gets worse and now her little brown eyes are all tearing and her fat little body vibrating with each breath. Call the vet. Great - emergency visit. No - not at all! After talking to him he tells me to go get some pediatric cough medicine. OK - I can do that on my way back to Staples to pick up the computer. Just need to ask them to give me a syringe to shoot the stuff into her mouth. No problem. After a dose she curled up on the sofa and slept just fine. Emergency averted.

The kids are having a tough time getting used to noise from upstairs. Just the normal walking across the floor - creaking - makes them edgy. The funniest (and embarrassing) thing was Monday afternoon while I was in the bedroom putting some things away, our neighbor was getting friendly with someone. The dogs went wild. It did sound like the ceiling was going to come in on top of us. The office told me she works evenings or something, so I guess her afternoons are like our evenings. Whatever - I tried not to think about that tonight when I had to knock on her door because it was RAINING in my bathroom - like Angel falls thru the vent.
I was glad she answered the door dressed. I didn't ask WHO was in the tub.

So yeah - I want to get back to work. Get away from the cleaning, unpacking, flooded bathrooms, sick dogs, re-arranging furniture. I can start again this weekend. I need to catch up on all the shows I missed Monday and Tuesday night.

Going to pour another Baileys - the kids must have finished this one.

Ladies Room Comfort Assistant

Not every office is lucky enough to have one. But we do - elected unanimously by the Sales Service Department at I2. What exactly IS a LRCA ? Well - it is the person in charge of refilling the soap dispenser and toilet rolls in the ladies room of course. This post was given to the most vocal one of our group. The one who wasn't afraid to bitch openly about how lazy the females in our office can be when it comes to the refilling duties. I will protect her identity - I don't want to embarrass her totally, but let it be known that Rose, Gail, Ronnieanne and I missed her today while she was away at the Lightfair. (has the lightening struck yet?)

Soooo......while our gal was away working hard we decided that we needed to have a little fun at her expense. And, what better way to honor our TP Girl but by decorating her cubicle? Exactly!! Here is Rose hard at work - I hope she got the keyboard - forgot about that!

Here you can see the handiwork on the computer monitor, phone and mouse. I believe they did go back and get the calculator as well. If anything we pride ourselves on being thorough!

What can I say - here is the finished product. We are like a snowball going downhill - we get an idea and it takes off. What started out as an "innocent" e-mail turned into this. Kudos to the Customer Service Department. Even tho we were really busy today, we still found time to have some fun.

With luck I will get a video of her tomorrow on her return. Hopefully it won't have to be censored and I can post that as well.

Packing and Partying

Packing is such a chore, but when you have help you can get so much more done! Of course my help is the four-legged variety and as long as Carmel is around, I will never lose the bubble wrap!


I've tried to pack a little every evening this week, but had a dinner Thursday evening for work. My boss was being honored by the IES so it was a good idea to make an appearance for a change. It turned out to be a very nice evening. The food was good, drinks expensive, and the awards were actually enjoyable. Not the normal stuffy lighting mumbo-jumbo. Definitely a good evening out. And the kids had a good evening as well with Liz who won them over with a hot dog. I'm sure if I need a dog sitter again they will be more than happy for her to help out!

And what a week - started out wearing winter coats in the morning our our walks and by Friday it was no coats and sandals. Of course the allergies have kicked back in big time - double shots of the nasal spray and the Breathe Right strips back out again. It wasn't my intention to dig out the boxes of summer clothes before the move hoping I could make due with a few things on top. I did break out a fan for the kids - Gaston can chill in front of the fan and guard his chewy in comfort.

So Saturday was Ronnieann's Baby shower. Thank goodness it was outdoors because it was really WARM! Actually it was a great day to be outdoors. This is a photo of the Mom and Dad to be. You can see what a beautiful sunny afternoon it was.

There was plenty of food and drink and of course lots of wonderful presents for the little one. I didn't get a lot of photos since we were on a timed visit. I rode with some of the girls from work and well - you gotta leave when the bus pulls out. It would have been nice to stay awhile longer - I probably should have looked into another mode of transportation to get home.

Hindsight - but that's another blog.

We the Tweeple

I am not as prolific with the words as my daughter, and I sure don't have as much fun as she does, therefore I don't have as much to write about. I could bore the few of you that stop by with my daily life, but trust me - you don't want to hear about the Lighting Business. Whatever business you personally are in I'm sure you can just change the names ,the customers/clients, salespeople, and find there isn't really much difference. It's a daily soap opera wherever you are. Then again, that could be another blog.

Well the move is approaching fast so the packing has to begin. Or at least pick up. I've managed to take bags of "stuff" to the goodwill drop offs, sell things on Craig's list, but there is still more. Where does it all come from ? I've gone thru TONS of photo albums and loose photos this past week and decided if I thought I saw it already it was trash. If I couldn't identify anyone in the photo, it was trash. Tomorrow will start again - this time unloading old clothes that for some reason I think may come back into style or even more astounding that I would actually FIT into them again. If - or should I say when - I get back into shape I will treat myself to new clothes. Tomorrow will be "clean it out" day. Sunday we will start packing in earnest.

Since I was last here I finally took all the silver coins that my parents had to a coin dealer. I didn't have a million-dollar coin - but the little Crown Royal bag of silver coins and 58 old old pennies got me close to $350.00. Not too shabby. Now if I could get rid of all the Albums before I move that would really be great!

I was very excited to see that I have another official "follower". Hello Marcy!! We're going to get everyone on Twitter next. I know I mentioned it last time - and at first I thought it was pretty lame. I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to know what someone was doing every second of the day - like when you put up what you are doing or feeling on Facebook. Let's your friends know the barometer for the day. Since I didn't actually have any friends on Twitter that "Tweeted" I had to go look around and get a feel for this thing. I decided to follow Ashton Kutcher and his wifey because they constantly "tweeted". It was like I was eavesdropping on them , but then I realized I was getting information instantly from the various people and organizations I was following. News organizations, celebrities, and regular people reporting things the instant they happen. Before they appear on the MSN and Yahoo home pages. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm doing there, but I'm one of the Tweeple now.

Getting ready for Spring !

Today we all went for haircuts. This is the first time I actually said clip the dogs. Before they have had trims. Today - well - she went all out. Gaston doesn't look much different - less hairy. Carmel is the one who looks like a new dog. Or should I say Lion? I almost didn't recognize her when she came out. They look wonderful with their shaggy butts gone - now all that is shaggy are their manes, ears and tails. She did leave a little on the legs tho. Sorry Melinda - she clipped off the fringe on her paw - I really got tired of the little streaks she would leave on the kitchen floor from her dirty paws!!

Here we are on the way home from the groomers.....


Stepping outside to do our business when we got home.

A close up of her "naked" body. She looks like she lost at least a pound.......

And here is Mr. Gaston - you can't see it as much on him but the cut is CLOSE.

And for Melinda's viewing pleasure.....

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

So - I must be having a BALL! I don't know where the time has gone, but it's flown. It's Spring already. That means it's time for me to move. Other people "spring clean". I get the moving bug. That's one of the bonuses when you rent. You can change homes like others repaint. There was a time long ago when I wanted my own home, but somewhere along the line that dream went out the window. Now while others have to scramble around when there is a leak or an appliance breaks down I only have to pick up the phone and call maintenance. I really Like being able to do that without having to put money out in the end. Anyhow - I'm moving. I don't like the actual moving, but the change is great. Hopefully it will give me new perspective as well as more cash in my pocket at the end of the month.

One of the benefits of moving is you get to get rid of more "stuff". This isn't the best economy to try to sell anything, but some people are buying. As much as I don't want to part with my butcher block island I have no room for it at the new apartment. So - I put it up on Craig's list and tomorrow some guy is coming to get it. That's quick. Now if I could just get rid of the records! Jesus I have records - my parents collection as well as my own. Ahhh - Spring!

Spring - I decided to put the dogs on a healthier diet since they aren't much on exercise. 1/2 weight control food - 1/2 Purina One. I hadn't noticed any changes until we were out last Saturday and Carmel was suddenly walking ahead of me - off the leash. Seems she's gone down a size in her collar. As a friend pointed out it's like when we women go on a diet and loose weight in our boobs first. Never where you want to lose it. Oh well.

The highlight of this weekend tho is that Twilight (the movie) went on sale. I don't think I've ever had front row parking at Target before but I was one of the few early birds on Saturday morning. Aside from Twilight I actually didn't buy anything I didn't actually need or have a coupon for. That was scary.

So - we know how I spent Saturday evening - watching Twilight and the two additional bonus discs. Sunday is a given - I started reading New Moon.