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 |  Where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket? |
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Fair Warning: I've upped the rating on this blog. It is now set at GC. |
| I finished all the performance evaluations today. Yippee! I think next year, instead of standard evaluations, I'll write limericks instead.  There once was a woman from Cresco. Why I hired her, I do not know. But she talks a good game leaning, much like a flame, which ever direction the wind blows. Beth is a gal I don't understand, with knowledge and skills at her command. Right now she is slumming, but I know what's coming, and soon she'll blow this popsicle stand. Donna knows what to do in a clutch, but she likes a crisis far too much. A true drama major, no one can up stage her, for pot stirring, she has quite the touch. Let no one find fault with poor Carol, who rescues the kitties in peril. Yes, she whisks them away to the S-P-C-A, she won't rest until they are sterile. (  She spends more time case managing animals than people) |
| First, the updates... My sister-in-law and the baby are both doing very well. also... My nephew had his surgery on Friday. The surgeons removed SEVEN usable fragments of bone from about his eye and then reassembled the eye socket by screwing the fragments into place supported by a disolvable mesh. Some of the bone was too shattered to use, but in theory the bone will grow to fill in the gaps. The whole jigsaw puzzle was then positioned back into place on top of a plastic plate that will be with him for life. His tear ducts were destroyed and so they had to put stints in place. The big question is in regard to his sinuses. He may need additional surgery down the road to correct the sinuses. The doctors were pleased with how the surgery had gone. He was having some double vision prior to the surgery, but hopefully that will resolve now. Good news all around, and I thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. *hear* It has been a spectacular weekend here weather-wise. I bought some pansies for my pots, and Tony mowed the grass for the first time this season. I can almost believe spring has arrived for good. Predictably Tony went out today and replaced his IPod with a little IPod shuffle. LOL. He said he needed something lightweight for when he goes running. It is such an itty-bitty thing, but I guess we are even now. I won a dollar from my daughter over it. I'd bet her that he wouldn't go the weekend with out buying one. Now we are double or nothing over when he'll actually start to use it. She's betting he won't actually use it this week, but I think he'll at least try it out... maybe... after I set it all up for him. Tony took the girl child to her first concert tonight. They went to see The Blue Man Group. They were both pretty excited about it. Zachary and I stayed behind and took advantage of the weather to dine alfresco this evening. The only problem is that it was just too nice a weekend to stay inside doing housework. Now I'm behind on the laundry. It keeps calling to me, and if I don't answer it soon no one will have clean underwear tomorrow.  |
| My excitement for the day? I got an IPod!!! Okay, so really, I got it for my husband as a Christmas gift two years ago. He isn't the most technologically proficient, and never had much patience for loading music or setting up play lists. A couple months ago I noticed that I hadn't seen the IPod in ages. I was sure that he'd lost it. I was wrong though. He knew where it was, but he just wasn't using it. So... I decided to dust it off and make it my own.  My daughter conspired with me today to set it up with MY music. We called one of her friends for some technical assistance, and I found four IMusic gift cards that were unredeemed. When my husband got home, he shook his head and said "I can't believe you stole my IPod." "I didn't steal it," I countered. "It's just been reallocated." Then he told me I'd been working in Government for too long. |
Welcome Allyson Rose! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** born 4/20/2007 at 1:05 PM 7lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long It has been a long day, and I wasn't sure I'd make it in here at all, but I wanted to share the good news. I am an Aunt... again. As with many things in parenthood, and with life in general, the journey did not go as advertised. There were complications that led to a c-section delivery, and further complications that led to the baby being transfered to the neonatal intensive care unit at another hospital. So far the new mommy has not been able to touch or hold her baby.  My sister-in-law is scheduled to be discharged Monday, and the baby will be kept in the NICU for at least 7 days for antibiotic treatment. It could be much worse, but it is a strain to have mother and baby in separate hospitals. ...not like the brochure at all.  |
| Thank you to everyone who offered prayers to my nephew and his parents. Now… I know you are all dying to know what else the psychic told me, so I’ll continue on with that little adventure. If you remember, I had some specific things that I figured a psychic should know about me. Well, the psychic didn’t do too well on that list, but either by luck or design she did hit upon a few interesting points. My marriage… Get this! She told me that my marriage would be much happier if I stopped catering to my husband. I mean... NO SHIT!!! She said that he needs to understand that the decisions he makes effect three other people. Strangely, she also told me that I should not cry in front of him  ...whatever!. When I told the people who know me well about this, they all thought it was very accurate, but tell me truly… how many marriages does that NOT fit? My job… She didn’t say much about my job, didn’t pick up on my disenchantment, stress, or struggles. As I said yesterday, she said there was a man where I worked who was good for me and would guide me, but that was it. Toward the end of the reading she gave me the opportunity to ask two questions. One of my questions was “What am I gonna be when I grow up?” Her response? She said that I had lived my life to please my father, and that he was very proud of me. She said it will be another year before I'm be ready for change, but by next year I would start to move forward and follow my heart instead of walking the path my father chose for me. oooookay…. Well, I think I did choose my own path. If I had been following my father’s plan I would have gone on to Grad school instead of getting married right out of college. That said, as much as I’ve always wanted to write, the idea of wanting to be a WRITER did not gel until after my Father died. I can still hear him telling me “go ahead and write, but that’s not a real job.” I haven’t quite managed to convince myself that it ever could be, but maybe in another year… Oh yeah, she also said I have a good head for business even though I’ve never worked at developing those skills. She said she saw me going into business for myself. I find this unlikely though since my tolerance for risk is extremely low. I guess that could change if my husband ever manages to hold a steady job. What else… She saw someone in my life with a drinking problem. One of the women I supervise is a recovering alcoholic, but lots of people out there have drinking problems, so this seemed like a pretty generic and safe guess. Oh! I almost forgot. She told me that there was money that my father wanted me to have, and intended for me to have, that I did not have yet. This is true. When my Grandmother died, her farm was sold and my father passed the money directly to my brothers and me. I was pretty young at the time, and my father did not particularly trust my husband not to squander the money. I received a portion of the money then and spent it on replacement windows and new carpeting. The rest was invested in my name and I was advised to just pretend it didn’t exist. The plan was to use the money if and when I was ready to buy a new house or go back to school. Anyway, the money is still sitting in an account somewhere. So… That is my psychic reading in the nutshell. She did 6 other readings that day, and some of those have proven to be very accurate. For example, she told one woman that her soon to be ex-husband owed her either $1,300 or $3,000 in back child support, and would end up in jail for failure to pay. She knew he was behind, but did not think he owed that much. When she met with domestic relations she found out he owed One thousand two hundred and ninety some odd dollars. They also told her that if he does not pay, he will be arrested. Go figure. She also told my friend Bonnie that she’d be winning money and that it wouldn’t hurt to buy a lottery ticket now and again. I guess time will tell… |
I’ve been holding out on all of you.  If you remember a few weeks back I talked about having a psychic reading. Well... I did. I didn’t write about it immediately because It wasn’t particularly earth shattering and I had other things on my mind. After I’d let it slide for awhile it just seemed irrelevant. Why am I telling you this today? Well, one of the predictions almost came true today, and still might before the day is over. Alice, the psychic, had jet black hair that fell to her waist and was shot through with silver. She had a slight Eastern European accent, but to her credit, did not have dramatic hoop earrings. She had been invited to my mother’s house a month or so before to do readings for a group of my mother’s friends. She was once again coming to my mother’s house and Mom invited me. The invitation was extended to my friend Bonnie too, and Bonnie was VERY enthusiastic. Me? I was going along for the ride. The night before the reading I realized that I was unsettled… bordering on apprehensive. I was the forth reading of the day, and as I made my way up the stairs to my mother’s bedroom, I felt the knot of apprehension tighten. Walking into the bedroom I introduced myself to Alice. We sat down at a metal folding table. Alice straightened the red scarf that draped the table and began to shuffle a deck of cards. “How old are you?” “34.” “You look younger than that… like your friend. You both look young for your years.” As she shuffled the cards she watched me with appraising eyes. “You are nervous?” I guess that's one word for it. “Yes.” “You’ve had readings before?” “Never” She gave a small nod. “Before we begin I want you to make a good wish for yourself.” A wish?... my mind went blank, but I smiled and nodded in feigned compliance. “You have decisions weighing on your mind,” she said. “You must be very careful around decisions and think carefully about your options.” Right there, she started to lose me. I am, if anything, inclined to over-think situations. I spend so much time thinking about and weighing the choices, that I have difficulty making a decision. This wasn’t feeling especially on target. I was asked to cut the cards and select a certain number of cards, and then selected that number again. These were regular playing cards, and one of the first cards she turned up was a King. “That is your father she said. You’ve lost your father, but you should know that he is still present with you. He is all around you.” I started to tear up, but felt very silly. She knows I lost my father because she previously did a reading for Mom. She saw I was tearing up and said some sympathetic things about how hard it is to lose a parent, and I cried. Here is the thing… my father will be gone two years this June, and although I think I’m moving on, I get tearful pretty easily when talking about it. I think she took the tears as a sign that this was a central issue in my life – unresolved grief. I think this colored the rest of the reading. Alice saw three children in my cards. “I only have two children.” “You were meant to have three. It is very clear.” She did laid out more cards and pointed when she turned up another three. “There it is again. You are still young. Maybe you will have another.” “No,” I said definitively “I won’t.” “But you are able?” “Yes.” “You are meant to have three children.” “Are you seeing a handsome stranger in those cards? …because my husband had a vasectomy many years ago and I don’t think he’d be happy if I managed to get pregnant.” You’d think that someone who lists there occupation as “Psychic” might have a better sense of humor, but… I guess not. So… crank my skepticism up another notch and let’s shuffle the cards again. “You have a son… he is 15, or 18?” (sooo close!) “He’s 8.” “Ah yes…” she said with a smile as she swept her hand over the spread of cards before landing on the eight. “This is him. I can see that he will have success and money around him in the future. You have another son?” “No. I have a daughter” “Older or younger?” “She is 11.” “I can not sense the daughter.” (Yeah, apparently not) We did the shuffle, cut, pick cards thing a few more times. This is what I learned. 1. My husband and I will be taking a trip together without the kids. (LOL, also it is possible that I will sprout wings and learn to fly.) 2. I will be taking someone to the emergency room, but it will be okay. (Good to know it’ll be okay anyway.) 3. I will be talking to a lawyer and it will have a good outcome. (Like that ever happens!) 4. I will not need to worry about money or health. (Damn, I think that means I’m going to die. I can’t imagine how else I’d ever not have to worry about money or health.) 5. There is a man at work who is strong both mentally and physically, and he is good for me, and will guide me. (Guess that means my boss is getting canned! )Today, one of the women I work with tripped in the parking lot. She fell and scraped her hand and knee, and twisted her ankle. For a little while this morning, it looked like I might be making that trip to the emergency room with her, but then she decided not to go. The rest of my "reading" will have to wait until tomorrow because this entry is already overly long. Hope you all have a wonderful day! |
| Say you've just hired someone, and you are working your way through all the paper work and formalities of the hiring process. Say that one of the requirements of the hiring process is a physical exam that does not require any type of drug testing. What do you make of it when the candidate suddenly and adamantly declines the position because she does not want the physical? Believe it or not this wasn't one of the winners I tend to hire. It actually happened to the Director of one of the agencies that we contract with. She was a bit stunned by this woman's response. I have a theory. I think that maybe "she" was really a "he," and didn't want anyone to find out. I shared my theory with the director and had to laugh at her stunned response. Apparently she hadn't considered that possibility. Sadly... that was the highlight of my day. When I got home from work tonight there was a message from my brother. I called him right away hoping to hear some good news on the Labor and Delivery front. No luck there. Nope. Instead, the conversation went something like this. "Did you use nursing bras?" He asked after only the briefest of pleasantries. "Uhmmmm... well yeah. Why?" "We are trying to decide if we need some." "Well you probably won't, but Heather will." "Her cousin had a baby and said she never used one. I guess she just pulled her bra up out of the way." "That doesn't sound comfortable." "She didn't say if it was an underwire bra. Can you wear an underwire bra while you're breastfeeding?" "Is Heather there?" "Yeah why?" "Can I talk to HER?" He finally let me off the hook. Probably went off to Google nursing bras. He's a bit of a research junkie. He gave me the update from the doctor, and asked me how much longer I thought it would be. Now, if the doctor couldn't tell him, how would I know? I told him it all depended on how much sex they were having. One of these days he'll stop asking. |
| I can't yet comprehend what happened today at Virginia Tech. I was home today. Schools were closed because of the weather. Although there was a mix or rain and snow through the day, the schools were closed because it was windy. We had gust up to 40 mph. I did not sleep well last night. Listening to the wind blow set my nerves on edge. I felt jumpy and on guard. For that reason, I was only too happy to stay home with kids. I was tired! This morning as I flipped channels looking for information on school closures, I saw coverage of a shooting at Virginia Tech. At that point there were two students shot and a gunman at large. I didn't turn the TV back on until this evening and I saw the headline scroll across the screen. It read "School Massacre at Virginia Tech." For a brief moment I held out hope that the media was simply overstating the shooting of the two students, but that hope did not last long. At least 32 young lives were snuffed out in the shooting spree. My brother is an alumni of Virginia Tech. I spent some time on the campus while visiting him. As remote a connection as that is, it makes the shooting feel too close to home. I watched the coverage for a bit, but truth is... I find media coverage very hard to take. Although the victims and the gunman have yet to be identified, the media is already jumping ahead to the next step of casting blame. My thoughts this evening are with the victims and with those who knew and loved them. |
| Holy Flood Watch, Batman! It's raining! I tell myself this is a good thing because at least it isn't snow. Still, 2 inches of rain falling in less than 24 hours kinda makes a mess of things. The grayness of the day was productive though. I finished my local taxes and grudgingly wrote out the check. I wrote another check for $3 for my State Taxes. Everything is set to go, I just need to visit the post office tomorrow. I am such a procrastinator. I didn't not accomplish near what I hoped to today, but not much I can do about that. I'm feeling kind of low down at the moment and my thoughts are weighing heavily. With any luck it'll blow over with this storm. On Friday as I was clearing my desk and getting ready to leave work, my boss stopped in the hall on his way out. Leaning against the door frame of my office he said "That's it. I quit." "Yeah?" I said. "Me too." He pushed off the door frame smiling at our joke. "Do we need to give any notice?" I asked. "Who gives a shit?" he said as he turned to leave. Ah, misery really does love company. |
| I don't remember how we got on the subject, but my mother and I were talking about being young and naive and my mother shared a great story. My mother grew up in Idaho. On weekends she and her friends would go into Boise looking for a good time. They would hang out and drink beer if they could find someone to buy it for them. Well, one of the places they liked to hang out was frequented by Airmen from the nearby Air Force Base, and they were pretty willing to buy the beer. After some drinking and hanging out, Mom and her friends were invited to go to a party with these guys. They said they knew a girl who had a house nearby and she was having a party. Mom and her friends went and had a really good time. The next weekend they went again. Turns out the girl with the house had a party pretty much every weekend. After a couple weekends of this routine, mom didn't make it back to Boise for a couple weekends. When they got to Boise again they ran into the guys again and asked them if they'd take them to the party again. Well the poor Airmen had to explain that there were not going to be any more parties. Turns out the hostess was running a brothel! A couple weekends prior the Airmen had the unfortunate experience of being present when the house was busted. They'd just been given liberty again after having been restricted to base. My mother had no idea she was spending her Saturday nights hanging out at a brothel, but that would hardly have mattered. If she had been arrested in the bust of a whorehouse, he father would have killed her!!! In retrospect she says she knew the guys were disappearing into the bedrooms with the girl and her "friends," but they just really weren't paying that much attention. They were having a good time just hanging out in the living room drinking the free beer. This is my new favorite Mom story! |
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