Thursday, January 31, 2008

Oh, PLEASE

Yes, I am a feminist. In the sense that I believe women should get equal pay for equal work. No, I don't plan to vote for Hillary just because she's a woman. I wouldn't mind having a woman president, but only if she's qualified. (Just FYI, I have NO intention of voting for Hillary.)
When the hubby showed me this tonight, I couldn't help but groan.
Would anyone really like to argue that this picture just set women back a few years?

Undeniably Cat Cora is an incredibly attractive woman. And maybe she does dress this way when she goes shopping at her local convenience store. But I certainly wish she would have traded on her talent, wit, and intelligence rather than using her body. I am extremely disappointed.

I watch Iron Chef America religiously. This is not the Cat Cora I am acquainted with. This is some wonderbra version of her. Frankly, I liked it a lot better when she got attention from men for what she put on the table rather than getting attention for them wondering what she would do under the table.

Do you ever say to yourself...


You know, sometimes, I just can't catch a break. So, I was feeling pretty good about how my physical therapy was going. My neck was beginning to loosen up. Life was good.

Then I went to work this morning. I sat down at my desk and grabbed the phone, as I always do, to check for any voice mail messages. There were none, but there was something sitting by the phone. Now, it's not unusual for my boss or another Tech Writer to leave something on my desk for me to proof. This was not something to be proofed.

My student employee left me a letter of resignation.

Effective yesterday.

That's right folks, he up and quit. No notice.

And, this puts all the rest of us writers right in the middle of a s**t storm. You see, right now my group has a position open for a full-time writer. The plan was to transition my student into this position. A few of us thought the student was on board with this plan. The other students knew that he wasn't and didn't bother to inform us. Not that I would have were I in their position.

So now we're down a writer, have had to tell a group that we previously supported that they can take their backlog and put it where the sun doesn't shine because we have no one to do the work, have had to redistribute a massive amount of work to myself and the other full-time writer, and my boss, who no longer does tech writing, has had to pick up two manuals herself.

Had we known about this yesterday we would have had a fighting shot at hiring one of the two student applicants that came through. Now we'll have to wait. I'm not a patient person.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The high price of running behind




Those of you that know me know that I often run a little late getting to work. I always make up my time, so it's not a big deal. However, Tuesday morning the 22nd it caught up with me. At about straight up 8 o'clock I was stopped at a stoplight. You know, when the light turns red you have to stop, right?

Next thing I know, I'm being pushed into the car in front of me. Yep, I got rear-ended. After I pulled off into an entrance to one of our local manufacturing plants, I called 911. I'd gotten knocked around pretty good, so I thought it wise to call. I know that my phone makes a funny noise when I call 911, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I also can't remember most of what I said to the 911 operator or to my husband when I called him immediately after calling 911.

At this point I walked to the back of my car to see what the damage was. The man who had hit me seemed to be pretty elderly. I estimated 80-85. As you can see from the pictures, there's a pretty healthy chunk of my rear bumper missing. I said, "Well then," to the man that had hit me. His response, "I'm going to have to find a bathroom." And he proceeded to walk across a very busy intersection to the local gas station. All I could think of is that you're not supposed to leave the scene of an accident.
Long story short, he literally crapped his pants when he hit me. My car has about $3000 worth of damage to it and my body has even more. I've got a nasty case of whiplash that will keep me in physical therapy for months. I'm actually in quite a lot of pain. But, what are you going to do? It's called an accident for a reason.
So it's been quite the week. Painkillers and muscle relaxers are my friends. But, they make me very tired. Makes functioning at normal levels interesting! But, I'm on the mend. Life goes on.

When he gets it right...

He really gets it right. Monday the 21st was my second wedding anniversary. Here's what arrived for me around noon. Stargazers are my favorite.

The funny part of this story is that I had a dream the night before that he bought me flowers. I told him about it the next morning. So when the flowers arrived, I assumed it was because of the dream. But here's how wonderful he is. He ordered them a week ago. Yep, he's good. He's very, very good. :)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sick

I am undeniably sick. The, "I have a cough somewhere in my lungs and and nothing moves in my lungs no matter how hard or how often I cough." kind of sick. The kind of coughing that gives you a headache, makes every muscle in your body ache, and makes the bed quake every time you're wracked with a coughing spasm.

And, of course, I need to be at work tomorrow. If I don't go to the doctor, it will turn into pneumonia. But if I do go, she'll tell me there's nothing wrong with me that time won't cure.

I caught this last weekend and was surprised and pleased at how mild it seemed. HA! Mild my foot. Friday night this weekend it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I'm hopped up on Day-Quil, cough drops, vitamin C drops, cold care tea, hot baths, Vick's on the soles of my feet, and anything else I can think of to get myself through this. And I just keep hoping that one of these mornings I'll wake up and find this horrible cough gone, or at least diminishing.

It could be worse. I understand my grandfather on my father's side used to make them eat a tablespoon full of Vick's when they got sick.

Happy Anniversary to us

Tomorrow is our 2nd wedding anniversary. Here's a picture of my anniversary present. I picked out two plain bands and hubby had them soldered, one on either side of my ring. The effect was such as to make it look like a completely new ring. My sister-in-law gasped when she saw it and asked where my other ring was. I am absolutely overjoyed with the way it looks. Hubby is getting a trip to a steakhouse. But that will have to come after I am well. More on that later.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Finishalongapalooza update

I forgot one project. I have a navy and this Bernat denim yarn. It's a simple, back and forth, double crochet. I'll have to get measurements and add it to the WIP/UFO list a little later. Don't know who/what it's for. I just loved the yarn.

Memorable Quote

I heard a great line on a movie last night.

"God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way." I think this is funny and true at the same time.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Almost Mr. Clean

I shaved the hubby's head this weekend. Hee hee. It's very soft. He looks great. Wish I could show you pictures, but he's not used to it yet and still scares himself when he looks in the mirror. Maybe in the near future. But it does look great!

Of libraries and screaming

Mom and I took the munchkin to the library yesterday while the boys watched some show on the symbols on the dollar bill. The munchkin was wonderful and horrible at the same time.

Munchkin headed straight for the toys. She had a great time playing while mom and I switched off to go find our books. Munchkin got all kinds of Blue's Clues books and other assorted board books.

I got a couple of books that I'm really excited about. A while back I had read a book called The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I loved it. It's total chick lit. Of the British variety. You absolutely didn't have to think at all when you were reading it. This time, I got the second in the series, The Masque of the Black Tulip. I can't wait to start it.

But first, I'm reading a book I read several times in my childhood, Agnes Cecilia. I love this book. It has one of my favorite quotes ever. "He was himself and to an unusually high degree." Plus, it inludes a reference to one of my favorite of Shakespeare's works, Hamlet.

So, we got all our books and all our other stuff. And then we told the munchkin we were going to leave. She began to throw a fit. She truly is mine. She loves going to the library, picking out her books, checking everything out, but not leaving. I love it!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

S&B

Stitch and Bitch was at my place tonight. What a hoot. Jessica brought "snacks", AKA, margaritas. The suggestion was made that perhaps we should never go back to the library! LOL. Everyone is working on projects that make me so proud. I'm just so amazed at what this small group of women is able to turn out. Is it always this way? When you start something like this do you always feel this amazed and awed and proud? I think back to my grandmother teaching me to do these stitches and I feel an immediate connection. It feels so good.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Update on 80%

So the radio commercial lies. At least, this time, my figures didn't work out. I have officially, with help, de-Christmased the house and vacuumed.

The log cabin is not done, nor do I anticipate finishing it tonight. There's just too much left to do.

The scarf is not done. I don't anticipate finishing that one tonight either.

The book is not done. That one I could see finishing tonight. So, how about 50%?

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Finishalongapalooza cataloging

I spent some time in my craft room tonight digging through things and pulling out what either needs to be frogged or finished. It really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Here's my count of what doesn't appear on my WIP list:

Double crochet afghan consisting of single-color squares approximately 5x5 to be edged in black. I need 108 squares. I have completed 77. None of them are edged.

Double crochet granny square afghan with the squares edged in black. 15 squares x 12 squares. 41 of them are completed and edged. Two rows of 15 are crocheted together.

Double crochet blue afghan. 5 ft x 4 ft. Currently 5 ft by 5 1/2 inches.

Single crochet potholder. At least 50% done. This one won't take long to finish.

1 hour of frogging and winding. Just a couple of poor, misguided crochet projects. These are never going to be finished, so they must be frogged.

Really, not too bad. It could have been a lot worse. My current big project is finishing my log cabin. Once that's done, I'm going to throw another project into the mix. After that, I begin trying to finish these buggers.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

FINISHALONGAPALOOZA

One of my first ever blog friends, Dawn, had a very interesting post. Finishalongapalooza. Oh yeah! I'M SO TOTALLY IN! I'll be trolling the craft room this weekend. Only crochet projects count. Lime and Violet have the best idea ever! What a resolution! Stay tuned for more!

They walk among us

I stopped at a gas station tonight to pick up a few things. Here's what I had:

3 small bags of roasted, salted almonds
1 bag of sunflower seeds
1 bag of pumpkin seeds
1 diet pop
10 individual packages of cigarettes (not for me, and I wanted a carton, but they were out)

As you can see, that's quite the bunch of stuff.

No joke, the clerk looked at me, and with a perfectly straight face said, "Would you like a bag for that?"

The stupid walk among us.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Crochet Geek

Here's what I'll be purchasing soon! It's going to look so cool on my car. You can purchase one on Etsy. Here's the link. Mom, you asked what I bought myself? Here it is.

80%

I keep hearing this ad on the radio that you achieve 80% of the goals that you put on paper. So, in an attempt to accomplish some things, I'm going to go ahead and put them down here. Let's see how well this works. By the end of next weekend, I want to:

Finish the book that I'm reading for my own pleasure. That would be A Rose for the Crown.

Finish the log cabin afghan that I've been working on. I've made a rule for myself that I can't start the pink and purple afghan for the munchkin until I finish the log cabin.

Finish the scarf that I have started. You can check out pictures and the pattern here. It shouldn't take too long, and it would be one more thing to have out of the work basket.

De-Christmas the house and vacuum up all the crap that has accumulated over the last couple of weeks. Not that I'm a religious cleaner (HA! Far from it!) but the junk on the carpet and the kitchen floor is really starting to get to me. (God help us all if the hubby reads this entry! He'll think I've gone off my rocker and will call the men with white coats.)

Well there. I think that's a sufficient list for 5 days. Should keep me very busy. 80% huh? that means that of the 4 tasks I have set out here, that at least one of them isn't going to get done. We'll see.