Magical Bathrooms

The other day I was in the ladies' room at work and a co-worker started talking about the water pressure of the toilets. The truth is, it's kind of hit or miss in there. One time the pressure will be great and everything goes down easily. Another time you can hold the handle for what seems like five minutes and nothing but water goes down.

Meanwhile, there are signs posted all over the bathroom and stalls saying to hold the handle down until EVERYTHING (including paper) goes down.

Which brings us to my co-worker's comments. She was telling me that she flushes with her foot because the handle has germs and she can't balance herself well on one foot. Then she told me she'd had this conversation with my boss and that my boss agreed.

It got me to thinking. Does the toilet handle have some magical properties whereby touching it removes all the germs you may have had on your hand?

For the sake of argument, let's say it does. So, all those people who use their hands to flush the toilet have had their hands magically sanitized before they touch the stall lock. But what about those people who use their feet to flush the toilet? Their hands weren't magically sanitized so their germs would be on the stall lock, wouldn't they? Perhaps they somehow use their feet to unlock the stall too, I don't know. I didn't ask.

Then you have the water faucet and the door handle. We can pretend these things all have magical properties but the reality is, they don't.

When I go to the ladies' room in a public place, I flush with my hand. I open the stall with my hand. I turn on the water faucet, with my hand. But once soap and water has touched my hands, I don't touch anything else in the bathroom. I turn off the water with a paper towel and I use the paper towels I dried my hands off with to open the bathroom door with. I dispose of those paper towels outside the bathroom.

My co-worker, however, flushes with her foot (thanks for the extra germs, by the way), opens the door in an undetermined manner, uses her bare hand to turn on the water faucet and uses her bare hand to open the bathroom door. It could just be me but for some reason, that just seems backwards.

RWA Conference

Every year RWA has a conference and this week there are some 2000 romance writers in Florida celebrating RWA's 30th anniversary. There are workshops and networking opportunities and a high energy and support that you don't get / see in other industries. It's the reason I get to say that I vacation with Nora Roberts! (hehe - I know she's missing me now, right? lol)

Tonight is the wrap-up of the conference and they do so with an award ceremony, recognizing excellence in writing. Published writers can win a Rita and non-published writers can win a Golden Heart. It's the academy awards of romance writers and it's a big deal!

Gabrielle Luthy was my roommate two years ago at the San Francisco conference. She's a very unique and fascinating person and I consider her a friend. She's up for a Golden Heart tonight. So, while life got in the way of me being there in person, I'm cheering her on and wishing her the best tonight. Gabrielle, here's hoping you walk away with the award in your category! Good luck!

Oh, and Nora, I'll see you next year - count on it! ;o)

Oops, they did it again

You may remember me posting around this time last year about my company's emergency program wherein we have to provide contact numbers for them to contact us in the event of an emergency (such as a hurricane event). It's required that we update (or confirm the information previously provided) it every year and they expect us to provide our personal cell numbers as the first contact, and I've been refusing to do that on principle.

But anyway, they give us a deadline and once that deadline has passed, they test the system. We get a second email instructing us to call in to confirm we know how to use the system, with a new deadline. If we don't make that call by the deadline, they start calling the numbers on the contact list.

Well, like last year, my step-father received a call asking him if he knew where I was.

In my defense (last year I was ignoring the email, thinking nothing would happen), I've been off work for a while and yesterday was my first day back and the second email came while I was out so I didn't see it before they called him.

The funny thing is, the reason I've been out is because I found out recently that I have mono and my doctor put me on medical leave so that I could rest. My step-father knew that and he also knew that I was scheduled to go back to work yesterday. And then he gets a phone call asking if he knows where I am.

So, like last year, I received a frantic call from him asking if all was okay. Poor guy.

Next year I probably should just suck it up and give them my cell number. lol

Miscellaneous

I know it's been a while since my last post and I have no excuse. I think of things I think will be fun to post about but apparently my follow-through is . . . lacking.

Anyway, I've been having some weird dreams lately. Like the one where I walked in my front door in time to see someone coming in my back door, uninvited, no less. I started screaming hysterically and my viscious, killer-attack lab, jumped into my arms. It must be true about acquiring super-human strength when adrenylin hits because, under normal circumstances, I can't lift my dog, much less hold him in my arms (he weighs 90+ pounds and I have no upper body strength). Meanwhile, the would-be burglar ran up to me and apologized because he'd meant to have my house cleaned out before I returned home, then he promptly ran into my bedroom. I followed him (still screaming) and carrying Max. Apparently I was going to throw Max at him if I came back upon him. I opened the closet door (who knows how since my hands were full) and woke up.

Another dream had to do with Dancing with the Stars. I had the dream Monday night so it was before the final show where the winner was announced. They were at the part where they let the third place person go and announced the top two dancers. I was backstage listening when they announced a shocking twist and announced that I was in the top two! And it was a huge shock because I hadn't danced before but apparently there was a "call-in" vote (like a write in vote but with the phone) and enough of the viewers "called me in" so that they had no choice but to place me in the top two. (It was very overwhelming and unexpected and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that phoned me in. :o) ) The last thing of the dream I remember is hoping I could live up to the expectations when I did the last competitive dance of the season.

Speaking of DWTS, I'm glad Nicole won - she deserved it. And let me just say here that it pisses me off that everyone is saying she had an advantage because she's a dancer. Um, Evan was a dancer too - he just did it on skates!!! I don't think either had an advantage over the other - possibly over some of the other celebrities, but not each other. Oh, and her free style? Did she go the safe route and dance 'her' style? No, she continued outside her comfort zone and she rocked it. Like I said, I'm glad she won, she deserved it!

Moving on . . . I'm thinking of taking a class this summer. It's been a long time since I've taken a class over the summer but I haven't completed a course since last spring (had to withdraw last fall when I went to Arkansas and didn't register this semester because I'd just gotten home when classes started). I'm thinking about taking Astronomy. It starts in a week and a half and runs through the first week of August. Since that conflicts with the RWA conference, I sent the instructor an email asking if it would be a problem if I missed the week of the conference. He responded back effectively saying no and signed his name. It was the first I'd even paid attention to his name. He signed "Dr. Talent". Can I seriously take a class from someone named Dr. Talent? I'm thinking no.

And on the subject of the conference, I'm really torn. We were supposed to be on a vacation freeze through July so I had to get special permission to take the week off. They were reluctant to give me an answer but I forced one from them in January, at which time I made arrangements for my dogs. I want to go because it's the 30th anniversary and I think it'll be good but at the same time, I'm not motivated to go. Meanwhile my bosses still think I will be out that week.

Anyway, that's some of the stuff that's been going on here. How are things with you?

Some times you just have to laugh

Take yesterday. I'm having some work done on my house and among the things I'm having done is I'm having the hall closet and space where the heating unit used to be (it's now in the attic) combined to be a large pantry. They started the work on Wednesday and I've been coming home at lunch to let the dogs out because I've been locking them in my bedroom while they do the work.

Well, yesterday I came home at lunch and they weren't here - which was fine, it was lunch time after all. Only, as I stepped out of my car, one of the guys drove up. We had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Hey.
Him: I had to take my partner to the emergency room.
Me: What? Ohmigod! What happened? Is he okay?
Him: I don't know. I had to take him to the emergency room. (pause) Actually that's why there's a hole in your ceiling.
Me: Wait. What? There's a hole in my ceiling? What happened?????

To make a long story short they were installing a light in the pantry (it should be noted that this was NOT contracted work - we never discussed having a light in the pantry. it's a nice gesture but I did NOT ask them to do this. anyway. . . ) and the partner went to pull a line through the attic to get electricity in the new pantry and something bit him.

His arm started swelling almost immediately and was turning purple. He went up into the attic to see if he could find out what had bitten him. He saw a snake skin and apparently freaked out (can't say as I blame him). He took a step and fell through the ceiling. And then they left for the emergency room.

Turns out it wasn't a snake bite but they didn't positively identify what had bitten him. Before I went back to work the contractor left to go pick his partner up because he was ready to get back to work.

Now, as this story was being revealed to me the things that ran through my head were: 1) that's awful, I hope the guy's okay; 2) what's my liability; and, the thing I really can't get out of my head . . . 3) there was a snake in my attic!

I think I'm going to have to move now!

Clean up on Aisle 3!

It's a long story but suffice it to say, I've changed my eating habits. The last two weeks I've spent my Saturday shopping at Whole Foods for groceries.

Well, yesterday, I got up early and went to Whole Foods to do more shopping. I got there a few minutes after the store opened and there were only a handful of customers shopping. I got all my produce and 'cold' items and started down the aisles. I went down the grain aisle and picked up these tubs that they have for getting larger amounts of the grains. Last week a guy helped me shop and he collected the grains in a bag like what you normally put your produce in. I offered to do it but he insisted. He'd pull the lever and release, ask me if it was enough and repeat until I said it was enough. Easy enough, right?

Well, first thing I went to collect some beans - lentil to be specific - and I put my tub under the opening and pulled the lever until the tub was almost full. Then I released and pulled my tub out from under the opening. Only problem was, the beans just kept coming. In fact, I'm quite sure that the rate in which they poured out increased at least tenfold. I stood there for a moment in shock, trying to figure out how to stop it. Meanwhile the aisle was filling up with lentil beans at an alarmingly fast pace. I don't recall realizing that I probably had to push the lever the other direction to stop it and I don't recall actually pushing it to stop it but I must have because (thankfully) the beans quit pouring out. As I mentioned, it was quite early so there were no witnesses to this incident. However, my tub was so full I couldn't put the lid on it so I stood there for a while trying to figure out how to empty some out. I heard someone come up behind me and comment that someone had an accident with the beans. She wasn't unpleasant about it and I don't think she realized it was me but I felt so embarrassed. It was hard to push my cart through all the beans on the ground (I wish I was kidding!) but I moved on. How you label your tubs is different than how you label the bags (I asked and someone told me) so I was looking for the stickers and ended up having to come back by the lentil beans for a couple of more lids. Someone was sweeping up the lentils and a customer was thanking him. (The aisle was quite busy at the moment.) Again, I don't think they realized I was the culprit but it was a bit embarrassing. There were no further incidents with the other items I got in tubs and no other tub is quite so full. =)

Things not said (kind of long)

I got home Wednesday night after having spent the last two months in Arkansas looking out for my step-father's best interests while he recovered from a car accident (he's still not fully recovered but it was decided I needed to come home). While I was gone I had some things done to my house, like some construction work and then I had someone come and clean my house because I wanted to be able to come home and relax in a clean house - and that wasn't happening without an intervention. ;)

Anyway, there were some things that I thought went without saying, but apparently I was wrong. So, I want to take this time to say those things now. . .

To both the construction crew and cleaning crew (because I don't know who was at fault in these things):

First of all, I can't imagine that either of you would be okay if someone came into your house and tampered with your air conditioning thermostat. Well, I'm not particularly okay with one of you tampering with mine. But, if you were going to be so uncooth and do such a thing, the least you could have done was put it back where you found it before you left. At least that way I would've never known what you'd done.

Oh, and it's not enough that all the pieces of the items you broke were together. Couldn't you have just given me a heads' up and said, "hey, I'm really sorry but (insert item) got broken. It was an accident and think it can be glued back together - I'll leave all the pieces together for you." Yeah, that definitely would've been better than coming home and finding things broken throughout the house.

Okay, you both pulled my washing machine out to do work. One of you did something horribly wrong because now it floods the laundry room and hallway every time I do a load of laundry. Totally not cool and I think one of you should have to pay to have it fixed - you can work out the "who" amongst yourselves.

To the contractor I want to say:

I'm a single woman with a normal car. You knew that when I hired you to do the work. If your fees don't include hauling off crap, it would be nice to know that because I thought that was included in your fees. It was a bit of a shock to come home and find that I'm going to have to figure out how to get the paneling you removed hauled off. For future reference, I think this should be something discussed with your clients. I, for one, would've happily paid additional costs to have it hauled off.

Okay, there apparently was some miscommunication about the repairs to the walls. I don't recall the word "except" being used when I pointed to specific spots I wanted repaired. When I said "all" places on the walls, it also included the big honking hole in the bathroom wall but I guess I wasn't clear about that.

As for the baseboards, well, I have a couple of questions. Is there a reason you only did three of the four walls in my bedroom closet? And is there a reason you didn't put the same stuff you put under the kitchen cabinets under the bathroom cabinets? I'm just a little curious.

Oh, and the phone line. I know the baseboards you installed were thicker than the ones that had been removed but couldn't you have hidden the line and re-attached the outlet when you put in the new baseboard? Seriously, did you think I wouldn't notice the difference?

And for the cleaning person I have a lot to say to her:

I'm a dog person. You knew this before you came out because we discussed it. So telling me that I shouldn't let my dogs in the house ever again was out of line. Telling me once could have been considered constructive criticism, but telling me over and over and over (and over again) because you didn't think I was understanding what you were saying was totally uncalled for. As was taking everything dog related out of my house and throwing it into the garage, because you didn't think they should be in the house. The fact that I had to clean all that stuff when I brought it back into the house means you didn't do your job!

Oh, and it's in very poor form to quote a price for a job and then, once you're done, tell the person that they owe you an additional $20 for cleaning supplies. Seriously, that should've been captured in your quote. If you forgot to mention that supplies were extra, you really should have to eat the cost. Leaving the receipt and all the bottles of supplies on my kitchen counter wasn't cool. For one, it meant that I had to clear my kitchen counter and then wipe it back down when I got home. Something else I paid you to do. For another thing, it let me know that over half the items you made me pay for weren't even used. In short, you made me pay for things you didn't use and I don't need. Not a good way to get a recommendation.

When we talked about the job, I stressed to you that I really wanted you to focus on my bathrooms. The guest bathroom was disgusting and the master bath needed some special attention as well. I said those would be your money makers when you gave me the quote - remember that? Anyway, given that the topic that I went on and on about were my bathrooms, you can imagine my surprise to come home and find that both toilets still need scrubbing as did the master bathtub. I don't know how I could have been more clear about wanting you to focus on those areas. If you don't do bathrooms, you should have told me when we first talked.

I suppose you noticed all the baskets I have throughout my house. I use them to help keep things organized. In the master bath I have all the stuff I use in one. It makes for better organization and easier clean up. I just have to take the basket off the counter to wipe it down and put it back on the counter when the counter is dry. So, why you decided to pitch the basket under the sink and empty its items onto the counter, I don't understand. It just created more work for you - and me, since I had to put stuff back in the basket when I got home.

Ditto for the basket of movies in the living room. Why would you empty them onto assorted shelves on my entertainment center when they were all in one place in the basket? Again, you created unnecessary work for the both of us.

And while it could be considered nice that you put all the magazines into one pile, they were sorted based on what I had read and hadn't read. If you'd left the ones that were in a basket alone, it would've been okay. But, you couldn't do that, could you?

I didn't ask (or expect) you do wash my draperies. I can appreciate the gesture though. However, if you're going to take them down, it would've been nice if you had put them back up correctly. The fact that I now have to take them back down and figure out what the correct way to put them back up again annoys me to no end.

I feel similarly about you washing my walls. I didn't ask or expect you to do that. It's a nice gesture but I can tell exactly where you were when you decided you'd had enough of that and stopped. The fact that you went on and on (and on) about washing my walls and to come and see exactly where you left off doesn't lend itself to a recommendation from me.

And I'm curious - was there a reason you decided to rearrange furniture in my bedroom? Also, I'm assuming you don't watch TV or know how cable works because when you unplugged the cable box to plug in the lamp you moved to the other side of my bedroom, you rendered the TV it was attached to useless. I thought that was just common sense but apparently I was mistaken.
I'm not sure why you thought it necessary to rearrange items in my refrigerator (including the shelves). Things were arranged as they were for a reason. But that aside, if you were going to spend that much time on the refrigerator, wouldn't it have made sense for you to wipe down the the door and its handles too? After all, people see those before they see what's inside. Just saying.

As for your leaving my door unlocked - well, it worked out well and saved some time, seeing as you turned off the power to my garage door opener and I wasn't able to come in that way.

I have to hand it to you though, you though - you really cleared out the guest bathroom of "stuff". Of course, I'm not sure why everything was put in the living room. Seriously, I'd really like to understand what you were thinking by leaving that role of toilet paper on the table in the living room. I know sometimes a person can hardly wait but if they can't make it to the bathroom in time, I don't think a role of toilet paper in the living room is really going to be much of a help. Just saying.

And last of all, the phone books in the closet may have been a couple of years old but considering they were the only phone books in the entire house, I don't see where you thought it was okay to throw them out. It makes me wonder what else you threw out and so now I'm forced to go through the two huge trash bags you filled to see what else you deemed unnecessary in my life (thank goodness the dogs weren't here when you were throwing things out!).

In short, you created more work for me to do than there would have been if I'd just cleaned my house myself when I got home. So next time I need my house cleaned, I will definitely look elsewhere.

I also have a couple of things to say to others that weren't hired to do things. . .

To my friend that watched my house for me. Could you please return my calls and let me know where a month's worth of my mail is? Did you forward it after I told you I was coming home or are you still holding on to it? It doesn't matter either way but I'd like to know what's going on and your avoiding my calls and not returning my messages is aggravating as all get out.

To my neighbor who tossed his trash in my backyard. Knowing I was gone is no excuse. And telling me that you were waiting until I got home to clear it out doesn't fly. If you'd cleared it out while I was gone, I would've never known what you'd done. Waiting until I got home only caused me inconvenience because I had to lock my dogs up while you cleared out something that never should've been in my backyard to begin with. Not terribly neighborly if you ask me.

So there you go. That's what I came home to and had to deal with. They were all things I would've thought didn't need to be said but apparently they did. And now they're said. All that's left is for me to clean up behind the people I paid to clean up after themselves.

I know, long rant but well, I think it's over now. :)

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

~L

Stuff

I know it's been a while since I've blogged but a lot has been going on. Most recently, I came to Arkansas to help out with my step-father. He was in a car accident three weeks ago and, well, things are not going exactly to plan.

But, when I was driving up here I was surprised to find that there actually are parts of Texas that have a fall season. I got a bit excited because I thought it'd be cool to see the fall colors and even take some pictures.

Well, when I got to my step-father's, this is what greeted me:

No color. :o(

BUT, you know what wasn't disappointing? Maria Geraci's Bunco Babes Gone Wild.

I finished it today - and loved it! I loved her debut book Bunco Babes Tell All and pre-ordered BBGW back in July. And can I just say that it lived up to the first book.

I'll sum it up this way.....

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when Maria Geraci writes a book, it is good. :o)

Expensive Reading Group

I've always wanted to participate in a reading group where a book that will be read is determined, followed by a book discussion. I did that a little bit online over at RWA Online but I've always wanted to do the face-to-face kind of discussions.

Then a few days ago it hit me. I AM doing that. It's called school! The instructors decide what books we'll read and then we have to come back and discuss them the next week.

It just goes to show that there is something to the old adage that you should be careful what you wish for because while, in theory this is what I wanted, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. ;o)

This is how I want to do it

About online dating...it's not working for me. And I know why it's not working - for one thing, my heart's not in it. Readers of my blog and a few (very few) select friends know I've tried online dating. I know it's like the new way to meet people but I'm really not comfortable with the concept and deep down I've felt like if I did meet someone that way, I'd never want to admit that to the people who didn't know how we met - which is the mass majority of people. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with online dating if you want to do that - the problem is with me and I know that too.

Another reason it's not working for me is because I don't post pictures. I know men are very visual beings and with that whole "don't want people to know" thing working against me, I haven't been able to bring myself to post pictures. For a lot of men, that's a deal breaker - which is fine. But, here's the deal, I've been a paid member on two services and created a profile on a third (they still send you matches but you can't communicate with them). All three of the services have matched me with men I know. Yes, I know that that means they're signed up too but it still makes me uncomfortable and if they found out I had subscribed (I'm no longer a subscriber to any online service) to these services, I'd want it to be because I chose to tell them - not because they recognized my picture. Stupid? Yes, absolutely, but it's still how I feel.

But anyway, back when I was married, I tried to talk my then husband into taking ballroom dance classes with me but he refused. Shortly after we separated I started taking country western dance classes by myself. Then in 2000, I took swing and country western dancing with my nephew. And with Dancing with the Stars, it's really brought back the desire to take dancing classes. So anyway, a couple of weeks ago I pulled up Jessica Trapp's website and was looking around and was reminded that she belly dances (she's such a neat lady and so interesting!!!). Next thing I know, I'm googling "belly dancing classes Houston". I came across Dance Passion, a place that teaches not only Belly Dancing but also salsa, swing, country western, ballroom, hip hop and more. For me, I want group classes because private lessons are obscenely expensive and this school has group classes.

To make a long story short, a new session of classes started this week. I was interested in ballroom, salsa and belly dancing. The ballroom classes started on Monday but I was exhausted after work and couldn't bring myself to make the trek across town (no place near me offers classes - this place is 35 miles one way) for the class. I did, however, have the energy to go on Thursday for the belly dancing. It was immediately followed by the salsa class but I hadn't decided if I was going to do both. That is until I saw the big crowd waiting to get in to the salsa class. I figured if it was that popular, it had to be fun, so I signed up for it as well.

And here's where I get to the point of this post (yeah, I know, long way around)...they told us to find a partner. At the time I thought that would be the awkward part - the part where I felt like a loser because I didn't come with a partner. I didn't go look for anyone, instead, a tall, good-looking man approached me and asked me to be his partner. And for the next 30-45 minutes (before they made us start changing partners), he was my dance partner. He was nice. He was encouraging. And we had a good time.

But, the point is, we didn't have to fill out a 700 question compatibility thing or be compared on 29 points (or whatever it is) to find out we have something in common. We'd both signed up for the class of our own free will and without doing anything else, we know we have something in common. I like that - a lot. Is he going to be the next man in my life? Probably not. That's not the point. The point is, I don't have to do things that make me uncomfortable to meet people. If I just go out and do the things I like doing, I'm going to meet people with common interests without trying. All while having a good time to boot.

Bottom line, I think I'm done with the online dating thing. I know it works for a lot of people - and that's great - but it's not for me. I'd rather meet someone in a situation where we know off the bat that we have a common interest and see where that takes us. If it goes somewhere, great. If not, that's okay too. But in the meantime, I'm still having fun. And that's really what it's all about now, isn't it? :)

The weekend

Numbers and I go way back. Back in junior high (we called it intermediate school here), I was in all the accelerated math classes. Same in high school. That is, until I got in to Trig in my junior. That's when numbers and I parted company. Sure, we run into each other from time to time but it's not the same. We just don't understand each other anymore.

Which causes a problem when I have to use numbers to count points when doing the Weight Watcher's (WW) program. For example, a few months back I discovered Stouffer's Cheddar Potato Bake. Have you had these before? I love them. I haven't followed WW for a while now but calculated them to be 6 points. Not bad, in the big scheme of things.

Well, I decided to go back to following WW and counting points last week and I picked up a couple of the CPB dinners. But, not 100% certain of the point value, I calculated it up Saturday when I was going to have one. Yep, 6 points. Then, when I decided to fix it up, I was pulling it out of the box and noticed something I'd never seen before. "Serves 2" Huh? What do they mean serves 2? That's when I checked the back and saw that it was 6 points per serving and that it had 2 servings in the box. So not good. When you get 21 points in a day, you don't want 12 of them going to a small portion of potatoes that someone thought was enough for two people.

This was followed yesterday by discovering that my 6 point peanut butter toast was actually 9 points! I also discovered that a serving of bread was one slice, so forget any sandwiches. And yet, for some reason, I'm not losing any weight. Go figure.

But, in other news, I got my hair cut Friday. Here's the deal...I got my hair cut New Year's Eve last year. I went in and told the person (this was a different salon - across town) I wanted my hair cut. I wanted a long layer at the bottom of my hair and I wanted to get bangs cut (I haven't worn bangs in a couple of years). She went wacking away at my hair and I came out with something totally different than what I'd asked for but it was actually very cute. I liked it a lot. I got more compliments on this haircut than any other I can ever remember. So, I was a little nervous when, six weeks later, I went to my usual spot and got my hair cut. The lady asked if I wanted the same hair cut and I said yes and away she went. She actually did a good job - I still liked it.

Then, another six weeks go by and I go to get my hair cut again. I got someone else, who looked vaguely familiar to me. I told her I wanted the exact same hair cut and she said okay and started wacking away on my hair. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention until I realized she was using some sort of razor on my hair. And then I remember where I know her from...she's the crazy razor lady I blogged about here. I freaked out and our conversation went something like this:

Me: What are you doing?

Her: It's a razor.

Me: (the light going on as to where I know her from) Why are you using it on my hair?

Her: I only did one side.

She says this like it's not a big deal because she's only done one side - not like I should let her do the other side so they match. And if the the truth is known, I didn't let her do the other side. Sad thing is, the overall cut was so bad, I don't think anyone noticed the portion that had been razored.

Me: Did I ask you to use a razor on my hair?

Her: No.

Me: Then why did you?

Her: I only did one side.

Me: I asked you to give me the exact same hair cut I had! Why would you use a razor on my hair???

Her: I only did one side.

Me: Don't do anything else to my hair!

Her: Okay.

Me: I still need my eyebrows waxed.

Yes, she really did my eyebrows after that, so I deserved what I got there.

Anyway, I went Friday to get my hair cut/fixed at the same place. I got the person who had cut it the second time and had done a good job. She asked if I wanted the same cut and I said "not exactly. It got butchered the last time I got it cut so I need it fixed now." She said okay and as she cut, she pointed out where the last person had munked it up, as if it mattered at that point.

She cut things that shouldn't have been cut and after several days of playing with it, I realized why the cut looks familiar. Here is what my hair looks like.....

I only wish I was kidding!

How was your weekend?

Bad Blogger

Yes I know I've been a bad blogger. I've been trying to prioritize my time and between school and work, other things have fallen by the wayside. Like my social life, and my blogging. And the sad thing is, I feel like I'm failing at everything. I've been studying my tail off in my geology class and I'm still not doing well in there. The instructor keeps changing his mind on how he's going to calculate our grades and I'm beginning to worry that getting a B may be an optimistic dream. I'm currently working on accepting whatever grade I get in that class because I know I've done my best and that's all I can expect from myself. It's hard to accept, but I'm working on it.

But, in the meantime, I've missed some things in my personal life. For example, a couple of months ago I got an email from my online chapter, reminding me that it was time to renew my membership. At the time I thought "I have time" and did nothing. Next thing I knew, the deadline has passed (the whooshing sound and all) so I guess I'm not a member at the moment. I'm not unhappy with the chapter, I want to be a member - it's just that particular detail fell through the cracks with everything else going on. Never fear though, I'll be back when class is over (a week and a half from now - THANK GOD!!!). In fact, I think I'm going to have a blog party, complete with door prizes. So, feel free to stop by between now and a week from Wednesday but just know, come a week from Thursday, there'll be a party!

Until then...dig up your old party hats, invite your friends to stop by and come prepared to have a good time (no pressure on me or anything!!! lol).

More Random Stuff

I was leaving the office today and somehow realized I was heading towards the stairs. I never do that. I know I should, but I don't. Anyway, I headed down the stairs and went down two flights of stairs and came out. I headed around the corner towards the exit, only it wasn't there. And then it dawned on me...I started out on the fourth floor, not the third!!!

That's actually why I saw a lady I work with on her way out. She was talking to someone when I came up on her and something was said about having to take her husband to a doctor that night - he was waiting on her. So, when we weren't done with all the talking we could've done when we reached the cars I kind of cut her off and told her I knew she needed to go, was she available for lunch tomorrow? She said she was, and then proceeded to tell me everything we would've discussed tomorrow at lunch. So now I have lunch plans for tomorrow with someone I'll have nothing to talk about with.

Which, is kind of what my ex-husband did again today. I had called on Monday because I was having a panic attack over the papers I completed (I answered every last question on the questionnaire!). It turns out that either my ex or I can go and read what everyone wrote - including each other. It isn't that I care if he knows what I put but it seemed kind of personal and initially I wanted to know if he was going to go read my stuff. I got his voicemail and said I had something I wanted to talk to him about. But, he never called me. It was kind of bothersome for me. I mean, I know it shouldn't have been but it was. So, today I decided to call him again because I wanted him to know I'd sent the stuff in. He didn't pick up the phone and someone got back on the phone and said they'd page him. Then they came back and asked who was calling. I was seriously starting to get a complex about it when he picked up the phone. (He asked if I'd called earlier in the week and long story short, he said he hasn't listened to his voicemail messages. He was a chronic liar when we were married so that may or may not be true - not really important at this point.) Anyway, I asked if it was a bad time and he said no but that he did have to go into a meeting in a few minutes. We talked for over an hour again. I kept telling him that he needed to go but he kept wanting to talk. He did that last time we talked too. The conversations have been pleasant but I'm not looking to strike up a friendship with him. I know he's changed since we've divorced but he cheated on me and I will always be questioning his motives because of that. So, it was comfortable but creepy, all at the same time, if you know what I mean.

So, I went to classes last night (missed last week because of the migraine!). I think there may be someone out there who obsesses about their grades more than I do. I'm taking a Planetary Geology class and we have three tests, including the final. They will all either carry equal weight for the overall grade (with no other variables factored in) or he will drop the lowest test grade and count the final twice (he says people generally do better on the finals than the other two tests). Anyway, someone was stressing about it and talked to the instructor about it so he decided he would give us quizzes throughout the semester now - starting next week - that will factor into our grade as well. So now, instead of three tests we're going to have something like eight (basically one every other week). So thank you obsessive person because with everything else going on in my life, I had five minutes left over every month. And now I know how I will be spending it! Grrrr!

I'm wondering, how do sign your letters? Or do you? At work I sign mine "Regards". It seemed nice enough. That is, until someone sent me a reply that said "Warm Regards". That seemed better than just plain ol' "Regards". And someone else sent an email signed "Kind Regards". Seriously, making me look bad. Then came the big daddy of them all, "Best Regards" I mean, you can't get any better than that, can you? So, I'm thinking of changing my signature line to reflect what, in light of all the other "regards" out there make mine look like, it comes across as - even if it's not what was intended. I'll sign off here with what I'm thinking...let me know what you think.

Whatever,
Lucy

Random Thoughts

I was reading someone else's blog a bit ago and the phrase "talk her off a ledge" was used and it got me to thinking. What exactly does that mean? I mean, I know that its intent is that there is someone standing out on a ledge and another person maybe goes out on the ledge with them to get them to come back in the window of the top floor skyscraper. But, what if it meant that someone just yelled things like "DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!!" at them. Or, "I don't believe you'd really jump - I dare ya." Or things like that. After all, they'd be talking them off the ledge...just not the way you'd normally think.

Rapid change of topic

We had a baby shower today at work. One of my guys came to me at the end of the year and said he thought we should have a baby shower for one of our second line supervisors. He later added on another one of our co-workers to the festivities. It was up to me to schedule a time and place to have it (at work, during business hours) and get the cake and drinks. So, I sent out invitations the middle of last month and put off shopping until Saturday. I went to Baby's R Us and bought things off the registry for both new dads. Last week I ordered the cake. This morning I got up early and went out and bought everything else. Well, the guy who had coordinated our doing this came into my office this morning and had me sign a group card. I thought it was awesome that he thought of that because I totally didn't. Then he tells me that some of the guys went in on getting one of the fathers a gift card for bass fishing stuff and the other one gift cards to restaurants.

Huh? It was a baby shower!!!!! But whatever, they'll have other gifts from those that didn't contribute, right? Uh, no. That was the entire gift from everyone else. The only exception was one of the fathers got a bag of gifts for the other father - and what I bought each of them. I hadn't put a card on my stuff so when they opened my gifts and said thank you, the others in the group said they were welcome, as if it was all community gifts. Is that not just strange or is it just me?

Another rapid change of topic

I did the paperwork for the annulment my ex-husband wants. I spent all day yesterday on it. It was 22 pages long - single spaced. A lot of writing. If I could only put that much out in my fiction writing, we'd be in business.

It really wasn't that bad. My ex had said that it was emotional for him. It really wasn't for me. I just answered the questions (all of them!) honestly - and then moved on to the next one. I found out that I have the ability to view all the forms that are submitted on the annulment. My ex does too. At first I thought I might want to see what was submitted by all the others but while I was completing the questionnaire I realized that it really is kind of personal. I mean, I didn't put anything in there that I wouldn't tell my ex if he asked me but I didn't really write it for his eyes to see, you know?! And I realized that it doesn't really matter what he put in there either - and not just for the reason I just listed. No, I realized that in completing the questionnaire we've really just put everything behind us. To go back and read what the other wrote would only serve to bring up things that don't matter anymore back into view. I'm not interested in doing that.

I mailed it off today so that is done. I'm glad I did it and we just go forward from here. :)

So, that's what going on in my world, what's going on with everyone else?

Recap of 2008

I'm stealing this from Alyssa, who stole it from Sarakastic who stole it from others, so this is far from an original post idea but it looked like fun and I'm nothing if not a follower (hey, the leaders gotta have someone following them, right? ;) ). Basically what I've done is taken the first sentence of the last blog post of every month. Then assembled the sentences in such a way that it might tell a bit of a story.

Here are the sentences:

January Well, Slime Boy (the probably married man that asked me out) got let go.

February The other day I had a doctor's appointment.

March Dear Muse, It was so nice to see you this weekend.

April Lately I've felt like I've been so behind on everything.

May I've been having some interesting dreams lately.

June I told a friend of mine yesterday that I'd blog about an eHarmony discovery I made.

July In less than 24 hours I should be in San Francisco.

August Okay, so you know that it took an online dating service for me to reconnect with a long lost friend (who I went out with once before a hundred years ago).

September Well, SCG and his family got here Friday around 10:00 a.m. and worked until about 4:00 p.m. - and we didn't finish the clean up! I

October Well, I went running last night.

November As most of you know, I did the online dating thing this past summer.

December Okay, this has to be a top 9 because well, there aren't 10 books that I feel that I can say I loved this year - of course that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm down from over 70 books read from last year to just over 30 this year, including audio books.

So, my mishmash, for what it's worth:

The other day I had a doctor's appointment. Well, Slime Boy (the probably married man that asked me out) got let go.

I told a friend of mine yesterday that I'd blog about an eHarmony discovery I made. As most of you know, I did the online dating thing this past summer. Okay, so you know that it took an online dating service for me to reconnect with a long lost friend (who I went out with once before a hundred years ago).

Dear Muse, It was so nice to see you this weekend. I've been having some interesting dreams lately. Lately I've felt like I've been so behind on everything. Well, SCG and his family got here Friday around 10:00 a.m. and worked until about 4:00 p.m. - and we didn't finish the clean up!

Well, I went running last night. In less than 24 hours I should be in San Francisco.

Okay, this has to be a top 9 because well, there aren't 10 books that I feel that I can say I loved this year - of course that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm down from over 70 books read from last year to just over 30 this year, including audio books. (Yeah, I know this one doesn't work but what are ya gonna do?)

I like my theory better

In case you haven't heard, Houston had a snow day the other day. Tuesday the weather was warm - mid to upper 70s, and then a storm came through.

Wednesday it snowed. It snowed! In Texas!!!

Okay, I know there are parts of Texas where snow is not that uncommon but around here? Very uncommon. In fact, it's only snowed here 4 times in my entire life.

Anyway, I had just asked to leave early so that I could go to the grocery store before I had to go to my last class of the semester. My boss said OK and when I got into the parking lot it was already snowing. Not hard and not so that it would stick but still, it was snowing. I went to the grocery store, came home and put on my pajamas. Then I emailed my instructor saying "here's my final exam (thank goodness it was a take-home test!!!) and unless I hear differently from you, I won't be at class tonight because I don't do snow." or words to that effect. I heard from her about an hour and a half later and she emailed me back my grade (including my final grade - I got an A in the class). I heard from a friend the next day. Apparently I was the only one that wimped out on the class but she had everyone grade their own final and then dismissed class. (I would've been so ticked off if I'd gone in just for that! Particularly since I was freaking about the snow - you do know about my two traumatic experiences with snow, right? If not, just know they really were traumatizing and I don't respond well to snow now as a result.) My friend said on her way home there was a light dusting of snow over the Fred Hartman Bridge and you couldn't see where the lanes were. Did I mention I freak out just thinking about driving in snow? Yeah, so glad I didn't venture out.

But the topic is about my theory and the snow. You see, I think we had record snowfall in Baytown, where I live. We had 4 inches of snow. My neighbor was able to build a snowman at a height of probably at least 5 feet (I'd post a picture of it if I could email it from my cell phone but, unfortunately, I don't have that capability...I can text it though) - part of which is still in his yard. Anyway, I got up Thursday morning and my yard was the only one in the neighborhood that didn't look like a winter wonderland. It was actually kind of funny. But that's where the theory comes in. You see, a man at work was explaining something about the heat and trees and snow on the ground where there are trees. He said that basically the snow in yards with trees melts faster than the yards without trees. I didn't really understand the particulars of how it worked but since I'm the only one with trees in their front yard, it made sense that mine would be the one with the fastest melting snow.

On the other hand, my theory was that God understands how much snow freaks me out and was just helping me out. You know, making it melt first and all.

At least that's my theory, and I'm sticking with it. :)

Someday has arrived

Several years ago my ex-boss's wife ran a marathon. She was at least in her late fifties, possibly in her early sixties. I was very impressed. And a bit jealous because it's something I'd like to do myself. Yet, I did nothing about it then. Time went by and I still did nothing about it. I'd hear about upcoming marathons and think "someday". But still, I did nothing.

Fast forward to this past week. Wednesday we had an offsite team building activity at work and I carpooled with two other ladies to the event. During the course of conversation, one of the ladies mentioned that she was training for the half-marathon in January. The bug of jealousy bit me again but I just kind of swatted at the pesky little thing.

That evening I logged on to the internet, stopping by my usual places and came across a post (can't remember where I first saw it to be honest) where a writer friend of mine, Mel, along with another friend of hers were gearing up for half-marathons and decided to blog about their journeys here. I was really impressed and inspired but I still got out the can of bug killer for the jealousy bug flying about.

THEN, the next day I was chatting with this man at work that I not so secretly have a crush on (everyone but him knows about the crush - at least I hope he doesn't know) and he tells me HE's training for a half-marathon.

It's like the story where the river starts rising and rescuers try to save this man who keeps saying "Jesus will save me". He passes on the vehicles that come, the boats that come, the helicopter that comes - all to save him. Then, when he dies in the flood he asks Jesus, "why didn't you save me?" and Jesus responds, "Well, I sent you a vehicle, a boat and a helicopter..."

Now, it's not like I'm going to die if I don't do this or anything but I do think there's something to the fact that in such a short time it's become like THE topic of conversation among my friends and I want to take a look at that. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and if I do it this time around, I won't be doing it alone.

So, I've been online and the Houston Marathon is full - I can't run in that marathon but I CAN run in the Little Rock marathon in March, with Mel. Tell me this isn't fated. It falls on the first weekend of my spring break. My step-father lives in Arkansas so I could visit him (and not have to kennel my dogs!) and see Mel. How can I not think I'm supposed to do this - now?

I do have to admit though, that heavy breathing you're hearing from me at the moment isn't because I'm winded from just running - or because I'm excited or anything. No, sadly it's the kind of breathing that comes from hyperventilating. I mean, I am excited about this but I'm also anxious about this. But I can do this, right? Just because I throw up a little every time I say (or type) that I'm going to do this doesn't mean anything. It doesn't!

But that all said, I'm all in. I AM doing this because someday has arrived!

The cleanup continues

Well, I'm waiting for the adjuster to show up to assess the damage. I finally called a tree guy last week about the "limb" on my roof (and embedded in the ground). They couldn't give me any kind of estimate as to when someone could be out - to give me a quote. Said they'd tape the quote to the door if I wasn't home. Thing is, I'm not going to haggle. I need the limb down and this is a company I've used in the past - they're fair and reasonable on their charges. Just send someone out please.

The fence isn't holding up as well as it was, which is a concern for me. The poor dogs haven't been let out unsupervised since we returned from Arkansas and nobody is happy about that. I do, however, leave the back door open when I'm home - if it's not too hot and if they're even remotely interested in being outside (although, have to say, all I have to do to get them interested in going outside is to CLOSE the door!).

I have no idea who to call about my chimney. None whatsoever. My concern is that it could potentially be a leak threat and we're expecting rain (for the first time since the hurricane) today and tomorrow. Although, I suppose if it was going to leak with any consequence, it would have done so during the hurricane.

As for those who gave input on the gift card - thank you. I did end up getting them a gift card. I had lunch with Mrs. SCG the Tuesday after they came out (SCG got pulled onto another job - related to damages caused at another facility - for three to six months so I may not see him much, if at all, for a while). She acted like it burned her when she touched it and said they couldn't accept it. I told her they had to because it had their name engraved on it (it didn't but she didn't look - and it worked because she took it then). She said SCG would be pissed though and he did send me a text that evening letting me know he wasn't happy. I spoke with him the next day and I told him that I just wanted to do something nice for them and thought they could use it for a nice dinner out and after that, he seemed okay with it. By the way, Mrs. SCG insisted on paying for my lunch that Tuesday - in fact, she had arranged it with the waitress before I arrived, yet they were reluctant to accept something from me (lunch was $30, by the way - 1/3 of the gift card, right off the bat!).

Oh, and in other Ike crap . . . I have a rental property out in Hempstead, Texas. It's a little shack really. My mother crew up in it and the tenant that lives there now has lived in it for more than 30 years. She pays all of $80 a month (and I've often wondered if I'm overcharging her - seriously!). Well, the house lost a good portion of the roof apparently. I asked her if she could find someone to come out and take a look at it and she said she would. Of course there were no roofers that could come out immediately so she called a jack of all trades guy who gave us a quote of "somewhere between $12,000 and $18,000. Yeah, so not happening! I asked the tenant to call the blue roof program so we'd have more time to consider our options. Have to say, the house isn't worth $12,000 so there's no way I can afford/justify paying that on the roof. Not to mention, at $80 a month, I won't be re-cooping that expense any time soon. Not sure what I'm going to do about that. (The house is not insured - I tried a few years back to get insurance but it's not up to code so is uninsurable at this time so the cost would be 100% on me.)

Anyway, hope to have all the Ike stuff cleared up soon and have life back to normal. In the meantime, I really appreciate all the good thoughts and vibes.

What's going on in y'alls worlds?

Onward and Upward

Well, I woke up this morning in a much better mood. My step-father hadn't been out of bed five minutes (literally - he hadn't even poured his morning cup of coffee yet) when I announced that I wanted to have breakfast at Anglers here in Mountain View, Arkansas. He was quite agreeable and had to wait for me to get dressed.

So, we headed out to Anglers, only to find out that breakfast isn't served except for on weekends. Okay, not a problem. We got back into the car and headed towards Fifty Six, Arkansas. They DO serve breakfast on weekdays at Cody's in Fifty Six. So my step-father ordered one egg over-easy and ham, with biscuits and gravy. Mind you, I wasn't hungry - I just wanted a good breakfast before I left here. I ordered 2 eggs scrambled, sausage, biscuits and hashbrowns. My step-father ate his egg, one of his two (delicious) biscuits and some of his ham. I cleaned my plate, just shy of licking it. It was that good. And remember, I wasn't even hungry.

As for the other stuff going on in my life - I think I'm going to head home tomorrow. I have reason to believe the power is back on again - at least some in my neighborhood have electricity. But even if I don't - I just want to get back home. Things need to be done. But I'm not complaining now - just stating facts.

Anyway, I wanted to mention the thing about packing for evacuations and things you want to keep in mind. First of all, the decision for me to evacuate was a last minute thing. I hadn't planned on evacuating, ever again, after Rita. Technically I'm just outside (as in less than a mile) of the mandatory evacuation zone if the hurricane is a Category 5 hurricane. But I took off Thursday and was clearing out potential projectiles from my yard and came in to see that the town I live in was under a mandatory evacuation order.

I freaked a little bit at that and all thoughts of staying quickly left me. I tried to remain calm but when I went into my bedroom to pack I realized that was a lost cause. I started yanking things off of hangers and throwing them - unfolded - into my suitcase. Then I started grabbing laundry and throwing that into a different suitcase. Shoes and books in another, etc. I kept thinking I needed to get my mortgage/deed/insurance papers together but never got them when I thought about them so they got left behind.

With the same consideration I'd thrown things into my suitcase, I threw things into the trunk of my car. Dog beds, dog food, suitcases (I had to combine the shoe/book one with the dirty clothes one because they weren't all fitting into my trunk). I brought some food and water (learning from the Rita debacle) and some other miscellaneous "stuff".

And I promptly fled, in the clothes I had been working out in the yard in.

Now, here's where I mention that my "yard work" bra is different from my "every day" bra. (Can you see where I'm going with this?) And yes, the only bra I brought was the one I was wearing. Let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. Mountain View is a nice town but it doesn't have much in the way of retail so I had to buy a bra at WalMart for public wearing. It's not great but for $10, I won't complain.

So, I learned about the food and water from Rita. This hurricane has taught me to be absolutely sure you pack the right bra, if you're going to be evacuating. :)

What would you want to make sure you had if you evacuated?

Pity Party

I really shouldn't post today because I'm a bit depressed. I evacuated my home because of Hurricane Ike and the officials are saying I can't go back yet. Now, I could be a rebel and go home anyway but I'll be traveling with three large dogs and a donut spare tire but I've been hearing about all the flat tires because of the debris on the roads because of Ike. Too much of the drive home is barren for me to want to venture out under those conditions.

Not to mention, I don't have power or water at home. Power was restored Sunday but sometime between then and now, we lost it again.

Add to that, part of my fence is down. That wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have the three big dogs I previously mentioned. I don't know how that's even going to work. So even if I go - and get - home, I have to deal with that. Well, that and the part of the tree on my roof and the chimney that is now part of my backyard decor.

I feel bad whining because it could have been so much worse and I know people who do have it worse - like my old boss who has a tree in his dining room. Or my friend who lost part of her roof. Or the people of Galveston who don't have homes to go back to. Compared to those people, I have it good. . . real good.

At least I have friends - good friends. There's the friend that went to my house and made note of the damages. There's SCG who offered to come help me with the tree and the fence as soon as I get home. And I've heard from so many people the past few days, checking in and making sure I'm okay and safe. That's really a nice feeling.

But even with all that, I want to go home - to my home. I want to be in my house cleaning up my mess and getting things back to normal. There was a time when coming to Arkansas was a vacation to me but it's not like that anymore and it's not like that now. Not knowing when I can go home or when things will be back to normal has been very stressful for me. I wish I could just go with the flow but it's not working, try as I might.

In any event, that's my current status - whine officially over (for now). When I'm feeling a bit peppier, remind me to tell you my list of things to be sure to pack when evacuating and about the spider the size of Nebraska.