Adult Dress Up

In case I wasn't sure that I wanted to keep this blog a "secret" blog, I'm posting a picture that requires it remain secret. Super secret.

I work with this man who I've become friendly (not that kind of friendly...just friendly) with. We talk about personal stuff and I feel very comfortable around him (he knows about the romance writing stuff - I'll just say that).

Anyway, yesterday he was telling me about going to a Halloween party over the weekend. His wife had gotten him a pirate costume, which he refused to wear because it was too hokey or something. So he put on his cowboy hat and boots as his costume. He said he'd been mistaken for Kenny Chesney a few times in the past and figured that's who he'd go as. (Personally, I think he's a lot better looking than Kenny but I saw a picture of him dressed up as Kenny and I have to say, I saw the resemblance, big time!)

Well, someone (his wife maybe?) didn't like the get up so they dressed him up as a flapper (which makes me wonder how bad the pirate costume was...if he'd rather dress up as a woman!). In any event, I could only get him to send me one picture of him in costume. I don't think it's bad but some of the extra "hair" is slightly noticeable but I still have to say, it annoys me when men look better than women when they dress like women. (This wasn't the best picture he had of himself but it was the only one he emailed me so we have to work with what we've got. :-) )

Oh, and for those that may be keeping score...he was husband number one in my husband rating post. :) (And not that you can tell that much but in the second picture in this post, his is the back of the head you see.)

And why this ensures my blog remains a secret blog you may wonder? Well, I promised not to use the picture against him...at least at work. He doesn't know about my blog (so it can't count, right?) and neither does anyone I work with - or who would know him. But I so had to share. LOL

Back in the Saddle

I've been participating in this writing thing called 100 words a day for 100 days. The way it works is you only have to commit to writing 100 words a day - every day - for 100 days. If you miss a day you have to start back over at day one. The e-loop opened in June but I didn't start until after I got home from National (math issue - don't ask). The first time I got to day 25 or something like that before I went to bed without writing anything (I was soooooooooo upset with myself that time). The next couple of times I didn't get past day five before I fell out of sync, and I went long periods without writing anything again. And each time I started a different story (probably not a good idea but.....). I'm on like my eighth do-over now.

And today I started back up again. So day one down! Only ninety-nine more to go. :-)


In other news, my step-father sent me (snail mail) a copy of an article with his picture and a mention of him in it. It was a very sweet article and I went looking online for it...and found it. You can read it here. (He's on the far left in the picture playing guitar. :-) )

You Had Me At Halo

There is an author who occasionally "promotes" other authors' works. She does nothing more than say this book is out and then give the blurb, which suggests she may not actually be reading the books. At least that's the approach I take when I see a book "promoted" on her blog. Anyway, she recently had Amanda Ashby's debut book, you had me at halo (it's not capitalized on the cover either ;-) ). I thought the title was fun, the cover okay and the blurb "interesting". So I googled Ms. Ashby to find out more. I read the first chapter and wanted to read more, so I ordered the book. I read the whole thing this afternoon. It was fun. And sweet. It's one of those books where when you're done, you realize you have this big smile on your face because it's just that kind of book.

I will definitely keep an eye out for future books by Amanda Ashby.

And now, the blurb:

Holly Evans has just seen her body laid to rest. Now she would like to move onto the afterlife. But apparently she has some mortal baggage to unload first, starting with the matter of how she died. Her heavenly shrink isn't buying that she didn't kill herself and says she must return to earth to straighten things out. The thing is, she needs to borrow the body of computer geek Vince Murphy to do it. Oh, and although Vince was supposed to have vacated the premise, he apparently never got the memo.

Now, Holly has forty-eight hours to resolve her issues while sharing arms, legs, and...other things...with a guy she barely noticed while she was alive. But the real surprise is what life has to offer when you have only two days to live it.

Signed Epstein's Mother

Some of you may remember a show from the 70's called Welcome Back Kotter (it's was where John Travolta got his big break, playing Vinnie Barbarino). There was a character on the show named Epstein who always had these notes who had a note for everything, all that were signed "Epstein's Mother".

So, you're probably wondering why I'm showing my age and flashing back to a show that was on the air 30 years ago. Well, I'll tell you.

We're having gorgeous weather here. Gorgeous weather. And I don't want to go to work because it's just wrong to make someone go to work when it's so nice outside. We get a half a dozen perfect days like this a year and I have to spend my day cooped up in an office? Wrong I tell you! So I suggested that I might be *cough* sick tomorrow to a couple of people at work. (Yes, I know, not the best game plan to give your boss a heads' up that you're planning a sick day. On a Friday. When the weather's so perfect. And yes, I know that if I wake up tomorrow and find myself on death's door, I still gotta go in to work because no one would believe I was really sick.)

Anyway, I was surfing the net this evening and came across this article on the msn.com homepage. Apparently there's a market for Epstein's mother's notes, or at least a variation on the same theme. I thought it was hysterical...and maybe a sign. A sign that I'm supposed to take tomorrow off.

What do you think? Any suggestions on what the note to my boss from Epstein's mother should say? We have the whole weekend to come up with something creative. ;-)

Tagged!

Alyssa tagged me. I have to come up with eight "quirky, unusual and/or completely random" things about myself. Then I'm supposed to tag eight people (who I will have to let know I tagged them because I don't think I have eight regular visitors).

Here we go:

1. I served on a grievance committee for the Texas State Bar for a number of years. The preferred panel consisted of four attorneys and two non-attorneys. On my panel I was the lone non-attorney and on the last case we heard, I was solely responsible for saving an attorney's license to practice law. The attorneys on the panel all thought he should be permanently disbarred.
2. When I first started looking for a house almost seven years ago, I refused to look at houses that weren't carpeted throughout. A couple of years later I ripped up all the carpet in my new home and had tile laid.
3. I really like to do nice things to surprise people but I hate to be surprised myself...I like to know what's going to happen.
4. My idea of the perfect relationship is based on my favorite movie - When Harry Met Sally.
5. I saw Titanic in the movie theater five times (it was necessary...really). And then I pre-ordered it as soon as it was available for pre-order.
6. Until very recently (when I bought a book caddy and a bookshelf), I stored my books in my linen closet.
7. I worked as a professional temporary for ~ ten years by choice. I'd work three weeks and take a week off. I could pay my bills but little else but I have to say, having one week off a month was so worth it!
8. The thought of me ever getting married again scares the heck out of me. Just thinking about it possibly happening some day makes me hyperventilate - and I'm not even seeing anyone!

Okay, those are my weird secrets and since I've told you all, I'm probably going to have to kill you now. *sigh* Was it worth it?

And now for who I'm tagging.

The original Alphabet Girls (now known as Deadline Divas):
Honey
Ellen
Kristen
Aura

and non-DDs
Mel
Maria
Laura
Pam

Miscellany

I forgot to bring my lunch today and I deliberately didn't bring a book to read, since it was Weight Watchers' day. However, since I didn't want them to watch me eat the hamburger (I didn't get cheese *sigh*) and fries I bought in the cafeteria, I didn't stay for the meeting. Which gave me some time to do other things. Like read blogs. And maybe write one. :-)

So, I be-bopped over to the Killer Fiction blog (all links on the side-bar) and found out that they have you autograph your breast before they do surgery on it. I didn't know that. And I'm still waiting on a reply as to whether they have you do this pre or post-drugged up.

Then I visited the Deadline Divas. Ellen had a very eloquent post about writing and donuts. And now I just wish our cafeteria had a Krispy Kreme section, but maybe I'll have to settle for cookies. (Hey, I don't have to weigh for another week, right?)

I stopped back by (I say back by because I think she posted this yesterday?) Alyssa Goodnight's blog. She'd posted about reading the latest Harry Potter story (no spoilers please because she has been known to stop by here too). She made a comment of having one regular visitor who had never read a single HP book. I assumed she meant me until 75 more posts (okay I exaggerate, but I wasn't the only one!) came through saying they'd never read any either.

Then I went to Laura Drewry's blog. Did you know Hell has frozen over? I didn't but now I wonder if it has anything to do with our recent cold weather? It was still hitting the 90s as recently as last week here. (Can you say UGH?!) And now it's a pleasant (if not "cool") 60 or so.

And then, last night...did you see Dancing with the Stars? If not, this might be a bit of a spoiler, I'll just tell you that now. Anyway, Marie Osmond fainted while waiting for comments from the judges. It was really strange because she seemed to have all this extra energy after the dance and was laughing kind of manic-ly one minute and on the floor the next. They went to the longest break in the history of commercial breaks and came back and said she was okay. (They said her first words when she came to and saw everyone hovering over her was "oh crap". Poor thing.) Anyway, what I was going to say is that the show was barely over and I popped over to msn.com and saw that they'd already posted an article about it, complete with video coverage. She ended up in last place, with that billionaire...Mark Cuban - is that his name? I'm worried she will get voted off tonight because I had no problem calling in votes for her and Mark hasn't been in the bottom two since that first night, despite being in last place (or next to last place when Wayne was still in the competition) with the judges each week since.

Anyway, that's all this hamburgered/french fried brain can come up with for now. Have you discovered anything interesting recently?

Full Disclosure

Okay, I'm in a bit of a pissy mood so I want to do something to lighten things up, before I do (or say) something I will regret.

Having said that, I've been talking to a lot of men I work with, who happen to be married (and some that are not, actually), of their ideas about the wife's role (and theirs too, in some cases) in their marriage. And then I've been "ranking" them based on my idea of a good husband.

Husband number one said his wife was a stay-at-home wife because he "liked her to take care of things so he didn't have to deal with them." This could mean a lot of things but just on face value, I ranked him kinda low.

Husband number two said that his wife worked part-time, sort of. She does free-lance writing for the newspaper and also sells articles to magazines. I thought this was pretty cool until he told me that she spends too much time on it and it interferes with "family time" because he's "spoiled" and wants her to be available to him at all times. He was serious. He also made husband number one look a lot better.

Husband number three, whose wife works, said he shares responsibilities with his wife. He does most (if not all) of the cooking. I asked him if his wife was a stay-at-home wife if that would still be the case. He said it would be because he likes to cook. Move to the head of the class.

Husband number four is the husband from last weekend. The one who had his wife lifting heavy furniture one month after giving birth saying "it's okay, she's strong." Made husband number one look better but may or may not make husband number two look better. They may very well be even.

Husband number five transferred in from Singapore last December. He'd been here a couple of months before his wife was able to join him and shortly before she arrived he said - and I quote - "I can't wait for my wife to get down here, the laundry's really piling up." All I could think was she was one lucky woman...NOT! Pretty low on the list.

Then there were the husbands-to-be...not that they're engaged or even dating or anything, they will just be probably be married some day, unfortunately. Husband-to-be number one said he used to have a maid. He called her "mom". Then he went on to tell me that him and his roommate are somewhat "messy" individuals and tend to wait for the other to clean up. He considers it a great victory when his roommate gives in first. And there's some "lucky" woman out there that will commit her life to him someday.

The discussion with the other husband-to-be (number two) was more about kids than wives and involved husband number one. HTB#2 was in an accident last week (a ladder fell off a truck and hit his brand new - only driven twice - car dead on. he's okay but the car...not so much) and the three of us were talking about it. Husband number one said something about the car and I said something like, "this from the man who has more pictures of his car in his office than of his kids". HTB#2 said, "yeah, but it's a really cool car." They both lost points on that one.

Of course, this is all subjective and means nothing - for a lot of reasons (not to mention it was all done in fun). One, it's just my opinion. Two, what difference does my opinion make if I'm not the wife?

But it also made me wonder what other people think makes a good spouse? (Husband's opinions welcome too.) What things does your significant other do that makes you overlook the things that make you crazy? And what do they do that make you crazy?

Inquiring minds want to know. ;-)

P.S. Pissy mood gone! (For now anyway :-) )

Cold and flu season...or something else?

Yesterday I finished Jennifer O'Connell's Insider Dating. It's a story about a woman who decides to put together a network of women who will compile information, in an anonymous database, on the men they've dated so that other women can make informed decisions about who they date. While I enjoyed the book, I also learned something interesting.

One of the men had this thing where he would sneeze when he was horny. The heroine (and creator of the database) thought it was made up but told her friends about it. One of the friends explained how it was true that what happens in the nasal area is (or can be) directly related to the activity going on south of the border. It cracked me up. I thought it was made up for the story. I really did. I was going to post a blog about it without looking it up online, because it was too funny not to say something about it but I didn't want it to be proven untrue. But I couldn't stand it. In the end I finally broke down and googled it.

And you know what? Apparently it IS true! Something about the tissue and blood flow in each. They work the same and are (or can be) interrelated somehow. It's at times like this that being single sucks because I would so ask the man in my life about it but there's no discreet way to ask someone - a man - if it's true, that I know of. I mean, I have a number of good friends that are male but I just can't see myself asking one of them about this.

What I DO know, though, is that, I will never, ever hear a man sneeze again without wondering (and probably busting out laughing) if it's more than just a nose tickle. LOL

It's good to have friends

The company I work for has silent auctions twice a year to support charities. In the fall, it's for the United Way. In the spring, it's for Relay for Life. Each group/site can/does put up their own auction but anyone can bid on any of the auctions. Oh, and the auctions are staggered when they start and stop so that you can find an auction open for about a month and a half to two months, but typically the individual auctions run about two weeks or so.

Anyway, I recently bid (and won) a desk and a bookcase in an auction for a site across town. I had to pick it up from the person who donated it, who lives 50+ miles from me. Which is fine...I have a good friend who agreed to help me pick it up. Okay.

So, my friend picked me up this morning at 7:00 a.m. so we could go pick it up. We got there about 8:30 or so (we made one stop to pick up something from my friend's friend's house). Now, I should tell you that we found out that the furniture was purchased in Belgium. Packed up and shipped here, and made it in mint condition. This man and his wife (who we found out after the fact delivered a baby ONE MONTH AGO! when we asked why he'd let her help move furniture so soon after giving birth, his response was "it's okay, she's strong." Way down on the "good husband" competition [another story that I'll blog about soon] if you ask me!) loaded the furniture into my friend's truck. They gave us blankets to keep it from scratching, rope to tie it in (we couldn't close the thing...what do you call it? the tailgate? anyway...) and secured it safely for us and sent us on our way, all without causing any damage whatsoever to the furniture. My friend and I get back to my house, with it in tact, and promptly drop the desk out of the bed of the truck.

Actually the damage was minimal and on the back of the desk so I wasn't terribly upset, truth told. But then, we realized that we couldn't fit it through my garage door as it was. So we tried to lift the top off of it but only one side would come up so she started twisting it, which did a bit of damage. I looked at it and didn't say much because I knew I could glue it back and it would be fine. But we couldn't get it into the house. I finally went to get my neighbor to ask for help who promptly pulled off the pieces of wood that I'd planned on securing with glue, compromising the furniture even more.

Long story short, we finally got it disassembled enough to get it into the house but I really need to find the wood glue. Oh, and by the way, the desk is a lot bigger than it looked in the picture, which was part of the problem. But we got it in and assembled, which was the important thing, right?

Anyway, afterwards my friend decided that she wanted to trim back my trees and dig up the few remaining landscaping rocks I had left around my tree (I dug up most of them a long time ago and then ran out of steam and never finished it.) And you know, there are a lot of people who if they'd done that at my house, I would've been offended. But not this friend because I know she didn't mean anything bad by it. It was just cracking me up because she just makes herself at home here, and only good friends do that.

Which was the point of this blog...it's good to have good friends. :-)

Because Alyssa Asked

Alyssa said she wanted to hear about my dreams about the man in the picture from our Bosses' Day Celebration, so I'm going to tell you. I just want to point out though that this type of post is the reason that few people know about this blog because, this isn't something I would tell everyone. And, in fact, it may be necessary for me to enter the blog-relocation-program after I post this, but I'm going to do it anyway. Because I was asked to. ;-)

Okay, the first dream I had about him (his name is Tom) occurred right after our department's audit had been cancelled, shortly after the first of the year. We were both on the audit team (along with the man who is sitting a bit away from the table...Richard). We learned a lot along the way and we were all doing so much and it was a very busy time. And then we were told it was cancelled - postponed actually, but cancelled for then. Richard kept saying we'd have a celebratory lunch and stuff. He talked about awards and roasts (he's good at that sort of thing). I thought there would be some sort of recognition and if there was, I wasn't included in it. But in any event, that's the backstory for this dream...

In the dream, we were having our celebratory luncheon, only we had to organize it and set it up ourselves. We were setting up the tables...they were gorgeous with nice table cloths and great center pieces. Then I saw this oversized set of teeth in the middle of the table. You know, kind of like the joke teeth that have a wind-up key you use to make them chatter? Only they didn't have the wind-up key. And they were really standing out on the otherwise elegant table. I muttered something to myself like "what the heck are those" and went to grab them off the table. Tom yells at me to leave them alone...they're his! I was stunned and couldn't believe he'd want them on the table and said so. Then he pointed out that they were an exact replica of his own teeth and then he smiled. And they were. And he thought it was some kind of award and was very proud of them. And then I woke up.

That's the dream that I've told everyone at work and they all got a kick out of it (but think I have weird dreams). It's the other dream that my force the relocation thing...

I haven't told this dream to a single, solitary person. But for some reason, I have less of a problem posting it on a public blog. What does that say about me? Wait, don't answer that!

The back-up to this dream is that Tom's office is across the hall from mine, a couple of offices down. If you walk straight out his office door, you're standing at the water cooler. That's it. That's the whole set up.

Okay.

So, in the dream, I was walking out of my office for some reason. At the same time, Tom was walking out of his office with some lady. They stood next to the water cooler and talked for a few minutes. But, while they stood there talking, Tom's pants fell down and either he doesn't wear underwear or else they fell down too because he was...exposed. And I was mesmerized. I was just staring. Stunned. And wondering why no one else seemed to notice that his pants are around his ankles and he's just dangling there. Literally. I couldn't move. I just stood there, looking...there. The two of them continued to talk and suddenly he wasn't "dangling" so much anymore, if you know what I mean. Then he was dangling less and less...and less, until there wasn't anything dangling about him. And my gaze never waivered. And they both still seemed oblivious. I was basically drooling, because, at least in my dreams, he's very well-endowed. I'm just saying. Anyway, that was basically the whole dream and I woke up with a start and was embarrassed. I could barely face him for a couple of weeks after that. But, the thing that really got me was, the very next day, I was walking to my office after lunch and as I approached my office, he stepped out of his office...with some woman. And they stopped to talk beside the water cooler. I swear, I froze in place, unable to move. I probably stood there in the same place for thirty seconds...just staring. Unfortunately that's where any resemblance to my dream ended. His pants stayed up and any images of his "endowment" have only been seen in my dreams. But at least there is that. ;-)

Okay, so there you go. Those are the dreams I've had about this man.

Now, I just have to find a new place to blog..... ;-)

Great Advertising

This Commercial came on during Dancing with the Stars tonight. I'd never seen it before but it's my new favorite commercial. Too funny!

Finally Pictures!

I finally have pictures of our Bosses' day celebration. I only have a few to post today but you get to see the transformation of the bosses. :-)

Here's the before (minus one player - who became Sonny later):

And here's the after:

From right to left we have: Marilyn Monroe (anyone recognize the boa she's wearing? got that at the RWAOL party in Dallas LOL), Jeff Bagwell, Sonny, Cher, Elvis (I was kind of disappointed we didn't have the big hair but oh well), Dean Martin, Bill Gates and Donald Trump. (The woman on the end was our MC, another staff support.) The video showing in the background was supposed to be played while the celebrities were getting dressed but because of the technical difficulties we had, we were behind on the videos. (Totally unrelated...see the guy leaning on the table? I've had some really "interesting" dreams about him. And I'll leave it at that, for now.)

And now, a couple of close-ups of the celebrities, in the "green room":

The man on the left (Donald Trump - his hair was not that yellow in person) is the VP of our organization. Elvis is our department head.

Sonny (who, for the record, is completely bald underneath that wig) is a team leader and Cher is my boss.

It was a lot of fun and they were all good sports. :-)

Great hooks

I recently volunteered to be a judge for a contest to help out a friend. I printed out the entries I'm slated to judge (the contest is all "electronic" but I have to hold something to really be able to read it - and a laptop doesn't count) and read my first entry yesterday afternoon.

Now, I should preface this by saying I often forget to point out the positive things when I'm judging or critiquing. I mostly point out the areas that are confusing to me, are not consistent or where typos are involved. It's not that I don't find things that are really good and strong in a story, it's just that I usually forget to point those things out. (Bad Lucy!)

So anyway, I'm reading my first entry and the first sentence (which is also the whole first paragraph) is great. We're talking great hook, great opening, made me excited to want to read more, kind of first sentence. Really, really good. So good that I actually remembered to make a note of it on the contest entry.

And that's where it stopped being good. I literally had to read the second paragraph about five times to understand what the author was trying to say, and even then I wanted to change it - dramatically. In fact, it could have been eliminated altogether, in my opinion.

This was followed by a page or so of - in my opinion - unnecessary backstory stuff. And then we get back into the story, where I read another page or two before it dawned on me...nothing after the first sentence is in any way, shape or form, connected to the first sentence. The wonderful, perfect sentence that had me excited for more didn't really seem to fit in the story that was unfolding. I made note of that on the entry - where in the story it dawned on me that the story was not connected to the opening sentence.

I finished reading the entry and never did find anything to connect the unfolding story to the first sentence. It was kind of strange to me.

I've heard that you only get a few lines (to paragraphs) to hook your reader, and if you don't, you've lost them forever. I've also heard that whatever you promise in the opening lines (paragraphs) you better deliver, or else expect the same result of the hook.

This entry definitely hooked me with the first line but I was so disappointed that it didn't follow through on the promise it made with that first line. Fortunately that's not part of the judging criteria. However, it does ask you to judge if the story, as presented, can sustain a novel (or something like that). I had to say that it was really hard to tell, based on what was submitted. This is one (and I made this comment too) that I would have liked to either read more or read a synopsis on because I couldn't tell anything about where it was going. We had to judge the "chemistry" of the hero and heroine (even if they hadn't met yet) as well. There was only one male mentioned in the entry and the interaction between him and the heroine was the equivalent of a bartender in a bar saying "here's your drink ma'am," and having no further contact with the heroine. I have to assume he's NOT the hero (meaning the hero wasn't even introduced in the entry), and if he is, there wasn't enough there to form an opinion.

Anyway, I guess the bottom line (or the point of this post) is, hooks are great but they need to relate to your story, otherwise you're just throwing unrelated one-liners into your story. They might be good. They might be funny. But if they take your reader out of the story, or kill their enthusiasm for the story, then they're not really doing their job, now are they?

Hairy Scary

I went a little over a week ago to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed. I went to Mastercuts. Now I know what you're thinking but I rarely have anything difficult done to my hair so I didn't see any reason NOT to go there - or to go somewhere else and pay $90 just to get the ends of my hair trimmed.

So that's where it starts. Well, maybe I should back up and tell you that the last time I got my hair cut I had a "long" layer put in and asked them to cut it so that it would curl under easily, if not naturally. Considering the curling under thing is done the same as a layer, just underneath, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that my hair chronically curled UP all the time - no matter what I did. And it didn't look good. I felt like an aging rock star that had a shag/mullet combo and didn't care that it looked awful. Except I did.

Anyway, when I got to Mastercuts I got a Hispanic hair dresser. I don't mind this except that during the course of my visit, I got the distinct impression that she struggled with the English language. Here's why:

She called me back and asked me what I wanted done with my hair. I told her that I just wanted the ends trimmed, a little taper around the face and cut so that it would curl under easily. I also told her I wanted my eyebrows waxed.

She said okay, then walked away to get the drape thing to cover me with. When she came back she said, "You want same haircut?"

Um, no. I just told you what I wanted, I thought. I SAID, "No. I just want the ends trimmed, a little taper around the face and I want it cut where it will curl under easily. I also want my eyebrows waxed."

"Oh, okay."

Then she starts cutting on my hair, and I swear she cut each one individually, using weird methods I've never seen used before. But I say nothing. Just when I think she's done she ask, "You want your bangs cut?"

My bangs were at chin level, which in my book means I do NOT have bangs anymore. I just looked at her and said, "No."

"Oh, okay."

Then she reaches in her drawer and pulls out something I've never seen before and aims it at my head. "Excuse me," I said. "What are you doing?"

"It's a razor."

Okay, not what I asked, and I'm even a bit more concerned. "What are you planning on doing with it?"

"It's a razor."

"Yes, I know. What are you going to do with it?"

"It give your hair texture."

"How? What does it do?"

"It's a razor."

"Yeah, I don't think we'll be needing it today."

"No? Oh, okay."

She put it away and then said, "That's all then?"

"I still want my eyebrows done." (Obviously I'm slow.)

"Oh, okay."

So we go over to the area where she's going to do my eyebrows. She doesn't ask me anything, she just starts applying wax. Not a lot you can do at that point. And really I was okay, up until she put it at the top part of my eyebrow. I said nothing because, really, what are you going to do? If it's munked up, it's munked up.

She worked on them for a while and then started tweezing the strays and she's spending a lot of time on them and finally hands me the mirror. I look at the right eyebrow...it looks good.

I look at the left eyebrow...it looks good too.

I look at them both...they don't match!!!!! I nicely point this out to her and she did fix them, as best she could. No one has said anything but I think I know why. Here's the deal, I can only raise my left eyebrow by itself (I can raise them both together but I cannot raise the right one by itself) and the left eyebrow is slightly higher than the right so I figure people think I'm giving them one of "those" looks. I'm not but that's how it looks - at least to me.

So if you see me and think I'm giving a look, I'm really not...it's just the result of a bad eyebrow wax. LOL

By the way, for fun posts (and entry into a contest), stop by here and post a comment. Tell them Lucy sent you. ;-)

Just Friends

Can men and women be just friends? I don't know exactly what brought this thought to mind. It could have been that I watched When Harry Met Sally last weekend. It could have been the Roula & Ryan's Roses from a couple of weeks ago where the boyfriend sent roses to a woman he said was "just a friend". It could be the comments my boss made recently to me. Who knows?

Anyway, I've been kind of pondering this question in my head for a week or so now. I work in an environment where it's mostly men. One side of the hallway is described as the "more mature" hallway. The other side is the "fresh out of college" hallway.

The "mature" side of the hallway consists of men my age and older, all married - once - for a lot of years. The other hallway is young pups, all experiencing the real world for the first time. I get along with all of them but I find that I'm more comfortable with the more mature side of the hallway. Not because I'm closer in age to them but because I'm more comfortable with married men. I feel less threatened by them for some reason. I feel I can joke and tease them and not have them think I am making a play for them. I know I'm probably wrong about that but, for whatever reason, I'm more comfortable around married men.

Now, let me say this, I had a husband that ran around on me and I promised myself that I would never, intentionally, make another woman feel the way I felt when I found out what my husband was doing. Married men as prospective dates is not an option for me. Someone who would cheat WITH me would cheat ON me. Sorry, been there (being cheated on - not with), done that, not interested in a repeat. And if I learn that a friendship I have with a married man makes his wife uncomfortable, that ends it for me because I don't want to be the cause of any marital strife. I'd mourn the friendship but, in the big picture, marriage trumps friendship. That's just how it is. I know that's not how everyone treats things but that's how it has to be for me.

So my question to you is, how would you feel if your husband or significant other had a close friend of the opposite sex? Would you be okay with it or would you feel threatened? Or would you feel someting else entirely? And if so, what? Inquiring minds want to know.

There is no I in TEAM

But, as a former boss of mine pointed out, there is a "ME" in team. I work with a group of women who can come together when we have to but for the most part, everyone's out for themselves. Remember when I told you what we were going to do for bosses' day? Well, one staff support wasn't going to be able to make it on the day we'd originally scheduled it. She was disappointed but she was looking for the best interest of the group and still said she'd take care of the things she'd agreed to do. Her buddy, however, decided to boycott the thing. She didn't say it was because her friend couldn't make it but it was pretty obvious. And she made it very difficult for the rest of us for a while. To the point I didn't care if it even happened.

Well, last week, when I was pretty much at my wits end (I ended up taking off half a day Thursday and all day Friday of last week...before I went postal) when I received an email from the "difficult" one, instructing me to change the date. She wanted it to be tomorrow. I looked at calendars and it did actually look like a good date (October wasn't really a good month for any of the bosses - there was just the one day that I had booked), so I resent the meeting notice to everyone.

So okay, we're doing it earlier. Those that haven't started preparations had less time (the buycostumes.com site was pretty much sold out of everything we needed within days of when we'd made decisions a couple of months ago). And then Tuesday - three days before the event - the staff support that would have had to miss it on the original date comes to me and tells me she doesn't want to play the game. The fact that I didn't beat the snot out of her is a testament to my restraint (as well as the healing powers of the full body massage I got Thursday afternoon).

Anyway, we tweaked the game a bit and it might even be more fun now. There's only one thing I don't like about the new way but I guess it ensures we're all involved in the game so I can deal with it. Now the celebrities won't rotate around the tables but rather sit at the front of the room. There won't only be three questions asked - all ten will be asked (the staff support will be asking them and that's what I'm not happy about, but it's really not bad). It was thought that it might be hard to figure out some of the celebrities so we decided to help out by having stars on the walls with the possible guesses (with a few red herrings) printed on them. They're going to be brought (in character - we all bought costumes for our guys) back into the room based on the most right answers for a celebrity so doing the music like we originally thought we'd do is out. But I was looking for some music last night and found this for when the celebrities leave the room and the teams are "deliberating" their answers, and this for the time when the "ballots" are being tabulated and the celebrities are getting dressed - it's a bit fuzzy but since it's just filler, it doesn't really make that big of a deal. Everyone seemed to like the idea. Someone is bringing in a strobe light so that when the celebrities reappear it gives the illusion of flashbulbs.

Everyone gets a bit a prize and the winning table (most celebrities guessed - and we do have a plan in the event of a tie) gets meal tickets for our cafeteria (most the guys eat there anyway so they'd probably really like that).

Bottom line, for a while there I wasn't looking forward to it but I'm getting excited about it again. I even made potato salad this evening for forty. Do you know how much potato salad that is??? A LOT!

Anyway, hopefully I'll have pictures available tomorrow to be able to post but if not, early next week at the latest. I really think it's going to be fun. But if it goes as well as I'm thinking, I'm already wondering how we can top it next year.

I'm excited. Oh, but it's still a secret so don't tell anyone yet. ;-)

Conflicts

Okay, so I mentioned that I had a conflict with DWTS last night. That conflict was a show I don't tell many people that I watch...I Wanna Be A Soapstar on soapnet. This is its fourth season and the shows air on Tuesday's at 7:00 (thank goodness for DVRs!). It's a reality show where actors compete for a contract on a soap opera. This season they're competing for a role on Days of Our Lives. The host is Cameron Mathison, who is also on DWTS.

The Soapstar show is filmed in advance, except this year the finale is going to be live and the audience will get to have a say in who wins the contract. I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out, if Cameron lasts on DWTS, because the live show of Soapstar would air at 7:00, followed immediately by the elimination round of DWTS at 8:00.

Anyway, a week or so ago I found a blog by the contestants of Soapstar. Each week the contestants post a blog about what happened, from their perspective. There was one contestant, Bo, who really annoyed me with his posts. He had bonded with two other of the men (not that way - that I know of) and thought they were the three best...he refers to them as the three musketeers. He didn't want any of them to get "killed off" and went so far as to point out why others should be killed off. Didn't like that.

I read all that and told my friend, who also watches the show, that Bo had to go. Period. He's been struggling from the beginning anyway so let's just get rid of him already! The next show though, his buddy Travis was killed off. (Travis was a frontrunner from the beginning but had had a very poor showing that night.) Bo's on air comments were like his blog. "Travis shouldn't have left. They could have killed off Yves or Ashley but Travis didn't deserve to go." (Those may not have been the exact words but that is what he said. Ashley was the other frontrunner but she seems to be losing steam herself. I'm leaning towards wanting Jimena and Yves to be in the top two.)

So last night they all had to play drunks. They were drinking for the first time after their SO broke their hearts. Bo said he was going to play it like he was crushing on the bartender. I wondered what he would do when he found out the bartender was going to be played by a man but I have to give him credit, he still did it and it was fun to watch. But then, all of the competitors did a great job last night I thought (as did the judges). And I momentarily forgot about his poor sportsmanship that made me want him to be killed off. So that when he WAS killed off, I was disappointed (I had wanted it to be Justin - his other buddy, who also seems to have a bad attitude about the competition, just in a different way). Once I remembered, I was okay with the decision last night.

Now, as far as DWTS goes, I so do not understand the judges. Monday night they told Jennie Garth how wonderful she was (and I agreed) and gave her all straight sevens. Last night I thought Cameron Mathison had a poor showing (and the judges seemed to agree), and he also got straight sevens. What gives? I still gave Cameron some of my votes but I really didn't feel like he'd put in the work some of the others had.

Lots of conflicts.

Happy Dancing

Well, today officially starts the new season (although I do think some networks - maybe non-network? - started last week). Dancing with the Stars premieres tonight and I'm excited. The women dance tonight and the men tomorrow (which I have a conflict with *sigh* but I'll work it out). I'm also looking forward to Private Practice, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. There are a couple of other shows I'll probably watch - at least initially (like Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty) but those are my (at least initially) must see TV shows. Obviously I'm an ABC girl. :-)

So, what premiere's are you looking forward to?

Debut Author - Dawn Temple

To Have and To Hold has a scheduled release date of October 1 but the author was told it would be on the shelves this Tuesday (September 25?). However, since I have a copy I purchased from Waldenbooks and another friend has a copy she purchased from Walmart, I figure it's okay to get the word out now. Go buy this book! :-)

THE WAY TO A WOMAN'S HEART...

When Lindy Monroe separated from her workaholic husband, Travis, after a devastating miscarriage, she fled to her beloved grandfather's country farm. After he died, a brokenhearted Lindy was shocked to learn that he'd left his home to her on one impossible condition: She had to live there with her husband!

City boy Travis was definitely out of his element in Land's Cross and with the beautiful women he'd briefly called his wife. But country life agreed with Travis more than he'd ever expected, and also fanned the fires of a failed marriage that hadn't quite burned to ash. Would Travis be able to set the reluctant Lindy's heart ablaze again?

Sing Along

I want to make fun of people today. Before you go thinking awful thoughts about me (well at least about wanting to make fun of people), just know I'm going to give y'all something to make fun of me about as well.

Have you ever been singing a song, loudly, where others could hear you, only to realize that the words you were singing weren't the actual words to the song? Think Phoebe Buffay (that's the right spelling...I looked it up) from Friends from an early episode when she thought Elton John was singing to Tony Danza instead of the tiny dancer. That kind of thing.

Or, the guy from my church when I was in high school. We sang a song quite frequently that had the words, "Thy loving kindness, is better than life." He thought the words were, "Thy loving kindness is better than wine." I mean, His loving kindness IS better than wine but it wasn't the right word. He said he was very embarrassed when someone pointed out his error.

Okay, so mine...I recently bought a Bon Jovi CD that has his song It's My Life on it. Now, I really do know the right words (well, I think I do anyway) but when I'm singing it? The wrong words come out - a lot. For Example:

Right way (we think): It's my life. It's now or never. I (ain't) gonna live forever.

Lucy's way (we know): It's my life. It's now or never. I don't wanna live forever.

and another passage...

Right way (we think): I just wanna live while I'm alive.

Lucy's way (we know): I don't wanna live while I'm alive.

Now I'm sure there's some subliminal or Freudian message I'm telling myself with the way those passages come out of me but I'm choosing not to look to closely at it.

But anyway, do you have any songs that the wrong words just want to come out of you when you sing them, loudly, where people can hear you? And if so, please share (I shared mine. ;-) )

The Secret's Out

Which movie heroine are you?

Rose DeWitt Bukater You are Rose DeWitt Bukater from "Titanic"! You are beautiful and trusting, with a hidden internal strength. Many men find you attractive, but you would only give your heart to someone who loves the real you. While you sometimes doubt your life's direction and your place in the world, you're open to see where fate takes you.
Take this quiz!








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Okay, that isn't the only secret that is out...my blog has been discovered. Alyssa Goodnight installed a statcounter on her blog and since I access her blog from this one, she found me out. I mean, she knew I had a blog but she couldn't remember the name of it. Guess that'll teach me...

Possums: Enter at your own Risk

That's what the sign on my property line should say. The death toll is three so far with a fourth one injured after it took a tour of my living room. (It should be noted that I was not the one who hurt it. I was too afraid to get near it to hurt it.)

I just have to wonder what this family of possums is thinking. What...Bubba went out and committed suicide at the foot of my bed (which about gave me a heart attack when I discovered him) so they sent out Archie, looking for him? (Archie being the one that brought my neighbors and myself closer while he checked out the wall to wall tile in my living room.)

I figure Archie went back with the injured paw and told them of the twenty-five bears he had to fight off to survive. He, of course, maimed and/or killed all the said bears. He milked it for several weeks before they sent Chuck out to avenge the injury.

Chuck wasn't so lucky and never saw the inside of the house. He did, however, make it to the back porch before HE committed suicide.

When he didn't make it back for a week (or so) Mama possum came looking for him. She too made it to the back porch before SHE committed suicide. She's currently sitting in my trash can on the curb, even though trash day isn't until Wednesday (let the homeowner's association write me up...that thing is NOT sitting in my garage until Wednesday!).

All I can say is, I hope the possum family stopped at three and that daddy possum ran away to another neighborhood because, despite all the practice I've been getting lately, I don't ever want to have to dispose of another suicidal possum. It's not as fun as it sounds.

Technologically Challenged

I think I may have mentioned that I have a technological disability. If you've ever felt stupid when dealing with a computer or cell phone, this post may make you feel better about yourself.

Okay, so I have a cell phone and have had one for 12 or 13 years. It's never been something I've used a lot though. It's always just been there for "just in case" needs. And I can tell you that when my very first cell phone came with features like call waiting, I didn't see the need. But it was standard and it was more of a hassle to get it removed than to just keep it, so I kept it. I didn't figure it would be an issue, since I wasn't giving out my number anyway.

So, the few times someone DID actually call in when I was using the phone, I disconnected all parties. Don't know how I was doing it but, if nothing else, I was consistent. About the time I would figure out how to work all the features, I would get a new phone and start the process all over again.

Well, a few weeks ago I switched cell phone service providers. As such, I was required to change phones. Now, I still don't see the need (for me anyway) to have all these extra features. While I am using my phone more frequently now, it's still a "just in case" phone to me (although, I haven't replaced my dead house phone yet so it's the only phone I can be reached on at the moment - but that's another story). Even so, the sales person tried to sell me their top of the line phone. She kept showing me these phones with all these features ("you flip it this way for easy text messaging" she said. "I don't know how to text message," I replied. "This one takes pictures," she said. "I don't need a phone that takes pictures," I replied. "You can make this one have a bigger screen," she said, "for when you're on the internet." "I don't need to access the internet from my phone," I replied. And on it went.). I did end up getting a camera phone though, mostly because you can't hardly get a phone without it anymore - plus it was free with my company's plan.

Which, by the way, I want to recommend an improvement to the (or maybe just my) camera phone. You see, I was snapping shots of my dogs and got a great one of Max. Thing was, no one told me that you had to SAVE the picture (yes I'm THAT stupid) so I lost it when I flipped it closed. So my recommendation is that the phone alert you to the fact that it's not saved. You know, like maybe making a sound and then asking "are you sure you want to close this document/picture without saving?" before you lose it. It's just a thought.

But, anyway, I'm still learning the new phone. And last night I was talking to a friend of mine and I heard this beep. I wondered what it was. It was brief so I wasn't sure. Then it beeped again. I started thinking someone was calling me. It was going to be my first call waiting call. I was pretty anxious about it because of my track record of losing both callers in the past.

Then the beeping stopped. My friend had been talking the whole time and I didn't want to interrupt so I hadn't said anything. Then the beeping started again. This time I interrupted my friend and said "Hold on, I think I have another call."

I pressed the "send" button, assuming that's what would switch me to the other call, right? Well, after I pressed it I hear the hi / low pitch you hear when you're phone has been off the hook too long. Figuring I'd missed the caller, I pressed the "end" button. When I tried to get my friend back, I found out that I had disconnected "both" calls. Doh!

I called my friend back, apologizing for disconnecting our call. We were only talking for a few minutes when, again, I hear the beep. I sighed heavily and said, "I think someone is calling me."

She said something and I responded, "Did you hear the beep?"

"Yes. Wait, I think I did."

On cue the beep sounded again. "That?" she asked.

"Yes!" I replied.

"Honey, that's in the store. I'm in WalMart! That's a sound in the store."

Oh.

So I hadn't really disconnected two callers, like I'd thought. No. I'd merely HUNG UP on my friend, for no apparent good reason! LOL

Not embarrassing or anything.

Now, don't you feel better about your skills? ;-)

Hard Work

A couple of years ago I questioned the way my chapter gets its officers. You see, a nominating committee is put together and they announce who will hold what offices. No voting or anything. It's just a done deal.

Okay.

So this year I'm on the nominating committee and I'm seeing why it's done that way. No one will agree to take on the offices! There are only a handful of people I haven't talked to - half of which I don't want to see on the board and the other half, people who have been on the board forever and have expressed a desire to have a break. And I still have two offices to fill! (insert head banging smilie here)

I really want to see a good slate of officers this year. This past year we had a really weak leader and the entire chapter suffered for it. This "leader" never does anything. She will send email after email asking if this or that is done, we say yes and she keeps sending the emails, saying she's getting really worried? Why, I don't know. We'll have done the work already! It's really annoying.

Plus, she never communicates what she IS doing. For example, one of members recently had a death in the family. I passed this information along to the board and found out that she's been sending things out on behalf of the chapter/board without telling us. Someone else stepped up and said that was wrong. She finally commented last night and said she was sending things out on behalf of the chapter - not the board, like that meant it didn't matter we didn't know. I jumped on that and (nicely, but I think everyone knew my "intent") said the board should be in the know no matter what. She hasn't responded to that yet.

She also didn't respond when she sent an email about our upcoming meeting(s), asking which one we should recognize a debut author and who was in charge of bringing the bubbly. What she didn't respond to was my email asking HER to take care of that (again, nicely but everyone probably knew what I was getting at). And I know she was still online in her email because, she sent me an email asking me to give her an update on the slate of officers - something I said I'd do when I had a full slate. I've been avoiding communicating that with her though, because she's expressed an interest in being on the board (but only in particular positions) and I don't think she's a good representation of our chapter. In any event, I've decided to take a page from her book and just ignore what I don't want to address. Works for me.

In other news....it's gonna be another long week for me. I woke up this morning (it's Tuesday, in case you don't stop by for a day or two) and thought it was Saturday. I HATE when that happens.

How's your week going so far?

Harley

I didn't blog about this before but for a while there, I was really worried about Harley.

I came home last Friday and he had a slight limp - very slight limp. I might not would have noticed except that he kept holding up his front paw when he sat or stood for any length (and not necessarily long length) of time. I gave him an aspirin that night, which seemed to help.

Saturday, I considered taking him to the vet but I'd given him another aspirin and he seemed to be okay so I decided against it, thinking he'd be fine.

By Tuesday, when I returned to work, not only was he still limping (and it was more pronounced), his energy level was falling. If I could get him to eat he would empty his bowl but he didn't seem to have any real interest in eating, except to make me happy. The biggest indicator for me was that he had no interest in my used kleenex either (and that was a big deal! believe it or not). I started to get really concerned.

Wednesday morning he seemed to have energy so I thought he was getting better. He didn't eat breakfast though, but then he really hadn't been eating much for the last couple of days so I didn't get too alarmed, just from that.

That evening though, he ate his dinner - for me - and then threw it up. He still wasn't interested in used kleenex and when he jumped off the bed (he hasn't had any problems jumping up during this whole ordeal), it was like he didn't have any front legs at all. He came down chest first.

Thursday morning he didn't have energy and didn't eat so I called the vet and scheduled an appointment for that afternoon. When I came home for lunch it seemed like it was an effort for him to open his eyes. By now I was really freaking out. Oh, and someone had mentioned that I needed to watch to see is if was doing his business or not (I don't usually see that because they let themselves out), so I'd gone out the night before. Sure enough, one of my dogs was having diarrhea - I assumed Harley.

I took him to the vet and he would notice the house cats and other animals there but if they moved outside of his eye-line, he didn't see what they did...he wouldn't even move his head. I was hoping for some miracle drug that would help my baby.

Anyway, the vet had me walk him around a bit and commented that his back-end seemed stiff when he walked. He noticed that he seemed to be favoring his front leg but he also thought the rest of him was stiff. Of course, I'm thinking it's because he's not moving much at all but I didn't say anything.

He told me that it was probably one of two things...a virus that is going around that attacks their joints and muscles, or he was injured. He said that all the other symptoms - his lack of interest in food, throwing up, diarrhea, lethargy - were all consistent with an injury. But he wanted to treat for both - just in case.

So he gave him a shot of an anti-inflammatory and sent me home with an anti-inflammatory drug and an antibiotic.

Within a couple of hours of the shot, he was like a new dog. Which of course made me wonder if he wouldn't re-injure himself...I still wonder about that. Anyway, I came home with a week's worth of drugs and just a few days in, he's almost back to 100%. First thing in the mornings he's limping because the medicine has worn off but his appetite is back, he's as curious as ever and he's back to jumping at the sound of me pulling a kleenex out of its box.

Life is good.

Roses Day

So, I was listening to Roula & Ryan's Roses this morning and the situation was that this couple had been in a relationship for 2.5 years I think she said. They're 18 or 19 (even though the form says you have to be 21 to play) and currently live in different areas because of college. They've been having a long-distant relationship for a while now and he spent the summer in summer school so they didn't really see each other. He was supposed to come down this past weekend but he called and cancelled so she had Roula call him and offer him roses to see who he would send them to.

So, Roula calls and a woman answers. She sounds like she was asleep when the call came in. They ask for the boyfriend and she, groggily, says "it's for you" and the guy picks up. He also sounds like he just woke up. Anyway, Roula does her spiel and offers him roses and he happily accepts. When they tell him they can be sent anywhere he tells them to send them there - to his dorm. Roula says okay then asks for a name and a greeting for the card. He gives the name of someone other than the girlfriend and the girlfriend immediately jumps in (which she's not supposed to do, by the way).

The guy was livid that she'd had the radio station call him and said he'd talk to her off the radio and hung up without further discussion. The girlfriend, at this point, is sobbing uncontrollably. They talk to her for a minute and then let her go and open the discussion up for the DJs and then callers (which I didn't get to hear but one).

The DJs were hung up on the age thing and college saying what the guy was doing was to be expected and to have a long-distant relationship when you're that young isn't really realistic.

I don't remember what the caller I did hear said but all I could think was DID NO ONE ELSE PICK UP ON THE PHONE BEING ANSWERED BY ANOTHER WOMAN????? WHO SOUNDED LIKE THE PHONE HAD WOKE HER UP??? AND THAT THE BOYFRIEND WAS RIGHT THERE?

I don't know, it was just kinda weird to me. But, I guess in the long run, at least now the girl knows...time to move on.

Rules of Fashion

This past Friday I was digging through my closet to make a decision as to what to wear. I spied a white dress of mine that I haven't worn in year...years. My reasoning being that the "rule" is you can't wear white after labor day and that was going to be the last day I could wear it until after Easter - according to the rule. As I pulled it off the hanger I saw another white dress that I haven't worn in years. Well dang, I wasn't going to get to wear it until after Easter now! Oh well.

So, I was driving in to work, thinking about this "rule" about white. I've never really understood it because in this part of the country, we don't really have a fall or a winter. Our fall is like most other people's summer. And our winter is like most other people's fall. Winter is virtually non-existant (although we do usually get one overnight hard freeze a year...usually). Spring is my favorite time of year with great temperatures, low humidity but well, I'm getting off topic, now aren't I.

Anyway, even though I don't really agree with the rule, I've mostly followed it (except when I could fit in about two outfits, one of which was white...then I totally blew off the rule because I didn't really want to wear one outfit every day of the world). But I was wondering, as I drove in to the office...how does that impact brides that get married between Labor Day and Easter? If they wear white are they considered fashion disasters? And if they wear off-white, or some other color, are they considered little hoochies because they didn't wear white? (No offense to any hoochies or anyone who just didn't want to wear white to their wedding...it's all in fun here. ;-) ) Seriously, what is the protocol for brides that get married between those dates? Or is there one?

Although, it may all be moot. My co-worker told me that it is no longer taboo to wear white after Labor Day. However, when I asked her where she had heard this, she didn't remember. She also didn't remember if it was just for our neck of the woods or everywhere. It could be she dreamed it and it just had this lasting effect on her for all I know.

So, what I want to know is, was my co-worker right? Is it now okay to wear white after Labor Day? And if so, does that mean it's okay to wear white year round or is there another date now that white is no longer acceptable - in terms of being fashionable (and what is it?)? And if your answer was yes, I might need to know your source...you know, just to be thorough. ;-)

New Look

I decided I needed a new look and this is what I decided on.

You know, I really kind of like it. :-)

A Tisket, A Tasket

When I bought my house going on seven years ago, I decided I had to do some grown-up things to go with the grown-up mortgage. So I subscribed to the newspaper (which I only read on Sundays and only the comics, TV Guide and Dear Abby at that...I let that subscription lapse after about a year or so), and several magazines. One of the magazines I subscribed to was Good Housekeeping. I figured it could give me ideas on inexpensive decorating things.

And I did get some ideas. Like the one about getting a basket for your bathroom to hold all your "toiletries". I went out almost immediately and bought this cute little basket and came back and filled it with all my "stuff". It's an idea I really liked and really worked. It also saved time when cleaning because rather than having to remove all your "stuff" from the counter, you just had to move the basket, clean and replace the basket on the counter. Easy-peasy.

Okay, so a few months ago I went out and bought two more baskets. I wasn't really looking for baskets (actually, I was at the store looking for work stuff) but I found these two I really liked and they just happened to be on sale, so I snagged them. Didn't really have any idea where I would put them or how I would use them. They're both bigger than the original one I bought and a lot deeper.

So fast forward to yesterday...I was cleaning my bathroom and realized that I've kind of outgrown the original basket. It overflows. So I decided to try out one of the bigger baskets. I started being really neat about it...putting all the Mary Kay stuff on one side and and the Estee Lauder stuff on the other. I put all the hotel lotions and soaps in there. But the more I put in there, the more I'm finding in the smaller basket. It was like it had a false bottom or something. Anyway, by the end, I'm just chunking stuff in the basket (guess I don't have a lot of patience for organization and stuff). But, the good news is, it held everything, with no overflow. Plus it looks good on the counter, and I still have two baskets to play with.

I was thinking about the baskets last night and thought I could fill them with the books that won't fit on my new book carousel. I could also put the smaller one in the guest bathroom (now that I've cleared the plants off the counter) for guest toiletries. We'll see.

All this talk is making me feel like I need to renew my Good Housekeeping subscription. But my question to you is, have you ever gotten a really good decorating idea from a magazine? And if so, please share! :-)

Also, do you have baskets and what do you keep in them? Inquiring minds want to know.

The August Curse Continues...

I guess I kind of jinxed myself yesterday because I was thinking "August is almost over and nothing bad has happened so far". I knew immediately that I shouldn't have had that thought but, what are you going to do?

I got an email today telling me the second boss I had at the company I work for, died last night. He found out less than three weeks ago that he had cancer and he died that quickly afterwards. We haven't worked together since 1998 and we didn't really stay in close contact with each other but we did, from time to time, have reason to communicate with each other. I've received a couple of emails (work related - not personal) in the last year or so from him. Anyway, I think it was all the things considered that caused me to receive the news as badly as I did (I didn't take it well). The only "positive" thing I could say about it is, hopefully that means I'm done for bad things happening, at least until August 2009.


I promise to start posting more pleasant things in the very near future. Honest.

Discoveries

Today is the anniversary of my mother's death. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything, it's just it was a weird day today and that it was the anniversary of her death kind of plays into that.

After my mother died, my step-father gave me a bunch of stuff of hers, including old letters (including one I wrote to the tooth fairy explaining that I'd lost my tooth but would still like the money for it please and thank you). Anyway, as I went through everything I realized that there was a lot about my mother that I never knew. A LOT! And I envisioned a play about this discovery and thought about writing it. Then, like most my other story ideas, tossed it aside.

A couple of months ago I decided to resurrect that idea but work it a different way. Make it more fictionalized to where there is some actual facts that take place but the overall story is fiction. And that is what I have been working on lately.

But anyway, I wasn't really thinking about what today was until I'd read someone's blog and wondered if I was behind and then saw the date. THEN, I get mail (real mail, not email) from my step-father. He was sending me checks on his new bank account (he wanted someone to be able to write checks in case he wasn't able to - I've had this since my mother died but he's changing banks). He included a note that read (after a series of information details) "Laura, this is info that someday, you are going to need. Although I don't plan on checking out soon, I might not have much notice. so - - -"

I opened this right after I'd read the blog that reminded me of what day it was. I drove back to work (this all was on my lunch break) and decided I would call him when I got back to the office (his number is in my day planner which was sitting on my desk). I wanted to be sure he was okay. He'd recently broken up with his girlfriend and I was concerned about the "tone" of the letter. Before I did that though, I decided to talk to someone about it and see what they thought. But before they got to my office, I opened my home email again and had an email from my step-father. Subject line was needtotalk (he didn't put any spaces in it either). Email read:

Laura, there are some some recent events that I need to let you know about. (okay, this was when my heart stopped...once I was able to breath again, I continued) No bad news, by the way, so don't worry. (our ideas of bad news differs so I wasn't totally convinced here) It's a little long and protracted to do on e-mail, so let me know when you will be home and have some free time to talk.

I didn't wait (plus my phone - not my phone line, my phone - is screwed up so calling at home wasn't going to work anyway) and called him.

Turns out he found out about a year ago that he inherited some land from my mother that he didn't know existed (he doesn't think she knew about it either). He was contacted by someone who wanted to do some tests for oil (mineral rights were retained by the family). He leased it to them and they contacted him about purchasing it outright last month. At this point I'm thinking he needs me to do some running for him, since he lives in another state, and I'm trying to figure my time but I'm saying "Don't sell the mineral rights! Don't sell the mineral rights!" For one thing, wanting to lease the land to check for oil and then wanting to purchase it (including mineral rights) a year later - well my thought was they found something and didn't plan to share that information.

Anyway, long story short, he wasn't selling anything. He wants to GIVE me the land and the mineral rights. (I feel funny about that but that's a whole other story.) We didn't talk about what day it is but he sounded really emotional - and that's just not him. I'm still a little worried about him. He said he was fine - that he was just doing what was right.

Anyway, the whole point of this is, I'm still learning things about my mother - and even her family (when I went to look up the land, I learned a lot of things I hadn't known...a LOT). It's just been one of those weird days. I'm just glad it's almost over.

Hurricane Preparedness

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, I was unaware of any "panic" that occurred as a result of a potential hurricane threat. Until then it seemed that people went about their business, the hurricane hit and then life resumed as usual. No big deal. And I've lived in hurricane territory my entire life. It's not like hurricanes are new to me.

So while I watched, as did the rest of the country/world, the devastation caused by Katrina two years ago, I was still unprepared for the panic I witnessed when Rita headed towards Galveston. (And just so you know, if Galveston is hit, Baytown [where I live] will be impacted. No ifs, ands or buts about it.) But actually, what surprised me so was that the panic started the minute the storm hit the Gulf. So much can happen between entering the Gulf and landfall. That was one of the reasons there was such devastation in New Orleans - it wasn't the projected landfall site. Katrina made a turn at the last minute and went there. And it was the same situation with Rita. Rita's projected landfall was Galveston. Evacuations started a week before landfall was expected. And, like Katrina, Rita made a last minute turn and a lot of the people who evacuated left a place that wasn't hit, only to end up in the place that was (although we were impacted to a degree - just not with the intensity expected). Hurricanes are so unpredictable.

Anyway, so why am I blogging about this today? I went to the grocery store this morning and the shelves of water and soft drinks were bare already. Dean is expected to make landfall on Thursday near Corpus Christi and the shelves are empty in Baytown on Sunday. Although, in fairness to those who cleared the shelves, this area is expected to be impacted by the storm to some degree - it's just not known yet, how much. The further up north the Texas coast it hits, the worse it will be here. And, assuming it makes landfall south of us, we'll be on the "wet" or "dirty" side of the storm - which, considering the amount of rain dumped by Erin (and that was just a tropical storm!), we really can't afford to get.

Fortunately though, I started preparing early this year (since I was so ill-prepared when Rita came through). I have been buying a gallon of water each week so that I have enough to last me and the boys the recommended three days. I'd like to have more, but as I mentioned, the shelves were bare today so I'll have to make do with what I have - if it comes to that.

Bottom line, I may not have everything they tell you to get to prepare for a hurricane (and good luck getting it now) but I am better prepared than I ever have been. And you know, it wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if I never have to need it.

Secret Crushes

Have you ever been reading a romance novel and thought "people don't really do that"?

I have and one of the situations that I think that about is when the heroine (for example) just sees the hero and goes all weak-kneed. She just melts in front of him and becomes mindless. I read that and get annoyed because, who really does that? I mean, maybe we want that to happen and maybe that's what the author is counting on - our ability to suspend disbelief that a perfectly intelligent female could forget her own name and want that.

Okay, so that's where I am on the matter - and then I get this picture. It came in the inter-company mail yesterday and is a picture of the holiday party committee (minus two) for last year's party.

And that's when I remember that there is someone who has that effect on me - and he's in this picture. Now, looking at the picture of him does nothing for me - really. But in person, I just become jello. He just smiles at me and says hi and I can forget anything. Like the fact that he has a wife and kids. Morals? Values? What are those?

I don't think about it much, unless I see him and this picture brought it all back to the surface again. Then I found out yesterday that Friday was his last day at work. *sigh* I won't run into him in the hallways anymore or see his smiling face. This photo is the only thing I have left of him. My one consolation is that I'm sure the only reason he left the company was to save his marriage because, of course, he's secretly in love with me too and his wife made him choose between us. I mean, it couldn't be that he had a better opportunity with another company, could it? ;o)

So what about you, ever had a secret crush that had to remain a secret?


P.S. This post helps to ensure that I don't tell my work-friends about this blog. LOL Oh, and the object of my affection? I'd like to see who y'all think it might be, and then I'll spill. :o)

Local Chapter Activities

Tomorrow my local chapter is hosting a reception for local booksellers and published chapter authors. The only reason I get to participate is because I'm on the board of directors of the chapter.

Anyway, we all have duties and responsibilities. Mine was to collect materials from the authors and put them in goodie bags for the booksellers (to remember our authors). We all also have to bring some food dish. I always hate that part because I don't know a lot of fast and easy recipes. But it's expected.

So fine, I asked a co-worker for her recipe for the crockpot meatballs and sauce she brought to an event last year. Figured it would be easy. And it turns out it's only four ingredients (including the meatballs) in the crockpot for a couple of hours. Perfect!

I bought all the ingredients (actually twice as many meatballs as I needed but, oh well), then our president sends out an email asking for finger food. Finger food? I'm thinking meatballs don't count as a finger food. So I emailed the author whose house it will be at (I've been there a couple of times and realized it might be difficult to have the meatballs on the table if they needed to be plugged in, so to speak) and asked what she thought about a crockpot dish. She said it could go on the pass-through between the kitchen and dining room if I was okay with that. Which I would be if I didn't think it would be completely overlooked (and I did mention I bought way too many meatballs, right?) so I offered a compromise. I said I would cook them beforehand and, if she didn't mind, heat them up there so that they could go on the table.

I'm waiting to hear back from her but I really hope she's okay with it because even on the off chance that all the meatballs that are currently cooking (which is half of what I bought) are eaten tomorrow, I still have a ton more left (or did I mention that already?).

Anyway, corning ware can go in the microwave and the oven, right?

Oh, and as an aside, please email (or post here) your best recipes for potato salad. I volunteered to make this for boss's day and while I used to have a recipe for it, I don't anymore.

Have I mentioned that I hate events that require I make food and bring it? *sigh*

A little silly

My step-father sent me this and I thought it was fun. Hopefully it will work. And if it does - you might want to set any drinks you have aside. ;o) (It's popping up in a separate window for me - just so you know.)

Can you keep a secret?

I've mentioned before that this is my secret blog. . . no one knows about it. I have one person that I don't know from RWA that knows about this blog (and only one person from my local chapter - and she doesn't know the name [I did tell her once, she just didn't remember it - which I'm okay with]), and I trust her with all my secrets so it's okay if I put this post out there.

At work we're getting ready for boss's day. Last year we dressed all our bosses up as pirates and the everyone else had to guess which pirate they were supposed to be. It was fun and all but at the time, I suggested we do a 50s theme this year. They all said okay and them I'm sure they promptly forgot about it. But I didn't.

So a few weeks ago we had our monthly Staff Support (SS) meeting and I brought it up again. I threw out the 50s theme again and they all liked it, but then started leaning towards Elvis and wanting to dress all the male bosses as Elvis from different times in his career. The lone female boss was going to be dressed up as Priscilla. Okay, we have a starting point.

Then, a co-worker and I decided to see where we could find Elvis "costumes" for cheap (because we pay for all of this out of our own pockets) and ended up at buycostumes.com. From there we went to their adult wig selection and we went off in another direction.

I sent an email to all the other SS telling them what we'd found and we scheduled a meeting for today to discuss further. I'd come up with an idea for a game, which was a starting point but after we started brainstorming I think what we decided was even better. We made a lot of decisions and I think it's going to be so much fun. We're going to dress up eight people (we're doing more than usual). We'll have Elvis, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Dean Martin, Jeff Bagwell, Marilyn Monroe, Sonny, and Cher.

Now, you may be saying "Didn't she say the lone female boss?" but then probably disregarded it because I also said we're dressing up more than usual. But you'd have been right the first time. We're dressing one of the men up as Cher (his SS doesn't particularly like him so her wanting to do that to him is more out of spite but we all agreed it would be fun - and we like him so. . .).

Anyway, I worked up a little "program" today creating a tri-fold document. On the outside it tells them what the event is called and other miscellaneous information. When you first open it up you see the "rules" of play (which I'll go into in a minute). When you open it further you have all the bosses' names, with a blank beside it (for their guesses), the questions they're allowed to ask and the menu (the SS make them lunch too - and we've already decided on that as well). Everyone seemed to like it.

But the rules - we've decided not to dress them up from the beginning this year. Instead, they're going to come out as themselves, having only an index card with numbered answers on it. The group will be broken up into teams and each of the "celebrities" will visit with the teams. The team will say, "I want the answer to question 5 (or whatever number)". They won't read the question. The celebrity won't know the question - only the answer (they're not going to know who they are either - at this point anyway). Each team gets to ask three questions from the list, of which there are ten, of each celebrity. Then they have to make a guess at who they are supposed to be.

At the end of it all, the teams turn in their program with the answers and the team with the most right answers wins. (We're going to get them a little something but that hasn't been decided on yet.) While they're turning in their answers, the celebrities will be leaving the room and will be asked "who are you?" to see if they know. Then we'll dress them up as their character and they'll come back into the room - to music.

Elvis will come in to "Love Me Tender", Sonny & Cher to "I've Got You Babe", Bill Gates to "Money" (I don't know if that's the name of the song but I sang it for my co-workers and they knew what I meant.), Marilyn to "Happy Birthday Mr. President", Jeff Bagwell to "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". We haven't definitely decided on Dean Martin's song and Donald Trump will come in with pink slips saying "You're Fired!"

I'm already looking forward to it and it's a good two months away! I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I'll have pictures to prove it! :o)

But don't tell anyone - it'll be our secret. ;o)

The Dating Game

Last night I was watching The Bill Engvall Show (caught it accidentally - didn't know it had premiere'd yet) and the parents were getting ready to go out to a ballgame with a friend of theirs. (He'd gotten lost on the way, even though he'd been there a gazillion times, because he was following his GPS's instructions.) So while they waited they sat down with their kids. One of them said they had to write a history paper and the topic was "How did people meet each other before the internet?". (I found that amusing. :o) ) So the parents told their story.

But it got me to thinking, meeting on the internet is big business these days. But it's one of those things I just don't get - not really. I did actually meet someone from the internet once and we went out for a while but there were things that troubled me, not the least of which - we met online. He was okay with that and told anyone who asked he'd met me that way. I, on the other hand, chose to tell people "we met through mutual friends" which, truth told, wasn't entirely a lie (if you were okay with stretching the truth - out of shape even) but it sure was walking a fine line there. I knew if he ever met my friends and family, he'd spill his guts and so we never took things to the "meet the friends and/or family" stage. Plus, I couldn't see myself telling my kids one day, "Your daddy and I met online."

But I can see the advantage to meeting online because you have the opportunity to get to know someone without being judged on looks. This is assuming, of course, who you're getting to know is being honest - but then you can meet liars and skanks without going online too. I just don't think that venue is how I want to go about meeting someone though.

So anyway, the big question of the day is - how did you meet your significant other? Was it a blind date? Office romance (which was the case with me and my husband - I was his father's secretary)? Automobile accident? Visitor's day at the prison? What?

Inquiring minds want to know. :o)