Another "Wet" Dream

Well, I had another one my dreams last night. In the dream my mother was still alive and I was spending the weekend at her house. Her house, by the way, was an old wood structure (in the dream - not in real life), similar to the rental property I have.

Anyway, Saturday morning I was awakened (we're talking around 7:30 am and if you've read my other entries, you know anything before noon is just gonna piss me off) by a friend of hers giving a tour of the house (apparently it was on the "historical" tour route...it being so old and all). I remember hearing a comment that tickets were $40 dollars a piece and she had 30 people on her one hour tour.

I was doing the math in my head when someone made a comment that a plant needed watering.

Some time had passed and I went into the kitchen. A plant was in the sink and the faucet was on. Water was hitting the plant and bouncing off of it, going out of the sink onto the floor. I'm wondering what kind of idiot turns on a faucet sink to water a plant and then leaves it unattended for a long period of time.

I tried to turn off the water at the faucet but it wouldn't shut off. So I get down on the floor (which has a few inches of water on it) and open the cabinet to turn off the water from the shut off valve. But there is no valve there. There is, however, a leak there and water is pouring out from the pipes under the sink.

I keep looking and looking for the shut off valve but all that is under the sink is all the light switches to the house and the fuse box and all things ELECTRIC. I'm pondering what an idiot it was that put electrical switches under something that contains running water when it dawns on me that not only am I standing in water, if I touch anything while the pipe is leaking, I'll be electrocuted and die.

Then I woke up with a start.

So, any guesses as to what THAT meant?

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

This morning I was thinking about my blog and thinking I was neglecting it a bit. I was trying to think about what I could blog about today. I decided I would blog about my slut dress.

Yes, I said slut dress...like you don't have one. ;o)

I was going to tell y'all all about it and how one time I wore it I was thinking, "Okay...not bad. I have my black dress, with my black jacket, black hose and OMG one black shoe and one blue shoe on."

Then I got to work today.

I got to work with only a couple of minutes to spare. I was walking down the long hallway to my office and when I got about three offices down from my office, my boss came out of his office. The one on the end of the hallway, on the corner. He looked down the hallway, saw me and stopped. Turning towards me he walked towards me and met me at my office doorway. I wonder what the hell I've done now.

He doesn't say a word as I approach and I unlock my office door. He follows me into my office. For a second I thought he was going to close it behind him. He says, "You have an email I need you to read. Once you've read it, I need you to come talk to me about it."

I stare at him wondering what the heck he's talking about. He must pick up on this because he says, "It's about the flu vaccine."

I don't look at this as a good thing because our company gave out free flu vaccines just last week and I had gotten my first ever vaccine. Plus my boss is being very serious and seeming a bit alarmed.

He turns to leave and turns back. "There's a meeting at 8:00 this morning on the other side (he means the other building...we refer to them as the east "side" and the west "side", hence the "side")."

Again, I have no idea what he's talking about. Is he telling me I have a meeting at 8:00? He has a meeting at 8:00? What?

I say, "Is it a meeting you'll be in or do I need to go to a meeting at 8:oo?" I dump my purse and day planner on my desk.

"I'm going and I think you should too. Well, you don't have to if you don't want to but I think it would be a good idea if you did. Yeah, you need to go." He says this all in one breath.

I start to get a little alarmed at this point because whatever is going on, it has him a bit flustered to say the least.

I log on to my computer and email and I have an email from the site manager announcing that the distributor of the flu vaccine I received is under investigation by the FBI. Apparently there is reason to question the authenticity of the vaccine, which is currently being tested by the FDA. Additionally, it is unclear as to whether the needles used to inject the vaccine were sterile or reused so those are also being tested.

The email went on to strongly encourage anyone that received the vaccine (1000 employees and 100 contractors) to seek medical guidance ASAP to have a baseline test for HIV, Hepatitus B, Hepatitus C and ATL (whatever the hell that is). We were advised to follow up at one, two and six month intervals - regardless of the outcome of the investigation. These tests, no matter who we go see, will be paid for by the company.

Shortly before I left for the day I received another email stating that the FDA could not confirm the properties of the injection we were given. I didn't find that encouraging because I read that to mean it wasn't the flu vaccine or a saline solution - it's something unidentified as yet. My feeling is (and I could be jumping to conclusions here) that if it were the flu vaccine or saline solution, they would be able to tell us that.

Aside from that, despite meetings all day long on the subject, everything else I heard is rumor and speculation. Only known facts at this time are, there is an FBI investigation and it's strongly recommended that I (well and everyone else that got the vaccine) go get a series of blood tests.

We've also been advised of the following: we should not have unprotected sex until further notice, we should not breast feed until further notice, and we should not consider getting pregnant, again, until further notice.

Tomorrow, when they give us more useless information on this matter, I will be wearing my slut dress. ;o)

Jazzed

The last few weeks there has been a staggering of silent auctions for charity at work. Last week closed one that I bid on several items, winning two. I won a massage and a month of unlimited jazzercise classes.

I bid on the jazzercise classes in a tandem effort (with my diet, of course) to lose weight. Having won, I have to go through with it.

Anyway, the location of the jazzercise establishment is not terribly convenient to where I live and I found out there is another location closer to home. So, I contacted the "owner" of the location where I won and asked if I could use the certificate at the closer location. I hadn't heard from her over the weekend so I decided to contact the closer facility and see if they would honor the certificate.

When I opened my email to send this email, I had one from the original owner. She said whatever worked best for me was fine with her and gave me the email address to the closer facility. She also explained how to read the schedule (I swear it was in code!).

Well, I forwarded her email to the other location, asking if I could switch locations. Here is the email I received back almost immediately:

I apologize for this automatic reply to your email.

To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand.

If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders, please fill out the short request form (see link below).

Once I approve you, I will receive your original message in my inbox. You do not need to resend your message.

I apologize for this one-time inconvenience.

Click the link below to fill out the request:

And then it lists the link. I was at work so I decided not to click on the link at that time.

In the meantime, however, I compared the schedules.

Original location has 5:15 and 6:15 classes four days a week and once each Saturday and Sunday. (One night has cardio classes at 5:15 and jazz at 6:15)

This location offers classes at 6:15 three nights a week and cardio one night a week and then something involving body sculpting, jazz and other stuff on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. (For future references, 9:00 am is much too early for me on a Saturday!)

The 6:15 classes are closer but I couldn't go straight from work and honey, once I'm home, I'm home - for the night. So I don't think the closer location will work for me.

On the other hand, I will be pushing it to make the 5:15 class. I could, most nights, but it will be tight. Then I started thinking about the email again. This came from a place of business email address! Why the heck are they screening emails?

Is it just me or is that just stupid?

I'm going to go with the original facilities. And then afterwards, I can go have the massage. ;o)

Books

I just finished reading Wives and Sisters by Natalie R. Collins. I previously blogged about how I got interested in the story.

It's a dark story. I guess I should have known that from the first chapter. And something I had read made me think (spoiler alert) they would eventually find Cindy. The friend that was "missing".

The title is a bit misleading too, I think. I expected it to be about relationships between wives and sisters. It wasn't. It was more about how women, in general, are treated in the Mormon church. It was a scary look into it. I kept thinking about the Osmonds. They were a big thing when I was growing up and I was a big fan. I was crushed when Donny got married. Well, not really but I remember it being a shock because it seemed like a sudden thing.

Anyway, this story made me wonder about their family. If they lived the way Mormons were portrayed in this story. I would hope not but the whole thing was pretty creepy.

Now, having said all that, I liked the book. It just was a bit more intense than I guess I expected but then again, I should have known it from the first chapter. Heck, from the first sentence of the first chapter. I was six years old the first time I had an inkling God would not always protect me. That was the first line of the book. Yep, definitely should have given me a clue that it might be a bit intense.


The next book on my list to read is Shana Galen's When Dashing met Danger. I have to read it completely this weekend because it's up for discussion starting Monday. I've had it since June (before Reno anyway) I believe but I still haven't read it. I had read her chick-lit story The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Men I've Dated. That wasn't a bad story but it was based on a theme of Star Wars and I'm not a fan of Star Wars. When she related men to Wookies and Jedis, I didn't know who was supposed to be the good guy. As a result, I had a harder time reading the story. I think that contributed to my putting this book further down in the TBR pile.

Shana (aka Shane Bolks ) is a local author. Last year we were both members of a local RWA Chapter and I met her. Actually I first met her when she spoke at, what I consider, my home base chapter. I was very impressed with her then and I learned a lot from her workshop.

Anyway, that's what I'm reading. What are you reading?

Dreams

Some believe that your dreams are your subconscious talking to you.

I don't remember a lot of my dreams but some have stuck out in my mind. A number of years ago I had a dream that when I woke up I wrote it down so I would remember it. It represents some things to me that I continually have to remind myself of. I carry the piece of paper with me in my purse. I rarely look at it (mostly only when I'm digging for something else but I don't even read it then) but it's always with me.

I used to have a recurring dream that I would get in elevators and the bottom would fall out. It was really bizarre because these elevators would be in strange places, like boats and planes and I would always get into the elevator on the third or fourth floors going down but when they would start their free fall we'd be on the 700th floor or something. It would be awful and I would wake with a start - every time. It wouldn't stop me from getting on elevators when awake but if they ever grunted or groaned, I'd be just this side of panicked. Someone interpreted that dream as me having a fear of losing control. I could see that analogy and I haven't had that dream since.

But last night, I had a strange dream. I was on a school bus with two of my co-workers. We were the only ones on the bus. They work in my group but I don't work directly with them. One I never have, the other I only did briefly. Neither have any input into my career in the company and I don't socialize outside of work with either of them. Having said all that, one was driving and she was driving down a road that led to some body of water (I have no idea where it was, where we were going or anything but you could see the water). We came to a fork in the road and she went to the left. She'd barely gone down it and decided to go another way so she put the bus in reverse. She backed us into the water and we could see the water around the bus as it was submerged. I started panicking because I knew, at best, we would have difficulties getting the windows down or the bus door open. Suddenly both my co-workers were behind me, towards the back of the bus and we are all walking towards the front of the bus but it is very laborious and water is starting to come into the bus. I'm trying to remain as calm as possible but I'm convinced I'm going to die in this bus. I'm hearing a voice telling me to remain calm and to breathe normally - it's one of my co-workers, the one that had been driving the bus. The bus is filling with water and none of us have opened any windows or anything and now I'm holding my breath. I woke up with a start and I was holding my breath. I couldn't go back to sleep. It was weird.

Any thoughts on what it means?

Dream House

A good friend of mine is a Realtor. In fact, we met five years ago when I started my search for my first house.

My criteria for the house was 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage and a working fireplace. She asked me how flexible I was on those points. I told her the working fireplace was a deal breaker, I could (if I had to) be flexible on everything else.

During the search, we came to this one house that we were having difficulty getting into because the combination on the lock box wasn't working. But the door had windows so I could see in a little. I could see tile on the living room floor and I told her not to try too hard to get in because I could guarantee I would never make an offer on a house that had tile in the living room.

I eventually bought a house that met my criteria. (I made an offer based on the backyard...I LOVE the trees. In fact, I hadn't even seen the bedrooms or bathrooms when I made the offer, I loved the yard that much.)

So, less than two years later I ripped up all my carpet and had tile laid throughout the house. The ONLY carpet I have left in the house is a patch I held back that my dogs lay on sometimes at night. And the only thing in the house that doesn't work is (say it with me) the fireplace. We have three days of winter where I live (and they're not even consecutive days) but I like to have a fire going when we have them.

Anyway, my realtor friend called me today. Said she'd found my dream house. (I've looked off and on over the last few years but never quite found anything that could make me want to leave my trees. I've come close before but I've always passed. BUT, I've since added that I want an inground pool in my next house. And a deck would be nice, but not necessarily a deal breaker.) Said she'd been trying to call me for two days (been online or had my phone turned off - oops) to tell me about it - she sounded very anxious to show me the house. She said it met all my criteria. I said "Oh yeah?" Then she wanted to clarify my criteria.

I started with "No neighbors!" (If you knew the saga of the cat lady, you'd understand.)
Her: Oh, well there are neighbors. But the house is gorgeous. It's got an inground pool, with a hot tub. The rooms are HUGE! The living room is big enough to have your living room and your dining room in it if you wanted to.
Me: Does it have a separate dining room?
Her: Well, no but the living room is huge!
Me: Bigger than the one I have now? (I have a huge living room.)
Her: I don't know. What are the dimensions of your living room. (I give them to her.) I don't remember the dimensions of this room so I don't know. But all the rooms are huge. The kitchen is huge, the laundry room is huge.
Me: Is the kitchen open to the living room?
Her: Well no but the kitchen is huge.
Me: Does it have a fence?
Her: Around the backyard, yes. And the yard is huge. It has a deck and everything. The pool is gorgeous and there is a lot of yard around it.
Me: Is there a place I could put in a doggy door?
Her: I don't know. I didn't look for that but the kitchen has french doors going out onto the deck.
Me: The kitchen is the only room going into the backyard?
Her: Yes.
Me: That's weird, no bedrooms or anything back up to the backyard?
Her: Oh, yeah the bedrooms would, I guess but there's no door to get out there.
Me: I don't need a door, just a wall to put in a doggy door.
Her: Oh then you probably could.
Me: So when can I go see it?
Her: I don't know. I don't have the keys yet. Probably Monday. (pause) There is one drawback though.
Me: What? (there's always a catch)
Her: There are only two bedrooms.
Me: But there's a study, right? An extra room? (I say hopefully)
Her: No, there's no extra room but the rooms are huge! Oh, and it's not tiled. But it's a great house.
Me: What are they asking?
Her: (She tells me and quickly adds) but I think they will work with you.
Me: Fine, I'll take a look.
Her: I'll call you tomorrow when I get the keys.
Me: Okay, bye.
Her: Bye.

We hang up.

Ten seconds later I call her back...

Her: Hello?
Me: Working fireplace?
Her: Yes.
Me: Okay, see you tomorrow.

So, what do we know? It's out of my price range, it doesn't have enough bedrooms for me (my personal preference, not anything else), I'd have to rip up the carpet and relay tile, and it doesn't have a dining room (big issue for me, actually). So, what's the big draw for me tomorrow night? The margaritas we're going to go have afterwards. ;o)

And yes, she knows it. :-D

What's your Blogging Personality?

Your Blogging Type is Logical and Principled

You like to voice your well thought out opinions on your blog.And if someone doesn't like what you write, you really don't care!Serious and blunt, sometimes people take your blog the wrong way.But you're a true and loyal friend to those who truly get you.

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

Hmmmm....actually I do care if what I write offends and I'd rather have a fun blog than serious blog (but I do know that people sometimes take my humor the wrong way). But other than that, it's dead on. LOL

Squeezing it in

Had to bump Jennifer O'Connell's book temporarily because my boss loaned me The Constant Gardner. For those of you who have access to my other blog, you may know that I recently saw the movie that was based on this book. I loved the movie. It's very political and may offend some people but I was drawn to the love story elements of the movie. I love when, despite everything else - any obstacles or events that may happen, love wins in the end. And this movie did this.

I saw the movie with some friends, one of which who had read the book first. The friend who had read the book said the movie followed the book down the line. Next thing I know, I'm fighting an overwhelming urge to buy the book, despite my very large TBR pile.

Then last week my boss came into my office, on his way to someone else's office to lend THEM this book (he didn't know I had seen the movie and wanted to read the book), and before I knew what he was coming into MY office for, I became very animated in my enthusiasm over the book. Let's just say, it was a tad embarrassing.

Yesterday he came into my office, again carrying this book. Again before I knew what he was in my office for, I "jumped" him - just not about the book this time. (I really need to give him a chance to speak before I "attack".) He was coming to tell me that the other person had been out of the office for a week so I got bumped to the front of the line to read the book. Yay!

Since I hadn't started Jennifer's book yet, I decided to put this one first so I could give it back soon. I wish I had a bouncy icon now because I'm really excited!

Yes, I am that easily amused. ;o)

Pointing Fingers/Placing Blame

Someone sent me this picture in an email. At first I didn't understand it because the only complaints I heard about New Orleans were directed at President Bush, and he's a Republican. Now, I'm assuming I understand because, while I haven't confirmed it, I'm willing to bet New Orleans is a "Democratic" state.

Based on that "assumption" the email kinda pissed me off. Why? Well, let's start with the evacuation procedure for Texas wasn't completely thought through. As someone who wanted to evacuate BUT COULDN'T because of how it was handled, I feel very comfortable making that statement.

Not only that, no one had any idea how devastating Katrina was going to be and up until the day before landfall, New Orleans wasn't a projected landfall site. That evacuation was on the fly at effectively the last minute. I don't fault the government for that - they did the best they could at the time, under those circumstances. Even if they'd managed to get every living thing out of New Orleans, they'd still have nothing to go back to. Can't blame the government for that.

As for those people who would criticize the levvies only being able to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, a Category 5 is NOT a common occurrence. I said that to someone who was bitching about the levvies and they said, "Well there was one in 1960!" Yeah, that was 45 years ago...like I said, not a common occurrence. You prepare for what you can reasonably expect, not what might happen a couple of times a century. Besides, you can't predict the worst case scenario in this situation because you can't predict top winds or storm surge of a Category 5 hurricane.

You do the best you can.

As for the evacuation in Texas, the media hyped it big time (the hurricane I mean). Had the world not watched in horror at what Katrina had done, I do not believe Texas would have had the evacuation situation it did. We learned from that disaster.

We also made some mistakes...some serious mistakes. Most of the deaths related to Rita were evacuation related deaths. Hundreds (if not thousands but I definitely know hundreds) of cars were abandoned on the side of the roads. People and their pets died in their cars trying to evacuate. To me that is not a success story - that's a learning experience. In theory it was a good idea. In practice it sucked. Hopefully on the next go 'round, it will be better executed.

But my point here is, people want to blame someone for what has happened. That's human nature. But, can you really blame political parties for a natural disaster? I honestly believe that no matter where Katrina had hit the response would have been what it was. And on the heels of that, no matter where Rita hit the response would have been what IT was. To point fingers and place blame does nothing but make a bad situation worse and that pisses me off.

Waffles

No this is not a post about waffles and syrup. It's a post about riding the fence on a decision...waffling.

I received a PM today asking if I would be willing to run for secretary of an online group I'm in. My initial reaction was "No!" Mainly because my continued membership in this group hasn't been established. By that I mean I'm not sure I want to continue being a member of this group. A lot has happened over the last few months that has, let's say, made me become disenchanted with the group. So to expect me to make a one year commitment is a big deal.

There are those that would say I could help change the problems with the group. (First off, what I see as problems I don't see going away - ever.) They would say I could be part of the solution. (See my previous comment.)

Then I start thinking about the opportunity this could be...the doors it could open. It's a visability issue. I start thinking I want to do it.

Then I remember the one year commitment.

But the visibility factor.

One year commitment.

Visibility.

One year.

Then I realize, I probably won't get elected anyway. (One year.)

What the hell...what's the worst thing that could happen? I could get elected! (where's the "weird" icon when you need it?)

On to the next

I finished reading the other book and next up is Dress Rehearsal by Jennifer O'Connell. All in the name of research, right? She is, after all, going to critique the first thirty pages of The Accidental Secretary for me. ;o)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

No one knows wedding cakes better than the owner of Lauren's Luscious Licks, Boston's hottest cake boutique. Lauren Gallagher is a pro when it comes to helping brides and grooms pick out the perfect Big Day dessert. But what her clients don't know is that her talent doesn't end there. Because while the happy couple is choosing between buttercream and royal icing, Lauren is predicting which relationships will last, and which marriages will crumble, simply by watching them pick a cake. Her latest prediction, however, is anything but sweet. Unless her marital Magic Eight Ball is off, one of her best friends is about to tie the knot with Mr. Absolutely All Wrong.

Lauren's got to save her friend, and prove her cake theory is true, even if it means taking her predictive powers public. All of a sudden it seems everyone wants to learn Lauren's secret for relationship success, but is predicting a sure thing the formula for true love, or a recipe for disaster?

And while Lauren's trying to prevent a potential mismatch, she's got her own problems - involving an ex-boyfriend, his new fiancee, and the cake of Lauren's dreams.

Reading Material

I don't know if it's me, if I've read too many books lately or if the recent selections I've read are just as slow as they seem to me.

Anyone who has talked to me about my book selections/preferences knows I love anything by Nicholas Sparks. He's on the short list (the very short list) of authors I read without even reading the back blurb. I've also stopped waiting for paperback on him (an even shorter, short list).

But I'm disappointed with his latest book. First of all, I can usually read his books in one sitting. If I start it at lunch (at work), I come home and read until I can't stay awake any longer. I repeat until the book is finished.

I've been reading for a week now. That may not seem like a big deal but I didn't even open the book yesterday. THAT is a big deal - at least when it comes to Nicholas Sparks books.

This story is about Jeremy Marsh and Lexie Darnell. The characters are flat. I don't care about them. And the worse part, for me anyway, is - Sparks' next book is about these same characters. (can you hear me sighing?)

I've heard other people criticize Sparks' writing. They say he doesn't write romance novels - that he writes novels about relationships. I've always considered his book romance novels (but could see the relationship theory) but think True Believer is intended to be a romance novel and for me, it's falling flat. I hate that.

Seriously, can you hear me sighing?

Early Bird Special

I work. Five days a week. In a stressful (due to personalities) environment.

On the weekends I want to relax. I want to sleep in. And as tacky as it sounds, I don't want to be bothered, at least before noon. The exception to this is, if I have plans. If I have plans with someone on Saturday morning, it's OKAY if they call me early to see what's up. If I'm considering plans and that person wants to check my availability, it's okay if THEY call me early to see what's going on.

Aside from that, I don't want people calling me before noon. Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean I can't.

I'm pretty vocal about this point. I don't care if I woke up at the crack of dawn ready to go, DON'T CALL ME before noon - unless one of the exceptions apply.

Older people don't seem to care what requests you make...they do what they want. My step-father poo-poos me when I tell him I'm tired, saying that I'm too young to be tired. He has a lot of energy. He also takes long naps during the day to tide him over. He denies that he does but any time he says he's going to go watch TV, give him fifteen minutes and he will be dead to the world.

He watches a lot of TV.

Last week I was in my car for 15 hours attempting to evacuate Houston. I spoke to my step-father several times on the phone from the car. I kept telling him, "I'm going to be tired tomorrow." He said he knew I would be. That was my subtle way of saying "let me sleep in when I get there" because he tends to wake me early. I was going to be much less subtle on that point once I got to his place. The fact that I came home and didn't make it to Arkansas didn't change the fact that I was tired the next day.

He called me before 9:00 a.m. the next morning to check in on me. (Two weeks before that he called before 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday to tell me some family gossip I didn't care anything about.) He made some comment about he had slept in that morning. Oh really? Well, thank GOD he did because he would have called me earlier otherwise!

It might be good to point out that I turn my phone off a lot because of these early morning calls. It was on the day after I tried to evacuate because I was making alternate plans as to where to stay and was expecting a call. That fact does not override the rule because my step-father was NOT the person that was supposed to call me.

Which brings me to this morning. Thankfully I turned my phone off because I got up for a while and then laid back down and slept until 11:00 a.m. I checked my caller ID and my tenant (I have a rental property...the tenant first rented the house from my grandmother 30 years ago and has been in the house ever since. She pays $80 a month in rent.) had called at 9:00 a.m. My first thought was she sustained damage from the hurricane (I'd meant to call her earlier in the week to check on that but got busy.). My second thought was, I'd just finally cashed her rent check a day or two ago and she might be checking up on that. It was the latter - the house was fine, as far as she knows, from the storm.

So all these early morning calls from senior citizens makes me understand why Denny's would spend so much money promoting the Early Bird Specials. (See me running screaming from the room!)

Grocery Store Rage

You've heard of road rage? Well, I'm here to tell you about its lesser known cousin, grocery store rage.

As my friends and family know, I only tried to evacuate for Hurricane Rita. After 14 hours and only 50 miles away from home, I decided to take my chances at home. As my friends and family also know, I weathered the storm remarkably well. I have a lot of downed limbs and one huge limb dangling from a tree but considering the damage other people have, that is nothing!

But, in preparation for Rita, people emptied the grocery stores, stocking up on supplies. I made no such trek because, after all, I was leaving town. So when I was forced back, I had nothing in my house.

I made do with bread, peanut butter and water for a couple of days. I even broke down and cooked one day (because I was one of the few people in the area with electricity...did I mention I was lucky in the way of damage from Rita?).

I should mention here that I drink Diet Coke. I used to limit it to one a day until I was placed in my current job assignment. Someone attributed it to the added stress I'm under in this assignment that I drink two a day now. During the storm I had none. I had one regular Coke on Friday because I stayed with a friend. But nothing on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Monday I had gone in search of ANYTHING carbonated.

It was the first day anything was open for business and Walmart had a line down the side of the building waiting to get in. I decided to pass.

You couldn't find a parking spot at Krogers to save your life. I moved on.

I decided to drive thru Wendys...the line was out into the street. I didn't care. I wanted a Coke. I waited in line for 20 minutes to see a sign posted "Sorry, No Cokes. We have water, tea and frostys."

I wanted to cry.

Since I needed dog food, I went to Walmart after work on Tuesday. The shelves were still pretty empty but they did have carbonated drinks on the shelves. When I got to that aisle I was behind a lady who was stocking up. Her cart was full of Cokes, Root Beer, Sprite, 7-Up, Dr. Pepper and the like.

I waited patiently behind her for one Diet Coke...that's all I needed. She started to move on and then stopped. She squatted down and pulled out ALL the Diet Cokes and loaded them into her basket and then moved on.

That day was the one and only day of my life that I had to seriously fight the urge to reach in someone's grocery basket, grab out an item, SLAP THEM SILLY with said item, put item in MY basket and move on. That's what I wanted to do but I refrained.

Who said I don't have willpower?

Leaving Home

I'm about ready to load up my car for the long drive to Arkansas.

I found the deed to my house, the flood insurance policy and one out of two photo albums. While I was looking for something else, I found the papers related to a small claims suit I have pending. I packed those along with everything else.

I have my jewelry, my mother's coin collection, almost all of my clothes - clean and dirty. Toiletries, dog accessories - food, medicine, bowls, toys, etc.

Cameras, books (I have a ton I haven't read and I packed the ones I was most likely to want to read - 3/4 of a ton), DVDs, CDs and a few video tapes.

I took out the trash (in a bag rather than the cans because I won't be here to bring in the cans), I brought in everything from the yard that I could.

I know I'm forgetting something.

I have a chest that my father had brought back from Korea for my mother. I don't think I will have room for it in my car. Perhaps I can put some of the smaller boxes in it so that not as much space will be taken up. I thought about moving it into a closet or bathroom so that it will be out of the line of flying glass but that will be pointless if my house floods. I think I'll give taking it a try.

I'm so tired and I need to leave early.

Tomorrow's going to be a long day.

Shall we Dance?

I'm watching Dancing with the Stars tonight and it brought back memories for me.

You see, a few years ago I signed my nephew and myself up to take two dancing classes...country and western and swing dancing. I had taken some country and western classes a few years before that and David (my nephew) had gotten some instruction in C&W in school. He was 16, almost 17, and not too keen on being seen dancing with his aunt. He loved me, and I knew that, but with teenagers there is that fine line.

Somehow I was able to persuade him to join me.

The first class I told him what time I would be picking him up - I was coming straight from work. I got to his house and he wasn't ready. I was pissed.

He got ready quickly (he knew I was pissed) and we drove through Jack in the Box, scarfed it down in the car as we raced to my house so I could let my dog out and change clothes before we had to race to make it to the class.

We get to class - swing dancing was first. David notes the pretty young girls (18 and 19). Already his enthusiasm for the class was improving.

Then the instructor showed us our first learned steps. David looked up at me and said with a lot of enthusiasm "I'm going to like this class!"

With every dance class I have taken, there has never been a balance of men and women. There is always more of one gender than the other. For this reason, and so you can learn to dance with different partners, you switch partners often. Also, if you're the gender that has fewer students, you have to dance alone some.

Okay, so David liked the way the class was going the first night. I know he liked dancing with me but he was loving getting to dance with these young women.

On the second night of class, David was ready when I arrived to pick him up. Again we drove through Jack in the Box, raced to my house to tend to my dog and change clothes.

By the third class, David was waiting outside for me when I pulled up in the driveway. We drove through Jack in the Box, raced to my house and HE let my dog out while I changed clothes, to save time.

There was one night when I was running late that my nephew with the bottomless pit for a stomach said we didn’t have time to drive through Jack in the Box because he couldn’t be late. THAT was a deal breaker for him.

We compromised. We stopped at a Jack in the Box that was closer to the dance class and scarfed our dinner like we’d never scarfed before.

I really enjoyed dancing with David. He was a strong lead and he was a favorite among the ladies, young and old. He had a natural talent for dance - even the instructor said so.

We only had two deals. One was he had to start with me. He could move on afterwards but he had to start the night dancing with me.

The other was when the Las Vegas song came on, he had to dance it with me - period.

We both looked forward to our Friday night dancing - him so much so that he offered to pay for the second session of classes we took. I didn’t take him up on it but it told me how serious he was about it. We had a good time.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been dancing since we stopped taking classes some five years ago. I miss it.

And watching the movie Shall We Dance and watching Dancing with the Stars has made me want to dig out and dust off my dancing shoes.

May I have this dance?

Easy Sale

I was doing my daily morning internet surfing and decided to check out what is going on with Larissa's ebay auction. I have my eye on Jennifer O'Connell's critique. I don't have anything written but if I did, I like the way she writes and would love to have her critique it. In the description was a link to her webpage, so I went. I checked out her weblog and she blogged about Natalie R. Collins' Wives and Sisters. It didn't read like a recommendation or a "don't read this", it was more of a "there's a book out there" sort of thing. I took it as a recommendation though because why else would she blog about it?

So then I go back to ebay and check out Julie Kenner's critique. I've never read her so I can't say if I could appreciate her critique (it's already out of my price range though so the point is moot) but I know a lot of people enjoy her work and her stories sound fun. She also had a link to her webpage. I checked out HER blog and she also is blogging about Natalie's book.

Sensing a pattern, it was at this point that I checked out Natalie's home page. I went looking for a blurb or something on the story. All I could find was the first chapter (http://www.nataliercollins.com/books/wives-and-sisters-ch.php).

It hooked me. I want to read it.

THEN I went to HER blog. In her blog is a link to someone else's blog wherein she tells the backstory to how she came up with the story idea for Wives and Sisters. (http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/backstory/2005/09/natalie_r_colli.html).

Next thing I know, I'm on Amazon.com, ordering her book. It should be good.

Playing Hooky

I got an email a week or so ago from a friend who was coordinating a "girls matinee out". We've done this a couple of times before and I really enjoy it. I get to go play with people I don't normally get to see because our lives are so different. This group of women are all writers, most of which are full time writers. I envy them that, but I digress.

The movie we were to see was The Constant Gardner. I'd never heard about it. Didn't know anything about it - nothing.

Once the "guest list" was determined, a date and time was scheduled. The 12:45 showing on September 15 was decided on. Since both of my attorneys were in Paris (we won't get into how I feel about them going without me!) on business, it seemed the perfect opportunity to play hooky from work. I accepted.

Again, not knowing anything about the movie, I was going for the company. I had no expectations of the movie.

It was good. Very good.

A political statement was made in the movie. Some may be offended by that statement but it made me stop and think. As Americans, we often forget how good we have it. We take things for granted. We don't appreciate what we have.

But the movie had another element as well. It had a compelling love story. Justin's journey to discover the truth about Tessa's death revealed more than her political activites - it revealed how much they truly loved each other.

It was a great story, it was well told and, I'm told, it stayed true to the book it was based on.

Personally, I'm a comedy movie sort of person. Had I not been invited to join my friends, I probably wouldn't have seen this movie - it wasn't on my radar.

It was a good movie, and I'm glad I got to see it, with friends.

Now I just have to put my hands on a copy of the book!

Alphabet Soup

I recently became a part of a group labeled "The Alphabet Girls". ( http://thealphabetgirls.blogspot.com/) We get together a couple of times a week to help plot out each other's manuscripts. The first time we meet, we throw ideas at the hapless soul whose turn it happens to be that week. The second time we meet, a few days later, is to see what ideas they decided to keep, or if necessary, throw more ideas at them.

Somewhere in between they have to sit and write for 25 minutes, without interruption, and then send the new work to each of the other members before the next gathering.

Tomorrow is Sam's turn. I'm looking forward to her discussion. She sent us an outline of her first five chapters and it sounds like a good story. I couldn't wait though, I emailed her and gave her my thoughts immediately. Her story spoke to me. I could see it playing out in my head. My email resulted in an updated email to the group. I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

As for me, I've avoided the hot seat so far. It's a goal of mine, to see how long I can go without feeling the pressure of the bright lights and torture. It's working so far...I'm going to try to hold out until the turn of the century. ;o)

Competition

Like most people, I guess I have a competitive side but it doesn't rule to the point that I can't be happy for other people winning or having things. Yes, I like to win but most of my competitions these days is with myself. Did I do my best? Was there something I missed that would have made it better? That sort of thing.

I don't have to be the best, I just have to give my best because frankly, that's all I can do.

Unfortunately, lately in both my personal and professional worlds I'm having to deal with people that it's not good enough for them to be good, you have to look bad. And they're willing to do whatever it takes to have that combo happening.

I don't take criticisms badly. Even if I don't agree with someone, I take into consideration their comments because even if they're off base with their thoughts/feelings, I need to respect that and I try to make adjustments in my behavior accordingly where that individual is concerned.

But what do you do when, no matter what you do, it's not good enough. You give them exactly what they ask for and something will be wrong with it because, they may have said they wanted "this" but you were supposed to know they really wanted "that". It makes me crazy and I'm tired of always being the one to turn the other cheek.

I'd like to vote these people off my island but unfortunately, that isn't always an option.