The Weekend - Hers and Mine

I thought I had done something really pretty. These are my most favorite flowers. We had gone shopping at a home improvement store and she has also demanded that I get a packet of flowers that I will plant maybe Wednesday when I have a night off, but I am digressing again.




Then when I looked over I noticed that someone had done something even better. I'll never be as cute as she is. I am really okay with it.

The Whipping Girl

In case I wasn't busy enough with the department being down one person, both of my co-workers decided to take trips this week. I am the whipping girl where everyone dumps the stuff they don't get to before they go. I had one of these wonderful 'stuffs' explode all over my desk yesterday. I am still picking up the pieces this morning.

Bowling was okay last night. I didn't bowl all that well, but it was still fun because of the people. Next week is supposed to be a fun week because the league is over. I have to get the softball team assembled and make sure we have enough people.

Time to go again the bomb isn't as dead as the whipping girl hoped. Good luck out there.

Bob the Attack Hand Puppet

Awhile back I bought a hand puppet as a joke for someone, but it turns out that it was something my girl couldn't live without. Bob is a wild cat hand puppet and he has the most adorable ears. At a stop light today, I rummaged around in the back seat and pulled out Bob and then attacked her belly to a roar of giggles from her. I then handed Bob over to her and continued to drive. I hear another giggle from the back seat and when I turn around she has put Bob on her head and was waiting for me to notice. We both laughed.

I never thought....

So I did finally post my resume on a large job site and didn't think much of it. I have gotten a few emails about it this week most for some odd reason want me to relocate to Wisconsin, um....no thanks :). Then I keep getting ones for the Springs, see above about no thanks :). Today I got an email about a job here in Denver when I didn't respond to it within 20-25 minutes, they called me.

Egad! They want me in for an interview tomorrow. The manager is staying late (their idea not mine) so she can talk to me ASAP. All good right? Not as much as you might think, see I haven't had a real interview in about 3 years which means the suit I had then falls off. I was supposed to have KK tonight and tomorrow night. Doyce is being very cool about looking out for her so I can check into this opportunity. I did go get a suit tonight. I would have liked to have more time to pick one out but I wasn't expecting a response so soon. Now I am all flustered because I don't feel like I have enough time to prepare. Even if nothing comes of it, it is kinda nice to have the company seek me out.

3rd Oldest

A person I have worked with for a really long time came up to me today and asked what my hire date was. I told him, and he was asking because he was putting people in the order of how long we had worked at the company. The lady currently having worked there the longest is retiring at the end of the month, so we took her to lunch today ( MUST COME BACK TO THIS LUNCH AND SNARK!). I didn't have a choice or I would have so skipped the lunch. I am not really a fan of hers but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I was just pleased she didn't talk about her sex life, well until one remark when we were back at work. Anyways, he thought I was 2nd oldest with her departure, but after talking to finance, who can check hire dates, it turns out I am 3rd oldest. I hit my 11 year mark with the company this month, to celebrate I am searching for a new job.

So anyways back to lunch today, there is a place we always drive by but never really stop for lunch and today we decided to take our retiring co-worker there. It's a cute little country looking house. I wanted to leave the second I walked into the place. This place made the Hermitage look modern, vintage doesn't even cover it. It was like country gone bad meets 50's decorating. There were things on the wall I didn't even know what they were - turns out they are old style potato mashers. I looked around at the other diners and felt two things 1- I felt really young. The average age was well over double mine - hands down. 2-I felt dirty. I felt like I was tainted having been there. It might have been the guy with long unkempt hair and missing teeth that kept staring at me. One of my co-workers is almost 50 and he felt young in the crowd. This was a huge gathering of old and unattractive people. The food was fair and definitely homemade but I won't willing step foot in the place again :).

Busy

And yes I have been quiet, but with the boss departing it means all her projects were shifted to me and now I am keeping very busy at work.

Also I believe in karma-- the girl who pawned her client off on me and made me work last weekend-- has been requested to be at work this Sunday at 7 am. I have to be online to assist but at least I can do it from home. Yup sometimes is sucks to be me!

Where did the weekend go?

Friday night I went out with a couple of the girls and we saw Hog Wild, and I liked it despite John Travolta being in it. I laughed pretty hard at times. I did some cleaning and then set my alarm as one of the clients decided that I should be at their beck and call Saturday morning. My co-worker was supposed to do it but she went up to the mountains instead. Ugh.

So I got things pretty well handled by the time we had tickets for 300 at the IMAX. That was sweet and I was pleasantly surprised by the eye candy! I then went home and did more cleaning and a bit of baking while Dave hung the last of the pictures before the party the next day :). Then I goofed off for a while that night.

Sunday was the party and it was just a hoot and such a wide selection of people from my life. It was nice to have everyone over and for the record you people did not drink nearly enough alcohol because my fridge is still overloaded with the stuff and it will just rot there!

Sadly on the trip news front the first trip to Cali got cancelled due to some scheduling difficulties but I think that might mean just a longer trip in June. I am not sure how I feel about that as it means the middle of summer and that Disneyland will be packed. I got invited on another trip - this one to Las Vegas but it is on a weekend when I have my girl so that won't work.

Bowling last night - 1st 2 games I bowled awesome-- 3rd game well did I mention how well I did on the first 2? I am working on getting the softball team together so we can play in May and I am really happy about that. I can't wait to head up the mountains and doing some white water rafting this summer.

Traveling Ways

One of the nice things about being married is that you have a built in travel partner and if you're lucky you want to go see the same places and travel the same way. The ex and I never enjoyed travel the same way. I am the kind that can live out of a suitcase and never really unpack it and be in a different place each night if it means doing more of the things I want to do. He was more of a nester. He'd like to sit down and create a base camp and unpack his suitcase before anything else was done. This was a source of frustration for both of us.

I know I had a point here somewhere....oh yes! So I am going on a whole bunch of trips it seems this summer, and some of the people I have traveled with before and some not so much but it will hopefully be all good! I started to think and count - California twice, Vancouver, Cape Cod, and San Diego ( which yes I know is in California as well so that makes 3 :). I think some of these are much more likely to happen than others but possibly they all might happen.

So what kind of traveler are you and if you could go somewhere this year, where would it be?

Sprinkles

Whoot! There were sprinkles of rain on my windshield as I drove to work today! It's been near 70 or above all week so it is a nice little break. I am however wishing I had thrown a jacket on before I left the house but I'll take being a bit chilly with the rain and call it good.

At lunch today I am going with my developer to check out an Italian market. It should be interesting.

We did get the lady we wanted to be our boss convinced to take the job and they did hire her so again Whoot!

KK got her pictures done last night and she managed to be adorable, like always! I was however disappointed that they are not doing calendars anymore for this year. It is extremely hard to get that girl to sit still.

I have given some advice to my co-worker who is having some issues with his teenager. This is awesome advice to all parents of pre-teens and teens -- GET YOURSELF A SAFE! Keep your important things in it. Now if your teenager is a driver, then storing keys to vehicles in there is a fantastic way to have them in the house and not have the teenager turn the house upside down looking for them. Also it makes a great repository for cellphones when they are taken away. Seriously some of the best advice I can give is get a safe.

Death on the Mind

So lately I have been thinking about what happens to things when I die. I seem to have this thought every spring and I keep telling myself that I need to get a will done. I have this long list of things to do that never really seems to get done, but I will get some of it together and handled when my folks come out in June! It will be nice to show my place off to them.

Speaking of death, I finally worked out my taxes last night. I had hoped I might eek out a minimal refund but no such luck as I didn't buy my house until December and it isn't my year to claim KK and various other just poor timing issues. Luckily, the amount I have to pay in is only 2 digits to both state and feds combined. I think it has been about 8 years since I owed the government money.

I have been very remiss in party planning for this weekend and I really need to make a run to the store and oh yeah figure out a menu too. There never seems to be enough time in the day. Tonight is my off night with KK but we have pictures so I am not sure what I will get done after that. I will say that I am blessed with friends who ask, " Hey did you want me to come over and help clean or just get stuff done for the party?" Now let me be clear - this isn't because they think I keep my house a mess, but just because she knows I would never ask even if I needed help. She has instead informed me she will be over early for the party :).

In my grand plan to have dinner with KK when she is at my place, I run into the problem of the mess left over by making said dinner. I have started a process by which after dinner it is bath time for her and then after bath time she gets a half hour of tv. Sadly enough, this has been meaning BARNEY, but last night I threw in a new DVD that I got which was Baby Genius and children's songs. She stayed put for the entire half hour -- which meant I had a cleaner kitchen then when I started the evening! She did the occasional over the back of the couch check to make sure I hadn't been taken away but she was content.

Yesterday I also found at the store the first set of Gerber daisies for sale! No I didn't buy all of them, but instead picked out one pot and KK very much approves proclaiming it as 'pretty'. Is it sad that I can't wait for spring just so that I can mow my lawn? I can't tell you the last time I mowed which is kinda sad as I like to do it. I should probably fire up the mower this weekend just to make sure that 1- it works and that 2- I can start it. I don't remember seeing a manual with it and I've never had an electric one before. I am sure there will be huge comedic value in it.

Truth

Why is it that so many people are confused about how to tell the truth? It is one of my big pet peeves. I don't lie well because it was never I skill I cared to develop. I never wanted to bend things to put me in a more favorable light, and if I do or did something I am honest about it. Some people seem to be able to lie to themselves so well that they start to believe it. Truth doesn't have an opinion and it is indisputable.

If you are lying or misleading someone about your actions -- perhaps you should have thought them through better or did things differently. You can try and reinvent history but the problem is that the truth is still out there. Sometimes the truth is naked and ugly, and sometimes it is a breathtakingly wondrous thing, but I'll take the truth any day over the most beautiful lie.

*Kicks the soap box back under the bed.

Yucky Mommy Stuff

The angel slept through the night which could have gone either way as she skipped her nap yesterday. She woke up chipper and happy as she normally does and all was right with the world until......I asked her to pick out her shoes and lined the two choices up for her. She took one and put it back where I got it from, and I stupidly assumed that she wanted the pair she didn't put back on her feet. She picked that pair up out of my hands and chucked them across the room. ( Have I mentioned what a good arm she has?).

Now usually she can just be told she's going to the daycare lady's house and then she is happy to put the shoes on, but today she was having none of it. She is usually happy to put her jacket on too, but not today. She wanted to stay at the house with me all day again. Which should make me feel great but there is so much to do at work that it just wasn't possible. So I asked her to come talk to me and she did. I gathered up the jacket and shoes and decided the little battles didn't matter it was the war that was important. She was ok with getting in the car as long as I wasn't putting the shoes and jacket on.

Now I did manage to get socks on her and she managed to pull them off on the ride and make them into a wad and hit me in the shoulder with them. I had to look away and laugh a little quietly so she wouldn't see it because while it might amuse me today, it may not be amusing in the future.

She was happy to get to daycare and I brought her stuff in and apologized to the lady for my daughter arriving in clothes and socks and let her in on what happened. KK let me know she wasn't pleased but eventually gave me a hug.

I am not sure if it is better to have her scream at the door when I leave daycare or not want to go altogether but I am hoping this is a short lived phase.

Sunshine how I have missed you.

I'll start with Friday as that seems the best way to go. It was my boss's last day and I will miss her. We had lunch out at the Macaroni Grill and it was quite yummy! Then Friday night I went over to the ex-roomie's sisters house for a girl get together. KK had so much fun being the center of attention with the 4 other kids. The sister had the most adorable conversation with KK that I have ever seen. There was good Chinese food and ice cream for dessert and all of us agreed we must do it more often.

Saturday. I knew I wanted to take KK to the zoo at some point this weekend but it just looked dreary out. It even rained just a little and it was nice but not really going out weather so KK and I just hung out here and did the endless she makes a mess I clean a mess cycle. This is the day I was reminded how awesome microsuede is. My girl while talking on the phone to daddy decided to color with an ink pen on the couch and she missed the paper about 8 times. I got out some cleaning stuff and be darned if every mark didn't come out. Now I remember why I was so insistent that my new couch be microsuede.

Sunday I did remember to turn the clocks ahead. I wasn't sure if my computer would do it or not as I didn't download a patch because I wanted to wait and see. I called the consortium at 10 because I noticed they had a clock malfunction and I thought I would check on the plan. It looked like a fantastic sunny day out. We agreed on a plan and I took both girls to the zoo as I had offered to do on Friday. It was a great day to be at the zoo and that meant it took a long time to find a parking spot. The girls had lots of fun and after 4 hours I knew there wasn't going to be a nap if we stayed at the zoo. I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home to make good on my threat to make dinner. Poor Dave as hanging some of the new art meant moving some of the old art and the job was too big for one night. I am closer though to being ready for the party this weekend.

On another note my girl was just awesome this weekend. She slept through the night 3 out of 4 nights and that is a trend I can live with.

Thursday?

It doesn't feel like Thursday. This might have to do with going out last night for my boss's going away party. She's here until Friday, but the big boss man was on site yesterday interviewing people for her job. It's kinda funny as we all bugged the person we want for the job until she applied, and she was the only one who did so we know she will get it. The funny part is that her old job is the one I filled when I took this position, and now I think I'll apply for the opening she will be leaving.

Yesterday was extremely busy with work stuff and I went out after work, already half brain fried. My developer just came by to remind me I have a meeting in a few minutes. I went from that meeting to another meeting and now feeling buried.

At times I think I am too much of a planner. I am trying to figure out my vacations this year. One friend wants me to go to Vancouver with her, another to Cape Cod, another to San Diego and yet another is pushing for Vegas. Vancouver is a trial run with a girl who really I shouldn't get along with but oddly enough I do. If we can do that trip well then we might look overseas for something fun.

Invites Sent!

No more asking me when I am doing a house warming! I have sent invites and I am now obligated to that date. I have much cleaning to do before then. If I missed you it was an accident and shoot me an email and I'll get you the info!

Guess this means that art needs to be hung!

We Play for FUN!

Bowling last night we play for fun as we always do. One of the girls was gone to Nebraska as her sister-in-law is expecting and she wants to be there for the birth. We somehow managed to win all 3 games. It's very odd as the missing girl is by far the best bowler. I was just happy that I bowled better than I had been and beat my average 2 out of 3 games.

I laughed as I was shopping ( Yes I know shocking! ) and I heard this little voice echoing in my head ( It sounded a lot like Margie :) ) saying A girl can never have too much art. So yesterday, I bought a couple more pieces of art for the walls. One of them was this gorgeous oil painting that I tried a couple times to walk away from but it kept drawing me back. I had it at the landing at the top of the stairs but then I realized that my girl would be home tonight and I didn't want her artistic side to show on my new painting. I'd cry, so I moved it into my library area. This makes 6 new ones since the hanging party 9 days ago.

Quote of the Day

Nothing will work unless you do.
-Maya Angelou

Is it Monday Already?

Where did the weekend go?

One of my best friends from college spent the weekend at my place. Friday night we had talked about doing dinner and a movie but got sidetracked with shopping instead. We ended up eating at the ever so glamorous Village Inn because we both decided we wanted breakfast for supper. We got reservations the next day for the Melting Pot.

KK had her 18 month checkup on Saturday and she passed of course with flying colors. She's tall for her age as she always has been and thin. If she keeps her percentage the way it has been then she's going to be very lucky :). She had to get 3 shots and unfortunately it was my turn to hold her for the shots. I hate being the bad cop when I know there is pain involved.

We did have lunch/supper at the Melting pot and it was the first time my friend had been there. She let me pick everything as far as the cooking style, cheese and dessert. It works out because I made her pick the main course. We did some trading as she doesn't eat red meat - she got the lobster tail and cheese ravioli's, and I got the filet minion and sirloin. We both thought we got the better end of the deal. She realized as we were paying the bill that one of the reasons we probably got such great service is that she was flashing the waiter.

We went back to the townhouse....slowly....I know how a turkey feels on Thanksgiving day after eating there despite it being the only thing I ate that day. I was stuffed. We got ready and headed out to where we were meeting a bunch of my co-workers for hanging out and having fun. We had much much fun and finally called it a night about 1:30 we headed home.

I crashed hard and slept until *blink blink blink* 1:19 pm. I don't even remember the last time I slept in that long. I got up and made muffins and a minute before they were done my temp roomie was joining me in the kitchen. She had lots of errands to do that day so we had breakfast and she got ready and left. I spent the day lounging about, playing a little CoH and doing some cleaning.

I am feeling much better thanks to the antibiotics. It's Monday and that means bowling tonight. Egad I hope I remember how because I have really stunk the last few times I have done it :).

One of the ways to my heart

We went to lunch today and I rode back with a different co-worker than I rode there with. There were 10 of us total. One had offered up ice cream as a bribe to get me to go back with her. We walked into Cold Stone and I looked around and then told her we couldn't get anything and made her leave.

My boss (I will miss her dearly as she resigned last week) made me birthday cake ice cream. She told me about it when she got in this morning and showed it to me. It is so pretty! She had to leave right away because her daycare called and the baby is sick. So the co-worker and I cracked into it when we got back :). Oh my will I miss my boss as she makes the best homemade ice cream.

Congratulations!

You have a sinus infection! You get huge antibiotic pills that you must find a way to choke down!

The doctor thinks I caught a cold and then this moved in on top of it. I seem to get one of these every winter and I had not had one yet, so here it is. One of the things I really like about my job is that I can take a day or half day occasionally and work from home. It involves pre-planning usually but it is at least possible.

I will be the first one to say that I don't do sick well. It makes me crabby and tired. This is one of those times where there is a huge downside to being a single parent, because the girl doesn't understand that I am sick and she is well so she wants to play.

One of the things I am doing now is that every night that she is with me, I am sitting her down at the table and we are eating dinner together. We generally even have the same meal, but of course she has vegetables and fruits and I generally don't. I am not a big veggie fan and my allergy makes most fruits right out the door.

I decided to make us some pudding for dessert. I am doing my best to pass on my love of warm pudding to her and it's working amazingly well. It was a little too hot at first and I started to blow on hers and then realized doing so meant passing my germs to her, bad idea. I dumped that bowl and got her a new one. She was telling me to eat last night, but my pudding was all gone already :). I am learning based on what the daycare lady says and another mom here at work, whose daughter is a little over a month older than mine, that KK is really communicative. She woke up this morning saying, "Mommy I need help." The help she needed was getting out of the crib. Thank all that she hasn't decided to be monkey girl and attempt a great escape.

I have a friend coming to stay with me this weekend while her floors are getting tiled. It should be a hoot. I think tonight we are doing dinner and a movie. Tomorrow night is a big outside of work get together with those of us that were a touch wild and crazy at the Xmas party so that should be a blast. Downside is that she is a nurse and might make me rest more than I normally would.