I'm a workin' girl

And, no not that kind, get your mind out of the gutter.

The comptroller was the only one I met with today. He was all ready to hire me. He had mentioned both Tuesday and yesterday afternoon that I'd be meeting with him and the owners again but nope, just him.

He asked me when I'd be able to start, I told him on Tuesday. Double checked that my price was still the same, it was. Then he produced a hire letter. He had already put in the 2nd and my price, as he said, "That's how confident I was that you'd take the job."

He assured me again that he believes I'm going to be a great asset to the company and that I truly had no worries. He knows it will take some time for me to become accustomed to the load. Plus there's a whole new accounting software that I'll be learning, although most are very similar. Especially the ones custom made for the construction industry.

Oh yeah, I don't think I said what type of company it is. It's a sheet metal and roofing company. I did mention that they're very large for being a subcontractor. They do more in one year than one of the general contractors I worked for did in the 6 years I was there. Or at least, the same amount.

But as mentioned yesterday I feel much more confident about the job. I also talked a little bit with the receptionist while waiting for the guy. She said she was new too, had only been there a couple months. So I asked her how she liked it, how it was to work there. She said it was really very nice. Everyone was nice and pleasant. Every day they provide free coffee and hot chocolate, all you can drink. Friday's are casual day, so that means jeans. And also on Fridays the company provides lunch if you want it. So that's nice.

Good and bad about the hours though. They're 7:30 to 5:30 with a 30 or 45 minutes for lunch. 30 if you stay there, 45 if you decide to leave the building. I'll be staying in most of the time, the only times I'll go out is if I just have to get out the building for awhile. It's also hourly, which means I'll be getting roughly 7 1/2 hours overtime on my check every week. How cool is that?! The bad part is that I won't be able to blog as much. Well, I should be able to do posts here but It'll certainly cut into my reading time I think. If I get lucky I might be able to do some from work but I'm not gonna test that theory for awhile.

Media quote of the day: I'm hurt... I'm pissed... gotta find a new job! - Ultimart Carl - Grosse Pointe Blank

Work

Man did I fuck up. I didn't mention it before because I wanted to see how things went before blogging about it but I got a call back from the company I interviewed with last week. They called me Tuesday afternoon to see if I was still interested in the job and if so if I'd go back out for a 2nd interview with the owners. I said yes and we scheduled it for today at 2pm. Since I'm writing this now at 2:35 there's some explaining to do.

I FUCKED UP!!

All morning long I've been telling myself I needed to leave the house by 1:30 to be there early or exactly on time if there's traffic. I was on my way, then I'm not even 1/3 of the way there when I glanced at my clock on the dashboard and saw that it was 1:45. All of a sudden, just like the proverbial light bulb, bell ringing, etc. it hits me that the meeting is at 2:00 and there's no way I'm going to make it on time. I'll be lucky to be there by 2:15, it'll probably be closer to 2:30. So I go to grab my cell phone and it's dead as a doornail. No way to call them to say I'm running late, no way to call H Ditty to have him try to calm me down.

I start to think of all kinds of excuses to use as to why I'm 15 to 30 minutes late. If I use the excuse that there was a car accident then that would be a reason not to hire me. If I use the excuse that I was just running late then that would be a reason not to hire me. If I use the excuse that I misremembered the time then that would be a reason not to hire me. All all the other excuses that I thought all added up to the same thing, a reason not to hire me.

So I decided to go home, change the battery for a good one on my cell phone and call and use the excuse that one of my brothers was in a car accident and this was the first chance I got to be able to call.

I walk in the back door and holler down to HD that I fucked up. I grab the good battery and as I'm changing it I'm telling him what I did and plan on doing. He says that I can't use that excuse, that it's just wrong (damn him for being right!) that I need to figure out something else to say. We agree on the generic "family emergency."

So I go out to my Rendezvous and place the call. I'm calling at 2:15. The guy I'm to meet with is on another call would I like to wait or have him call me back. Oh I'm gonna wait, even if I have to wait all afternoon. About a minute later he gets on and I immediately apologize. He asks if everything is ok now and I say that it is, thanks for asking. I say I'd still like to meet with everyone, I could do it later this afternoon or tomorrow if they're still willing. He is, thank God.

Says he can do it tomorrow morning what time would be good for me, I tell him I can be there by 9, he says, "9 it is then." Says that they've decided to hire 2 people so there will be a total of 3 people in the department so that way the load is easier on everyone. Wanted to let me know that in case the the volume had me worried. I said, "Well, I've got to be honest with you, it was worrying me some. I was worried that I wouldn't live up to their expectations and I'd end up disappointing them. As I said before, it's nothing I haven't done, it's just a larger scale." He responds, "Oh don't worry, I have confidence in you, I think you'd be able to do it all with no problems." I thanked him and told him that made me feel so much better.

He said, "I'll talk to the owners, get a package together and we'll meet tomorrow at 9 to see if we're all in agreement."

There was a few other things said that I can't think of right now but man, it sounds like they're ready to offer me the job. And now knowing that there'll be 3 people in there instead of just me or one other person makes me feel so much better and calmer. He asked me again about the drive and I told him that that was never a concern about mine, that I don't mind the drive at all. My only concern has ever been that I wouldn't live up to their expectations and he responded that he didn't think that was possible.

So it all sounds really good. I'm still a little nervous but I'm also so much better about it all. I'll be there this time on time.

Oh yeah, the whole reason I think I fucked up is that I was so damn nervous about it. I was starting to shake with nervousness. When talking to HD while getting ready I even cried a little out of being scared. It all has to do with working for a company so large. There's just expectations that come with a company that large and established. And I know, I'm all fucked up right now in my thinking and you're all probably thinking I'm just a spaz and should calm the fuck down. But once again, having never worked for a company with no more than 7 people in the office to go to one with what looked like at least 30 in the office and 10 out in the warehouse is a huge deal, at least to me. So I think I subconsciously did it on purpose to make myself lose the job before I even had it. But now the guy has made me feel so much better about it all and I believe it's the right place for me to be.

So I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow. Please wish me luck again. Thanks.

Media quote of the day: " I can't help it. I just have all this involuntary empathy for Dawn. Cuz she's, you know... a big spaz. - Willow - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

My busy Christmas weekend update (long post)

Friday we ran over to H Ditty's grandma's house and put up and helped her decorate her tree. That was a joy. First we brought up 3 large boxes from the basement and took out all the branches and put them into their respective piles. HD started to put the poles together. He says that we're missing a pole; I think it's just the top portion of the tree that's missing; either way somethings missing. So we all; me, him, grandma and his mom; start looking in the HUGE friggen' basement. After about 15 minutes I've pretty much given up. There's another tree down there so we grab that stuff and take it up in the hopes it's all there. I start to assemble it in another room. I tear open the bags that the limbs, etc are in. I open the last which has the top of the tree in it. I put it's bottom next to the top of the pole and realize they don't match. I call HD into the room and ask him if it matches the original tree. Sure enough it does. We could've been working on that damn tree for the last 20 minutes but grandma and his mom both insisted none of those bags could be any part of the tree.

Then there's the lights fiasco. Out of 6 strings we tried only 3 worked. But as huge as that tree is the 3 strings ended up being enough. His mom had left before we were done putting up the lights and had asked us to make sure we at least decorate the top portion of the tree including the topping since grandma is too frail and small to do it herself. She certainly didn't need to be on any step stool besides which she'd still not be able to get the top on. She had brought up the ornaments and we're going through them deciding on which ones to use or not when I realize there's no hooks. Not one box of ornaments is hooked already and there's no hooks anywhere else to be found. Plus, she now can't find her angel that's supposed to go on top. We end up having to run to K-mart to get both. The one good thing to come out of it though is dinner. It's now going on 9pm and we haven't eaten since much earlier in the day. We get it all done and head home so I can finish the cookies.

I didn't get into bed until almost 2am. Saturday we couldn't sleep in since we had a birthday party to be at by noon. I had gotten up around 8:30 to get ready and run to the store to get birthday cards and some booze for later that night at my mom and step dad's. We got to the party a little late but that's ok. Everyone was having lunch so we sat down and had a little grub ourselves.

After we went to mom's. Was there by 4 and stayed until 11. My mom and step dad have 10 children between them and many, many grandchildren. Only mom's side was there on Saturday, they'd be spending time with his side on Christmas Day. But because of all these people they decided last year to not buy any of their kids gifts anymore to save some money. So instead they bake up stuff such as breads and cookies. This year they made raisin cinnamon bread. Mom also made some pot holders and towels for us. They always make the same things for each of us so no one can complain. I was the first to open mine and instantly got a huge smile on my face and had to elbow Wayne to look. The pot holders were made out of some fabric that used to be in our bedrooms. The same fabric that was on the ugly metal utility shelves we had. She had draped the fabric along the sides to hide the supports and it spruced it up immensely. Also the same fabric was used for our curtains. It was a great way to bring back our childhood. Some of the other fabric used was the same stuff that I apparently had either a nightgown or robe. It wasn't familiar to me so it must have been when I was really young. She did make a point to let us know that the stuff she used was never on our shelves, curtain rods or my body; it was all extra fabric that she still had after all these years. Damn is she a pack rat.

Three of the girls put on a skit again. This time it only lasted about 2 minutes but was still very enjoyable. There were only two things that were negative throughout the whole night. For those of you who've seen some of my posts with pictures you know that I'm a heavy girl (that's putting it nicely). I don't need anyone telling me I'm overweight, that I should lose weight, that I'm big, or anything else of that nature. I certainly don't need anyone being an ass in other words. Wayne and I were sitting next to each other at the dinner table. We had all finished eating but were still sitting around talking. He was sitting at an angle with his arm resting on the back of my chair. I had gotten up to get something, don't remember what & it's not important. I came back to my chair from behind him. Between our chairs and the wall was a plant stand that had plants and old time tin boxes. So as not to hit Wayne's arm I twisted to get by him and twisted in just the right way as to bump the stand and two of the tins fell. No biggy, didn't break anything, no plants were harmed. He immediately chimes in that if I weren't so big I wouldn't have hit it. Said something else too that I've chosen to forget. I smacked him on his head and told him to shut up, that I was trying not to hit him that's the only reason I hit the stand. Now, of course it bugs me but by him saying that he's also saying it to my husband who's overweight and our own mother. She's not quite as heavy as I am but she's still heavy. He's said things like this before and it drives both HD and myself up the wall.

The other was that I almost ruined Santa Claus for some of my nieces and nephews. I had had a few drinks, I was only beginning to buzz but it was still enough to impair my thought process. On another site there was a question and answer post and one of the questions was: when did you find out the truth about Santa? I had answered that I don't ever remember believing in him although I'm sure I did. So for some reason that popped into my head at mom's so I called her over and asked her. Not paying any attention that a few of the kids were running around within ear shot. She just said she didn't know and walked away and one of my brothers told me to shush. I felt bad but none of them heard, luckily. And although I don't remember ever believing I do remember knowing that adults didn't believe. I don't know, my brain is complicated. So because I almost fucked it up I never got an answer, I still want to know.

Sunday we were able to sleep in since we didn't have to be at grandma's house until 6pm. Although we did stay up really late. I think I didn't go to bed until 3 or 4 and HD didn't get into bed until close to 9 I think. We had watched the last 4 episodes of last season's 24. All went well at her house. The only thing that happened was the usual. His uncle can get pretty heated over nothing much at all. Plus he seems to raise his voice at his wife an awful lot. Which he did twice. The worst part of that is that his daughter, whose 10, is in ear shot every time. That's just uncalled for. But overall it was a nice night. We left around 11 again.

Stayed up late, again, watched The Devil Wears Prada which I had gotten from my brother Scott on Saturday. Good movie. Got into bed around 2, HD around 3:30 or so. Was up by 7 to go to his dad's house. Dad's always goes well, no problems ever, which is always nice after his uncle's presence. We got the new George Foreman G5 that we wanted. That is going to be one awesome kitchen appliance. After opening presents we went to breakfast. His sister and nephew who are living at their dad's weren't feeling well and we were very tired. So after eating they all went home and so did we.

Both of us crawled back into bed soon after returning home. I got back up around 3 then got him up at 5 to get ready for work that night. He worked and I went to a couple sites I read. Watched the Dallas and Philly game. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I don't know all the particulars, HD tells me and I promptly forget, about how the playoffs will work. But I know by Dallas losing it helps the Saints so that's a huge plus. Plus, I'm not a Dallas fan, at all, so that was nice to see.

So that was my Christmas weekend. For most of it it was a pleasant and fun time. Made quite a few people happy with what we gave which made me happy. I'm hoping we can do this three day thing again next year rather than pile my mom's and his mom's gathering together on the same day like normal.

Hope all of your weekends, celebrations or not, went well.

Media quote of the day: A fat man, trying to squeeze through a narrow chimney, and I taunt him with Oreos and whole milk. - John "The Biscuit" Cage - Ally McBeal No one would dream of telling Santa he's fat and should lose weight, but then, I'm not Santa. Meh

Carrot Cookies

Saintseester had asked me a few posts ago what carrot cookies are. I figured I'd put up some pictures and give the recipe.

Although they're not Christmas Cookies it's about the only time of year my family has them. They take awhile to make because of the peeling & cooking of the carrots. Although this year I used bagged baby carrots and they came out just fine so I think I'll stick with that from now on.

These are the uncooked cookies. The easiest way to get them on the pan is to scoop some batter up on a spoon then scrape off the spoon with either another spoon or a small spatula. Try to make sure they're in a circular shape.




These are the cooked cookies. As you can see they cook up in basically the same shape; there's very little spreading going on. Which is nice, you can put more on one sheet than other cookies.

And these are the final products all frosted and ready to eat.

So here's the recipe for anyone who's interested.

What you'll need:

1 cup shortening - use all margarine - sticks

3/4 cup sugar (I used splenda this time and it worked just fine)

1 cup cooked mashed carrots (make sure you cool them before use)

1 egg unbeaten

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups sifted flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Cream together the shortening & sugar until fluffy. Add the carrots, egg and & vanilla then mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder & salt together and add them to the mix.

Mix it all up very well.

Drop batter on greased baking sheets and cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

I found I was able to get between 30 and 34 cookies depending on how big I made them.

For the frosting you will need:

Powdered sugar and concentrated orange juice.

Start with 1 & 1/2 cups of powdered sugar then add the concentrated juice a little at a time until it's well blended. The frosting shouldn't be runny but it shouldn't be thick either. If it's too much of one just add the sugar or juice as needed. I found the best way to frost them is using a spoon. Scoop some up, not much is needed for each cookie, then just spread it around the top. As you can see by the last picture some of it will run down the sides but that's just fine. Make sure you don't make the orange juice, that you use it straight from the can.

I couldn't remember about the juice part (it's been awhile since I made these) and I mixed up the concentrate and water to make the juice and let me tell you the frosting is no where near as good. It's just not orangey enough. Luckily that was on the first batch of cookies I made which I also screwed up on. When I put everything together I realized the batter wasn't quite right. When going over the ingredients and making sure I used everything as required I found out I only used one stick of margarine so I threw in the other stick and mixed everything up. Although everything was together as needed it just wasn't the same and the cookies came out kind of rubbery. The cookies still taste the same it's just that the texture is off. And since I screwed up on the frosting that taste is also off but they're still edible. Of course we didn't take those to anyone's home, those we're keeping.

The frosting is where you get most of the flavor from; the cookie's themselves don't have much, they're pretty bland. But together they're really very good.

If you make them let me know how they turned out, whether you like them or not.

Media quote of the day: Where the cookies at? - Frank Barone (may he rest in piece) - Everybody Loves Raymond

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates and to those who don't have a great Monday.

Wrapping Presents

So, It's 4:20 am Friday morning and we just finished wrapping presents at 4:00. We headed out of the house around 4:30 Thursday afternoon to do the last of the shopping. Got home around 9:30 and decided to play some Scrabble while waiting for the oven to heat up then the pizza to cook. So around 11:00 we finally started wrapping. Although there weren't that many to do, at least not compared to the years past, it still took around 4 1/2 hours. But we were watching some movies so ya know every now and then our attention was taken away.

We had to take some of them, the ones with ribbon, out to the truck already since Pretty Boy loves to chew on the ribbons. We had to have the cats locked away upstairs while wrapping otherwise they'd be all up in our business and not letting us get our work done. The few presents that we did leave under the tree with bows on he immediately went for when we let them loose. Every year he gets to at least two or three ribbons and bows so we end up handing out presents with bite marks on them. I don't think anyone has ever noticed.

Tomorrow, or I should say today, I have to finish the carrot cookies. I need to frost the ones I made the other night and I need to bake up a new batch and get those frosted. We also have to go to H Ditty's grandma's house and put up her tree. I may or may not post again until either Monday afternoon or sometime Tuesday. I'm going to try to though.

Saturday afternoon is HD's best friend's daughter's birthday so around noon we're to be at his grandmother's home for her party. Then sometime between 3 and 4 we're going to my mom's house for Christmas with my family. Sunday, Christmas Eve, will be spent at HD's Grandma's house. Then Christmas morning will be spent at his dad's house. So we'll be going pretty much non stop until Christmas afternoon/evening. Although HD has to work Christmas night, he has to go in at 6pm, so he won't be stopping until 6am Tuesday morning. He's on vacation, started Wednesday, and it goes through to Jan. 2nd but they're making him go in Christmas night which blows. But hey, he gets paid double time at least.

I still haven't heard anything from the place I interviewed but I'm ok with that. I may call them some time Friday, see what's up, but then again maybe not. I let ya all know what's going as soon as I know though.

Well, if I don't come back until it's all over, have a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Chanukah .

Media quote of the day: But Catalina, winning this car for Joy is my Christmas present to Earl. This is for family - at Christmas. You know - Feliz Naviblah. - Randy in My Name is Earl, last year's Christmas episode.

I'm freakin' out!!

I haven't heard anything yet but that's ok. I can't help worrying about it all. I've never worked any place so large or fast paced like they are. Every place I've been although professional and all they've been pretty laid back. This place may be in some ways but more than one person mentioned how they're sticklers for the paperwork and phone calls, etc. etc. It's too much to go into detail here just know that they didn't use the words but they came close to calling themselves anal retentive. I've never been nor have I ever worked for someone like that. Yes my last place of employment was a bit more regimented than the others and Bossman 1 was a bit of a control freak but he wasn't anal about anything.

Also, although I told them and felt at the time, the drive wasn't a huge deal, the more I think about it the more I'm not sure I want to do that drive. I just don't know. There's been a few times over the course of today that I've prayed they give it to someone else. Although I've got the experience I'm hoping one of the other candidates has it also, maybe even on a closer level of volume, and lives closer so it'd be easier for them to choose her/him.

H Ditty thought that I was feeling this way because I really don't want to go back to work. It's not that at all, it really and truly is the sticklerness and largeness of the company that's freakin' me out. But he's trying to bolster my confidence, bless his heart, it ain't workin'. Heh

ANYWAY! On a lighter note...

I've finally decided to try out Netflix. I know, one of the last ones out there to do so. But my brother and SIL swear by it and she emailed me a two week free trial for it. We had missed the very last two shows of 24 last season so that's what I put first, the last disc so we can see it before the new season starts next month. I've already put 26 movies/tv shows in the line up just incase I decide to stick with it, which I'm thinking I will.

Welp, I'm off to go make carrot cookies for Christmas with the family. I should be out shopping, we still have about 6 people to buy for but I just don't feel like going out today.

Media quote of the day: I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and today is the longest day of my life. - Jack Bauer from the 1st season of 24

I've got an interview! - UPDATE

Ok, so I sent my resume off to a company yesterday afternoon around 3:30. I got a call back around 6:10 but we weren't home and didn't get home until almost midnight. So called the woman back this morning, she was tied up and had to call me back. About 5 minutes later she did so and she asked questions and I answered said questions for about 10 minutes. At the end she asked me to come in for an interview. It's at 2pm. Wish me luck.

I'll up date later and let you all know how it went.

Goodness gracious!! Two hour interview!! First off, that's a long ass drive, 25 miles. But it's an easy drive. It's basically one road the whole way so it's not too bad, about a 45 minute drive. Secondly, I'm scared people, scared I tell you. I've never worked in a company that had more than 7 people in the office. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many people are at this place, they're fuckin' huge!

The lady I talked to this morning is the one who first met me, she took me into the Atrium Conference Room. Since we had already had our phone interview she said she would go get the comptroller for me to meet. He came in, she left, and we talked for about 10-15 minutes. He then took me upstairs to Conference Room #2 where I sat for a good 10-15 minutes while he went to go get an Accounts Project Manager. She came in and we met for another 10-15 minutes. After they left he left me alone in that room for another 5 minutes. Then he came back to get me to take me to meet the owners. Talked with them and the 1st lady again for about 20 minutes or so. Then they told him to show me around the place, which is quite large. After he took me back to the original conference room. Told me to have a seat while he called back up to the owners. I was in there almost 10 minutes before he came back in to say the one owner that he needed to talk to was on a conference call. So we talked for a couple more minutes while he waited for that guy to get off the phone. Then his cell phone rang and he stepped out for a bit longer. Then came back in to say the owner would be on that call for quite awhile longer. Said they would make a decision in the next day or so and he'd let me know.

One of the good things about it is that they were actually done interviewing. They had seen quite a few people and had about 3 of them come back for second interviews but when he saw my resume and all the construction experience I have it "intrigued" him. So he immediately showed it to all the people I met today and they agreed to have me come in.

So anyway, I feel confident about my ability to do the job, it's nothing I haven't done before it's just on a much larger scale. I haven't even been offered the job but I'm freaking out about it. As I said, I'm just not used to having to work at such a large office and it's scaring me. But HD is being a great guy and telling me that I'll do just fine and I'll be kicking butt. So hopefully I'll hear one way or the other in the next couple of days.

Ulysses

Quiz stolen from Dirk. Thanks Dirk

You're Ulysses!

by James Joyce

Most people are convinced that you don't make any sense, but compared
to what else you could say, what you're saying now makes tons of sense. What people do
understand about you is your vulgarity, which has convinced people that you are at once
brilliant and repugnant. Meanwhile you are content to wander around aimlessly, taking in
the sights and sounds of the city. What you see is vast, almost limitless, and brings you
additional fame. When no one is looking, you dream of being a Greek folk hero.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I've never read this book so I have no idea if this fits. Or at least little idea, I do remember hearing that it rambles and often times makes no sense so maybe it does fit. Heh I'm gonna go look up some quotes and pick one for my media quote.

But now that I reread what it says up there that at least fits. I do sometimes ramble when telling about something. I did this last night to H Ditty. It took me almost 5 minutes to tell him something when it really should have only taken me one. Also, at times I can swear with the best of them. I don't do much on here just because I don't, only when it really fits. And I do love to wander around new cities and look at everything. New Orleans is the best for that. At least of the big cities I've been to anyway. But I've never dreamed of being a Greek folk hero.


Media quote of the day: The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. - Buck Mulligan from Ulysses Now that's a pretty badass sea.

My FAKE Christmas Tree

I can't believe I have put up a FAKE tree!!! Since I've lived on my own I have never put up a fake tree, it's just not right to put one up as far as I'm concerned. And I was bound and determined to have a real one job or no job. I'd even settle for a two foot tree if that was all we could afford. But then my mother said she had an extra fake tree and I could have it. So to be a good girl I said I'd take it. I told H Ditty that he should give me a HUGE hug and kiss and tell me he loves me since I agreed to this monstrosity.

I put it together on Sunday afternoon and we were suppose to decorate on Wednesday night but never got around to it. We did it Friday afternoon before he had to get ready for work. It's not so bad I guess. Having this fake tree is why I was in the market for a pine scented candle and ended up buying the fireside one instead. Which I have crackling beside me as I type.

So here's the tree.





I tried to get a picture with the room lights out but the flash was so bright the picture looked the same as if they were on. Without the flash the only things that showed up were the strings of light and the lights on the angel.

I'm never satisfied with the way my trees look. I always feel like there's never enough ornaments but I don't want to put up more bulbs. I told H Ditty that I plan on fazing out the bulbs and sticking with ornaments that actually mean something to us.

As you can see there are many many fleur-de-lis ornaments. I debated putting the gold ones up but then he asked where they were so I put 'em on. I'll probably tweak it a few more times over the next couple of days. I can't remember a year that I didn't tweak for a couple days.

This ornament, although a bulb, is one of my favorites. It came in a set of four. I broke one last year and tonight broke two more. This is the last one. Very sad. It's the only one that stands out when the lights in the room are out because the tree lights make it glow.



I told HD that just because this is our tree now doesn't mean we'll be using it again. Not if I can help it anyway. Oh the reason I say fake instead of artificial is because that's too fancy a word to use for the monstrosity. Heh

Media quote of the day: Mom, when are we gonna get a real Christmas tree? - Daughter to her mom in Scrooged. Love that movie!

1/2 the shopping done

So we did all my neices and nephews last night. Eeewww, that sounds bad. We finished shopping for all my neices and nephews last night. There that's better. They're all getting Game Cube games except for three of them. One is getting books, one is getting a movie and one is getting a game for his Nintendo DS. I kept calling H Ditty a grinch because he wouldn't let me buy more things for them. I was doing it light heartedly but I still meant it to a point. He may or may not have made me start to get tears in my eyes when he took it too seriously and started to lecture me again. But I told him to stop, I know I can't do what I've done in the past but that doesn't mean I'm going to like it and not try to buy at least a little something else.

His mom, grandma and one sister are also done.

Oh yeah, I meant to put this in the other post but forgot. At Hallmark there are these really cool candles. The name is Wood Wick. I bought the fireside fragrance. They crackle like it's a real fire in a fireplace. There's many different scents. I was looking at all their different kinds of candles trying to find one that smelled like pine and came across the fireside one. I was just smelling at first then read the names of the ones I liked. When I read "fragrance never sounded so good" my interest was peaked. So since the small one was only $16.00 I went ahead and bought one. The scent permeates the air and lingers long after the candle is put out and it does sound like a fireplace. It's not real loud so you won't hear it over any music or tv that's playing unless you have it right next to you. But if you don't have any noises you'll be able to hear very well. I'm going to have to go back for a couple more.

He works this weekend so I may do some shopping on my own, that is if he lets me. Just kidding, I'm just being a snot.

Media quote of the day: Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful - another portion of the song we know so well.

No more snow

I'm sad, almost all the snow is gone. The only snow that's left is the dirty, icky piles on the sides of the roads.

I hope it snows for Christmas. The last couple of years it's actually snowed some on Christmas Eve and Day. Not much, mostly flurries but at least it snowed.

Media quote of the day: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow - Song that everyone knows

Christmas shopping

Well, I just started my shopping today. It's already the 12th and I just started. Am I pathetic or what, especially since I have a shit load of people to get presents for.

But one is done; my oldest Nephew who's 17, he's getting books. One of them is the final book in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I'm so proud that he's reading. I was the only reader in my family up until about 10 years or so ago. Finally two of my brothers started to read and now my nephew does. It's nice since I can now discuss books with my family without being picked on for being a bookworm.

I also found a couple books on dinosaurs. H Ditty's nephew, Anthony who's 4 1/2, loves dinosaurs. One of the books is a popup which I think he'll love.

Normally I am completely not normal. I love shopping at Christmas time. I know, very weird. The only thing that really bothers me are the people who stop in the middle of aisles, ya know, basically rude people. Otherwise I don't mind the crowds, they actually stimulate me into shopping. Christmas time is the only time of the year that I like to take my time in shopping. Any other time of the year I want to get in and out right away.

I mean take tonight. I went to two stores, Borders and Hallmark. I was at these places for close to 2 hours. Now granted, I stood in line at borders for 15 maybe 20 minutes before I reached the checkout, but all the rest of the time was spent browsing. In just two damn stores!! And the only complaint I have is that my big toe on my left foot and my back are aching. Well, actually, my back doesn't even ache anymore but my big toe still does. That's it, I didn't mind standing in line that long. Any other time of the year I would've said fuck it, I'll go back another day.

So I guess what I'm saying is, and I don't think I even really implied it anywhere, is that I hate that I won't be able to shop and spend the way I have in the past. With me not working we just don't have the disposable income as we've had before. But it's not the amount of money, it's the thought. I know, I know, but a lot of thought would go into the amount of money I'd end up spending on everyone. It wasn't that I wanted to be the one spending the most and therefore I'm better. It's that I wanted to get that right gift for each person and quite often it would end up being more than one thing, that's why the amounts would soar.

So yeah, I gotta watch that this time around. Which really and truly sucks the big one.

On a lighter note, we're supposed to be trimming the tree tomorrow night so I should have a picture up in a couple days of it looking pretty.

Media quote of the day: This is what romance gets you - a noose around your neck and a crazy woman with two guns somewhere behind you. - Roland's voice in Eddie's head (Drawing of the Three from Stephen King's Dark Tower series)

Monday Night Football

I was so totally conflicted watching Monday Night Football. It's obvious my favorite team is the New Orleans Saints (Geaux Saints!!) but my 2nd favorite is the Chicago Bears. They played the St. Louis Rams tonight. I cannot stand the Rams. Not sure why but I've never liked them.

Why was I conflicted then. Whelp, H Ditty's final player for his fantasy team is on the Ram's. If you read my last post it mentions how if he wins his fantasy game then his team is going to the super bowl. So I had to root for a team I can't stand.

I even called him at work to say it wasn't right that I was rooting for the Rams, it just shouldn't have been happening.

At first I was rooting for Chicago to win, just not they're running back Jones, because he is on the guy's team that H Ditty was playing. So I was cheering and clapping everytime the Bears got a touchdown, except for that one TD by Jones. Until HD called me to get an update of the scores.

He said I must not be cheering hard enough since the Rams were losing. I told him that I was only cheering and rooting for his player not the whole team. So then he let me know I had to cheer for the Rams, for the Bears to lose.

If the Bears lost that would help the Saints when it comes to the playoffs. As it stands right now the Bears are in the lead of the NFC and they have home field advantage and then blah, blah, blah, can't remember anything else. All I know is that I had to stop cheering for the Bears and start rooting for a team I hate. Just not fair.

But it didn't matter anyway since the Bears tore the Rams to pieces. Even so, my honey won his game and his team is going to the super bowl. And the really good thing about it is that of the other two teams that were playing the guy he wanted to win did so. The reason he wanted that guy to win is because his team is easier to beat so HD will have a much easier time winning the match. If he does win it'll be his second year in a row to do so.

He is so damn lucky I love football.

Media quote of the day: "I just played poised and just tried to take what they give me," Grossman said. Rex Grossman, QB for the Chicago Bears in regards to the Monday Night game.

Weekend update

Alright, after that bad/sad week the weekend went very well. Friday night we went to H Ditty's nephew's Christmas pageant. Anthony is 4 1/2 years old and he and his fellow classmates, etc. sang carols. They were extremely cute. They all had silver bells to jingle while they sang Jingle Bells. During Holly Jolly Christmas in the part where it says to "kiss her once for me" they blew kisses to the audience. After 4 songs they brought out the wee little ones to sing 4 more. I felt so bad for a couple of them. They wouldn't stop crying, it was so sad to see. But most of them were swinging and swaying to the songs. They all got real loud for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, definitely everyone's favorite. After they sang Santa came out and read the nativity story while about 15 kids acted it out. Then it was punch and cookies and Santa's lap in the gymnasium afterwards.

We went to his dad's after and had dinner. We also watched Nacho Libre, crappy ass movie don't watch it. I like Jack Black but this movie just was not good. It had a few moments that were ok but they weren't worth watching the whole movie for that's for sure.

Saturday we relaxed during the day until we had to get ready to go to a couple of his co-workers' parties. One of them has a party every year; this was the 11th annual party. It's also a White Elephant party. For those of you who don't know what that is it's a game where everyone brings a present, if you're a couple you need to bring two. The presents are wrapped but not tagged. They are also usually useless, silly items. They cannot be bought; they have to be something from your own home. This year we brought a picture of a unicorn that we had gotten from this party about 3 years ago and 3 Christmas cassette tapes that I had from back in the late 80's or early 90's. They get put into a pile in the middle of the room and everyone gets some playing cards. It depends on how many people you have on whether you'll need one or two decks (shuffle them as much as possible). Everyone gets multiple cards, try to keep them even but if you have a few extra then just pick and choose who gets an extra card, this night about 5 people got an extra card and we used two decks. After they're all handed out then the host has gets another full deck of cards that has been shuffled. He/she takes the 1st one and flips it over and calls it out. Whoever has the matching card (suit and number both) goes and grabs one gift (don't open it). This goes on until all the gifts have been taken from the middle. As soon as they've all been distributed the next card is called and the people who have that matching card can steal whatever gift they want from whomever they want. The stealing of the gifts goes on until all cards have been used up. At that time anyone who has a gift opens it up and sees what they have. One of the gifts should be an actual white elephant (or any elephant actually). The person who gets the elephant (and it's usually either very silly or just plain ugly) has to display it in a prominent place in their home for the full year until the next white elephant party.

This year the person who has the elephant didn't show up. We got lucky, we ended up with nothing, oh yeah, not everyone will have a gift at the end and some people may have more than one. It's just the way it works out with the stealing of the gifts. We wanted one gift though; it was a very pretty gold star box. Just about everyone wanted that one; it was the most popular gift that was being stolen. In the past ours have been fought over because we usually wrap them very well in gorgeous shiny paper. They were stolen quite a bit but not fought over as much as that star was. If we couldn't have that one we didn't want anything because we didn't want anything we couldn't use and would just sit in our garage like that unicorn picture did until next year or whenever we went back again. We wanted the box for whatever present we'd end up giving to his mom, at least as long as it would fit in it. It wasn't very big but it was really pretty.

After the game we had to head out to go to his other co-worker's party. By the time we got there it was really late, almost midnight and there were only about 15 people but we knew half of them unlike the 1st party so we at least had some people to talk to. I had my hopes up because HD says we'll probably get roped into playing some kind of trivia game and I was all for that. But, alas, that didn't happen. Everyone just sat around talking, that was it. No music, no games, just TV on in the background and two groups of people talking. It was actually pretty damn boring until the host and I started talking about her trip to Ireland and the pictures that went along with it. But I had been drinking at the 1st party and continued it there so it turned out alright. We ended up not leaving until close to 4:00 because he got into talking to two of the guys about football and I couldn't get him to leave.

Sunday we slept until 11:45 when he had to get up to check on his fantasy football team and start watching the games. He's in the playoffs and if he wins tonight, he has one more person playing in the game tonight, which it looks like he will win, his team goes to the super bowl. He'll be calling me throughout the night to get updates since he's working right now.

While he was watching the afternoon games I took a nice long hot bath and read some more of The Historian. That's a very good book, highly recommended.

He had invited some people over to watch the Saints play but only one guy showed up, which was just fine by me. Especially since it was one of the cops that was on duty so he couldn't stay very long, just stopped in for about a 10 minute break and then took off at half time. It was another fine kick ass game, fun times were had by all. Well, except for those sorry Dallas fans. Man oh man was it a great game.

So that was my boring to you (maybe) but busy and very enjoyable (to me) weekend update.

Media quote of the day: Oh, jingle bells, jingle bellsJingle all the wayOh, what fun it is to rideIn a one horse open sleighJingle bells, jingle bellsJingle all the wayOh, what fun it is to rideIn a one horse open sleigh - part of Jingle Bells

Believe it or not Jingle Bells, one of the most famous American Christmas songs, was originally written for Thanksgiving! The author and composer of Jingle Bells was a minister called James Pierpoint who composed the song in 1857 for children celebrating his Boston Sunday School Thanksgiving. The song was so popular that it was repeated at Christmas, and indeed Jingle Bells has been reprised ever since.The essence of a traditional Christmas is captured in the lyrics of Jingle Bells and the sound effects using the bells have become synonymous with the arrival of Father Christmas or Santa Claus to the delight of children of all ages!

Copyright © 2004 Carols org

My cousin

My cousin who died the other day was well loved by a shit load of people. I have never been to a wake or funeral with so many people there to pay their respects. The funeral home is a pretty large building. The line snaked through the equivalent of 7 rooms. The wake was from 6 to 9. We got there at 6:30 and the line was out the door. It took us an hour and a half to get to his coffin and his parents. My brother Scott and his wife got there after we did, we saw them through the window of the 3rd room. They never made it into the building before they had to leave to get their kids from a neighbor and put them to bed. His wife stayed home and he came back. I talked to him on the phone and told him to come in another door, that mom would take him past the line since he only wanted to give them a hug and give his condolences. So that's what he did and she did. He was there maybe all of 15-20 minutes because of talking with some family members that he hadn't seen in awhile.

As I said, he didn't even make it in the door, they had been outside 45 minutes before they decided to leave and he said they were still 10-15 feet from the door. It was below freezing last night and his wife is from the Philippines. She's only been here 2 years, she's nowhere near acclimated to this weather yet.

We heard other people say they were outside 1 1/2 to 2 hours. By the time we left, which was around 9:30, everyone was inside but the line was still very long. Today when I talked with my uncle, the deceased's grandfather, he said they didn't get out of there until 11:30. My cousin, the deceased's aunt, said she didn't get home until 2:30.

Most of the people that were there were friends from high school, college and work. He was well loved. There was a group of very well dressed young men, all wearing similar suits with a pin on the lapel. His grandmother on his dad's side asked them who they were. They were boys from his fraternity. Today we found out that 6 of them were pledges. Pledges. Kids who had next to no idea who he was but because they want to become members and members become brothers for life, they came to his funeral. They drove from southern Illinois all the way up to north of Chicago and left last night to go back.

Today the funeral was at 10:30. Although there weren't as many people there as last night it was still a very large crowd. It was a good 30 - 45 minutes for the people standing to pay their respects before the 1st row of seats was motioned to go up.

Even as a little kid of 5 he had something about him that just made you love him. I babysat him from the age of about 5 months till he was 5 1/2 and I had to move to Louisiana. My fondest memory is of him running down the hallway from his bedroom and tackling his older brother or me or my brother Wayne who also watched them from time to time.

It'll be about 6 weeks before we'll know anything. The good and somewhat bad thing is that he wasn't mugged. His wallet and everything in it, keys, digital camera, everything was still on him when he was found. There was no blunt trauma anywhere on his body. So what's going to take forever is the toxicology report. They know he'd been drinking but not how much. Also there was cold medicine found laying out on his table at home so he may have been on that.

It's good that his stuff wasn't stolen but if he had been mugged at least we'd have a reason why. No questions unanswered really, he had been killed for his money, etc. If the test results show only cold medicine and alcohol in his system we're going to have questions. Since we know he got in the cab, why wasn't he taken directly home? Did he give the wrong address? If he gave the correct one was he so out of it that he went wandering down the street? Did he pass out? etc, etc, etc.

It's senseless no matter what anyway, answer or no answer. He died too young and his brother and parents will never get over it. They'll learn to live with it but never get over it.

Media quote of the day:

To know just how he suffered would be dear
BY Emily Dickinson

To know just how he suffered would be dear;
To know if any human eyes were near
To whom he could intrust his wavering gaze,
Until it settled firm on Paradise.

To know if he was patient, part content,
Was dying as he thought, or different;
Was it a pleasant day to die,
And did the sunshine face his way?

What was his furthest mind, of home, or God,
Or what the distant say
At news that he ceased human nature
On such a day?

And wishes, had he any?
Just his sigh, accented,
Had been legible to me.
And was he confident until

Ill fluttered out in everlasting well?
And if he spoke, what name was best,
What first,What one broke off with
At the drowsiest?

Was he afraid, or tranquil?
Might he know
How conscious consciousness could grow,
Till love that was, and love too blest to be,
Meet -- and the junction be Eternity?

Weekend and 1st half of week update

Saturday was boring, nuff said.

Sunday we had two of our friends over to watch the Saints game. Wait, let me amend that, the fucking kickass Saints game. The beginning had us scared. The 49ers looked like they came to play some football and were giving the Saints a run for their money. But then Reggie Bush decided to show everyone why he went first in the draft and why he's worth all the money the Saints paid for him. He had 4 touchdowns. Wow, just wow. I think he's finally figured out how to play in the NFL. Which, for those of you who don't know, is fucking hard as hell compared to college. Before I learned I always thought it wasn't that big of a leap between the two but it's a huge fucking leap. The guys had to leave before the game ended which was fine since HD had to go back to bed right after it ended since he had to go to work later.

I sent him off to work and made myself dinner. I decided to have popcorn chicken with fries. Now, I had forgotten I had this chicken. We have a small stand alone freezer and we actually don't use it that often. It's mainly used to hold the extra frozen dinners we'll buy when they're on sale. I had to get one of those for HD to take to work and I saw the bag of chicken and decided that's what I wanted for dinner. I noticed some kind of ink stamp over the directions so I looked closely and it was a date stamp. It said "best if used by December 2005." Proof that we don't use that freezer all that much. But I figured they'd be fine, the bag had never been opened so at the most they might not taste as good as they would if they were fresh. I was right, they weren't the best but they weren't that bad either.

I had a brownie for desert. About 3 hours later after I couldn't stand my back hurting anymore I decided to take another hydrocodone pill. Another 15 minutes went by and I was in a munching mood so I had a handful of Frito Scoops.

By 9:45 my stomach wasn't feeling so well. I figured it was from the pill since I was feeling the affects of it. A little light headed and the pain was subsiding. Now the two times before when I took a pill I only had the light headed feeling for about an hour or so and then I got really tired. So I figured the Fritos were what was affecting my stomach more than the pill.

It wasn't until I was upchucking at 10pm that I decided it was the chicken. That makes more sense, especially since I upchucked two more times. My throat hurt afterward and my body was all shaky/jittery.

Right before my first upchuck my mom called and tells me one of my 2nd cousins was found dead in Chicago. Right now they're thinking freezing to death since he was found outside, no physical trauma and all of his belongings still on him. I used to babysit him from when I was 12/13 until I moved to Louisiana when I was 16. Him and his older brother. It's very hard for me to fathom this. Now, I haven't seen him since he was just a teenager, at one of the last family reunions. But that doesn't matter. It's one of those things, ya know? He's a family member, one younger than me at that, I expected him to be around for a long time to come, that I'd see him again one day. Maybe at his wedding or his brother's wedding. It's just so damn weird. I'll be going to his wake tonight and probably the funeral tomorrow.

In lighter news... It sounds like H Ditty's sister only had an intestinal infection. The doctor told her that if this happens again then it might end up being Crohn's disease but it would definitely be a very mild case of it. I guess she's supposed to meet him at some point to go over diet and preventive things.

We went to see Stranger Than Fiction with HD Sr yesterday. It was pretty good. I knew it wasn't a full blown comedy but I didn't expect that much drama either. I'd say it was more a serious film than anything else. But it was still very good. I thought Will Ferrell did a very fine job. And I love Queen Latifah in anything she does.

Both his sisters and their boyfriends came over last night also. We watched Office Space then the older sister had to leave to get to her son. The younger and her boyfriend stuck around and we played Texas Hold'em. Not for money though. She's still learning, had just started playing a few weeks ago. The boyfriend is still in the learning stages too but he knows more than she does. After they left H Ditty and I talked about how it was fun watching her get all excited, especially since there wasn't any money involved. She ended up winning too.

So that's what's been going on in my boring life right now.

Picture Post 2

You should be able to click on each picture for the full size to see better detail if you want to. Which is especially useful for some of them.


Night shot

Obviously two lawn chairs that are sitting by my back porch. They look like male and female chairs to me. The one on the right has a cooler sitting on it that we forgot to bring in so it looks like a big chested female chair.

Day shot

Obviously the chairs again the next day, it wasn't all that warm but they are facing the east. And it was absolutely sunny on Saturday so they had sun beating down on them all morning until around 12:30 when the sun finally was on the side of the house.

The sidewalk and stairs that I shoveled that made my back hurt again. As you can see it isn't that long of a sidewalk but the snow was deep and it was heart attack snow, so yeah, hurtin back. It hurts even worse today, all on the right side too.

We have four very large pine trees in our front and side yards. This one is the first tree as you face the street from the end of the driveway up by the garage. You can't even see the top of the tree it's so damn tall.

Close up of the same tree. Look how thick the snow is. See that low branch on the left side of the picture, the snow is holding it down so low that it's hanging over the driveway. Low enough that it hits our truck as we drive past.




The same tree the next day. Already a lot of the snow has been melted and blown off by the wind. You can sort of see two more trees on the left side.





This is looking up the middle of the tree that's closest to the road on the right side of our driveway. I thought it was a kinda neat picture.





This is the bottom portion of the other two trees. They're in our front yard close to the street. The tree on the left is so laden down with snow the bottom branches are touching the snow on the ground.



Day shot of the same two trees.





The trees on the left are our neighbors, the two on the right our the previous two.






The front of our house. Our snow blower still isn't working and since we never use our front door we haven't bothered clearing it so it still looks pretty much like this.

Picture post

Me and H Ditty and the turkey

This is in front of H Ditty's dad's house on Thanksgiving Day right before we headed over to his mother's house. Not a bad one I think.




Me and the kids

1st off, it looks like I don't have a pinky finger on my left hand, don't worry, I do. Heh This group of kids are the 4 I went to the zoo with. Scott Jr up top; his sister on my left - Nicole; the two on my right are their stepsisters - Kay and Maria. Maria is the one laying ontop of Kay. They're from the Philippines




Me and my two nephews

These two handsome boys are two of my nephews. The one that I have my arm wrapped around is Wayne's son, Lee. The other is Scott Jr. This was at Scott's 12th birthday party.




The night of the snowstorm. This is my Magnolia Tree and garage.



Similar shot the next afternoon.

It's a weird garage, I know. The half with all the windows used to be a Florida room. Someone who owned the house before us painted all the windows but those facing the tree, don't know why.

Well, for some reason Blogger isn't allowing me to put anymore pictures up. Not even in another post so I guess I'll try either later tonight or tomorrow. I've got a bunch more on the snow.