Hello and Welcome to Friday!
I've got no inclination to write anything original today, so instead - via ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
bertine I give you this:
( 37 random things )
I'm gonna go listen to the rain now. Later, Bellas. Ciao.
I'm up earlier today, because I must bring donuts to the engineers who promised to clean up their storage room today. Reward the good behavior, that's what I say.
Geez, and it's only Thursday. This has been one of the longer weeks in recent memory. I was ready to be done with the hoo-ha on Tuesday.
Arm-Owie Update: I typed it all and then decided that it was disgusting. Heh. Suffice to say - it's still not pretty.
It's all car-maintenance all the time in chele/ragazz-land. Chuck(Wagon) was in last night for some fixin' up, and tonight it's AudreyCar's turn for a check-up. Then those four-wheeled family members better stop begging for attention. Seriously.
Aquatennial Fireworks this weekend (or I heard that on Twitter, anyway)... so I think we might parlay that into a dinner outing at Nye's as well. Sahweet!
This is fast-turning into a random list.
After all the strife that was getting the new fridge.. I've gotta say, it's really nice to have one that doesn't sound like a freight train. (and yes, I said I wouldn't talk about it any more.. but look how I just did.)
Okay.. time to get moving. Your orders: To have a good day. Ciao.
Now I will tell you about Tuesday!
So I go in for my spot and freckle check. I am fairly vigilant, but with all the doctor stuff that's gone on in the last 6 years or so, this is one check that often gets pushed to the back burner. But I always keep an eye on things. I decided it was time to have the spot on my right cheekbone (which I alternately find glamorous and hideous) looked at.
It had been so long since I'd been there that my doc had retired! Eeep! (well, 4 years. not TOO bad), so I saw a new one who is approximately 17 years old. She'll never retire before me. Heh. She was very nice and took a look at both of my cheek spots and proclaimed that there was nothing to worry about there, took a quick check of my back, and then she shook my hand to leave..
.....and then noticed a spot on my left arm.
"Hmm. Let's take a closer look at THAT one."
She pulled out her little magnifying glass and "hmmm"d at it some more and then said "Yep. THAT's a bad one. That's pre-cancerous right there. That one's coming off right now." And she grabbed that liquid nitrogen stuff and zapped it. OW. You know that "so cold that it's hot" theory? Yep. That's what that is. THEN she went wild and looked at every single freckle on both arms. Everything else was fine, but I was scolded "Every year! You're coming back to see me once a year now, right!?" Um, yes ma'am!
So now I have this big owie bump on my arm that will go away in a couple weeks and I know that all is well now, spot-wise.
I got done long before I had to meet The Dawg™ for dinner so I decided to head over to St Kate's for a few minutes. I went to the bookstore and bought a new sweatshirt. Then I sat on the quad for a while (except I don't think it's called the quad anymore) and I saw a little albino squirrel run by. THEN I thought "Gee, I wonder ifpurplesquirrelis around here someplace? " So I twittered, but had to leave before I heard back from him. Now, though, I know which building he's in! So next time I'm back on campus I can come 'round and say hello.
Then it was time for Chinese food - always a winner - and visiting with my old pal. Yum. Then home to hear all about the boy's golfing exploits (he's getting really really good) and time to tip over.
All in all, not a bad trip around the earth's axis. Well, except for the disfigured arm part. (chele=drama queen)
Off to start today's adventures. Have a great day, kidlets. Ciao
First of all, permit me to wax poetic about soap for a moment. This Lush soap is wonderful. If it were socially acceptable to marry soap, I would do so. It's all delicious and honey-scented.. and boys love it when you smell like food. Heh.
(Again, one of my favorite stories. A while back I was hooked on Skin Milk products from Ulta. After I got out of the shower one night ragazz' hugged me and proclaimed "You smell like Cheerios." Hehe! This is why I love him.)
I had a long day at work yesterday, so I was tired out last night. While ragazz' ran to points north to do more bike research, I did some knitting on the deck. I'm almost a third of the way done with the next shawl.
Tires will be happening on Saturday (I hope), and Audrey needs to go in next week for her 45,000 mile checkup. THEN I'll be done dealing with car things for a while. Thank God.
Today: Meeting at sales office at 9:00, so I get to work at home til then.. then a few meetings, then spot-check time (I think one of these freckles has to come off this time), then Chinese food with The Dawg™ .
I realized yesterday that we're more than halfway through Summer. Time needs to slow down a little bit.
I leave you with two pictures:
1. A Murder of Crows
(Well, only two are in this picture. The rest flew off just as I was taking it.)
2. Here's your Moment of Green:
Ciao.
Greetings, Earthlings.
I love my little house here in the sky. But someone needs to explain this phenomenon to me:
I run the AC all night. Wake up and it's 67 degrees outside and 70 degrees inside. So I turn off the AC and open the door and window.
30 minutes later, it's now 66 degrees outside and 74 degrees inside.
*puzzled*
I have, um, work stuff to do today at work. I'm sure of it. I just can't remember what it is. The minute I look at my desk it will all come back to me.
At various other points in the week I have several different offices to visit, a dermatology appointment (my semi-frequent "spot check" - I have lots of little dots and freckles over which I must be vigilant!), some chinee foo with The Dawg, possible bike-procurement with ragazz (heh - that didn't take long!), and Surprise Date Night Part II: The Sequel™ - in which I surprise him.
Can I say that I love my Orange Savings Account (no, that's NOT the link to my actual account), and I check it obsessively every day? I love the fact that it tells me exactly how much interest I've earned to date and that I can watch that number go up every single day. My papa would be very proud of me.
There ya have it, and I'm outta here. Ciao.
I'm not going to talk about the stupid refrigerator ever again. Good thing I won't have to deal with doing that for another twenty years or so. Heh.
Then - the tire story! I'd put on my big-girl pants and decided that, yes, it should be my responsibility to take care of my own car. Ragazz' helped me get it all set up and then promised that it would "be easy." Except sometimes, in chele's life, things that *should* be easy often aren't. I got to the tire place and was greeted by a friendly young man. I told him that I'd talked with "the man" earlier in the week and my tires had been ordered and were waiting for me.
Except, "the man" had only ordered TWO tires, not four. What.. the... heck? We TALKED about 4 tires. He quoted me a PRICE for 4 tires. But then only ordered two of them. I just had to laugh.
I told him I'd like to do this all in one trip, so he ordered two more tires for me and now Audrey will be getting 4 new ones on Monday instead. I haven't yet decided if I will be making that trip of if I will throw a fit and have ragazz' do that for me. Heh. Unbelievable.
I have no official plans for the day. I will probably run up to the northern house and re-hem a section of the curtains that fell down (that iron-on hem stuff is just so-so. I have good luck with it 50% of the time. Hence, why it worked on one panel, but not the other!) I'll throw one load of laundry in, and then just lay-about and be happy.
So let's all go have a calm day, shall we? It's a good goal. Ciao.
Attention all people in the Twin Cities:
APPLIANCESMART just brought me a refrigerator. The guys ran out before I could ask them to change the swing on the door. I CANNOT OPEN THE DOOR AND PUT FOOD IN THE FRIDGE UNLESS I CRAWL UP ONTO THE COUNTER. The bulb was burned out. And when I called the store to tell them about it, they didn't seem very concerned.
"We can send someone out on Tuesday."
TUESDAY. FUCKING TUESDAY.
So yes - it's the ApplianceSmart store in St Louis Park Minnesota and DON'T EVER GO THERE.
(trying every way I can to get this to come up in a Google search. Yes, I'm THAT mad.)
Lesson learned: You get what you pay for. I just paid for SHITTY SERVICE.
That is all.
PPS Did I mention that I couldn't get tires today, either? That's another story for later.
- Mood:
FURIOUS
As I twittered earlier today: "Look at how early I'm awake on a Saturday!"
It's because there are many things to do on this particular Saturday. First I have to go get new tires for Audrey. Now, for a while I was thinking that this was the boy's job. However, it's probably time for me to do car things myself. My ex literally did all the car stuff for me. He'd come get the car on a Saturday morning and bring it back clean and gassed up, with whatever maintenance that needed to be done. (Granted.. this was one of the few good qualities about him. Heh.) Consequently.. I got out of the habit of taking care of my cars. AudreyCar, however, is my most favorite car of all time. It's good to take care of her. AND ragazz' got everything all set up for me, so basically I just need to show up and they'll do it. Hey - I didn't say I had to *know* about all this stuff. I just have to execute the plan. Hehe.
Then time to run home and have appliance day! New fridge comes in the afternoon. YAY. And can we say that this has been kind of a spendy week for chele, so now it's time to just dial it back for a couple weeks?
The move last night was a piece of cake. (mmm. cake.) Out of there by 6:30. The moving crew and I - we have this down to a science now. It's all about being OVERLY organized. Everything labeled, everything mapped. They all say that they like doing my jobs. I've learned that if the crews LIKE doing your jobs, they'll work harder, they work faster and everyone is out of there quickly and painlessly.
Okay.. Time to finish reading all the news in the world. Have a beautiful day, Bellas. Ciao.
Last night was all phone calls, alla time. Before the days of internetz, I could easily go three or four hours on the phone sometimes. Now that just seems like an awfully long time to hold a little brick up to the side of your head. I'd much rather do quick IMs or Twitters, touch base, and move on to the next thing. Unfortunately, the peeps who wanted to chat last night don't have either one of those tools.. so it was live-time talking time. Good to catch up, but man, cauliflower ear when it was all done.
So yes, the workday will be all about the move and tonight will be all about the sitting once the move is done. Ragazz' has a three day race this weekend, so I am once again a car-widow. He's been racing 3 of the last 5 weeks, and there are only a couple left after this. Selfishly, I'll be glad when this season's done. I think he'll be glad, too. This one seems like it's been extra long.
We're all booked for our "Let's get out of town during the RNC" trip. We're spending a week up at the North Shore, and that will be the best ever. It's good to have some thing to look forward to!
That's all for now. Ciao.
There were no phone calls from the help-desk in the middle of the night, so that was an improvement. (I found out that someone had paged them, and fat-fingered their call-back number, so it was MY extension that appeared. Heh. Someday I'll return the favor to that person!)
It was actually a fairly productive day - lots of running around and meetings, but there are days when I do that and feel like all I accomplish is, well, just running around. I finished my deliverables and sent them off to the boss, and scheduled the next round of tours and meetings. And I did all that without losing too much of my sanity.
Then the fun began. We looked at bikes. The motoring kind. My ragazzo, he rarely looks happier than when he's sitting on a motorcycle:
That's an Aprilia... something (Honey? Fill in the blank?) and it's very pretty and blue and black and white. And while it's cool and aggro and all that, it's also got better, more upright handlebars on it... so he won't kill his arms, hands and shoulders. If I was a bettin' woman - and I am - I'm bettin' that there'll be one of these in the garage soon.
Now onto the other great thing of the day.. And really, it's one of the best things I've done in a while:
KIVA
In less than 10 minutes, you can help change someone's life. Beatriz is a retail store owner - so her story was dear to me. (Hey! I used to do that! Heh.) It's cool to be able to help her achieve her goal.
Why this is important:
Years ago, I was once in truly desperate need. I was starting out on my own all over again - and after I'd signed a lease and paid that month's rent - I deposited my paycheck I literally had -$10 (NEGATIVE ten dollars!) in the bank. I had generic rice krispies and one gallon of milk to last me for two weeks. After about 5 days of bringing rice krispies and a little container of milk to work, JK, one of my co-workers, finally figured out what was going on. She and her husband fed me and gave me a few bucks so I could get back on my feet again. I've never forgotten their kindness.
Now that I have the resources to help others... I believe that it's important - no - it's ESSENTIAL - that I give back. I try to do that as much as possible.. and Kiva is a GREAT way to help others. Take a look at doing that.
OKAY - Now I'm off my soapbox, and it's time to go to work. Have a good day, my friends. Ciao.
Tuesday was a bit of a sad day. I had a setback early in the day which threw me a bit off kilter.. and when I wasn't quite over the first one just yet one more thing pushed me 'round the bend completely. Ugh. When I get like that I often don't know what to do with myself. Going low and quiet wasn't working, and neither was reaching out. So I finally just gave up and went to bed. I'll take another run at life today.
That's the cool thing. Every time the morning alarm goes off, you get a do-over.
I thought I'd dreamed this, but I looked at my phone just now and discovered that it was real. My work cell phone rang at 12:35 last night. I answered (always half-wondering "Is the building burning down?") and it was the older help-desk gentleman.
"Hey. Did you just put in a help-desk ticket?"
"No.. it's the middle of the night."
"I'm just looking at this ticket here, and it has your phone number on it."
"No, sorry.. it wasn't me."
"Well.. Who DID it, then? Oh.. this is Xxx, by the way."
"Yes, I know it's you. But I don't know who put the ticket in. I didn't do it."
"I'm just trying to read this incident ticket. And it has your number on it."
"I swear to God, Xxx, I did NOT put in a help-desk ticket in the middle of the night."
"Oh. Well. I wonder who put it in? Gee, I woke you up after midnight for nothing then, didn't I?"
"Yes. Yes you did. Sorry I can't help you."
"Okay then. Talk to you later."
*click*
Sometimes I really dislike having a work cell phone. Heh.
So like I said.. I'm going to do everything in my power to make this one a better day. The first thing that will make this day better is having something good for breakfast.. so I'm going to get on that right now.
I hope your day is excellent. Ciao.
My boy was just plain tired out yesterday. He napped away the whole evening, and he needed it. I hung out with KB for a while and we laid out a crazy quilt. Well, she did most of the crawling around. I was the director "Put this one here. No. Maybe put it there. Move this block up." It's pretty and jeweled-toned.. all her colors.
It's going to be hella-hot today. Thank you again, Mr. Air Conditioner Man, for fixing mine. I'm going to crank it up when I leave the house today.
There's much running today - down to the way south office, then back to the way west office. I'm thinking about just staying at the west one and working there in the afternoon and then heading home. We'll see how that goes. Of course, if I do have a lot of driving around to do, it's best to do that with a top-down AudreyCar. I'm pretty lucky that way.
I've got nothing else to say right now. What's up with you? Ciao.
Yesterday was a completely awesome lazy Sunday. I ran out to Lush (My favorite soap store in the world) and got some yummy smelling stuff (which I'm always tempted to eat... except, well, yuk), and then was pretty pleased with myself in that I didn't spend any money on a watch that I wanted but did not *need*... sometimes a hard distinction to make.
Then we had a wee bit of nap-on-the-couch time and then it was time to drive to Canada, take a left, head to the SheridInn, and play cards and eat burgers (and drink beer). Yummay. The girls let the boys win at Cribbage at the last possible second. That's my story on that, anyway.
Now it is a new week, and one that promises to be filled with even MORE awesomeness. I'm all excited about the possibilities.
OH! And I *did* buy that pesky fridge. You know, the one I've been saying I needed for the last 3 years now. HA! It's getting delivered on Saturday. I told the salesguy to warn the delivery peeps about the whole "third floor no elevator" thing. Hopefully he did that. And I will have lemonade and cookies available for them to ease their pain. (I always feel bad for delivery people when they come here. Then I remember that I PAY them to do so.)
There are two major purchases left for now. Tires and a washer. Then the spending can stop (good thing). I think we're going to go look at some tires this week. The washer... well.. that might have to wait til next month.
Finally, I leave you with this:
Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I've got a wonderful feeling,
Everything's going my way.
("Oklahoma" - it's a cool musical. Everyone should see it.)
Ciao.
I've been debating about writing this (and who knows? maybe it'll all be deleted before I hit the "publish" button).. but it's MY story and I want to share it.
About 6 weeks ago, I tried contacting one of my sisters. Used my mad googling skills and found her most recent email address, and her husband's as well. I copied both of them on the email (so one couldn't just delete it and not tell the other).
I extended the olive branch. Asked if there couldn't be SOME channel of communication opened. Acknowledged that it had been a long time, and that I really didn't want to be one of those old people who said "I haven't spoken to my sisters in 40 years." Explained that I didn't have any ulterior motives for doing this. (And I really don't. I don't want the house or money. I'm fairly certain that I make more money than all of them. And I already have a house.) I don't even need - or even necessarily *want* - to be best friends with them. The main thing is that I just wanted to be in-the-loop enough to know what's happening with them. I also explained that they probably needed to know about my health situation, so they could be sure to get regular check-ups. And really, I wanted to see if there was any possibility of having a nuclear family again.
No response. Zero. No acknowledgment. I would have even accepted (and in fact half-expected) a "fuckyou, gotohell". Instead it was just more silence. All those religious groups that practice shunning can take a lesson from my immediate family because, goddam, I believe they invented it.
I'm not sharing all this to gain sympathy or to have a pity-party. In fact - I'm viewing this as a liberating experience. And I know I was able to make this attempt as a result of feeling healthy and safe enough in the REST of my life. I have friends who love me. I have an extended family who loves me. I have a guy who loves me, and his family loves me too. So the rejection of those to whom I'm most related biologically is no bigger deal than being turned down for a job or a car loan. Yeah, in the moment it stings. Then you realize that your life won't end and that most of your life is pretty damn great.
And with this public acknowledgment - I hereby sever all remaining (tenuous) ties and thoughts of them. They no longer exist for me, either. I am now the Totally Independent State of chele™!
(Cue fireworks now)
****Realistically, I've been that way for almost 9 years now. But man - does it feel good to name it and claim it out loud.****
That is all. Let's all go back to living our extensively awesome lives now. I, for one, will be playing outdoors very soon. Ti Amo, Amici. All of you who know me and care about me have helped me tremendously. You're especially in my heart today.
Ciao.
So yes, there was much appliance shopping, and brand new manicure, and much visiting done on the Patio. And then I came home and was ever so slightly mechanical. I put a new drying rack together (only because ragazz' wasn't around. normally putting stuff together falls under the scope of his duties.)
The track dried down enough to allow for racing today, although it doesn't sound like he's necessarily having the best of all days. He's saying something about not going to one of the upcoming races now. I'm sure there's a story behind that.. and I'll hear about it when he gets home.
No matter where he places in a race, he's still the best racer in the world in my eyes.
Now I'm waiting for him to come home (it'll be a while yet) while sitting on the deck and listening to the NASCAR race on TV. Tony Stewart isn't winning, so I'm disinterested. Heh. I'm going to knit for a while. Have a pleasant evening. Buona Sera.
In a nutshell: Bad weather here last night. Ragazz' got to 'sconnie for the race and the bad weather hit there after it left here, leaving them with a soggy track and the possible inability to race, which would be teh suk. That's a long way to go for no payoff. He's going to keep me posted.
My activites for the day will include: manicures, drinks with CuzGirl on the Patio, and fridge shopping. Most excellent.
For now, I think I will take my leave and possibly have some peanut butter toast on the way. I'll talk to you later. Ciao.
Oh hai. Look how it's Friday now! Actually, it's Friday, it's payday, and it's Summer. Really, how much better could life be?
I've done all my refrigerator homework now. Even though my ragazz' doesn't believe me, I'm *going* to buy one this weekend. For real! Heh. Who would have known? Appliances make me almost as happy as purses and shoes. Almost. Not quite.
Got all the laundering done last night and decided at the last possible second to bring everything inside before going to sleep. Good thing, because the thunderstorm that rolled through and woke me at about 3:30 would have soaked everything.
Mitch has been memeing a lot lately, and I have nothing better to say this morning! So here goes.
Five snacks I enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:
- Milano Cookies
- S'mores
- Ranch Doritos
- Twix Bars
- Root Beer Floats
Five snacks I enjoy in the real world:
- Grapes
- 100-Calorie Packs
- Popcorn
- Cashews
- Animal Crackers
Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
- Travel
- Pay off my house, and buy or pay-off houses for all my peeps
- Buy ragazz' as many cars as he wanted
- Have the most awesome purse and shoe collection EVER
- Host large lavish dinner parties every week!
Five (non-academic) jobs that I have had:
- Retail Store Manager
- Executive Assistant
- Facilities Goddess
- Nanny
- Director of Retail Operations
Five habits:
- Waking up early
- Blogging
- Worrying
- Drinking lots of water
- Compulsively straightening things
Five places I have lived:
1. St Paul
2. Inver Grove Heights
3. West St Paul
4. Minneapolis (briefly)
5. St Louis Park
Oooh! Gotta go! I'm really late. Ciao Bellas!
So how does a girl - who has no backyard or clothesline of her own - hang laundry out to dry?
1. Chicken salad. Holy yummy. I'm remembering the recipe I used so I can re-create it later.
A. Got home last night and found the A/C not only working, but perhaps working TOO well. It was 71 degrees in here. Kitties were buried under the covers sleeping. Heh. I've gotta work on getting it all balanced. Not that I'm complaining. I'm just glad it works.
3. We watched the last half of Caddyshack last night. Now that I know a little more about golf, it's even funnier.
d. Manicure time after work. I'm about a week overdue and it's getting harder to type. "click click click"
2. Airfares are getting just nutty.. and they're going to start charging for everything. I was half-tempted to book our Vegas vacation (for November) yesterday. Yes, I might be jumping the gun a bit, but I don't want to pay eleventy-thousand dollars for a trip that cost us just under a grand last year. I'm still going to keep an eye on it.
F. Yesterday at the workplace we found another storage room that we didn't know about. Hmm. It's kinda like Christmas. Or a Surprise Party. Or a very bad nightmare. I wonder what else we'll discover as this goes on.
q. 3 words (well, 4 if you count the hyphenated one as 2 words): Stewart's Black-Cherry Soda. That's my new favorite this summer.
17. I'm highly motivated to knit again and have been working on pieces every day. It's good to be back into it.
L. Things I must do whilst my favorite boyfriend is out of town on Friday night/Saturday: figure out how to get my iTunes off my iBook and onto my new laptop, and buy a refrigerator. He doesn't believe that last part. But just watch me do it. Heh.
99. Now I must go to work and do.. things. I wish there could be such a thing as summer vacation. I think I'd take full advantage of that.
Ciao, amici.
Last night I did lots o'knitting on the deck. It was such a lovely evening. Also, in no particular order, I put away groceries, did some dishes, talked to CuzGirl (too long since I'd done that), did some star-gazing and talked to my ragazz'. Oh, and had a bad tummy for about 20 minutes. I don't know what that's about. Sometimes I think it just rebels.
I've been playing with Google Earth. I'm a huge map and space geek. I can sit and look at this for hours. Before Al Gore invented the internet, I used to buy world maps (and space maps, and US Maps, and atlases) and spread them out on the floor and pour over them. Maybe I should be a cartographer. Or.. not.
There's not a single meeting on my calendar today. I have many boring desks tasks to do. Consequently, I'm not-so-jazzed about going to the salt mines today.
I've requested mini-date night tonight. He had golf last night, car stuff tomorrow night, then he's off racing for Friday and Saturday. Don't get me wrong - it's important that we each have our own "things" that we do without the other... but sometimes, it's just gotta be *us* time. Heh. I think it'll just be calzones and the couch.. but it's TOGETHER, and that's what's important. We can't let life be so busy that we miss time together. Every day counts.
Every once in a while, I just love to scare myself on WebMD. I wanted to see why my tummy hurt last night (and still a little bit this morning). I either have: colon cancer, a muscle strain, gas pains, gallstones, a peptic ulcer, a heart attack, food poisoning, or constipation. Well. That narrows it down. I think it's most likely the Indian food we had for lunch yesterday. I'm not a doctor, but I play one on the internet.
And now, I must get on with it. Have a lovely day, and I'll talk to you later. Ciao.
