Sad, Sad Day

Those who know me in person will understand the shock and horror I have experienced on this day.

The day I discovered Yankee Candle is no longer carrying plumeria scented wax tarts or jar candles.

*Sigh* First Bath and Body Works and now Yankee Candle. Well, ok Bath and Body Works keeps hanging in there but they keep on threatening to discontinue the line.

What am I going to do? How will I ever survive?

Ranting and Raving

So I feel like bitching for a moment. See, my bank decided to do a mass upgrade this weekend. In the process of doing so, they have completely changed the way you on line bank. There was a time I could care less about on line banking. That my friends is a thing of the past. I still balance my checkbook daily. You know what I am talking about right? I am the one who balances to the penny and notes every transaction I make at the end of the day. What kind of bean counter would I be if I didn't do this? Anyway, I just about shat my pants last night when I couldn't figure out how to use the new system last night let alone not being able to see my recent direct payroll deposit. It's not like I would be bouncing any checks. I just lost my comfort zone, my safe financial place and gosh darnit, I need that place in my life. After spending 21 minutes on hold this morning, Sam (my friendly, under 21 customer service rep) lets me know the system is not updating correctly. Um, WTF? He assured me the deposit was there and money was accessible but I couldn't see it. Ok, taking a deep breath, I'll roll with it. I'm none too happy about it but what can a girl do? Nothing but turn it over to the universe so that is what I am trying to do. At least I'm not Sam, having to take hundreds of calls from upset customers, and not being able to decompress at the end of my day (he has to go to class tonight and can't go bowling; sheesh if I had been on the phone much longer I probably would have gotten to know all of his personal business huh?). He said they had over a thousand calls yesterday and they had taken about 700 today and had six more hours to go before the call center closed. Poor guy. All I am asking is for a little help here. If you're going to upgrade, beta testing would have been a good idea. I'm just saying. Thanks for listening. I feel sooooo much better now. Peace and Love Peeps.

Am I the Only One?

Who else didn't know that when you figure your tip on a bill you are supposed to figure the tip off of the before tax amount? Seriously? You mean all this time I have been over tipping on top of my over tipping? Peeps it is true. I did not know this until I was browsing through my etiquette book while chowing on some dinner tonight. Dee Dee Dee. Here's my sign. And all the other brain fart sayings you can come up with. Peace and Love Peeps. PS - I promise by the end of the week I will catch you up on the rest of stuff from last week. Patience people!

Nothing Much for You Today

I have lots to share with you but I simply don't have the energy nor do I have the time to share with you. Please don't take it personally. I assure you by the end of the week you will know all about last week's ups and downs I have not written about yet. For now, I have to get my arse in bed. Monday mornings and I really don't get along. Heck, mornings in general, unless we are talking about after midnight and before 4:00 AM, don't get along. Hope things are good in your world. Peace and Love Peeps.

Living in an Alternate Universe

But at least I am home! This week has been crazy freaky. It has been good, full of laughs, very little sleep, lots of educational awareness, etc. I'll write more later. I have a massage, facial and brows in a bit and I still need to jump in the shower, brush my teeth, stop by the bank, pick up a Rx refill, and drop off some dry cleaning. See ya' laters taters. Peace and Love Peeps.

Update from the Road

Arrived safe and sound.

Weather fantastic at a balmy 72.

What’s bad? Well, let us see shall we?

I lived here for 27+ years and never suffered from allergies or hay fever. I leave the state and come back to visit or come in for business and boom! Allergies kick my ass. They are so bad today I had to break down and pop the Sudafed like a drug addict looking for her next fix. I finally broke down and took my contacts out on our lunch break. Secretly I still prefer my glasses. Shh, don’t tell my doctor ok? It will be our little secret.

I said don’t tell. Dang, why you gonna’ sell me out like that?

So, let’s talk about the hotel. I am in the freaking north 40. Seriously. It takes me 1 minute and 18 seconds to walk to and from the elevator. I timed it today. That may not seem like a long time but trust this, when you have a 7:00 AM start time and you stayed up late the last two nights, every freaking minute counts.

You’d think with a trek like that I would be treated to a nice view but nooooo; I am overlooking part of the parking lot. That’s hot.

Y’all know by know I have a phobia about the dirty and nastiness of hotel rooms. Well, my paranoia proved true today.

I went to pick up the phone and call one of my co-workers on our break before dinner tonight and what did I see when I moved the phone? A green m&m! A green piece of chocolate I did not have in my possession at any time.

Can we say nasty? All together now, “Ewwww!”

And I know I am staying for a few more nights but do you think it is too much ask someone to sweep the bathroom tile floor? Ok, I know that is indeed my hair shed on the floor but really, you can’t sweep it up?

Am I asking too much?

Oh, and I just about shat my pants last night when we checked in and I realized the cable channels did not include MTV or VH1. Y’all also know by know I need music to wake me up early in the morning. Especially when the night before we left I didn’t get in bed until 4:30 AM and was back up at 7:30 AM. Then, the next night, I manned up and networked in the bar until after 8:00 PM PST and was not able to fall asleep until after 10:00 PM PST. Plus, I woke up pretty much every hour on the hour since I was afraid I would oversleep. I finally gave up and woke up at 3:00 AM PST.

The only good part of that? I was able to take my time getting ready and…Pete and I had phone sex this morning. Hey now. A girl has needs a’right?

Ok, so back to the original train of thought. I was about to have a shit fit until I noticed the alarm clock had a headphone plug in for a mp3 player. Ahh, crisis averted. I’ve been rocking and rolling to my little heart’s content.

The person in the room next to me is obviously not a fellow company associate. See, we’re the freaks up early in the morning and the freaks staying up late too. We don’t sleep. We work hard. We party harder when we get together once to twice a year.

So, the dude next door to me in the north forty starts knocking on the wall about 5:45 this morning. Guess he didn’t appreciate hearing the booty shaking play list this morning.

Sorry dude. That’s how I roll. Don’t hate. Appreciate.

And, in this day and age, I have to pay “All for just $9.95!” for internet access? Seriously? And get this, it’s only good from noon to noon. Really? So that’s how you’re making a profit huh?

Yours truly received another national MVP award for her contributions last year. A true surprise and once again, I am humbled.

Oh, and this you are going to love. The phone just rang at 12:14 AM PST/2:14 AM PST from one of the So Cal guys we were kicking it with tonight.

See, I told you we stay up late. He wanted me to know first off it wasn’t a booty call but he wanted to find out if the vibes were correct; were we feeling each other? How exactly does one respond to that?

Delicately peeps. There was a little bit of interest but um, hello, you were sitting right next to me when I took Pete’s calls tonight.

This should make for an interesting day tomorrow.

And on that note, I have to wash my face and get to bed. 5:30 AM CST will be here before I know it.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Duuuude

I wrote y'all a nice post and guess what happened? Blogger effing ate it.

More to come later maybe???

Lazy or Being Smart?

Let’s recap from yesterday shall we? Drop off dry cleaning. I put on my most pathetic face and was denied. So what is a girl to do? Go shopping. More on that later. Get taxes done. Yippie! I get money back this year. Pick up kitty litter and food. Check. Shop for random personal supplies at Target, Bath & Body Works, and pick up some food at the grocery store. Not done and decided it could wait until I get back. I seriously did not want to fight the crowds at Target and I had some food in the house for dinner and lunch today. Return some paper to JoAnn's and see if there is anything I can use my 40% coupon on. Check. I returned the extra paper from Friday night’s creations, picked up some paper in exchange, and did use my 40% coupon on some chipboard letters. I have a project in mind so it was not a random, impulse buy. Now I just need to find the time to execute the design and plan I have in mind. Get a pedicure as I am sporting crack whore fabulous toes. Check. I am now sporting ghetto fabulous toes with my “I’m Not Really a Waitress” polish. Visit library to return books and pick one of them up from reserve before it is re-shelved. Oops. I arrived one hour past closing time. Do laundry. Doing today. Pay bills. Doing today. Pack. Doing today. What did I do that wasn’t on the agenda yesterday? I had all of my glasses and sunglasses adjusted, had lunch with K & D, tanned, and shopped at Victoria’s Secret and Macy’s. I had a coupon for VS so I picked up some new bras and thongs. I decided to check out Macy’s spring and summer stuff and in doing so, solved my dry cleaning and laundry dilemma. I found the most adorable sleeveless black linen with white piping wrap dress and a super cute red collared button down with short puff sleeves and grosgrain bow belt shirt to go with a fantastic black with white eyelet cut out embroidered full/puff skirt. And y’all by now know I have a shoe thing going on so naturally I snapped up a pair of black patent mock alligator peep heels with a stacked heel. Hush it Ace. Oh and I got yet another black shirt. This one is a short puff sleeved button down with a bow you can wear in the front or back. One can never have too many black or button down shirts. Everything was on sale too peeps. So call me lazy, call me smart…either way it works for me. I’ll try to post from the road but after taking a look at the agenda, free time is a commodity. I just love having my days scheduled by someone else from 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM+. Really. Who starts a meeting at 7:00 AM? That means if I want breakfast, it’s gonna be some really early mornings on a two hour time difference. I’m not complaining. I’m just saying. Anywho, here’s to hoping things are good in your world and that you and yours have a great week. Peace and Love Peeps.

Errand Day & Random Stuff

Today is the dreaded Saturday. You know what I am talking about right? The day after I have been gone and the day before I go again in which I have to cram a bunch of stuff in. I'll be the one with all the other folks trying to get it all done on a Saturday. So what's on the agenda? Drop off dry cleaning. Here's to hoping the Moon's will take pity on me and clean at least two of my pants by the end of the day today. Otherwise I will be packing dirty slacks and having the hotel send them out for me next week. Get taxes done. Yep, nothing like waiting until the last minute to file. Pick up kitty litter and food. Shop for random personal supplies at Target, Bath & Body Works, and pick up some food at the grocery store. Return some paper to JoAnn's and see if there is anything I can use my 40% coupon on. It seems like every time I get one of those and want to buy something, the something I want to buy is on sale and I can't use the coupon. Get a pedicure as I am sporting crack whore fabulous toes. Visit library to return books and pick one of them up from reserve before it is re-shelved. Do laundry. Pay bills. Pack.

That's the day in a nutshell. Sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it? NOT.

Now on to the random.

I'd like to know when our youth became so bold. Last night K and I went to JoAnn's to pick up some stuff to make her sisters' 18th birthday party invites and we walk past a group of about 8 teens. We got high from walking past them.

I mean these kids were smoking a blunt in front of the store. Back in the day we did it behind the store or in some hidden place, never where anyone could see us. The smell is unmistakable if you know what I mean. Really? In front of the store? That takes either stupidity or balls.

And hey Safeway, when you put Pepsi on sale, could you make sure you have enough Pepsi with Lime in the store so I can pick up at least a 2 liter or a 6 pack? Poor little random stocker/bagger dude searched the back room for five minutes trying to find us some. I know you probably aren't to blame and I should direct this at the Pepsi salesperson but I am just saying a cold Pepsi with Lime would have been nice this morning.

I'm off for now. I hope ya'll have a great day.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Bliss

Home. Safe and sound.

The audit went better than I anticipated. The only bad thing about the day was every last one of my nails broke. I mean down to the quick. I used to wear acrylics but stopped wearing them a few years back. I did some damage to my natural nails and have made peace with the breaking, the frailness of it all but I still don't like it when they break and leave with nubbies.

Had a very relaxing "vacation" with Pete. We did nothing but lazed around, talked, laughed, and well...you know. You do know right?

It was bliss. We did feel a little guilty about not going and doing anything but hey, how often do you really get to sleep in and have a whole day to yourself with absolutely no need to go anywhere and the need to have to do anything is simply a choice?

We took full advantage of it. I hope you would do the same, given the chance.

The evening was finished with a fabulous piece of dead cow, baked tater, sweet corn, and a bottle of Merlot.

The alarm went off entirely too soon this morning at 5:30 AM.

For now, I'm off to love on the kitties, get my dry cleaning together, and head to bed.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Oh, Kimmy the kitties either fend for themselves with extra food, water, and litter or they have company in the form of a "house sitter" or one of my local peeps will stop by to check on them. The running joke last year was my house sitter (Hasse) should have been paying the rent and utilities because he spent more time in my place than I did.

If I am gone for more than 3 nights I make sure someone is with them or comes by. I know they are ok and well taken care of but it breaks my heart to leave them. I don't even want to think about how hard it would be to leave a child.

See Ya'

Cue up the Willie Nelson. I'm on the road again. Heading down south this morning to audit. Me, some paperwork, some inventory, a tupperware container full of green grapes, a baba, tunes, and another meeting in the afternoon. Fun times I tell you. Then, I'll be heading to my *ahem* boyfriend's place. That still doesn't sound right peeps. Is that normal for me to feel that way? We're taking a day off in the middle of the week for the heck of it. As of now, we have nothing planned but I tell you I have plenty of ideas. I also have plenty of things I could do at home but that would defeat the purpose of vacation in the middle of the week wouldn't it? So anyway, I hope you and yours are good. I gotta get my arse on the road. See ya' Thursday. Peace and Love Peeps. Oh, and Don Imus, this time you went way too far. Butthead.

Holy Heck

Can someone tell me when Easter just decided to up and get here? Do you remember when you were a kid and time seemed to move soooo slow? As an adult, it flies right on by and I seem to lose not only hours but days. Does that happen to you too? See, about a month ago I got a jump on Easter. Or so I thought. I bought all the Easter basket stuff well in advance. I got the new stamp for the cards. Then, the other night I realized I hadn't put the baskets together nor had I made and mailed the cards. So much for pre-planning. I got the cards in the mail this week but they will probably get to their destinations late, especially considering the holiday yesterday. Sorry peeps. Easter baskets were sent to kiddos in my family this week too but later than I wanted. I seem to be spending a lot of money on shipping lately due to my unusual procrastinating self. The girls', Pete's that is, baskets have yet to be put together. I need to do those this afternoon because I'm heading back over there tonight and they can't wake up Easter morning without their basket now can they? Yes, they will have one from the Easter bunny and something from daddy too but, due to my big mouth, they are expecting one from me too. Anywho, if I can ever get over being run down, I am sure I'll get back on my game. Do you hear my prayer big guy? I'm pretty sure you do and have as I am feeling tons better but can you get me back to 100%? Soon would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. On another note, but related, thanks for the well wishes peeps. I've felt your healing vibes and they have helped. My cough is almost gone and I really do feel much better. Let's hope it keeps on heading this direction and I stay healthy. I have one day trip this coming up week and am gone for four days the following week. I feel awful about getting one of the girls sick. It's one thing when an adult is hacking but a 7 year old in a coughing fit breaks my heart. I'm off like a dirty shirt to get my brows done and to take care of the things I need to take care of. Does it ever end folks? I hope you and yours have a glorious rest of the weekend and a fantastic Easter celebration. Oh, and before I forget, to the two of you, and you know who ya' are, he wasn't being frugal with the daisies. He knows how much I love daisies and knew they would last longer than tulips, roses or lilies. He picked the white to "accent the living room decor". More and more he's showing himself to be a keeper. Kimmy and T, remember my psycho self when I was sick and demanded my key back? Well, the phone bill finally shows I did indeed misdial that night. Oopsie.

And to all of ya', are you sitting down? You probably are since you're at a computer reading this. We have, ahem, ack, running for the hills, officially come out of denial and admitted and have vocalized we are boyfriend and girlfriend.

I'll leave you with that parting thought...Peace and Love.

Pieces of Happiness

Jack Johnson and Sarah McLachlan melodies playing in the background
The soft glow from the flickering of candles
The warmth from a mug of tea with honey
Kitties laying near, content in their slumber
Creating and playing with stamps and inks
Getting lost in the simple task of coloring and cutting
Sending out pieces of love to those who bring me joy and happiness
An unexpected delivery of fresh flowers from a special someone simply because

Ahh…the simple pleasures of life....

The M Word and Lots of Nothing

Went to see the doctor today. She told me I am doing everything right and if I am not feeling better by Friday to call and I'll get an Rx for steroids. Now won't that be fun? See, I don't have a fever anymore and I am starting to feel better. I have been taking my cough medicine, using my inhalers, and popping the sudafed. Seems to be doing the trick but folks, I was taking no chances this would end up being pneumonia again. My lung capacity is at about 350, which is up from the last visit. My pulse ox was back down today, but only to 93. I asked what more I could be doing and she said I am doing it and if I continue to be sickly into the summer months we'll run further tests but since my blood work came back stone cold normal, my immune system is not compromised. I'm just suffering and it could be in part to my travels. Maybe she cleared me too soon on my last visit. Who knows. All I know is this is getting effing old. Anywho, I knew y'all were on pins and needles to know how I was doing.

So let's talk about the M word shall we?

Mumble rocks. How many of you have seen Happy Feet? I wanted to see it awhile back but never got around to it with Pete and the girls. I picked it up Friday night so we could watch it Saturday and I have now seen the movie three times in less than a week.

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying. Once Saturday, once last night, and once today. It's adorable and I like the messages of the movie. Mumble rocks but I have to say his little accented friends are my favorites of the movie.

Ha! You thought I was going to talk about marriage didn't you? Nanny Nanny Boo Boo. I got you.

But really, the joke is on me because the subject did come up last night. I about ran for the hills. That's all you get for now. I'm too tired to and honestly a tad freaked out still to talk about it.

Peace and Love Peeps. Send me healing vibes. I need 'em.

I'm Effing Sniffling and Coughing

AGAIN! Seriously, can this crap end already? I've been running a slight fever, I'm hoarse, my nose is either runny or stuffed up, and the cough came back. Boss man said he hopes I feel better but secretly he thinks it is because I have not been working hard enough. Yea, right. WHATEVER. I know he is joking but do ya' even have to put it out there? Then when he found out I "babysat" the girls Saturday he said I need to say away from kids because they have all kinds of germies. I'm with you. I really am but I started to feel crappy before I even went over there Friday night. Guess who won't be going to the Mariners opening day game today? Guess who is going back to bed? Did you guess me? Oh, you are so smart! :) Peace and Love Peeps.