Clowns

I am not a fan of clowns. Actually they kind of creep me out. I know that people are supposed to love clowns because they are so much fun, but not me. The only place where I think clowns are okay is at the rodeo. But I certainly don't want the clown coming up to me, I will look at him or her from a distance. Clowns are just bad news..... haven't you seen Killer Clowns from Outer Space?

Hair

Growing up my mother was constantly changing her hair. She would change the style from time to time, but mostly she changed the color. It was not unusual to come home from school and her hair would be blond, black, red, it was even green once when the color mix didn't work right. Well, to some degree, I am the same way with my hair. I have had it long and short as well as a variety of colors. Currently my hair is short (pixie style cut) and is very red. Think Sharon Osborne red. I found out today that apparently my hair is the talk of the neighbors. They were shocked to see my hair color. Wait until the see the next color. I have already decided to try perhaps a dirty blond. I have never been blond before, so why not. Hubby wants me to shave my head or do a buzz cut, but I am not ready to go there yet.

TGIF

Thank goodness it's Friday. I am tired today and feel like I need a few more hours of sleep.

Winning the Lottery

I often think about what I would do if I won the lottery. I would keep working, at least for a while; I would pay off all of our bills, including the house: I would either fix up my parents home or buy them a new one; I would make all of the upgrades to our home that we have been wanting; hubby and I would take a trip to Ireland; and finally we would open some kind of small business in an area that we want to eventually retire. Not sure where that area is right now or what that business would be, but that is what I would do if I won the lottery.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Kia Soul

I used to never see the new Kia Soul, but over the past week I have begun seeing one every morning on my way to work. I don't particularly like the vehicle, but it makes me think of my friend Katreader. When I see the vehicle, I think of that commercial where the mice are jamming out in their Kia Soul. The mice are acting cool and having a good time. That then makes me think of Katreader who raises really cool mice who are well cared for and spoiled.

Okay, so my mind wanders a little when I am stuck in traffic, but at least I am not talking on my cell phone or sending text messages.

Stay in Bed

Ever have those day when you wish you could just stay in bed or at least stay in your pajamas? Today is one of those days for me. There was no particular reason, I was just so comfortable and didn't want to get up. Then I thought, maybe I can work from home today - then I could at least stay in my pajamas. Nope, that won't work either. I have goal meetings with 3 of my team members. Darn. So, I made myself get up and let the doggies out to potty.

TGIF

This week have been a really tough week full of highs and lows. We started out the week on a high anticipating some final news on our house. We did get news, but only to find out they needed yet another form signed. We signed the form and were still on a high thinking we would have the final news right away. That night our new neighbors decided to have a Fiesta Bowl party which included lots of screaming, jumping, and yelling on our heads. We tolerated that for a while, but around midnight had to ask them to tone it down a bit so we could get some sleep. The next day we were still tired from the night before, but I got a call with news about the house. They hoped to have things finalized by the end of the month. Hoped! End of the month! That was enough to put me over the edge. If we don't close before the end of the month, we will not have a place to live. We have given our notice and our place has already been rented. I was definitely stressed out and my boss kept poking his head in my office to ask me questions. What is his damage? Can't he tell I have something more important on my mind than work? Instead, I grit my teeth, smile, and answer his questions.

I waited until the next day to follow up with the lender because I needed time to regroup and get my thoughts together. Plus, I didn't want to totally tick them off and have them put me at the bottom of their priority stack. After speaking to our rep, we were once again reassured that the person who told us they hoped to have things done by the end of the month should not have said that. Things are still on target for our original date. Whew. With this good news behind me I was open to the next blow of - they need more money. What? When did you tell us about that? Well, supposedly someone should have told us, blah, blah, blah. But he promised we would get it all back at closing this was just as a reassurance we weren't going to change our minds. Seriously? We have been working at this too long to change our minds now. Fine, just tell me when and I will bring you the money.

At work, my team has been waiting for the green light on a special project. It is a very large project merging the payroll for two teams and will have a significant impact on the pay checks of over 1400 people (and I happen to be one of those people). The corporate office was withholding approval because they didn't want to release control over such a big project to someone else. After one final, very heated conference call yesterday, we finally got our green light. Unfortunately, they waited so long to give us the green light that now we only have 4 days to process all 1400+ files instead of the original 3 weeks we were originally told we would have. Personally, I think they did it on purpose, but I didn't have time to focus on that now. I gave the news to my Austin team (4 members plus me) and we set up a game plan to tackle the project.

Today I had to travel to deliver not so good news to three members of my team in Dallas and San Antonio. I am moving their jobs to Austin and they have to relocate in order to continue on my team. I was able to find a place for two of them if they don't want to move, but no one seems to want the third person. Sadly, I can't blame them. She can be very difficult, but still it is not easy delivering that news.

On the drive back, from San Anonio, I was mentally exhausted from such a long week when I get a phone call that we are clear to do the next step in the house process - the final walk through. I really needed that good news. Shortly after that I got a call from the lead person on my team regarding the project. They only had 5 files left to complete the 1400 file project - they finished in 2 days!! I could have hugged her through the phone. My team knew how important this project was and they busted their butts to make sure they proved those corporate nose in the air jerks wrong. I am so proud of them; not only did they step up to the plate and accept the challenge, they knocked the ball out of the park. I will have to think of some really cool surprise for them.

I am really glad this week is behind me and I am looking forward to a nice calm weekend. Maybe I will even be able to finish the book Marley & Me that I started 2 weeks ago.

Chocolate Stout

Okay, I am having no luck with the wine drinking thing, so I switched to beer. I went to Central Market where you can buy signles and just picked one out called Chocolate Stout. I picked it out solely by the name; how can you go wrong if it has chocolate in the name. I sat down to do a little blogging while I drank my beer. It actually had a very nice taste that I could learn to like. I needed to go check on something in the other room and this is when I realized this was no ordinary beer. Admittedly, I am a light weight drinker, but I felt this one in my legs as soon as I stood up. When I checked the bottle, it said it was 5.2% alcohol instead of the 2%-3% of a typical beer. Guess the hubby didn't feel it necessary to point that out to me when I purchased the beer. I actually like the taste of thisone; however, I am not sure I would have named it chocolate - unless they were referring to the color.

Did you Vote?

This morning I got up early so I could get to the polling place as they opened. Thankfully it was literally next door to where I live. When I arrived at 2 minutes after they opened, there was already about 45-50 people ahead of me - guess everyone else wanted to go before work too. Sadly, the polling place where I went only had one electronic booth and the box for the manual ballots was having technical difficulties - yes the manual box was having technical difficulties. It took me forever to get to the front of the line, but I eventually made my selection and went on my merry way to work.

Gas Prices

I am so happy to see gas prices continue to come down. Yesterday, the price at the gas station near my work was $2.59 per gallon. That was a $0.10 drop from the day before. Unfortunately, I fill up when it was $2.69, but I was happy to pay that amount considering some of the prices we had been paying lately. I just hope they continue to drop for a little while longer.

Puppies

My mother is about to have a puppy explosion. She has a pair of Yorkies and a pair of Blue Lacey's that are about to be parents. Her Yorkies are due this Saturday and the Lacey's are due just before Thanksgiving. My parents house is already like a miniature zoo, so I can't imagine how chaotic it will be once the puppies are born. They already have 6 dogs, 2 coyotes, and 2 amazon parrots. And, yes, I did say coyotes. My dad is a surveyor and they found them abandoned by the mother on a job several years ago. My parents raised them as if they were dogs and now they don't leave. They have tried to let them go in the wild, but they always come back. They have even had a couple of litters of pups at my parents home.

On a personal note, I would love to have one of the Yorkies. They are so adorable. I got one of the pups from my mothers very first litter almost 20 years ago and our little Munchkin was with us for 13 years. When we brought her home she was so small she fit in my husbands shirt pocket and never got over 5 pounds. Going home for Thanksgiving should be very interesting - especially adding my two monsters to the mix!

Glasses in the Freezer

When got my glasses with transition lenses a few years ago, the tech told me to go home and put them in the freezer overnight. When he told me that I that he was playing a prank on me, but I did it anyway. About a year later my hubby got new glasses with the transition lenses and they did not tell him to put them in the freezer. We followed their instructions thinking they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately after about a year the film on his glasses began to peel. It was so bad it was in his line of vision. Of course they started peeling after the 1 year warranty expired. I have been wearing the same pair of glasses since 2005 and have not had any issues with the film peeling. The only thing done differently with the two pair is that mine spent a night in the freezer before being worn. We both use the same cleaning solution and cloths so that could not have caused the difference. When I mentioned this to the techs a the glasses place they didn't say we should put them in the freezer, but they didn't say we shouldn't. Actually I think they were trying to determine if I was joking. Needless to say, the pair we purchased today is spending a night in the freezer before getting worn! They are way too expensive to risk having them start to peel so soon.

How do you know?

I have a question that has been bugging me for a while and I have not been able to come up with the answer, so hopefully some of you can help me with the dilemma. Career wise, how does a person know they are doing what they are supposed to be doing? Some people say they just know and others say they feel lucky to be paid for what they are doing. But how did they know that was what they wanted to do? Did they always know or did they stumble in to it? Or perhaps they woke up one morning and decided that was what they were going to do.

Hands

I loved my grandmother (I called her Nan) dearly and was always intrigued by her hands. She did not have feminine hands, but they were not masculine either. She had hands that showed she had to work hard in her life. My hands have always looked like my grandmother's hands; however, I have not had to work near as hard in my life as she did in hers. When I was coming home from the hardware store today, I looked down at my hands and arms only to notice that I also have her arms. Not very feminine, splotchy, and scarred. A part of me was a little sad that my arms are not more attractive, but a part of me is proud that I have the "McCoy" arms.

Fire

Today there was a fire in our building. Thankfully it was at the other end, but it still is a little unsettling. The apartment management at first did not even try to evacuate the building. They tried to pass it off as sprinkler issue. When the fire department finally showed up, everyone was evacuated. I am so thankful that the hubby was home. He was able to keep the dogs calm and get them outside. I can't even imagine how scared they must have been with the alarms going off and everyone running around like crazy. To make it even crazier, it decided it was time to start pouring rain just as everyone was being evacuated.

This type of thing always makes me think about all of the things I would like to get out should this happen. I know realistically that there would never be time to get everything I would want out of the apartment. I guess as long as my husband and my "babies" are safe, everything else doesn't matter - although some of it could never be replaced.

I'm Ready for Winter

I can't believe this heat. The thermometer on my patio only read 96, but it felt much hotter than that. I have lived in Texas all my life, but I never seem to get used to the heat. In fact, I get less tolerant of it as I get older. I barely spent 10 minutes outside and I was ready to retreat to the comfort of my AC. The first official day of Summer isn't even here yet!

We have talked for years about moving out of Texas to a cooler climate, but honestly I don't see that happening. We are now talking about buying a home and I am trying to complete my master's degree; that will keep us here for several more years.

How come summer never felt this hot when we were kids? We used to run around bare foot in the sand and spend all day outside. We never once thought about going inside to the AC.

Since mother nature is not going to give me a break, I guess I better just suck it up and learn how to deal with the heat.

p.s. - Bitemeez has been repaired and Abbie has definitely been giving him a workout.