I've been doing a little brainstorming and have come up with a couple of different "theme" posts that I'm going to try from time to time. I will not claim that they are original ideas, because we are truly to the point that it seems as if there is nothing "original" anymore. Well, I shouldn't say that, because certain actions involving a lemon, an umbrella and two members of the Blue Man Group might sill be original - chances are, though, that those actions are also illegal, immoral, and/or sacrilegious.
Back on task now. I don't think that I'm going to reveal the topics just yet because if I list something and then don't post it in a reasonable amount of time I get to feeling all guilty and obligated and that's not what I'm looking for. What I will tell you though is that I'm sure the new stuff I anticipate posting is just as interesting as all of my other ramblings (and you are free to take that exactly as you choose!)
If I posted yesterday I would have said that, although it's been among my busiest times ever at work, I've been exceedingly happy. Content, even. Very pleased with where I am in most aspects of my life. The kids are good, the hubs is good, the house hasn't fallen down around our ears, and even the dogs have been as good as three big dogs can be. You know the times in your life when you haven't really felt like "you"? Well here lately I've really felt like "me" and I must say that I'm digging it.
Work today kicked my arse. I seem to have fallen into the "It needs done so I'll do it" trap and I've been tres busy. My friend/colleague Joe told me that he really likes one of Harry S. Truman's quotes that I'm keeping as my motto: It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. I've even been getting some credit lately, so I don't even know why I'm stressing. Still, it would be nice if I could get someone else to help out with the after-hours stuff that comes up....
It occurs to me that I accomplished one of my "4 Little Goals" and was supposed to give myself some sort of reward, which I have failed to do. I'm thinking that some decent saddlebags for the motorcycle would be something that I both want and, at this point, I'm starting to need. Perhaps I will order them tomorrow.
In closing, please remember that although people in glass houses should not throw stones, they also should not pick their butts. Or their nose. Or their butt's nose. Wait.....
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
I Was Almost Kilt
Is this not the biggest, ugliest spider that you ever did see? Sure, it comes across as super-huge because I zoomed in and cropped it so you could see its beady eyes and gigantor fangs, but it was almost this big in real life! Don't worry though, because I kilt it before it kilt me. Survival of the fittest, baby, or at least the one with opposable thumbs, a flyswatter and a chair.....
I first noticed this bad boy (let's call him BBS for "Big Bad Spider") scampering across the living room carpeting. Charlie Boxer also noticed him and was immediately intrigued, so much so that he attempted to intercept BBS in his travels. BBS, apparently not as interested in Charlie Boxer as Charlie Boxer was in him, hurried under the entertainment center in an attempt to wait us out. Charlie Boxer and I feigned indifference and a few minutes later BBS re-emerged, this time climbing up the living room wall. Before I could arm myself with my trusty yellow plastic instrument o' death he climbed to the juncture of the wall and the ceiling, where he appeared to silently taunt me to "Bring it on."
Never one to back down from an arachnid, I put Charlie Boxer on guard duty while I obtained the necessary elevation equipment (which in this case was the computer chair from the next room). I carefully climbed upon the chair, then, stepping onto the entertainment center for additional leverage, I struck.
I cannot claim a direct blow to BBS, but I either stunned him or scared him sufficiently that he fell to the floor. As BBS limped around behind the entertainment center I tracked his movements and, when the opportunity presented itself, I dealt the lethal blow. Victorious, I scooped BBS onto the flyswatter and gave him a proper burial at sea.
Mad props go out to my assistant, Charlie Boxer, for his steely-eyed courage in the face of this challenge. Good boy Charlie!
30 Days of Me - Day 9
*Sigh* I've decided that I'm just going to have to clean up the prompts before I can even respond to them from now on. Ergo, "something youre proud of in the past few days" will become "Post something that you accomplished last week that made you proud." I'm not no grammarmatarian, but really? Okay, I'm over it. It shan't be mentioned again.
I'm proud of the fact that I've been in an accomplishing sort of mood at home. Remember the messy craft room/office from Day 4? It is almost completely transformed and you can even see most of the floor. I also crossed off everything but one task on my "To Do" list for yesterday (before noon) and even cleaned out and purged the upstairs storage area, a goal that I posted on Day 8 to be done sometime in the month of September! I had six or seven bags to drop off at the GW Boutique, a big stack of garbage and even collected some craft supplies and magazines to drop off for my sister-in-law. I was on it.
It seems as though I run through cycles in doing housework - in a given week I can either kick butt getting stuff done or do almost nothing - and there does not seem to be rhyme nor reason to which it is. I'm lucky in that Shad is very good about keeping up with the house as well and the kids, if reminded, will usually pitch in.
***I'm having a hard time deciding if the "30 Days of Me" posts should be separate from my general posts or if I should just put everything for the day into the same post. For now, just so you know, I think I'm going to keep the "30 Days" separate. Maybe you don't care about reading my answers to these poorly-worded prompts (I know, I know, I said I wouldn't mention it again.....) and just want to read my day-to-day ramblings or, conversely, maybe you don't care about my general drivel but have the burning desire to see "pictures of a place I been to". Either way, separate posts. Sallright? Sallright.)
I'm proud of the fact that I've been in an accomplishing sort of mood at home. Remember the messy craft room/office from Day 4? It is almost completely transformed and you can even see most of the floor. I also crossed off everything but one task on my "To Do" list for yesterday (before noon) and even cleaned out and purged the upstairs storage area, a goal that I posted on Day 8 to be done sometime in the month of September! I had six or seven bags to drop off at the GW Boutique, a big stack of garbage and even collected some craft supplies and magazines to drop off for my sister-in-law. I was on it.
It seems as though I run through cycles in doing housework - in a given week I can either kick butt getting stuff done or do almost nothing - and there does not seem to be rhyme nor reason to which it is. I'm lucky in that Shad is very good about keeping up with the house as well and the kids, if reminded, will usually pitch in.
***I'm having a hard time deciding if the "30 Days of Me" posts should be separate from my general posts or if I should just put everything for the day into the same post. For now, just so you know, I think I'm going to keep the "30 Days" separate. Maybe you don't care about reading my answers to these poorly-worded prompts (I know, I know, I said I wouldn't mention it again.....) and just want to read my day-to-day ramblings or, conversely, maybe you don't care about my general drivel but have the burning desire to see "pictures of a place I been to". Either way, separate posts. Sallright? Sallright.)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Almost Caught Up!
In one of yesterday's posts I said that I would come back and write about Friday, which for some strange reason was "Appreciate Susan" day, not to brag or to puff myself up (like I need to be any more puffier!) but so I can re-read this post on the much more frequent "Bury Susan Under Piles of Crap" days.
It started fairly early in my day when my boss came in and laid something on my desk. I thought it was just a memo and didn't look at it right away, but when I did I found that it was a letter to my boss from one of the people from another agency that I work with quite a bit. The letter writer told my boss that he thought I was a credit to our company and that I was always helpful and attentive. For those of you that know what I do for a living, you can probably guess that I get a lot more complaints than compliments (it's kind of the nature of the work). For those of you who don't know what I do for a living, well, I get a lot more complaints than compliments. Now we're all on the same page. :)
I had also been sending messages back and forth with one of my high school friends about a situation that he is dealing with that is loosely related to what I do. While I couldn't help him, I was able to point him in the direction of some people that I am confident can see him through. At the end of our "conversation" he sent "Thanks Susie ('cuz that's what I went by in high school) you're the best." Actually, it might have been "your" rather than "you're" but I'm sure that we all know what he was getting at. And I know that rather than making "thank you" a throw-away statement as people so often do, he really meant it. It was nice.
Later Friday afternoon I got an out-of-the-blue from a new employee at one of the agencies that my office works with. He called just to introduce himself and as we chit-chatted he told me that he's good friends with someone at yet another agency we work with and that his friend had suggested that the caller make the introductory call. The caller's friend also said that I was the person to talk to in our agency if the caller needed anything. I really appreciated that the caller's friend thought enough of me to say that I was "the one to call" at our agency.
I will say that I earned the last segment in "Appreciate Susan" day, but it was still a good way to cap off my day. I had done some work for a company Friday afternoon and knew that there was a chance that I would have to do some additional work as the day went on. It was also the first high school football game of the season and, because Mal is a rah-rah * <) * (pom, megaphone, pom), we were looking forward to the game. The game was, wouldn't you know it, an away game at a town about an hour away. Just as I half-way expected, I got a call with about 7 minutes left in the first quarter that the company needed some additional work done. They tried to call one of my co-workers, who was unavailable, and my boss, who didn't answer, so it was kinda down to me. (Not that I was a last resort or anything but I had warned them that I would be out of town when we met that afternoon.) It was something that couldn't be done over the phone and had to be done in consultation with someone else, too, so after the game Shad and I headed back to town and he dropped me off at work at about 10:00 p.m. By the time I met with the first guy and we met with the second guy together, it was almost midnight on what had been a really long day (remember that Shad and I had made that errant trip to Chicago the night before so I was functioning on about four hours of sleep). Before we parted company, though, the first guy said, "Thanks Suz, you're the coolest." I mean, he's right because I had spend a good portion of my afternoon and late evening on this project, but it was still very nice to hear. It was even better when I found out that our extra work had doubled that day's returns for the company!
I hope that I'm pretty good about acknowledging my appreciation for the people in my life, both personally and professionally. You never know when a sincere "thank you" or a good word passed along will make someone's day, so I'm going to try to be better about taking a minute to express my gratitude to others. As there is no time like the present to begin, I would like to say "thank you" for taking a minute out of your day to read about mine (complete with all the parentheses, ellipses and commas you can handle!). You're the coolest!
It started fairly early in my day when my boss came in and laid something on my desk. I thought it was just a memo and didn't look at it right away, but when I did I found that it was a letter to my boss from one of the people from another agency that I work with quite a bit. The letter writer told my boss that he thought I was a credit to our company and that I was always helpful and attentive. For those of you that know what I do for a living, you can probably guess that I get a lot more complaints than compliments (it's kind of the nature of the work). For those of you who don't know what I do for a living, well, I get a lot more complaints than compliments. Now we're all on the same page. :)
I had also been sending messages back and forth with one of my high school friends about a situation that he is dealing with that is loosely related to what I do. While I couldn't help him, I was able to point him in the direction of some people that I am confident can see him through. At the end of our "conversation" he sent "Thanks Susie ('cuz that's what I went by in high school) you're the best." Actually, it might have been "your" rather than "you're" but I'm sure that we all know what he was getting at. And I know that rather than making "thank you" a throw-away statement as people so often do, he really meant it. It was nice.
Later Friday afternoon I got an out-of-the-blue from a new employee at one of the agencies that my office works with. He called just to introduce himself and as we chit-chatted he told me that he's good friends with someone at yet another agency we work with and that his friend had suggested that the caller make the introductory call. The caller's friend also said that I was the person to talk to in our agency if the caller needed anything. I really appreciated that the caller's friend thought enough of me to say that I was "the one to call" at our agency.
I will say that I earned the last segment in "Appreciate Susan" day, but it was still a good way to cap off my day. I had done some work for a company Friday afternoon and knew that there was a chance that I would have to do some additional work as the day went on. It was also the first high school football game of the season and, because Mal is a rah-rah * <) * (pom, megaphone, pom), we were looking forward to the game. The game was, wouldn't you know it, an away game at a town about an hour away. Just as I half-way expected, I got a call with about 7 minutes left in the first quarter that the company needed some additional work done. They tried to call one of my co-workers, who was unavailable, and my boss, who didn't answer, so it was kinda down to me. (Not that I was a last resort or anything but I had warned them that I would be out of town when we met that afternoon.) It was something that couldn't be done over the phone and had to be done in consultation with someone else, too, so after the game Shad and I headed back to town and he dropped me off at work at about 10:00 p.m. By the time I met with the first guy and we met with the second guy together, it was almost midnight on what had been a really long day (remember that Shad and I had made that errant trip to Chicago the night before so I was functioning on about four hours of sleep). Before we parted company, though, the first guy said, "Thanks Suz, you're the coolest." I mean, he's right because I had spend a good portion of my afternoon and late evening on this project, but it was still very nice to hear. It was even better when I found out that our extra work had doubled that day's returns for the company!
I hope that I'm pretty good about acknowledging my appreciation for the people in my life, both personally and professionally. You never know when a sincere "thank you" or a good word passed along will make someone's day, so I'm going to try to be better about taking a minute to express my gratitude to others. As there is no time like the present to begin, I would like to say "thank you" for taking a minute out of your day to read about mine (complete with all the parentheses, ellipses and commas you can handle!). You're the coolest!
30 Days of Me - Day 8
I must start by saying that I do not like this mini-trend that I've been on lately of getting up entirely too early. Of course, it only seems to happen on the weekends and it seems to be getting earlier and earlier. One might assume because I have noticed that this is going on I would alter my bedtime accordingly to ensure that I still get enough sleep. Oh hahahahahaha. Anyone ever tell you what "assume" stands for? Yeah, because I'm apparently not that smart so instead I stayed up until a little after 2:00 a.m. this morning doing housework only to wake up at 7:10. Anyway....
Today's prompt is "short term goals for this month and why." Before I get started on this I must say that I'm enjoying doing this little project, but I really wish whoever started it would have phrased the prompts just a little better.
Now that that's out of my system, here are my short-term goals this month (and let's say that these are for September since we're so close now):
1. Finish the patchwork purse that I'm working on
2. Use more craft supplies than I buy :)
3. Walk at least twice per week
4. Clean out and purge the upstairs storage room
5. Hang curtains in upstairs hallway
6. Start my Biker Chic(k) Blog so that y'all don't have to listen to me go on and on about our motorcycle adventures if you don't want to ;)
I think that I'll stop there. Sure, why not. Sounds like a plan. (Technically, I guess it only sounds like a plan if you read "Sounds like a plan" or if you read the entire list out loud; otherwise, it probably read more like a plan. It does make me giggle, however, to think of you reading the list aloud - and for some reason in a very serious British accent - and saying "Why Susan, that does sound like a plan indeed." I'm pretty sure your pets/spouse/kids/dust bunnies would look at you weird......)
***Holy crap - I just did spell check and there were no misspellings found! That never happens! I even spelled "misspellings" right! I feel a good day coming on! And apparently a day that will be filled with exclamations!***
Today's prompt is "short term goals for this month and why." Before I get started on this I must say that I'm enjoying doing this little project, but I really wish whoever started it would have phrased the prompts just a little better.
Now that that's out of my system, here are my short-term goals this month (and let's say that these are for September since we're so close now):
1. Finish the patchwork purse that I'm working on
2. Use more craft supplies than I buy :)
3. Walk at least twice per week
4. Clean out and purge the upstairs storage room
5. Hang curtains in upstairs hallway
6. Start my Biker Chic(k) Blog so that y'all don't have to listen to me go on and on about our motorcycle adventures if you don't want to ;)
I think that I'll stop there. Sure, why not. Sounds like a plan. (Technically, I guess it only sounds like a plan if you read "Sounds like a plan" or if you read the entire list out loud; otherwise, it probably read more like a plan. It does make me giggle, however, to think of you reading the list aloud - and for some reason in a very serious British accent - and saying "Why Susan, that does sound like a plan indeed." I'm pretty sure your pets/spouse/kids/dust bunnies would look at you weird......)
***Holy crap - I just did spell check and there were no misspellings found! That never happens! I even spelled "misspellings" right! I feel a good day coming on! And apparently a day that will be filled with exclamations!***
Saturday, August 28, 2010
As Promised....Scrapbook Pages!
I've been scrapbooking for about....well, I guess for the last ten years or so. Some years I am definitely more prolific than others, and I'm so far behind that there is almost no hope that I'll be able to remember what event and what time frame the pictures are from, much less getting them scrapbooked. Still, I try, and there have been a few times that I've been pretty pleased with the results. Here are some of my favs -
These two are from this year's prom. Although Malorie was only a Sophomore, her boyfriend was a Senior and asked her to go. We found an adorable dress with sparkly Converse shoes that absolutely fit Malorie's personality to a "T" and, although there were two other girls with the same shoes, no one rocked them like Mal. The prom couple was super good about letting me and my VBF take pictures before promenade, so there is no shortage of really good shots. I think the top page does a pretty good job of catching the whole Prom 2010 experience, while "the" dress layout focuses in on Malorie's attire and the whole dress shopping experience.
Again, what I like most about this page is the sheer number of photos that I was able to fit on it to document Shad and my first trip to the City Museum in St. Louis. Since most of the pictures are of things, not people, I wasn't as worried about making sure that they were my usual 4x6 prints. I'm pretty happy with the hand-drawn borders for each picture, too.
While I generally like this layout of Andrew at the skate park, in hindsight I wish I wouldn't have added the hand-drawn elements. Oh well.
I love this page about how my sweetie tried to hang with the kids on the halfpipe.
This collage-style page details a trip that our family took to Nashville to hang out with Shad's friend Eric. I used both photographs and memorabilia on the black page along with free-form journaling in silver pen.
This is my most favorite page that I've done, ever. For once it seemed like everything came together for me - a great picture of Malorie that was taken during a spur-of-the-moment photo shoot, great color and an inspired title taken from Jason Mraz's song "Not So Usual."
I'll keep at it and try to come up with more pages to share!
These two are from this year's prom. Although Malorie was only a Sophomore, her boyfriend was a Senior and asked her to go. We found an adorable dress with sparkly Converse shoes that absolutely fit Malorie's personality to a "T" and, although there were two other girls with the same shoes, no one rocked them like Mal. The prom couple was super good about letting me and my VBF take pictures before promenade, so there is no shortage of really good shots. I think the top page does a pretty good job of catching the whole Prom 2010 experience, while "the" dress layout focuses in on Malorie's attire and the whole dress shopping experience.
Again, what I like most about this page is the sheer number of photos that I was able to fit on it to document Shad and my first trip to the City Museum in St. Louis. Since most of the pictures are of things, not people, I wasn't as worried about making sure that they were my usual 4x6 prints. I'm pretty happy with the hand-drawn borders for each picture, too.
While I generally like this layout of Andrew at the skate park, in hindsight I wish I wouldn't have added the hand-drawn elements. Oh well.
I love this page about how my sweetie tried to hang with the kids on the halfpipe.
This collage-style page details a trip that our family took to Nashville to hang out with Shad's friend Eric. I used both photographs and memorabilia on the black page along with free-form journaling in silver pen.
This is my most favorite page that I've done, ever. For once it seemed like everything came together for me - a great picture of Malorie that was taken during a spur-of-the-moment photo shoot, great color and an inspired title taken from Jason Mraz's song "Not So Usual."
I'll keep at it and try to come up with more pages to share!
So I Was Thinking....
I haven't really sent a lot of people the link to my blog. After my Day 7 post I was thinking that it might be nice to send the link to my mom so I was going through my old posts to make sure that there wasn't anything X-rated or wholly inappropriate. I think I kept it pretty clean but I did notice some misspellings and awkward turns of phrase that were just a little irritating, so I went back and edited my old posts. I don't know why it makes me feel weird that I did that or why I had the compulsive need to tell you about it, but it did and so now you know. Perhaps now you have incentive to go back and read the whole blog over again in an effort to spot the changes. No? Well I have no idea then.
I am going to send the link to mom. Hi mom! Love ya!
I am going to send the link to mom. Hi mom! Love ya!
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