71 posts tagged “life”

Turkey Day & Life Update

6 days ago
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I got to go home for Thanksgiving this year (unexpectedly)...it was a whirlwind trip, but I am SO glad I got to go. Monday was spent traveling for the most part and working in the afternoon. Then Monday night my mom and sister came up to meet me for dinner (I stayed up north because it would have been insanely silly to try to fight rush-hour traffic both ways since I had to be back up there Tuesday morning). Then Tuesday, I actually got done with the work stuff early which was great because it meant more time with my sister and nephew.

After that it was a blur of staying at my mom's and sister's houses, playing with my nephew, shopping for last minute fixings and hanging out with the rest of the family. My sister and I (and respective partners) all went in on getting my mom a new TV since hers is finally dying. Since I won't be home for Christmas we decided to give it to her on Thursday...it was awesome. :) We found a nice 32" at Costco for a fantastic deal.

We had dinner at my sisters with Mom and Nick's family all there. It was so fun to get to see Nick's mom and dad with Caleb. His dad was grinning ear to ear the entire evening! (He's a very serious sort of fella normally.) Traditional menu of turkey, stuffing, and cranberries. There were also carrots, green beans, asparagus, potatoes (mashed and scalloped), and a green salad. For desert, Nick's mom brought pecan pie and a berry pie. I don't do the pecan pie, but the berry pie was tasty.

Caleb has changed SO much in the past few months...he is smiling now, can sit up (mostly) on his own...he at least holds his head up now...and he is SO alert. He looks at whomever it talking in the room, will follow your finger if you point at something, etc. His eyes are the EXACT same color as my sister's - gorgeous steel grey-blue, but otherwise he looks mostly like his dad. I have tons of photos to sort through so those will be coming later. He is also starting to teeth! Poor guy. Amy went to wipe up some drool and he just started screaming. We think maybe she rubbed against his gums which hurt. However, he is easy to soothe and calmed right down once we got his cold teething ring to him.

Travel this time of year sucks...especially when having a 2+ hour layover in Dallas. But it was all well worth it. Now I am back home and today has been (and will continue to be) spent cleaning and doing laundry. Moo has an upset stomach (was up barfing all night), so later I have to go out and buy more carpet cleaner. I think maybe the kennel gave them special Thanksgiving treats - there were bits of bone in the barf. I am going to talk to them when I drop her off for my overnight trip this coming week and remind them that she doesn't get treats (other than do biscuits).

This coming Thursday morning she is going in for her knee surgery. I am still unsure whether or not I will be making the Christmas trip to New Orleans...but really, after being away this week, Moo being relatively fresh out of surgery, and with upcoming work travel, I am not too bummed about it. With next year being Neil's year with Chloe which means a big, chaotic family Christmas, I am really OK with staying home and having a quiet Christmas by myself this year (which I had been under the impression was the plan all along - the staying home for a quiet Christmas part - until the trip got dropped on me). Traveling and staying in a place other than my own house and bed instantly removes the "quiet" part of anything for me even if there is no additional family involved. Dealing with airlines and packing and hauling dogs to and from the kennel and then having to come home and do laundry from the trip, clean the house from having two bored cats cooped up in it, etc. There is nothing restful or quiet about any of that. *sigh*

Speaking of cleaning - time to get back to cleaning out the fridge. Some lettuce went bad and stank up the whole thing...which got me scrubbing. Once that is done it will be time to vacuum and scrub floors and then bathrooms. Whhheeee! Oh, and more laundry, of course.

"Blah blah blah, Ginger."

Nov 12, 2009
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(If you're wondering about the subject line...go look up Gary Larson's Far Side comic about what dogs hear.) :)

Not much new happening here - yesterday was Veteran's Day, as you all probably know...it is a new "paid holiday" for us which was strange. I did end up doing a tiny bit of work, but then spent the rest of the day watching movies and doing laundry.

Last night Neil took me out to a Spanish tapas place. The food was great, but I think all the staff was on heroin. No one was talking to each other, the guy who sat us looked annoyed that there were people there he had to deal with...you know, those pesky customers and all! And you'd think for a place that makes its money selling small portions/plates of food they would check back regularly to see what else they could bring out...but no. That was not the case here, unless of course you were the two, blonde thirty-something females at the table behind us. I'm guessing we won't be back since there are plenty of other places with great food and matching service that are easier to get to.

Work is...work. Lots of travel through the end of the year. Lots of change. Lots of people stressing out. Eh, it pays the bills. Right now I hesitate to move to any other team because who knows what is going to get reorged after the first of the year. Right now, I figure better safe than sorry, even if it is a lot of travel. And today I finally wrapped up my portion of a huge project, so that feels good. Now tomorrow I just have to do some second level file reviews for a couple team members and sit through a couple con calls before the weekend is finally here.

The doing laundry part (from above) was largely washing clothes that had been sorted into piles for organizing that the cats had decided to pee on. Not sure what is up with that, but it all got a good soaking in enzyme odor remover and washed. And now I have learned to only organize what I can get put away the same day.

I am almost done going through all my clothing. I have t-shirts, shorts, and sweaters left. And then a huge trip to Goodwill to drop off all the excess. It feels good to get it all cleaned out, if not a bit depressing when looking how much I am getting rid of. However, if I am to be realistic, they are items I will never wear...ever. Or they are items that I simply will never fit into comfortably again, no matter how much weight I loose.

Both dogs seem to have gotten past whatever made them runny yesterday which is good. Now if this weather would just move along...the post-Ida dreariness is getting old. I feel like I am back in the Northwest again!

I have nothing else to report. Just plugging away at life, one day at a time.

Almost there...

Sep 2, 2009
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My refi is scheduled to close on the 21st. Yay! After hearing the horror story behind a friend's recent refi, I did make sure they did the escrows correctly. I shouldn't have to bring much (if anything) to closing. The best part is that the internal service we use sends a notary to my home with the docs to be signed!

OP is a total snuggle-cat. If I am watching TV, he is in my lap snuggling. If I am working in the office, he is either in my lap or in the chair smushed up behind me....snuggling. At night, I find him wedged either between me and Neil or if he isn't here, between me and the Moo. I do also catch him romping with Bonnie, which is good. I imagine my being gone for a week will have him be extra snuggly when I return! (I do have folks checking in on the kitties while I am away...)

I might get to go away for Christmas... Part of me is excited to see someplace new. The other part of me really just wants to stay home with the pups and hang out. Especially since it looks like I have more travel coming up again this next quarter. I am torn.

OK time for one last phone interview and then I am done with this branch...whhhheeeeeee!

OP & other stuff

Aug 3, 2009
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OP seems to be settling right in. He still avoids the dogs and they are still very interested in him. Bonnie seems to be getting better about his being here...there is less hissing on her part and a lot more curiosity. He is also getting much braver. He spends most of the day hanging out in the cat tree, or on the guest bed, or on the window sill in that room...but in this morning he was brave enough to come snuggle in bed with me for a bit. And in the evenings I think he also ventures out when the other animals have calmed down for the day.

In other news - I got an email today from Turbine (parent company for LOTR Online). I have been trying for months to cancel my game subscription with them and finally lost it when I got charged for another 3 months. I sent them an email via their online form almost 3 weeks ago. Almost two weeks ago I finally got my account cancelled on my own and when completing their exit survey, left comments about the process and my anger and the fact that I will never play another game of theirs again. The email from them today states that the quarterly billing was credited back to my account (should show up in the next day or two) and that my account has been cancelled. I have no idea if this is in response to my angry exit survey or the initial request for help in canceling my account...whatever the case, I am glad I was reimbursed the money. Though, I will still likely never subscribe to a game of theirs again.

Now I am getting ready to call in my employee application for refinancing my mortgage. It won't lower my monthly payment by tons, but it will move me to a 30yr fixed rate mortgage and out of my 7/1 ARM. At least then I will have peace of mind that it won't ever go up.

TGIF (girly stuff below)

Jul 31, 2009
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This week has been an off one for me. I switched to new pills a few months ago (the generic version of Seasonale) which has been going quite fabulously for me, except this week was my first period after being on them and it seems my body doesn't quite know what to do with itself. Massive cramps, severe headaches, intensely sore muscles and general ickyness...bah. The thing is, I am not sure that the headaches and muscle aches are even related. The weather here has been stormy and rainy which is causing more things to grow and bloom and make evil pollen. It could just be allergy sinuses adding into the mix. Who knows.

OP has decided that Neil and I are both OK. He ventured out of the guest room for quite awhile last night. He seemed to particularly enjoy being up on the dining room table...I imagine that is because it is mostly out of reach of dogs. Bonnie still doesn't quite know what to make of him, but she is much less afraid of him now - this morning she walked right up to him, hissed, swatted him once on the head and then walked away. Poor guy. What a welcoming committee, huh? He has hissed and swatted at the dogs, but he didn't use his claws...overall he is a wonderful cat and I can't wait until he gets even more comfortable around here. Eventually his newness will wear off and the dogs won't accost him every time they see him...but until then, he is eating well, uses his litter box and the scratching posts, and comes out for love and snuggling when we call him. That makes me happy!

The Slow Food dinner last night was really good...the lady from Slow Food Charlotte that was putting it on was annoying. And then there were other speakers - some guy who said he was a motivational speaker went on and on for about 15 minutes (I have no idea what he had to do with Slow Food or the dinner or any of it) and then some other lady got up and was asking for donations for her breast cancer awareness group (I won't even go into the ignorant comment the Slow Food lady made about men on this topic). And while I think that cancer is always a good cause, again, not what I signed up for when I decided to come to the Slow Food dinner. I get really annoyed when people use an event to push a bunch of unrelated causes or services on the attendees. Then again, I also have my own views on why the idea of Slow Food/buying local is good, but they are not really the accepted publicity reasons...so maybe I am just not getting the point/need for the additional folks. I will have to write another post about food sometime soon, though...

This weekend, to my knowledge, we have no plans. I can't remember the last time Neil and I had a WHOLE weekend together with nothing pre-set to do. It should be nice, but knowing us, we will probably be bored by tomorrow at lunch time and need to go out and find something to do. LOL At least we can do that without having to worry about being some other place later in the day.

OK time for me to get back to my project work...soon it will be time for our weekly team conference call. Joy.

OP Update & Other Stuff

Jul 30, 2009
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Last night the need for love and snuggles finally won out. I got to spend some time hanging out with the sweet boy. He is a lover! Petting and holding and snuggling seem to be the best things in the world (next to canned food). He got brave and explored the room...I think he even attempted to come out of the room a few times last night, but was immediately accosted by two very curious dogs.

Bonnie goes in there and hangs out with him...not too close, but not as wary as before, either. I think once the dogs lose some intensity to their interest in him, he will come right out. He is still not too sure what to make of Neil. That will come too, though.

Tonight Neil is taking me to our favorite Italian restaurant. They are hosting a dinner by (for?) Slow Food of Charlotte. The dinner will be made with local foods (meats, veggies, and I think even cheeses). I forget exactly what the menu is, but it doesn't really matter since everything their chefs make is good!

Monday night we will be back there for a wine tasting/pairing dinner. I am not into wine much, but the menu looked divine and a couple good friends whom I never get to see will be there too (along with some of Neil's other friends). Twice in less than a week...I must have done something that the universe likes!

Right now I am off to take Neil into the office so we will just have one car later tonight when we head to dinner. Then it is back here and back to work on my project stuff. (Work project stuff, not house project stuff...unfortunately.) Maybe OP will venture out of his room this afternoon while the dogs are napping.

Vacation & Independence Day

Jul 6, 2009
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The time off last week was much needed and wonderful! The best part was that we really didn't do much of anything. The plumber came Wednesday and fixed the exterior faucet/pipe leak - can I tell you how awesome it is to finally have a hose on that side of the house again???

Thursday we sort of puttered around - I think it was Thursday that we got some pressure washing of the porch and front walkway done...and then the washer ran out of gas. I also got some Sevin dust sprinkled on my crape myrtles to deal with the bad Japanese beetle problem. Later we went into town and did a little shopping for random things (like a new hose for the new outside faucet!) and a headphone amp for Neil. Friday there was a BBQ at Neil's house - much fun was had, and WAY too much alcohol was consumed by moi. Seriously, maybe I was thinking I was 21 all over again or something? At any rate, that ended poorly in the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday, we really lounged around and did a lot of nothing. Neil was tired from entertaining and (I am sure) taking care of me and just generally being up so late. And I was hungover like I haven't been in a long, long time. I did see some fireworks when I took dogs out for their night-time potty breaks...Sadie is totally freaked out by them and wouldn't even go outside at one point (Bandit is also terrified by them, I discovered). Moo, however, didn't seem at all phased by them. Thunder makes her much more upset. She just sort of looked in the direction of the noise and then continued about her business. I think the thunder scares her because it doesn't seem to come from any one point...it is just sudden loudness all around.

Yesterday I was pretty productive. I got the overspray from the pressure washer rinsed off the front door and siding. I watered plants. I flicked more beetles off the vitex (I didn't use the Sevin dust on it because I wasn't sure if it would also kill the bees which are VERY happy with the flowers on that bush!) I scrubbed down my BBQ and sprayed bug spray in the propane tank cabinet where it was scary. I also dismantled the dog crate that was in my bedroom that never got used and then vacuumed the whole house. And I sprayed the inside of the wall and underneath the base of the wall board in the garage with bleach water where the leak had been.

Today, I have to get away from posting here and go do some actual work stuff...I have to prepare for my trip tomorrow morning (WAY too early a flight, but it saves me from being gone two nights). I have a couple con calls today and I also need to clean out my closets and dresser to get everything put away that had been piled on top of the old dog crate so I can find the things I need to pack. Heh. Oh, and laundry. That seems to be a given, though.

Less angry...

May 2, 2009
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I finally feel a little more under control today. Of course, now I am under the gun for getting the house cleaned up and all the random little unfinished projects I have around here done before my mom comes to visit in a week. Ha! I did get the HVAC filters changed this morning...maybe this afternoon I will drag the ladder back out and get the burned out light bulbs changed in the kitchen. (Stupid vaulted ceilings...)

Really, after that it is simply a matter of laundry and some Spring cleaning. I need to wash all the guest linens and get that room thoroughly vacuumed and dusted. The rest of the house needs the same. Luckily, I am doing a local review next week so I will have evenings to work on it all.

Oh, and next weekend I will finally get my bathroom ceiling painted and get everything hung back up in there. Right now I am going to go find myself some lunch.

Dalmatian!

Apr 30, 2009
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Sadie and Moo might be getting a new friend! (And no, I am not getting another dog.) Heh. My neighbor said that they might be bringing home a stray tonight. A very sweet, neutered, male Dalmatian who is about a year old from what anyone can guess. He has been staying with a lady who lives next door to G's office. She was so worried that the pup would get hit by a car that she has him tied up on her back patio. The patio is outfitted with a nice dog bed, plenty of running room and such...she has two dogs of her own and can't keep this guy. She found him wandering around by the street about a week ago and took him in, put signs up, the works. Everyone agrees that he obviously belonged to someone - he is neutered, he obeys commands, and likes people. Tommy has a friend checking with the local Dalmatian rescue people to see if anyone has reported one missing and tomorrow they will take him to the local vet to see if he is micro-chipped.

I am excited...if he does end up staying (which he will unless they find his owners), Moo will have someone around her own age to play with. It will also give me an idea of what it would be like to have a third dog around. Yeah, I have already offered to doggy-sit if they have to go away over a weekend or some week when I am home. I am also happy for Tommy because he has really been missing having a dog around. His golden ret. passed about six years ago now and since then he has been really busy with working and travel up until this past year or so where now he only works a couple days a week (hairstylist) and is home.

This also gives me a tiny glimmer of hope that Clyde and Mr. M may have simply found new homes...some animal lover saw them and took them in to keep them safe. *sigh* Clyde maybe...Mr M, I just don't think so. Anyway...that is the excitement of the day. I have a conference call in about 25 minutes and then I am going to go lay on the couch and wait for my body to stop torturing me.

Fitness, to-do lists, and other random stuff...

Mar 23, 2009
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I have joined our company "Spring into Wellness" challenge. The goal is to hit 100 miles of walking between the first day of Spring and the first day of Summer. While I don't expect to actually reach 100 miles, I am going to use the treadmill every day that I am not on the road between now and then. Rather than miles, I am aiming for time - I figure additional miles will tack themselves on as I get into better shape.

In addition, I have decided curb my soda intake between now and mid-May when my mom comes to visit, along with other "junk" food. We'll see how it all goes. All I know is that I desperately need to shed some pounds.

To-Dos:

finish painting master bathroom (ceiling)
dismantle crate in master bedroom
hang art
change HVAC filters & light bulbs
trim shrubs
fertilize trees & shrubs
weed & feed grass
top seed front yards
finish spreading red rock in front bed
mow back yard/get estimates for lawn service (need someone to take care of top of hill and not destroy house siding with edger)
get edging down along side of house
install solar garden lights
install citronella torches by patio
put out bird feeders

Finances...I need to save up to buy a ticket home to see my sister this fall after the baby is here! I also need to put aside some cash for rock for the yard. Oh, and I need an oil change/tune-up on the truck and possibly brakes. And I have credit card debt to pay off...the truck to payoff...it just seems never-ending. The current events of the country make me worry about the debt I have. I am single and live on my income alone. Overall, I do pretty well for myself, but projects on the house helped feed the debt (along with my fondness for electronics). *sigh* I have no one to blame but myself...given time it will all get paid off. The worrisome part is that though I make my payments on time for everything (and yes, I pay more than the minimum on my cards), financial companies are doing insane things right now...like demanding payment in full. If I had that, there wouldn't be a balance in the first place. And so I worry. And I compound the worry with the fact that I work for a major financial institution and if things go badly, I don't know if or how it might affect my employment status. (And here most folks worry that they might loose their jobs and then not be able to pay bills....how did I get so backwards?) The reality of it all is that nothing will probably happen, but I will not be rocking the yard this year, I will indeed be squirreling away cash, and I will continue to worry. Because I wouldn't be me if I weren't fretting severely about something or other.