finally this week is over!

boy, has it been a long week! i stayed on the phone for the majority of each workday. it's definitely budget season. we have had some weird stuff happen with some of the forms and reports. since i'm the first line of support, i have to take charge first and if i can't figure it out, i have to pass it on to my boss. fortunately most things are a quick fix.

the most time consuming part of my job is helping folks set up their user point of view for their reports. last year we found a way to help the users create pick lists for their locations. it's basically a one-time set up, but it's kind of confusing if you're not real familiar with the company structure. i wind up setting a lot of them up for folks and showing them a second time (sometimes a third or fourth time) how to run their reports. i don't mind so much as long as i don't have a flood of calls at once.

i'm there to help and i don't like having folks getting frustrated with something that they won't ever have to mess with again. it also gives me an opportunity to get to know them and see what's going on across the company. i talked to one really great guy from juneau ak. he informed me they had their 1st frost last night and that today they had beautiful sunny weather. if you know anything about juneau, you know it rains a lot. i told him they were going to have to figure out a way for me to come up there. i think i need to go put on a training session or two on up there...lol.

janelle and i are heading to erskine for college preview day. we have to be there at 10am. i want to leave around 7 even though it's only an hour and a half away. i want plenty of time to get there and have some buffer time in case we run into any traffic/detours, etc. in greenwood. we can always get a cup of coffee somewhere to waste some time.

on wednesday mom and i met with one of the kids on the yearbook committee to place senior ads for janelle. i had a hard time picking which pictures i wanted to put in my ad. i also went brain dead trying to come up with the copy to write. i finally was able to come up with something i liked. i hope she will like it too.

i'm sitting here listening to my itunes while i've been catching up on emails and blogging. right now gimme some truth by generation x is playing....some good ol' punk music from billy idol back in the day!

my most favorite band of all time has to be depeche mode. dave gahan's voice just drives me crazy sometimes. i fell in love with them when people are people came out in the 80's. i got to see them in concert in atlanta in the early 90's. a co-worker won tickets to the concert at lakewood amphitheater and couldn't go. she gave them to me. i went with a friend of mine and had a blast. i wish we could have gotten closer to the stage, but i was happy just being there. probably the song i like the most by them is strangelove. i can't explain why i like it so much, but i do. sometimes at work on my ipod i select artists > depeche mode and just immerse myself in their songs. i can get a lot of work done while listening to them. (side note: my big boss caught me jamming while i was listening to my ipod this week. i was chair-dancing and felt a presence behind me. i turned and he was standing there grinning at me. he said i was "getting down" and he hated to interrupt me...lol!)

well, i'm going to sign off now. i've got to catch up on my yahoo email.

kisses....

p.s. ROCK LOBSTER!!! love those b-52's!!!

i'm still here

just haven't been online to blog lately. i'll try to catch up here soon.

kisses....

getting closer to fish fry friday

at work there is a group of 4-5 of us who have this joke about fish fry fridays. there's this lady in our office who throws around the phrase that she's "got bigger fish to fry" than whatever issue we or someone else might be trying to get her to help with. well she basically works 4 10's and isn't in the office on fridays. we look forward to fridays b/c she is grumpy and bossy and we know we can cut up and have fun without being glared at when she's not around.

i can't remember who started it, but one time one of us sent an email out asking who was bringing the hushpuppies, coleslaw, tartar sauce, etc. then we started joking about who was going to keep the grease hot. and when the "fish fry" lady in our office is stomping around mad about something or at someone, we talk about the grease splattering up cause it is turned it up too high and someone wasn't watching it close enough. i don't think she's caught on to what we're saying. we try not to say anything around her b/c it's our own inside joke. one day she said "bigger fish to fry" in front of all of us and i couldn't look at anyone in the group b/c i knew i was going to bust out laughing. i just stared at the floor and bit the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing in her face. it was hilarious!

the other funny thing is we found out that cracker barrel has fish fry fridays!!!

kisses....

ronda rich totally rocks!

i had to post this before i went to bed tonight...

i got to talk to ronda rich on the phone today!! i am just beside myself with pure joy! y'all, she is probably one of my most favorite authors that i've ever read. she needed some help with some info and i was fortunate enough to be the one to help her.

it's really strange how things happen. the other day, laurie (aka crazy aunt purl) had linked to ronda rich's articles she had written for athens banner herald, which are posted on their website (back to 2003!!). i had talked to their controller and was grilling him on whether or not ronda came to the office. i went on and on about how i had already read 3 of her books and especially liked the one about her days in nascar. i had even petitioned to our hr department to have ronda as our motivational speaker for our last accounting managers' meeting (which we wound up not having).

well, greg forwarded me an email and asked if i could help. when i saw ronda rich's name on there, i about passed out! i called him immediately about it and he said he thought i might like to help out and could probably get the info for ronda quicker than he could. so i sent her an email because i needed further details to make sure i got what she needed.

when she called me, i know i was a goober and gushed telling her i loved her books. you know what is really weird....her voice sounded exactly the way i expected it to sound. i've never heard her speak or seen her on tv or anything like that. she has a very pretty sing-song southern voice that you expect us southern women to have. i could have talked to her forever. she is just so nice and down-to-earth. while we were talking, she received an email from the lady she had contacted at athens banner herald and it said one of her biggest fans was helping out with getting her info. i'm still grinning ear-to-ear about it!!

well, i've got to go now. y'all check out ronda rich...you won't regret it!!

kisses....

it's just another day, right?

i don't know why i dread mondays so much. it's just another day. it gets a bad rap from me sometimes. i think part of it is b/c i'm a little bit unhappy with my job right now and don't particularly like going to work. it's a busy time of the year for me, which is ok. i like busy. it makes the day go by much faster. i like looking up and it's 2:30 and i've got to still take a lunch. that means 3:30 i'm back from lunch, then 2 hours til time to go.

i'm tired of all the drama. we've got this one division that causes the most of the drama anymore. they can't get their kit together. we had yet another change with them. i think this is either change #4 or change #5. folks are blowing gaskets over these changes. basically b/c the guy who is in charge of this division isn't doing his job to make sure the info given to the various groups is correct. he "finds" it about a month after all the work has been done. he doesn't think it's a big deal. you know why? b/c he's not the one who is having to make the corrections. he just says "oops! my bad!" and there are no consequences for his actions. it's just so frustrating that someone higher up doesn't do something.

and for whatever reason, the database isn't quite like it was last year. there's problems with the headcount forecast and i'm trying to figure it out. and i'm being challenged when i'm bringing up the fact that the headcount data is wrong. i know what i see and i know what it should be.

tomorrow is going to be better. i've got stitch night and i'm ready to visit with all the ladies. i hope that donna is there tomorrow night so i can finally meet her face to face. ~~ waves to donna ~~

i went by my lys - in stitches - this weekend and bought baby alpaca brush by plymouth yarn. i made a basic beanie for my friend, tara. she found out i knit and asked me if i would please make her one. i started off with the lace beanie pattern from lionbrand. i wound up not doing the lace pattern b/c she needs it to be plain (long story i don't want to get into). so i cast on and did the rounds until i got the 88 stitches. then i knit in stockinette for 16 rows, followed by k2,p2 for 6 rounds to finish. i'm going to give it to frances to send to her. she's getting some stuff together to send a care package.

well, i'm going to go now. it's bedtime!

kisses....

in progress

here's some more of the diagonal ribbed sock i've been working on. last night i turned the heel and started on the gussett. i think it's moving along quite nicely. of course this is sock number 1. i've been very careful and try to make sure i pay attention to where i stop especially with the pattern.

here's another pic where you can (maybe) see the pattern a little bit better.

i knit a few rows at lunch time but was distracted by this....popcorn (my lunch) with dark chocolate m&m's added towards the end of the bag. if you like dark chocolate and haven't tried the dark chocolate m&m's, you should go out and buy some. we have this lady in our group who brings in a couple of bags a week. i think she's trying to keep on our good side or something. you can hear the tink-tink-tink as she fills up the candy bowl. then you hear the tink-tink-tink as people get some out. i try to resist, but it's hard some days especially when i'm stressing. i've got to get back on the no-candy bandwagon.... it's just so hard to resist that sweetness sometimes. :)

we're almost ready to open up the budget system for folks to use. my boss went through this little panicked phase for about an hour this morning and then she wanted to argue as to how data should be loaded. it's very frustrating b/c this is the 4th year we've used this system. we haven't added anything new to the system from last year to this year. i made some enhancements by alphabetizing some of the drop-down lists to make it easier to find things. she doesn't keep good records about how she does maintenance on the system, which is pretty scary. i keep stuff at least for a year so i can refer back to it. and she calls me unorganized....whatever!!

well, i'm going to go now. i have an early cleaning appointment with the dental hygienist. i've been having problems with the one tooth they worked on. it's been kind of achy. i hope a cavity hasn't developed! if it has, i blame it on the dark chocolate m&m's....lol.

kisses.....

sunday before 9-11

after i rolled out of bed around 12:30 today, i worked on the diagonal ribbed sock on and off through out the day. i finally got 8 inches done and set up for the heel. i almost started it, but i'm tired and don't want to make any mistakes. so far my gauge has been pretty good and the stitches are nice and even. i'll try to take a pic of it and post it soon.

i watched shows about 9-11 today. it's been 6 years since the terrorist attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon. it was an already stressful day at work. one of our co-workers was fired for insurance fraud. she had bragged to some folks about how she was getting prescriptions filled under her name for her boyfriend's son. someone turned her in and they fired her. we were all upset about what had happened with her and then we heard about the wtc buildings being hit.

i went over to chip's office b/c someone said he had a tv. there were some others in the office with him and we watched the video of the planes hitting the towers. we became even more concerned when we heard about the pentagon being hit. my boss, dianne, has a daughter who was working at the pentagon. dianne had been at home when the news came on about the pentagon. she kept trying to get in touch with her daughter to no avail. we were all relieved later on in the day when they finally spoke. all the cell phone signals were jammed with people trying to call their families.

the newspaper put out a special edition that afternoon. they sold out immediately. i've still got my copy in my desk. i still cry when i see the towers go down even though i didn't personally know of anyone killed. i remember laying on the couch crying as i watched the news reports through out the week. i could not imagine how the people felt who had family and friends trapped inside any of the buildings. the not knowing where they were would be so unbearable. the stories of the many heroes that day make me cry too. men and women who stepped up with no regard for themselves to take care of others. it makes me wonder what i would really do in a situation like that. i hope i would step up to the challenge.

i'm going to go now. it's going to be a hard week at work getting ready for the official opening of budget season.

kisses....

saturday review

janelle and i got up early saturday to head to columbia. she had an fbla meeting from 9 to 1:30. i hung out at starbucks and knit some on the diagonal ribbed socks. this is take 2 of the socks and i think they are moving along better this time. i'm more comfortable with the pattern and my gauge seems to be better. the pic is what i knit while i was in columbia. i've got about 4 1/2 - 5 inches now. the pattern calls for 8 inches and then start the heel.

we went to eat at a restaurant called unos in lexington. i got a baked potato and clam chowder. janelle got a deep dish individual pizza. it looked really good, but i know it wouldn't have agreed with me. i tasted a little bit of the crust. it was really good. when we got home around 4, i crashed and burned. i was so tired, it was all i could do to make it downstairs to my room. i slept until 6:30 or so and then got up in time to watch the richmond race with dad.

well, i'm going to go now. i'm tired still and need a good night's sleep.

kisses....

p.s. here's one of the goofy pics i took with my digital camera while i was waiting on janelle...lol

senior year and open house

this evening i went to the senior parents' meeting at janelle's school. as the speakers were talking and giving us lots of info, i was getting excited for janelle. she has been working on college applications and having me review them to make sure everything looks good. i want to schedule a visit with her to north greenville and check it out. we pretty much agreed that she would take the tour while i talked to the financial aid folks. my knee is not up to my walking around the school. now if they provide scooters or golf carts....

after the senior parents' meeting, we had open house. i got to meet all of janelle's teachers except for the weight lifting teacher. i like most of them. her english teacher has a lot of energy and she is very enthusiastic about getting the kids ready for the ap exams. there was one i didn't care for too much. she was kind of snooty and really didn't acknowledge me hardly at all. she was one of my brother's teachers and gave him a hard time. hopefully janelle won't have any problems with her. we haven't said anything to her about that teacher and my brother.

and i got to see mrs. s my art teacher. she is just as i remember her. she hasn't changed a bit. i told her i would come by and see her so we could visit. i'm going to take her some of my art work so she can see what i've been up to since the last time i saw her. i really miss her!!!

i tell you what...it about whooped me walking all over that school. i think i pushed myself too hard tonight. i was hurting on my right side...i'm sure from the gallbladder surgery. even though i feel good for the most part, i have to keep reminding myself that i had surgery 2 weeks ago. when i got home all i could do was collapse in my chair and just catch my breath for a few minutes. i took some otc pain reliever, which has kicked in. hopefully i'll sleep good tonight.

i see dr s tomorrow for follow up. just about all of my incisions have healed as well as the areas where i had reactions to the steri-strip adhesive. after i get the go-ahead from him, i'm going to call dr b and schedule the knee surgery for the end of november/first of december. i want it all done with one deductible this year. i've got all the other medical bills on a payment plan...might as well add the knee to the process.

work was so-so today. we had a meeting this afternoon about the status of the project. we've still got a ways to go. some miracles are needed. it's going to be piece-mill (sp) and i don't like that. i am running through my test scenarios again to see if some of the issues have been resolved, but not updated and closed. it's frustrating when the higher-ups don't seem to mind the end result not being 100% usable. work-arounds are going to be the catch phrase this year. i don't know if i shot myself in the foot, but i said i didn't feel comfortable enough to present it to the users as it is today. if i'm forced to do so, i will. i need my job. i keep reminding myself that i have been up against worse challenges. this will get better. i'm determined i will not let myself get emotional about this. when my day is done, i'm leaving b/c it will all be waiting for me the next day.

well, i'm going to go now. it's time for me to go to bed.

kisses....

labor day

i'm sitting here at home...doing nothing but surfing the web on labor day. i might pick up knitting the diagonoal ribbed socks, but haven't been in a real knitting mood lately.

here's some things that have recently rocked my (handknitted) socks:

• if you like cooking blogs, check out this one simply recipes food and cooking blog. elise and her family post some yummy recipes like this one: grilled bacon wrapped stuffed hot dogs! i am so ready to try this one!!!
• lime&violet have some really cool stuff on their blog. check out the project info cards they created. you can download and print the business card sized project cards to tuck in your wallet. this way you have info handy when you are at your lys when you stumble on a yarn sale and need to know how much yarn you need, etc. i think it's genius!
• ann wood has beautiful birds and ships that she makes. i'm in awe of her talent especially with the ships. i thought about her site when i went to see stardust. for some odd reason i didn't have her site bookmarked, but i finally found it again on craftzine.
• beverly makes me laugh. she lives in atlanta, just a couple of hours away from where i live. i've been reading her blog for a little over a month now. she is a southern girl so you've got to like her! :)

well, i'm going to go now. i haven't eaten anything yet to speak of since i rolled out of bed at 10:30. i'm thinking soft scrambled eggs with cheese and toast. yummy....

kisses...

this was supposed to be yesterday's entry...

i typed it at work and didn't log on last night to post it....

it's the friday before labor day. it is like a ghost town around here. in our group of 25-28 employees, there are maybe 8 of us here. i like it nice and quiet like this. no random cell phones ringing at theloudest volume...no curse words coming out of offices b/c the network is acting up (my boss)...no tink-tink-tink as the m&m bowl is filled up (saving me calories one day a week)..

i don't know what i'm going to wind up doing for the weekend other than maybe working on the diagonal ribbed sock pattern. as i said i wound up frogging it. i cast-on and knit the first row the other night. i don't know why, but i haven't been very focused about the knitting. i even left my knit bag at home today...very unusual for me as i take it everywhere. i think i've let myself get overwhelmed with work and my brain hurt so i didn't want to take a chance on messing up with my knitting.

last night janelle and i hung out, ate sushi, bruster's ice cream, and watched lifetime. i miss hanging out with her sometimes. she's at that age where it is more fun hanging with her friends than with her mom...lol. we watched still standing, reba, and white oleander. that was a pretty good movie. michelle pfeiffer was scary crazy! watch this movie if you haven't. i'm sure the lifetime channel will play it again.

we had control of the remote b/c mom and dad weren't at the house because they are at suzy's. my sister suzy was put in the hospital on wednesday b/c they believe she was having seizures and she became very disoriented. she had problems over the last several days with double vision in her right eye. that's the one that was operated on when she was about 5 b/c it was so severly crossed. they fixed it where she could see and she diligently wore glasses when we were growing up and improved her vision to close to perfect.

the doctors have ruled out that she has ms. they believe a lot of the complications are coming from her fibromyalgia. it has been flairing up a lot lately. they've been under tons of stress at her work and she's been having to work long hours. when she becomes exhausted and worn down, the fibromyalgia kicks into high gear and that in turn kicks in the ibs.

suzy can't win for losing sometimes. last month one of the kittens scratched her on the arm and she had to be treated for infection. the antibiotic they gave her caused her to have thrush ...actually very severe case of thrush. so she was dealing with that and then this other stuff happened.

mom said the meds they are giving suzy is making her appear as if she is drunk. they think they got the dosage right and have let her go home. they are going to stay til saturday and come back home. angela will be able to handle the rest. i'm sure rose and karen will help as well if needed.

i'm just ready for my sister to be better. so good thoughts and prayers for her if you are so inclined. :)

well, i'm going to go now.