new year's eve

i'd like to reflect back on this year, but now is not a good time for me b/c i'm in a bad mood. it's going to take an act of congress to replace the burnt-out headlight on my car. not really....the way it looks is the whole freakin' bumper needs to be removed just to get to the headlight casing. so it looks like i'm going to see richard to get it fixed. no telling how much it's going to cost.

i'm going to sit here and knit the evening away while i hang out with my family.

now i just found out that the text messaging isn't working on our cell phones!

it can only get better, right?

kisses....

under the weather

just wanted to say "hey!"...i'm heading to bed b/c i've been battling sinus/allergy stuff all day today. i wish the weather would decide if it's going to be warm or cold. this back and forth stuff is wreaking havoc on my sinuses. plus i've got to work tomorrow and i hope it's not going to be cold! enough whining...i'm off to bed.

kisses...

rainy saturday - good day for knitting and movies

that's basically what i've been doing today....watching movies and knitting. i finished the basic wristwarmers from whatifknits. i'll take/post pics soon. i almost had a disaster with the 2nd one though. i had unknowingly dropped a stitch towards the end, but was able to save it. i think i know when i dropped it b/c my count seemed off at one point. i wish i had bought more of the moda dea cheerio yarn i used. it's so soft. i'm going to keep an eye on hobby lobby's sales and maybe i can pick up some more to make a scarf.

last night i finished calorimetry for mom. i made it out of king cole big value double knit yarn shade 154. i can't find the exact color on the website, but it's black with specks of color throughout. it's pretty soft for an acrylic. mom is allergic to wool so she asked that i make it out of acrylic or some other synthetic. i'm going to make her another calorimetry out of bernat super stripes in black and teal blue. the 2nd one will be a little thicker and she mentioned several times that she liked the bernat yarn.

i'm going to go now. got to catch up on some of my blog-reading and see what's new on ravelry.

kisses...

glad it's the weekend

why does it seem like this has been a long week even though i was off work tuesday for christmas? short weeks seem the longest sometimes. and next week will be the same way. it's been kind of slow at work b/c a lot of folks took off the last 2 weeks. next thursday is probably going to be buzzing in the office. kids go back to school so parents will go back to work.

i had a better day pain-wise. fortunately it wasn't as cold in my area as it has been. i don't know if the maintenance guys did something with the controls or what, but there wasn't the wind tunnel effect today. it helps to be nice to the maintenance guys so they will take care of you! :)

i'm posting a short one tonight. i want to get some knitting in before bed. i cast on for the 2nd basic wristwarmer from whatifknits. i want to finish it up tomorrow so i can wear them. i'm also wanting to get a good night's sleep and maybe head over to hobby lobby to use my giftcard i got for christmas. have a good one...

kisses...

Towels & Microwaves - not a good combo

How about I caused our building to smell like burnt marshmallows this morning?  It’s real cold in my area and I was trying to figure out a way to warm up.  I’ve already had a cup of coffee, I’m wearing a sweatshirt and a sweater, and I have a blanket covering my legs.  And I’m still cold.  So I decided to warm up this kitchen towel in the microwave to wrap around my knee and hopefully relieve some of the coldness.

Long story short, I opened the microwave door and smoke started billowing out.  I snatched it out of the microwave and immediately threw it in the sink running water on it.  One of my co-workers was in the break room with me and she dumped her big ol’ cup of ice on top of the towel.  I started fanning the air to prevent the fire alarm from going off.  And people started coming to the break room to see what was burning.  I’m standing there red-faced trying to explain that I left something in the microwave too long.

One of my other co-workers said it smells like burnt marshmallows.  They were agreeing that it was better than burnt popcorn.  Right now it’s all I can smell.  I’ve been dabbing this lavender lotion under my nose to try and help, but it’s not.  Hopefully this will all be aired out tonight.

So after I get off work today, I’m going to buy a heating pad or something to bring here to work to keep warm.  Maintenance is supposed come by and check out the heating/air.  The thermostat is on 73 now and it’s still cold.  I don’t know what else they can do.

Kisses…

good news

we saw dr. d about janelle's finger today. thankfully he didn't push for her to have surgery. he wants to send her to physical therapy to see if she can improve her range of motion. he said sometimes surgery can worsen things with the type of fracture she has. they have to contact my insurance company to see what is covered and then will contact us on a schedule. also he said that if ultimately she needs surgery, waiting until later poses no problem. he did warn her to wear her splint especially when soccer season starts up. no problem...

i tried to go to water aerobics tonight. i was disappointed because 1) there was no instructor and 2) the chair lift is broken. the manager said it would be a few days before the chair lift would be fixed. it was broken in the morning class. kind of a bummer b/c i'm not strong enough to pull myself out of the pool. in the past i would use my legs to push myself out when i did use the ladder. oh well...i need to check into health central or maybe even the y again.

i'll try to post more tomorrow. it's bedtime!

kisses....

Merry christmas! Hope everyone is having a good one! Kisses...

hope you're having a wonderful christmas eve!

it's been a long day, but a good one even though i had to work. we went to a christmas eve service with some folks and had a nice fellowship.

i'm tired and heading to bed. we're having a nice relaxing day tomorrow....taking in a movie and having a simple dinner at home.

kisses...

afternoon with new friends

this afternoon, janelle and i met donna, her husband donald, and her daughter at starbucks for knitting, coffee, and chatting. i had the best time! janelle had a lot of fun, too. it was nice to finally meet donna face to face. we've been emailing and leaving comments on each other's blogs from time to time, but never actually met. we found out we live within a few miles of each other. plans are definitely in the works to hang out some more.

donald gave janelle a set of wooden needles and taught her a little more about knitting. she did much better with the wooden needles than the metal ones i had. he was very patient with her and showed her the different types of cast-on stitches. she is knitting like an old pro now...lol. donna said he loves to teach people how to knit. their daughter was knitting the point lobos hat from whatifknits. i think i've got that hat in my queue on ravelry. if i don't, i'm adding it.

i want to cast on for the 2nd whatifknits basic wristwarmer. i finished the 1st one last night. i making them out of moda dea cheerio in ruby. the yarn is super soft. it has a little bit of sparkle in it. i caught it on sale at one of hobby lobby's 99 cent a skein sales. i wish i had bought more!

well, i'm going now. i have to work tomorrow. :( i'm hoping we get to go home a little early, but i'm not holding out much hope on that.

kisses...

just wanted to say hey...

before i go to bed. i've had a nice relaxing day knitting and watching tv with janelle. she started knitting her first project today. she's not sure if she's going to make a scarf or a bag first. she was getting a little frustrated so i told her to put it down and pick it up tomorrow.

we're going to meet donna and her daughter at starbucks for coffee and knitting. i told janelle she could get helpful hints from them as well. i might not be explaining some of it quite right. i'm excited about the fact that she has taken an interest in knitting. she was excited, too, when she realized all the things she could make. i'm hoping she'll stay with it. i might see if she wants me to sign her up for a class with mrs. barbara. i'm self-taught so i might not be doing things quite right...lol.

i'm going now. talk to you later...

kisses....

the preceding message was sent while i was...

sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to meet janelle at dr. b's office for her appointment. i think everyone was out driving today. i have never seen traffic this bad. i know it's christmas time and folks are out buying gifts. but no one is giving an inch....blocking the road so no one can pass or get around them. i'm not going any where near augusta tomorrow. i have some shopping i'd like to do, but it's not worth it.

i've decided i'm giving i-o-u's or money as gifts this year. i have janelle's main present. i know what i wanted to do for mom & dad, but honestly i'm not fighting the traffic to get it. and sure, i could have planned better and gotten what i needed earlier in the year. poor planning on my part. it will not happen again. i'm either ordering online or making it. i've still got to get the stuff to send to my nieces and nephew. i'll put it in the mail tomorrow hopefully. i know they won't get it until after christmas, which is not what i planned.

on to why i had to meet janelle at dr. b's office today. if you've been reading my blog, you will remember that janelle broke her finger during a powder puff football game. it hasn't been healing properly. it is crooked and she can't bend the finger all the way closed when she tries to make a fist. long story short...we have an appointment with the hand specialist to see what needs to be done. dr. b said most likely janelle would have to have a screw put in to align the finger back properly. he said that we could leave it like it is, but she may have problems as she gets older. i think it needs to be fixed and janelle agreed. dr. b also agreed, but he wanted his colleague to look at it and give his professional opinion.

so that's what we have to look forward to after the holidays. we're going to have to try and schedule it where it won't interfere with her other committments. soccer is coming up, fbla district and regionals is coming up, beta state convention is coming up. it will work out though. it always does.

and my little janelle will be 18 years old next month!!! where did the time go?!!

kisses...

Ugh this traffic is ridiculous!
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under the weather

i'm not feeling so hot right now. i hope i'm not getting sick. it's been pretty chilly in my new work area. when i get cold, it causes me to tense up and my leg starts hurting. i'm taking a blanket tomorrow so i can cover my legs up and hopefully stay warm. i think i'm going to make a shawl to keep at my desk as well. and i've even thought about some wristwarmers.

actually i'm hoping i'm just tired b/c of the stress of the new responsibilities at work. i've been going non-stop for the past couple of days and today was pretty intense. i'm taking over some of the duties of a guy who is leaving. i'm doing user security to some of our systems. this isn't a problem b/c i handle security set up for other systems i support. the problem is the users have not been required to fill out the paperwork properly. and i had to hunt for information that should have been provided. i talked to my boss and told her i can't work like that. she told me to do what i needed to do to get the info. this means making the users fill out proper paperwork. when i asked the guy about that, he said they showed them at first, but folks didn't follow the instructions. well, i'm here to tell you this...they will learn to follow instructions or it will delay their access. it's ridiculous b/c it's a time-waster with sending emails back and forth. i told my boss there is no way i can operate like this during budget season. thankfully she supports me in that respect.

oh, and my boss loved the scarf i knit her. i was really surprised by her reaction. she said she was hoping i was going to knit her something. that made me feel good that she appreciates handmade items. she does cross stitch so she understands the thought and effort behind my knitting. and the color looked good on her too. she said she would definitely use it especially in the mornings on the way to work. she lives about an hour and a half from here so she's up early on these cold mornings.

my secret santa gave me an elliott sadler #19 backpack for christmas. it is perfect. i think i'm going to start using it instead of using the bag i carry now. i can sling it over my shoulder and go. i gave my secret santa gift to the lady whose name i drew. i gave her a tea time at the masters cookbook and a ruffly scarf made with yarn bee luscious in cherry. the scarf turned out so soft. i think she liked it.

i got a hobby lobby gift card from my boss, which rocks! they have had some good yarn sales over the last few weeks, so i can add to my stash. :)

well, i'm going to go to sleep now. i'm tired even though i took a nap after work. i kind of like this 8-5 work schedule. i can come home and take a short nap, then get up, eat dinner, knit/watch tv and then back to bed...lol. of course i can't do that every night b/c i have those pesky things called chores to do!

kisses...

Just so you know....i am not a patient person when it comes to rush hour traffic. Only 2 or 3 cars at a time could get through the traffic light bc of people gridlocking the intersection. grrrr....stupid people!

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4 more down

How about I lost 4 more pounds?!!  That makes total of 12 pounds since I started Weight Watchers at the first of November! 

I’m heading to stitch night tonight at In Stitches.  Janelle baked some cookies for me to take.  I’m going to stop by Fresh Market on the way and get some sushi so I won’t be hungry going over there.  I’m going to allow myself to sample one or two things, but I’m going to behave and not go over with points.

Kisses…

survived

i made it through my 1st day in my new group. i went in early so i could get my desk set up before folks started coming in. i'm going to try real hard to go in between 7 and 7:30. you get the good parking spots that way. there's no reason i can't do that. i'm already up as it is.

i finished the keyhole scarf tonight. i took some pics and will post later. i'm starting a new one for my secret santa person. it's going to be the ruffly scarf from mason-dixon knitting. i'm making it out of yarn bee luscious in cherry. i'm not sure yet if i'll do the last row in white to give it a christmas-y feel to it. i'll decide that closer to finishing. this yarn is super soft. i'm going to buy more of it when i get over to hobby lobby. they have it on sale again this week.

good night. i'm tired and really need some beauty sleep!!!

kisses...

heading in early

i'm going to get to work earlier today than i have in the past so i can settle in. i've got to unpack my desk as well as make sure i can get to the network. it's going to be interesting to see if everything is working like it should. my boss will be ticked off, to say the least, if things aren't working right. she is not tolerant of things like that. i'm just glad i'm not sitting right next to her. i have heard her wrath and have been on the receiving end of it. welcome to monday morning!

sometime this week i've got to get a new id made as well. i tried to on friday before i left, but i could never get in touch with the lady in hr who handles the id's. and of course there is no one else who can take a pic of you for the badge. it's ridiculous. i guess they can't have anyone come in for orientation if she's on vacation that week...lol.

as i said last night, i cleaned up my computer some. i haven't noticed any improvement so far, but it's too early to tell. i've got to get the digital camera pics off as well. i'd hate to lose those. i've got more than half saved to cd's, but need to get the rest of them. i've got some duplicates in sub-folders, too, taking up unnecessary space. with some of the files i looked at, i have no clue why i saved them.

i also figured out i need a better filing system for my cd's. i'm going to catalog them somehow so i'm better organized. i've figured out that's a big part of my problem...organization. i need a system...one that works for me.

well it sounds like janelle has finished with her shower. time for me to jump in to take mine.

kisses...

just wanted to say hey

it's been a good day for the most part. i have been relatively pain free, even after a trip to walmart. i got in and got out with very little aggravation and stuck to my list. i've been knitting on and off for most of the day trying to finish up the scarf for my boss. she goes on vacation beginning thursday and will not be back until after the 1st of the year.

i'm making her a keyhole scarf, using the pattern from stitch 'n bitch, the knitters handbook by debbie stoller. the yarn i'm using is yarn bee airy in cream. it has little flecks of gold throughout. it's a nice, soft fuzzy texture. i'll try to remember to take a pic before i give it to her. i hope she'll like it. it's hard to tell sometimes with her. i sewed a tote bag for her a couple of years ago and have yet to see her carry it. but that's ok, i enjoyed making it for her and if she didn't use it, hopefully she gave it to someone who did.

i'll round out her gift with some dark chocolate covered pretzels from fresh market and some of her favorite lindt truffles. and i also thought about getting one of those chocolate raspberry oranges, which is similar to this. she loves chocolate and raspberry so i'm sure she'd like the orange as well.

i'm doing a little bit of computer housekeeping before bedtime. i've copied over some of my files to cd's. my computer has been running slow and i don't want to take a chance on losing files. i've burned a lot of my pics to cd's as well and need to get the rest off. plus when i go to get a new laptop, i won't have to do this task then.

it's getting late and i need to try to go to sleep. i go to my new cubicle tomorrow with my new group. i'm a little nervous and don't know why. i know a lot of the folks i'll be working with now. i guess in a way i kind of feel like it's the 1st day of school...lol. i'm the "new" kid and have to get to know everyone and figure out how things work. wish me luck!!

kisses...

saturday rain

we have finally gotten some much needed rain. it has rained practically all day long. we need probably a steady week or two of rain to help us recover from the drought we have had this year. hopefully some of the other areas, especially the atlanta area, are getting rain as well.

janelle is in columbia right now with the youth group. they went to see a christmas play at one of the churches up there. it's a big production with live animals and everything. mom and dad went a couple of years ago and they said it is a powerful production. i am going to try to go next year to see it. everyone who has seen it says it's wonderful.

believe it or not, my knee hasn't hurt as bad today as it has earlier in the week. on tuesday i was up moving around a lot, packing my desk, cleaning, etc. i think i might have overdone the physical activity so soon after my surgery. that's probably why i hurt so bad on wednesday and thursday too. i didn't have enough recovery time and pushed it b/c i was feeling pretty good over the weekend. i spent a fair part of the day knitting and watching tv with my legs propped up.

i'm signing off now. hope you're having a good weekend!!

kisses...

friday

i've been tagged by beverly. she is a hoot, so y'all put her on your daily-must-read blogroll. and her name is beverly, so i know she's cool.

the tag rules are:
1. link to the person who tagged you.
2. post the rules on your blog.
3. share 7 facts about yourself.
4. tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.
5. let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
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random fact #1: i love nascar racing, particularly i love elliott sadler. he drives #19 best buy dodge for gillette/evernham motorsports. i picked elliott as my driver in 2003 when he drove the #38 m&m's ford taurus. he is 10 years and 5 days younger than me. elliott is a cutie pie and has an awesome virginia southern drawl that just makes me weak in the knees.

random fact #2: when i was younger i didn't want just anyone calling me by my nickname, bev. that right was reserved for my family and a few close friends. when someone would call me bev and i didn't give them the ok to do so, i would correct them and tell them my name is beverly. now it doesn't bother me as much if someone calls me bev.

random fact #3: i'm a wimp when it comes to pain. if you've been reading my blog (all 2 of you), you know that i've had gallbladder and knee surgery this year. the pain after the gallbladder surgery was not as bad as the pain after the knee surgery. i can't stand the constant aching feeling that i've had in my knee this past week. fortunately dr. b recommended managing the pain during the day by taking one aleve in the morning, one midday, and 2 in the afternoon. he said to reserve the percocet for home in the evening since it makes me drowsy. he
thinks if i get on that aleve regimen, i will eliminate much of the pain. plus he reminded me it had only been a week since i had surgery. in my defense, i haven't been sick or hurt much in the past, so i don't know how to deal with not being healthy.

random fact #4: i absolutely love to knit. i have been knitting for a little over a year and wish i had started knitting younger in life. i've already made plans for things i want to knit for my family and friends in 2008, plus there are some charity knitting projects that i want to get involved in. this is one of them.

random fact #5: my favorite all-time food is sushi. i could eat sushi every day if i could afford to buy it. i would make it every day if i could. i have tried, but got frustrated with it because my sushi rolls would fall apart. it's definitely an art to making pretty sushi rolls. i'll have to see if there is a continuing ed class at asu for making sushi.

random fact #6: i'm proud of the fact that my family is close-knit. i know people who haven't talked to their family members for years and that's sad to me. i don't talk to my brother and sister all the time, but we still stay in touch and enjoy being around each other when we can. it's funny when we're all together how we fall back into our childhood roles. my parents did a great job raising us and have kept us close.

random fact #7: i know a lot about nutrition even though you wouldn't know it to look at me. i'm extremely overweight and working hard to lose the weight (i'm a weight watchers member). as i've said in some of my posts, my mindset is much different this time. i look back on how i used to eat and how much i used to eat and i'm absolutely amazed i'm not bigger than i am. my parents taught us how to eat properly and what we needed to do to fuel our bodies and how exercise is important. i just chose at a point to not follow what i was taught and what i know. my health issues that i have dealt with this year have come about, to a degree, due to my overeating and lack of exercise over the last several years. i feel i'm on the right track and don't want to do anything to jeopardize my success so far.
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here's the folks i tagged...i hope they don't mind. :) i've been reading donna's blog for a while and the other folks i found during nablopomo.
donna
angelaraeknits
knit 'n nascar
knitting 40 shades of green
liana
enna
alison
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kisses...

p.s. have a great weekend!!

can't sleep

and it's probably because i came home from work, took a percocet, and took a nap. that's ok since i was hurting. i go see dr. b today for post-surgery follow up. i'm going to ask him for some help with pain during the day. i'm hoping he'll give me something to ease the pain and not make me loopy or sleepy.

i did not have a good day at work yesterday. i'm ready to get moved to my new spot. it was an ordeal just trying to organize that. i've got most of my stuff boxed up. i had to leave some things out so i could work when i go in. i'm taking my laptop with me when i go to my doctor's appointment b/c all my stuff is going to be moved while i'm gone. i'll only be at the new desk temporarily. there is a consultant sitting in my final destination. she'll be here until the end of the year and then i can move.

i've got a box full of stuff to take home too. jane is going to loan me her luggage carrier thingie-bob so i can load the box up and take it to my car. i'm definitely going to try to not accumulate a ton of stuff at my new desk. i got rid of a lot of old pens and notebooks that i don't need. recycling, baby...lol.

i am knitting a scarf for my boss' christmas present. i'm giving it to her next week before she goes on vacation. i'm making her up a little gift bag with her favorite chocolates, some dark chocolate-covered pretzels from fresh market, and the scarf. we're supposed to be in the mid-20's next week, which is a big switch from the 70-80 degree weather we've had this week. i'm sitting here in shorts right now.

good night and sweet dreams!!

kisses...

Eatalong...not for me anymore

We’re having our Christmas potluck today in the department I’m leaving.  I have been very selective with what I’ve eaten, but even that has left me not feeling so well.  I’m having a little bit of acid reflux.  I promise I could taste the fat in a couple of the things I ate.  There are some co-workers who are grazing non-stop today.  It’s actually turning my stomach at the sight of them constantly shoving food in their mouths.

How did I eat like that in the past?  I have definitely come a long way in a short period of time since I’ve been on Weight Watchers.  I told one of my co-workers in my new group that I’m sticking to the Weight Watchers food next week with the potluck over there.

I’ve been Ms. Crabby Pants, too, today.  One of the “organizers” of this event has gotten under my skin.  They sent an email “Because of the generosity of Employee A, Employee B, & Employee C, we will have fried chicken strips & some shrimp cocktail to supplement the items y'all are bringing tomorrow”.  This means those folks gave money instead of fixing something to bring.  I asked her why she didn’t list what the rest of us were “generously” cooking or baking to bring.  Were the folks who contributed money the only ones recognized for their efforts?  And then this morning she had to dictate where food went, whether it was lunch or breakfast or dessert or whatever.

I need a nap.  And a Percocet.

Kisses…

P.S. It doesn’t help that my knee is hurting even though I took Aleve this morning and have been keeping it elevated and iced.

most outgoing

yesterday they announced the senior superlatives at janelle's school. she was voted most outgoing girl. and you know what, it fits her. she doesn't meet a stranger. i get compliments all the time about how warm and friendly she is and how she helps shy kids open up and makes everyone feel part of the crowd. her ex-boyfriend was voted most outgoing guy. she said it was awkward b/c he is being kind of cool towards her lately. she said he's been in a mood with everyone so it's kind of funny that he was voted most outgoing. don't get me wrong, he's a good kid. i think he has what a lot of them have right now...senioritis. janelle has a mild attack of it over the weekend. she got mad at me about something and mumbled how she could hardly wait to go off to college. lol...been there, done that...

keep your fingers crossed....i weigh in today b/c it's weight watchers wednesday. i'm hoping to have lost back the 2 pounds and hopefully lost a couple more. i'm not as bloated as i was the last time i weighed in. i've been careful about what i've eaten in most cases. i went over a couple of days in points, but overall i think i did pretty good.

we're having our christmas eatalong tomorrow in my old group. one of the ladies who is ww with me is freaking out. she's a nutcase anyway. i told her to use her head about things. i'm going to be sensible and not eat everything in sight. it will be hard to figure out the points in some cases, but i told her we can be smart about it. i've got measuring spoons and measuring cups to gauge our portions at least.

for example, one of the ladies is making her famous feta cheeseball, which is so so delicious. i asked her yesterday about the ingredients. she is using regular feta, regular cream cheese, and a cup of pecans and said it serves 20 people. i ran the recipe through the weight watchers recipe builder and found it was 3 points per serving. i figured the serving size is about a tablespoon based on the size of the cheeseball. so i figured we could have a tablespoon of the feta cheeseball and enjoy it with green pepper slices or some other zero point veggie instead of crackers. she said she had not thought of switching out the crackers for veggies. well, duh, if you want to save some points and enjoy more, you have to think of ways to save on points. i told her that i was going to be conservative with my breakfast points and my snack points were going towards my midday meal b/c i wanted to enjoy some of the delicious food we'll have. i'll probably have a big salad for dinner tomorrow night b/c that will be zero points for the most part unless i put meat and cheese on it.

anyway, i'm making taco soup. one of my friends who is successfully losing weight on ww right now gave me the recipe. i'm going to take it for both of the potlucks i'm involved in. i've got to go to the store tonight to get everything. i'll probably have to go to walmart since they have the best prices on the ground beef. and y'all know i hate walmart and it's christmas time so people are even more rude. if i didn't have to worry about driving, i'd take a percocet to do my walmart shopping...lol. i'd feel good and wouldn't worry about folks being rude and the kids crying and the long lines.

time to get ready for work. have a good one!!

kisses...

picture day

today i'm having my picture taken at work. i'm not real excited about it b/c i do not take good pictures. my face always looks shiny and red even if i've applied powder. sometimes i do the gum smile...you know the one where you pull your lips up so high all you see is gum. and the gum smile seems to acentuate that i have big teeth. my teeth aren't really that big. they are normal, healthy-sized teeth. they just look big with the gum smile.

or i wind up doing the squinty smile. i get that from my mom. for some reason when we smile big, we tend to squint. one christmas we tried to catch mom smiling with her eyes wide open. we caught her with eyes open wide in a photo, but we all agreed it made her look like a crazy lady. we decided we liked her squinty-eyed pictures better.

and don't get me started about the chin area. even if i didn't have a double chin (which i do), it always looks like i have one. and it all seems to merge in with my shoulders. when you see me in real life, you'll see that there is a distinction between the chin, neck and shoulder area. and let's not get started on the hair that was laying perfectly straight that decides to suddenly curl out at a weird angle!

you may be wondering why i'm having my picture taken at work. for some reason, they need my and my boss' picture since we're moving to this new group. they are probably going to plaster our pictures up on the next conference call when they announce we're moving. most folks already know even though an official announcement hasn't been sent out. word travels fast in our company.

well, i've got to go get ready now. it takes a while to get this beauty train on the right track!

kisses...

frustrating

i have no clue why my boss has to be so difficult sometimes. she gets a bee in her bonnet and won't let go. she is mad at one of our on-call tech support folks b/c they didn't call her back after hours on friday. first of all, they were on a support call when she called the first time. and they made the mistake of not checking the voicemail before leaving for the day. big mistake...she called again and woke them up at their house. so they were mad at her.

and then we were making plans to move to our new group. we're going to be in a new building, so our phone numbers are going to change. you would think that someone had cut her arm off. she went on and on about how she was going to have to update all her credit cards with her new number and what was it going to be...blah, blah, blah. stop it already!!! i was just glad to get out of the place!

i'm home now, my knee is hurting and i'm fixing to take a percocet to make it all better. mom is making ww spaghetti...yum. i still have a fair amount of points left for the day. i think i'm going to have an apple with peanut butter for my snack later on. i might even have a cup of cappucino if i have enough points left.

i'm going now. i want to get some knitting in before the percocet hits me. it's funny b/c sometimes it makes me feel loopy and sometimes it doesn't. i wonder why that is...

kisses...

happy birthday, mom!

today is my mom's birthday. she spent most of it in a car on the way home from my brother's house. my dad was with her so i know she was happy.

they are like two peas in a pod. they prefer each other's company to other folks. they've stuck together through thick and thin. they didn't need the fancy house and cars and jet-set vacations to be happy with each other. as long as they were together, that's all that mattered to them. they will be married for 44 years this upcoming september. they dated for 6 years so they've been a couple for nearly 50 years. that's pretty cool.

kisses...

sushi sunday

janelle is headed to pick up some sushi for us at publix. i know some folks are rolling their eyes that we are eating sushi from a grocery store, but it's pretty good for grocery store sushi. i can have sushi and not blow weight watchers. i've been wanting something a little different to eat so this will probably hit the spot.

i love asian food. i have kimchi in my fridge right now. i actually thought about having that for my dinner tonight with some rice. i got hooked on korean food back in the day. a friend of mine, sue, is korean and she introduced me and cassandra to korean food. after we'd close the bar down, we'd head over to this korean restaraunt after hours. i fell in love with bulgogi and kimchi. there were other things they tried to get me to taste, but i couldn't get past what it actually was. i know it smelled good, but i wasn't brave enough to try.

there's this little korean diner on deans bridge that i've been to eat several times. the last time i went was with jeri. we ordered bulgogi and galbi gui (short ribs) for our main dishes. the waitress brought out all these different salads that consisted of kimchi, radishes, bean sprouts, marinated cucumber, etc. each person gets a bowl of rice and you pick from the various salads and dishes. some of the salads are spicy because of the red pepper that is used. i'll have to see what the points are for korean dishes and go have lunch there one day soon.

i'm going to go now. janelle should be home soon with the sushi!!

kisses...

weird saturday

how about i got a call from my boss today? um, just to talk...and to catch me up on the latest goings-on in the office. my boss has never just called me to talk, especially on the weekend. she didn't want me to be out of the loop. actually both of the things she told me about i had already heard, but not officially. people volunteer information to me all the time and i'm pretty selective about repeating it unless i hear it officially or get an email about it.

beverly cracked me up with her comment on yesterday's post. no, i'm not using crutches, but i am using my cane from time to time. i'm planning on taking it to work with me just in case and it may work just as well as the crutches.

janelle is working tour of homes today. she should be home soon. she mentioned again wanting to learn to knit. i dug in my stash and my needles and have it ready for her. i'm going to get her started on a basic knit4, purl2 pattern on size 11 circular needles for a beginner's scarf. the first few rows will be garter stitch to give her the feel of the needles, plus give a nice edge to the scarf. she keeps trying to claim the cable scarf i'm working on...lol...but i'm making that for someone else. she wore one of the scarves i made last night to a christmas party. she said everyone liked it a lot.

i'm going to go. i haven't eaten lunch yet so i need to eat something. i'm going to search through the weight watchers meals i bought the other night. i'm leaning towards the mushroom/spinach pizza...yummy!

kisses....

day of idiots

it never fails that something goes wrong when i ask someone to cover for me at work. there was a simple task to perform...close the ap databases. if anything weird popped up, call me. simple as that. but did that happen? of course not! i've got a mess sitting and waiting for me when i get in monday morning. all because the girl covering for me could not pick up the phone and ask for help.

she hasn't covered for me in a while so i stressed to her to call me if she ran into any problems. i don't know if it's because she doesn't want to ask for my help or she's embarassed that she doesn't remember or what. she took something that could have been resolved in a half an hour into a 2 day ordeal and involving several groups of people who have to help fix it. i'm just so frustrated!!

and get this...i wouldn't have known about the problem except one of my other co-workers texted me about it. the girl didn't even pick up the phone and call me after the mistake was made. i told her boss that is what pissed me off the most. when was she going to tell me about the snafu? i guess when i come in on monday. grrrrrrrrrr.....
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on a more upbeat note, i ordered part of janelle's christmas a few minutes ago. i think she's going to be pleased. she doesn't ask for much anymore so i try to get her what she wants if i can. i'll probably get her some gift cards to her fav clothing stores and some other little odds & ends. i haven't a clue as to what to put in her stocking. there were some cute little stocking stuffers at books-a-million that she would get a kick out of. since she has expressed and interest in knitting, i might buy her a basic knitting set and some yarn.

donna helped ease the left-handed/right-handed issue i was worried about. she said her daughter is left-handed but knits just fine right-handed. janelle is very adaptable so i know she'll probably do better than i do.

a couple of good things: i haven't been hungry today and no, i haven't been eating non-stop....lol. i have followed my weight watchers points today. the 2nd thing is i haven't had much pain today. i managed to go up and down the stairs with relative ease, take a shower, clean the cat boxes, straighten out the kitchen/load the dishwasher, etc. so i feel like i'll be able to drive myself to work with no problems on monday.

well, i'm going to go now. i've got to fix myself some dinner.

kisses...

slooooow computer

i'm on mom's and dad's computer in the spare room where i'm sleeping for a couple of days. my room is downstairs. we thought it would be best if i slept up here so i wouldn't have to navigate the stairs much. their computer just does not have a good connection rate. i connect at a much higher rate down in my room. i have no clue why.


yes, we are still on dial-up. i think we're probably the last family in the world not on comcast. i keep trying to talk them into making that leap to the modern age. i've talked to my dad several times about going in together, setting up a wireless network, and having high speed internet throughout the house. just about time i have him convinced, mom unconvinces him for whatever reason. i've even threatened to get high speed for me and janelle and forget about them, which i won't do in the long run. i think dad and i are just going to have to get all the stuff and set it up. mom will be happy in the long run. she'll love how she can play her games and surf her recipe sites easier.


i have also been trying to talk them into getting a laptop. janelle will be getting one for graduation and i'm probably going to buy me one as well. i'll most likely keep the desktop for general purposes, but the laptop is more feasible for me.


i think i'm going to order janelle's christmas present tomorrow. i've got to get it soon or i'll miss out. i'm not going to say what it is just in case she happens to stumble onto my blog. i don't even think she knows i have one, but i don't want to take any chances.


oh and guess what she asked me last night?! she wants to learn to knit! i am so excited about that b/c i have wanted to share my love of craftiness with her for a while. she is a very talented young lady and i know she would do a great job. she likes the reversible cabled scarf that i've been working on. she asked how hard was it to learn to knit. the only thing i wonder about is she is left handed and i'm right handed. does it make a difference or not? i'll have to ask mrs. barbara for her opinion. i'm going to try and find something simple for her to start working on. i think once she gets the hang of it, she'll knit all the time (hopefully) like her mom. she said she wants to use her knitting for mission work as well, making things to give to kids and adults she meets. i told her we could work on some projects together. there's a lot of good charity projects out there, especially geared towards reaching children.


it's getting late and the percocet is kicking in and making me yawn. i'll catch you on the flip side!

kisses....

recovering

the knee surgery went really well yesterday. dr. b said there was a little more damage to the cartilage than he anticipated originally. he said i will probably have to have knee replacement later on in life though.

overall the pain has not been that bad so far. i'm a little more stiff today than i was yesterday. that's probably b/c of the good drugs from the surgery helping with the stiffness. i've got some exercises to do to strengthen up my quad muscles. i figure i'll do the exercises with both legs since i have arthritis in my left leg as well.

good news is i can do water aerobics in 2 weeks. he said as long as i don't have any open wounds, i can participate. he said to pace myself and not overdo it at first. this weight loss journey is really going to kick in a higher gear once i start back with the water aerobics. i'm so excited!!

i had my yule flip peppermint blizzard from dairy queen last night. it was good and it hit the spot. i tracked my points for weight watchers and didn't go over. :) that's a good thing. btw - if you're tracking points, the small blizzard i had was 14 points. to some folks that's a lot of points, but i'm a fluffy girl so i get more points until i lose some more.

well, i'm going to go now. one of the cats is scratching at the door trying to get to the back of the house. i might sign on later if i'm up to it.

kisses....

p.s. thanks, beverly, for your well wishes. i'm feeling pretty good right now. the percocet helps! :)

knee surgery and a blizzard...peppermint chip, that is

i'm having my knee surgery today. i wanted to post something now b/c i don't know if i'll be up to it later on today. i'm going to have some of that good pain medication so i'll be sleeping big time.


and today i'm going to get my jonesing for a blizzard out of the way. as you may know before surgery, you can't eat or drink which means i won't have anything to eat until about 3pm or so. i decided i was going to have a small peppermint chip blizzard from dairy queen for my 1st meal. i know it's a lot of points for one item, but it will help me get in my points for the day and satisfy my craving.

what gave me the idea was one of the other ladies in the group had talked about how she ate a small piece of homemade red velvet cake for dinner one night. our ww leader said it's ok to do that sometimes, but only every once in a while. i figure i'll eat a well-balanced dinner later on this evening and if i have any points left, i'll eat a light snack.

well, i've got to finish getting ready.

kisses...

Winthrop Days Playlist

Here’s my playlist from the 80’s.  I add to it as I come across songs I’ve missed.  For some reason, it groups certain artist’s songs together, i.e. Madonna, but not all the songs.  One day I’ll rearrange them the way I want them and have a killer 80’s mix.

Walk on the Wild Side – Lou Reed

White Horse (original) – Wonderland Avenue

Strangelove [Blind Mix] – Depeche Mode

Let the Music Play (Cruzin’ Barbosa Mix) – Shannon

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) – Dead or Alive

Wild, Wild West – The Escape Club

One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx

Need You Tonight – INXS

Something About You – Level 42

Vogue – Madonna

Material Girl – Madonna

Lucky Star – Madonna

Easy Lover – Phil Collins

Sussudio – Phil Collins

I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On – Robert Palmer

Perfect Way – Scritti Politti

Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds

True – Spandeau Ballet

Higher Love – Steve Winwood

Situation – Yaz

Ain’t Nobody – Chaka Khan

I Feel For You – Chaka Khan

Joystick – Dazz Band

Swoop (I’m Yours) – Dazz Band

Electricity – Midnight Star

No Parking (On The Dance Floor) – Midnight Star

Freak-A-Zoid – Midnight Star

Slow Jam – Midnight Star

Stay With Me Tonight – Jeffrey Osborne

I Want Her – Keith Sweat

Mercedes Boy – Pebbles

Centipede – Rebbie Jackson

The Glamorous Life – Sheila E

Rock The Casbah – The Clash

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? – Culture Club

Time (Clock Of The Heart) – Culture Club

Karma Chameleon – Culture Club

I’ll Tumble 4 Ya – Culture Club

People Are People – Depeche Mode

Master And Servant – Depeche Mode

Whip It – Devo

I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock Of Seagulls

Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Too Shy (Midnight Mix) – Kajagoogoo

Pop Muzik – M

Our House – Madness

Into the Groove – Madonna

I Can’t Wait – Nu Shooz

Never Say Never – Romeo Void

Tempted – Squeeze

She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby

Lies – The Thompson Twins

Genius of Love – Tom Tom Club

I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow

Mirror In The Bathroom – The English Beat

Let’s Go Crazy – Prince

Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie

This is what keeps me sane during the work hours!!

Kisses…

talk about bah humbug

i think i had mentioned that my boss and i are moving to a new group this month. i'm excited about it b/c i'll be working in an area that i've wanted to work for a couple of years. i'll be gaining some skills and get an opportunity to add something to the ol' resume.


one of the ladies in our new group came by friday and asked if we wanted to participate in secret santa. i told her i was definitely interested and would ask my boss on monday. well, today is monday and i asked. she said no, she did not want to participate...she has too many people to buy for already...she doesn't know those people so why would they expect her to want to do secret santa with them...blah, blah, blah. sorry i asked!


i don't know what possessed me but i told her i was tired of folks having the bah humbug attitude. a lot of people at work complain about how there's no team environment, including her. this is a way for us to find out some of the interests of future co-workers and to start off on the right foot with them. i have never met the lady whose name i got. i haven't even talked to her on the phone. she is a nascar fan, so that's a bonus point for her in my book...lol. she doesn't get quite as many points b/c she's a tony stewart fan. (i'm just kidding!! tony is a great driver; however, he has a tendancy to whine a little when things aren't going his way.)


i also told her i was tired of people complaining about the date picked for our current group's christmas potluck. no one will step up to plan it, so sue, susan and i picked a date. we had to do that last year too. we tried to get others involved but they refused. despite all the griping, it turned out to be pretty good.


here's a picture of the flyer for the potluck last year. i drew the little elf girl for a cookbook swap and had some leftover. i know it's not a great image, but you get the general idea.

as you can see we had lots of good food and that didn't cover everything that folks brought. i made the gingerbread pumpkin trifle. the recipe is a paula dean recipe so you know it's good. the flavors just melded each day. i think it lasted about 2 days. it was a pretty big dessert. one thing i did notice is the men seemed to eat the trifle moreso than the women. one guy said he loved anything with gingerbread in it. he wound up taking some home too...lol.

oh...before i go, janelle played in her final powder puff football game tonight. :( they lost to the juniors. it was not a good game b/c there was a lot of fouls being committed by both teams that weren't being called. several girls got hurt, none seriously though. janelle got double and triple teamed at times b/c she kept breaking through the line. a couple of girls grabbed her around the neck, which wasn't cool. they moved her in another position and she seemed to be ok then. she made some good plays tonight but i think she held back some b/c of her broken finger. the new splint i got her yesterday was nice and snug. she said it is much more comfortable than the one from prompt care.

kisses...

baby brother

my brother, brent, was here thursday and saturday. he came to stay with us while on a work trip. it was good seeing him. he was relaxed and was cutting up. no disrespect to his family, but i liked having just him here this time. he seemed like my brother the way i remember him when we were kids.

that's one of the sad things about growing up. you miss just being a kid sometimes. you have a spouse and kids and responsibilities like a job and bills. i was waiting on him to ask janelle to pull his finger like he did when she was little. she used to giggle and giggle when he'd let one fly.

we had a lot of fun as kids even though he's 6 year younger than me and 5 years younger than suzy. we saved him from a lot of whippings, but there was one we couldn't get him out of.

we used to have a drive-in theater here. one of the radio stations would have $5 a car admission price which was great for our family b/c we didn't have a lot of money. mom and dad would pile us in the car and take us to the drive-in. we would be in our pj's b/c we usually fell asleep before the movie was over. dad would light up the mosquito coil and sit it on the dashboard to keep the pesks away. he or mom would go to the snack bar and bring back a big popcorn bucket to share and drinks. i think we took in kfc a couple of times too.

dad drove a '67 ford galaxy. that car was the bomb.dot.com. it had big wide seats so me and suzy could stretch out on the backseat. brent was small enough to fit in the back window. we had our snacks and drinks and had gotten all settled. this particular night there was a double feature. i can't remember what the first movie was, but the second one was north dallas forty with burt reynolds. mom told us we could go to sleep if we wanted to or we could watch the movie.

i think i fell asleep right away. the next thing i know something plopped on top of me. i hear giggling and it's brent. he'd rolled out of the back window on top of me and suzy. mom fussed at him and told him to get back in the window and go to sleep. he did it again and we hollered. mom told him again to get back in the window and quit rolling over on top of us. she warned him next time it happened, dad was going to take us home and brent was going to get a whipping. things seemed to be quiet finally. pushing his luck, brent rolled on top of us again.

my dad said "that's it! we're going home!" he practically threw the speaker box off the window back onto the stand. we went peeling through the parking lot to the exit. brent started crying and apologizing. he knew he was going to get a whipping as promised.

now let me make a note here: my parents whipped us, but they didn't abuse us. usually a whipping was like five licks with the hickory stick. it might be 10 if we were really bad, but we had to be really bad to get 10. just the threat of seeing the hickory stick was enough for us.

when we pulled in the driveway, dad barely put the car in park before he yanked my brother out of the back of the car. suzy and i were right behind him saying he didn't really mean to roll over on us. even though he drove us crazy, we didn't like to see our baby brother get in trouble. needless to say, brent got 10 licks that night. and you better believe the next time we went to the drive-in, he stayed in the back window without falling out one time...lol. we laugh about it to this day.

and you know to this day, i have never seen north dallas forty. go figure...

kisses...

thought i had missed it

i am on a mission to post for as many days in a row as i can and i thought i had already blown it. when i signed on just now, i saw that i had posted an entry. so far so good then.

today was a pretty non-eventful day. i got some knitting done while waiting on the laundry to finish up. i need to hit up with some dusting, getting it out of the way before the knee surgery. i was going through some boxes that i had packed up and found some cd's i was missing. right now i'm listening to the matrix soundtrack. of course i am downloading the found cd's to itunes.

i really wish i had gone for the bigger ipod. i could have had all my music loaded and still have room to go. as it stands right now i can't get all my music on my ipod. i still might buy a bigger one later on anyway.

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janelle got back around noon yesterday from erskine. she said she thinks she did well on her interviews. she said erskine gained major points in her book. it's a great school and it would be awesome if she were able to get the scholarship.

the student ambassador she stayed with was a girl who won a prestigious science award. she spoke during visitation day. she gave janelle a gift bag and showed her around the school.

well i'm going to go now. i'm sitting here yawning and rubbing my eyes.

kisses...

sad news

i was sad to hear that evel knievel passed away yesterday. i remember watching him try to jump snake river canyon when i was a kid. i was so pulling for him to make it. i think i had a little bit of a crush on him too. i thought he was a handsome man.

i'm going to go to sleep now.

kisses...