My New Puppy Snores

We've adopted our Foster Dog. Her name is Sophie and she snores. It makes me laugh! She's in my office with me right now, sleeping on the futon, and she's snoring. It's pretty darn adorable.

So my in-laws are visiting and it's been a fun week so far. We've gone to the Kartchner Caverns and that was fun, we've looked at some RV Sites because in about 2 years they're planning on Wintering here (yay!), we had Cuban food at the Havana Cafe, we met up with my parents to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants, Oregano's , where my MIL really enjoyed the Bellinis and my FIL loved the Pizza and Pizza-Cookie (of course, who doesn't love their food!), and last night my FIL and I went to see the Dress Rehearsal of "La Boheme" through my friend Angie and the Monte Vista club . That was very cool as I've never before been to an actual Opera. I've seen lots of musicals, yes, but never an Opera. And for those of you who think you have - Phantom of the Opera is a Muscial, not an Opera. Don't worry, I used to think it was Opera too, once upon a time.

Today I'm back to work so they are out looking at potential RV sites for their future Winter home. John and I are pretty excited to have them here, even if it's only for a few months out of the year. It's going to be great to be able to see them so much, compared to only about once a year now.

Not sure what else we're going to do while they're here. Maybe head up to Jerome on Saturday, since that's a really nice day trip and there's so many cool art galleries and stores up there. I don't think they've ever been there. We'll have to just see what they're interested in.

That's it for today!

Amy

Yesterday - not a good day

I must apologize for my long-winded rant yesterday. Turns out I was all upset over nothing. I told my PT Boss that I couldn't work Tuesday and she said - No problem, enjoy your family.

Sheesh. I guess I was having a bad day yesterday. I was just crabby and prickly. I feel like I may be getting a migraine. A woman called today (I take lots of incoming calls for my FT job) and her voice just pounded into my head. It was as if it was at a decibal (sp?) designed to make the human brain hurt. Maybe it's a Super Power and she's a Super Villain? Or she could be like some fallen Angel or Demon, or half-breed, with such a powerful voice it makes people's brains explode if she doesn't keep it under control.

Lucky for me, she seemed to have good control. My brain only *almost* exploded.

Visitors arrive tonight, and I still have not cleaned up my share of the house. I have clothes to put away, boxes to move, and general crap to get out of the way. Oh well. I have my lunch hour to do some of it. The rest will have to just sit there and make me feel guilty.

-A

Work, Boss, argh.

Sorry to my 2 followers - I missed a few days. I know, you were heartbroken and devastated over my lapse. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Thanks for following me, btw. It's so nice of you. :)

Tonight I am frustrated, once again, with my part-time boss. She owns her own business and I only work for her about 6 hours a week, on average. She pays me more per hour than I make at my full-time job, and she's generally very flexible about my hours. Plus, I work from home most of the time, so it's pretty cool all around.

She's 70 years old this year, and maybe she's beginning to show her age because lately, she's been making me a bit crazy. And what really gets me is I am SO flexible for her (and yes, she returns the favor) but then when I'm not, when I can't change my life around to suit her, she gets all butt hurt.

For example; Christmas. She's leaving to go out-of-state to visit her daughter. There's some report that we can't finish on 12/23 because the other expert hasn't sent in his report yet, and she needs his to finalize hers. (she's an expert witness, btw) It's nearly 9:00 at night, she's leaving the next day on a plane, I've got the day off and plan to finish my wrapping and shopping, and we figure - there's no way the attorney is going to be working on 12/24 and it's not our fault the other witness doesn't have his report in, so finalizing the report will have to wait until she's back from her vacation on 1/3.

She lets the attorney know, apparently he flips his lid and insists he needs the report by 1/1. She plans to be in a hotel with her grandkids so can't work on 12/31 or 1/1, and asks if I can check her email and work on 12/26. The day after Christmas. It's also my nephew's birthday and John and I have a hockey game that night. So I tell her, No, I'm sorry- I can work any other day after that but not on 12/26. Well she gets all frustrated and butt hurt. I get irritated because I very rarely, if ever, tell her No and don't appreciate her getting all huffy and mad about it. As if I don't have the right to have the day after Christmas off!

Another time, we're sitting in her office going over her calendar. This was actually before Christmas, I remember, because we were talking about 12/21, which is the Winter Solstice. I celebrate the Solstice, and I was hoping John and I could do our gifts that night, put up our little tree, etc. I tell her I can work early in the day but need to start at 5:00 and be done by 7:00, then finish up on Tuesday if necessary. That doesn't quite work for her so she asks if she can fax me the work Sunday so that I can start on it then and have it all done by Monday night. I say- Certainly! She's going to be traveling so she faxes me Sunday morning and we agree she'll call Monday.

I actually end up sick that weekend with the nasty 48-hour flu bug I caught from John, sweating/chills, vomiting, the other end leaking too... ugh. But I pull myself off the couch that night and get the work done, because I don't want to get stuck working late Monday.

We're supposed to work at 5:00. She doesn't call. 5:35.. still no call, so I try calling her. She's at the airport, she says she'll be home by 7:00 and we can start work then. I say - Uh, no. We're supposed to be Done by 7:00, we were supposed to start at 5:00. She says no, she faxed me the work Sunday to work on that night. I was like - No, you faxed me the work Sunday to do on Sunday - so that I could get a head start and we could be done by 7:00, because it was 12/21 and that's a holiday for me. She was all flustered and again, totally made me feel guilty. Her favorite line - Well you just do what you gotta do, Amy.

Ha! I was so irritated. We sat there and discussed the schedule. I don't know how it changed in her head or what happened, but I know the error wasn't mine.

Today. Yes, this brings us to today. She sends me all this work, including something from another expert that I normally do separately (and I've told them I can't do both of their work on the same night, I just don't have enough time) and wants it all done. Doesn't happen. Not a big deal because I do have some time tomorrow and I'll wrap it up. But then! When we did the calendar for this month, we were not working this coming Tuesday because she's going to be traveling. But she sends me this email and asks me to check her email on Tuesday, just as if we were going to work, and to work on these 2 reports because she needs them for Thursday.

Well guess what! I have out-of-town guests coming tomorrow night and they're staying for a week, and I took Mon/Tues/Wed off of work next week to spend time with them. And I'm not freaking working on Tuesday! She never asked me, before this email tonight, to work on Tuesday so I never mentioned my guests. It wasn't necessary, we weren't going to be working anyhow. I just know this is going to be an issue. I truly do. And I'm already defensive because I know she's going to put it on me like it's my fault I didn't somehow glean from her mind via ESP that she'd want me to work, even though I'm not scheduled.

Ok, I'm totally complaining. I feel it even as I type it. Am I lame? It's hard to explain it, but it's like she gets this attitude when I can't make my schedule mesh with hers. And the reason that's so irritating is because 99% of the time I DO make my schedule mesh. I rearrange things for her, I cancel things, I give up my lunch hour, etc. I do what I can to make sure I can work when she needs me to, but sometimes I just can't. And by can't, I guess I mean won't. There's a point when I just feel that her work isn't the priority at that time. In this case, spending time with my family is the priority. Had I known she would want me to work - well I would have maybe tried to work something out with her but I didn't know.

So frustrating. Ok. I think I'm all bitched out for now.
Amy

PF Chang's Weekend

Yesterday was the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon here in Phoenix. It was an awesome event and a great weekend. It was John's first ever event and he's hooked. We both did the half marathon with Team in Training, so we raised, between the two of us, about $4,500 to fight blood cancers. Yeah, we rock.

We had a great time. John Bingham, The Penguin, was our speaker again at the TNT Inspiration Dinner. He's an amazing guy and such a great speaker. A long time ago his first love died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma, the same disease I had, but back then it was far less treatable. Then it was practically a death sentence but today, its got something like a 95% cure rate for Stage 1. 

John Bingham created Team in Training as a way to keep a promise he made to his friend's mother, to do whatever he could to fight this disease. Cancer. Since then he's inspired countless others to run, walk, and run/walk and raise money to fight blood cancers. I'd say he kept his promise and then some.

Next event, San Antonio. I think. John and I are talking to some friends, were hoping to get a group together to go. Anyone interested let me know. I'm planning on doing the half marathon again, 13.1 miles. 

I can't wait!

Men of a Certain Age

TNT's new show. I wasn't sure about it at first but I have to say, the last two episodes have been truly fabulous. There have been some really great, laugh out loud lines. Like these;

"Eccentric can be a compliment."
"Not really. Eccentric is just a gentler way of saying crazy, but with money,maybe."
"So how did he describe me?"
"Well he said very pretty, and a lot of fun."
"Well that just means slut."
"No... uh.."
"Fun means slutty, but you kinda like the girl anyway."

Or these

"You were honestly going to wack it in the office?"
"Woah, woah, who said anything about wacking it?"
"Well why were your pants down?"
"I don't know, I was awaiting further instructions!"
"Like what? Now staple your dick to a post-it note?"

Oh yeah, that had me laughing out loud. And last week were these really touching, really poignant moments for two of the lead characters.

One of them, Joe, who is divorced, has a talk wiith his daughter's ex-boyfriend, who is sort of stalking her because he's still madly in love with her. And Joe relates because he's still in love with his wife. Joe talks to the kid about how loving someone makes you feel, how you want to be a better person for them, how you constantly think about them and feel like the world is going to end because it's over. But that while it may feel that way, the world does go on and he'll meet someone else one day, someone that maybe he'll marry and have kids with, and that maybe one day he'll have this same moment with his own daughter's boyfriend. It was really well done because it was clear that while Joe was talking to this heart-broken boy, he was also coming to some realizations of his own, that his life wasn't over either and that he would someday find someone else. Then, he gets out of the car and leans in through the window, and tells the kid if he sees him around again, he'll kick his ass. The kids looks terrified and drives off, and Joe looks at his house, where his ex-wife and kids are tucked in for bed, and you can tell he feels like a Good Dad.

And the other; Owen, the still married guy with kids in a crappy job, got screwed by a contractor who was building an addition to his home, without permits as it turns out. The city comes and shuts him down, and tells him he may have to tear down all the work, pay fines and rebuild. He goes to a city worker for help, waiting in line all day to get a chance to talk with him, and the city guy tells Owen there's nothing he can do. He's frustrated and as the power is shut off in his home, he's forced to take his family to stay with his parents for the night. His dad is a Beast (any GRRM readers - think Tywin Lannister) and makes him feel like a failure. Humiliated, the next day Owen goes back to the city, stands in line all day, and when he finally gets to talk to the city guy, who again tells him there's nothing he can do, Owen tells him a story about working for his dad, and how he's stuck, and nothing he does will ever br good enough... It's a heartbreaking story, and you know Owen is baring his very soul to this man, hoping he'll take pity on him. Then they show Owen outside on the steps having a Rocky moment. Triumphant! Fists in the air, huge smile, victorious! It was beautiful.

If you have cable on demand, you should watch the last two episodes. Or watch them online. Watch all of them if you want, but it's not necessary, it's the last two that are really worth the time. This show is really finding itself and becoming something brilliant.
-A

The Day that Seven Singed her Tail

Oh Seven, you silly, nilly gray kitty. What were you thinking when you sat upon my desk, your eyes bright with mischief, and your sinuous tail draped over the burning flame of my Winter Cookie candle?

Your tail is on fire you git!

And the smell of burning fur wafts through the air, nauseating and rich.

-A

Sick on Monday

All day, really all weekend, I've been having runny nose and sneezing issues. I think it's allergies, but tonight I feel like maybe it's a head cold. It sort of feels like it's settled in, into my head, like my head is now like a round fishbowl partially full of fluid, thoughts all hazy like fish in the dirty water. And if I tip it to the side, it feels heavy and hard to re-center.

Whenever I get a cold, it comes on first like allergies. A virus in histamine clothing. Ha ha! So it's often hard to tell. It doesn't help that I ran out of allergy pills and forgot to call in a refill, so I've been off my anti-histamines for a few days now. Oops. And it doesn't help that I live in a house full of animals that I'm allergic to. These dogs especially. Double oops.

What can I say, I'm a bit of a masochist I think.

Holy Packers!

Unbelievable! Cardinals shank a 34 ft field goal and its sudden death overtime. And we win the coin toss?!?! Holy crap, this is exciting. Go Pack, go!

Vomit Can Be funny

Our friends, D&J were over Friday night and J told us about why they recently had to replace their laptop. J's grandma was in the hospital after having her hip replaced, and they were visiting her. J decided to show her some of their most recent pictures on the laptop, and she was having some adverse reactions to the anesthesia. Know where this is going? Yeah, I think you do.
It's not so much that she projectile vomited on their laptop that was funny, after all, she's a sick, old lady in the hospital. It was the way J told the story - magnificently. It was so damn funny, I haven't laughed that hard since New Years, but that doesn't count since I was under the influence. Before that it'd been a while.
Freakin' hilarious. The moral is: Don't take your laptop to the hospital with you when you visit your sick grandma, unless you want to be turning it on its side to drain the mess out of it. Yeah, eww. I know. Still, really funny story.
-A

Its still Friday

Ok, technically its Saturday here but I haven't been to bed yet, which makes it still Friday night for me. That means I can blog and haven't missed a day yet. Goody.

I have a cat sitting on my lap and one on my chest.  I'm lying on the couch, ready for bed, sending this via my phone. Which is a pain in the arse, btw. One of my cats is snoring. Really.

Had a great dinner with friends tonight and looking forward to 3 miles in the a.m. with TNT followed by brunch. Magic 8 Ball says it should be a good day.

Lying here, I almost fell asleep and found myself drifting through old Faire memories. Specifically the time an ex boyfriend showed up and as he was an ex performer as well, he went to dinner afterward with the cast. I asked a friend to "rescue" me, a guy friend, and make it look like I was previously engaged.  And wanted.

I remember him coming to get me from a crowd of people,  with a few other lads in tow, and we sat elsewhere in the restaurant. Me and "my boys", which is how I thought of them at the time.  And I felt so safe. I was saved from a situation that was causing me a great deal of anxiety. 

Sometimes you just need a graceful exit.
-A

We can't donate because of Obama

So I get a call from this woman who wants to be taken off our mailing list. That's fine, I get calls like this one all day. It's to be expected after a 6,000,000 piece mailing goes out, which just happened. But she won't stop talking, and all she wants to talk about is how its all Obama's fault. I don't know even know what "it" is that she meant, but she was adamant that "it" was all his fault.

"Take us off your mailing list, we can't donate because of Obama. My husband has to lay off people at his work because of Obama. We're not giving to any charities this year because of Obama." And on and on. That's me paraphrasing of course, her actual diatribe was much more detailed and offensive.

I had to interrupt her anti-Obama tirade in order to fulfill her request - It's kind of hard to take someone off a mailing list if you don't know who they are. Stop Obama-ing me to death and tell me your name!

It was extraordinarily difficult not to say something nasty back to her. Whatever your political views are, what is it that makes you want to call a perfect stranger on the phone and beat them over the head with your views? It's a bit inappropriate, not to mention contrary to your supposed purpose for calling.

If you'd like to mail something to her, her name and address are as follows:
Really Stupid Lady
New York, NY 10016

Ok, no. I did have her name and address but I could probably get into trouble for sharing. But boy is it tempting!
Amy

A new year

It's 2010 and I'm starting a Blog. Like, a real blog, one I plan to write on most every day, even if it's just a bunch of crap.

I know I'm a few days late as it's already the 5th of January (is it the 5th? I hope I have that right or I'm going to look like a dork) so I've missed January 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th, but I hope to make up for those 4 days in this one, all encompassing, January-so-far post.

January so far;

I've gained some weight over the holidays

I've worked both jobs

I've watched a lot of TV

That's about it. Aren't you impressed. See, I didn't end that with a question mark because it's not really a question, it's more rhetorical.

I think you see where this blog is going. It's going to be me more or less spewing forth whatever it is that comes into my head while I'm typing. Very stream of conciousness. See, last night I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, and I couldn't shut my brain off. This is typical, every night I lie in bed thinking, and thinking, and thinking. Everything from My Foot Itches to Wow, Whatever Happened to That Guy Jim I sort of Dated in Chicago? He had that hairstyle where it was shaved all around the sides and the back, and long on front. One of my friends called it The Exaggerated Penis style. I had that hairstyle myself once, before I'd heard it called that.

These thoughts stream by like that, stream of conciousness, get it? And they run right into another, just running by, barely connected, moving fast or slow, depending. Lots of times its more than thoughts, its memories, and I submerge myself in them, underwater in this stream of mine, and it's really quite delightful. Not like drowning at all. Like... I don't know. Like drowning if drowning was pleasant. Which I have heard it's not. I've actually heard it's one of the most unpleasant ways a person can die.

So welcome to my stream, my river, my torrential downpour. I hope you'll visit often. But if not that's ok because it's really more about the sharing and the chance for me to use big words and sound clever. It's better if I don't think anyone is reading this. Then there's no pressure. Because it's really freaking hard to be clever under pressure. At least for me.

-A