The week from hell......

My first week in the office alone. I am already about to pull all my hair out. My boss, a.ka. the leprechaun, has been bugging me consistently. In and out of my office asking me to make copies, fax items, pull files. Nothing different but at the moment I am trying to juggle many things at once and try to make sure that all is getting done.

It is so extremely frustrating. Then on top of the leprechaun (no pun intended), we have the part time Nazi who is treating us as if she is the boss. Making us participate in things that normally we would have participated in but because she signs us up for things without asking us, we feel resentful. I especially feel resentful. I am very independent and I do not like being told what I can or cannot do. I am going to just naturally rebel against that. It’s such a shame. She was out yesterday because her child was sick and I was actually thankful because it was so quiet and the tension level was much lower.

I am taking Friday off so I can have a nice 4 day weekend. No, I am not going anywhere but I am going to take advantage of 4 days to get things done around my apartment that otherwise gets neglected. Plus spend time with my dad whose birthday is Friday. And maybe throw in a day trip to New Orleans. Oh, and the BEST part of this weekend: LSU FOOTBALL!!!! Geaux Tigers!

Forgetting or Healing?

Currently, life is good. I have a job that I like most of the time (but who really likes to work)? I have friends who are great. I have a dog and cat who keep me company at home at nights. I have a “special” friend who I have a great email and phone relationship with.

And yet, once again, I have that sense of doom. This year it’s hitting a little later than usual but it’s the same one that I’ve had for the past two years every time around now. Maybe not a feeling of doom, but just depression. Like something is missing. I know what it is. I’ve always known what it is but it never changes.

It’s gotten better though. I have my “special” friend to thank for that. I’m happy, he makes me happy. The only thing I could ask is that we go on to the next step in the relationship. But I am being patient.

The nightmares aren’t as frequent. I’m sleeping better at night. I don’t have the flashbacks like I used to. It’s all getting better. But as it gets better, does that mean I will forget? I don’t want to ever forget. But I don’t want it to hurt either when I remember.

Three years ago, September 13th, my beautiful baby niece died. It was so sudden and so cruel. She had only been with us for one year. She was developing such a wonderful personality. So opposite from her twin brother. And definitely different from her older sister.

I hate to admit that I did forget to visit the grave this year when her birthday went by. I knew it was her birthday because I knew it was her brother’s. But I forgot. I felt so bad about that once I remembered. It’s like I forgot her.

Friendship

One of my very best friends through high school and college was Sarah. We always had fun when together and many times we got into trouble! We knew everything about each other. If I had to choose, she would be the one person on this earth who knows all my deep, dark secrets. She is a friend who knows instantly what is going on in my mind without me even verbalizing it.

We haven’t been close in the last few years. Life has just gotten in the way. And probably a touch of laziness on both of our parts! Not to mention minor, silly arguments that just seemed to escalate and stubbornness on both of our parts.

I’ve missed her. I’ve missed our talks. I’ve missed our escapades. It’s a shame that a major life event has had to occur to make me realize that. Sarah is about to become a mother. What a wonderful and frightening time for her.

Her baby shower will be in Houston on Oct. 28th. Yes, I plan on being there and so is our friend Joy. We will all finally be in the same room at the same time for the first time in at least 2 if not 3 years. I can’t wait. Although I do hope to get to see her sooner than that. I plan on being in Houston the weekend of Sept. 16th . I hope that I can find sometime to see her. That is going to be a busy weekend with Parker’s birthday party and the LSU – Auburn game, but I am going to try!

Birthdays and First Day of School

How time flies! I can’t believe that Parker is now 4 and Marly has started school! I remember when they were cute little chubby babies! Now, they are growing up so quickly!



















Marly started her first day of kindergarten on August 16th. Her teacher is Ms. Watson and this is her first year of teaching. Marly’s first backpack is leopard print! She picked that out herself. She is currently taking her lunch but very much wants to try cafeteria food!

Parker is now 4! He is such a big boy. He received many gifts, except from his Aunt Mel. I will be bringing him his gift in September when we have his birthday party. Granny Mona was much more responsible and sent his gift already. A Thomas the Train set.

I’m sure that when I go to visit in September they will be telling me what Halloween costumes they are going to want! That was a tradition I started with Marly when she was 1. Her first costume was Snow White. She has been Ariel, Minnie Mouse, and TinkerBell. Parker has been Buzz LightYear and Peter Pan. So cute! So expensive!

Scrapping....

What have I been up to? Not much. Just spending time with friends and doing some scrap booking. It’s a contagious hobby. You start talking about it to one friend and they start doing it and then another one joins and another one. Saturday was a day of scrapping with two of my oldest friends. It was fun because we were going through old photographs of ourselves. We go back more than 10 years so that is a lot of memories.

Here are some of the pictures from Saturday and an evening last week with Bean scrapping too:

Bean being her very creative self:
Celestine and Joy working hard on their first pages: Joy's first layout: Celestine's first page:

What a sweetheart!

My friend Ron, with my dog Duke. Hanging out in my apartment. He had come over for us to spend some time together because this week he is moving to Virginia. That is where he will be stationed from now on. He is such a good friend and I really don't know what I did to deserve him. Ok, so he drives me crazy sometimes but it is just part of his charm. He makes me laugh and smile, that is what is important.

He had remembered that I had mentioned one day that my cd player/radio was going out because it was so old. As a going away gift, he bought me a new one. That was so incredibly sweet and so unnecessary! I felt bad that I hadn't gotten him anything but I did at least get to feed him. I made him a big plate of red beans and rice. At least I know that for one night he wasn't eating fast food again!

It will be difficult but I will definitely do my best to keep in touch with him. I think because I griped so much about him not having a cell phone anymore that he went and bought one so he could have one! So there will be phone calls, text messages and emails! And he can keep up with me too by reading this blog! I know that I will see him again but 8 months from now is a very long time! And with him being on a submarine for 6 of those months communication will be very limited!

Good bye is so permanent.....

I never thought that someone who I have only known for a few months would have such an impact on me. I’m not one to easily open up to someone and let them in. But with Ron, I did do that. I could, no correction, CAN talk to him about anything. And he doesn’t judge me. The man has the patience of a saint because I have tested it many many times over. And yet, for someone reason he still wants me as a friend.

He is leaving this week for Virginia. He is being stationed there. I always knew, from the time I met him, that this was going to happen. And yet it doesn’t make it any easier. We didn’t see much of each other to begin with but we did email and phone. If I had a problem, I could talk to him and know that he wasn’t thinking how childish I was being. Ok, so he probably was thinking that but he wouldn’t say it to me. He would let me figure that one out on my own.

I seriously feel like I am losing one of my best friends and I am not quite sure how to cope with that. Friends are so hard to come by these days. At least ones that you can trust and be honest with.

I know, I know, email and phone are still available, but it’s harder when the person moves a couple of states away. One of my very good friends moved just next door to Texas and we have done a horrible job in keeping in touch. It takes a major life event for us to get together these days. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to say good bye.

Weekend Update

The weekend was a quiet one. I stayed around the apartment and cleaned and cooked for the week. I have to say that the apartment is looking pretty good. I even made the bed this morning as I was so inspired!

I had the opportunity to speak to an old friend of mine yesterday about all that has been going on in her life. Almost a month ago she sent an email to all of us saying that she was pregnant. That was it. She was pregnant. No information on if she was with anyone, married, engaged, sperm donor, nothing. My friends and I, who still live in the old hometown, had tried to reach her numerous times by phone and email and had not been able to do so. It felt like to us that she was hiding something. She finally called me yesterday. We talked for an hour. She is in a long distance relationship, currently working on her fellowship in oncology/hematology and 5 ½ months pregnant. But she sounds happy. I think. We won’t get to meet him until probably October unless I have time when I go to Houston in September. He hasn’t even met her parents. They are flying in at the end of this month to meet the parents. She finds out what the baby is on Tuesday. The baby’s room will be Classic Winnie the Pooh. It seems so odd to me that she is having a baby.

My sister called last night to tell me about some guys she met last weekend. They were from Chicago. They were all Sicilians. With lots of cash. She said they were all flashing wads of cash all around. They paid for everything. Dinner, drinks, tips, etc. She asked the guy she was interested in what business he was in and he replied construction. She said that she had a flashback to the scene in Goodfellas when Ray Liotta’s character meets his wife and she asks him what he does and he says construction! Of course, for anyone who knows my sister, she has always had this secret obsession with the mob so of course this is a major attraction for her. We’ll see how it goes now that he is back in Chicago and she is in Austin.

It’s an addiction, scrapbooking. It is so addicting. I did like 6 pages this weekend with the materials I had. And I want to do so much more but I need other things and yet I don’t want to spend the money because things are kind of tight right now and I am trying to be good. But geez, it is so addicting. I did my first page and then it was downhill from there. Now all I can think about is what I want to do with other pictures that I have and how I can improve the previous pages I did.

Difficult Road Ahead?

My office mate is pregnant. She is due September 1st. She will be gone for 12 weeks. I'm not quite sure how this is going to work. That will add 3 additional associations to my responsiblities. When I have weeks like this one, I wonder how it will all get done.

This week, one of her associations has 2 classes, one in Lafayette and the other at the office. I have a board meeting this weekend. We were out of the office all day today because of the Lafayette class leaving me just tomorrow to complete everything for the board meeting. Although I did get everything to my boss early to review, I am pretty sure that when I get back to the office in the morning nothing will have been done on his part. If it has been, I will be very pleasantly surprised.

My office mate drove up to Lafayette Wednesday evening so that she wouldn't have to get up very early on Thursday to be there. On her drive in her back tire blew out. Not just go flat but blew out. It was in shreds. She was very lucky that a nice man pulled over and changed it for her as I wasn't there and her husband was in Alec on business. When she called I was so concerned that she was going to go into labor that night. I'm not ready for her to leave yet.

One more day of work and then it will be the weekend. Although I have to work till 6 on Friday, I just keep repeating to myself, overtime, overtime, overtime!

Update:

Ok, after being away from the blog for a week or so, here’s a recap of what has been going on.

On the 21st I had ALL of my wisdom teeth removed. Just not the two the dentist had originally said, but all 4. It was a weekend of sleeping and being drugged up. Not sure really of all that happened. Hopefully nothing too important!

Last week my sister was in town. For a whole 8 days. How much did I see her? Hmmm, let’s see. I had a family dinner on the first Sunday she was here. The family did dinner and a movie night on Wednesday and then I saw her briefly at the Varsity on Friday night. Yes, lots of quality time. But that is how we work. The less time together the better we get along. It may have to do with the 5 year gap in our ages or it could be that we are just so totally opposite we don’t really get along well.

Needless to say, Friday night had its ups and downs. It was definitely nice to get out have dinner with the friends and then go hear a band. It was when we were at the Varsity that the “down” part occurred. My friends and I were sitting at the bar, with my sister and her friends standing behind us. I was not looking around at the crowd or made eye contact with anyone outside of my circle of friends and yet somehow I attracted some guy’s attention. He was definitely not my type. He appeared to have not even showered before coming to the bar. I never really looked him in the eye as I was attempting to get rid of him. However, no matter how curt I was with him or how much I ignored him, he still kept talking. The only points he scored was that he thought my sister was the older sister and that I was the younger sister. Needless to say, I had to look for one of my sister’s guy friends to come and rescue me. As soon as Box came around, the guy couldn’t run away fast enough. Now I remember why I don’t like to go to bars!