I did it!

I finally did it! I finished the picture that I was working on for my sister's Christmas present. Isn't it pretty? LOL! I started on a new project, Snow White, for my niece. I just can't sit down and not have something in my hands to do!

It's been busy.....

It's been awhile since I've last blogged. I've been very busy with work. I've also been working on my sister's christmas present! I hope to have it completed soon.

Insanity and Ulcers

I am at the point that I am seriously considering how I am even still functioning. I feel so completely overwhelmed at the moment. Work is hectic, to put it mildly. My PIC is leaving. My grandmother AND sister are both in for a visit. I think I may just go insane!

At work I am handling 4 associations. Typically wouldn’t be bad but they all have decided to require attention at once. I am traveling to different cities to put on classes for one association while back at the office there are board meetings and conventions, websites, and newsletters that need to be done! And yet, I keep telling everyone that I can do it. So far, I have. But I have to do all this til the Monday after Thanksgiving. I don’t know if I can last that long.

Then my PIC at work is leaving. I am happy she is going to a new place that will hopefully make her happier but I don’t know what I will do without someone to laugh with or commiserate with at work! It will be a rough adjustment!

The visits! My grandmother arrives today. Love her to death but it is so hard to please her. Then my sister arrives on Friday. That ought to be interesting. And me, trying to please everyone will be running around like a chicken without a head. On Saturday my grandmother, my mom, my sister and I are attending the football game. That ought to be interesting since my sister is already being a baby about that. She wants to go down all day to tailgate and get drunk. Which means she will need a ride down there, which means I will have to drive her. Then later I will have to pick up my mom and grandmother to take them down to the game and then sit through the game with them while I am sure my grandmother will make some comment about my sister’s drinking. We are all over 21! It’s legal as long as she doesn’t drive!

Is it possible to give oneself an ulcer? I think I am well on my way!

The Visitor

Friday night my friends and I gathered together to celebrate the return of my friend Joyful from Europe. She had been over there for two weeks visiting England for pleasure and Germany for family.

We all went to one of our favorite sushi restaurants. We placed our orders and settled down into visiting and catching up with each other. Our waiter brought our food and we were all enjoying our different rolls when one of my friends very calmly got up from the table and backed away from it while saying "Joy, stay calm, but there is a roach next to you." Yep, that's right! A roach, the visitor, had decided to join our meal. He was right next to Joy on the wall. Now, Joy is TERRIFIED of roaches. I have to commend her for keeping it together and just jumping up and grabbing her food. I, on the other hand, sat back and watched the events unfold and giggled!

Our waiter was very efficient and came over right away and killed the roach and promptly moved us to another table. We only received 20% off the bill.

I have to say that it may be quite awhile before we go back! LOL!

Chemistry

Why is it when you finally meet that nice guy who you can talk to, you enjoy being with, and treats you wonderfully, there is absolutely no chemistry. No butterflies in the stomach. No tingling when he touches you. You might as well be with your brother.

It is frustrating to know that the person who excites you and makes you feel alive is probably someone that you shouldn't be with. Why is it that you always want what you can't have or what is bad for you? I guess if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't still be single!

September 13, 2006

Today, when I woke up, I didn’t have that sad feeling that I’ve had for the last 3 years. I wasn’t jumping up and down with joy but I didn’t feel so very depressed. I still remember what today is and it saddens me but it’s not the overwhelming grief that I had felt before.

I finally slept last night. I hadn’t slept in two nights and I was pretty tired. I woke up only once at 3 am but was able to get back to sleep. And like every morning, as it has been for the last few months, I got my wake up call. It makes getting up that much better to know that someone is thinking of me first thing in the morning. Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy.

Life does go on. At the moment that something incredibly sad happens, you don’t think that you can. But what every one says is true. Life does go on, you will never forget, but the sadness does go away. Time does heal all wounds. (Just seeing how many clichés I can throw in).

It's time for....

It’s that time of year, FOOTBALL SEASON! Ok, so I am like a huge LSU fan. Is there any other school? LOL! I totally respect other people’s opinions, I just don’t agree with them unless it is something good about LSU.

Yes, the team they played last week could be compared to a high school team, however, they are trying to help out the lesser inner state schools by bringing them some recognition and revenues. This week it is Arizona! I am lucky enough that my father was able to get two tickets for me and Joyful. I haven’t been back to campus since they’ve completed the renovations to the stadium so it will be interesting to see them.

Next week is Auburn. That’s an away game that is on tv at 2:30 p.m. I don’t like afternoon games. I feel like the whole day is wasted.

LAST WEEKEND:
Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend the day in New Orleans. It was fairly quiet around the French Quarter although it was Decadence weekend. There were some very interesting men out and about but not like in the past. Although it did amaze me that this one guy could walk down the street in just a white undershirt and his BVDs. His facial expression was of one who was completely dressed and taking a walk. Thank goodness for sunglasses and the guy couldn’t see that I was staring and trying not to laugh! Also, who ever thought that leather and feathers make an interesting outfit? It doesn’t.

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!

What color heart do you have?

Another quiz! You have to be amazed at how closely they do come to saying what you are all about.

Your Heart Is Blue

Love is a doing word for you. You know it's love when you treat each other well.You are a giving lover, but you don't give too much. You expect something in return. Your flirting style: Friendly Your lucky first date: Lunch at an outdoor cafe Your dream lover: Is both generous and selfish What you bring to relationships: Loyalty

What Color Heart Do You Have?

Bitten.....

I’ve never been one to be extremely creative. I can’t draw, I can’t paint, I can’t write. I do have a good imagination. However, to translate that into something that is artsy is another story.

I do cross stitch but what’s hard about that? You pick a picture you like, buy the pre-determined materials and you sew it based off of a pattern. Yes, you have a pretty picture at the end that you can either frame, make a pillow out of, or perhaps even a blanket, but it’s still very structured.

Then you have scrapping. Everything about it just screams creativity. Everything that I am not. And yet, for some mysterious reason, I’ve been bitten by the scrapping bug. I have yet to produce an actual page yet, but I am currently enjoying buying the paper and other items needed to produce it! I have so many pictures that I have never done anything with that has so much potential for really fun pages.

It’s a little overwhelming though. Where does one start? You come to a time when you have all the supplies needed, you have gathered all the pictures, then what? What is it that you do with it all? How do you put it all together so that you just don’t have a bunch of nonsense on one page?

To be continued……

The World's Greatest Mystery

Does any one really care if Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a child together? Is it of such national importance that there have to be daily news reports on it? There are websites dedicated to uncovering the “mystery” of this child. People are wasting their lives away by sitting watching the Cruises just to get a photograph of this mystery child.

I don’t care. I really don’t. And if you really give it some thought, why would someone go through all the trouble of faking a pregnancy and at the end not have a child to show off. If you are seriously going to take the trouble of doing a pregnancy wouldn’t you think it all the way through and have a child to show the world?