The new tattoo on my forehead - SUCKER

So it's been quite a week and I haven't blogged in over a week. I'm so sorry if any of you have been checking in for my long absence. Last weekend I went to Leetown, WV for work - driving down Friday and back Saturday.

I was driving my new car - sunroof open, radio blaring, having a grand old time. The countdown to empty on my tank said I had 80 miles of gas left - this should be about 2.75 gallons and I think no problem so I cruise on by an exit with a station and before I hit the next exit it changes - now it says LOW FUEL and the red light is on - WHAT? So the very next exit there is a sign for a BP station and I get off, of course it's not right off the highway but around a twisty little road up on the top of a mountain. I pull in, sunroof still open, radio still blaring and as I pull up to the pump a college age boy approaches me. He looks so crestfallen - tells me that he and his friends got lost and now they are out of gas and trying to get home and could I spare a few dollars. Normally I do not fall for this type of ploy but I was in a good mood, the smallest bill I had was a ten and I decided what the heck good kharma and all so I gave it to him. He thanked me profusely and I got out of my car to start pumping my own gas, and watched him run over to his car fully expecting him to start pumping $10 worth into his car, but nope...

The little bastard gets in and squeals tires out of there with his friend whooping in the car. So I feel like a total sucker, and they probably bought a 12 pack of some cheap nasty beer. :( I hope the kharma bus ran over them on their way wherever they were going.

Do you ever wonder if you have an office name?

Around here there is Weird Ed - he's kind of a hippy type guy - livin off the land - has this long curly mane of hair he sometimes wears in a strange ponytail on top of his head. He's super friendly, nice, but WEIRD.

Then there's the woman who talks too much - no one even wants to say HI to her because you will be stuck. The last time I asked her how her day was going I spent 1/2 an hour saying I really need to get back to work while I learned that her husband is an engineer, how he loves NASA and how he and his friend went down to Cape Kennedy to watch the last space shuttle launch and a blow by blow of just how awesome it was. I avert my eyes when I see her coming now.

And of course there is my nemesis RBT - who is now trying to one better me by leaving the department we shared to go to one of the data geek teams. Thankfully he's not going to be joining my team (Database Solutions) because I'm not sure I could handle him trying to watch me. He is known as the office gossip. If you want to get news out tell RBT, if you want to know what's happening around the office, ask RBT.

Then there's the Useless IT guy - he sits across a cubicle wall from me so I hear what he does all day. He eats frequently and chews loudly while talking. He clips his fingernails (this makes me cringe). He talks on the phone to his 2 year old son in annoying and sickening baby talk. He yells into his bosses office instead of getting up and walking in there to talk to him. He talks on the phone to his wife, his mom, his ex-wife about his other son, his friends. He sets up happy hour get togethers with his friends. And he sleeps - yes SLEEPS - yesterday we heard some strange noises coming over the wall that sounded suspiciously like snoring. When we went to check it out INDEED - he was FAST ASLEEP. And just my luck if anyone at work ever happens upon my blog it's most likely to be him so if he's reading this just kidding on the useless part? LOL

There are more but what I wonder is - what do other people call me other than my name when discussing me? LOL

Saying Thank You!

Hubby is all set for Saturday - he will get his Tysabri infusion at this new place, insurance is set, drug is going to be delivered, everyone is in line and all is done.

The office manager at his neurologist's office has been an angel through all of this. She has jumped through hoops, chewed new assholes, and moved heaven and earth to make it happen.

And we are grateful! So in addition to calling her and telling her she rocks and how much we appreciate everything she has done - we are sending her these lovely flowers. I hope they make her day! Sure would make my day if someone sent me flowers out of the blue!

THANKS PATTY!!!!!

Back on the Tysabri Wheel of Death...

We found a place that will do hubby's Tysabri on weekends or in the evening. Now we are like hamsters on a wheel running and running and running and getting nowhere. The insurance approval is not happening. This place gets the drug through our specialty pharmacy and so we're waiting for that to happen. People keep calling my husband and he is getting confused and frustrated. I now have to make phone calls to figure out what is happening and what he needs to do. I really wish they could follow instructions and call me in the first place.

Again with the martyr attitude too, he says to me "maybe I should just stop treating this and then no one will have to worry about it." If I could have reached a hand through the phone and smacked him I would have.

He has an appointment for Saturday morning IF we can get the drug from the pharmacy in time. If not he still has an appointment on Friday at 1pm for the old place.

Once we get him moved - he better not ask to move his treatment again, or he's on his own! ARGH!

Monday, Monday...

No telling what might happen on a Monday! Even the Monday, Monday song shows two possible outcomes to Monday.

The first verse starts out like this:
Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be

And the second verse like this:
Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

So what kind of Monday is it going to be? So far I'm doing a-okay! Got to work mostly on time, not too awfully tired today. Hubby is picking this up after work today:And we are both excited to be getting our 2nd new car in 6 months! :) Yippee - no more repair bills, no more truck nickel and diming us. No more horrific gas mileage. And a pretty, somewhat sporty new car to make me smile in my garage!

So hoping that overall this Monday will be good to me!

TGIF - That Rick Astley - he just might be the perfect man...

I found this on FOUNDSHIT.com and it made me laugh but good on this sleepy Friday. I hope you enjoy it too and if you are looking for a page to make you laugh and laugh and possibly choke on your diet wild cherry pepsi and cause co-workers to offer the heimlich maneuver? Well this is the page for you!

Catching a wink

Today I am tired - dog tired for some reason (allergies mostly) and really could use a nice nap. If I put my head down on my desk there is no doubt I could sleep. It reminds me of the last time I was this tired for a long period of time. The year was 2000, I was living in Cincinnati and working for one of the soap companies there. It was September and I was in the midst of planning a sales meeting for 5 days in Orlando, Florida for about 150 people. I was in charge of every detail, hotel, meeting space, meeting topics and presenters, food (breakfast, lunch, dinner, 2 snack breaks and a hospitality room each evening), entertainment (one night at Epcot, one at Cirque de Soliel), transportation (airfare, travel from airport, travel to dinners and entertainment) for everyone, as well as all materials that had to be prepared and shipped from Cincinnati to Orlando, this included giant sales binders for everyone and of course the would not be done and ready until 2 days before the start so we'd be paying a premium to ship them. I was in charge of making sure the theme was evident in all areas of materials and planning (it was a Circus theme in honor or Cirque), and that included designing powerpoint slides, and dinner menus and personal name tags for everyone - pre-printed and laminated and making sure their name was spelled right!

At the same time I was planning my wedding - perhaps the single most important event of my life. On a much smaller scale of course and with a tiny budget. But I was printing menus, favors, name cards, bulletins for the church, I was making pew bows and ordering flowers, and picking dinner choices, recording RSVP's.

I don't think I've ever been as stressed or as tired as I was those three months - Sept - planning both, Oct - sales meeting, Nov - wedding.

So where is this leading? One day I left my desk in the cube farm and went to the bathroom finally getting a moment to myself with no phone ringing, no email dings, no one standing over me. I sat down to do my business and rested my elbows on my knees and my head on my hands. It was always chokingly hot in the bathrooms at the soap company for some reason and the warmth lulled me right to sleep. The next thing I remember someone else came into the bathroom and the act of opening the door sent a cold draft right up where you might imagine and startled me right awake. I had no idea how long I had been sleeping, but I finished up with wiping (had dripped completely dry by this point anyway) and washed my hands and left the bathroom. When I got back to my desk and looked at the time - I had been in the bathroom for almost an hour!

I had taken a 45+ minute power nap on the toilet!

And today I seriously considered trying it again - but it's not warm in the bathroom here, it's downright cold. So I'm back at my desk wondering if anyone would notice if I just took a nap here. Hmmm - disable the screensaver and just close my eyes. Not a bad idea.

It's no wonder I'm exhausted...

Today I made calls to the vet to find out about my old cat - waiting on a call back now. Kind of peeved that no one has called yet - I guess the doctor is working late cause they said he'd call tonight.

Also hubby emailed me how he was going to have to stop taking Tysabri because he can't keep missing work and no one gives the infusions in the evening or on weekends. We had found one place that would do evening infusions and then they failed to mention they don't take our insurance! UGH As for him getting fired? we've been through this 50 times already - this is why he has the FMLA coverage but he claims they will find some other reason to fie him. SO I went on the Tysabri website and printed out every infusion center within 100 miles of us and started calling. I found one about 65 miles away that does do evenings and weekends and accepts our insurance so now to get him switched over to that facility. What a nightmare - nothing moves fast that is for sure and his next infusion is due next week. I told him he will have to go to the old place one more time even though he doesn't have time. But I don't know if he will agree yet.

I went to the gym today at lunch and felt somewhat energetic afterward but also ravenous so ate far more than is appropriate while snacking this afternoon. Another UGH.

Tonight I'm going to bed early. It looks like I'll be spending a great deal of time on the phone tomorrow figuring out hubby's infusions.

Monday Sucks

This pretty much sums up how I feel today. Monday is strangling the life right out of me. I got up and showered and then contemplated calling in and going back to bed. I contemplated this for oh about 40 minutes until I decided I should go in and then rushed around like a mad woman to finish getting ready and out the door in 10 minutes. MONDAY. SUCKS.

Then at the office, I'm still dragging. I am not busy today, this is a bad thing to be not busy when you are already tired and dragging. It's 2:43 and I have been watching the clock since 10am. MONDAY. SUCKS.

I do have a few personal errands to do - but they involve calling car dealers and trying to play them one off the other to see who will give me the best deal on a trade in. I don't want to do this because no matter what day of the week - IT SUCKS!

Today was to have been the day I started watching what I eat in addition to my gym visits to attempt to shrink my ass in some significant way before June 22nd. Good intentions and all I totally blew it today. No great surprise. One good thing I did today was purchase a bottle of GNC's Women's Ultra Mega Vitamins! :) Maybe they will help me get some more energy? The Diet Mt. Dew isn't working anymore. Or maybe I just have a case of the Monday's? MONDAY. SUCKS!

TGIF - ready for a weekend of relaxation...

oh wait I don't get one of those - I'm hosting mother's day since my sister is also a mom and shouldn't have to host. Also it's prime planting time and I'd really like to get the flower bed planted tomorrow - that includes breaking up the ground, pulling out the weeds, shopping for the flowers, and planting them. It's an all day project for sure - also need groceries for the week.

At least I don't have to clean my house! HA! I love having a maid!

Might talk hubby into seeing Iron Man tonight, I've heard good reviews and I've loved Robert Downey Jr ever since his stint on Ally McBeal. I love the smart nerdy, self deprecating type guy that he played on that show, which totally explains why I married a jock! LOL

Still going strong at the gym - LOVE IT! Still not losing weight (eating too much) - HATE IT!

Took VBC's lead and decided BadAss needed another dog to friend him on MySpace - so Xavier pooch has his own page now! It was surprisingly fun to make a page for my pooch!

Hubby's call today wasn't what we hoped for - we thought they were offering a job - turns out they are still interviewing but wanted to know if he was still interested (he did interview about a month ago after all) and he said "most definitely". I'm trying to decide if them calling to see if he was still available is a good sign or not a sign at all. I know all about getting hired in private industry and how those processes go but this government stuff is strange to me. They hope to have made a decision by next week, so we keep waiting.

Two and a half hours left and this longest of weeks will finally be over. I have considered calling in sick every single day this week because getting out of bed was so hard. Hopefully I will find some time to rest up this weekend or next week might be more of the same.

Thursday Thirteen - in honor of MOM!

This week's return of the Thursday Thirteen honors my mom - since this week is mother's day and I've been thinking about her. So here are thirteen things about my mom that are worthy of sharing:

1. She threw me birthday parties with big fancy cakes she made herself and invited all my little friends to come over when I was a kid. It was the typical 70's birthday party with pinatas and pin the tail on the donkey and lots of kids in plaid!
   
   
2. When I was about 10 she went back to college to get a degree, she got her Associates when I was 13 and started working as a computer programmer. At the time I found it mighty inconvenient but looking back now I know how hard she worked to take care of her family and get her degree.
   
   
3. In high school she made me take the hard courses, the ones I would need to do well in college (like Trig and Calculus) and while I hated her for it then I appreciated it later!
   
   
4. She took my side against the evil principal who hated me - more than once! My mom always had my back
   
   
5. She only made me eat liver once - and then she didn't make me eat all of it because she didn't like it either. And because my dad tried to make all of us eat it - she NEVER COOKED IT FOR HIM AGAIN! HA!
   
   
6. She spent more than a decade married to a practicing alcoholic. She put up with things that no one ever should. She kept my sister and I safe from all of this and did such a good job of it that my sister (who is nearly 3 years younger than me ) doesn't remember most of the "bad" times.
   
   
7. When she hit her limit she packed my sister and I up and we spent the weekend at my grandfather's house. She made it seem like we were on a fun adventure or a vacation. I know now she was planning to leave him but he came begging and she took us home.
   
   
8. When my dad stopped drinking and became a whole new man - she was able to forgive him for all the injustices he had done to his family. She was just glad to have him back and never looked back.
   
   
9. She always encouraged me to further my education. She made me take the hard classes in high school, scolded my bad grades in college and she was thrilled when I got my MBA - so proud of her daughter.
   
   
10. While she has not approved of my choices always over the years she learned (with a shove from me) that she needed to realize I was grown up and she had no power over my choices anymore. She backed off the negativity and became a friend as well as my mom.
    
    
11. She managed to scrimp and save through the years without ever depriving her family so that she could retire at 55 and travel with my dad in a giant motor home. I'm jealous I don't think I will be able to retire at 55.
    
    
12. She is a very good grandmother to my two nephews.
    
    
13. She is a good mother-in-law to my hubby - she cares for him and worries about him. She offers to drive him places when she can. She invites us over for dinner and cater's to his picky tastes. She tries very hard to make him feel at home and she let him live there for 3 months while seeking employment - this was the ultimate act of love - trust me! LOL
    

Wandering on Wednesday

I cannot stay focused today. I want to eat - EVERYTHING. I want to take a nap. I want to go home.

After our company left on Monday, hubby came home. When I got home he looked kinda forlorn and I gave him a hug - which prompted him to tear up and say that "S" was his only friend. Of course I disagreed with him as I am his friend - but also being his wife puts me in another category. So I will have to figure something out for a trip to Oklahoma for us to visit - but still NOT CHRISTMAS. We did agree to go on vacation with them next April to Playa de Carmen in Mexico - an all inclusive resort vacation. Didn't have to twist my arm on that one at all! LOL

Hubby's fucktard behavior from last week seems to have been a one off - it hasn't been repeated and yes I am still keeping an eye out for anything that might be out of the ordinary. I can handle what happened - not much to be honest - but it could have been so much worse. Hopefully he has gotten this midlife crisis bullshit out of his system.

Hubby got a call back from an interview he had with NYS 3 weeks ago. The guy left a message on our voice mail yesterday. We are hoping it's a job offer! He called back today and the guy who called is out of the office until Friday so we have to wait until then.

This weekend is mother's day - hosting at our house. So nice that all I have to worry about is shopping and making the food because the maid will ensure the house is nice and clean. Yippee - she did take my requests quite well and everything was nicely polished with Pledge when we got home last Saturday. So this Saturday I can go shopping and buy flowers to plant in my front beds and food to serve to my family on Sunday and not have to worry about vacuuming and mopping and scrubbing toilets. I do think she will work out. Week 2 was much better than week 1 and week 3 is bound to be even better!

Well enough of my rambling nothingness post. Oh wait - one more thing to make this a Wicked Wednesday post too- at the gym today on the treadmill there was a guy in front of me on the elliptical machine. He was old - really OLD! He had a toupe! It was not properly glued down, as he was pedaling away it was flapping away. I couldn't tear my eyes from it and I was laughing, until I nearly cried, I was choking back the snorts, I think he heard me as his hand went to his head several times trying to pat it back down. It didn't work.

Presumptuous...

So it's Monday - hubby's best friend from high school and his wife were here for a 5 day weekend. They came Thursday around noon and are leaving tonight at 6:30. It's been a LONG weekend. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot but having guests in your home for 5 days is tiring. Today I'm at work, so is my husband, they are at my house alone. I thought they were flying out this morning. We told them we couldn't take a lot of time off but I guess this was a cheaper flight.

We hung around the house Thursday night - I cooked for them. Friday while hubby was at work I was set to take them sight seeing - they didn't want to go anywhere so we sat at home all day. I could have gone to work, but it was nice to not have to. Friday night we all went out with some friends of mine and got drunk, sang karaoke, and had a good time. But in their drunkenness on Friday night some things came out that they may not even remember telling me. They told me that they already bought our Christmas present - tickets to come spend Christmas with them and not to tell my hubby. At the time I was a bit drunk too and didn't say much but promised not to tell.

But the more I think about it the more it kind of irks me that they would be that presumptuous. We both have families, we take turns spending Christmas with them. Last year we were with his family, this year with my family. I don't want to give up Christmas with my family! :( Also hubby's mom has mentioned she may come here for Christmas - she has NEVER been here (we've lived here 3 years) and it would mean a lot to him for her to visit. If his mom decides to come there is no way he would blow her off like that. Part of me wants to talk to them about this but the other part wants to hide my head in the sand and pretend they never said it. Seriously though we have to make at least twice as much as they do and I want to tell them we can buy our own tickets and a more appropriate gift might be a bottle of wine or some movie tickets and not $600+ worth of airfare over a holiday we'd rather spend with family.

They also told me numerous times - that should he ever need anything to call them and he'd be here to take care of it. My instant reaction was to shout - THAT'S MY JOB!!!! But instead I told them that we had things well under control and the only thing he needed from them was friendship.

So the weekend was fun - the men picked up where they left off (and acted like teenagers a bit to boot) and I clicked with his wife too. They can be good friends for us both with some time, but they are pushing a bit too hard and my first instinct when someone does that is to push back.