TGIF - Friday Fun!

Here's my answers to the Friday Fill-In. Feel free to steal this meme for your own blog (I stole it from Jen at Where's Mommy's Prozac so go ahead!)

1. Dancing to the commercials on TV while doing the dishes makes me a nerd.

2. The last time I was really drunk I nearly humiliated myself singing karoke (no nearly about it).

3. When I drive I talk to myself - hey I'm a good listener!

4. I saw a frightened fawn (baby deer) standing in the middle of the road the other day.

5. Give me chocolate, give me an extra day off this week, give me tasty adult beverages.

6. Next week I am looking forward to absolutely nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to chillin with my friend E drinking adult beverages and catching up, tomorrow my plans include taking hubby to a hobby store that happens to be right next to Kohls (score) and Sunday, I want to mow the lawn - AGAIN!

TGIF - Random thoughts...

The flamewar embers are still glowing hot. I haven't posted or logged in since Wednesday and yet this morning someone has reposted my picture with a nasty comment and someone else called me a hag and told me to stay out of it. *sigh* I wish I had stayed out of it. Had to turn my MySpace private and hubby's too just to be safe. It's crazy what these people will do.

My family is going camping this weekend and I'm not going. I wanted to go, asked hubby about it and he made a really lame excuse instead of just saying "I don't want to go" - he had his Tysabri on Wednesday and he shaves the hair on his arm so they don't pull it all out with tape while he's getting his infusion. He told me that he didn't want to go camping this weekend because his arm would be shaved. Really? This was the best he could come up with! LOL - how about I don't want to sleep in a tent on the ground? Or I don't like camping? Or I'd rather stay home and watch the olympics. But the shaved arm? Really? I actually snorted out loud when I read that in an email. I may go up on Sunday to swim and hang with them anyway - the campground is only 35 miles from home so I can enjoy camp without having to set up and sleep in a tent! Score!

It has rained so much this summer that I never seem to get a break from mowing the lawn it has to be done every week or it gets too high. So we have 2 riding lawn mowers BUT hubby f'd up the older one trying to replace the belt on the mower deck. He couldn't get it back together - so my dad helped out and now it's still not right and the blades are hitting on something. I'm sure my dad could get it working if we asked but hubby is insistent that I not tell him about it. Hubby can't fix it, doesn't want me to tell my dad it's not working, and instead wants to pay a fortune to have someone come to the house to fix it? I think I'll mention it to my dad anyway. Because while it's not working I am mowing the damn grass alone while hubby watches TV and waves from the deck. I think he doesn't want it fixed so he doesn't have to help. GRRRRR

I do web design work at times. I used to enjoy it and created my own company to freelance and do web design. WELL when I moved from Cincinnati back to NY I told my main client I was getting out of the business, and he asked me to spend a day with the person he wanted to replace me and show her the ropes. I did (and charged him for it of course) and then after I moved it was only a matter of months before he called and asked could I just help out this one time. I did - NOW I am his primary web design person again and he is driving me crazy. I don't want to do it and he wants me to create new pages, new sites, update pricing on hundreds of items. I want to just say NO and yet I would like the extra money it will bring in (but not the extra work). I figure if I give him bad enough service he'll give up and find someone else - but nope - he just keeps harrassing me.

Well that's enough rambling for now. Enjoy your Friday bloggy friends.

Hello from Sioux Falls, SD

Let me tell you internet readers how fun it was getting here. I arrived at the airport in Albany to find my flight not even on the board, then when it finally showed up there was no gate assignment and no one to tell us what gate to go to. Finally one helpful employee said all the gates were at the end of the A wing. So we head down there, where all the boards are blank and there isn't a gate agent in site. United Airlines really dropped the ball here. Thankfully the pilots for the flight were there waiting and getting as annoyed as the rest of us that there was no information available. They called Chicago to find out what was happening.

Finally the flight landed 15 minutes after we were supposed to have taken off. Then we got on the plane and sat at the gate for 30 minutes waiting to be fueled. Finally we take off an hour late. So that ate up 1 hour of my 2.5 hour layover in Chicago. Then we couldn't land in Chicago and had to circle a few times. By the time we landed and I got off the plane it was 1 hour and 10 minutes to take off of flight #2 and I spent 15 minutes sitting on a shuttle. By the time I arrived at the gate there was no time for the leisurely Chili's dinner I had planned (it was right across from my gate) and I ate McDonalds before boarding my plane.

Now let's talk about my seatmate from Chicago to Sioux Falls, it was a small regional jet, and my seatmate was about 6'2" and 300lbs, his leg was pressed up against mine the entire way and the guy behind me had his knees pressed into my back - so comfy and then my seatmate started bouncing his leg up and down and up and down the entire trip. I wanted to scream. I sat there in silence instead.

But I'm here and now I'm going to sleep! It's 1am my time 12am here and I have to be up at 7:00am or so.

TGIF

It's been a long, long, long week for me. I'm ready for the weekend. In fact I'd rather be sitting here right now:
Swinging and enjoying this lovely morning. There is a nice breeze on my porch, those purple flowers smell pretty, the swing is in the shade in the AM so I could even use my laptop easily.

Yes I'd much rather be there than here - which is exactly where I am right now! :-(
8 more hours! Let the weekend begin!

TGIF

It's Friday afternoon and I don't want to work. I just don't. I've got things to do and I'm reading blogs, surfing for interesting things, listening to music on i-tunes and just chillin.

I went to the gym at lunch and then came back and ate and now I just want to go sleep or eat ice cream or something. I went to the break room and was about to buy a Twix when a co-worker came in and I made some excuse and walked away. The truth is I don't want people to see me buy chocolate. If I do buy it I will slip it into a pocket so no one sees me walking back to my desk with it. I'm a secret eater.

Worried about 4th of July picnic. We will get going to my hubby's sister's house. His family history is atrocious - it's no wonder the guy has permanent anger issues. The sister we are going to see is one of his "real" sisters - he has three of those that he did not grow up with because his "mother" left his dad when he was 6 and they let my husband who was SIX YEARS OLD decide where he wanted to live and then she held it against him that he chose to go back home with daddy. So he grew up totally separate from them and has had no relationship with his biological mother. He did reconnect with the 3 sisters to some degree when their dad died, but only keeps in touch with one of them regularly and she invited us to her house for 4th of July picnic. We are 99% sure his biological mother will be there too, that could be awkward, the woman is from everything I've heard a real bitch. So wondering if there will be fireworks? or cold shoulders? or by some miracle of hell freezing over a reconciliation? The rest of the weekend will be spent with his adopted mother who is his "real" mother in every sense of the word and his adopted brother and sister and their families. That part will be easy. The 4th? Could be bad so send happy thoughts our way.

My parents will have been married for 40 years on the 12th of July and my sister and I are trying to figure out how to celebrate. NO big party as that is not their thing. But a family get together of some sort is in order. If my sister can get a sitter for her 2 kids and the handicapped old guy who lives with them we could have an adult dinner. That would be nice!

On the 20th my nephew (the adorable terror) will turn 5. I think he is going to be disappointed because he is sure that the minute he turns 5 he can start kindergarten no matter how many times we tell him he has to wait until fall for that.

Hubby is changing his Tysabri location again! Hopefully this time will go smoother than the last. The office manager at his doctor's office is probably fit to be tied, I can't bring myself to call her and made him do it. But the place we switched him to is 60 miles away and after saying they could do weekend appointments have stopped doing the infusions on Saturdays and instead want him to come on Wednesday nights. This works fine for summer months in daylight hours but once it starts getting dark he'll have a hard time with nights unless I get my dad to take him. Plus with gas prices continuing to climb 120 miles round trip is expensive. $20 co-pay and $20 gas to drive there and back. So the hospital where he works is going to be able to do it, he will have to work 1/2 an hour extra on 4 days during the week of the infusion to make up the 2 hours he will have to just sit in the infusion center. He better not change again or I might strangle him (in line behind Office Manager who is making all the changes again only 2 months later).

Well I killed nearly an hour with this blog post, emailing my sister about mom and dad's anniversary and hubby about buying a lottery ticket so we can win $36 million and quit our jobs. It's called dreaming.

Happy weekend blog friends - one more hour until I can leave this place for two whole days! Sad but true - even though I do love my job, if I win I'm not coming back to this rat race lifestyle. The problem with the rat race is that even if you win - you're still a rat.

BTW - I have no idea how much alcohol is in Smirnoff Ice...

Apparently my blog post about drinking Smirnoff Ice and falling down the stairs drunk is popular on the internet at large. Searches relating to Smirnoff Ice are the top searches that find me.

1. How much alcohol is in Smirnoff Ice? My guess would be about the same as a beer - it is a malt beverage after all! Definitely enough to get you drunk if you drink 2-3 of them and you are a total lightweight like me! Oh and if you are in a bar that does not have flavors - get a regular Smirnoff Ice and a glass of ice and a shot of something fruity on the side. Grape Pucker, Cherry Pucker, Madori all work very well. Mix the sweet tasty shot with the Smirnoff for a totally frufru fruity girly drink! LOL
   
   
2. How old to buy Smirnoff Ice? Well same as any other alcohol! In the US it's 21 to drink or buy legally! Sorry no advice for how to get around this one. Kids have been figuring this out on their own for decades so just DO IT! :)

TGIF - dear readers!

Daddy's Hands...

In honor of Father's Day this weekend I'm going to talk about my daddy

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.

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.

Flashback Friday - Internet Dating a love story...

The most eventful year of my life so far was 1997 – it was the year I turned 27. It was the year my career took off. It was the year I met my husband.

It starts in May when the guy I had been dating for just 6 months but was head over heels for broke my heart. Shattered. It. I fell into a deep depression and didn’t eat more than a few bites at a time for over a month, I would come home from work and hop on my bike and ride 10 miles it was the only time I wasn’t crying or totally numb. Combine – very little food – lots of exercise for the endorphins and one overweight girl and I quickly dropped 50lbs. By July I was looking pretty good and feeling better about myself too. It was time to start dating again.

I placed a personal ad on Yahoo Personals – this was back in the day when it was free and thus loaded with a lot of CRAP and filtering through it all was difficult. So here was my ad (at least the best I can remember over 10 years later):

Single, White, Female (with 2 cats)
My grandmother tells me that a woman living alone with 2 cats will NEVER find a man. So who wants to prove her wrong? (of course it was attached to my profile with a picture and other vital details like my age, height, hair color, body type, etc)

You would not believe the freaks that came out of the woodwork for this ad. I went on three dates and I will describe them each to you.

Date#1 – After a few emails and one phone call we agree to meet at Don Pablo’s at Harpers Point (this is in Cincinnati) and since his profile has no picture he tells me he will look for me since he knows what I look like. He told me he was 30 years old 6’ tall and muscular. I see him as soon as I walk through the door. I consider turning around and walking back out. He is more like 40 years old. He is 5’8” at most and is wearing cowboy boots with an extra 2” in the heel. He is not muscular, he is FAT. I am not prejudiced against guys with extra weight. I am however prejudiced against LIARS! But he spots me and I’m not brave enough to just blow him off and leave. So we sit down and eat, ah well free dinner right? Nope, I offer to pay half and he LETS ME! Then when we are done he asks me if I want to go to a movie or to a bar to hang out (it’s 7pm?) and it’s time to be brutally honest, I just say NO and tell him I need to get home as I have to work the next day and then I run to my car to get out so he can’t follow me.

Okay they can’t all be that bad right?

Date#2 – He’s from Kentucky and I’m from northern Cincinnati so we agree to meet at Uno’s in Clifton as it’s sort of central for us. He has not misled me – he looks just like his picture, he’s tall and attractive. We get our seats and start talking. And this is where things go south. This guy was a widower – at 28 years old he was a widower. His wife and baby daughter had both been killed in a tragic car accident about a year prior. We hadn’t even ordered yet and he was SOBBING at the table telling me about it. I felt horrible for him, but talk about uncomfortable. Clearly if he can’t talk about it without a total meltdown then he is NOT ready to date. Somehow we make it through the food and it comes time to get out of there. He walks me to my car like a gentleman and then leans in for a kiss, I quickly avert and it lands on my cheek. Then he asks me if I would like to go out with him again? I tried to be kind as I said “no offense, but I don’t think you’re ready for this.” Even if things might have worked out there was no way I wanted to live in the shadow of a dead wife.

Third time’s the charm right?

Date#3 – He’s from Columbus, this is about 80 miles from where I live so must be carefully planned. We talk a lot on the phone and instant messenger. Finally he makes the trip down and stays with friends in my area. He had sent me several pictures and described himself as a body builder type. Normally not my type but he really seemed nice. Turns out the pictures were old – he looked like a body builder that had stopped working out and turned into the Michelin Man type. But he was still kinda cute and so even though he was more fat than muscular and was losing a lot more hair than the picture showed I thought I’d give him a shot. We went out twice. Then I started getting strange emails in my Yahoo account. I thought it was some weirdo. I would tell him about it online and on the phone. The emails talked about where I lived and where I worked and they said someone was watching me. I freaked out a bit. Finally I figured out by some of the details that it was this guy I had dated twice and we had planned a third. I confronted him – he denied. He was taking the police exam and wanted to be an officer – I told him I had reported these weird emails and that my ISP tracked them to Columbus and were notifying the Columbus PD. He FREAKED out thinking I was going to ruin his changes at becoming a police officer. That was the end of him.

I took down the damn ad. INSANE! I stopped looking online and started hanging in clubs – had a few doozy dates that way too.

Then in the end of August, about a month after the ad was pulled, I got a tentative email that said: “I replied to your ad about the cats last month and then my hard drive crashed and I lost all my emails so I don’t know if you emailed me back. I have a cat of my own.” I literally laughed out loud and thought – wow this guy is lame. But I emailed him back, told him about my dating disasters and we started sharing jokes. Then we started playing an online game together called Acrophobia – we flirted heavily in the chat box. We started talking on the phone sometimes. The game had ad’s between sets and many were for movies – we talked about getting together for a movie.

Finally on Tuesday, December 16th 1997 we met for dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. He was cute. He was shy. He was smart. I wasn’t really sure he was interested in me – I did most of the talking because he was so quiet. I must have mentioned that the following night I was going to be playing pool at a certain bar as part of my league. I didn’t tell him where it was but the next night who should walk into the bar? It was him. Friday he met me for lunch. Friday night he took me out to Olive Garden and to a movie (one of the Scream films?). He took me home Friday night and gave me a sweet kiss at the door and said goodnight. He called me on Saturday to see what I was doing. I made something up – was kinda freaked at how much time we’d spent together in that first week. I went out dancing with some friends just so I wasn’t available. Sunday he asked me to come to his apartment for pizza and a movie. I had a lot of errands to run as it was nearly Christmas but I agreed. I showed up in a baggy old sweatshirt, jeans and my hair in a ponytail. We ate pizza, we watched movies, we listened to music, we made out for hours. We ah did more. I left his apartment at 6am to go home and get ready for work. I was in LOVE!  We became joined at the hip for awhile – moved in together in March 1998 – it was too soon, nearly ruined us. I moved back out in August 1999 and lived on my own for 6 months – he missed me. He chased again. He proposed. I moved back in and on November 11, 2000 I married that guy. I still love him. We still have the three cats! :)

TGIF...

I have had a great week. I made a decision about my career. Spring is coming and the evidence is everywhere (Canadian Geese flying over heading north today!). And it's Friday afternoon at 4:15pm and I am getting my hair cut and colored tonight! Tomorrow night we are going out for dinner and live music and pool and general debauchery and fun. Hubby had a job interview at the state today and it went well! He may become one of those "state workers" soon and I'm all for it!

I got to put RBT in his place this week too - it was subtle but effective and great fun! Can't wait to see his face when the news of my promotion to the database team leaks out. I have been here exactly 5 months so it's a very fast rise (most people get promoted at 1-2 years). It will irk him to no end that I will be his equal in status around here.

And the karma thing - old job - the devil woman boss? Well news on the street is she has been demoted! LMAO - and the company is in such dire trouble that there will be no profit sharing this year and there were no raises either. It's a slowly sinking ship, and I'm gleeful about it. If that is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

And - in two weeks from now I will be heading to Florida where I will gleefully ride this:
I can't wait! Warmth, no snow, roller coasters, me and hubby bonding, it will be great!

TGIF - the scales are starting to tip...

I had a meeting with the VP of Operations today about the opportunity that is being offered to me. He filled me in on the details, what they are looking for and where the team is heading. My title would be Database Account Manager - still lots of customer interaction, just projects that are more complex and analytical than what I'd have if I continue on the path I'm on now. Right now there is one Database Account Manager and she is trying to manage implementations and analytics and it's just grown to be too much for her. They see my strength in being on the analytical side and in helping to understand customer requirements (as I have been on that side of the table in my prior job).

So basically if I want it they are going to create this job to cater to my strengths and really set me up to succeed. How can I argue with that? The job I'm in now is interesting but I can see that once I mature in this position I could become a bit bored with the sameness of the jobs from week to week. Also on the database team I have a chance to really stand out - there will be 2 Account Managers and lots of opportunity to shine. If I stay with the Client Services team there are three teams with approx 10 account managers per team, already some "stars" on the team - not that I couldn't become one of them but certainly more competition for the attention.

And not really the deal maker - BUT no more RBT watching my every move (I mean he can if he wants but he will have no power over me) and reporting directly to the VP of Operations who is just a regular guy easy to talk to and not at all intimidating (versus my current boss who is a Sr Manager and while not intimidating not exactly personable either). More flexibility in scheduling (my current boss is much more rigid on start times and face time in the office, etc) and working from home as needed.

So I have two more things to do before I decide for sure - sit down with the current Database Account Manager and get a feel for her day to day tasks and really grill her on tasks and how the team interacts, etc., another meeting with VP so he can demo the analytical tools we currently have and get a feel for how I could really help improve that process and add value for the customers, and (okay maybe three things) do a bit of research online regarding salaries and employment opportunities in this new field if I do choose to go that route and at some point want to leave the company or relocate.

But on Wednesday I had a strong leaning toward staying put and now I have swayed more to the other side.

TGIF my friends... even better TFGIFF...

TFGIFF - well I added a few colorful words in there just for fun - you figure it out!

So another lovely conversation with RBT (rat bastard trainer) where he tells me that I need to be careful of groupings because "they" have noticed that we former employees of the devil woman seem to congregate together. This after "C" was in for his interview and I spent 10 minutes talking with him. That with 2 new friends coming on there would now be 5 of us and we should be careful because "they" were noticing.

So my question is who the fuck is "they"??? Is it the management? Because I would assume they are happy to have us or they'd stop hiring us in droves? Also if the grouping were an issue don't you think my boss might take it upon himself to warn me himself? Or even the VP who drops by to see how I'm doing every few weeks and with whom I have a meeting at 9:30 because he wants me to help him with a special project with one of our newer products? Surely if he were going to take the trouble to stop by and see how I was doing he'd mention it if I was doing something that was a problem?

Then RBT says that "they" are watching internet useage and I should be careful. He then proceeds to tell me that on Wednesday he was spoken to about being on the internet all day because he had streaming video of the congressional hearings running on his computer all day. So RBT was hogging up bandwidth and it was causing an issue with large file transfers. No one told me to turn off my internet or spoke to me about being on too much but RBT tells me to watch out and keep this in the back of my mind.

I have started saving his words of wisdom to share with my "group" so we can laugh about what a prick he is. I think "they" is him and one other woman who is his buddy. Maybe "they" should watch out? The devil's castoffs are going to take over this place! I'm sure that is what his biggest concern is - we might all make him look bad collectively!

UPDATE - post meeting with VP - friends I am pleased to tell you that my meeting with the VP took all of 10 minutes. He asked me to take on the responsibility to be the subject matter expert for one of our very newest products - a process that allows catalog merchants to match web based orders back to an actual catalog name that was mailed. This is something that is getting a lot of visibility and as more and more customers have been asking for this service they decided they needed a champion. Someone who could digest all the details, and customize each project based on customer business needs. Someone who was tech savvy but who could also present well. Someone who was well spoken and in general well liked. AND FRIENDS - THEY PICKED ME!!!!! (I wonder how RBT will take this news?)

TGIF - Friday Ramblings

Who knew I had so much to say? When I started this blog I figured I might post once a week and here I am pouring myself out at least once a day. Ah well I always did like to talk (or ramble, whatever).

So clearly there is some weird force at work in my universe this week. Good work week, freaky lying husband problem, and now lovey, dovey husband. Just got another email that says "I LOVE YOU! =)" and while I laughed I also wonder - hmmmm what did he do? He did this once before, it was while he was unemployed and I was working full time and going to school full time. I had no time for him and he got it in his head that I was going to leave him for someone better and he turned it up a notch. All of a sudden he was romantic and sweet and loving. This feels a lot like that. This time though he was closer to the mark, there is no one else but he had been such a jerk at times that I had fantasized about living alone in an apartment with my cat again and how nice that might be.

Whatever it is I'm likely to have a very good valentines day if this keeps up.

Other rambling thoughts. I went grocery shopping at lunch today - I love when I can do this because it saves me a few hours of time on Saturday or Sunday in the supermarket. I love watching people in the grocery store though - even when I'm in a hurry I notice the crazies, people walking up and down the aisles talking to themselves are funny. People who are too timid to say "excuse me" and others who are too rude to bother and just push people out of their way. The crazy woman who will wait for 5 minutes while I put my groceries in the back of my SUV, taking cold stuff out and putting it in the cooler I keep in the back. Then I always put my cart back where it belongs - hate lazy people who just leave them. So this woman is sitting there through all of this and I notice her so I really start taking my time. I get in my car, get situated, take a drink of my soda, put my wallet back in my purse, and finally I back out and she's still there. I think she waited 8-10 minutes by the time I pulled out. Is it really that important to park 100 feet closer that you will wait 10 minutes to do it? I was 1/2 way up the lot too - not right up front.

My mom and dad are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. I'm making lasagna and breadsticks with salad, and then after dinner we are bowling on the Wii! :)

Everything looks better at 5pm on Friday

It's dark outside, it's been raining all day but I have two whole glorious days ahead of me where I can sleep in, lay around in my PJ's and catch up on what my DVR has been recording for me this week. Hoping to have a nice weekend. Hubby's mood has been improving slowly although today he had some stressful situations that may have served as a setback - I'll find out when I get home I guess. But I'm heading out for the weekend. If anyone is reading - have a wonderful weekend too.