Sunday, January 30, 2005

Siobhan cost me money

I talked with Siobhan today on the phone while Dina and I were having lunch. She said her and her husband went to the flea market. Now I am not a flea market kind of girl, but Dina and I decided to go have a look see. They were having an auction in one section and we sat down to watch. Neither of us had ever been to one. They had the old steamer trunks in the back and put one up for $10 but no one bid, so the guy said they'd come back to them. I got up immediately to find out how to get a number to bid and took a look at the trunks. Well, a few minutes later one came up and I got it for $30!! I was so excited!
Quilter's have 'trunk shows'; it is like a traveling exhibit....and now I have a real trunk for a trunk show! So that means I need to make more quilts! The problem is I have no place to put the trunk! So by talking to Siobhan today she cost me money!
Dina and I were so excited and the trunk barely fit in the backseat, it would have been to tall for the trunk. Dina said we are like Lucy and Ethel...I love our adventures!

Friendship

Yesterday, I kept thinking it was an 'anniversary'. Don't you know, the phone rang last night and it was Robert saying 'happy anniversary'. We have been friends 14 years. The saying 'acquaintances many, friends few' rings true for me. I know a lot of people; people I have known, or worked with-many over 10 years, but the ones I call my friends, my true friends, I can count on one hand. These are the ones I know will be there for me no matter what, those I can trust with my life.
Last Friday my boss' mother died. I feel so bad for her. She is getting married in May and her mother won't be there. She had been sick since Oct. and in the hospital the whole time. She had been near death several times but would get better slightly. She had received last rights a month ago. I guess seeing her 'deteriorate' may have lessened the blow, but I don't think you can ever fully prepare yourself. My boss came back this week and people visited her constantly. I sit right next to her office and never saw her cry, but she didn't look well. She said to me, you know how it is, you're close to your mother too'. I don't think I could come back in 3 days and pull myself together. I know her doctor gave her sleeping pills, maybe she's on something else, I think I would need to be. I don't want to think about it.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

one sound

Siobhan has something that gives her a prompt to write, maybe a website she goes to. Last week one of the prompts was to write about a sound. The immature person in me thought of a sound which also generates a smell...but in thinking of the original idea, I thought if you could only hear one sound again, what would it be? Your mate telling you they love you? hearing a baby say mama? rain? music? the purring of a cat?
Imagine if you could only have one sense, or if one were taken away, which would it be? Dina and I have talked about it. I fear losing my sight, not being able to see and make quilts; all the beautiful colors and fabrics. Seeing the bright sunshine or beautiful colorful flowers. Or touch...not being able to feel a needle in your fingers to quilt those stitches of love. What about smell? In my line of work that might not be such a bad thing. Hearing? I hope to never experience a loss of any of my senses.

home sweet home

Vegas was good. Came home with all my money and a little extra, that's a big win there! On the 4th day I was ready to come home, missed everyone, but I get this big sad feeling. I don't want to leave. But I think I get that every place I vacation. Believe me, after 4 days of drinking and gambling, I've had enough, I just don't want to leave. It means vacation is over and time to go back to the real world. It would be ok to come home, but that also means back to work. I'm still feeling some uneasiness there, but I can't learn it all in day.
So last week I was off 2 days, then off Monday this week and off to training Thurs. and Fri. 2 hours away; well it should have been 2 hours. We left Thurs. morning at 6:30 to get there by 9 when it started. Syracuse is about an hour away but they closed part of 81 and detoured us through small towns, all while it was snowing and we arrived in Syracuse 2 hours later. Then it should have been another 45 min. past that. It was an hour and we arrived a half hour late. But luckily, they had computer problems and we hadn't missed anything. We spent the night, luckily, because I would have hated to have to leave by 6:30 again.
Another night in a hotel. I was so happy to get home last night and sleep in my own bed. It would have been better if I could have brought something from home, like Siobhan or Dina!

Sunday, January 09, 2005

concerns

I'm packed, I'm ready to go. Funny, cues I'm a last minute packer and would be packing Wednesday night. But Monday and Wednesday nights are busy so I guess I had to.
Amazing, this Tsunami stuff. Watching it on TV, it doesn't seem real. Of course they are talking that it could happen in California and Manhattan. They said Manhattan would be wiped out. The money part boggles my mind. Everyone is raising money to send. The sign on screen says AOL member donated 5 million dollars. Sandra Bullock donated a million. USA pledged 350 million.....350!! From where? We're still in Iraq spending billions on our defense budget. Our country is bankrupt. Other countries have pledged support but not figures like the USA. What about our own people....These things concern me.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

going to be better

It's gotta be a better day, I didn't hit the snooze button for over an hour like I did the past 2 mornings. I actually got up and threw in a load of laundry and cleaned the cat boxes, yes, I know...quite fun. I hate to do it, but the other alternative is to let them out and I won't do that, they get hit by cars and who knows what else.

We are supposed to get snow today; 4-6 inches they say, then a few more tomorrow. So now I have that to look forward to. I can hardly wait to come home and shovel snow; digging out the driveway where the snow plow will dump it. That will be the first thing so I have a place to put the car.
I hear the plow now, but can't see much, so it must be cold and freezing on the ground. Good thing I got up early. I was running out the door the last 2 days to get to work on time and luckily the windows did not need to be defrosted.

I'd rather go back to bed.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

why can't I say no

I just came off a 10 day vacation. I was sick for most of it and got nothing done. I never feel like I have enough vacation time. This year I will start with 24 days which includes 4 floating holidays. So.........my friend calls and asks if I want to go to Las Vegas; he's buying the plan ticket.
I tell him no, it's right after the holidays, don't really have any money....yada, yada, yada.
So Sunday I check airfare and call him. Since I am staring a new job Monday (different department), I will ask. New boss says sure. So on Jan. 3rd, we plan a trip to Las Vegas for the 13th...as in 10 days away.
I ask Dina what am I doing? I just had a vacation...money is tight, I feel overwhelmed in my new job----yes, after one day--and all I want to do is run to Las Vegas with Robert. She says you're single, do it!

So my 1st day, I have 2 court appearances on cases I know nothing about. So the old worker goes with me and gets into a fight with an attorney on the 1st one. And we get custody of a child on the second case, who is supposed to be moved Thursday. Did I mention they have me in training Tues and Wed? No one has told me what needs to be done and the supervisor was out of the office. By the way, I didn't have a phone at that point, and the old worker tells me I have to submit certain paperwork within 24 hours.
Soooooooo, today, we are in training. Come down for lunch and the phone is working, but there is voicemail on it and can;t get it because it's the old worker's pin. SoI call the phone guy and find out what to do. Ok, there's 17 messages. The supervisor asks me how I got to the messagees since we couldn't earlier, I tell her I called the phone guy. She is happy, likes that I take initiative.
Meanwhile service providers have scheduled meetings and clients are calling and I know NOTHING. I think I have a meeting every day in the next 2 weeks, with a vacation thrown in....baptism by fire.....where's my wine? I'm also tired of people asking how I like my new job.