A brief blogging respite

Just in case you all wondered where I've been.... I took this week off work, which means they just call me a dozen times a day since I'm not THERE. It also means I am not blogging, or commenting on all your blogs, for the most part. I miss you all, and I hope you miss me too. We've had lots and lots of snow since Christmas Eve. It's beautiful, really. Today was sunny and gorgeous. Youngest Son, Oldest Son, and Oldest Granddaughter went skiing/snowboarding and said the conditions were the best in ages.

Christmas was terrific. I have photos. I will post them next week when life is back to normal. In the meantime, hugs to you all, and Happy New Year to my blogging family!!! You are all awesome!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The streets were no longer snow-packed, and most of the snow had melted from sidewalks, driveways, rooftops, and even yards. It was starting to look like a patchwork Christmas. This morning I awoke to - SNOW! The Spouse is not happy, as it will make driving a lot more treacherous, and all those people who can't get out of or into Denver are none too pleased, but you can tell most everyone else in these parts is pretty thrilled. We WILL have a white Christmas after all.

I just finished reading Lorraine's posts about their ordeal, complete with photos of the "Big Ass Tree". I had to laugh at one photo. It showed a male cutting a branch into firewood - with a hacksaw. City people. I wonder how many blades he broke? 'Round these parts, we all have chainsaws, or at the very least, wood saws, even those of us who never get firewood. It's part of the residency requirements. You have to be able to make a living as a logger, firewood gatherer/seller, or contractor at the drop of a hat. That means you must have a) a chainsaw or b) a wood saw and circular saw and c) a pickup or utility trailer or d) all of the above. We have d) all of the above. And The Spouse has gathered firewood, worked as a contractor, and worked in a mill during our tenure here. You do whatever it takes to get by.

Quickly

I took this "what pinup girl are you" quiz I found on Evangeline's site. It said I'm "The Innocent". Interesting. The tag line said "You're sweet, occasionally shy, and men can't resist your virginal appeal!" Riiiiiggggghhhhhhhtttttt... Well, it was fun, even it is a lie.

The Staff Party

This morning was our annual staff holiday party. Everyone brings a bunch of great food, some of us contribute to local charities, and we just visit and have a great time. Oh, and I always write a holiday story incorporating every staff person, and as much as possible, some distinct aspect of their job or personality, or both. In past years I've done a version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, where our maintenance guy is awakened in the middle of the night, and asked to come down to the library to help get Santa and his reindeer off the roof and patch the hole they made when they crashed landed. Of course, every staff member is called in to action, using their particular skills, in order to get Santa back on his way, thus saving Christmas. And it all rhymed. One year it was a take-off on The Grinch - again in rhyme a la Dr. Seuss. Last year I did a version of A Christmas Carol. One of our youngest staff members, Leah, filled the role of Tiny Tim. She was called "Little Leah" - a name that stuck for several weeks. This year, the theme was It's a Wonderful Life. Leah again played a pivotal role, acting as a sort of Charlie the angel-in-training. Actually, it was more along the lines of the Chrismukkah episode of The O.C., in which Ryan and Taylor are knocked unconscious, and awaken in an alternate world where they have to figure out what they need to learn in order to return to the normal world. That was sort of the theme in my story. It was fun. I had two people going to jail, one for embezzlement, one for sexual assault (all trumped up, of course), people working as waitresses and receptionists, all sorts of crazy things, all because one person thought his job didn't matter, so he had to be shown what the world would be like if he didn't work here (ergo the prison sentences and other bad stuff). But people missed the rhyming, so I'm doing a New Year story for the staff, with rhyming.

The food - we had chorizo quiche (YUM!), bacon and cheese quiche, bagels, brownies, cheeses, salami, all sorts of wonderful, fattening, salty stuff. And then I had a doctor's appointment, during which I noticed my water-retaining ankles, just about the time my blood pressure reading came back on the high side. Wow, if there were ever a case to be made for not consuming salt, the way I looked at the doctor's office would be it! Thankfully, I know what the cause of my puffiness was, and the doc was very understanding. This doc, by the way, is the one who delivered Youngest Son. We hadn't seen one another in quite a while - I have been going to a nurse practitioner for my annual exams for several years - so we spent a little time catching up. He is truly one of the greatest doctors of all time. He's such a nice, caring man, and he loves his job, especially the catching babies part. He has a way of making you feel as though he has nowhere else to be but in that room with you, when really, he has an office full of patients to see. He manages to even be on time for his appointments, despite the time he spends with you. He's pretty special. When I lamented my out of shape condition he remarked "Gina, you have an excellent record of keeping yourself in great shape. You'll get back there. This is a tough, transitional time. Don't be so hard on yourself." Wow, what a guy! He got me to agree to get back to exercising regularly and drinking plenty of water after the first of the year. That's doable. So, I'm fine, just going through the things a woman of my age can expect to go through, all the parts are where they belong and operating properly, albeit a little erratically (also normal at my age), so that's always good to hear. He even said I looked very youthful for my 51 years. I told you this guy was good!

Lorraine, I've got your back

The TiVo is set to record BSG Monday night, 8PM PST. Tuesday morning, I will save it to tape. Lorraine has sent me her address, so I will pop it into the mail Tuesday, and Lorraine should be watching her beloved BSG, albeit in archaic VHS technology, by Wednesday or, at the very latest, Thursday. If I could get it there faster, I would, but FedEx employees are not allowed to use their discounted service during peak season, and the US Mail should be able to get mail from Sandpoint to Seattle overnight, shouldn't they?

Only one thing I don't like....

I used to have it setup so that when you clicked on one of the links to the left, they opened in a new window - easy to do with HTML tags. I can't for the life of me (yet) figure out how to make that happen in Blogger beta. Anyone with any info, please leave me a comment or email me.

Where's the Thing v.2, Part 2

YES! Got a comment from Sling who told me that JP had a lorraine update. Long story short, all are well, but still without power, so JP is doing the all-80's, all-request you-know-what video playlist in her stead. But really, JP does such a great job of telling the tale, you must go read his post here. Then, watch the videos.

Oh, and another thing... I finally got my Haloscan comments to work in the new Blogger Beta templates so.... though it may look pretty much the same, I do have a new beta template in place. Also, because you can, I had Blogger Beta sort my blogs of note alphabetically. That meant, of course, because it's a computer and not a person and it doesn't understand that articles like "the" and "a" are not to be considered when you alphabetize stuff, it put The Elective Whisper down below Sling's Domain, which is simply not right. So, to solve the problem, because I do, after all, work in a library, and simply cannot have my alphabetized blog roll alphabetized incorrectly, I numbered each blog according to its proper alphabetical location. The only exception to that is the link to my other blog, because it just has to be at the bottom of the list. So there.

Where's the Thing v.2, Part 1

So, I'm "borrowing" JP's post title because, well, you know. JP was up at 11 PM his time worrying about Lorraine and her gang. That was 9 PM my time (and Lorraine's time), and I'd already checked half a dozen times for a new post from her. Nada. I went to bed at 10 worrying. I got up at 5:30 and the first thing I did was go online, check my RSS feeds, and saw nothing still. "Okay", I'm thinking, "her power got turned back on in the middle of the night, they were tired, cold, and hungry, so went to bed before it got turned back on, so she hasn't blogged yet 'cuz she doesn't know it's on." Makes sense, right? We all know better. We all know that when the power goes back on, there will be all these lights blazing that they forgot were on, the fridge will kick on with that usually unnoticeable but now loud as a chainsaw hum it makes when the compressor starts running, and all sorts of everyday electrical noises you never pay attention to will come alive, startling them from their restless slumber. And we ALL know that Lorraine will, at the very least, post a short entry on her blog letting us all know she is alive and well, albeit starving because Dominos could not send drivers out into the tree covered streets to deliver pizza to them (see JP's above linked post for this reference). Obviously, the power is still out. I decided to check the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's web site for the latest local news. Here's what I found out:

About 700,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy, the state's largest private utility, were without power early Friday, and about three-fourths of the circuits were down in the company's nine-county service area, spokesman Roger Thompson said. Some people could be without power for as long as three days, said Dorothy Bracken, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman. Half of Seattle City Light customers -- about 160,000 in all -- were without power Friday morning, the utility reported. That number had dwindled to about 86,000 by 7 p.m. Friday, though city utility officials estimated it would take 48 hours to restore power to many customers. The number is expected to be cut to 30,000 by midnight tonight.

I am not sure which power company supplies power to Lorraine's neighborhood, but regardless, it doesn't look good. She could be without power for the entire weekend - and then some! I know we're all on pins and needles here, waiting for an update, an email, a blog post, something to let us know everything is back to relative normal for Lorraine. I'll do my part, and I know JP will be checking in as well.

Prelude to Lorraine's All 80's All Request Weekend

In an effort to get you all warmed up for Lorraine's all request, all 80's weekend, here's a video that will take you from the 50's to today. My sister sent me this link. It's called "Evolution of Dance". I started off smiling, then found myself chuckling out loud as it went on. I'm embedding a YouTube version, but the resolution is not the greatest, so if you want a better resolution version once you've seen the embedded video, click here.

In the meantime, watch this, and smile along with me, get your dancing shoes out, and have a little fun. The guy is talented.

Hit counters

I'm jealous. I admit it. I have had this blog for two years now. I have had a little over 7,000 hits in that time. It's not bad, but it's not nearly as high as some people. I guess I am just not that interesting a blogger (sniffle, sniffle). I probably wouldn't know that 7,000 hits in two years was a low number if it weren't for that damned Lorraine. I love the woman to death, but really.... 20,000 hits in a year? Yes, she's a funny, talented, beautiful, brilliant woman, but still. Twenty-thousand? And guess who her twenty-thousandth visitor was? You got it. How nice of me to help notch up her hit counter to insurmountable heights. Unbeknownst to her, I am probably responsible for something like a dozen hits a day. Damn that woman. I feel like I did in high school - unpopular nerd on the outside looking in. Sheesh.

Love ya, Lorraine. Congrats on the milestone.

World Wide Words

After reading Lorraine's post (she seems to inspire me a lot, doesn't she? That's 'cuz she's so smart and witty. I hate her. Not really. I heart her.) - actually, after reading comments left on her post about her Christmas plans - I had to look up the origin of a saying used by Seattle Coffee Girl in her comment. The saying she used was "in like Flynn". Many of you may wonder if it's "in like Flynn", or really "in like Flint" - or maybe you won't wonder at all. I knew I had to find the answer. In my googlequest, I found this really great site. It's called World Wide Words. The subheading says "Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British viewpoint." Sounds right up your alley, charlie! There's a plethora of information, links, and definitions there for those who like words and phrases. I like the sidebar entitled Sic!, which highlights the humorous results of grammar and spelling errors found in a myriad of publications. Here's an example:

“I live in Colorado,” says Monica Hensinger, “where they recently passed an ambitious smoking ban. Signs have popped up everywhere informing people of the ban, but the most entertaining one I have seen was in Boulder, where a city-wide smoking ban has been in effect for several years. It read, ‘No Smoking by Boulder City Ordnance’. I didn’t know the city had its own artillery, but it’s probably a good idea to keep people from smoking around it.”

As one who counts Eats, Shoots, and Leaves among my favorite books of all time, this site is right up my alley. If you are similarly inclined, give it a look.

Oh, and for the answer to the "in like Flynn" question, click this link: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-inl1.htm. I learned something.

Merrappy Chrismukkahzaastice!

Lorraine started it. I guess I have to add my two cents. I'm sick and tired of all the brouhaha over Christmas vs. (and for you young 'uns, that's VERSUS, not "verse" - but that's a whole 'nother post) every other religion's - or non-religion's - celebration of whatever this time of year represents. Puh-leeze! Okay, so America is now more multicultural than ever, which I guess means we have to be sensitive to all those other cultures when we celebrate holidays that have been celebrated in this country since its inception. We have to try not to offend anyone. Right. Since that is clearly not possible (heck, people get offended all the time - by someone wearing perfume, by someone wearing leather, by someone whose skin is a different color, by someone who doesn't smile at them....you get the picture), those in charge (you know - "they") have decided in a lot of cases to simply not publicly celebrate the season at all. Retailers don't count. They celebrate anything that even remotely smacks of increased sales. But thanks to our desire to be sensitive, many public facilities no longer put up Christmas decorations because they realize they are bound to offend someone. Even if they put up a menorah, don't put up a nativity (I still don't get why it's okay to put up a Jewish religious symbol, but not okay to put up a Christian one, but that's a whole 'nother post too), and refer to Kwanzaa (which has somewhat suspect origins) and the Solstice, they're going to get it from the atheists and humanists, and probably the Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, so they've started opting for nothing. How pathetic. Why do we feel compelled to throw away our long-held traditions and celebrations simply because the makeup of our society has changed? I doubt Americans or Europeans who live in Asian countries expect them to dismantle their Buddhas or start putting up Christmas trees and nativity scenes; and even if they did, good luck with that. It's not like the U.S. is the only country in the world with a multicultural population. Why are we very nearly the only country in the world who feels compelled to do these things?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there is anything wrong at all with putting up symbols from any culture in celebration of any holiday. I think everyone should be able to celebrate their holidays with displays in their windows, on their rooftops, whatever, without worrying that someone down the road is going to sue them. I think every business should have that same option. And I even think public agencies, like airports, should be allowed to do likewise, but because they do serve - or perhaps better, represent, people from such diverse cultures, they should try to incorporate as many cultures in their displays as possible, within reason. But if they fail to represent your specific cultural celebration, don't go getting your panties in a twist. You don't visit Saudi Arabia on December 25 and get offended because they don't have nativity scenes or Christmas trees, do you? This is still a predominantly Christian society, with Christians making up over 76% of the population, with secularism coming in second at 13%, Judaism at just over 1%, and all other religions comprising the other 10%. (Taken from ARIS - American Religious Identity Study). Why do the 76% who do celebrate Christmas have to take a back seat to the other 24% who celebrate nothing or a wide array of holidays this time of year? Please, can't we all just get along and tolerate each other?

In the spirit of tolerance, Merrappy Chrismukkahzaastice to all!

This was "our song"

My first husband used to play his guitar and sing this to me, and he was really good... and this song became "our song".

And now, back to the 70's

This song was pretty much the theme to my high school days. My first husband looked so much like JT, especially the hair, that it was almost scary. He sang almost as well too. Memories....

YouTube rocks!

So, I'm sure this will be disabled at some point (copyright protections and all that), but for as long as it's available, here's the video from Oprah with Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, and Carrie Underwood singing For Once in My Life. Oh, and watch Michael Buble when Carrie hit's a high note.

I love oldies

Last year I bought the Rod Stewart CD The Great American Songbook, Vol 2. after listening to a couple of clips from it. I was a big Rod Stewart fan back in the Maggie May days. I continued to be a fan throughout the ensuing decades, but I wasn't too sure about him singing the oldies. He surprised me. What surprised me more was how much I really liked the oldies - and we're not talking 70's, or even 60's here. We're talking 40's and 50's.

I suppose my penchant for watching old movies throughout my youth, and the fact that I grew up with most of the great old music from Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Mel Torme, et al, playing pretty much all the time when we were home, makes me wax nostalgic when I hear songs from that era. There is something that just feels right about listening to I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett, or White Christmas by Bing Crosby. So, on that note:

And now, for something completely different

I wish I could take what's on my TiVo and put it here. I am watching Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Carrie Underwood, and (be still my beating heart) Josh Groban singing For Once in My Life on Oprah. Call me crazy, or weird, but I love all of them. Tony Bennett is just classically amazing. Michael Bublé is great, as is Carrie Underwood. But Josh Groban is beyond amazing. I fell in love with him after seeing him on Ally McBeal. What a voice! You're Still You is still one of my favorite songs of all time. Listen to him sing opera, and I get goosebumps. I think if someone asked me what one "gift" I would ask for, it would be the ability to sing. Oh, sure, I can sing along to the radio, or my MP3 player, and even can sing along with the congregation in church (probably to the chagrin of those standing nearby), but I could never sing a capella or even if accompanied by an instrument. Back when I was five, my mom told me I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. I believed her then. I believe her still. I think I can carry a tune, but I can't SING, and I would kill for that talent. I think almost everyone who can't sing would. On that note, I wanted to post a video of Josh Groban, but YouTube seems to be down at the moment. Look for an update to this post once YouTube is alive again.

Update: Josh Groban singing You're Still You.

Musical interlude

Dan, over at Dan's Blah-Blah Blog, has a little blurb on his sidebar entitled "Most Spins Last Week". This week's winner is Al Green's Greatest Hits. Seeing that album cover instantly took me back to high school, junior year. I absolutely loved Al Green. I knew every song by heart. I used to sing Let's Stay Together in my car on the way to school at the top of my lungs. Thankfully, the only persons subjected to my mangling of Al Green's ditty were my siblings, and really, who cared about them? I mean, they were my younger sisters and brother. It was their duty in life to endure being tortured by me. Besides, I am pretty sure we all sang along, and we were all equally horrible, but we thought we were the next Jackson 5, except we were white, and there were only four of us, but what did that matter?

Anyway, since Lorraine pretty much has the 80's locked up, I'm going to do a little posting of 70's music now and then, for those who care, those who remember the amazing music we had in the 70's, and those who want to walk down that lane with me. To begin our set, ladies and gentlemen, I give you - Al Green!

Eeeeaaaaarly Monday Morn

Today the alarm went off at 4 AM. The Spouse had to be at work at 6:30. Work is an hour away. The Spouse is one of those people who has to be at work early so he can get his mind ready for work. He also wants to have plenty of time "in case".... "in case" he gets a flat (has never happened in 20 years), "in case" their is an accident that closes the highway (has never happened on his way TO work in 20 years), "in case" the car breaks down (has never happened), "in case" the weather is so bad it takes him 90 minutes to go 48 miles (has never happened THAT bad). You know - "in case". So every day, he's at work 30 minutes early. THIRTY MINUTES! I am lucky to be at work 5 minutes after I plan to be there. If I have a meeting, I'm on time, maybe even early (depends on when the meeting is scheduled to start), but never THAT early. Fortunately, I have the luxury of going in whenever I want to. I'm exempt. That means I don't get paid for overtime, but it also means I can come and go as I please, as long as I get my work finished. And even that is subject to interpretation, as there is no such thing as "finished" in my line of work. I don't have the kind of job where I go home with a clean desk, a sigh of satisfaction escaping as I turn off the lights to my office, and a sense of accomplishment. Usually, I go home still mulling over possible solutions to problems with which I am struggling, often awaking in the middle of the night with ideas about how to address them. My desk, my entire office, qualifies as a FEMA disaster area - really. Most of the time, I can find things I need in the mess of my desk. But lately, even that has been difficult. It is really out of conrol, and that is something I do need to get a handle on. I'm thinking the new year will be a great time to do that.

The weekend was pretty good. We got up early - although not as early as The Spouse had hoped - and headed to Coeur d'Alene to start our shopping. The Spouse was due for an eye exam and replacement lenses at the least (it's been two years), so we stopped in at Eyemasters, the place designated by his vision care plan. His frames needed adjusting (he had stepped on them). Surprisingly, they could do his exam in an hour. That meant we could go to Michaels, just across the parking lot, to look at Christmas trees while we waited for his appointment. I found a tree I really liked. In fact, it's the same tree The Daughter has.

We have a tree already. It's at least 12 years old. I'm tired of it. It's too big in diameter and circumference. It's "old technology". It isn't pre-lighted, so I wound lights around each branch, and I leave them on when we put it away, which works pretty well, but it's messy. I have been wanting a new one for a long time. This tree looks so real you have to touch it to see if it is fake. It has neat little pine cones on a lot of the branches. It has about 3400 tips and 800 lights, and best of all, it was on sale for 40% off. We walked over to Target to check out their trees. Not impressed. We went back for his eye exam. The first thing the eye doc told him was the he needs to stop using Clear Eyes or Visine, which is only masking and exacerbating the reasons for his scratchy, itchy, burning eyes. I didn't really realize his eyes bothered him so much. The doc told him to get some Systane eye drops. Well, duh! Those are the eye drops I have been using since my Lasik. I had some with me, so as soon as his exam was over, I had him put some in. He couldn't believe how great they made his eyes feel almost immediately. The doctor told him he has probably the worst kind of prescription you could have, because it leads to eye fatigue, headaches, and exhaustion, especially if one doesn't wear their glasses all the time, like The Spouse. He's farsighted, has as bad an astigmatism as I had pre-Lasik, and has presbyopia. The doc told him he must be a very tolerant individual, since he really only wears his glasses in the evenings, when the low light makes it more difficult to see; that he puts up with poor vision that most people wouldn't accept. I was surprised by how bad his astigmatism is. His prescription is +1.00 +1.75 and +1.50 +1.50. Curiously, his right eye is a little better than it was, while his left is a bit worse. So, new glasses were ordered, and off we headed to the mall in Spokane. No decision was made on the Christmas tree.

The mall parking lot was packed, but oddly, inside the mall it didn't seem all that crowded. We strolled through the mall, window shopping. The Bed & Body Shop caught our attention. The fragrances wafting out into the mall were tantalizing. Inside, the store was packed. It seemed as though all those people from the cars in the lot were in that store. I guess the wide array of items in the shop lend themselves well to stocking stuffers and last-minute gifts. One of the reasons we were there was to pick up small gifts for The Daughter-in-Law's sisters, mother, and sister-in-law, with whom we share Christmas dinner. Still on the list - her father, stepfather, and brother. Every year, her father flies up from California and makes a wonderful prime rib dinner for us all. He bought a cabin in the area a little over a year ago, so we've been buying him things to decorate his cabin. The father-in-law and brother are more difficult, but they're both readers, so a gift card to Barnes & Noble or Borders seems logical.

Lunch at Azteca hit the spot, then on to more shopping. We decided to go ahead with the tree from Michael's, so headed back to Coeur d'Alene. I went in, paid for the tree, and waited to have it brought out. The store was packed, with long lines at all the registers. Finally, the warehouse clerk approached me. Despite the fact that the tree had a pouch with several tickets in it - tickets you take to the register to use for paying and claiming your tree - there was apparently only one tree - the display model. I didn't want the display model. It had burned out lights and was dusty. Frustrated, I got a refund, and the number for the Michael's stores in Spokane. We had to head home to pick the grandkids up by 4:30. I called the Michael's near the mall we had just left. They had at least 5 of the particular tree. I asked her to hold one for me. When I called back yesterday, just to make sure they were holding one for me, the girl told me they actually had 13 of the trees. I remembered I had an appointment in Spokane this morning, not far from Michael's, so told her I'd be there to get it this AM.

We picked the kids up. I helped The Daughter with her outfit for the party - she was having trouble deciding on a top to wear with the adorable skirt she'd just bought - and we headed home, grandkids in tow. By the way, remember those adorable Mary Janes Lorraine bought from Payless back when Edy sent her shoes to wear? Well, The Daughter had the very same Mary Janes! And let me tell you, they are even more adorable, and flattering, in person than on the web page. I want some! Anyway, we asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. Nearly in unison they said "Kid's Cuisine"! Grandson favors the mac and cheese meal, while Granddaughter goes for the Taquito meal. What the heck. Grandparents are supposed to spoil grandkids, right? So, Kid's Cuisine it was, and the candy of their choice for dessert. If you're going to spoil them, why not go all the way?

We pulled the futon mattress off the futon in the spare room and dragged it out into the living room, laid out the kids' sleeping bags, and after dinner, snuggled up to watch the movies they'd brought along - their favorites: A Christmas Story and The Santa Clause. I've never been a huge fan of the former, but I do like the latter a lot. A Christmas Story is cute, but despite it being a favorite of so many, it doesn't hold the same appeal for me as Miracle on 34th Street, or even A Christmas Carol (the original black and white version with Alistair Sim). I love those movies. And let's not forget the classic White Christmas. Anyway, we watched both movies, with Grandson falling asleep in the middle of the last one. Granddaughter talked us into giving her one of her two birthday presents - a Jesse McCartney CD. She was ecstatic. Sunday morning meant playing the CD while we got ready for breakfast out.

Now, here's where things get really cute. I walked into the living room, where Grandson (remember, he's 5) was standing facing the TV. It is a 53" big screen (older, not the new flat panel kind). It was off. Grandson was looking at his reflection. He had on a button down shirt over a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. He kept standing there, putting his hands in his pockets, and looking down. I realized he was looking at the CD case. It dawned on me that he was trying to look like the photo of Jesse McCartney on the CD. I had to help. Jesse's shirt collar was up, his cuffs were rolled back. So, I upturned his collar, flipped the cuffs back, then told his sister to check out her brother. When I looked back at him, he was standing with his head turned to the side, exactly like the Jesse pose. It was just too cute. He had to go pose for Grandpa too. I had to clue Grandpa in, but he got it pretty quickly. When we got to breakfast with the gang, he had to make sure everyone checked out his attire and got the connection too. Who would figure that a five year-old would care about stuff like that? Too cute.

After breakfast, we went downtown to do some shopping. Unfortunately, nothing was open yet. Nothing opened until 11 (small towns). So, we went back home, did a few chores, and about 3 hours later went back downtown. I knew what was up. The only thing I had mentioned that I even remotely wanted was a new pair of Uggs. I figured we were going to the Uggs store so I could try them on. I was right.

I'm glad I tried them on. I have a pair already - a pair I've had for about 12 years. They're the black Ultimate Tall Uggs. They're great, but they're faded. I wanted a pair of the Ultras, and they felt great on, but didn't realize they don't come in talls. I only want talls. I almost bought another pair of what I already have, but decided I really wanted options. There is nothing wrong with my old pair. So they're a little faded. Big deal. New sheepskin insoles, at just $20, makes them almost as good as new. No, I needed something different. I was very attracted to the Sundance. It's a chestnut color, tall, with exposed sheepskin seams. I don't wear them rolled down, though. Heck, I wear them under my jeans, not with jeans tucked in, so why bother with the exposed seams? I just love the feel, the look, and the color.

So, we bought them. That's my Christmas present from The Spouse. It doesn't matter one bit to me that I have them already, or that I picked them out. I love them! So now, I have options. I could seriously live in Chaco sandals one half of the year and Uggs the other half. Thank you, Spouse!

Now the dilemma is, what to get The Spouse? He's a tough one. I do have it narrowed down to a Shop-Vac, a really nice set of screwdrivers, and candles (he loves candles). Maybe I'll just get them all. Then I'll be finished, with the exception of Youngest Son. He's going to be toughest of all. With his upcoming trip to France, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy him random Christmas gifts. Everything should be something he'll need for his trip - maybe even just cash. We'll decide once he's home from school next weekend, and we can talk with him about what he wants.

So, weekend is over. Work beckons, once again. The days will only get longer for The Spouse from now until Christmas. Today I will get our new tree. Tonight I will start decorating it and the house. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Final Frenzied Flurry

I'm trying to make up for not being able to blog over the weekend, so I'm blogging like a madwoman right now. It's 6:30 PM. I'm at work. I am not working on work stuff, though, just stuff I need to work on. Got that? The Spouse will be home at about 8:15 tonight. We'll have to catch up on episodes of The O.C. and Day Break, then head off to bed so we can get an early start tomorrow.

Next week is Youngest Son's finals week. He's inundated with last minute homework, studying, the usual pre-finals frenzy.

I have two weeks to complete a project at work that I've been working on for over a year. I'm not sure what will happen to me if I don't meet the deadline. I should be scared, but I'm pretty good with deadlines. Except today, AT&T/Conexant had a big backbone failure, so we couldn't get to 3M. Since I have to connect to a server there while working on this project, I couldn't make any progress on it at all today. The outage affected Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Just my luck. Gave me time to finish my bonus application, though. (Gotta find that silver lining).

Okay, I have stuff to work on.

Birthdays and Christmas Shopping

Sunday is The Granddaughter's 8th birthday. She will have a party with her friends on Friday night. They will spend the night at a local motel that is run by the company for which her paternal grandmother works. It has an indoor pool. They get a deal. The little girls will all be silly, swim in the pool, and stay up half the night watching movies, putting on makeup, and doing all sorts of little girl things.

Saturday, The Spouse and I will get up very early, drive to Coeur d'Alene to go to Costco, and just walk up and down every single aisle - not because we need anything, but because last weekend when we were there, we had 45 minutes to buy what we needed before they closed, and didn't get to just browse. So, we're going to just browse. Then we're heading to Spokane to the Spokane Valley Mall, again, just to browse and shop. We don't need anything, but may pick up some stocking stuffers or last minute things for friends and coworkers. We just want to people watch, window shop, take in the holiday atmosphere, and enjoy the last weekend before things get really crazy at work for him.

Saturday evening, we will pick up The Granddaughter and Grandson so that Daughter and Son-in-Law can go to his company Christmas party. The grandkids will stay the night with us. Early Sunday morning, their parents will come get them all dressed nicely, and we will all head out for a Birthday Breakfast, which will also be attended by the paternal grandfather and his wife. Then, The Spouse and I will go back home and decorate the house. Well, The Spouse and I will head back home, and I will decorate the house. I'm not sure what he'll be doing.

I will say this much for Blogger beta...

Posts publish MUCH faster. Used to be, I'd hit "publish" and wait, and wait, and wait for the post to publish (you know, that little screen that showed you the continually updating % complete). Now, hit the button, and "Presto! Change-o!" the post is published. So, that's a good thing.

I did find a link in a Haloscan forum that showed how to use the new Blogger widget template and still have your Haloscan comments work. I'll probably give that a try next week. This weekend is going to be another busy - but in a good way - weekend. No blogging for me until Monday.

Bonus application

Last year, for the first time ever, we got a bonus at work. The bonuses are funded out of the pool of money left over after all our health insurance claims are paid (we are self-insured, sort of - it's complicated). Last year we had about $8,000 to share amongst about 40 staff members. This year it's almost double that. 1/3 of the fund is shared equally by everyone, just for being an employee. 1/3 is divided based upon hours worked, meaning if you took a lot of sick leave, you should get less than someone who took very few sick days. Last year, taking vacation time counted against us, which I lobbied furiously against since that actually docked long-term employees who had earned multiple weeks of vacation (we have to take it or lose it). This year, I managed to convince the boss that only sick leave, which is usually unscheduled leave, and which has a huge impact on staffing, should count against us. The last 1/3 is divided based upon merit - and each employee has to "make his/her case" for this part of the bonus. We have to fill out an application listing any continuing education, workshops or conferences we have attended, committees on which we've served, things we've done over and above our job description, and things we've done to make the workplace more efficient, saved money, etc. We have to list the number of team meetings we've attended, the number of "kudos" we've received from staff or patrons (we have a form for them), and basically blow our own horns to try to justify the biggest bonus possible. That application is due today. Do you think I've had time to work on it given my insane workload? Three guesses what I'll be working on this morning.

UPDATE: Turns out, I was NOT successful in convincing the boss to count only used sick leave against our attendance after all. All time off, whether holiday time, sick leave taken, or vacation taken, or even comp time taken, is counted against the total possible hours for the year of 2,088. But, extra time worked IS added to the total, which is nice. Too bad I didn't start tracking my extra time until June 26! In just 5 months, I worked 165 hours of extra time. I worked at least that many hours between 12/1/05 and 6/25/06, but wasn't tracking them because it never mattered before. Just my luck.

"Luke, I am your father"

I like a lot of the features of the "new" blogger. I like how easy it is to add content, change the layout, and the way the archived posts are displayed. I don't like that I can't seem to figure out how to keep using Haloscan for my commenting instead of blogger's commenting, and I'm not ready to just lose all my comments, so I switched back to the old template style. Basically, no one will notice anything different but me. At least the labels are still part of the "new" blogger. That's a nice feature. I also added a Haloscan widget that shows "recent comments" in the sidebar. If you hate it, let me know and I'll make it go away. It just seemed like a cool feature, and I'm a sucker for gadgets and widgets.

I've gone over to the dark side

Okay, I couldn't take it any longer. I clicked on the button and converted to Blogger Beta. Most of the conversion was painless, and went smoothly. Making adjustments to the template is much easier than with the old version. But I can't figure out how to make my Haloscan comments work with it yet. So, for now, there are no comments. I may just stick with Blogger commenting instead of Haloscan just because it's easier. When I have time, when I'm not under the gun at work, inundated with projects with no end in sight, and when I'm feeling a bit more creative, I'll probably redesign my entire template. For now, it will remain "Harbor" (I'm a Pisces. I like the water theme.) Please feel free to comment away so I don't look like no one likes me.

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

Everyone knows what today is - even non-Americans. It's Pearl Harbor Day, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into WWII. For me, today has another meaning. 31 years ago today, my mother decided that life in this world was just too painful to endure for another day. I got the call at about 11 PM on December 7, 1975. I was 20 years old, married, and a senior in college. My whole world crumbled into pieces that night. My mom, my best friend, my cheerleader, the one person who saw everything I was capable of being, the best mother a kid could ever ask for, was dead. On one hand, I was happy for her. I knew she was no longer in pain; pain she had endured every day of her life, probably for longer than anyone could imagine. On the other hand, I was devastated - for me, for my brother and sisters, for my uncles (her brothers), for my husband, for all her friends, for my stepdad, and even for my dad, from whom she had been divorced for 5 years. We had all just lost the most amazing woman we had ever known and loved, and we would all be tortured by the thought that we could have - should have - been able to help her, to stop her, to assuage her pain. We would all feel some form of guilt for years and years to come. We didn't know then - no one did in 1975 - that manic depression was the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. There was no lithium, no anti-depressants, just Valium.

Despite her pain, my mother raised four great kids. None of us ever did drugs. We all did well in school. We went to college. We all got married and had families and are productive members of society. In an era where it is fashionable to blame one's upbringing for all one's failings, we had the perfect excuse, yet not one of us ever points to our mother's suicide as the cause for any mistakes we've made in life. Mom raised us to accept responsibility for our actions, both good and bad. She instilled in us the absolute knowledge that we could do or be anything we wanted. How else do you explain a 17 year-old girl, in 1972, going into electrical engineering with a full ride to any school she wanted to attend (except Harvard and the Air Force Academy, which didn't accept women then)? It never entered my mind that engineering wasn't a field for a girl, but in 1972, that was pretty much the accepted attitude. Most girls didn't pursue careers in engineering, science, and math. Somehow, Mom made it very clear to me, without ever coming out and saying it specifically that I can recall, that no field was closed to me. She gave me the confidence to be who I was, to not let the teasing of classmates bother me, to not care about being different. And I was different. I was poor, tall, skinny, four-eyed, a year younger than my classmates (I skipped 5th grade), the smartest girl in my class of 500, wore clothes from Goodwill, lived in "the sticks", where the poor kids lived, had a job after school beginning at age 15, and really just wasn't popular at all. But Mom made me feel okay about being different, even proud. I can't tell you how she did it. She just did. She wasn't one of those touchy-feely moms - the exact opposite really. And she wasn't one for pumping her kids up with how great they were every day in an effort to build our self-esteem. She put little stock in outward appearances, telling us that how we looked on the outside (whether we were pretty or not) was not nearly as important as how we looked on the inside - our minds and personalities - the kind of people we were. When we did well in school, it was expected, though really excellent performances were applauded - though not rewarded. We never got money for A's on our report cards. We never got an allowance. Chores around the house were just part of what we did every day. Not doing them resulted in punishment - grounding, no TV, stuff like that. Driving was a privilege we had to earn - and pay for. We had to pay our car insurance, and if we wanted our own car, we had to buy it ourselves. Each of us did those things. When I went off to college, my folks didn't contribute a cent. They couldn't afford it. I had a full ride, but since I chose to live off campus, my living expenses were my own to pay, so I worked as a waitress all through college, paid my bills, bought my food, and carried a full load.

I knew my mom was hurting. She had attempted suicide a couple of times before she succeeded. She and I talked openly about her struggles. It was so hard for me to see this woman I loved so much in so much pain. Me, the eternal optimist, just couldn't comprehend what it was like to always see the glass half empty. I just figured I could find some way to cheer her up, to help her see the glass, not just half full, but overflowing. Most of the time, I succeeded, to a point. She used to say I was a great distraction. You see, I tend to be a non-stop talker - and so was she in certain situations, so she had little time to think about much other than what we were talking about when I was around. But I was away at school, so she had lots of days to just think - and her brilliant mind never rested. She sought answers for her pain - and found lots of theories, new research, etc. She shared her thoughts with her shrink, who was a mental midget next to my mom. She talked circles around him. He didn't know what to do with her. He'd never met anyone like her. He prescribed Valium. She didn't take them - until she took a handful of them, was found by my dad, had her stomach pumped, and survived to try again another day. She was in so much pain - a pain I really cannot imagine. It makes me sad that I couldn't help her. But her death was not anyone's fault. She simply couldn't do life for one more day, and that last day was December 7, 1975.

I miss you, Mom. I can't wait to see you again. Thank you for the 20 years you gave me. Thank you for being my mom. I love you.

Gina

Blogger flubs

Remember when I helped Lorraine figure out why her list of blogs had this gap between two of the links? Of course you don't. Well, in adding the blogs I read to my RSS feed in Outlook 2007 Beta, I discovered that the link I had to JLow's blog wasn't there. First I thought maybe her blog went away. Silly me. Of course it's still there. It was obviously an error on my end. One look at my link list - well, a couple looks really, because it was such a small error it was hard to catch - and I found the problem. Frakkin' HTML coding errors! Grrrr. Instead of an = sign in the link code, I had a - sign. Doh! That'll break the link for sure. So, the link to The Complaint Department has been fixed. And I'll be adding some blogs to the list in the next couple of days, once I've caught up on Lorraine's and Charlie's blogs, and have gotten at least some work done.

Thanks a lot, Lorraine and Charlie!

Remember how I was complaining about falling behind in my blog reading while on vacation Thanksgiving week? That was nothing! I take the weekend off, don't blog, don't really even go online, and what do I find when I return this morning? A blogging frenzy took place over the weekend! Lorraine posted 17 times over the weekend! SEVENTEEN TIMES! Charlie posted 7 times! Thankfully, Grish, Amy, and Rosemary only posted 3 or 4 times each. I actually have read their weekend posts in toto. But people, really, seventeen posts? How am I ever going to catch up, let alone post on my own blog? Stop the insanity! Please. I have a job to do here, and with all these blogging interruptions, well, I just can't do it, and my getting fired will be on YOUR conscience. So please, slow down, take a blogging breath, let some of us catch up just a little, okay?

Thanks. I knew you'd understand.

Saturday Morn

Weekends should be relaxing, especially after a week like this last one. Alas, that is not to be the case. Today is full already, and it's only just getting started. The Spouse has a haircut this morning. They are scheduled every four weeks, like clockwork, and they are always scheduled two appointments in the future, meaning his next appointment was scheduled last month, and today we will schedule his January one. Our stylist is very busy. If you want an appointment first thing on a Saturday, you have to schedule it months in advance. So, today starts with a haircut at 10. Then we're heading to Spokane to take Youngest Son Thanksgiving leftovers and a laptop. He called the other day asking if there were any leftovers (I froze them). He said he really missed that this year (he was sick the day after the holiday and then went back to school). He needs to borrow my laptop for the week to make working on his Data Structures final programming project with his partner easier. After we make that stop, we're going to try to get some Christmas shopping done.

This weekend and next are likely The Spouse's only chance to shop. Remember, FedEx is Santa this time of year. That means the couriers generally work weekends beginning about two weeks before Christmas. He's already been working super long hours, thanks to the weather, which has resulted in freight coming in late, or in two waves. Late freight = long hours = a grumpy Spouse. He's pretty much The Grinch by the time Christmas rolls around. Fortunately, for the first time ever, he has the week after Christmas off this year. He has enough seniority that that week was available when it was his turn to bid his vacation last March. Because Christmas is on a Monday, he was able to bid that whole week. Next year that won't be the case. They have to bid in full weeks and Christmas will be on a Tuesday, so that week won't be available. Bummer.

Anyway, shopping today, decorating tomorrow, and then the week starts again. Busy, busy, busy.

Time to get in the shower....

Mindless TV Watching

I'm reading blogs. The Cat is snuggled up next to me (heaven!). The Spouse is having his fifth late night this week - he won't be home until 9:30 tonight. The TV is on in the background. I'm not really watching it, just listening. The show is 1 vs. 100. It's a copy of Deal or No Deal and Millionaire, sort of. I've seen it once before. If you've never seen it, there are 100 people in "the mob". A contestant comes on, is asked a question, and for every member of the mob that gets the answer wrong, he gets x dollars. The dollar amount increases with each question. The goal is to keep getting answers right, and pray that more and more members of the mob answer incorrectly so you win lots of money. The contestant can quit, of course. And he gets three "lifelines", of course. They are suspiciously like those in Who Wants to be a Millionaire. You get a 50-50. You get to ask a mob member for the answer, but they can try to fake you out. You can't call a friend, though. I like shows that test your knowledge of obscure things like Millionaire and Jeopardy. I'm one of those people whose mind is filled with completely useless trivial knowledge. So, while I'm reading blogs, emails, typing posts and comments, I'm half listening to the show. The mob usually has a few celebrities in it. For example, Ken Jennings is in the mob. Today they have four cast members from Las Vegas. Molly Sims is one of them. They have some Dallas Cheerleaders, too I think. And this - they have Mr. Fed-X, Britney's now infamous ex, Kevin Federline, is in the mob. I wonder when this episode was shot - before or after the divorce? They had a question asking about the show in which Christina Aguilera got her start. The questions are multiple choice. The answer said something like "it was a show starring" an insect, a vermin, and something else. Hmmm... Mickey Mouse - animal, minereal, or vermin? Duh. But 8 mob members got it wrong. K-Fed got it right. So Bob Sagat asked him how he knew. He replied that "he kind of knows the family", and the audience, the mob, and Bob Sagat chuckled. Ha ha ha.

Oh, they just asked a Star Wars question: "If you must be at least 40inches tall to go on the Star Wars ride, which Star Wars character would be left behind? a) Chewbacca b) C-3PO c) Yoda". Now, I feel about Star Wars the way Lorraine feels about Battlestar Galactica. The original 3, that is, not the most recent 3 movies. Anyway, the answer is so obvious. The contestant has it right. 8 members of the mob missed it! What planet are they from? Sheesh. The answer is C, of course! The last contestant knocked out 89 mobsters before quitting and taking the money. That's the most anyone has ever knocked out, apparently. He won $156,000. If he had chosen the wrong answer on his last question, he would lose all the money, and the mob would get to split what he had won to that point.

Update: This contestant just cleaned up on one question. 33 mobsters missed it. Here's the question: "Which was not a name used by one of the Sex Pistols?" a) Nasty b) Rotten c) Vicious. I am not a hard rock fan. I don't know much about the Sex Pistols or even know if I have heard a single song of theirs. But c'mon. I know the answer to this. How can 33 out of 72 people get it wrong? She just picked up $66,000 in that one question. And folks, this is a late 30's/early 40's woman you would not suspect ever listened to the Sex Pistols.

Keeping up with the Joneses, er, Lorraine, Charlie, et al

I have been such a lax blogger! Lorraine is prolific, as are Charlie, Grish, now Amy. I fell so far behind in reading their blogs when we were in Canada last week, I didn't think I'd ever catch up! You just can't do that in Blogopia - get behind, that is. People - you really need to slow down! I've spent the past two hours reading posts, making a few belated comments, and trying to decide what to post myself. It's bad enough I don't blog or read blogs on the weekends, but a whole week - terrifying. I'm doing it again in December. Please, all of you, take a blogging vacation Christmas week, okay? Thank you!