I'm going to keep track of a week in my life, along with Ali Edwards. I have the best of intentions, and I've taken 2 pictures so far of today, Friday, September 26. Of course, it's already 3:45pm so you do realize, I hope, that I'll be scrounging around for the next 6 hours or so trying to find something to take a picture of that might illustrate "A Typical Friday in the Life of...Me!"
The first picture I took this morning was of my desk, complete with crap all over it, crap that should have been done earlier this week but was waiting patiently for Friday, after being passed over (and over) since Monday... The second picture was an attempt at (almost) art: my computer screen, set on Ali's page, along with my manila folder labeled "A Week in the Life of Me." How exciting, I know!
Yesterday I went to a meeting at W School, an orientation meeting for the volunteer work I'll be doing again this year, reading to first graders once every two weeks. My new partner showed up, a great start compared to last year's partner who showed up maybe 60% of the year, if I'm lucky (or if the kids were lucky!). I emailed her this morning to set up a meeting to coordinate our calendars, to see who'll start first, who can't read on which Tuesday, etc. I called her at 2:24, per her instructions, to tell her I was heading on down to the Coffee Bar for our meeting. I gave her the required 15 professorial minutes after 2:30 and she never showed.
Now, stuff happens, I know. But she hasn't called yet, or emailed, to say, "OMG! I forgot!" or "OMG! I was stuck in this meeting!" Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not a peep. I take it all back: we're not off to a good start... And it's 3:54pm...
My allergies are morphing into a cold. I'm congested, and everyone sounds like either they're under water, or I am! And I'm still coughing, suffering from a sinus headache brought on by the low barometric pressure, and I'm blowing my nose again, like a fiend! I hope I get better over the weekend, not worse - I really think there's something to that whole kids make you sick thing that teachers complain about... There's only one other explanation: my building is sick.
I started here in August 2004, and that was the first year I had a summer cold, right.when.I.started.this.new.job. And then a winter cold, in January. And one ever summer and winter since. So either it's 'cause I go to the elementary school to meet DH and I'm exposed to all those kiddie germs, or as my cubicle neighbor insists, our building is sick; the windows can't be opened, and "everyone's been sicker since they moved the business here to Ho----n."
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm getting older and my resistance is weaker...
Guess what I get to do this weekend? I get to balance J's checkbook! Go ahead, I hear you laughing! But you have no idea how much I love to do that!!! Watching all those numbers add up right... I should have been an accountant... (NOT! But I DO like balancing my checkbook!)
Okay, it's time to go and pretend to work for the last 1/2 hour, before I sign off and do something productive, like play Bejeweled 2...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Some pictures for your viewing pleasure...
A GREAT picture of my beautiful mom!
Two great photos of my beautiful baby neighbor! Do you think Jack would mind too much if I left him for this little guy?!? He just LOVES being outside. When he's crying, all his mom has to do is bring him outside and he stops, just like that! Of course, when she brings him out and he sees his Krys, he gets that big smile on his face, and I just melt and say, "Give me my baby!"
A view from our deck two weeks ago, before they started dropping the lake. It's down quite a bit, and there's more to go. This is the year of the "big drop" when they let 5' of water out of the lake to allow residents to do repairs on their docks. Of course, some residents can't make necessary repairs 'cause the "1-darn-dock-repair-company-who-has-the-monopoly-on-the-lake-simply-doesn't-return-phone-calls-'cause-they've-got-work-lined-up-for-years." (Perhaps I'll try again...)
Believe it or not, on a potato roll or between 2 slices of Wonder Bread - one of my favorite all-time sandwiches, followed by cream-cheese-and-jelly-and-onions. (I know, I know, YUK! But until you taste it, don't knock it! I thought I'd throw up until my dad made me taste it - some sweet with a little bit of a tart crunch! Mmmm!)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I'm in a very nostalgic mood. I don't know why. So I decided to post a couple of old pictures here... Don't know if I've posted them here before, but anyway, here goes...
This first one is of my dad and his sister, just before he left for the war (or just after he returned - I don't have the family notes here at work). My aunt was a beauty when she was young! I don't remember her looking this young. My dad, though, always looked like this to me, maybe with a few more laugh lines, but I always thought he was a handsome guy!
This next one is my grandfather's house in Bloomingdale (43 Van Dam Avenue). We spent every Sunday there when we were growing up. We'd walk into the kitchen, kiss my aunt hello, go in the living room and kiss Granddaddy hello, and we'd get a piece of candy from his stash under the newspaper. A stash none of the adults knew about!!! Facing the house from the street, like in this picture, we also owned the lot to the left of the house, on the other side of the garage. There was a giant oak tree, a lily pond, a mini corn field, and a swing set. We'd be out there all afternoon while we were there for the day!!!
The last one is my mom and my two sisters and me, in front of our house in Bloomfield (30 Byrd Avenue). I'm the tallest of the daughters, in that sexy orange blouse! I absolutely LOVED that skirt! (Nice haircut, don't you think?!?) Mom made her gown! She was a great seamstress - she made all those skirts. Our house was white, turquoise, then white again. This is obviously in our initial white phase!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thanks, Pikes Pickles, for my prize! It arrived today, on a day when I really needed a pick-me-up of some kind!!! It was a difficult day, filled with lots of work, lots of driving, lots of coughing, and not nearly enough eating! And my prize arrived!!! YAY!
Yes, friends of mine, I'm sick. Not sick sick, but allergy sick.
I called out on Friday, went to the doctor and was promptly put on a cough medicine with codeine to suppress my hacking cough, an inhaler (or "inhalerator" or "breathalizer," as Mr. Obama likes to call them!), and Zyrtec. Dr. C. confirmed that it's allergies settling in my chest; my lungs were clear and she wants to keep them that way, hence all the medication.
I must say, I feel a thousand times better, even while still coughing up a lung once in a while - gross though this might be, it's now a more productive cough, not just a wheezing, dry, make me gag sort of cough. And my sore abs/flabs? Not sore any more!
And I'm sure my cubicle neighbors are happy, happy, happy that I went to the doctor - what made me finally decide to go was the email from a girl who sits literally about 100 feet away, asking me if I wanted a cough drop. How embarrassing! I wonder how far you had to get to NOT hear me coughing...
Yes, friends of mine, I'm sick. Not sick sick, but allergy sick.
I called out on Friday, went to the doctor and was promptly put on a cough medicine with codeine to suppress my hacking cough, an inhaler (or "inhalerator" or "breathalizer," as Mr. Obama likes to call them!), and Zyrtec. Dr. C. confirmed that it's allergies settling in my chest; my lungs were clear and she wants to keep them that way, hence all the medication.
I must say, I feel a thousand times better, even while still coughing up a lung once in a while - gross though this might be, it's now a more productive cough, not just a wheezing, dry, make me gag sort of cough. And my sore abs/flabs? Not sore any more!
And I'm sure my cubicle neighbors are happy, happy, happy that I went to the doctor - what made me finally decide to go was the email from a girl who sits literally about 100 feet away, asking me if I wanted a cough drop. How embarrassing! I wonder how far you had to get to NOT hear me coughing...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Okay, I'm such a copycat!
I saw this Followers gadget on Pikes Pickles and I had to have one! I know there are only about 3 of you who are readers on a regular basis (and thanks to each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart!!!), but it'll make me feel better to see you all there each and every time I sign on... Someone cares! Someone really cares!!
[Of course, if you ever see me remove this gadget, it means I got depressed about the fact that I'm not as amusing or interesting as the three of you implied I was by coming back again and again...]
I saw this Followers gadget on Pikes Pickles and I had to have one! I know there are only about 3 of you who are readers on a regular basis (and thanks to each and every one of you, from the bottom of my heart!!!), but it'll make me feel better to see you all there each and every time I sign on... Someone cares! Someone really cares!!
[Of course, if you ever see me remove this gadget, it means I got depressed about the fact that I'm not as amusing or interesting as the three of you implied I was by coming back again and again...]
Love and peace to all who suffered on 09/11/01.
I remember this day vividly. My mother called me at work to tell me the World Trade Center was on fire. I turned on my radio and was listening to reports from the scene. When we realized what had happened, we all went to the President's office and watched on his TV. We saw the 2nd Tower get hit. I have never felt what I felt at that moment.
Our boss told us all to go home and be with our families.
I called my husband at school in Hoboken and couldn't get through to him. That's when I realized how terribly close he was to Manhattan - a mere river's width and a few blocks from where the world was literally crashing down around us.
I drove home, eastbound on Route 3, where I could see the smoke in the skies where the Towers had stood. Towers that had been there for years. Towers I saw almost every day. Towers I saw but never really paid attention to for years.
They were no longer there.
Now what I saw on that drive home was loss. Horrible, crippling, devastating loss. And this was before we really knew or understood what had happened.
I could only think about all those people. Those people who got up, kissed their wives or husbands goodbye, patted the dog on the head, took the garbage out, then drove or bussed or flew to work. All those people.
And the families. My God, the families.
I'd lost my father, and my aunt, and my grandparents. I knew was loss was. I knew how hard it was to come to terms with knowing that you'd never see that person again, that they were gone forever. And yes, time had come and gone and I'd reached that point in my grieving where I also understood that they were there, in my heart, always.
But they were still gone. Forever.
The bigger "but" is that they died. They weren't murdered. They weren't taken from me, from my family, by cruel, evil, heartless men who wanted to hurt us. They died when they were supposed to die. All those people in the Towers, on Flight 93, at the Pentagon and on that plane, too - they were not supposed to die.
Sure, my faith helps me to understand we all have to go sometime, and it helps me through that time. BUT even though fate decreed that all those 2977 people had to die that day, the fact that they were TAKEN from us is hard to swallow. They were taken from their loved ones deliberately, with malice and forethought, with the intention of hurting us and maiming us - us the U.S.
They are heroes. Each and every one of them. And I, for one, along with every other American, every other person in the world today who has a heart, miss them today and grieve along with their families and friends.
I was lucky, you might say, that I live 9 miles from the city and knew no one who died in this tragic event. Yes, a few acquaitances came close, a couple cousins even closer (one was in the city late for a meeting at the Towers, another on the drive into Manhattan when he got stuck in the traffic after it happened). But I didn't lose anyone close to me.
I lost all 2977.
I remember this day vividly. My mother called me at work to tell me the World Trade Center was on fire. I turned on my radio and was listening to reports from the scene. When we realized what had happened, we all went to the President's office and watched on his TV. We saw the 2nd Tower get hit. I have never felt what I felt at that moment.
Our boss told us all to go home and be with our families.
I called my husband at school in Hoboken and couldn't get through to him. That's when I realized how terribly close he was to Manhattan - a mere river's width and a few blocks from where the world was literally crashing down around us.
I drove home, eastbound on Route 3, where I could see the smoke in the skies where the Towers had stood. Towers that had been there for years. Towers I saw almost every day. Towers I saw but never really paid attention to for years.
They were no longer there.
Now what I saw on that drive home was loss. Horrible, crippling, devastating loss. And this was before we really knew or understood what had happened.
I could only think about all those people. Those people who got up, kissed their wives or husbands goodbye, patted the dog on the head, took the garbage out, then drove or bussed or flew to work. All those people.
And the families. My God, the families.
I'd lost my father, and my aunt, and my grandparents. I knew was loss was. I knew how hard it was to come to terms with knowing that you'd never see that person again, that they were gone forever. And yes, time had come and gone and I'd reached that point in my grieving where I also understood that they were there, in my heart, always.
But they were still gone. Forever.
The bigger "but" is that they died. They weren't murdered. They weren't taken from me, from my family, by cruel, evil, heartless men who wanted to hurt us. They died when they were supposed to die. All those people in the Towers, on Flight 93, at the Pentagon and on that plane, too - they were not supposed to die.
Sure, my faith helps me to understand we all have to go sometime, and it helps me through that time. BUT even though fate decreed that all those 2977 people had to die that day, the fact that they were TAKEN from us is hard to swallow. They were taken from their loved ones deliberately, with malice and forethought, with the intention of hurting us and maiming us - us the U.S.
They are heroes. Each and every one of them. And I, for one, along with every other American, every other person in the world today who has a heart, miss them today and grieve along with their families and friends.
I was lucky, you might say, that I live 9 miles from the city and knew no one who died in this tragic event. Yes, a few acquaitances came close, a couple cousins even closer (one was in the city late for a meeting at the Towers, another on the drive into Manhattan when he got stuck in the traffic after it happened). But I didn't lose anyone close to me.
I lost all 2977.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Hooray, hooray, I won a prize at Pikes Pickles!!! I've been so lucky to meet so many nice people out there in blog-land... I'm going to have to think of a special way to say thanks ---
Oh, wait! Here it is!
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Pikes Pickles, for my prize (I won a prize!) and Miss Hope, who introduced me to Pikes Pickle's blog.
I have been popping by and visiting, but after taking the time to read a few back blogs, especially the one named Comments please, I will be sure to comment on a regular basis, not just get counted as an anonymous hit!!!
Oh, wait! Here it is!
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, Pikes Pickles, for my prize (I won a prize!) and Miss Hope, who introduced me to Pikes Pickle's blog.
I have been popping by and visiting, but after taking the time to read a few back blogs, especially the one named Comments please, I will be sure to comment on a regular basis, not just get counted as an anonymous hit!!!
Friday, September 05, 2008
Go on over to Pikes Pickles and try to win yourself a prize - there's only one day left! (All prizes are being picked on Saturday, though, so even though it's the last day, go over there and comment on all 5 days!)
Celebrate your marriage on her blog. Celebrate a special friend. Celebrate your faith. And I can personally vouch for the PakNaks, having won some over on Miss Hope's site (so I'm not participating in this giveaway!). I gave them to my neighbors' kids - they LOVED them!
Pikes Pickes is giving away some awesome prizes - and it's a wonderful blog, too - Enjoy!
Celebrate your marriage on her blog. Celebrate a special friend. Celebrate your faith. And I can personally vouch for the PakNaks, having won some over on Miss Hope's site (so I'm not participating in this giveaway!). I gave them to my neighbors' kids - they LOVED them!
Pikes Pickes is giving away some awesome prizes - and it's a wonderful blog, too - Enjoy!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
I really tend not to write about things political, simply 'cause I have my own opinions, I'm entitled to them and I am happy with them, and I sleep at night with a clear conscience, secure in what I believe in... even when I'm in the minority and surrounded by many who would prefer to try to change my mind...
That said, I LOVED Sarah Palin last night!!! There was no way she could come out there and simply talk politics: the media robbed her of that with all the personal news that was flooding the air waves these past few days. I think she dealt with it all with grace and style. Loved "meeting" her family, LOVED her baby daughter licking her palm and fixing her baby brother's hair, loved her baby daughter waving at the crowd! Thought Palin's references to family struggles were appropriate: we all knew what she was talking about! Am thrilled to have a mom and politician who understands the struggles special needs families are going through on the way to the White House.
I will be honest, though: I'm not so sure about the pregnant daughter marrying the baby's father. Marriage isn't easy, and at such a young age? To have to be 17, pregnant, in the public eye, AND married? I don't know... I know they have no idea what they're in for, and you know it, too. I think I'd be okay with her remaining a young, single mom, and I'd want the dad involved. Of course I'd teach my children abstinence, and marriage before sex, and I'd hope they would listen, but it is 2008 and unfortunately parents have less control over their children than ever before... I believe SP and her husband will be there for their daughter and that will be a huge help for her, but pregnancy, a baby, and a husband and marriage to deal with? At 17? It's not going to be easy! And toss in doing it in front of millions and billions of people, 1/2 f whom want you to fail? Oooh, am I glad I'm not her!!!
SP touched on the economy, on foreign policy, on family values, on terrorism - all in a way that acknowledged she knew she'd be dealing with them, but she didn't even try to pretend to "fix" it all in her speech. And I think that was the right way to go! Make us like you, Sarah, and you're over the hump! Now we want to support you, and we'll listen to you with a more open mind...
PLEASE keep up the momentum!
AND I loved what Sarah said. I liked her support of McCain. I liked her warning that she wasn't going to Washington looking for media approval. I liked her response to the other side's criticism of her experience.
I will be voting for McCain. And I'm not completely happy with his policies, but I haven't been completely happy with anyone since I started voting! No one is perfect, and although I hate the idea that there are people voting for the lesser of evils (in their eyes), I hate even more the idea that people would vote for someone just because he is black, or she is a woman... I am a woman. And I'm NOT qualified to be VP or P, for that matter! I've looked at them all, and I don't like BO (hmmm, nice initials...). I lived in DE and never liked Biden; admittedly I was in college and not all that political at the time... I have zero respect for Hillary: none as a woman, a politician, a wife. Thank God she's not BO's running mate! (He'd have had to sleep with one eye open, that's for sure!)
Anyway, on to work... since I'm lucky enough to have a job, I have to keep it!!!
That said, I LOVED Sarah Palin last night!!! There was no way she could come out there and simply talk politics: the media robbed her of that with all the personal news that was flooding the air waves these past few days. I think she dealt with it all with grace and style. Loved "meeting" her family, LOVED her baby daughter licking her palm and fixing her baby brother's hair, loved her baby daughter waving at the crowd! Thought Palin's references to family struggles were appropriate: we all knew what she was talking about! Am thrilled to have a mom and politician who understands the struggles special needs families are going through on the way to the White House.
I will be honest, though: I'm not so sure about the pregnant daughter marrying the baby's father. Marriage isn't easy, and at such a young age? To have to be 17, pregnant, in the public eye, AND married? I don't know... I know they have no idea what they're in for, and you know it, too. I think I'd be okay with her remaining a young, single mom, and I'd want the dad involved. Of course I'd teach my children abstinence, and marriage before sex, and I'd hope they would listen, but it is 2008 and unfortunately parents have less control over their children than ever before... I believe SP and her husband will be there for their daughter and that will be a huge help for her, but pregnancy, a baby, and a husband and marriage to deal with? At 17? It's not going to be easy! And toss in doing it in front of millions and billions of people, 1/2 f whom want you to fail? Oooh, am I glad I'm not her!!!
SP touched on the economy, on foreign policy, on family values, on terrorism - all in a way that acknowledged she knew she'd be dealing with them, but she didn't even try to pretend to "fix" it all in her speech. And I think that was the right way to go! Make us like you, Sarah, and you're over the hump! Now we want to support you, and we'll listen to you with a more open mind...
PLEASE keep up the momentum!
AND I loved what Sarah said. I liked her support of McCain. I liked her warning that she wasn't going to Washington looking for media approval. I liked her response to the other side's criticism of her experience.
I will be voting for McCain. And I'm not completely happy with his policies, but I haven't been completely happy with anyone since I started voting! No one is perfect, and although I hate the idea that there are people voting for the lesser of evils (in their eyes), I hate even more the idea that people would vote for someone just because he is black, or she is a woman... I am a woman. And I'm NOT qualified to be VP or P, for that matter! I've looked at them all, and I don't like BO (hmmm, nice initials...). I lived in DE and never liked Biden; admittedly I was in college and not all that political at the time... I have zero respect for Hillary: none as a woman, a politician, a wife. Thank God she's not BO's running mate! (He'd have had to sleep with one eye open, that's for sure!)
Anyway, on to work... since I'm lucky enough to have a job, I have to keep it!!!