What is Your Holiday Stress Level?

Your Holiday Stress Level is Moderate

The holidays sometimes stress you out, but mostly because they wear you down. Take it easy! You can have a fun holiday without running yourself ragged.

What's Your Holiday Stress Level?

They make it sound so reasonable! :-)

More Ramblings

For some reason time is moving very oddly this week. First it will seem to be dragging, then suddenly I'll look up to find it has flown. I am feeling distracted and I suppose that has a lot to do with it.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I recently finished re-reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I thought I'd like to see the movie and it would be nice to have the story fresh in my mind. Who knows if I will actually get out to the movie though...it has been a while since I've been able to get out to a movie.

At the moment I am almost finished with the third installment in the Dexter series Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay. I read the other two over a year ago, I think, and I had forgotten how purple the prose can be. Honestly, I almost gave up at the beginning, but kept on and found that it wasn't so bad once I got used to it.

Yesterday morning I watched a movie that Secret Agent Man had recommended to me as being funny. He was right. If you enjoy lightweight comedies you will enjoy Let's Go to Prison. It isn't a "film" you are going to see good review for, but it did make me LOL a few times. Bonus, the song Move This by Technotronic is now stuck in my head.

Here...you can have it too!

What Are You Lookin At?

Man! So tired....what? Yeah, another...um...rum and coke...

Is there any rum in this? Okay, alright, fine....

Karaoke? Huh...okay....~/o We used to worry a lot, we used to hurry a lot, we used to stay out til the break of day. Oooh, that didn't get it, it was high time I quit it. I just couldn't carry on that waaaayyy. Oooh, I did some damage, I know it's true. Didn't know I was so lonely til I found you. Who is gonna make it? We'll find out in the lo-ong run (in the lo-ong run) We can handle some resistance if our love is a stro-ong one (is a stro-ong one)~/o Woo hoo! I sound just like Don Henley! Well, fuck you too! Ahahahahaha!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......

This drunken post is brought to you courtesy of the Taraday Calendar...and the letter P. Thank you.

I'm Late! But That Doesn't Seem So Bad....

...as my salary isn't getting docked, I didn't miss the most important part of the movie, and most especially, I needn't dig out the baby stuff one more time. hee hee! Ah me... Okay, as that is out of my system, here is my late Saturday Scavenger Shot about FOOD! Seems like I should have more food pictures given all the food consumed over the past four days. Thanksgiving was, of course, particularly food-y. This is white chili, made with leftover turkey. Mm-mm-good!
Also late, passing on the word of the week challenge. Sorry 'bout dat, guys. Let's see....how about Dmarks? You up for it? Someone tell Dmarks he is next!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Only about another hour until I begin my nice long weekend. Yay to four days of not working, but boo to four days where I probably won't be online :-)
The first thing I will do when I get back online is post up my FOOD pictures, probably late, for Saturday's Scavenger Shots. I can't wait to see all of yours and to hear all about your weekend good times. So, me and Normam Rockwell wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am going to make a real effort to retain an attitude of gratitude (ha! cute, right?) all year round.

A Bit of This and That

This will have to be one of those little bullet-point posts, as I don't have any one big thing in my head...just lots of little things...like marbles! That I am losing! hahaha! Ah, I amuse me...

* WTG lost his job this morning. Way to go, wanker. In fairness, though, he will probably round himself up another job soon. At least that is his usual M.O.

* I am hoping this turn of events doesn't lead to Kick Back Dude losing his job as well. They are tied together both in the minds of the company they were/are working for and in the financing and insuring of their vehicles.

* On the lighter side, the new puppy is to be called Sage. She is a springer spaniel and so far she and big Tank are getting along fine. The cat, Mittle Kitty, despises them both and rules with an iron claw.

* I am sort of looking forward to tomorrow. I don't have to cook or clean or anything. All I have to do is drive to my dad and stepmom's house and strap on the feedbag. Right on.

* I am sort of dreading the days that follow as they are pointing in one direction...Christmas. This holiday always makes me anxious and I need to stop that! I am hoping to do most of my shopping online this year...but this means I need to get started...but ugh.

* I am starting to think that I need all of my relationships to be as inobtrusive as the one I have with Team C. I saw him a couple of weeks ago - perfect. And today he sent me a Thanksgiving ecard that made me happier than any ecard should. In the event of an actual relationship...I don't know, my head would probably explode.

Heaven in a Bottle

Maybe I should start a blog feature called Tuesday Treats. I like foods, especially snack foods and every week I could tell you about the most delicious thing I have recently enjoyed. Hm. Well, maybe that wouldn't be so interesting.

Still, join with me today in celebrating a bit of seasonal deliciousness. Okay, say you were still at work at 7:30 pm and you needed a little pick-me-up. If you were me, you would pull out the special treat that you had been saving just for such an occasion! Starbucks bottled Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino. Nice and chilled, right out of the bottle. (What? That's how a pirate would drink it!)

Here is a pretty picture of this miracle elixir. This isn't my refrigerator or my Starbucks. I got it off the interwebs...but isn't it beautiful?
In conclusion, if you like coffee, dark chocolate, peppermint, especially all together, you will love this. It is a special treat, so it is okay that it is a little pricey for a beverage. Sometimes these things are even on sale. Then you get more, more, more!

Cheese Anyone?

Because, yeah, you guessed it...I gots the whine!

The weekend was going okay. I had worked on Saturday, but it was a very reasonable day. Sunday seemed pretty quiet and peaceful. Then, without a word of discussion or warning, WTG and Handsome Lad come in the door with a new puppy. Another new puppy...remember that Tank is only barely a year...and he also came without warning or discussion. Now, don't misunderstand. I have nothing against dogs. And in fact, between Secret Agent Man and Handsome Lad, Tank has been pretty well cared for without much intervention from me. Another dog isn't the worst thing in the world. My problem is that I wasn't even consulted for form's sake. When I protested, Handsome Lad said, "Why would we ask you? You have have just said no." This came out of the mouth of my ten year old son. And WTG was right there nodding and smiling. THAT is where my problem with all of this is.

Now, there is no way for me to do the right thing. If I pretend to be happy and thrilled to have another pet, I feel like everyone will assume that it is a great idea to just go ahead with any plans without consulting me. If I bitch about it, as I have been, then I am, well, a bitch and the mean, possibly unreasonable parent to boot. Even though I know it isn't a contest the fact is that I lose. Again.

Should I Now Consider My Humiliation Complete?

Paper Post for the Famous Saturday Scavenger Shots!

I think "paper" is an interesting thing to think about, mostly because it is such a big part of my life. I make lots and lots of copies most days. I work in a building filled with books made of, of course, paper. My kids bring home reams of it in the form of assignments and announcements. (I used to save every little scrap, but got more hard hearted as the years went on I am sorry to say.)

Here are a couple of fun paper pictures...

Origami is a popular paper based activity. Here is a lonely little crane.

This is something that we all need. I usually have only a bit. Don't you always feel better with a little foldin' money when you're doing a walkabout?

The father of Saturday Scavenger Shots, Evil-E @ Random Crap tagged me to pick the next word. In honor of the U.S.-centric holiday coming up next week, how about FOOD? Let's see what we can do with FOOD.

The Voices In My Head Told Me To Do This...

Oh, wait! It's just Tara working her brain wave magic! Anyway, it seems like a good day for another all about meme! Because who can ever get enough l.b. info.? No need to answer that...


I present to you, The Shopping Cart Meme

***I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?

1. Produce: Bananas
2. Bakery: Chocolate cake
3. Meat: Boneless chicken breasts
4. Frozen: Breyer's mint chocolate chip ice cream
5. Dry goods: Suave Cucumber Melon Body Lotion
5. Canned Good: Campbell's Soup at Hand (creamy tomato!)

Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?

1. Underwear
2. My black track pants with the white stripe down the side
3. Black t-shirt

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 4 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?

1. "Um"
2. "Let me see..."
3. "It's the last four digits of your home phone"
4. "Soon"

So, what 4 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?

1. Drinking coffee
2. Talking to my kids
3. Reading
4. Listening to music

You’re driving down the road, and suddenly you’re hit with this sense of road rage. What 3 factors probably contributed to it?

1. Someone in front of me who seems lost.
2. Getting rudely cut off.
3. I am feeling late for something and need to chill.

Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 5 activities might we find you doing?

1. Reading
2. Catching up on my tivo'd shows
3. Napping
4. Doing laundry or some mindless tidying task
5. Dancing

We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?

1. Primates
2. Bears
3. Seals

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on t.v. of your choice. You can pick between 4, so what are you deciding between?

1. Saturday Night Live
2. The Daily Show
3. Dancing with the Stars
4. American Idol

You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?

1. Chocolate
2. Chocolate chip
3. Mint chocolate chip

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there?

1. My big brown wallet
2. A zip up folder with all my bills and paperwork inside
3. Chocolate covered Altoids
4. My cellphone
5. Whatever book I am reading

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 4 careers would be fun for you?

1. Writer
2. Artist
3. Musician
4. Librarian

If you could go back and talk to the old you, when you were in high school, and inform yourself of 4 things, what would you say?

1. You and your sister will get along much better once you both grow up.
2. Make an effort to keep in touch with some of your friends here. If you don't you will surely feel some regret about it.
3. Don't make decisions based on a fear of being alone...or any other fear for that matter.
4. Don't grow up too quickly. Enjoy the pleasures of being young and unworldly.

Ahhh, I always enjoy talking and thinking about me, me, me. haha! But don't worry, because my next favorite thing is finding out secret hidden things about other people!

I Forgot to Knock on Wood

I knew in my heart that the quiet and relative peace wouldn't last. It blew up last night with yet another WTG freak out. I decided not to dwell upon that though. Whats the point? I would rather take the advice that Tara found about putting a positive spin on things and living a life of gratitude.
I am thankful for:

-My kids and grandkids, above anything and everything. To be able to share my life with these seven cool, interesting people is such a gift.

-The rest of my family and my friends. Even though I sometimes feel alone in the world, I am not. There are people who care for me and look to me for care as well.

-My job. So many people just tolerate or even hate their jobs. For the most part I love mine. How lucky am I?

-My good health. This one always makes me feel superstitious for some reason...but I can't ignore it. Again, I have been fortunate.

-My life is good enough that I can see what a beautiful world that we live in. If enough terrible things happen to someone, I know the ability to see that would be lost...or the concept would become irrelevant. But me? I live in a beautiful world.

All's Quiet on the Western Front

It was hard to come back to work today after my three days off. However, once I get back into the swing of things, I am good. Luckily, and as you can all tell, I do like my job.
It was an uneventful weekend and I have no complaint about that. I got to sleep in a bit, which I enjoy beyond reason. It was just a particularly mellow three days off. Good for my mental health, but not so good for blogging apparently.
Here is a sweet picture of my son and his daughters...Even the surliest hearts would have to find that sweet, right? Well, Love Bug doesn't look convinced, but she'll come around I'm sure.

Word o' the Week? Work!

I am posting my Saturday Scavenger Shots today, as I have a nice long three day weeknd coming up! Yay! No work for three days...sort of ironic, eh? Given our subject matter and all.
MrManuel kindly provided us with the kickass word work. I went a little crazy getting picture of things that I do when I am at work.
Here is my place of business. It is my workplace!
One of the main things I do at work is to help patrons find the books and other materials that they need.
I also work at keeping the kids at a reasonable level when they are excitedly playing computer games. Homework and research on the computers? Well, I guess it could happen, in theory...
Sometimes I help to manage the teen volunteers. That can be a lot of work!
There are often a couple days per week when I do programs for the kids. That is more like fun than work.
One of the less exciting aspects of my work is attending meetings in the conference room under the watchful eyes of Lucky Baldwin and Hugo Reid.
Finally, sometimes my "work" involves hosting the firefighters when they come for a visit. That is always such a chore, but sometimes we must suffer for our art. :-)
I hope you enjoyed, or at least didn't hate, learning more about my WORK through pictorial documentation. Thank you.

Because I Like to Share the Good Stuff

Here are a couple of fun things for you to look at.

1) This one is making the rounds a bit, you might have already seen it. If you haven't though, you have to see Strap In, Shut Up, and Hold On. We're Going Back. Tres, tres funny, whether you were there or not.

2)I got this link from the American Library Association e-newsletter, American Libraries Direct. I don't know how they came across it, but it is a strangely fascinating blog called Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century.

Sometimes people are just so cool and funny :-) It pleases me.

Seven Strange Things Meme

Hi! I have been tagged by Tara @ Eclectic Spaghetti. I am to list seven strange things that you might not know about me...so, here goes:

1) I rarely lie. Not because of my sterling character, but because I get such a sick feeling after lying that it is rarely worth it.

2) I went to a college in the Cal State system. I was an excellent student, but not all that motivated, so I hadn't applied for any scholarships. The university I chose was close enough that I could live at home. Also, back then, I could pay for it myself, even though I only worked 30 hours per week. Then I walked there uphill in the snow - haha!

3) I love reading. When I am idle, I start to feel pretty uncomfortable if I don't have something in front of me to read. This may be some sort of mild OCD. Still, it seems relatively harmless to me.

4) I was married for a long time. Now, whenever I think about wanting to become more than casually involved with anyone I think of how resentful I felt during a large portion of that marriage and the urge to merge, so to speak, vanishes. This is probably a bad thing, but mostly I feel okay about it.

5) My first job was as a summer camp counselor. I did it the summer before my Senior year of high school. I fell into it because my boyfriend's mom ran it and they always needed cheap teenage labor. I really enjoyed it and loved the kids, but I can't remember actually tending to them all that much...those little things that as a parent you do for your children. I guess it must be true that going away to camp helps kids become more independent...

6) I wear a lot of black, because it is supposed to be slimming. Also, I seem to spill and attract stuff that stains clothes. Black hides a multitude of sins.

7) I am not a vegetarian, but I think that I could give up meat without too much trouble. I am pretty sure I couldn't pull off veganism though. No, I couldn't.

I don't think I even know of seven people to tag! Still, if you want to do the Seven Strange Things Meme on your blog, I hope that you will :-)

This Helps A Little :-)

Here. I finally have a photo to share of my little babies all dressed up for Halloween.Aren't they the cutest pea pod and frog that you have ever, ever seen? Or am I just biased?

I Need to Clear My Mind

My mind feels cluttered with odds and ends and it isn't feeling all that pleasant. Lately I have the sinking sensation that I am doing everything wrong, making one bad choice after another. I feel like I agree to things I shouldn't, ignore things I shouldn't. At this particular point in my life I think I am feeling really...helpless, and that my hands are tied in so many ways. Yet are they really? Or is that just an excuse for my passivity? Don't worry, I am not expecting answers to these questions. I just find that sometimes it helps to write these feelings out for clarity. I will ask one question though...what do you do when you feel that you are at an impasse in your life? How do YOU handle inertia? Okay, that is either two questions or one question asked in slightly different ways...but humor the crazy lady, 'kay?

What's YOUR Sin?

Greed:	Low
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	High
Pride:	Very Low

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

Saturday Scavenger Sin Shots

This turned out to be a tough one for me, even though I was the one who suggested it! It made me stop to think about what I really consider sinful. There are the seven deadly sins, although some seem much worse than others to me. And there is certainly not much that is universally regarded as sin. Anyway, I couldn't decide how to depict sin photographically, because it seems to me like deliberately hurting someone or something may be the biggest sin of all, in my book. Then I thought about how sin might be deliberate ignorance or denying someone knowlege that they are entitled to have. This lead me to remember the banned book display that we put up in the library for Banned Book Week (Sept. 29 - Oct. 6). And I do have a really strong reaction when I hear that people somewhere are trying to have a book banned...it does seem like a sin to me. So, I give you....

THE SIN OF BANNING BOOKS

Mumblety Mumblety Blah

Big sigh...I can't believe it is a whole 'nother month already. Let me get all old on all y'all and say that I do not know where this year has gone. Dang, this decade come to think of it...
Halloweening yesterday was quite fun. I am waiting for Princess Diva to send me some pix of the babies in their costumes. I guess I need either a new phone or maybe just a no frills digital camera. The one on my cell phone, I may have already mentioned, has given up the ghost. I really dislike not being able to take pictures at the spur of the moment. Christmas is coming, maybe someone or a group of someones will be inspired to go in together to get me a little something.
Hopefully by the time I am back online Saturday I will be more inspired...well, at least I will have my Saturday Scavenger Shots to post! Don't forget! The word for the week is sin. Yeargh!