Post Thanksgiving...

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. Josh and Jayme were home from Minnesota and it was great to have them and their pup Zoe. I did the whole cooking thing on Thursday and we gorged (as everyone did). J & J had to do the eating thing FOUR times over. blech! How special can it be by the fourth time in a row?

Zoe and Chloe had a six day rompfest. There was a puppy tumbleweed rolling through my house almost continuously. When they did sleep, it was generally in a fur heap. I have some pictures of them cuddling, post-romp, that I will post soon.

Friday found me in my pjs, on the couch, watching the throngs kill each other over bargains. I learned my lesson LONG ago. Internet shopping is the way to go. Most retailers have web specials that rival the brick and mortar stores...and there's always Cyber-Monday. That's not to say that I won't venture into a store or two this year. It happens - just not on Freaky Friday. I know some women who go in packs, stuffed with turkey from the day before and laced with mimosas from a sunrise breakfast, to shop til they drop. Just shoot me.

For anyone who has not heard...you can send a great care package overseas through the USO. Go to the website to find out how. The mailing date for personally mailing packages has come and gone, but it's not too late. The USO will be taking packages to our lonely troops and you can send one for only $25.

A forgotten memory...

I was on my way home from work last night and an oldie popped onto the radio. I drove along singing to the Air Supply song pouring out of my speakers. The song is one I hadn't heard in years and it brought back a memory that I had completely forgotten.

When I was in high school and college, I worked at the local pool during the summer. There was one cute, innocent, little boy - probably 4th grade who hung around me most of the summer when I was 18. He was pesky. He was full of questions. He trailed me like a puppy. Quite frankly, he drove me a little nuts. There were days that I was short with him and days when I literally hid from the poor kid.

The summer was winding down and he came up to me one day with a package in hand. It was the latest Air Supply album (yeah - I'm older than dirt). I got choked up and told him that I couldn't take such a nice gift. He told me that he had saved all summer to buy it for me - that I had to take it. He told me that he knew I was too old for him, but that he wanted to find a girlfriend just like me someday.

I was eighteen. The moment touched me, but was buried quickly amidst the self-centered whirlwind that that age is. The song on the radio brought it all back.

When I got home, I scrapped through my old stack of albums that I can't part with, even though I haven't had a turntable in years. There is was - a bit dusty - a bit forgotten - the album my young admirer had saved so long for.

I know the odds that he might read this are slim. I tried very hard and can't even remember the boy's name. If, by some strange coincidence, he ever reads this I just wanted to say thank you and I'm sorry. Thank you for your round cheeks and squirmy self who would look up at me with such pure admiration in your eyes. I'm sorry because I had no idea how blessed I was at the time. I hope you remember me fondly.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Special congrats to my baby sister on her engagement!

Which file extension are you?

Yes, I'm a geek. What of it?



Which File Extension are You?

Everybody needs a hero...

Whether it is a parent, a teacher, a servant to society, or the dubious choice of professional athlete, everyone needs a hero. We need to hold someone up as our ideal. We strive to act as they do and dream of living as they do.

We, as human beings, seem to crave the real-life hero to idolize. We know right from wrong. We understand what it is to do a good deed. Yet, we seem to need a personification of what it is we would like to become in our lives.
The people of Aioi have such a hero. Get well, Gutsy.

Who is your hero? Have you hugged your hero today?

Ewww...

Is it me or is it impossible not to rub your eyes after reading this?

Partying at the home...

This is my idea of nursing home.
I worked in a nursing home in a past life and there was a resident there who would have loved this. He was always hanging out at the nurses station thinking it was a bar. He would sidle up and give a big toothless grin as he ordered a beer.
A pub...sure beats the hell out of craft night.

Split personality...

Good Chloe	Evil Chloe

A shift in the universe...

Has there been a shift in the universe? Two weeks ago, I would have said everything was calm and steady in my life and now...everyone I know is in turmoil of some kind.

Work (the most stable thing in my life) is all of a sudden morphing into quicksand. A new leader at the helm has transformed a rock solid, fabulous place to work into a quagmire of doubt and destruction. Basically - he's naughty and he wrecks stuff.
Oh sure...on the surface it still looks as though we are growing and doing well.

Inside those walls, everyone I know is looking for other jobs. People who have been with the company more than a handful of years (a rarity in IT) want to abandon ship.

Very unsettling...