In Which I Have Completely Lost Track of Time and Also An Update and Also You Get To See A Teensy Bit Of My Not So Pretty Crazy.

As usual I post and then disappear. Partly due to some week long technical difficulties, partly because the bringing yall (saving an explanation of this spelling for a later post) up to date involves things I'd rather move on from but if you don't get a little background regarding the last 3 years then it's probably a wee bit confusing. And don't you hate it when you don't know what's going on?? SO irritating, right?

Ok.
Just like pulling off a Band-aid. Fast. Hopefully a minimum of gore. Possibly some incoherent sobbing.

I've been laid off twice in the last couple of years and we are no longer living in the house we owned but renting one a few miles away. No more 300 gallon reef tank. No more ginormous living room, heroically renovated from the bare studs by my husband, with picture window and bamboo flooring. No more dining room with the really, really cool maple and cherry striped floor (also from the sweat and blood of aforementioned husband) and Tuscan walls painted by yours truly. No more deep tub with jets surrounded by white wainscoting and walls that I painted using 3 different shades of blue while Nick Drake's Pink Moon album played on repeat for the entire afternoon. And I think I will miss you most of all, Kitchen.

That is all I will say about that because it's painfully embarrassing. Deeply and utterly and absolutely mortifying. Soooo, I will preemptively thank you for the sympathy because if you're still out there I know for a fact that you are darling, darling people but I can't emphasis enough how much I will not be discussing it further.

Moving ON...

I have dubbed our current abode The Cottage. There are about 500 less square feet but the backyard is much bigger and there is a 2 car garage set back from the house with a little courtyard between. Our bedroom is much nicer as well. Aaand after being here 10 months the living room is half painted and probably 60% of our things are still in boxes.

I erased the rest of that paragraph because I was in tears again but this time FROM THE BOREDOM. Srsly... if I'm boring myself then kudos to you for reading this far.

Um, let's see... Oh yeah, The Spawn is now 18. Also not much to say about that at this time.

Aren't you glad you stopped by today? Am I not just a bright and shiny ball of SPARKLE?

(Insert graceful closing paragraph here)

To you, my darlings: X's, O's and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because I Am Nothing If Not Random

because one can not mention frijoles refritos in one's post without including a picture of a lowrider.

So yeah. Completely out of the blue - HI. Kinda had the idea to ease back into this, maybe? I think? Mostly because tonight I started that Blogging In My Head thing. Those of you who've been doing this for a while now and those of you who did it way back when will know that of which I speak. And it was soooo random and silly. But then that's what you were used to from me, yes?

Here's what was in mah head:
I almost don't dare to say it out loud, but I'm on a slight weight loss kick as of late. The Spawn is has joined her school's newly formed swim team and because they don't have a pool they have to have practices at the Y, and then only 2 days a week for about an hour and a half. (Ok, why is it every time I say that I hear Inigo Montoya say "a leetle less than haf an hour" in my head?)GET TO THE POINT, I hear you say... We joined the Y and I swam for 5 days straight and oh the joy of being back in the water. Of course after a couple of laps I'm wheezing like a smoker with emphysema taking a drag through her trach hole, but FIVE DAYS IN A ROW. And boy howdy am I caps locking it up tonight! Well, my darlings, that is not all, no siree. ALSO, I have had no caffeine for 5 days and, here's the kicker, no simple carbohydrates. ::GASP:: I know, right? Hi, my name is Teri. I'm addicted to carbs. But none has passed mine lips! Uuuuntil tonight... at which time I had a bean and cheese quesadilla. (For those of us who grew up close to a border with Mexico know that cheese quesadilla is redundant... but I digress...) So, THAT brought me to this, as a SoCal girl born and raised there are 3 things that my cupboard is rarely bare of: tortillas, frijoles refritos and cheese oh-so-glorious cheese.

Ya know, it sounded totally more entertaining in my head earlier.

So yeah. Hi.

O's, X's and !'s

MWAH.

Ch-ch-changes (Or It's A Long And Winding Road)

Yeah...making a couple of changes to this here sadly neglected place. And if you know me at all, you know that is a classic sign of my Chronic Procrastination. Sure it's one of the things on my War And Peace length To Do List but let's be honest it ain't anywhere near to the top. So of course I wandered in and started futzing.

Maybe it's just me, but do you ever feel there is so much to say that you're exhausted just thinking about it? (Translation: There is so much I was going to say relating to the title that I'm now exhausted with the thinking part and have very little will to write left.) It sorta tangles up inside my head - a Twister game of thought, if you will, and collapses in a heap of arms and legs and slightly nonsensical metaphors.

So, the changes part... that would be the look of my Blahg. AND (try to control the hysterical laughter this might provoke) I have declared March the month of Spring Cleaning in the M. household.

I heard the giggling. No please. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Yup... giving myself 31 days to purge, organize and scrub this place until it becomes the haven it should be. So I can read and write and make with the art and not feel guilty because I'm living in a less glamorous version of Grey Gardens. (Um, yeah, that's a slight exaggeration on my part. As far as you know. ::cough::)

Alrighty. I guess that's it for now.
(Oh no, that was in no way an awkward ending. Nope. Not. At. All.)

**Ed. Note: dateline, next morning - changed it back for now. I changed one of my changes and now I can't change it back. And I'm annoyed. **

**Ed. Note, amended: Yeah... it's gonna get a little crazy around here today. This is really, really irritating me.**

XOXO!!

The Quarterly Blogger

Now you don't have to stare at the sad eyes anymore.


The quarterly blogging seems to be my norm.

I'm feeling like this will be a classic Teri-stream-of-conciousness, Jackson Pollack-esqe splatter of words and random thoughts punctuated with apologizes and verbal self-flagellation (that should bring some rather interesting traffic) sort of entry. Maybe I'll skip the last part because, really, how very tiresome. I've mentioned the whole "so overwhelmed I'm paralyzed" issue ad nauseum. Let's just assume that it is still the prevailing manifestation of my particular brand of neurosis.

On the work front I now have proof that I have been busier than the oft mentioned one-legged man. You are reading the rambling post of the San Diego branch Employee of the Year and...wait for it... CORPORATE Employee of the Year.
Seriously.
I'm not kidding.
I've got the pretty etched glass to prove it.
My company rocks.
Of course, if you know me at all, you realize that this doesn't lay to rest any fears I have that I'm not doing quite enough. Oh wait, we weren't going to go there. Anywho, thanks to my fabulous company and my gorgeous boss. Who, by the by, gave me a MAN for Christmas.

I think I'll just let that one hang out there for a moment.

Hee! Ok, ok... she hired me help! I am thrilled to pieces! So far he's the bee's knees and I don't see that changing. Of course it's taken a month to get the poor guy through training because I'm constantly having to stop and do 4 other things at the same time. I sometimes wonder if maybe my time management skills aren't what they should be. Frankly, I'm not a very good judge of me. Whatevs. Moving along.

In other news, The Spawn made it to 14 with only a little pain and mental anguish on the part of her mother.

::patented smooth segue::

I've just found out that my 20 year high school reunion is July 12th. That's 5 months and 10 days, people. Hello swimming pool at 24 Hour Fitness and truck loads of lightly steamed vegtables. Except for the blubber induced panic this discovery engendered, I'm rather excited. While I wasn't cool enough to be truly popular in high school, I had many friends and I'll be happy to see them again. That is, I will be happy as long as I don't resemble someone in a painting by Botero.

Ooo, betcha didn't expect an art lesson thrown in, didja?

::deep sigh:: I become weary... I shan't leave you with probable empty promises, but merely a tiny bit of hope that my sorry self will someday get her act together.

OOXX!!

From The Trenches - A Thrilling Account. Ha. I Crack Me Up.

Actually from the warehouse. Thusly, this will be my first post since the very beginning that is sans photo accompaniment. And it's going to be short because A) I'm at work and B) my fingers are frozen. All of me is frrrrozzzzzen. We're getting polished concrete on the first floor, where my office will be, so until that's done I can't set my office up and we can't get to the stairs until which every layer they are doing to day is dry.

Did I mention that I'm frrrrreeeezzzzzzing?

Obviously I haven't gotten back into the Swing Of Blahging, but I'm trying. I spent most of the weekend out and about with my SIL and catching up on Men in Trees. So no blog reading either. Sawwy! Also we've only got one vehicle right now. Not that I'm going to whine about it, because duh things could be a thousand times worse, but good grief, it ain't easy for a two job household with a ::sob::teenager::sob:: to have one car! In the spirit of sharing, the story is this: due to a problem that apparently VW knew about, my car needs a new engine. You can imagine that it's something that isn't in our current budget. So we wait for help from VW/the dealer from which we have purchased 3 vehicles, now. I'm thinking it's time for one or both of them to step up to the plate. I'll keep you updated.

Ech... I can't get to the restroom right now either! Grrrr! My teeth are floating. (Don't you just love free association blogging?)

Ok, I'm going to sign off because my frost bitten fingers are making more typos than not.

Hugs, etc...

Clean Slate And All That

Once again, greetings and salutations and much thanks for the sticking by me. SO... First point of business, because I've been A Very VERY Bad Blogger and also A Very Bad Email Friend and let my Yahoo email get completely (HEE! I remembered some HTML!) out of control to the point that it haunted me and I avoided it because apparently I am immature and a champion avoider (just ask Visa and Mastercard and, by the way, who ever said money can't buy happiness never glimpsed the 9th Level of Hell that is my financial situation) AND SO, I humbly beg for an almost clean email/comment slate. I have/will read every single comment left since the ::gulp:: beginning of December BUT if you would grant me a mulligan, I shall mostly not comment back. Just know that I Internet Love You and even though the majority of you don't know me in so-called RL, I am totally touched by your concern and encouragement and all that mushy stuff. PLUS, I am determined to go through my Bloglines and read all of your entries that I've missed. Just so you know, my lack of commenting on all y'all's sites means I haven't actually been reading them since the plan was to catch up and then I didn't and it just got worse and OH what a tangled Blogline we weave when once we wait to read. (Yeah, yeah I know... lame.) OK THEN. Clean slate?

Now on to the second point of business. As previously stated, I am now gainfully employed. While, of course it's YAY exciting and Wells Fargo Financial is rather relieved, it's also YIKES scary, I have no idea what I'm doing ::whimper::. Lucky for me my boss is a long-time very good friend and so far everyone at my new company has been very nice. I spent last week training and this week we've started setting up the office. I don't plan on blahging much about the job, since this blog isn't the most anonymous of sites, but you can check out the cool product we manufacture here. (I have to admit I only almost remembered how to link without reminding.)

In much more devastating news, I am now the mother of an actual teenager. Surprisingly the earth did not stop spinning and fire did not rain down from the sky. It might feel like it at times, but I'm told that it's all in my head. I'm also told (by my long-suffering husband who has taken to desperately asking anyone he can find with a 13 year old girl) that the angst, strife and epic conflict that are the key elements to the mother/teenage daughter relationship are all perfectly normal and I am not, in fact, being singled out by some capriciously sadistic demon intent on seeing how far I can be pushed. Happy Birthday, kiddo. Just accept that no matter how old you get you will always be my little girl and that is, despite what you think, a good thing.

Whew. I'm exhausted. I shall end this entry here as I have a little work to do and I am hoping to start getting up to speed with all your blogs/lives.

Hugs, Kisses and Exclamation Points!

(P.S. Should I just give in and sign up for the New Blogger? Feedback requested.)

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Blahger Friend

Wearing the psychological equivalent of a hair shirt? Check. Mentally flogging myself? Check. Getting down on my hands and knees and begging for your forgiveness and your leniency? Check. Check.

Patience with me you must have. Groping my way towards some sort of center am I.

(Haven't checked email, haven't looked at blogs, so don't think the silence is the cold shoulder.)

Hugs and big sloppy kisses to you all.

Hoping You Haven't Given Up On Me

It's sort of been like this:


I'll be back tomorrow. (That's when I'll return emails as well.)

Hugs and kisses to all.

Tales From An Episcopalian Craft Fair

Wow... does it feel like midnight to anyone else? And no fair answering in the affirmative if you are in the Eastern Time Zone. Up at 4:45am tomorrow but then 3 full, glorious days off. (Not so glorious for my bank account, but I will have to work my first Saturday weekend after this and it will even all out.) I am going to apologize ahead of time if I start to ramble unintelligibly or boring, er, ly. In a nutshell, the craft fair was rather small, but the table was only $25 and the proceeds from the table fee and any donations are going towards the church's Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. It was held in what we Southern Baptists call the Fellowship Hall. (I don't know what Episcopalians call it.) One, um, shall we say unfortunate thing was that it smelled like sauerkraut. Now, I have always loved sauerkraut (yes, even as a child), but it's not the most attractive odor. It was made from scratch and rather delicious, still, I'm thinking that maybe it should be kept outside next time. Saturday was pretty dead but thanks to my SIL's foresight we brought things to work on. Sunday was a little busier as parishioners came in after services. We made enough to pay for the table and have a little to split. Plus one very nice lady, and our biggest customer, bought a card I made there with a vintage image (genius here forgot to take a picture) and said that she was going to send it to her granddaughter who has started a linens business and the lovely lady thought that since I offered custom orders her granddaughter might be interested in commissioning some thank you notes to send to clients. Fingers crossed! Jenni made some beautiful hand painted Christmas cards that the same lady snatched up. In fact, they are what lured her to buy. Yay for Jenni!

::cue awkward segue:: The picture above features some of the cards I made for the event. You, as always, can click on it to see it up close and personal. I think I'm getting closer to opening the Esty store. And, thanks to one who shall be recognized later, I even have a name for it. Now I'm going to take the trash cans out to the street and then collapse into my bed.
Sweet dreams my darlings.

Friday morning update: News Flash! I'm A Bonehead! Got to work this morning to discover that what I thought was an "a" after the 6 was actually a "p". Obviously Ms. Attention To Detail here needs to watch her p's and a's. Badumpbump. I'm going back to bed. I will however post a photobooth photo later, because I found one that is supah cool and must be shared.

Wordless Wednesday X

All Crafts! All The Time!

More magnets:


Miscellaneous points of possible general interest:
1. I've made headway in organizing The Mess.
2. I have a job interview at a Barnes & Noble about 10 minutes from my house.
3. I've reserved a table for a crafts fair/All Saints Festival. Good thing I have two weeks.
4. How ridiculously gorgeous is Sarah McLachlan and her voice?
5. I need a Pepcid.
6. Why didn't I read Little Women when I was younger?
7. I have seriously must start going to bed at a reasonable hour. (This sentence was a victim of hit-and-run editing. It should have read: I seriously must start going to bed at a resonable hour. Duh me.)
8. Ok. No more procrastination. I gotta make me some product to sell.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

9. Is it just me or does not having 10 things on this list feel...unbalanced.
10. I always like the little "." after numbers to line up. All my forks and knives and spoons have to go in a certain direction in the drawer, too. And yet I can walk past a dust bunny for days. DAYS.

Oh, I forgot... I'm supposed to tell y'all that The Spawn finally posted something again. You can go and read about how cool a mom I am and how she caught me in a weak moment when I was temporarily insane.