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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

19. Be Glad It's Wordless Because Otherwise I'd Be Whinging On And On And It Would Be A Bore.

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!!

Confessions Of A Blahg Slacker

^See? Wretchedness, I tell you!
You so can not be mad at this sad face, now can you??

Er, yeah, so when I said that I would try to blog every week, what I actually meant to say was every 4 months or so.
::ahem::
I did warn you that I was being lured to the dark side that is Flickr™LOVES YOU and frankly I've been doing a kind of photo blogging over there.

I will shamelessly drag out the old "A picture is worth a thousand words" saw with very little compunction. Don't think I won't.

The fact is I've been as proverbially busy as the proverbial one legged man in a proverbial butt kicking contest at work. <(begin)whine>I'm doing the job of at least four people and the work load has left me...tired...uncreative...a teeny tiny bit apathetic. <(end)/whine> Luckily I have an awesome boss who is aware and I know some time after the first of the year the situation will be rectified. It is what it is, but obviously other things have suffered for it. On top of that, one of my many faults (oh stop, you've missed my little confessions) is if I put something off and feel guilty about it, then I avoid it and then I feel worse and avoid it even more and then it looms and I feel wretched and try not to think about it and become paralyzed in my wretchedness. Lovely, no?

I've been thinking about how I would like to get back into this and back to all y'all and then I picked up this and felt the teensiest of tiniest stirrings of...could it be?...creativity. Maybe if I start slow, don't pressure myself too much but also, I don't know, be a disciplined grown-up for once, I can do this again.

I'll wrap it up for now. No need to belabor the point. Plus I need to comment back to all of you who have been so sweet as to check back every now and then. And I have so much catching up to do.

X's, O's and !!'s

Are you still there, my darlings?

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.