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.)

It's Still The 28th Here.

A little peace offering. Yeah, I know you can only stare longingly at it. Trust me, best cupcake evah. I, however, did not make it. I've had some struggles with buttercream frosting. Just ask my long suffering father-in-law. ( Sorry Pops! Rest assured, I think I've found a better recipe, but I promise to practice it before I make you another birthday cake.)

This is going to be pretty short, since it's already past my bedtime. We are having gloriously cool weather here which means that I should sleep well. On the flip-side, it also means that it will be harder to get out of bed!

I haven't been doing anything particularly productive with my time away. I did read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere in one day. Good grief can that man write. (Note: I put the B&N link instead of my usual Amazon link because, well, ya know... working there and all...) My bestest friend from high school, Mandy, came over for dinner with her two gorgeous children. (If you click on the link you'll see about the cuteness. I mean, hello beautiful people!) Then we went to the Zoo. The World Famous one. Unfortunately the petting zoo was closed for remodeling. Don't you think that maybe they should mention that somewhere before you start telling the kids how fun it's going to be?? We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at my grandfather's place. And I can tell I'm starting to ramble....

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and I would also like to say thank you for sticking in there during my unscheduled absence. (Did I say that already?) Tomorrow? Wordless Wednesday makes it's triumphant return.

It's Wednesday, Do You Know Where My Wordlessness Is?

Well my darlings, my Best Beloveds (as one of the most fantabulous writers on the face of the planet would say), I have woefully neglected you. I haven't even looked at my Bloglines since last week, which means I have read none of you and am soooo far behind on what is going on in all y'alls' lives. This sad state of affairs will continue on through Sunday, after which I promise to do my best to catch up.
My excuses are twofold. I am a working member of society again. So far mostly only 5 hour days, but starting at 6am is kickin' my gluteous maximus. AND I am preparing for this craft fair thing this weekend. Thanks to all the students working for B&N, it looks as if I will be spared from working weekends. YAY.
As I am a wee bit sleepy, I'm going to cut this short. In honor of All Hallow's Eve yesterday I give you Fidget and Jynx:


Hugs and kisses to all.

Photobooth Friday Eleven

(say it with me: click on pic to see larger size)

Whew, the pictures I've been posting lately have been ginormous. This one is so small because if I posted the next bigger size it would do that pushing down of all my sidebar info thing. This is my last vintage offering for Photobooth Friday, at least for the present. Who knows, maybe I'll win the lottery and go on an eBay© vintage photo buying spree. What? You have to play the lottery to win the lottery? Meh. Anywho, ain't she purty? I love the fan and parasol. Guess we've got a bit of a Chinoiserie theme going there. The one with friend is funny. "Ok girls, look natural!"

In other news, starting Sunday night I'm going to have to go to bed at a reasonable hour, as my new job at Barnes & Noble starts Monday. For now I go in at 6am. Fun stuff. At first I will be stocking shelves and possibly cashiering (is that a word?), but since I'm a good 10 to 15 years older than most of the other employees, with a zillion years worth of customer service experience, I'm hoping to be on the fast track to something less 6am-ish. And hey, it'll pay some bills and be in one of my personal heavens on earth - a bookstore.

And in the tradition of my usual procrastinative (it's possible I made that word up) habits, I'm nowhere near ready for the craft fair weekend after this. Luckily for me my SIL will be helping me.

Ok, then... a wave of exhaustion just hit me and since I need to be alert enough to do Rise and Shine battle with Le Tween (my new name for her) bright and early, I shall take my leave.

If you read this early, make sure to check back later for other Photobooth Friday links. They usually have much better stories than I.

PBF Peeps:
hula seventy
Woof Nanny
JesC