Thirteen
I'm giving this Thursday Thirteen a try because Leanne is making me do it. I'm not normally a 'meme' type of person - that type of stuff requires waaaay too much comittment on my part. Kind of like the same reason I don't get hooked on any TV shows - - if I have to remember to watch it the same time every week? I'm hopeless . . there's no way I can even commit to a TV show much less a Thursday Thirteen! But, here I am - doing it.. making no promises that this is the first of many
I was late picking Chris up from the airport today. I had planned to tell a fib and say I got stuck in traffic - - but as I was answering his phone call (probably trying to figure out where on earth I was) . . I answered the phone just as the Starbuck's lady says "And here is your triple grande lattee, Ma'am - thank you!". Oops - I was SO busted!
Chris came home today after being gone for 3 weeks. Bubba (our kitten) peed on his suitcase. That's what he gets for leaving us alone that long. I was gonna pee on his suitcase - but Bubba had the idea first. Not one to be a follower, I opted not to pee. This time.
I got invited to a suprise birthday party for my brother. It's on Saturday night. He's going to be 40. Black balloons anyone?
I'm seriously considering putting up a notice telling folks that we are booked and aren't taking on any new orders until mid-December. I'm swamped. Buried. Crazy. But loving it, and probably won't put the kabash on new orders because I'm a masochist.
Speaking of work - E.Webscapes underwent Phase One of it's new facelift this week. Phase Two and Three are coming in the upcoming weeks
More work . . I'm considering hiring an assistant. Not sure how to proceed - but it's becoming totally necessary to hire on someone to help me with the processing of orders, answering of emails and handling the day to day things. It's getting pretty hairy, man! More hiring coming up...yes, could very well be! I'm in the consideration phase at the moment.
Yet more work. my Dad called me the other day and told me that the Chaturbate company he's working for wants/needs a website done. He recommended his daughter to handle the work. Awwwww, isn't that sweet??
No more work . . . we got our official 2005-06 season ski passes today!! Snow, please?
We're going to New York for Thanksgiving this year. The get to meet Chris's mom for the first time - and it's during this time that we'll be making some serious wedding plans. I'm hoping to get the invitations out by the end of the year. No later!
My daughter, Melissa, is standing up with me as one of my bride's maids. How uber-traditional is THAT?? My Maid of Honor is Leanne. Oh what to wear?? What to wear??
We ran out of firewood. Last year we ordered two cords of wood. That's a LOT of wood! We ran out today, used the last piece. Time to order more. I'm procratinating because I had that they back into the driveway and dump the wood in a big pile. Then we have to stack it in our wood holder thingy. I guess that's why I have teenagers, eh?
I made it to THIRTEEN. I even did it before midnight - so it's offiicially Thursday's Thirteen. I rock.
Working from home
Since quitting my full time job well over a year ago, I've spent the past year working from home - in my jasminlive studio, on my computer. It's been a year full of graphic design, coding, tech support and other online activities. What do I have to show for it? More freedom, a few more pair of cute PJ's-as-office-attire, some really awesome clients, a nice income and a cramped right hand!
After a few hours at the computer each day - my right hand is killing me! It cramps and gets all achey and stays that way for days and days on end, until I can take a day or two off to give it a rest.
So, I went out today and purchased a new mouse that, hopefully, will cut down on the pain in my right hand. It's really super hard to get used to, though. It has a trackball that I operate with my thumb, so now, instead of having to move the mouse around to move the cursor - I just have to flick the trackball around with my thumb.
Habits are hard to break, though - because I keep moving this thing around and then wondering why the cursor isn't moving! But I'm working on it - - to prove that you can teach this ol' dog new tricks! Hopefully, this will help with the cramping and aching that has become part of my daily life!
Back Home
Ahh.it's nice to get away, but always a good thing to come back home again.
I spent the weekend in Atlanta - flew out Friday and just got home this evening. It was a nice weekend..good to get away for a short time. The Murder Mystery Dinner was fun, too . . it was a fun whodunnit type thing.. we all had to dress up in costume and all - - I was a 1940's-style investigative reporter (I'll have pictures later). That was Saturday night - the rest of the weekend was just pure relaxation and time spent with friends.
Today - was a bit stressful. Chris was supposed to fly home with me - however, when he went on-site to deal with some of his client's issues, they found that they needed him on-site a few days more and he couldn't fly home with me. So Tammy took me to the airport and I flew home by myself (sniff sniff). The flight was delayed a bit - which is no big deal. When I got to the airport in Milwaukee, I had to hunt down the truck (Chris had driven himself to the airport earlier in the week - - on Friday, I got a ride down from my dad so that we didn't have BOTH cars in the $10/day parking garage). I had no idea where he parked it - - and I kept hitting the panic button on the remote thingy - but I was hearing nothing. After about 30 mins of searching, I finally found it.
Only to find the battery completely dead. Apparently, Chris used the radar detector on the way down to the airport on the morning he went - but never turned it off. It was plugged into the lighter (hooked to.the BATTERY!) and it doesn't shut off when you shut the car off. It couldn't be THAT simple, could it? It has it's own on/off switch which he left ON!
So, the battery is dead. I had to call airport maintenance and sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. Until they finally came to give me a jump.
Finally - I was on my way home.
My phone rang. It was my daughter informing me that I needed to pick up milk and coffee (I was out of Espresso Beans!!! THAT is a crisis of monstrous proportions!). So, fine - - I go pick up milk.
Then I pull up to the drive-through at Starbucks to get the beans. I sit there at the little drive up microphone/speaker thingy and wait. "Hello??" And wait. (louder) "HELLO???" And wait. Finally, I pulled up to their window - and no one is there - yet, I know they are open because I see people inside. So, I pull around and pull up to the speaker thingy again. And wait. "Hello??"
The guy finally takes my order. When I pull up to the window he says "Were you just here and drove around?" I say "Yes" - "Sorry," he says "the battery in my headphone thing was dead and I was getting it changed."
What is this? The night for dead batteries everywhere??
I take my beans and finally go home. I started out my day at the airport at noon and finally walked in my door at 9pm - - and it's only an hour and 30 minute flight!
Time for bed for me. Tomorrow is a new day - - and, thankfully, I have milk, coffee and NO flights to catch!
Living and Lost
Well, the flu seems to have vanished and I think I'm going to live to tell about it. Whew! That was close! After taking two full days off work - I'm rockin' through some serious design work - - I think my Photoshop program is actually smoking!
I got an email today. It seems, in August 2006, my 20-year high school reunion is scheduled.
Yea. 20 years. Un-friggin-believable, ain't it?
well, not if you saw my gray hairs hiding beneath the blonde
So, I get this email from my brother. Apparently, my name is on the "Lost List". What is the "Lost List" ? It's the list of people that the reunion coordinators have drawn up with a list of people that they are unable to contact, don't have information for. The people on this "Lost List" have seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.
So, someone who is trying to track me down using my jasminelive account - got a hold of a friend of my brother's, who then got ahold of my brother - who emailed me asking me to update my contact information with the reunion corrdinator folks. They emailed my brother wanting to know if he has a sister named "Lisa" and if so, could he please give them her contact information??
Now, my brother is smarter than that. As if he's going to email them back and say "Yea sure! Here's her address, phone number and email address - have fun!"
Ya know - I've worked too hard in my life to become 'lost' to all that is high school, and most of the people involved with it. I've never attended a reunion - and don't intend on starting now. And yet, here they are - tracking me down like the lost high school geek that I am..or was. Except, I'm not interested in being tracked down. And the ironic thing is, I haven't gone far. Currently, I live about a mile away from the high school that I attended, and my two ren are attending the very same high school that I graduated from. How's that for being a hometown girl?
Hopefully none of these reunion coordinator types ever grew up to become sleuths, eh?
Welcome to the new digs!
After over a year of serious blogging, I decided that I needed some breathing room (thanks Dreamhost). A big long address on Angelfire wasn't as geeky as having my very own domain name (thanks Dotster) and I wanted to find out what all the fun was about with Blogger. After observing the soap opera at Pyra, I'm wondering what I got myself into.
Let me know what you think of the new design. Mucho thanks go to Mike for his comments, tips, suggestions, and for finding the proud eagle adorning the top of the page.
My portal is lousy, but it's my next project. A new feature you might like is the guestbook (thanks Dreambook). It needs someone to christen it.
Just because it's a new look at a new domain powered by some spiffy software, TAM will still provide links and commentary I hope will provoke thought, entertain, and enlighten. If none of that happens when you come here, then just look at that really handsome eagle.