Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in friendlytornado's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, June 5th, 2011
4:05 pm	When the Cat has Garlic Breath  So I have been settling in to the new place, finding spots for all my kitchen implements and shoes and etcetera.  The weather has been getting nicer and we are back to enjoying coffee or a glass of wine on the deck.  The cats like the deck too.  It's convenient for brushing them, the fur just flies away.  I planted a garlic bulb last year and it has grown up like gangbusters.  TumTum likes to snack on the leaves, and when he does, he gets garlic breath.   (Comment on this)
Monday, February 21st, 2011
8:59 pm	Makey-Uppey  I had today, President's Day off. So did GK.  So did EK.  As a result, we all hung out together.  First things first, we gave EK a bath and washed her hair.  She had won a set of Magic Instant Dinosaurs (MID) at a birthday party for her mad donkey tail pinning skills, and was excited to grow some dinosaurs in the tub.  The capsules, which look like giant prenatal vitamins for Clydesdales, dissolve, leaving a miniature assortment of dinosaur shaped sponges.  I know, thrilling and fun!  MID for all!  And the best part?  There are about 40 MID in the package, so the fun will last and last and last... Afterwards, we went to my place so I could take care of the cats and shower and help fix some holes in GK's jeans.  When you see him you should tell him how glad you are to not see his knees, because of the incredible patch job his girlfriend did...  Anyway, I actually did the jean repairs first and set up Shrek so EK would have something to do while I hopped in the shower and pulled myself together - mousse, blow dry, makeup - that sort of thing. Did I mention that EK is definitely a girly-girl?  She loves herself some foofy stuff.  She popped herself in the bathroom and wanted to makeup along with me.  I figured why not, and gave her some moisturizer for starters. Then I had a brain wave!  Give the kid her own makeup!  Brilliant!  I gave her an old MAC powder compact, the powder from which is long gone (I hoard my old MAC containers because you can trade a pile of them in for a new lipstick!) and her very own Estee Lauder gift with purchase blush brush.  She was excited - for her very own! I also gave her a small makeup bag to keep her own makeup in.  She was pretty stoked about that.  Actually it was adorable, she ran out to show her daddy her very own makeup, so I thought "hey! this is fun!" and fished out from my surplus bin another, very small makeup brush and this eyeshadow that I bought thinking it would look like something, but it is too light to be seen.  Perfect for a 3 year old!   Presented her with her very own eye makeup by saying "swirl this little brush on here and brush it over your eyes" to which she excitedly dabbed eyeshadow all over her forehead.  Good thing it is the color of NOTHING!  But she was very excited about that, too, and I started getting into it.  What else do I have that wouldn't be crazy inappropriate for a 3 year old?  I know!  Lip gloss!  So I went the next step and gave her a (garishly bright bubble gum) pink lip gloss that I got as a gift and had never touched.  "Here you go, this is your own lip gloss!  Put your finger in here and then rub it on your lips." She followed my instructions up to and including the part about rubbing it on your lips but included along with lips the whole zone around her mouth area.  Now she looked like a clown.  She ran out to show GK and said "Don't I look beautiful?" HA ha ha ha ha! Ah, the joys of makeup.  She was beyond excited - she LOVES having her very own makeup and brushes in her own makeup bag at my place.  And do you know what?   I love her having her own makeup to play with, too. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
9:23 pm	In Review  This weekend is President's Day Weekend (PDW).  That means a 3-day weekend for me - yeah!  EK's preschool is closed, too, and they sent out an email recommending that parents talk with their preschoolers about what is a president, what is our president's name, etc.  GK started to talk to EK about PDW and no school, and does she know what a president is, etc.  She did not.  He told her, and also told her what our president's name is.  She looked from him to me as if trying to figure out if Daddy was serious, there is actually such a thing as "President Barak Obama" and I repeated it and said, yes, he has kind of a fun name to say "Obama, Obama, Obama!" which made her laugh, but still not really get into the whole conversation.   Being the helpful girlfriend that I am, I could see that this approach was not going anywhere, so I chimed in again.  "EK, do you know who lives with President Obama?  Mrs. Obama.  Her name is Michelle, and she wears very pretty dresses!"  That got some interest, so I continued.  "Michelle Obama has great fashion sense, and she and President Obama have two little girls named Malia and Sasha."  EK smiled at that, so I went on "and they have a Portuguese Water Dog named Beau.  That's a kind of dog with very, very curly fur."   "Is the dog a yellow dog?" "No, the Obama's dog has brown curly fur" "Oh" The conversation was brief and I think overall the impression made was that we have a President, sure sure, but the important thing about Obama is that his wife wears pretty dresses and that his daughters have a curly brown (not yellow) dog.  And because we have Presidents we have a day off from school.  You know, the important things. In unrelated news, I hosted a brunch at my place this weekend. I hadn't seen some of my friends in a good while, and I figured what better way to catch up than bring everyone together for mimosas and bacony deliciousness? It was so fun to see everyone, I think I will do another one in a couple months.  Hosting brunches, or just hosting in general is a great excuse to make purchases that you have been putting off - which is what I did.  My little tiny, looks-like-it-was-stolen-from-a-motel-room, maximum capacity 4-cup coffee maker had been leaking and dribbling for a while, and I've been trying to pretend to not notice the brown puddles on my counter.  It has worked out OK for the past couple of months.  I would make a travel-mug amount of coffee every morning and tell myself I actually like the look of a miniature incontinent coffeemaker sitting on a folded towel on the counter.  However, hosting a brunch means you serve coffee, so I took advantage of the fact that I was A) hosting a  brunch and B) hosting it on PDW with its President's Day Sales and C) face facts that the towel on the counter is no solution to a leaky hot mess every morning.  Yeah, I got myself a sweet deal on a brand spankin' new 12 cup coffeemaker at Fred Meyer as I was picking up my brunch supplies.  So far it has worked out great, and all liquids are staying off the countertop, so I would say I'm pretty pleased.   (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
9:02 pm	Disgustingtonville, USA So, both of my cats are old, and they have come up with a new way to keep me on my toes.  It's called "Take turns making her take us to the vet for new mystery problems."  I am not a huge fan of this game, first it was Juan and his massive paw wound which continues to be an ongoing delight.   Next it was Tum Tum's turn, and he developed a sluggish, crying, not eating thing. Off to the vet we went.  Turns out he is a sensitive flower who has fleas.  GREAT!  What followed was flea treatment for both cats and this weekend turned into the Great Fumigation 2011.  Everything got moved, vacuumed, sprayed and/or washed.  I spent the same amount on laundry (coin operated machines in my building) as on the flea spray, which is to say, a lot.  Everything I own is clean.  Every spare blanket, towel, you name it.  It's clean. It's exhausting.  I can't believe that I got it all done. The cats get treated once a month for the next 5 months to make sure they don't get a new infestation, and apparently the spray is supposed to be good through July, so I have that going for me. Just thinking about it makes my skin all itchy, like in grade school when the school nurse would come in to your classroom because someone had lice and she'd check everyone's scalps.   The minute she'd enter our room my previously normal feeling scalp would become irresistibly itchy - oh the power of suggestion!  But I digress - as I was fumigating GK was kind enough to offer to let the (flea treated) cats camp out at the 4314.  So I brought them and their stuff over and we set them up in the guest room, which has a huge sliding glass door - awesome view of the street if you are a cat.  They hunkered down and were quite comfy.  When I came over later, we let them roam more freely and they had a fun time checking out GK's place an snacking on tuna.  It was cute. Today GK and EK came over and we watched movies (that girl loves popcorn!) and did more laundry.  EK "helped" me put things in the machines, scoop soap and stick quarters in the slots.  Every time we went into the laundry room she'd ask me if there were monsters in there.  "No, no monsters would be caught dead in a laundry room." I'd say.  "Monsters are way too lazy to be caught in a laundry room where they might have to do work.  There are just washing machines and people's bikes in here -see?"  So now, I have come up with quite the elaborate concept of monsters - they are incredibly lazy and avoid work, and also you can get a spray that turns them into jellybeans.  Where this stuff comes from, I have no idea, but it seems to work in the moment.   So bottom line, how was my weekend?  It was disgusting and a lot of work and I make up stuff about monsters being lazy. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
9:13 pm	2011! Yes!  So here we are in a fresh new year!  I need a calendar! In other news, had a touch of some kind of bug that made GK way tired on NYE and then me the next day/this morning.  We are both feeling better now, but I still have a swollen gland in my neck.  GK brought me some orange juice and pho - he was out and about in Fremont so he picked up the OJ at PCC.  Apparently the least expensive bottle was 6+ dollars.  For a carton of oj!  That was the "cheap one" - we are still having a good laugh about that. Juan is still be-bandaged and not healing quickly on account of the fact that he is old and sedentary.  The vet techs love him because he is a good boy and doesn't complain or try to wriggle away from them when they re-bandage him.  He's a good cat.  I took him in for a new bandage on New Year's Eve and the tech decorated the purple bandage with a little piece of pink bandage shaped like a martini glass with little green bandage "olives" on the rim.  So, you know, he was swanky and seasonal for the holiday.  That's how we roll. On a whim at Fred Meyer today I bought a new product by scuunchi - the hair product company.  They are two big spiral bobby type pins, and you put your hair up and screw the pins in for a loose looking but snugly held in place bun.  I love them!  New favorite product!  If I were Oprah I'd give them away to my audience and everyone would scream their excited little heads off. That's all I can think to post for now.   (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
7:11 pm	Brrsie Wrrsie!  It's cold in Seattle!  Colder than it usually gets - ever.  And it's November!  I think people here consider below-freezing temps kind of the same as Christmas decorations - undesirable and tacky before Thanksgiving. It has snowed and the city is covered with sleet and commute-incompatible ice and slush.  I did not risk the roads and stayed home from work today - it just did not seem worth the gamble on my car, my health, my peace of mind.  As our CEO says, that is what PTO is for, right? Instead I did laundry and cleaning and started one of my Xmas gift prototypes, which is looking good.  Also spent part of the day with GK and EK, since her school was closed today.  It was too cold to take her outside to play, besides she hates wearing coats (do not even talk about zipping the coat, or a hat, or mittens.)  So we stayed inside and I made her an "E" shaped pancake and we watched Cars and so forth.  When she started her puppy kisses game (trying to lick me on the face) I had no choice but to fight back with my icy fingers - aka "cold water crab attack"  - and tickle her belly.  Good times. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
7:10 pm	Civic Duty  So this week was my first stint of jury duty.  Wouldn't you know, I ended up getting selected (!) for a jury and the trial is now over so it doesn't matter how much I run my mouth off about it.  Which is a relief, because being highly secretive is not always my strongest suit. So let me just start by saying the justice building in downtown Seattle is a delight.  It is lovely and airy with windows and light.  The jury "holding room" has large windows and coffee and free wi-fi so it was very comfortable to wait there.  And I did a good amount of waiting in there, with my Barbara Walters memoir, which I have finally finished (she is a fascinating lady, and writes in her conversational style.  Having watched 20/20 for years, it was not hard to hear her voice reading aloud inside my head.)   Delight number two, the justice building is a block away from GK's work, so we were able to meet for lunch - a rare treat!  So that was fun, to see him in the middle of the day. I ended up getting selected for a jury on a trial of a guy accused of shooting a gun in the city of Seattle, which is not illegal per se, but it is illegal to knowingly shoot a gun when doing so may have a likelihood of harming a person, domestic animal or property.  You don't have to harm any of those things, it just has to be reasonably likely.   So we hear a bunch of witnesses, and before, during and after all our jury breaks and lunchtimes we're reminded to not discuss these things until deliberations.  So we get sent back to our little jury room for the breaks, where there's coffee and a phone and a bathroom.  The minute we get in there the old man juror (OMJ) starts chitchatting with no one in particular, just all of us in general about the case and his impressions and what he would like to hear, and what he wonders about what we just heard.  We all ignore him to varying degrees.  At one point I indicated that we weren't supposed to be chatting about this yet.  He responded, surprised "well then, why do you think we're in here?" To which, fortunately, another one of the guys says "we are in here to use the bathroom and have a break."  News to OMJ.   Well whatever, there were so many witnesses that we didn't get released for deliberations till the very end of the day yesterday, which all but guaranteed we would have to come back.  OMJ starts talking about shooting his guns in his yard 50 years ago, 20 years ago, and how "they" are trying to take away our rights to do so, or so it seems to him.  Clearly he is not focusing on the task at hand, which is simply to see if the four points of the law the judge has given us have been proven to be violated, or if they have not.  Easy peasy, right?   Sigh.  OMJ decided that this was about his firing of his gun in his yard 20 years ago, and he repeatedly said he did not think we should send a man to prison for that.  Suffice it to say, we had to come back the next day.  We came back the next morning and OMJ was all ready to chat.  He wanted to talk about his impression of every single person in the courtroom the previous day.  Each of the lawyers.  Each of the witnesses.  What kind of person they seemed like.  What he would have liked for them to say.  He was the only person who was not ready to go, having thought things over in their head and slept on it, or whatever.  He went on for quite some time, and I was not having it.  I could tell the other jurors were being varying degrees of polite - from just hearing OMJ's long-winded self out to visibly rolling their eyes at the other jurors.  Finally when OMJ mentioned again that he was not ready to send a man to prison I had had enough.  "AGH!" I interrupted, loudly.  "WE ARE NOT SENDING A MAN TO PRISON!  Nothing has been said about prison!  We are not deciding a punishment!  We are here to see if these four points have been satisfied or not!"  I went on to say that I recognized that I was now the hostile juror, and I realized that, but we are here to do this job and that I thought OMJ was taking this and making it about his shooting his guns in his yard and not about the defendant and the situation at hand, and I felt quite passionately about that.  The juror across the table from me laughed when I said that and said "We can tell." We went rounds and rounds and rounds over the same thing.  When finally, we convinced OMJ by asking if he personally would shoot a gun in the place and time and situation where the gun shot allegedly occurred and he said "Well of course not!" and finally, he saw the light. I have never been so glad to have finished my civic duty!   (Comment on this)
Monday, November 8th, 2010
8:18 pm	Baking Bender It's fall now, solidly darker and chillier and leaves turning colors and dropping off the trees.  That means I have been beset by the urge to churn out baked goods.  Tonight was apple cake with EK.  Yesterday was my first attempt at Finnish Biscuit.  There will be more attempts - this one turned out well - better than I expected.  However, I plan to tinker with the recipe until I get it more like my Finnish great-grandmother's.  She, of course, did not speak English and did not write the recipe down ever because she knew it in her head and never measured the ingredients.  Ah well!  That just means more attempts for me.  Also, I did not knead the dough for the entire length of time called for by the recipe -45 min.  45 MINUTES! That is a lot of minutes to be kneading away.   I didn't have the stamina or patience for that, so I cut the kneading time.   I cut it by 40 minutes.  Everything worked out fine so I'm going to go with my new Americanized amount of kneading time.  (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 26th, 2010
2:18 am	OK, so...  I have started a class - a writing class.  I'm glad I did and wish I had done so sooner.  There is a girl in my class who gushes about everything, her ideas, other people's ideas.  She's a gusher.  I think it tends to make me apt to be more quiet than I'd normally be.  It's a reaction, I don't want to be like the gusher, even though there's not much fear of me becoming her - she's writing about her boat - sailboat no less - and I have a boat phobia.  So there you go. Another lady in my class is a typical northwesterner in every way, she even wears polar fleece!  It's crazy funny - the entire stereotype she seems to embrace like a comfortable second skin, but she seems nice enough in the typical NW friendly but not get too close to people kind of way.  There's a lady with an accent too, she is writing about her family via a relationship she had that didn't work out. I am curious about how that comes together.   The other lady is an older Irish lady who seems very unsure.  When I arrived at the first class (in the teacher's house) I stayed in my car to check my phone and turn down the volume and listen to the song on the radio until it was done because I was early and I like that song.  Saw the Irish lady pacing up and down the sidewalk, and she didn't approach the house until I got out of my car and started walking up to the door.  She said she wasn't sure about going in.  She got to the door before me but hesitated, just stood there unsure of herself so I reached around her and rapped my knuckles on the door.  Rap rap!  She looked at me like I have balls of brass but really, I mean the teacher gave us the time and the address so all we were doing was show up.  Of course she answered the door, and of course she let us in and I don't understand why anyone would be afraid to go into a class that they had arranged and paid for - especially someone who, as I later learned, won a case before the Supreme Court.  And here I am the bold and ballsy one for going up to the door of a class and knocking to be let in at the appointed time.  Go figure.   There is one boy in our class.  I say boy because although he is probably technically a man he seems like a whippersnapper and has long eyelashes and a very earnest way about him.  Makes him seem very youthful.  His story about his dad going off to war made me cry. There I sat, crying real tears in the first class and nothing to be done about it.  And then I go and read my bit about my relationship with my mother an how ridiculous it all is.  Because that relationship is a ridiculous one, and I don't just mean my particular mother and me.  I mean mothers and daughters the world over - so alike and so different - it's a relationship rooted in ridiculousness and ripe for the storytelling.  Everyone else in my class is soooooooo serious!  "this boat represents the freedom and empowerment of women (even though I got it to meet guys)" and "when my dad went off to war" and "I battled the courts in America and Canada even though I'm Irish" and then there I am "you know, the way your mom made you stand in the kitchen while you chewed your fruit stripe gum, then when you spit it out (directly into the trash can!  Do not touch it with your hands!) you could go play?  What? No?  That was not a universal mom thing?  Just mine?"  I am glad, though.  Relationships can be serious enough, I don't need to go there and be that person.  I need to insert a bit of levity (and might I add I am quite good at that.) (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
4:43 pm	Sweethearts  Today EK and I were having lunch at Snooze Junction with GK.  We went to the bathroom (we always go to the bathroom) and on the way, she overheard some guy say "...blah blah honey."  As she is peeing on the toilet she asks me why that man said honey.  We then had a nice little conversation about men who say "honey" and who they call their honey (girls they like.)  We then talked about her daddy and who he calls his honeys (her, me because he likes us and we are girls.) When we got back to the table and I told GK about our "honey" conversation in the bathroom she got VERY shy and coy.  It was adorable.  We then went to Starbucks and she had a fruit cup.  On the way home my honey bought me a cool necklace.  It has a whale on it.  Fruit cups and whale necklaces. It doesn't matter if you're too shy to admit it, good things happen when you've got a honey. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
9:02 pm	Complaint  I have been feeling a general malaise lately.  I thought my life would look and feel different by this point.  I was wrong.  It's not terribly bad.  In fact, I have a lot going for me and have a lot to be thankful for.  It's just not the picture I was expecting, and it's exhausting to think about. Also, I am bored. While I could start any number of projects to amuse and entertain myself right now, I would rather just sit back, relax and complain a bit.   I am feeling the lack of energy and motivation to change anything.  It is wearing me out.   (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
8:34 pm	This Time Last Year  Oh things!  They stay so much the same and yet change so much in a year!   Tonight my dear GK reminded me that at this time last year, I was "freaking out" about my trip to Italy in July, (but then I calmed down after making myself a spreadsheet.)  My trip plans for this July will also require a spreadsheet (I am still myself, after all) but this spreadsheet will be so much easier as I have visited my family before and understand what to expect from Milwaukee in the summer.  Also, this trip is much shorter, which will be reflected in the spreadsheet, for sure. The other day I was emailing with a friend who is on a break this June - I was on a break last June.  What is it about romantic breaks in June? Is it a Seattle requirement? I thought June was like the state of Virginia - for lovers?  Apparently this is not so, at least not in Seattle. About this time last year I was training for the first ever Seattle Rock & Roll half marathon.  I am training this year too, but  for the second annual Seattle Rock & Roll half marathon this time around. And finally, my favorite one.  This time last year I started leaving bobby pins lying around at GK's house.  I am still leaving bobby pins lying around at GK's house.   Sometimes it's nice to know where you can find your bobby pins.  It's nice when things can be consistent from one year to the next. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
8:54 pm	Love and Life, Loving Life I haven't posted on livejournal for a while - consider it the perfect storm of inconvenience - my laptop's wireless connection is out, all social networking web sites are blocked at work, etc.  I'm blogging from my boyfriend's computer as he watches the Celts spank the Lakers.   In short, I haven't quit blogging - it's just really inconvenient right now, so until I get some stuff fixed and stuff, I'm going to be sporadic with the posting.  I am still loving life. In fact, new apt is great, settling in has been fun, and I will see my sister tomorrow!  (Comment on this)
Monday, April 26th, 2010
10:06 pm	Movin' and a-Groovin' I have started carting my things to my new place - tonight GK met me there and brought EK.  She wanted to see "Carmen's new house" - it was very cute.  I got to brag on my dishwasher and so forth.  EK helped me unpack my refrigerator magnets and nail polish.  She asked about the kitties, and my bed, and other stuff, and I told her it was coming later.  It should not have been surprising, then, that 10 minutes later she did not want to leave because she wanted to wait for the kitties to get there.   After some explaining that the kitties were coming another day she was cool with leaving. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
5:42 pm	Bollydillas Tonight I am enjoying a new creation for dinner - it is easy and super tasty Indain/Mexican fusion.  Ooo, fusion! So fancy!  I had leftover sauce from some Indian takeout earlier this week - the red and green sauces you get with samosas - yum!  Love that stuff, but am not really much of a plain-condiment-eater. I wanted something fantastically easy tonight - enter the thoughts of quesadillas.   Instead of spicy sauce, I used the samosa sauce - made one red and one green.  And no, I do not have a quesadilla maker.  (Side note, the thought of needing an extra appliance to make these is beyond ridiculous, isn't it?  How hard is it to put a tortilla in a pan?) So, they turned out exotically delicious, and I have been eating them and dipping them in the extra sauce - so tasty!   Bollydillas - my new fave! (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 16th, 2010
7:23 pm	Yes. Office supplies. Again. I know. Ah yes, another post about office supplies.  I find that I do love me some office supplies, yes indeedy! This week I began transitioning from my relatively new job as a part-time receptionist at a fish sales office to a full-time sales assistant in the shrimp division.  Yes, that was fast.  In learning some of my new duties I realized that if I want to be efficient and organized at this job, especially considering the amount of space I will have (which is not large) I will need some office supplies to help me along.  How convenient, then, that I, the receptionist and therefore designated office-supply-purchaser was scheduled to place an order with Office Depot this week! I ordered a stand-up file holder/divider, a new  post-it note pop-up dispenser (because I plan to take the one on my desk with me) and a flappy-slappy sorter.  You know the kind - they are pre-printed with the alphabet, and also days of the week, months of the year and days of the month so you can quickly sort things without spreading them all out.   I love it.  I was told on my first day - that not so long ago first day last month - that the office had two of them, somewhere.   Loving the flappy-slappy sorters as I do, I looked.  I looked high, low and in between, but to no avail.  As the new job requires sorting even more than the old job,  I felt it only right that I get myself one.  Just think of the easy sorting, not to mention the small space in which I could accomplish it!  Oh the sorting! Because I am still technically "new" at my now old job, I forwarded the order on for review before placing as I had been asked.  Can you believe that I  got flack?  I did - got flack about ordering yet another flappy-slappy when there had to be a couple of them laying around.  I explained that I had looked, could not find them.  I had looked here and there, everywhere, in a  box, in my socks, in a house, with a mouse, etc, but they were nowhere to be found.  Oh well then in that case, okay, go ahead and order it.  Even though it is expensive.  So I did. Would you know that when I went to bed that night I dreamed about flappy-slappy sorters?  I dreamed I was at work and kept finding them.   I found them here, I found them there, I think I found them everywhere! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
10:42 pm	Sorts, Out of I am out of sorts tonight.  It's bound to happen every so often, and I'm trying to chill out and let it pass enough for me to get to sleep. So, you may be thinking, what's up?  What's got you so out of sorts, my friend? It is not a big deal, but you know that sometimes you have an exchange with someone - not even an argument - not even heated - but it leaves you feeling completely shut out in the cold and petty and misunderstood, and mad about being misunderstood.  Pretty soon you're angry that apparently you are a very petty person, or your best attempt to put your feelings across does not work and it comes out all pettiness and off-the-cuff lame examples.  Then you, mid-exchange-going-very-wrong realize what it is you really want.  You express "this is what I want" but because of the unfortunate turn your conversation has already taken, it won't come across, and you won't get what you want. Instead of getting what you want, you get frustrated.  Your feelings are hurt.  You wonder why this person with whom conversations are normally so easy can not, or will not try harder to understand what you are saying.  You wonder if you really are a horribly petty person.  You wonder if what you want is wrong, or somehow out of line.    It's not a big issue, it's a little one.  But now, through bumbling and maybe some poor word choices you have come across as petty and confusing, which do not engender any compassion for your petty, confusing feelings.  Sadly, that is exactly what your feelings need to end this whole mess. That's what my feelings need right now, anyway. So thus, I am out of sorts.  Trying to get back into sorts so I can get some sleep. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
4:59 pm	I Don't Really Know What Has Possessed Me For some reason, this year, 2010, I am very excited to make a lamb cake for Easter.  Has something special and lamb-ey happened?  No.  Have I made a lamb cake before?  No. Do I have a lamb pan?  No. Not yet, anyway.  I just ordered my lamb cake pan online.  I am so excited - LAMB CAKE! Just to be clear, this is a pan shaped like a lamb, in which you make a cake.  You do not make a cake made from actual lamb. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
6:03 pm	So, New Job! How's It Going? I started my new job this week.  Monday, so that was yesterday, and today was Tuesday, so in all I've worked there for 2 part-time days.  I have a lot of great friends and family rooting for me and am very thankful for that - however - everyone wants to know how it's going, and it is barely there!  I feel like I don't have enough information to give a good answer to that question, so here are some tidbits about my job. 1) Location - it is very easy to get to, there is free parking, and I've worked in this area long enough to know where I can get lunch if I want to go out. 2) People - the peeople at this company are all really friendly and nice and I like them.  I don't know many of their names yet, so that is a project.  Seeing as I am responsible for answering phones and knowing who is in/out at any given time, this is a challenging area that will get better once I know which faces match with which names on my phone extension list.  But right now, it is just frustrating.  Today was better than yesterday - which was new person information overload and stressful.  I learn quickly, so this should not be a problem. 3) Stuff - getting settled in takes time.  I had to go through the desk and weed through what is helpful for me and what is not.  I am not a rubber finger-tip kind of person, so I know off the bat these will go.  The whole box of them goes!  All the 3 years of every office depot catalog that has come in are now in a box for recycling.  Ditto the post-it notes crammed EVERYWHERE that had the former receptionist's name written over and over and over in swirly cursive writing with little heart balloons on the side.  I asked the woman who trained me today if the former receptionist was engaged or recently married because her name-notes were everywhere and it was ridiculous.  No, apparently not - she was single and doing the online dating thing.  So that is how I found out there is someone out there more in love with their name than I am.  I ordered a stapler today, and a pair of scissors and pens.  After mailing out invoices I think I will be ordering a bone folder too, just to protect me from potential paper cuts.  Plus, I like me a nice, neat crease. 4) Space -There were a bazillion random post-it notes taped up on the (wooden) cubicle walls of my space.  I have been weeding through and putting the info in a binder, not willy-nilly (and off-kilter) all over the walls.  Like goes with like.  It feels more organized already, and I'm only halfway done (which by Mary Poppins standards is "well begun") so that is nice.  I put up a couple of pictures today too, which made me feel more at home and less lonesome.  5) Work - I feel like a remedial moron because EVERYTHING I do is new, so I need help with EVERYTHING, where to find it, how to do it, who to give it to when I'm finished, what my mistakes are, what the special circumstances are.  I am sure this will be better once I learn what I'm supposed to be doing and how to do it.  Right now it is all just me trying my best to remember, ask pertinent questions and pay attention. So all in all, a good couple of first days but still very much to be figured out, settled into and put together.   That is how it's going. (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
10:04 am	Succumbing It is a Theraflu kind of day.  The cold, which had up till this morning, been characterized by productive couging (ugh) has now moved to the congestion phase.  While this phase is no more pleasant than the last phase, I am pleased that the cold is progressing and not lingering.  To me, this is a good sign - a sign that the cold is on its way out the door.  I think taking it easy yesterday helped, so I will do some more of the same today and kick this cold to the curb.  In other news, I went to Safeway yesterday and bought McIntosh apples - my favorite!  Tart and sweet - so delightful!  They don't carry this variety at Fred Meyer (where I usually shop) so they are my occasional "I was at Safeway anyway" treat. (Comment on this)