Goodbye Intel

Well -

I'm no longer an Intel employee. I have worked there for 12 years of my life. I've actually worked there my entire adult life - and started working there straight out of college. Actually, I started working there before I got out of school as an Co-op at Intel, and then went back to school and then went back to Intel.

We've had our ups and downs. The last few years we've been in a slump - Intel and I. Intel has been all processes and security, lots of lay offs and very little fun. I've been wanting more flexibility and making choices because they are right and not necessarily because they follow the process.

But, Intel has booted me and all of my co-workers out. Intel has said it doesn't need a NOR memory business any more and instead of shutting us down completely - it has made it possible for us to start up our own company. I am now a part of Numonyx. However, I still sit in the same building and I'm still doing exactly the same job. I'm just now making money for a different company. Our colors are now orange instead of blue.

The color thing is sort of hard for me - my elementary school colors were royal blue, my high school colors were blue and silver, I went to KU and the colors were blue and red (GO JAYHAWKS!!!! FINAL FOUR BABY!!!!) Intel's colors are royal blue. I grew up in Kansas City with the Royal's and their color is Royal blue. The Rocklin kids soccer teams are all royal blue. So, I've always been associated with the color blue. I'm not totally sure that I can just switch my lifelong blue association to orange. Orange? Who chooses Orange? I guess we wanted to be associated with Cingular or something.

Anyway, today marks the first day of our new company. It's exciting, and a little bittersweet.

Feeling Creative

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I'm feeling SO creative this weekend. Prissy's baton coach drew out a costume that she thought would be cute on Prissy for her marching and presentation. I was pretty sure I could make it (and made a test one from my test fabric.) Yesterday, we went to JoAnns and Prissy found a fabric that she absolutely loves.

I modified the pattern and put the costume together yesterday and today while I was at Walmart, I found this really long fringe. I've seen some other costumes with fringe like this and I wasn't sure what we could use as a skirt for the costume. So, I bought it and decided to see if it would look cute. It seemed like it would be ok. So, this afternoon, I put the two straps on the costume and put some elastic on the fringe and sewed it on - I was surprisingly nervous doing this. But, it came out really really cute. It's absolutely not perfect - but, I'm really proud of it. I hope it passes!

Anyway, here is the front and the back:





I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. I freaking altered a pattern and sewed a costume from a drawn PICTURE!!!! The board president/team seamstress can do that sort of stuff in her sleep. But this is the first time that I'VE done it. I'm a ROCKSTAR!!!! ROCKSTAR I TELL YOU!!!

However, I bet you $100 the coach will hate the fabric and fringe and want me to do something else. And then I will quietly cry in my wine glass.

Customer Support

Oh Crap Man -

My dad got a new laptop. He had it sent to us so we could install his speech software and get wireless working - get all the mail and other things setup and ready for him to use. My mom was going to take it back with her when she comes out next month.

We got the laptop yesterday and the display is all hosed up. Hubby is a graphics device driver developer - so, he did several tests on the system and determined it wasn't software (because it was screwed up even before the OS starts up.) And he determined it wasn't the graphics card because when we plug in an external monitor it is absolutely beautiful - so we know that the LCD panel on the laptop is hosed. It's also a bit weird in booting and just isn't "right."

• I sent an email to customer service last night, and then got on a chat with them.
• The chat guy agreed that the LCD is hosed and gave me a phone number.
• I called the phone number today and I was connected to another technician.
• I went through the same thing as I did with the chat guy - and he wanted to send someone out to fix the LCD panel. NO - I want a computer that works. My dad paid for a computer that works and shouldn't get one that has to be fixed before it's even been used once.
• He says ok, gives me a number and then connects me with customer service again.
• I have to go through the entire thing again with the next guy and the next guy tells me that they will send a technician out to the house to fix it. Once again - I say NO, I want a computer that works and that I'd like to exchange it for one that functions. He tells me that he has to connect me to the returns and exchange desk and gives me their phone number - which happens to be the phone number that I called originally.\
• The returns person comes on and the number I was given is not valid (even though it worked for the previous guy.) So, I had to go through the entire shpeel AGAIN! She tells me they can send out a guy to fix the LCD and I say no - again. Being put on hold about 5 times during the call with this last person. Then, she comes back with a bribe and says that they will fix the LCD in 2 days, but I'll have to wait for 2 weeks to get another system (although, we got the system in 5 days from order, so I don't really understand why it will take two weeks to get another one just like it, but whatever.) My mom isn't coming for a month, so 2 weeks is fine. I stick to my guns and say I want a new system. It's brand new - it should work. Is that too much to ask for?
• She had to put me on hold for another 10 minutes to get authorization and finally got it approved.
• This evening, I finally get a response from my email I sent and they want me to take the computer apart myself (but it will void the warantee) to fix the LCD connection. I think maybe NO.

I was on the call for almost an hour - and that was after the 45 minute chat session last night.

Man, I hate customer service.. If it doesn't work - they should just take the fucker back and give me one that does work. Period. Is it really that difficult?

Physical Therapy

I've been going to Physical Therapy for a few weeks now. It's so not fun. I absolutely hate it. Today my physical terrorist therapist decided to take it up a notch. I was doing exercises called "Spazzes" and the "Monster Walk" as well as just the regular leg lifts, balance exercises, bridges, ball, bicycle and leg extentions. To end the session - they hooked me up to electrodes on my knee. HOLY FUCK PEOPLE!!!! He wasn't kidding when he said he was going to kick it up a notch.

I couldn't go to Taekwondo this evening - which is a bummer, and my knee has been seriously hurting me all day. I'm not getting any better and it's really pissing me off. I don't want to take a 3-4 month break from Taekwondo. I don't want to have surgery and I CERTAINLY don't want to be on crutches. Bleh... BLEH I SAY!!!!

I'm not so happy with my stupid knee right now... I'm not used to not having some sort of control over my OWN BODY!!! JUST HEAL DAMNIT!!!! I almost started crying in therapy today - not because it hurt (which it did), but because I know it's not working. ARGGHHHH!!!!!

Yer Face

I have a confession - I'm a I Can Has Cheezburger addict. I think Karla May turned me on to them a year or so back. The comment section is all sorts of weird, but I love the pictures and the captions. This was one today:



There is at least one a day that makes me laugh. Anyway, I thought that I would give you a peek into what brings me joy during my work day. :D

Don't Be Shy

I've had this song stuck in my head all freaking day long. I like it, but enough is enough. Reflects my mood today... Is it a continuation of my whatever post yesterday? Probably.. Little bit more melancholy mixed in today.




Don't Be Shy by Cat Stevens:
Don't be shy
just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear
or nobody will know you're there

Just lift your head,
and let your feelings out instead
And don't be shy,
just let your feeling roll on by
On by, on by ...

You know love
is better than a song
Love is where
all of us belong

So don't be shy
just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear
or nobody will know you're there
You're there, You're there, You're there...

Don't be shy
just let your feelings roll on by
Don't wear fear
or nobody will know you're there

Just lift your head,
and let your feelings out instead
And don't be shy,
just let your feeling roll on by
On by, on by, on by, on by,

Whatever

Totally non-descriptive blog title. But, it's completely the way I feel today. Whatever. Oh, you want to take another week of vacation - whatever. Oh, you want to make my hair really dark - sure, whatever. Oh, I can't make a decision anymore that I usually totally make - whatever...

It's actually quite freeing.

Whatever.

I will no longer be an Intel employee after this weekend... Whatever...

I'll be a part of a new company - and I'm a bit sad, but.....

Whatever....

Cutsey Pictures

Yeah, it's lame. I'm doing it. I'm just posting some cutsey pictures of the kids and the cat. I went back to work today and I think I enjoy being home so much more.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

OMG? REALLY - how freaking cute is this? The cat is totally sleeping under the blanket cuddling with Bubba.


I mean honestly? Cutsey? HELL YES!



THEN?? THEN!!! Bubba falls asleep and the kitty is cuddling with HIM!! OMG!!! Call Cute Overload! (Although, I'm not sure what he is doing to her butt...)


Dudes. This is where our pool is going. I'll continue to take this picture. I know our backyard is tiny. And it's really muddy. And we can't really use this space. So, a pool will ROCK MY WORLD!!!!



Holy crap! MORE KIDS AND CATS PICTURES??!!! Yup. This one was taken early in the morning. Even though Prissy seems to have unusually large hands in this picture, it's still so cute. Look at the kitty's paw pads. AWWWW!!!! (Notice the upside down pillow - it was a sweet gift from my sister, it says: "I smile because your my sister. I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it." That pretty much sums up our relationship, and my entire family actually.)


And here is a few Easter Egg Hunt pictures. OMG! A Monkey Easter Egg Basket!!! DYING OF CUTSEY-NESS!!!!



"Son... Is that a Monkey (Panty) on your head?" (Does anyone out there get that reference? PLEASE?!!! PLEASE!!! HOLY SHIT!!! PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT OLD AND OBSOLETE!!!!)


It's the "Look at Me!!!! I'm So CUTESY" shot...



Ok, that's enough, even I've had enough. :D

Easter Egg Hunt

This is my 101st post on this particular blog. Yay, I suppose.

Today we went to the Annual Rocklin California Easter Egg Hunt. It's put on by the firemen of the city and they dye thousands and thousands of eggs. The hunt always starts at 1pm on Easter Sunday at a city park. It ends about 1:02pm on Easter Sunday. Man, these kids just decimate the area. These are real eggs, boiled and dyed and a few of them are marked and if a kid is lucky enough to get a marked egg, they take it to a table and get a prize. Sometimes it's a gigantic basket, sometimes it's a nickel and sometimes it's just a toy. Here is the entire egg hunt with Bubba - listen to the parents yelling at their kids (FAR OUT THERE IN THE FIELD!). I don't talk until the words, "Wow Buddy, you got a whole basket full." (OMG, he has a monkey easter basket - it's just the cutest fucking thing in the entire world.) The entire video is less than 2 minutes. Prissy was at a different field for older kids, so I didn't get video of her hunt. Bubba ended up getting a Black-evil Spiderman which he was NOT excited about (ungrateful little bastard) but he played with it for almost an hour.

Kee-Yup!

So, we moved to the "leadership" classes in Taekwondo. This means we now train with those about to get their black belts and those that have their black belts and are working towards the next degree. It's fun, but holy crap it's hard. I'm once again the bottom of the class.

If all goes well (and I don't have to get knee surgery) I should have my black belt in about a year. Bubba should have his black belt in August. It's pretty exciting actually.

We have started to work with swords. Can I tell you what a bad-ass I feel like drawing my fucking sword? There is a move where we chop someone's head off - fucking chopping their heads off!!!! Of course the swords are not real metal, and you would just simply bruise someone's neck - but it's still pretty cool.

Cindy - THE BADASS NINJA MINI-VAN SOCCER MOM! (dudes, I should totally change my description to that.)

Softball Mom?

So Prissy - is really really good at softball. I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm her mom. The girl is really good. Her stats are far above all of her other teammates (Hubby takes the scorekeeping sheet and enters the entire team into excel - he knows the stats of everyone on her team). She pitches and then plays different positions.

I'm not the type of mom to yell at her daughter like certain other softball mom's. "Choke up!" "Watch the ball damnit!" "Can't you catch ANYTHING!!????" "Stop picking flowers and pay attention!" Ok, that last one is me, but at Bubba's games not Prissy's.

I'm so proud of her. In her last game she struck out every single batter that she faced. I should mention that she is in the eight and under fast pitch softball league. These are girls that just simply don't throw strikes. So, to strike out everyone is amazing.

She was struggling a little with hitting at the beginning of the season, now she's just a powerhouse.

Prissy is a natural athlete.

I will say it again, because I honestly cannot believe that this 'being' came from my body. Prissy is a natural athlete. I absolutely was not. Not even close. I still am not. The closest I have come to doing anything well physically is in Taekwondo. And that's only because there aren't any other white middle aged women at my level in my studio to actually compare against.

I have a pride that is a bit unnatural. I try not to gloat, and I always tell the parents around me how good their kids are doing - when we all know that Prissy was the star of the game. It's just so freaking cool. (similar to baton tournaments when Prissy is bringing in all the trophies for indivudal events and her teammates are not.)

On the flip side - Bubba is small. He's always the smallest boy on his team. He's not terribly athletic. And isn't really great at any sport. He also has this super athletic sister that he adores and fights with, and competes fiercely against. I'm the mom at his games watching all the super athletic boys run circles around Bubba. He's awesome in Taekwondo (hmmmm, sound familiar?) but he doesn't love it. When I was little, I didn't really know that I sucked - so I'm hoping that it is similar with him.

Regardless, if I can pass on other things to him - I am good at many other non-atlethic things and I'm hoping we can find those things for him. It's just so hard when Prissy pitches a shutout and scores when she bats and we celebrate that. But, Bubba is struck out every time he's at bat and we tell him he did great and had awesome swings. But at some point, he's got to know that everyone on his team has hit the ball and he hasn't. It's just so freaking awkward. I feel bad. I feel like I shouldn't be celebrating Prissy's athletic achievements because Bubba can't match them (but we still do). I can't compare them. So, we celebrate Prissy's shutout and we celebrate Max not being scared of the pitching machine. And we go buy Icees for everyone.

'Cause you know - sugar is the answer to everything.

Getting a Pool

DUUUDES!!!!

We're getting a pool!!!! We were going to move to be closer to work and to get a pool but it's just not the right time. In order to get what we would want (or something comparable to this place) it would cost us an arm and a leg. So we decided to stay here and just get a pool instead. I'm so excited. We just signed the contract today. Most places take 3-6 months to finish up a pool, but this place says they can do it in a month (we'll see - right?) So far, they have been awesome. (if they do a fantastic wonderful job - I'll totally be a reference for them. However, if they screw it up, I will bitch about it, but I won't slander the company on my blog. :))

I can't wait. I.can't.wait... Peeing my pants excited... Yippee!!!!!

Anyway, it's going to be a 400 sq. ft. pool that has rock coping (it's gorgeous), tahoe blue plaster (it's a darker blue pool instead of white) with tile, a waterfall and all. YEEHAW!!!! I'll put pictures up as we get them. Which reminds me, I really need to take pictures of the backyard as it is now. HOW EXCITING!

Spring Break Hell?

My kids are at each other's throats. They've been together for only a few days, but they are bickering like fighting lions:

I've just about had it. I threatened them that I would beat them with a shoe today. Don't go there you say? I did... I told them I'd beat them with a shoe (to the children who haven't ever been spanked.)

We went to see Spiderwick today - I was so afraid that my 6 (almost 7) year old would be totally freaked out and would want to leave (he won't don 3D glasses in 3D movies because it's too scary.) But he was totally cool. He covered his eyes in one part (but so did I.) All in all, it was a pretty good movie - better than The Bee Movie.

We were so busy today - running to the vet for our two cats yearly checkups (healthy kitties - the kitten is a bit overweight. The 14 year old is fine.) Then we did the dry cleaners, then the movie and a trip to the park to run the kids and get some of their assholeness spunk out of their systems. Then we went to have Prissy's softball pictures taken (which I'm so glad was this week - because she always has baton on Wednesday's.) For whatever reason, we are the only ones on Spring Break - everyone else has Spring Break next week.

Anyway, I have seriously considered sending the kids to school tomorrow. But, I won't. I'm not that mean. But I am making them go to bed early tonight. I'm so tired of hearing them FIGHT...

UPDATE:

My son just came down and was blowing in my face (to be funny) and decided to blow out of his nose and blew snot ALL.OVER.MY.FACE... THEN FUCKING LAUGHED!!!! He was sent to bed. (he did apologize and I hugged him but EEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!)

Leotard

DUDES!

I made a leotard that actually fits completely. I'm so excited!!! I designed this one from scratch. It took me a couple of tries on this particular style, but I finally got it (learning a little on each mess up.)

Here is the front and back of this one.





Yay Me!!! (that was s reference to London Tipton.)

Now, I just have to rhinestone the snot out of it. :D

Yippee!! I'm getting better this one just took me a single night to complete (but it was a FULL night.)

Very Short Post

Today was quite busy - my kids are on spring break and I have taken the week off to be with them. The day started with Physical Therapy. We had a "fun" filled day with a trip to Walmart for groceries and other sundry items, a trip to JoAnns and to Total Wine, then to Safeway to pick up the ham steak that Walmart didn't have.

I got my MRI results back - I do not have a tear in my patellar tendon (yay!) but my knee cap isn't sitting on straight (I had two surgeries for this many years ago because it was so off it kept dislocating.) So, this isn't a huge surprise (not great news however.) But, the MRI showed that medial meniscus is torn. The problem is - the pain isn't where it's supposed to be. So, it's typical me - not typical at all. Anyway, then, we went to Starbucks and then we went to Prissy's baseball game where she pitched super duper awesome (only 4 balls total the rest strikes or hits.) She didn't hit a single ball, but whatever.

Tonight, I totally worked on a leotard (I screwed up the first one I tried to make of this style a few weeks ago - I'm redeeming myself now.) It has been just wonderful. But, now it's late and it's time for a shower and bed.

Video's of the Week

Sometimes I do pictures of the week. This week, I'm doing videos of the week, but it's only based on baton - 'cause it's the only video I took this week. Sorry - it's just the way it is.

Prissy's Solo:



Prissy's Dance Twirl:


This one was Prissy just being weird, so I call it Weird Prissy:


Wow, did you actually watch all three? I didn't think so. If you watched any, I'd suggest watching the last one. It just shows how sparkly Prissy is. Even though it was a long day it was worth it.

(I also just invested in some super awesome stadium chairs - I'm totally looking forward to checking them out tomorrow at Prissy's softball game - the coach told me that she's the starting pitcher tomorrow - should be fun (by that I mean comfortable.))

Sports Day

OMG. I'm so tired. I woke up WAY before the crack of dawn this morning and threw something on myself and then woke up Prissy and bunnified her hair (I put a bun in her hair) - then I put enough make up on her to wonder if she should be seen in public. Then we went to McDonalds for our traditional pre-baton competition breakfast. Then - off to the competition.

Prissy and Bubba also had a softball and baseball game at 5pm, which meant we would have to leave by 3:30 or 4pm to get there in time. NO PROBLEM. These things usually always get over about 3pm or so. From the get go - things were SO SLOOOOOW. I started counting minutes left about 2 hours before we had to leave. She was able to finish her last performance at exactly 4pm. We booked out of there and we got everyone to softball and baseball without a hitch. But there was zero downtime.

Prissy did awesome in the competition. She ended up with 3 first places out of 8 routines, which is just absolutely incredible. And she placed in all events.

Let's see, she got a:

4th in marching (this is usually her strongest event and she just messed this one up - no big deal.)
1st in intermediate presentation (AWESOME!)
4th in advanced presentation (ALSO AWESOME - the age range was really high on this one.)
A 2nd in beginning dance twirl (awesome)
A 3rd in intermediate dance twirl (awesome - and beat the girl that beat her in beginning)
A 1st in beginning solo
A 1st in intermediate solo
A 3rd (I think) in high-intermediate solo.

So, all in all, she did absolutely fantastic. Being sick on Monday I was worried that it would be too much. But she did spectacular.

Bubba had baseball opening ceremonies this morning (Hubby took him) and then he had pictures at noon.

Then, we raced home and got changed into softball clothes and Prissy went to softball with her dad (who is the scorekeeper) and I went to baseball with Bubba. It was his first game in the farm league. The were pretty much slaughtered (but Prissy won her game.) Let me tell you - it was REALLY REALLY cold. I much more enjoy the indoor sports. We all finally got home about 7pm. Man that was a long sports day.

All in all today, I spent 10 hours sitting in bleachers. I'm so weak that my stomach muscles are fucking sore... From holding my body without a back rest for 10 freaking hours. How pathetic is that? My daughter performs excellently and I'm complaining about the freaking bleachers. I just need to find a good stadium chair.

Ok. Tomorrow, we get to sleep in and I'm so excited. So, so so deeply excited.

Allergies and To Dos

Today:

Physical Therapy - Ouch.
Work - Ouch.
Lunch - Yum. Ate at a place called Pei Wei - holy crap is it good.
Work - Ouch. Met with current US boss (not NIB) and I like him.
Left early - Rejoice!
Took son to be the teacher helper at Taekwondo - sat. boring.
My Taekwondo - ouch. Just joined leadership - holy crap is it hard.
Came home - ate.
Prissy and Hubby went to softball opening ceremonies - Yay I didn't have to go!
Bubba and I watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and ate popcorn in the dark. Fun. Unfortunately - my allergies kicked in and almost killed me. I thought my nose was going to run off. Hubby says that I'm allergic to the night.

I didn't get to the bank, to the sewing store (to finish up Jade's costume solo costume), or to the sports store. Oh well.

Tomorrow, Prissy has a baton competition - BUT IT'S LOCAL. And by local - I mean 15 minutes from our house. Never before has it been so close. (local can mean anywhere from an hour to two hours away. Away competitions are 2.5 to 3 hours away.) But, she also has a softball game at 5pm and she's pitching. This girl is going to be exhausted. I hope it rains (which it's supposed to.)

So, I'm semi-prepared for tomorrow. But, prepared enough. (I want to do an entire blog post on enough at some point.) We do have to get up really early.

And then... AND THEN??!!!! I'm "off" all next week for the kids spring break. I'm officially on vacation, but I'll probably still check email and do a bit of catch up work. But, that will just make the week after easier. I also have to go to physical therapy (probably 3 times) - blah... Maybe my MRI results will come back quickly.

That's it.

Man is SHE CRANKY!

Who am I talking about? Me, yes me. I am the cranky one. I slept like hell last night - I had so much to do (and finished maybe 1/100th of it). I would doze off and then jerk awake like this:





OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!!!









©Coriander Fyonna Dezotell.

















Anyway, it didn't lead to very restful sleep. I was totally stressed out all night long (all niiiiight... yeah... all niiiight... All night long!)







Anyway, today started with me totally freaking out on my kids because they balanced their paper plates (wasn't in the mood to be green this morning - sorry..) on top of the trash can and they promptly fell off and got syrup all over the floor. (yes, yes I DO suck - I wasn't green and I gave my kids SYRUP THIS MORNING - WHAT OF IT???!!!! WHY ARE YOU JUDGING ME??!!!) Then, they were just dilly-dallying and not getting their stuff together... UGH! I went a little nuts.

Then, my cell phone starts playing the imperial death march (I won't bore you with another video include - you can follow it if you choose) while I'm dropping the kids off to school. This derge let's me know it's NIB (New Italian Boss) calling. (note - it's 30 minutes before I'm supposed to be at work.) We have a decent conversation about "stuff" that lasts while I drive to work. About 30 minutes later he calls one of my employees (who sits not 7 feet from me) to talk about the same "stuff" we had just discussed and agreed upon. He was following up on me and trying to get a different answer than I gave him. BASTARDO!!!! (that is the extent of my Italian today.)

Well, my PMS and sleepnessless and overworked-ness and overwhelmed-ness and general disgust for my situation came bubbling up and I started yelling at my employee while he was on the phone. Not really AT my guy, but at NIB who he was talking too. Saying, "I JUST TOLD HIM WE ARE HAVING A MEETING ABOUT IT TOMORROW.... WHY IS HE TRYING TO GET A DIFFERENT ANSWER??!!! I GAVE HIM THE DAMN ANSWER." The bad part is that I have a very loud voice - it carries - a long way - especially when I'm raving ranting. It's not bad that NIB heard, it's bad that we work in a cubicle environment and EVERYONE heard. Sort of lost my temper. Anyway... What is he going to do fire me? (He might - but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.) Yesterday he called me while I was dropping off the kids and my cell phone was in the car. He didn't leave a voicemail, but called my employee (same one) and told him to find me. It was again 30 minutes before work and he was still at home. Dude - he could have at least left me a message, I would have gotten right back with him. And need I even mention that he's calling on our personal cell phones? Whatever, it's the price I pay to play.

Bitch bitch bitch, whine whine moan...

Anyway, hubby volunteered to pick up Prissy from softball so I could work on the costumes that I have to finish for Saturday's baton competition (which were given to me last night to finish). They went way faster than I thought - so that is a major thing DONE that I was seriously stressing over. DONE!

I had an MRI yesterday of my knee. I'm hoping to get the results tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm drinking one more glass of wine tonight and then I'm going to bed and hopefully I will be able to sleep until morning (pretty sad that's all I want.)

AAAHHHHH!!!!

ARhg ajfie ginngahg -

raliib?

Holy crap - so overwhelmed. Too. much. shit. to. do. I was going to list it - but it'd be boring, yo. Just trust me - buried to my balls (wait, I don't have balls). No time for blogging tonight. It's 9:04 and I just got home and I have so much personal-life stuff to finish up tonight.

So - lata...

What are we going to do with him?

Last night, about 9pm (30 full minutes after bedtime) we hear a patter patter patter patter from upstairs. The patter distinctly went into our bedroom. I walked upstairs and there was Bubba with a band-aid. He had a big ole bloody-looking sore on his knee. He said he went and got a band-aid from our bathroom. I asked him how he hurt himself and he said he didn't know. I said it looked like he just did it and asked him how it happened:

• Bubba: "I don't know. I looked down and it was just bleeding."
• Me: "Is it a carpet burn, were you scooting across the carpet?"
• Bubba: "I don't know!!"
• Hubby gets near for a closer look. "This isn't blood. This looks like... paint?"
• I go near for a better look too - "It is paint and it's still a little wet. How did you get red paint on your knee?"
• Bubba: "I don't know... It just got there."
• Me: Come on in the bathroom and I'll clean it off. You don't need a band-aid.

We go and clean it off. I asked him again how he got paint on his knee and he said he thought that he might have kneeled in it. We went back to his bedroom and I asked him to show me the paint (afraid it would stain the carpet) before I tucked him BACK into bed. He pulls out his little paint set which looked a bit like this:




And it had the red one popped open with little finger indentations inside.
MY SON PAINTED HIS KNEE RED TO LOOK LIKE BLOOD SO HE COULD GET A BAND-AID. I'm not sure what I feel? Here are my range of emotions:

• OMG - he's totally into blood!!!
• OMG - We withhold band-aids so much that he needs to fake an injury!!!
• OMG - He wants attention and needs to fake an injury!!!
• OMG - He's a total liar!!! THE LITTLE SHIT!!!
• OMG!!! *LAUGH* *LAUGH* *LAUGH* *LAUGH*

With my feelings toward the latter. I should probably be concerned, but I'm not so much. Man, we are going to have to WATCH this one when he becomes a teenager. I have a bad feeling that we may be in for a long long ride.

Sick Kid and Business

So today my 9 year old daughter was sick. She had a fever of 102 and was coughing up a storm this morning. I took her to the doctor who declared her a virus victim and sent us on our way (fucker - he could have at least given us an antibiotic - the child has been coughing for a week now.)

Anyway, I worked from home today. It's a HELL of a lot easier to work from home with Prissy rather than Bubba. She's quiet and just watches TV. It's pretty nice actually. Anyway, I got some work done today, including attending my US bosses staff meeting.

I also got a note from a friend of mine saying she has a client that is looking for an executive coach. PICK ME!!! PICK ME!!! I TOTALLY LOVE COACHING!!!! Anyway, this might be the start of my new business. How cool would that be?

Can I tell you how much easier today would have been if the kids had gone to the local school? I had evil Physical Therapy and didn't get done until 8ish. That meant that hubby couldn't leave until I got home (because Prissy was sick) that meant that Bubba was late for school (didn't get there until 9am cause we live an hour away). It all sort of sucked. If the kids went to school across the school (literally - it's across the street (which is a part) and through the gate) and you're at school. We could have either just sent Bubba or left Prissy by herself for 5 minutes while hubby walked Bubba to school. So, I think this entire local public school thing will just rock!

Only a few more months until they are attending PUBLIC school. But, I'm not going to be able to work with their public school schedules of getting out early every other week and minimum days and super minimum days.

Anyway, another short post for a boring day.

Blog 365

Some of you may know this - while others may not. I signed up for Blog 365 - which means that I blog every single freaking day. Whether I have something interesting to say or not. Because in the year 2008 we have 366 days, we had leap day off, so I did not post last Friday. Regardless, I have not missed a day yet in my Blogging every day for a freaking year.

Today, I have absolutely nothing to say. My knee hurts a lot today. I did my stupid physical therapy exercises. Bubba had a soccer game and he decided to play with the turf instead of actually playing. I've iced and iced and iced my knee and added lots and lots of ice. I've taken advil and went to Walmart to get groceries. We geocached (which was contra-indicated due to knee pain - but WTF?) and I cooked dinner. I've had quite a bit of wine tonight - and my knee still freaking hurts. UGH! I go back to PT tomorrow - and I'm really not wanting to. It just hurt before, now it FUCKING HURTS!!!! It's depressing because I really really really really don't want another knee surgery. This is SO NOT the time. But, I'll give it the 4 weeks required of hell. Sob!!!

That's all I have to say - back to work tomorrow after PT torture. Monday's suck.

Hot Potato Hot Potato!!!

Let's see.... The score today:

Equals
Day = Busy
Car = Oil Changed = It's about freaking time.
Bubba = Taekwondo + Baseball
Prissy = Softball
Me = Taekwondo + Physical Therapy Exercises = Knee not so sore today
Family = Walmart trip for baseball/softball things
Family = Trip to Safeway for Prescriptions = found out for whatever reason Bubba and Prissy have been dropped from Hubby's insurance. DANG IT!

Not Equals
House != Clean
Car != Washed
Website != Done (or even started)
Costume != Done
Prissy != Baton practiced for competition next week

All in all - it was a good day. I'm thrilled to pieces that daylight savings begins (or is that ends?) tomorrow. Not so thrilled about losing an hour of sleep - but I'm so so so so so so so so excited that it will be lighter later.

Kids and I played a lot of catch today - It was a beautiful day here - sunny and 70s - everything in bloom - gorgeous - we're pretty much allergy central around here. ACHOO!!!

No Intranet

I can't connect to the intranet. Only iPhone connects.

Quick update - went to my first physical therapy session this morning
and I think my PT might be the devil. It was fine during the session
itself, but the knee has been on fire the rest of the day. Bleh..

That is all for tonight.

Looking Relaxed?

Three people today told me that I looked relaxed. That seems weird - and especially weird since I felt relaxed. I got to give my career development training to my team today - I always love that. And I'm just feeling relaxed and calm. It probably helps that I slept completely through the night.

Ode to Calmness
I've been stressed out for as long as I can remember.
My coworkers say she's relaxed - just look at her.
I am just quietly excited about changes coming up.
And sometimes I'm as excited as a jumping-peeing little pup.
Regardless - it shows - because I look calm.

Fin.

Whacked

I woke up at 4:30am this morning with a blinding headache - my allergies are killing me with all the bastard blooms on the trees. Anyway, I was wide awake. It has been a tremendously long day - work was crazy busy. I had to leave really early to get Bubba to baseball all the way back in our home town (an hour away), while he was there I had to take Prissy to dinner, then we went back to baseball practice and made Bubba leave and we then had to take Prissy to baton and I had a board meeting all the way back by the school (an hour back) in which Bubba got to eat his dinner and sort of had to entertain himself. He did awesome and was so incredibly good. But, after it was over, we had to drive all the way back home (another hour.) Where we arrived home a few minutes ago at 9pm...

I'm just whacked now... So tired.. Bubba is going to be really cranky tomorrow, Prissy will be ok. Me? I don't know yet.

Why do I do this? I feel guilty about leaving work early... I feel guilty about making Bubba leave baseball early. I feel guily for half-assing my vice president position on the baton board. Thank goodness the president of the board picked up my slack. I just feel overall guilty about it all. Blech...

I could just really use a good night's sleep.

Not a Bad Day

Today was not a bad day. And that is saying something.

However, I did not sleep well -

Ode to Sleeping like Crap
Stupid Sudaphed before bed
Wakes me up and makes me reach for a cup
Wild Dreams abound, leaving me a fleshy mound.
I'm a poet and didn't know it.

Besides not sleeping well, my kids had a dentist appointment and we all got to sleep in a little bit - unfortunately, I was awake (see above prose) so there was no sleeping in for me. BUT, it was a relaxing morning - I had lots of time to get ready. Neither of the kids have any cavites and their teeth are in great shape and they are brushing well. YAY!!! Also, a major, massive, PITA issue that I did not cause but solved brilliantly (but it probably contributed to my sleeplessness) was resolved this morning by my heroic efforts. CINDY TO THE RESCUE!!!! Huge Yays! for me...

Also, and this is super, I actually fit into one of my old pair of pants!!!! I wanted to dress up a little bit today because NIBs boss (that makes him my bosses boss and a vice president of the new company - but he and nib are really tight) flew in from Italy and scheduled a meeting with me today. I was quite nervous. But, the cool part - my pants fit. They haven't fit in a really really really long time. So, my 16 pounds of weight loss? Has actually made a difference! YAY ME!!!

The meeting with the BIG Italian VP (or Big NIB) went ok. Neither awesome nor horrible. Weirdly, I have a dreadful feeling that he wants to fire me after the company starts. But, I think that my US bosses will protect me - I have saved their asses from mistakes of this other company so many times and they know it. And if they don't protect me - I'm not horrified, so whatever... Maybe I can get a good severance package out of it? Shoot - even if I could get 6 months that would be great.

I was also invited to a recognition lunch for my efforts thus far (as well as a few other deserving co-workers). The food was ok, the speaker was terrible, and it was sort of a waste of time, but it was still a nice gesture.

Anyway - it was not a bad day. I was supposed to take Bubba to Taekwondo this evening, but I didn't make it home in time. And _I_ was supposed to have Taekwondo this evening, but my knee was absolutely on fire today (I stupidly wore heels - because I dressed up for Big NIB - shall I write another poem?) and I'm pretty worn out (see the above stanza) - so I just didn't go. I leave you with this - don't hate me because I'm so awesome...

Ode to the Sore Knee
I wear heels to look talk and slim,
then I realize about noon that I am very dim.
While my calves look totally awesome,
My knee is on fire and swells to the size of a giant blossom.
I smile and grin while I'm schmoozing the big wigs
and then wince and limp back to my own digs -
cause they don't really care about calves, it's much more about cleavage - the pigs.

The end.

Knee Saga Continued

So, I posted about my Knee Saga (it's funny, because I titled this post and then I went to look for my older post to link to and it's also named the Knee Saga... Hmmm, go figure.) Anyway, here is the link to my previous entry back in October on my clean and gentle site.

My knee is not getting better. It still hurts and it still swells at night. I can still do Taekwondo, but I can't run well and even long stints of walking or even standing really make it extremely sore. I went to the regular doc a few weeks ago and she said it might not be healing because of my previous surgeries and she referred me to the very excellent UC Sports Medicine doctors. I went today and they took a look at it. It's funny because I wrote about the doctor wanting to check my reflexes on that knee in my previous post - well the doctor today did check my reflexes and I wasn't quite ready for it. I screamed EXTREMELY loud and I had an almost irrestible urge to hit the doctor in the face. ("reflexes are great - she did a knife hand strike to the side of my neck.") I yelled at the doctor and told him "Don't you EVER do that again!" wanting to add Dumb ASS! Then, with all this prodding, pulling and pushing - I was having a hard time telling what hurt and what didn't because it was throbbing like crazy from him HITTING IT WITH A FUCKING HAMMER!

Anyway, they basically said it's messed up, but they aren't sure exactly what is happening. My kneecap is a little out of alignment, I have lots of pain, it's definately the tendon - but they don't know if it's just inflamed or if it's torn. So, I go in for an MRI next week and I start Physical Therapy on Friday morning. I will go to PT twice a week for 6 weeks. Just one more thing to add to the to do list. *sob* (my sob is the more shit to do, and not the fact I have to go to PT.)

But, I'm just really hoping that it will HEAL already! Stupid knee. If I do have to have surgery again, I'd like for it to be before I quit work (in my fantasy world), so I still have good health insurance.

Moving Toward the Light

I see it... Way way way way off in the distance.... It's down there, isn't it? Isn't that a pinpoint of light? I'm almost certain it is. I feel like it's going to get closer and closer and bigger and bigger and soon I will be a part of that light..

I had a glass of wine with a dear friend of mine this evening. This is a woman I met about 5 years ago because our kids were both peanut allergic and our kids were going into kindergarden and we decided what we wanted the school to do about it. I played good cop, she played bad cop.. And we got exactly what we wanted. We ended up living in the same city and we've become really good friends and our kids are all friends and even our hubby's like each other. Her professional life has mirrored mine. We've both moved up in our careers and we both have almost almost managed approximately the same number of people. She lost her job in January. And has gone into consulting and she is just loving life. It was wonderful to see her and wonderful to talk to her and I feel all energized and shit. Damn, if we used each other as part of a network - we would be unstopable.

I'm registering my kids in the local public school tomorrow. Part of me is scared shitless. This is a big huge giant change for us. Is this for real? Is this pinpoint of light really light and just not a figment of my imagination? I'm still so scared to get my hopes up.

Spring has Begun

Can I tell that spring has begun because everything is in bloom? No... Can I tell that it's spring because the kids and hubby are sneezing? Sort of, but no. Can I tell that it's spring because the Easter stuff and the pink and green dresses and suits are in the stores? No again.

It's because life has turned CRA-ZAY-ZEE!!!! Or just fucking chaotic..

Kids are are in softball and baseball and continue to do baton and Taekwondo. Bubba is on the farm baseball team and all of the kids on his team are 7-12 inches taller. They are all better catchers and hitters than hubby and I. These kids are amazing. After Bubba's practice this morning I was absolutely sure he was going to want to quit - but being a child of my DNA he LOVED IT and is more determined than ever to get better and had the best.time.ever. So, that's good.

But, this past week we didn't get home before any decent time. It's been absolutely insane. Well actually I should spell that I.N.S.A.N.E... Because Bubba (and myself and hubby) have shown excellent promise in Taekwondo, we will be moving up to Leadership classes. This is cool! And a little bizarre. But, damn, just more shit to do.

Tomorrow, Bubba has an indoor soccer game early in the morning and baseball practice at 5pm in the afternoon and I have to go grocery shopping at WALMART and I'm meeting my dear dear friend who is making her life as a contractor in this area.

Anyway, I finished another leotard yesterday and hopefully the coach will have Prissy's leo designed so I can start working on it. It should be pretty cool! Saving lots and lots of money. Yay!

The kids public school registrations are due on Monday, so I'm working on getting them all filled out this weekend! I feel so liberated! I'm getting closer and closer to my ultimate goal.