chatter

Yesterday we went to Sheboygan for visit the families and celebrate Read’s 15th birthday. We spent most of the day at Pam’s. Eventually Cindy’s family came over. Read and Jeff (the 15 year olds) raided my music collection. Read is into the Beatles and Jeff into swing (a la Brian Setzer). Pam and Cindy’s families are so close which is what you would expect since they now live next door to each other as opposed to 10 hours away. I felt left out with all of their private jokes. For the most part it was a good time. I think I will leave RAW home the next time. He was complaining that he has nothing in common with the brother-in-laws. Shelby maybe but definitely not Mister IT Tim. Tim’s obnoxious and RAW’s obnoxious just clash. Hollace got bent out of shape when 12 year old Will wanted to see her Pokemon cards. He got them all out of order. Oh geez girl, it was as if he tore them in half! Actually he went in to his room and gave her a bunch of his old cards. And as usual, Hollace had a crying fit at a birthday party. It isn’t a party without one of those. The leg of Madison the kiwi broke off. She is so sure there isn’t anything that can be done. I fixed it today with some hot glue.

I brought my external drive where all my music is housed and when we got home last night, I couldn’t get the drive to power up. Upon further inspection I bent one of the pins in the power supply. The pin finally fell out then I finally got power but now the drive is unrecognizable on my computer. Shit.

I ordered a new one, I just hope I didn’t fry the drive by plugging it in after the pin bent. I keep all of my archives on that drive but I think I am fairly caught up on burning DVDs it is the iTunes music library that is going to be painful.

Today at 11, me and Hollace had to go do a Girl Scout cookie site sale. Normally 11 wouldn’t be a problem but by the 2nd day of a weekend especially after a tiring day on the road, we usually sleep until 10. Last Sunday 10 would be 10 but this Sunday 10 is really 11 now. I set an alarm just in case LOL.

The site sale was alright but 2 hours seemed to go on forever. We were at Walgreens toting our wares. All the girls when they seen Hollace shouted out “Hi Kiwi Girl!”. Hollace cooed as a kiwi. Hollace of course didn’t want to participate but did eventually ask customers if they wanted to buy cookies though not with out enthusiasm. The GS leader’s daughter had enthusiasm and a loud voice for all.

Today I went off to the grocery store and while it was a realitively warm and sunny day, I felt myself go into a funk…blah.

By the time I got home I flipped a switch and was all happy again. I need to remember where that switch is.

Yesterday a house down the street burned down. RAW noticed the smoke and before long a whole fleet of fire trucks were out. RAW called me on the cell phone to report. I told him to get the camera and take some shots.

The house is a total loss in case you couldn’t tell. The people, who moved in in August, were at work. They lost their cat in the house.

Last night Paula called me. She told me that dad let it slip that there is something wrong with mom’s eye. Supposedly you could tell just looking at her. We were just there last weekend and I didn’t notice anything. I just called mom and she has macular degeneration. She went to the doctor and got a shot in her eye. Hopefully that will halt it and maybe heal up the damage already done. I guess this treatment has only been around for one year.

In total mom fashion she called dad and then Paula a “dumbbutt” for telling. Uh mom, you are the dumbbutt for not telling.

Today I went to the poditrist to get my plantars facisitis looked at….finally.

Yep, I got a of couple perfect heel spurs going on which is really damage done. You don’t really get pain or anything from heel spurs it is the fascitis that causes all the grief and my right foot has been bad for nearly a year. The left one cleared up for the most part before moving to the right.

The doctor gave me a lovely boot to sleep in, some strong anti-inflamatories, some shoe inserts and some exercises. I get to go back in two weeks.

Tomorrow is the meeting with Hollace’s teacher and social workers. That should be fun.

Right now RAW is bitching and moaning at the computer in the living room. I really should take that computer away if he can’t handle it.

I don’t know what to write. Not sure why. Hmmm, what to say, what to say.

This week at work has been slow as in no work. I have been taking this time to get up to speed learning Motion. I have just about got through all 18 hours of the online tutorials. I will be following up all the learning with a home project. Six months ago I video taped Hollace performing her kiwi stories. I think I can do something fun them.

I don’t know if you recall me mention that the start of this year had me find 3 time pieces of mine not working. I figure that was an omen. Well, I don’t know if it an omen or not but I am still losing time pieces.

First of all I emailed the place I got my eye ball watch and they told me to send it in and they will fix it. I got it back and it was working but this morning it wasn’t again. Apparently it stopped at 5:50 am. The other watch that just bit it was this cute little finger watch I got from Flax. I got it wet and it stopped. Then it dried and started again. Then it stopped again. Now it is working again but it is a pair to set and I know it will just stop again so forget about it.

Still trying to figure out what this all means 😉

Here is a certainty omen. A tax refund is always aligned to a car repair. Well it was in this case. On Thursday I noticed that my state taxes got deposited (less than week after I submitted them). When I left from work that day, my car which has been a bit growly lately (I liked it, it had character) went beyond the growl to “where the heck is my muffler?”

Took it in that night and my muffler is fine. Actually my muffler was getting a vacation because the pipe right before it rusted away and was gone which meant nothing was reaching the muffler. It is all fixed now but not before it asked for my state refund.

Tomorrow is Hollace’s birthday party. Wish me luck

edited 50 minutes later to add:
My watch is fine. While I was writing an email to the place that fixed it I realized that the stem was out. The stupid thing was just waiting to get set. All is good again with it. And I just reset the little ring watch as well. So now I have lot of time 😉

This week found me falling into the same pitaful funk I had last week only I didn’t have anything stressful at the time.

Actually this week started out with an all day training on communication. I was feeling less stress about that than I was over the animation job I mentioned in my last post.

In this class I found out nothing new. I am a introvert but so seems most of CN. It was basically divided up in 4 quandrants, Extrovert/Thinker, Extrovert/Feeler, Introvert/Feeler (me) and Introvert/Thinker. I had a goodly amount of Introvert/Thinker in me too. My boss had the same score as me as well.

They reassigned the seats by your “color” and I was next to Dan (which I often felt was very similar to me in temperment). On the other side was Jim, the guy who shares the same start day with me. I was a little surprised cause I would figure he was an extrovert. Then there was Tim next to him which was really a surprise, I would call him a Extrovert/Thinker (opposite on the wheel). Later he told me he just filled in the answers with no regard to what they said. That explains things. He said he was cheating the system, yeah right 😉

The class was alright and not too painful. Each of our 4 main team members all fell in each of the quadrants which I found interesting.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I nervously await word on what Rebecca thought of my fretted on animation. She loved it and had only minor changes. Phew.

By the end of the week I started to feel that anxious dread. On Friday however I started singing la-la-la in my head to drown out the self doubt and move past it. It seemed to work. That day I had to put on my creative hat and design something wonderful. I hemmed and hawed and procrastinated but as soon as I finally got started, it started to flow. Whether or not anyone else likes it, I don’t care. Don’t you like the turn around? 😉

It is cold out. Zero degrees when I last looked. I never got out of my bathrobe, hunkering down. Hollace was sick with a sore throat and fever on Thursday and Friday but is fine now. I just made her write a note to Haley in Tennessee and you would of thought I was asking her to poke her eyes out with a fork. Oh the torture.

It was a rough week mentally. At work I finally finished up the two big jobs that kept me busy for the last couple months. On Monday I got to relax. By Tuesday however, Jon passed off a “fun” job. A Flash animation which should of been fun but for some reason I began to get anxious about it.

I couldn’t eat breakfast in the mornings over it. I felt the same way I did after 9-11. My stomach in a knot and no appetite. I can only explain it as chemical, I went out of whack. Now I am not out of the woods yet. I will probably find out on Tuesday that it sucks and that I suck. On Monday I am in training all day which is an anxiety attack in itself. The training is on communication. Jon who went on Friday said it was kind of intersting with only one role playing (what I am most anxious over).

On Thursday I was ready to throw in the towel on what I can cope on. I was stressing over the animation already when one of the big jobs I thought I put to bed was giving me grief and I was just not in the mood to troubleshoot it for Christine again so we had a long period on the phone of silence while she waited for me to say I would figure it out for her again.

Also during that day another bigger issue arose and it had nothing to do with my job.

Apparently RAW ran into the social worker at school. They have concerns with Hollace. They think it might be Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. What!

I knew Hollace could use some help socializing. Especially with me as a her mother I often thought she was doomed in that department. I seen her struggling with the same things I did and still do.

At first I thought they were off base on that theory. Then I did a little research.

“The most distinguishing symptom of AS is a child

Hmmm, I guess I have been too lazy to write. Where have we left off? So far this year we got a new oven which now has spurn the big kitchen remodel. Well that hasn’t happened yet but it need to. This oven is nice and it has bells and whistles. It has 5 burners and it convection. Now we have a big hole to fill where the slide in one was and all our pots and pans are on the counter since now the cabinet they were in was under the stovetop and that now is filled with the new range. Like I said, the kitchen remodel just moved up the priority list.

The computer got fixed, it was the logic board. I should get the reimbursement check from Visa next week. They approved it and said the check is in the mail.

After signing up for the new Brownie troop in November, I promptly forgot about it. Last week I called and took Hollace to her first official meeting. It was the special day when the Brownies got iniated. Hollace was up there with the rest of the girls but had no clue what was going on. The 4 meetings we missed, they all practiced. She survived.

This Thursday I was the volunteer mother. I had to help the girls sew their sit-upons. We are in the middle of Girl Scout cookie selling. The goal is 100 boxes and normally we wouldn’t stress about it but Hollace wants the incentive gift for selling 100 which a Build a Bear bunny. I think we need to sell 7 more before the 29th.

It must be close to that time of the month where I am a bit fretful and paranoid. No real reason why, I just am.

I NEED TO FOCUS! The internet is evil.

I haven’t taken any new photos lately but bought a nice messenger bag to casually carry my camera. I bought a wireless remote with some money Ann sent me for taking pictures of her daughter so I can play with self portraits.

I lost 5 lbs over the holiday. That normally doesn’t happen. RAW lost 10 lbs. Cloudy gained some. Chubby little cat is Glamour Cat of the month at some cat group at Flickr. I got to pick the next 5 nominees.

Cutiepie the beta fish finally died around the time people were ringing in the new year. Hollace has been upset.

Fifteen minutes before the new year, I bumped my cool hologram watch on the wall and it stopped. Fortunately the internet place I got it fixed it. I got it back yesterday. Two other clocks died around the same time which made me wonder what kind omen that was.

Buying Littlest Pet Shops are frustrating. Apparently they are collectables and hard to find and Hollace wants them all for her birthday.

Trying to plan Hollace’s birthday. She has been collecting phone numbers at school. Now someone has to call and get addresses.

I went on an internet spending spree. Got another Elliott Smith album (XO) and love it. There is only one more left to buy.

On News Years Day, I started and finished and crossed off my resolution list, organizing my paperwork. I bought a small file cabinet and filled it up. That felt good.

Oh good night

Well Christmas has come and gone. I never really felt in the spirit this year. My computer has been messed up since the 17th and I have been generally annoyed using this old one. I blame some of my holiday blahs on the fact that I couldn’t get to my iTunes library (on the broke machine) to set my holiday music to shuffle so I never really listened to the music.

Yesterday I finally took the computer into the Apple store to get fixed. The credit card company should reimburse me for the $300 charge to fix it. I felt bad for the lady I was sitting next to and talking to at the Genius bar. The “genius” she got had no clue and no real troubleshooting skills. I wanted to jump behind the counter and help her LOL. I think she had a faulty modem or it could of been the adapter she was using (she still connects on with a 56k). Actually there were a couple things I would of tried to troubleshoot. I didn’t have to worry about how adept my genius was because I knew my problem was beyond them. I just needed them to get it set up to send in. I should get it back in a week.

Christmas was nice. Poor RAW out did himself ad spent more money on my then he intended. Of course he has to keep mentioning it. Not in a mean way but in a disbelief kind of way. He got a Lensbaby 3.0 for my camera. I actually had one on order to buy myself but then he mentioned that he was looking at them I canceled it. He actually got me a version 1 but they have come a long way and it was hard to use. Unfortunately for him the version 3 was also 3xs the cost. It was backordered but ended up coming in time for Christmas. He also got me a nice knife set and 3 laser levels. I had asked for that so he got me three different types to make sure LOL.

I got him the alcoholic theme package. He has been into wine so I got him some wine glasses and opener kit. Then I got him a beer making kit. Of course in the meantime he gets diagnosed pre-diabetic.

Hollace got her iPod (allbeit a reconditioned Mini) and a iFish, lots of Littlest Petshops and a couple of beanie baby kiwi. She pretty much got everything on her list.

The day after Christmas we went to mom and dads. Pam was there as she just passed her kids to her inlaws for the week so I got to hang out with her a bit. Her family was here the weekend before. I had a little surprise birthday party to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Tomorrow Cindy and her family come for a visit.

Last weekend RAW broke the thermostat off of the oven. It looks like a new oven is in our future. Unfortunately replacing it will be more like a major kitchen remodel. I really wasn’t planning on doing that right now but I guess we don’t have a choice unless we expect to bake everything in our toaster oven!

It is Christmas time but I don’t feel it. My computer is sick so I feel a little lost as I try to manage on my 6 year old laptop (ug). The nice thing about the sick computer is that while it was giving me the wonky display problem a month ago, it fixed itself and stayed nice for 2 weeks while I worked on my Christmas card. It was only after I was ready to print them did the display go bad again.

I called Visa and they opened up a claim to pay for the repair but when can I get it done? I want to go up to the Apple store with it now but with the holidays it will probably take longer to fix. After the holidays, all the people who got new Macs or iPods will be clogging up the system.

In the meantime I plug away on the old machine and I feel lifeless as far as my online life goes. It is too much a pain to upload to Flickr. Actually not really, I just don’t feel like it. I still upload my daily photoblog but I am digging into my old reserve images.

I haven’t really been picking up or taking the camera with me lately either. I guess I need a break from all of my obsessions and enjoy the holiday season but I am not in the mood.

Swamped at work lately. I was hoping that after the rush of the end of year billing last Friday (everyone tries to get their project in before that deadline) I could relax but no, I am booked solid until after January 8th.

Today was the holiday thank you lunch for one of the commitees I am on. I sat next to the big boss and had a nice chat. It was a nice lunch even though I wasn’t impressed with the food. I am not really into Italian food. I tried to avoid a tomato based dish so I ordered Chicken Marsala. Blah and now tonight I haven’t been feeling 100%.

Tonight RAW’s cousin Darrell and Deb came by. No one on that side of the family has ever came to visit us all the way over here. Darrell is trying for a new job that is in Kanas but first he had to have a 4 hour psych test in Milwaukee. Deb came with him and with her 9 month old niece’s daughter. It was nice entertaining the little girl during the visit. I never picked up the camera and as you know I usually seek out babies to shoot.

I got to go wrap some gifts now so I am saying good night. Pam and family come out on Saturday. She turns 40 on Christmas so I got to plan a little b’day party for her visit. Today is Sherry’s birthday.

We got Hollace’s school picture back. The poor thing looks miserable. I mean, come on, is getting your picture that bad girl?

The envelope is cracking me up LOL

I got her to agree to have me retake it

See now, was that so bad girly?

While taking that picture I realized that that wall is perfect for taking portraits. Well if it wasn’t yellow maybe it would be better. It was a bitch to get all the yellow out of the skin tones. I supose if I didn’t rely on auto white balance it would help. Anyway, I had this idea on how to turn my living room into a portrait studio without really messing up my living room. I will put up a fancy black curtain rod up and use different curtains for backdrops. My big paper floor lamp is perfect for light as well as the big picture window behind me. I am excited. Lets get started!