Data Processing

Numbers on the line,

Codes that must be checked

Tap Tap Tappity Tap 

On the keyboard.

What size is that?

How much per unit?

chica ching chi-chi

Calculator tape.

Not the P.O. box

Check that Address

zzzrrrrrm zip zzzrrrrrm

Print out a proof.

Sales numbers

Zip Codes

Freight Charges

Everything in it's place

It must be just so

Perfection is

Desired.

Required.

I haven't had a phone call all week. 

Busy minds are happy minds

Blogging is now reserved for lunch.

Tiny Little Pieces

Tiny Little Pieces
of something in the sky
They sparkle, shine and shimmer
such beauty to the eye.

Brilliant Burning Fire
within the huge abyss,
specks in my night sky.
spots that you might miss.

Giant Shining Twinkles
appear so small to us,
far away in dreamland
they float along, with trust.

Tiny Little Pieces
broken up for you,
fading in the distance
meaningless. It's true?

Brilliant Burning Fire
lights up within my soul
The specks add up to something
small parts make up my whole.

Giant Shining Twinkles
seem different from afar
glistening, yet broken
not quite like a star.

Backyards and Power Outlets

Well we moved into the house this weekend! I'm so excited and so is Frank. The dogs are absolutely loving the backyard. We go almost everything moved. Just food, a few boxes and some clothes left at the apartment. Should be completely moved out by wednesday. Thursday we can sweep/mop/clean the bathroom. Keys don't have to be turned in until Monday! Yesterday we go the truck unloaded, took the furniture upstairs and started getting set up. Everything was great until just before bedtime. Frank decided that he wanted to hook up the TV, which is fine.

Except that when he tried to plug it in, ZAP! The outlet shocked him.

And the power went out.

Cell phone flash lights are so useful.

So he took out his handy dandy computer took kit with a grounded screwdriver. Unscrewed the faceplate for the offensive outlet. As he turned the screw, the power came back on.

ZAP!

Got him again.

Down stairs to the garage. Breaker number 11. Off! No more getting ZAPPED!

Up, up, up the stairs we go!

Off with the faceplate! Where does this wire go? Why is this one just hanging here? The plastic is all burnt up. The box is supposed to be plastic according to the new coding laws.

Frank used to do maintenance at an apartment complex, so he is pretty handy to have around!

I have no idea what is wrong. Frank says that a trip to the local hardware store, 50 bucks(maybe) and an hour will fix it. I had to sleep on the living room floor Monday night, hopefully the trip, money and hour will be spent today so that I can have my bedroom back!

There is another bedroom without a wonky electrical problem and our bathroom connects the two so we have an extention cord running through the bathroom into the empty bedroom. Hopefully Frank can figure out how to fix our power soon!

I messaged Landlord about it. He said "cool." Useless sob.

Other than that the new house is excellent. As soon as I can figure out a way to do it I will post a few pictures!

Bless Your Heart

I found a picture of a Letter-to-the-Editor today on Facebook called "Tweleve reasons why I voted Democratic."

This letter was very obviously written by a conservative and it upset me. So I thought I would re-write the list to be much more truthful. I will give you the original text and then follow up with my response.

1. I voted Democratic because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I now may marry my Labrador.
1. I vote Democratic because I love the fact that I may now marry the person that I love, no matter their gender.

2. I voted Democratic because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obsene but the Government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.
2. I vote Democratic because I believe that we should be taxing oil companies based on the environmental impact of those companies. I also believe that there should be more regulation in the oil industry in order to prevent environmental disasters such as the BP oil spill and the Exxon-Valdez spill.

3. I voted Democratic because I believe the Government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.
3. I vote Democratic because I believe the government should take care of their tired, hungry and poor. I believe that if I earn more than I need to make my family comfortable, the government should take a share of what is left over and use it to help those who are trying to make better lives for themselves in college with federal grants and to take care of our veterans by providing them with healthcare after they are discharged and helping them transition into civilian life.

4. I voted Democratic because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as I agree with what is said & nobody else is offended by it.
4. I vote Democratic because Freedom of Speech is wonderful and I want you to voice your opinion, especially if I disagree with you. The problem that I have is when people's 'opinions' are actually facts that have been disproven. I do not think that you should be able to spout blatant lies to the general public. (Like this list.)

5. I voted Democratic because I'm way to irresponsible to own a gun and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and theifs.
5. I vote Democratic because I own a gun and enjoy practicing shooting it. I also believe that there should be restrictions on who can be allowed to legally own guns such as convicted felons, and people who have been determined by a physician that they are mentally unstable and should not be allowed to own a gun. I also believe that there should be universal background checks, including guns sold privately and at gun shows. I would love if owning a gun required taking part in a gun safety class.

6. I voted Democratic because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in 10 years if I don't start driving a Prius.
6. I vote Democratic because I believe that the climate is changing. There is actual, scientific, historical proof that the climate is changing. We now have the technology to show us the difference between the polar ice caps from the 1970's and the polar ice caps of today. There is a huge difference. I don't believe that everyone should be forced to drive a Prius, Prius' are run on electricity which is generally just a different form of the same oil used to make gasoline. I do, however, believe that the government should regulate fuel efficiency and manage the way we dispose of toxic waste.

7. I voted Democratic because I'm not concerned about millions of babies being aborted so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.
7. I vote Democratic because I am concerned with preventing millions of unwanted pregnancies by providing women with affordable, preventative care so that we can reduce the number of legal (and illegal) abortions. This will also reduce the number of unwanted children born into this world that will be shuffled through the foster care system.
Death row inmates have nothing to do with women's health care. As far as I am concerned, the execution of prisoners should not be taken lightly and should be reserved for the nastiest repeat offenders. There are now cases of prisoners who were executed in the past who have been proven innocent with new technology.

8. I voted Democratic because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education and Social Security benefits, and we should take away the Social Security from[sic] those who paid into it.
8. I vote Democratic because I think illegal immigrants should be given the opportunity to become citizens and pay taxes into the education and Social Security systems. I also believe that it should be more difficult for people to come to this country illegally. I also believe that the current Social Security System is broken and should be reformed.

9. I voted Democratic because I believe that businesses should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the Democrats see fit.
9. I vote Democratic because I believe that businesses should be allowed to make profits and use that profit to give better benefits to their hourly employees and raise the minimum wage of their workers. I believe that the outragous difference in wages for the CEO of a company and the face of the company (hourly workers such as cashiers) should not be so drastic. I understand the CEO making more than the cashier. But when the CEO is making six or seven figures (or more) and their hourly employees are on food stamps to feed their kids, there is a serious problem.

10. I voted Democratic because I believe liberal Judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.
10. I've gotta be honest. This one blew me out of the park. I am so flabergasted that I have no idea what they are referring to here. If you know, please, leave me a comment! I do, however, vote Democratic because I believe that corporations are not people and that the rights of people to universal health care and rights outweigh the rights of a corporation to withhold those rights based on freedom of religion. For a corporation. I'm sorry, I just don't see a corporation as having a religion. Maybe the people who own that corporation, but that doesn't mean that my boss gets to decide that because he is Jewish, I do not get to have a porcine valve replacement that my doctor says I need because pigs are not Kosher.

11. I voted Democratic because I think that it's better to pay billions for their oil to people who hate us but not drill our own because it might upset some endangered beetle, spotted owl, gopher, or fish.[sic]
11. I vote Democratic because I think that our natural resources should be cherished. By natural resources I mean endangered animals and beautiful national parks. I also believe that we should reduce our reliance on forgeign oil while protecting our endagered species. I also believe that we should be investing in renewable resources that may cost more initially but will save polar bears and whales and other endagered animals in the long run.

12. I voted Democratic because my head is so firmly misplaced toward the south end of my body; it's unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.
No trees, Spotted Owls, or Red Cock-headed Woodpeckers were harmed in the sending of this message.
12. I voted Democratic to protect the right of this ass-hat to voice his opinion. Yes, he really said all that. I'm not sure how to respond to this last one except to tell him, in true southern tradition: "Bless your heart."

Jarden and DIY Wings

Yay! Yesterday my first seedlings sprouted! I have one tiny seedling in the Basil jar and one tiny seedling in the Sage jar. How exciting is that?? We spent this weekend working on the new house, the back yard disaster only took about two hours to clean up. We raked up all the leaves and dead plants and cock-a-burr plants. Pulled all of the random junk out of the planting boxes, which are in excellent shape! Potential Landlord (henceforth known as Landlord!) showed me his worm farm and how to make worm tea! The compost bins still have lots of compost in them and there are garbage bags with leaves that have been sitting for about two years that will be a nice addition to the bin. We go the house completely cleaned out of things that he won't be leaving behind. Owl moved in on Saturday. Everything is falling into place!

At my local Karaoke spot we are having a costume party tonight, I'm very excited and have been working on making wings for myself. They are actually very simple to make and usually end up much cooler looking than any cookie cutter wings you will find at the costume shop. I'm reusing the same costume I wore two years ago, I made a skirt and I wore a corset top with wings, BAM instant faerie. So I'm remaking the wings and I bought some super awesome ribbon that I can add to the skirt with little effort and I will have an updated faerie costume for less than 15 dolalrs! (plus 6 wire hangers) If you like the idea, it's really very simple to make wings.

Materials:
1-2 yards of fabric (I use tool, or a variation of tool, mine is light blue and shiney!)
6 wire hangers
Needle and thread
Pliers
Ribbon or elastic
Beads, sequins, etc. (optional)
Pins (optional)

First take the hangers and straighten them out, I just use my hands to do this and leave the crinkles where it was twisted all crinkly.

Next bend one hanger into the shape of a tear-drop. Twist the ends together with your pliers. Repeat this with a second hanger, these will be the lower half of your wings.

Then take two hangers and twist them together, again with pliers. Sometimes if you have trouble with this, you can bend then to a point and do one end at a time. Bend the into the shape of a wing and then twist the other ends together. I always do the first set with the two hangers in a line, so that you can round the tip; but if you want a point on the end you can twist them together the way you did for the first two tear-drop shapes. Bend the wire so that it looks like wings and join the ends together with pliers. Repeat for the opposite side.

Once you have the wings shaped the way that you wish, lay the pieces out on top of the fabric you chose. Cut a rough outline of the wing in the fabric. Now, if you have pins you can pin the fabric in place. This makes the sewing part much easier. It is doable without pins but takes longer.

Thread your needle and decide how you want to stitch the fabric on. I usually roll the excess fabric so that it is flush with the wire and just run a loop stitch all the way around. I've seen wings that have lots of excess fabric hanging off of them that has been shredded, so it just depends on the type of wings you want. I cut my fabric so that there are corners on the tips of the wings, I stitch and roll up to that point, then snip the fabric so that there is a rolled fabric 'spike' sticking out off the edge of the wing, then keep loop stitching around the rest of the wing.

After the fabric is all stitched on, you can attatch the wings together. I always lay the bottom two tear drops the way I want them and then where the wires cross stitch X's so that they will stay together at that point. The fabric will keep them in place. After the two tear drops are together, I add the larger top wings (one at a time), using X's anywhere the wire crosses.

Pick up the wings and make sure they don't fall apart when you hold them.

Get to a mirror and decide how high up on your back you want the wings to sit. Keep in mind where the tops of your shoulders touch the wings. Now this is probably the trickiest part (besides figuring out how to get the hangers to twist around each other and stay!) You need to stitch one end of the ribbon to a place where two pieces of wire meet and you stitched them together with X's. This is the strongest point on the wings, so stitch the ribbon to that junction. Don't cut the ribbon yet.

Pick the wings back up and test the ribbon to make sure it's not going to come undone. Place the wings on your back and loop the ribbon around your shoulder and under your armpit. You should be able to adjust the hieght of the wings based on the length of the ribbon. Cut the ribbon a little bit longer than you think you will need it to be.

Cut a second piece of ribbon the same length as the first piece. Stitch the second piece of ribbon to the wings. Since the wings should be symetrical you should be able to just sew the ribbon onto the wings in the same spot on the other side.

Put the wings back on and use the ribbon to hold them onto your back. Use your fingers as reference points and feel for a good place to attatch the ribon under your arms. This is why we cut the ribbon longer than we thought we needed to. Make sure the ribbon isn't too tight, you may be wearing these wings for several hours at a time.

Try on your wings in the mirror, make sure they fit right and sit at the correst height.

Now is the fun part. If you have extra ribbon, you can cut pieces of ribbon and stitch it to the edges and insides of the wings for decoration. You can use sequins or beads to decorate the wings. I like to get glittery fabric paint and paint veins on the wings before I add any other decoration.

Once you have wings that you like you can add to them and change them up a little every time you brush off the dust and wear them. I remade mine this time with ribbon instead of elastic for the arm bands because the elastic was either too tight or stretched and allowed my wings to sag. I used this for Faerie wings but you can do the same thing for angel or devil wings. Butterfly wings or dragon wings. I used six hangers and had two parts to my wings. You can make smaller wings with fewer or smaller hangers or larger wings with more hangers. Get creative with the wings, no two wings should ever be the same!

Evolution

I changed my mind. After two days of putting words into drafts, I decided to man up and just post them. If they suck, they suck. I am holding myself accountable. I want to do that more often, hold myself accountable for things. Like yoga. I want to form a habit of practicing yoga every day. Last night I did a few poses to help loosen up my back, which has been hurting me. The night before I did one Sun Salutation. Even a few poses is better than saying, "I can't do an hour, so I'll try again tomorrow" Healthy habits. Writing has become a healthy habit too. Mostly I have been spewing words at the computer but I think I may start to have a little direction. I enjoy journaling I suppose, but that is not why I'm here. I want to DO something with this blog and right now, the name fits. It's just tiny little pieces of my life. I want it to evolve. I want more from it. I want to be awesome. You can find my Book-To-Be over at http://typewithoutthinking.blogspot.com/

Look Ma, I'm a Real Girl!

This weekend we went to the new house to help pack. Potential Landlord is a total slob. His kitchen was a disaster and the rest of the house wasn't much better. We ended up throwing out at least 10 large contractor trashbags worth of crap. Plus packing a bunch of boxes. SO MUCH DUST. SO MANY GROSS DISHES. So we spent about 10 hours packing and cleaning... Frank was so much help, he really is wonderful. Biker looks like he is going to be our third roommate, which will be nice, he is handy and helpful. Anytime he sleeps on our couch I wake up to dishes done or trash taken out or something of that nature. Saturday my allergies started acting up, so Sunday I took some medicine. I can't imagine how useless I would have been had I not done that. I dropped my cellular device in a creek Sunday also. Frank jumped in after it but the water was deeper than he is tall (6'5) so we were unable to retrieve it. I spent the rest of the weekend and up until last night without a phone. Momma took me and we picked out a new iPhone 5c. It is blue with a blue case. I'm seriously concidering taking it back and trading for a yellow phone... The case is blue with little holes in it and I think a yellow phone would pop wonderfully :) I kept feeling worse and woke up with a fever yesterday so I was unable to come to work. :( I am back today and much better for it! My Jarden is still not showing any progress. I'm trying very hard to not overwater while still keeping the seeds moist. I think tonight when I get home I may put some plastic wrap over the tops of them so that the water will be trapped. I brought my palm tree indoors for the season this weekend, I think it is getting too cold at night for the likes of my ponytail palm. Let's see... Owl says that the power and utilities are all on now, so cleaning should be much more efficient. Imagine cleaning a house with no power or water :/

This year I am thinking that I will participate in NaNoWriMo. I have my idea for my story and I think that this year I may be able to finally complete a NaNoWriMo challenge. I'm going to shoot for 100,000 words. If I start getting close to that and decide I can do better I will update that number. I will be working on story boards and charactor sheets between now and November 1. For those of you unaware, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and takes place in November every year. The problem I have had in the past has been forgetting to write every day, even just a little bit, and overediting. If November is for writing, then December must be for editing. I think that I will be doing this in the form of blog post drafts. Yall won't be able to see the chapters but I think that this will be a wonderful way to keep track of chapters and not be concerned with editing (since misspelled words don't pop up) and I can access this anywhere in the entire world. If I don't complete my chapter a day goal at work then I will be able to do so at home that evening without worrying about misplaced flash drives or remembered laptops. Yes, I believe this will work nicely. Yall may be seeing chapter posts in a sister blog closer to the new year after I have had a chance to edit!

I feel as though I am becoming a productive member of society. I have a job that would have driven me crazy five years ago that I would have felt had no merit. No reason to be. Now I understand why it is important. I understand that without all the cogs working, an office can fall apart. Not that it will fall apart without me, if I wasn't here they would find someone to replace me and in the mean time, someone else would take over my duties. I want a garden, so that I can grow things like spinich and herbs and squash. I want to bake. I want to keep my dishes out of the sink. I want to vacuum and dust and make sure all my laundry is folded and put away because I don't like wrinkly clothing. When I think about where I want to be in five years, I don't think of what my house will look like or what kind of car I want to drive or what my job will be like, I think that I just want to be happy. Living healthy in a clean home. I want to go Geo-caching. I discovered today that there are three! geocaching locations in the park next door to the new house. I want to come up with some kind of small trinket that I can leave in those places. Maybe something that I can order 100 of for 5 dollars online. A child's birthday party favor. I created my username for Geocaching today, it is Waterbaby8391 :) If I decide to pursue this I will be updating yall about the places I visit!

Can I start NaNoWriMo-ing early? Does that count? I think that I will. I feel motivated today. I don't want to wait. I think that I will try doing things more NOW than waiting until the appropriate time?

"It has to start somewhere, it has to start somehow.
What better place than here, what better time than now?"

It's FRIDAY!!!

WOW! So this is what it feels like to know that when I leave here I have the whole weekend to NOT WORK!! TGIF I can now say that with feeling and hope and excitement! Lovin' it! This week has been hectic. I can't remember what I did Monday after work. Must have cleaned or something. Tuesday I met up with Owl and Potential Landlord. Turns out that there has been a bunch of miscommunication going on. He is moving out of his house this Monday and I am helping him clean up a bit and pack on Saturday. We worked out price and bills and everything and now things are much clearer and I think that this will be a good place for me in the coming months. We will be setting up electricity very soon and learning how to deal with gas/water/trash in a house (not apartment!) I have been watering my Jardin and it appears to be just sitting there. Give it a few weeks and hopefully the seeds will sprout. I need boxes!! Frank has been working trimming trees on the side so we have a little extra expendable income at the moment, which is nice because tomorrow is out anniversary :) only 5 months, but it feels like it has been much longer than that. We are going to a haunted house tonight and I plan on yoga Sunday with Yogi. I need to stop by a fabric store for a few odds and ends for my costume. I'm pulling out my faerie costume from a few years ago. I made a skirt all by myself and learned quite a bit about sewing. I also made some wings out of wire clothes hangers. Much better than the flimsy, lame, expensive ones you can get at party stores. Well it looks like we are cutting out 15 minutes early. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE FRIDAYS!!!?

Hoping, Wishing, Dreaming, Planning

I did end up working out one more time last week at Momma's gym and I did yoga again on Sunday morning. Disc golf again and we went to look at a house. Not to buy, but to rent. With the dogs I would love to have a backyard so we have been searching for a new place when our lease is up. My good friend Owl called me about two weeks ago, her friend had a house that he was trying to rent out. 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, two living areas and a huuuge backyard. We were planning on splitting rent and sharing the place. Frank and I got excited, so we did a drive by. I met the nice neighbor, an older gentleman by the name of John Smith. He showed us the backyard and gave us a history on the house, which was nice. The house itself was relaly cute, but the yard needed to be cleaned up quite a bit "Yeah, Potential Landlord isn't really the outdoorsy type." The grass hadn't been mowed in three years! Mr. Smith was the one to cut the grass back then.

Frank and I decide that we can deal with a little yard work ourselves, awesome! It sounded like a good little house with some awesome potential. However, Owl informed me today that Potential Landlord hadn't paid his mortgage in three months and owed the electric company $2,000. Frank and I are now looking at new places. There are two homes in particular that have grabbed my attention. One is halfway between my job and Frank's school. Three bedrooms, Two baths, big yard but no fence. A few block from the lake so that we can walk down and go fishing if we want. It's a little more expensive than the other house but not having to deal with the horrible landlord will be worth it. The biggest issue that I think we will have is that I have the two dogs and Owl has the two cats. Pet deposits for each of us will be enormous at this new house, if they even allow that many pets. I think Frank and I may have to end up just getting an apartment. No yard. No garden. Having lots of neighbors in close proximity. I'm just not sure that we will be able to find a place for all of us together. Owl pulled up a few places that are pet friendly, but most of them are less than 900 sq ft and having so many critters in the house will make that space super cramped. If we could find a third roommate to chip in on rent, then the houses with pet deposits will be easier to deal with but I have had bad experiences with roommates in the past, I'm actuallya little worried about rooming with Owl, she can be a handful. And so can I. I suppose only time will tell.

This weekend I did some pretty creative stuff! I planted herbs! I have a (bad) habit of holding on to things maybe I shouldn't. Like old speghetti sauce jars and butter tubs. I use the butter tubs as tupperware but the jars I have had no earthly idea what to do with. Until now! I painted them. I took five, I have a few more so I can do this again if I want! I painted them five different colors, sky blue, midnight blue, purple and red and pink. Then I painted yellow around the rims and wrote on them in contrasting colors. I planted Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Chives, and Sage. In the Jars. I wish I could post pictures of them but I can't because I'm on my work computer. I may post pictures over on the facebook though. I watered them and I'm now (im)patiently waiting to see the first little bitty tiny green bits coming up out of the dirt! I'm really excited about my Jarden!

Time Flies

The weather has been amazing the last few days, if only it would stay like this a little longer. I know that it will either heat back up or drop another 15-20 degrees in the next few weeks so I'm trying to enjoy all this amazing weather. Saturday after I got off work Frank and I went out to dinner and recieved a phone call from his old friend Busch and Wife. They wanted to come over, so instead of going home and curling up on the couch with a movie as planned, they came over and brought their son, who is about four years old.

I look at Frank "The house is definitely not 4 year old proofed". He drops me off at home for a quick clean up and he runs to the store for a bottle of wine. When he gets back he asks if his friend Biker and his new girlfriend can come over too. I would like a buffer between me and Busch and Wife so I enthusiastically agree. I may go into why I don't care for Busch or Wife later on if they come up again. We turn the Xbox on and start up the fighting game as Busch and Wife knock. ADD Child wastes no time in throwing a hissy fit about being there. I suppose I don't blame him, it is 9pm and most 4 year olds I know are in bed by now. he stands in the corner for about 45 minutes.

Frank and I play a round of DOA5 and we pass the controller around, winner gets to keep playing. Just as I decide that I've had enough of these people, Biker and his girl are at the door. I introduce myself to her and we start chatting. She isn't into the game, and I get bored with it pretty quickly. ADD Child is now running around asking all of us if we have games on our phones. They didn't bring anything for him to do while we visited. So he kills the battery on three cell phones and looses interest halfway through four different matches on the video game. After two more (brief) visits to the corner I suggest coloring in a coloring book. Can't find my crayons, but if I color with him, markers should be fine. So we sit down to color a picture of a fish that he picks out. He decides on a very dark grey green marker and squiggles all over it for about 20 seconds before making a tiny mark on his hand. He begins wailing. Wife informs me that he isn't supposed to get messy. I try to explain to ADD Child that a small mark on his hand is ok, we can wash it off when we are finished and he just cries harder. So I cap the markers and take him to wash his hands, where I am informed that he doesn't need soap, and that by picking him up to reach, I am hurting him. I give up trying to help with him. He ends up in the corner a few more times before the evening is through. I sit back down to talk to Biker's girl. She asks about the dogs and I ask about her job.

OMG she teaches a yoga class.

She is a yogi!

Yogi also does massages. How cool is that? Biker, Frank, Busch, and Wife all go outside to smoke and I sit inside and talk to my new friend. They do paddle board yoga sometimes, I should join them! Actually, she has a class in the morning at 9:45, I should come! Frank and Biker come back in and ask if they can go play disc golf in the morning. Looks like Sunday is going to be a great day.

After an intense yoga session with Yogi, we meet the boys at the disc golf range. JK, who I have known for about two years happens to be there, funny running into someone like that! So we all play together, Yogi tells me that she is pretty horrible, but she has fun anyway. I am pretty horrible too. I think I threw a +25 on 18 holes (baskets?). Frank did +2, not bad for a beginner! We decide to do it all again next week!

I decide that yoga makes me feel awesome. I love yoga, I took a class at the local community college. Twice. So I have decided that I want to do something every day. Maybe not yoga every day, but something. So Monday I went to Momma's to do laundry and I walked down three flights of stairs to the gym where I rode the eliptical and did the hip abductor thing. 3 sets on the hips, 7 minutes on eliptical, 3 sets, 4 more minutes on, three more sets, 5 minutes on, three final sets. After 3 minutes on the eliptical the first time my heart rate was way up at 185, so I tried to keep it closer to 175 after that. Wow did my legs hurt after! Then I had to walk back up three flights of stairs. I meant to do yoga yesterday, but I didn't make it. Today I am going back to Momma's to do another load of laundry and more of the gym stuff. I'm going to try to keep record of what I do here on the blog, I think it may help me keep up with it!

Four Letter Words

Waking up at 6am has always been hard for me. I don't usually do mornings. Last night by 10:30 I was out. Exhausted. I hardly ever get to sleep before midnight. My schedule is changing. I may have to aquire a taste for coffee, I have heard great things about the stuff. For the first time in my life I have to dress like a real person to come to work. I have been here for 5 days and I'm running out of appropriate outfits. I need to check out a second hand store so I can pick up a few things but I'm not sure when I'll have the time, working both jobs. I also need a pair of shoes that aren't tennis shoes or high heels or dirty flip flops. I want to take the dogs to the park so we can play but by the time I get home and changed, I just don't have the energy. I'm glad Frank is home with them while I'm at work, it's nice not to feel guilty that they are home alone all day long, because they aren't. :) Next week will get better and then the 14th is the last day at the old job, so I'll be home at 6ish instead of 10ish.

I did a crossword puzzle at work yesterday. The one I am working on today is much more difficult. Anyone know of a five letter for "burning up" ?vir? I'm having trouble with that one. And a few others.

Strength Enough to Know Enough

Last night I got off work and drove 30 minutes back to my old job. Because I still work there. Because I love the dogs and I care about my students. So I changed back into my uniform and taught my two classes last night. Doesn't seem too bad, and thinking about it beforehand I was a little nervous about my new job but figured it would be no big deal to work both while I completed my ongoing classes.

When I got there, my manager gave me a really hard time because I was scheduled at 4pm and didn't show up until 6pm. When I put in my notice last Monday I let them know I would be starting my new job next week and will be working in Dallas until 5, I took care of any students the change would affect and let my managers know. Then I came in last Thursday on my day off when I knew they were making the schedule and took a peek. 4pm Monday. So I went to a manager, schedule in hand and let them know, "Hey, I can't be here until 6pm on Monday, I start my new job. In Dallas. Until 5pm."

"Oh ok, that's fine, we will change it."

Friday I called in, they were very upset, but I only had two students and I needed the day off.

Saturday I get to work and all of my belongings are in a box under register 4. The other two dog trainers are there ready to teach my very confused students. I walk in the door and shoo them away. I explain to my students that I got a job offer and would be leaving, but I will finish out their classes. They are happy for me, sad that I will be leaving. I care about my students.

When dogs 'graduate' from a class I take a picture of the dog and put it up on my wall. Just like every other pet trainer in the company except one of the trainers. She has only been with the company for 6-7 months and likes to think that she has a new/better way to do everything. From the hand signals to the way we organize our binders. Which is great, I love new and fresh ideas. But all of that stuff is corporate policy. We have to do it that way. Or we get in trouble. So she doesn't take pictures of any of her students. She was born up north and has a weird twang accent and I have had students and customers tell me that she is rude. I think I'll call her Trainer 1.

Whatever.

But Saturday morning before I get to work they take all the pictures down and stick them in the box of stuff. Trainer 1 sees me walk in and gives me a look that could kill. As I pass her she rolls her eyes. So not only do I have to explain to my students why Trainer 1 was there to teach their class out of uniform but why my pictures are all gone and I don't have cards anymore and that I'm leaving the company.

So I teach my class. At 11am we have a brand new class starting that I am not teaching. New Girl is teaching this one. It will be her very first class ever. She was very excited about it when I spoke with her on Monday. 11:05am, no New Girl. So I teach that class. Have to explain why New Girl isn't there. I have no clue.

"She must be running a bit late today..."

"Why aren't you teaching the class from now on? We know you."

"Well, I'm leaving the company, I was offered a postition that will help me finish school faster."

"But we like you."

That class overwith I teach my next class, it's an Intermediate class which means that these students have been through classes with me before. They are all very sad to hear that I will be leaving and very concerned that the pictures that I took of their dogs are missing. Explain, apologize, tell them that New Girl will be excellent.

Hopefully.

Lunch. One more class taught, explain, hugs. I get called into the office by a manager. They sit me down and explain that calling in on Friday made it very difficult for them. You see in addition to my two students that they were able to call and cancel for me, an 8pm class showed up. There was supposed to be a new class start the week before but no one signed up for it and nobody showed up for it so I assumed that no one would be there. Four dogs showed up. How am I supposed to anticipate students I have never met or spoken to showing up to a class that doesn't exsist? "Well it was your class, where was the paperwork for it?" There was no paperwork. The class didn't exsist until last night, I've never even met those dogs or people before. "You should have told us about the 8pm class."

I wanted to rip my own hair out. Right after I punched someone in the face. "Ok, next time I will do better." So I signed the formal action plan and was informed that if I screwed up again I would be terminated. Great. Thanks.

"Oh by the way, remember that we spoke Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, I start my new job on Monday and won't be in until 6pm, the schedule still says 4pm but I won't be able to come in until 6."

"Yes we know, thank you."

I went fishing with Frank Saturday, we didn't catch anything, but got muddy and laughed and had fun trying. Sunday = laundry day, so I went to Momma's and did a few loads. She has a gym at her apartment so I rode the bicycle machine for 30 minutes while I was waiting for a load to dry. 6.15 miles, not bad! Then I went home and we went over to my Aunt's to show off the new car, and then to my cousin's to say hi and show off the new car. We stayed way to late, didn't leave until 10:30pm, stopped at What-a-Burger for dinner and then went to bed. Work was great. Then I got off work and drove 30 minutes to my old job.

Last night when I got home from what I now lovingly refer to as PetHell I was tired of being yelled at and cranky and really feeling like Baby from Dirty Dancing...

"We're supposed to do the show in two days, you won't show me the lifts, I'm not sure of the turns, I'm doing all this to save your ass, what I really want to do is drop you on it!"

But I love the dogs. I care about my students. The right thing to do is to keep going until all my classes have graduated. My managers all think that I'm going to just drop off the face of the planet, leave without telling them and they will have to pick up the pieces. I would really like to. It's very tempting, especially when they are treating me as though that is what I will do. But at the same time, that is not my intention, my intention is finish out my classes. Prove them wrong.

Frank says that being at PetHell is bad for my serenity. That I have trouble accepting the things I cannot change about the job, that in order to be strong enough to change the things I can, I went out and found a new job that I really enjoy. Now if I just had the wisdom to know when to let go; if I should let go before I told them I was leaving or if I will be strong enough to work both jobs until my students graduate.


"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

Hermann Hesse

You Have Won!

Friday when I checked the mail I received one of those mailers that has a scratch off thing that says "You Have Won!!" and there is a big picture of a brand new car and in really big bubble letters "$25,000!!" So I call the phone number and the lady says to come on in to claim my unknown prize. I tell my boyfriend, let's call him Frank, what she said and get out of the car to go inside. He tells me that we are going now, because my Mustang is falling apart and I have been talking about getting a new car anyway.

We head to the car lot.

We pull into the lot and walk into the used car building and Frank keeps talking about Chargers and Ram 1500's and Big Shiny Loud Cars. So we ask for Mr. David like the lady told us to and are informed that Mr. David doesn't exsist. Ken is happy to help us. I show him my flier and ask what I might have won. He gives the flier to his manager and says "He will take care of that, let's find you a car." So he finds out what I'm looking for, something that will last, low mileage, front wheel drive, good gas mileage. I keep talking about Rav4's. Frank informs me that we shouldn't get a Jeep, Jeeps have bad engines, not enough headlight fluid.

Ken shows us a few cars, none of them feel right, I like this one, and Frank points out this or that. Frank likes one and I point out that or this. So I ask Ken "What did I win?" $25,000 is a lot of money. He hems and haws and says something about his manager.

Finally we are walking through the lot and from around a corner I see a car. The clouds part and the sunlight hits it and the angels start singing. I walk up to it and notice, front wheel drive! 36 MPG! 23,000 miles!

"Look the dogs will love this backseat, it's a bench and they each get their own window!"

"Wow, we can fit camping gear in the back, lots of room back there!"

Ken pops the hood, only four cylindars but something about shifting up and down even though it is an automatic. Frank says that Jeeps have bad engines. So Ken starts telling him about all the headlight fluid! And elbow grease! And new, better engines! We take it for a test drive and Frank starts noticing how quite it is, even on the freeway. Ken tells him all about roll cages and smart air bags that can tell if it is me or him driving. Frank likes the stereo. It's gray. I like gray cars.

So we get back to the dealership and work out how much it will be for the car, not too bad. I can do that! I ask again "What do you think I might have won?" And Ken says he will ask his manager. I work out my insurance and they take a look at the Mustang. Wow, it really is falling apart, but something is better than nothing. Financing goes well and I hand over the keys to the Mustang and they hand me the keys to my brand new (used) Jeep Compass. "Oh hey, this is for you," says Ken as he hands me a five dollar gift card to Wal-Mart.

Guess What!

Today I start my brand new job. I have been training dogs for the last two and a half years. I'm excited about my new adventure. It is my very first full-time job, I will be sitting at a computer for eight hours a day, five days a week, 8am to 5pm. (I get an hour for lunch!) I am a receptionist, which basically means that I sit here all day and answer the telephone and wait for someone to walk through the door. I get to read a lot. So I decided to dig out the old blog and start updating it again. I may not keep up with it but I thought I would give it a shot, it may become something I really enjoy doing. I work for this little bitty family owned company that has something to do with oil, I mean, I am in Texas so what are the odds really?