Tuesday, November 29, 2005

 

Jury Duty Calls...

I was summoned for jury duty (my 3rd time) and I was to call the "jury hotline" every night after 6 last week and this week. One thing I must say; if you're going to be called for jury duty, the week of Thanksgiving is an excellent week! Since they never have any prospective jurors report on Mondays, I had to call Monday night and Tuesday night to see if I had to report the following day. Nothing for Thursday or Friday last week! Anyhow, this is my last week to call and last night the recording said for my group to call after 11:00 this morning to find out if we have to report at 1:00 p.m. Since I'll be at the diocese (for a staff Advent Day of Reflection), I'll have to call from there and possibly miss the last half of the day. We shall see...

I've been wanting to mention this for a while but always forget by the time I sit down to write. What is UP with this keyboard??? The backspace key is in the wrong spot! I keep pressing the backslash key (because it's where most backspace keys are) and it's annoying me. My daughter and I both think it should be a LAW for all backspace keys to be in the same spot on all keyboards. I know, you think I'm weird. =)

Well, work calls, and I must leave by 9:15 for the diocese so I'll talk later! Have a terrific Tuesday! =)

feeling...

Sunday, November 27, 2005

 

My Mom was my inspiration to FINALLY change my site... Thanks, Mom! Go check hers out; it's very pretty.

Also, I have made one December blinkie calendar for you. (She was my inspiration to do that, too!) =)

It's been a productive weekend; most of the ceiling drywall is hung and they're working on the walls. It's coming along.

We did enjoy our visit with family on Thanksgiving. The meal was great, the company was great, and I only wish the rest of the family could have been there. But at least 2 of my other sisters did spend the weekend together. I hope you all had a safe and blessed day.

Enjoy your evening and stay warm!

feeling...

Thursday, November 24, 2005

 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it today.

I literally STOLE this idea from Shirl... Please all play along! =)

In the comments we'll be playing the alphabet game. I'm thankful for:
First person uses A, second person B, and so on. Let's go!



feeling...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

 

I just saw a mouse!!! I'm sitting here clapping my hands and stomping my feet while I type because I know noise scares them away. I won't even go make my morning coffee because he crawled under the sink in the kitchen... No, I'm not at home; I'm at work. I hate mice!!! I just talked the maintenance man on the phone though and I told him about the mouse and he promised me he'd catch it. Those little critters give me the heebie jeebies.

Other than that, things are fine. The insulation is going up in the new part of the house and my husband is on a roll! He's pressuring me to get the drywall for the ceiling so we (he and his sons) can work on that this weekend. My daughter's getting excited about her new bedroom. I have to take her to pick a paint color for her walls. I think I have the color picked out for the living room/dining room area. I'm not sure what color we're going to do the kitchen and my computer room, but I'll choose something nice. I have decided that we're not going with neutral (ivory, eggshell white, etc.); we're going to have color! =)

Have a great day and cross your fingers that this mouse is gone by tomorrow morning when I get here. Oh, and I have the radio on really loud too. Can you tell I hate mice?

feeling...

Monday, November 21, 2005

 

Here in the U.S. it's only three days away from Thanksgiving. How are you planning to spend your holiday? As you may have remember reading in one of my earlier posts, I am going to have dinner (but not eat) with the husband, kid and stepkids, etc. and then move on to my mom's. (I'm saving my appetite for good ol' home cooking!) =} I hope the snow holds off until Friday.

I'm having keyboard issues here at work. I just switched keyboards for this computer I'm typing on right now, and this morning when I got here I find out that my keyboard for the computer I do all my work on doesn't work! It's too weird. I have to do as much work as I can possibly do today because I've been called for jury duty. I won't know if I have to show up or not until after 6:00 in the evening. I'm hoping I don't have to even report; I've been called for jury duty 3 times now and I've actually been a juror once. That's plenty for me. Besides, some people have never been called and really really want to. Don't you think we should be allowed to step aside and let them have a chance? =)

We bought all the insulation we need for the walls and ceilings this past weekend. And I'm so excited because I have 3 rebates coming back! It always makes me happy to save money. Hopefully by the time I get home tonight the husband will have it half done. He did a fine job on the siding (on the old part of the front of the house). I'll post ya a picture so you can get the full effect. Plus, we bought 2 sets of shutters; we only need 3 more sets for now. The rest of the shutters will have to wait until the spring when we put the new siding up on the other 2 walls. Oh yeah, and I bought a nice big wreath to hang on our front door. I had a good time choosing the decorations to put on the wreath too. Since they didn't have any gold bows, I bought some gold ribbon, hoping that my daughter and I can figure out how to make a beautiful bow. It's the first time I'll have a wreath on my front door (in case you're wondering why I'm excited).

Ok, I have to see how much work I can get done, and it ain't gonna get done with me sitting here blogging... Have a beautiful, blessed week!

feeling...

Thursday, November 17, 2005

 

YUCK!!! Icy roads this morning! Our first snowfall of the season and guess what it brings? Wind and icy roads... I've gotten my daughter to school and I arrived at work safely so all is well. But I still don't like winter! The radio and the television (any station you listen to) are both announcing how bad the roads are and to SLOW DOWN! Why don't people listen? Accidents everywhere...

Oh yeah; I had some fun last night on my computer, editing pictures so I could make my own flickr badge. Look over there to the left, scroll down, and you can check out my badge! It was so much fun to make and I'm glad I did it finally. I've been seeing these little things all over the place and for a while now I've been telling myself I was going to make one of my own.

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy the weather. =)

feeling... for people who care.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

 

Thanks for your comments on my last post. You made me think of things I hadn't thought of when I wrote it. It's always good to hear another's side of things that are sometimes difficult to see more than one side.

Let me tell you about my day... It started out alright, but as the day progressed, things started to bother me. We're still dealing with the loan company to release our funds so we can pay the contractor for the work that's already done; what a headache! I really should give up on worrying about it because there's nothing I can do at this point. (Maybe if I played the lottery, I'd win enough to pay off our loan and kiss them goodbye! But I don't play the lottery so that's not likely.) I wish money didn't play such a big role in our everyday living.

Then I had to call my stepdaughter to give her a piece of my mind. I'm tired of trying to please them (her and her two brothers) when, in the whole time I've been with their dad (and even the several years I wasn't with him), they've never made any attempt to try and just accept me for who I am. Let's see; I met their dad in 1988 and it's now what, 2005? They're all grown with families of their own and they apparently have nothing better to do than get into our business. I've spent too many years letting it go and refusing to let them know that anything they do bothers me. They will never accept me, they will never like me, they will always stick their noses into our lives, so I thought it was high time to let her know how I felt about a few things. I'm so dumb that at one point I even felt bad about what I was saying to her, but when I hung up that phone, I was glad I said what I did. I wasn't mean to her, I didn't tell her what I thought about how she lives her life or how she chooses to raise her kids, anything about her brothers, or even how she's never tried to have any kind of decent relationship with her sister (my daughter); I simply told her that no matter what I do or don't do, say or don't say, they will always think I'm a *itch, so I might as well let her know how I feel. She just kept saying, "uh huh, uh huh." We're supposed to have a meal on Thanksgiving with my husband's kids and their kids and I will do that (out of obligation). Then we will proceed to my mom's house for a meal (and company) that I will actually ENJOY, with people who LOVE me, and I'll feel good about the day. (By the way, just in case you're wondering, I told my husband about my conversation with his daughter and he wasn't bothered in the least. Smart man, eh?)

After work, I had to go clean a house. Actually, it felt good to do some physical work, but the people forgot to leave me a check. =( I get home and the dog is being a holy terror! (Why do those two words get used together???)

Thanks for listening; I needed to write that down. Now I'll go decide what I'm cooking for dinner. YOU have a good evening! And I will too.

Addendum: I feel I need to update you on the above situation; I just had a nice long talk with my stepson on the phone and I feel better. At least I can give him credit for being honest, not two-faced. (I was very honest with him too.) Apparently there was no intention of hurting me, just lack of thought put into the situation. I believe him because he doesn't tend to mince words, and he's pretty straightforward when he talks. Maybe next time they'll think of everyone's feelings before making certain decisions.

feeling a bit...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

 

Ok, I got my hair cut yesterday and it is a BIG change from what I had. I think I like it, of course it's always a challenge to me to style my hair the same way the hairdresser does, so this morning it doesn't look that much different than the style I had before it all grew to an unreasonable length (kind of scraggly-looking). My point; when you get your hair cut and no one says anything to you when they see it, does that mean they don't think it looks good? Because I know with me, if I see someone with a whole new style, I compliment them if I think it looks good. If I don't think it looks all that great, I may just not say anything... What do you think? (Of course, later on in the evening, I started convincing myself that I don't really CARE what others think about my hair, so long as I like it. It's definitely an improvement from what it was.) So, my quote for the day: "Sometimes saying nothing, says a lot." (Don't you think?)

On another note: Yesterday morning on one of the radio stations that I listen to on my way to work, they were talking about parents who, on occassion, have to leave work early or take a day off because of something going on with their children. Apparently this is a big issue with those people who don't have kids. They think we get special treatment. I don't know about most places, but I know if I have to leave work early or take a day off (usually the reason doesn't matter), I don't get paid! Do they think employers just allow us parents to come and go as we please just because we have kids??? A few listeners called in with their opinion and every single one of them without kids felt the same way. I'd like to know where they're working! We have to be accountable for our hours worked, people!! I wanted to call in and share my thoughts, but I don't call radio stations. I was just hoping someone would call in and bring these other people into reality... Oh well, some people will find any reason to be upset at other people.

I was going to write about something else, but I forgot what. (Aren't you lucky??) =)
I even jotted down on a piece of paper last night, what I was going to blog about. Have you ever done that? Kind of weird, I know...

Well, I must get to work now. Have a glorious day!

feeling...

Saturday, November 12, 2005

 

Found this at Sherle's and had to take it myself:

Your Power Color Is Teal

At Your Highest: You feel accomplished and optimistic about the future. At Your Lowest: You feel in a slump and lack creativity. In Love: You tend to be many people's ideal partner. How You're Attractive: You make people feel confident and accepted. Your Eternal Question: "What Impression Am I Giving?"

Have a gorgeous Sunday! Winter is on its way, so enjoy the next couple of days before the snow starts flying! =)

feeling...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

 

We just came in from the new addition, after spending nearly an hour sweeping and picking up debris from the electrician and construction workers. It's really looking good! I can't wait until we can get out there to hang drywall and start painting!! I imagine I'll be on this dear ol' thing even less once it's time for us to be out there finishing the inside of our house, so I'll try to take advantage of the time I do have and keep you all updated on progress, etc.

Tonight the three of us enjoyed a delicious Italian meal at our cluster parish, with about twelve or thirteen other people, some from our church and some from theirs. It was an excellent meal and we got to meet some of their parishioners and staff. What was the purpose of this meal, and how did we get in on the deal, you may ask? Well, at our parish picnic, for the past couple of years, we've held a silent auction, and anyone can donate most anything to auction off on that day. It seems the staff from our cluster parish decided to donate an Italian meal for eight, to the highest bidder. We offered the highest bid, and won! (The other eight people were from their parish.) I left there feeling really good about the evening and being a part of it. AND I was stuffed! It really was an excellent way to bring a very stressful day to a close.

Work is not stressful; it's this house project (not the project itself, but the money part; i.e. unexpected costs, etc.) that's stressing me out. I've been on the phone with the loan company every single day (sometimes more), for the better part of two weeks now explaining figures to them. It's a long story that I won't get into right now. The money is there, we've been approved for it, but they won't release another cent until they see "exactly what we will need to finish this project from now until completion." I've given them numbers as close as I can possible GUESS to what we'll need. Big surprise; the final amount was just a TAD bit more than what we originally anticipated. Have they never done this before???? Why did this come as such a big surprise to THEM???? You live and you learn; you build and you learn; you learn that "next time, we'll know better." NEXT TIME??? WHAT next time??? I don't plan on ever doing this another time, so I will help anyone I can with the knowledge I've gained from this. Ok, didn't I say I wouldn't get into this right now? Ooops. Sorry! Anyway, everything will work out, I'm sure, and I'm not going to stress about it. (Lord, give me patience, and give me strength.)

Oh yes, have you heard? Andrea has recently informed me that there's a 26 Things November 2005, a photographic scavenger hunt, going on right now. I'm in! Are you? I've printed out the list and I've got my digital camera all charged up and ready to go!

Have a great Thursday! While I'm on a roll, let me share this with you...

"Your true identity springs from the tenderness and gentleness in your heart."

feeling...

Monday, November 07, 2005

 

As promised last week, I am completing the Monday Madness challenge for LAST week...

1. Name 1 comedy movie you've seen. Miss Congeniality (at least to me it was a comedy; I liked the first one better than the second).
2. Name 2 black and white films you remember seeing. Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte ~ Psycho
3. Name 3 dramas you thought were worth watching. This is a hard one... I Am Sam ~ Wicker Park ~ Notebook
4. Name 4 television shows you watch on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Survivor ~ The Amazing Race ~ Desperate Housewives ~ According to Jim
5. Name 5 things that, in your opinion, are advertised on television too frequently. Feminine products ~ Items that are supposed to enhance your **xual experience ~ Matchm*king websites ~ Cars ~ Other tv shows

That was a bit of a challenge! Of course it IS Monday morning. And it looks like it'll be a nice day outside, which means the roofers should be able to get our roof done. What's left is just the roof, the rest of the porch, the front door, and the siding. The electrician is supposed to come this morning and wire the new addition. I hope we have power when I get home from work.

Have a beautiful day! Thanks for all your kind words!

feeling...

Thursday, November 03, 2005

 

Just wanted to share this with you; my newest adoptable:

feeling... for my family.

 

I was going to blog about this last night, but I fell asleep too early. As you may know, yesterday was All Soul's Day and a lot of the Catholic churches have a special Mass in the evening for all those who have died in the past year. As you also may know, I work for a church but I'm not a parishioner of that church. I belong to a different one.

As it got closer to November 2, and knowing that my church was having this special Mass (and that they always notify those parishioners who have had a loved one die in the past year beforehand), I wondered why I hadn't heard anything from my church regarding the Memorial Mass. Not only did my dad pass away this past year, my husband's mother also passed away. I really thought we'd have heard something by the third week in October. Well, I called the church office a little over a week ago and talked to the secretary (who is a friend of mine as well). I didn't even have to get the question out before she mentioned my dad being on the list of people we were going to remember on that day. She said she did have his name included on the list and the priest saw it and asked her why my dad's name was there. She explained to him that because we are parishioners and someone in our family had died, she only thought it right to include their names on the list of people being remembered for the Memorial Mass. He asked her to take the name off and she did, without argument. Apparently, the conversation went no further. But she did tell me that she really struggled with this situation because in the past, we've always included those family members of parishioners and she couldn't figure out why this year, things were different. She gave him the benefit of the doubt and explained to me that she could only figure his reasoning was that if they do it for us, they'd have to do it for everyone else. Hmmmmmm..... SO WHAT???????

We do a lot for our church; we help out with every single fundraiser they have, we attend church regularly, my husband sings in the choir, I read, my daughter is a Eucharistic minister; we always try to be there when the church needs help. Do you THINK that MAYBE they could have done this for us??? Needless to say, I was very upset about this, but was able (for the most part) to keep it to myself; until yesterday afternoon at work, when the subject came up...

I couldn't contain it anymore and I just was so upset that I let everything out while talking to two of my co-workers. They let me talk, cry, rant and rave, and they listened. My boss offered to add my dad's name to their scroll (with all the names on it) and I let her know how much that meant to me, but that it wasn't necessary. It was the whole principle of the thing, you know? MY church should have done that for us.

Thank you, Mom, for listening to me and for your advice. I needed to hear that.

Ok, new day, new attitude. The sun is shining and life is good. I wish you all a blessed day.

feeling...

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

 

Same stuff, different day, as they say. The house is coming along; the weather's been perfect for the guys to work, and the thought of one day actually living in that part of the house is beginning to look more realistic. Yesterday one of the guys asked us about a porch where the front door is going and we said, "Yes, do it!" It'll only be a small porch but I think it'll make a big difference in how the house looks when it's done. Today they're supposed to put shingles on the roof (assuming that the shingles get delivered on time). We're doing all the inside work ourselves so probably this weekend we'll be out shopping for drywall and other necessary materials. I would LOVE to have my Christmas tree in our new living room this year!

Not much else going on, so I'm off to start my work day. I'll play Monday Madness later. Have a great day! =)

feeling...