Boo!

Did I scare anyone? Prolly not. I hope you and yours have a freakishly ghoulish all hallows eve. Tonight is trivia night, so I cannot partake in the scaring of young children at my front door. But then again, not too many venture into my neighborhood. When you've got much larger houses with better candy 2 blocks away, why waste time on the piddly stuff? Oh well! Maybe next year.

And yes, Heather, I will be wearing the cat ears to work tonight.
>^.^<

Gosh!

Okay, I'm sorry people. Maybe I'd post more often if people didn't walk up to me on the street and scream "Dammit woman! Post already!" all day long.

Things have been an utter whirlwind lately. For those not "in the know," there is a new man in my life. And no, he's not of the four legged variety (no more strays for me!). We've spent as much time together as possible since I got back from Ohio, and when we're not together, we're thinking of each other. Yes, it's sappy, but what am I gonna do about it? Those of you that actually know me know that I'm so NOT into believing in things like karma, luck, and soul mates. Well, looks like I was wrong on the soul mate thing. Even though we've only officially known each other a few weeks, I feel like we've known each other for years. And I mean that in the best of all possible ways! We can sit and talk about anything or nothing and be perfectly comfortable with each other. Heck, we've even talked about how it's weird that we can talk about anything. For the moment, everything seems utterly mutual, but knowing me, I'm still a tad skeptical. Who wouldn't be?

Anyway, so there's my update. I promise to try and post more often, but I'm still a little jacked up by my schedule. Stupid graveyard shifts followed by weekday training then back to graveyards. Ugh. I gotta take a nap.

it's been awhile...

...and there is so much to spill.

I just got back from Ohio for training. It was actually fun. The best part of the whole time though (other than the rocking dog awesome steak from Ruth's Chris) was the snow Monday morning. Big pretty flakes that didn't stick to a thing. Oh well, at least we got to see it. Chris and I had a ton of fun playing with poop--parasite training stuff. At least I like it. ;-)

Diwali was last weekend so we had a big Indian chow down at work tonight. Unfortunately, I'm thinking I shouldn't have eaten. I think I got a touch of food poisoning at the airport in Charlotte on the way home. I feel no es bueno. Blech.

The boys couldn't be happier that I'm home. They stuck to me like glue all day today. Granted, most of that I was in bed or watching TV, but they were still right there next to me--touching me if possible. Spoiled rotten kiddos!

I'm sure there was more random stuff that I wanted to blog, but I can't think of it now (1:05am--waiting my 15 minutes to read my samples). There is one other thing I need to post, but it deserves its entry. Until then!

new tricks with oatmeal

So for those of you who like oatmeal, this is for you.

If you are totally desperate for flavor and all you have is plain oatmeal, adding non-dairy creamer isn't too bad of an option. I did that last week. Tonight/this morning I made my usual instant stuff and added french vanilla coffee mate. Mmmmmm--tasty!

And it goes so well with my diet Dr. Pepper.

ever wonder why?

Why are some people so hateful? I found out last night that a person I know has been saying horrible things about me to friends of mine FROM MY CHURCH! Granted sometimes you feel like you have to let off a little steam, and you may curse someone's name for no particular reason. I'm guilty of that, and I don't fault people for doing it once or twice. But for someone to whom I've never been anything but nice, cordial, friendly, and hospitable to say hateful, horrible, vile things about me.... I don't even know how to react. My first instinct was to call the best friend and vent. That helped a little. I still feel hurt though. She had absolutely no reason, no right, no anything to say what she did. I will not post the actual derogatory statements. However, I can say it was most likely projection. While I would never voice the thought about her, if the shoe fits.... I'm glad I knew from the beginning not to trust her. Now, I will never speak to her again. You obviously are the company you keep (in her circle). It shouldn't be worth getting upset about, but I don't know how many people she slandered me around. Wait, slander is spoken and libel is written, right? Whatever, she is now a serious persona non grata.

Grrrr. I'll sic Thomas on her if I ever see her again.

Big Tex

Ya, I thought he was bigger. Guess I was just smaller.

Anyway, the group went to the fair last night. We didn't get there until about 7pm, but that was fine by me. Three hours is perfect. It was plenty of time for me to get my corn dog, turkey leg, and root beer. Mmmmmmmmm! What is better than gnawing on a roasted hunk of meat with a built in handle? I love me some turkey leg! RAH got fried cheesecake and fried oreos. Ange tried the fried pralines. I forget what Peter got, but I'm sure it was something fried. We were all intrigued by the idea of fried donkey tails. Ugh! Were they for real??? As a matter of fact, no. We found out much later in the evening (when we finally read our free map and schedule thingy) that a fried donkey tail is "an all beef frankfurter split lengthwise and generously stuffed with sharp cheddar cheese" that's then deep fried. Sounds kinda like something we should've tried.

We rode the Texas Star (waste of money last night--we barely went around twice) and walked quickly through the automobile buildings. The only Midway thing we did was the "guess your age" scam next to the ferris wheel. I thought for sure the guy would peg me as younger than I am. Let me tell you how uber pissed off I was when he guessed I was 37. Arrgh! Are you kidding me? Do I look that bad for my age? At least I got Melvin the stuffed sea turtle out of it. He's super cute. Of couse then the scammer made some tacky comment about how the winners always pick the prize that most looks like themselves. First he says I look like an old hag, then he says I look like a turtle. Will this asshole never shut up? Now I'm all worked up again. Jerk.

Of course before all the fair stuff, something good did happen. I had a fantabulous conversation via phone with a new prospect. We're definitely taking this one slow folks. It's not going to be like the last one who actively tried to smash my self worth into little pieces. If anyone's getting smashed, it's him. But wait...don't some people like to get smashed?

Stop Drinking Research

What the heck does that mean? I saw it on a billboard the other night. Does it mean...

(1) someone is doing research on how to stop drinking (as in trying to "cure" alcoholism)?
Stop Drinking Research

(2) someone wants people to stop doing researching on drinking?
Stop Drinking Research

(3) someone wants people to stop drinking their research projects?
Stop Drinking (your) Research

I personally like the third option. I mean, a good strong bacterial culture can look a good bit like lemonade if you're not paying close attention. Doubt it tastes the same though.

first workday/worknight

Whoa. I had my first 8 hours of work last night/this morning. What a beating! I have to admit that once I made it to 3am, I was pretty much okay. I started counting down time at 4am. I would announce to the girls I was learning under, "it's 4 o'clock!" Then after a bit "it's 4:45!" Made them laugh quite a bit. The first day/night was interesting. Turns out they were implementing a new "system" yesterday (and no, I have no idea what that means) that supposedly made everything take longer to do. I never knew the difference, so it was okay by me. My trainer and I were still able to leave at 6:15am. Man, let me tell you what. A sausage biscuit from Whataburger at 6:20am is a beautiful thing! Anyway, the first shift was full of watching and then processing urinalysis samples, watching FIBs, PTTs, and Coombs (ya, don't ask). Glad I have all my experience in research! So, I'm off to the new lab again here in about 40 minutes. Wish me more luck staying awake!

what have I done?

Oh good Lord, I think I may have officially lost my mind. I just signed up for match.com per the request of a couple of friends (actually they wanted me to do eHarmful, but I tried that once and got burned). Guess I need to have someone take a decent picture of me to put up there, huh. Funny thing is, I chose the plan that if you don't get "matched" in a certain amount of time, you get more time free. A dating guarantee, if you will. Obviously I don't have high hopes. :-) Where will this lead? Down the garden path or straight to hell? Only time will tell.

*eeeek*

I'm officially poor

Ya, I'm on hold with the credit card people. No one ask me to do anything until I can get my first paycheck from the new job. I gots some serious paying off to accomplish! I appreciate your patience.

Anyone for a road trip?

If so, do not take TX HWY 67. What a nightmare! All the way from north of Cleburne to south of Glen Rose, it's like one big construction zone. Also, who ever though Monday was the day for the Sunday drivers in their duelies to take up precious space on two lane roads? Arrgh! When I finally got off of 67, I thought it would improve. Hah! There was construction in Hico at HWY 6 and two bouts just past Goldthwaite on HWY 16. And do you know how many passing zones there are on hill country roads? Ya, like three. And when you finally reach the passing zone, someone in a huge SUV is speeding toward you in the opposing lane so you are stuck forever behind the slow pokes!!!

I'm so taking a different route home.

At least gas was only $2.03 in Llano! (although I had to wait until the gasoline pump system rebooted because the woman's credit card before me freaked out the system--it was only 5 minutes that I had to wait and swelter on the side of a small Texas highway)

feline jealousy

I always knew that animals could experience jealousy, but now I have proof.

Last night was a night like any other (oh, God, this sounds like the beginning of a really bad romance novel). When I turned off SVU at midnight, I settled into the covers of my comfy bed. Part of the settling includes getting ready for Thomas to "suck." Poor boy. He was abandoned too young by his harlot mother cat, so he still has suckling issues. I know that I shouldn't reinforce this bad behavior, but hey, he's a cat and it doesn't hurt anything. So, I turn off my light, get my shirt sleeve situated, and he comes over. After a little chirpy purr, he settles in to knead and suck on my bicep sleeve. Yes, it's weird. Yes, I've gotten over it. Yes, I'm a totally overindulgent mother. This is where the similarities to other nights ended.

Well, not totally. Sometimes Cornelius will start to wander all over the bed trying to disrupt Thomas. I eventually shove him off the bed or he gives up. Not last night. After much walking around (all over me I might add), Corn finally settled with his front paws neatly crossed on my bicep. The same one Thomas was sucking on. It only took a few seconds of a steely-eyed stare from the Cornman before Thomas gave up and left. Poor Thomas. He just wanted to feel loved like any other long, lost kitten. What made it even worse was that when Thomas left, Cornelius stood up , stretched, and hopped off the bed as well.

Isn't that sad?