Four-Day Weekends

I have to say, I loved having a 4-day weekend over this past holiday. It is so hard to compress your life into a 2-day weekend; working just sucks the life out of you that you need more than 2 days to recover. I was busy most of the time, but also had time to get most chores and things I needed to get done. I went back to work actually feeling refreshed, unstressed, and happy. What a miracle! Now if only all the weeks were like this . . .

Falling Back

It has been a most interesting weekend, with lots of unexpected drama. I found out the *real* reason my niece is grounded . . . found out that a foster father shouldn't be and now wondering what to do about that discovery . . . and found a source of unexpected wisdom in someone you wouldn't expect it from. She said she had a card for me that said something about "When one door closes, another opens. But you can only take advantage of that open door if you stop looking back at the closed door." Wow, is that applicable to my life, or maybe I've just had too much wine tonight? I am always the "grass is always greener" type of person. What would have happened if I'd made this choice instead of that? Guess I need to start letting go of some of that thinking . . .

I also am exhausted after supposedly earning an extra hour of time this weekend, after turning our clocks back an hour. The problem is, no one told my dogs,and they had me up twice in the middle of the night to go out, so I woke up completely zonked. I have a few more things to accomplish tonight, then I'm going to try to relax!

Estate Sale Finds

I went to an estate sale today and bought a couple of really cool things. Usually at an estate sale you don't find many good electronics, but apparently this person did a lot of stuff with computers and there were a lot of electronics to unload. I wish I'd gone earlier in the day as I'm in the market for a new PC and laptop, and apparently there were many of those to be had. But I did get a large, very nice flat screen monitor for just $25. You can't beat that.

Other items I purchased included an old-school phone that doesn't require power to work, for those rare times when the power goes off; a nice crystal candy/nut bowl, as I was just looking for one last week when I had guests over; and a copy of The Breakfast Club for $2. Nice!

Cancellations and No Shows

I was supposed to have breakfast this morning with 2 people from my neighborhood. I volunteer a lot of my time to neighborhood projects, and this meeting was to touch base about that. The meeting was supposed to be at 9 am. Who wants to be anywhere Saturday morning at 9 am? Not me. But like the schlump I am, I showed up, without having checked email first. No one else showed.

I waited 1/2 hour and figured they must have rescheduled or cancelled. I had just confirmed this like a day ago, and checked email last night to make sure it wasn't cancelled. I am supremely pissed and sent a very terse message to the people involved.

I am getting to a point where my time--even 1/2 hour--is too valuable to waste. Earlier this week I busted my ass to get to a meeting at 7 pm, which is really hard for me given work constraints and the dogs. Me and one other person showed up. Again, really pissed.

The lesson here is, my time is too valuable to just be giving it away like this. I told the folks this morning that I wasn't willing to reschedule. And I think I'm dropping the other thing from Tuesday. I have got to get a better handle on my life and my schedule, and I am starting to figure out how. Just say no!

I Have Followers?

I noticed that I actually have some followers of this blog, and people who seem to check it daily. I sincerely appreciate that, as I didn't realize that anyone really gave a crap. It reinspires me to put some interesting things up here to keep you all entertained, so I will do my best to try to post more often. I think these days we all get caught up in our emails, Facebook, etc. that require more immediate attention, and blogs have sort of fallen out of favor.

In the spirit of rekindling my blog, I will tell you some of the stress I have been dealing with over the past three weeks.

Work - I have an employee who is--well, let me put this delicately--crazy. He has thrown me under the bus with my boss more than once and has been ranting and raving about his job, what a bad manager I am, etc. etc. Over a two week period, during our busiest time, he got no work done and then we found out he did something slightly illegal. All this put together means . . . wait for it . . . I gave him a written warning and disciplinary action has been taken. Not sure what is going to happen, but this warning is a first step towards getting him fired. Now mind you, I have been at this job for like 5 months, and I just don't need this shit or stress!

Personal - I found out my ex of 6 years who "never wanted to get married" is now engaged to someone he met online less than a year ago. WTF?? (Sorry if you are reading this, but it's my blog so tough shit.) Then I meet this cute guy who is Italian and seems really cool. However, his baggage? He is going through a divorce, supposedly has 6 kids, and when I looked him up on FB he seemed to already have a girlfriend. Again, WTF? Are there no straight, single, eligible, decent men left? I didn't think so. Anyway, people wonder why women my age are bitter. I have no insight into that.

On top of all this I have a guy who has been after me on and off for 10 years, who decided that the weekend I found out about aforementioned ex was the weekend he was going to "charm" me into finally going out with him. Boy was he wrong, and wound up unfriended on FB. I am tired of being fucked over!

But on a good note, it is Friday and I am getting a massage tomorrow. So maybe things are looking up after all.

My Shockingly Bad Review of Martina McBride’s New Album “Eleven” (Revised)

I have made slight revisions to this post after seeing Martina in concert 6/13/2012 and listening to the CD a bit more. Parts of it have grown on me, parts of it I still hold my original feelings . . .

I have been a fan of Martina McBride for at least 10 years now and she is awesome and I love her. However . . . her latest album just came out last week and it is taking a long time to grow on me. I’m not sure it ever will . . . not sure it’s something I’ll crave listening to. That’s how I know when a CD is really good, when I can’t get the songs out of my head and I can’t wait to listen to it again.

Apparently, she has been writing songs and co-wrote most of the songs on the album. Well, I’m wondering if she should stop writing and concentrate on what she does best: sing. There are two main problems with the songs on here:

First, there is not enough new. A lot of the songs sound like other songs she has already done.

Second, the writing is often bland, not descriptive enough, and uninteresting. I really enjoy songs that have clever lyrics, descriptions that make you feel something. These lyrics don’t have enough to say.

Here is a brief review of the songs on the CD.

One Night – This could be a really awesome, fun, rocking song and was a great way to kick off the June concert referenced above. The one thing I don’t like is that parts of it are too similar to “Ride” from her last CD. There’s a part where she sings the word “Sky” with exactly the same melodic descent as “Ride.” It’s a shame cause it ruins the song a bit for me.

Always Be This Way – This has a sort of reggae beat, which is a little odd. The song is kind of catchy and sweet, though a little saccharine.

I’m Gonna Love You Through It – This is a tear-jerker about a woman with breast cancer. It’s her “statement song” on the CD. During the concert, she dedicated it to "The Survivors" and that simple dedication really made me admire her for always taking on tough issues.

Marry Me – This is a remake of Train’s song, which I adore. I don’t love her singing it. However, the end is cool when she duets with Pat Monahan, who I love, love, love. But more of the song should have been a duet.

Broken Umbrella – This song is full of horns and sounds very old-fashioned and boring. What is she doing with adult contemporary??? It’s so awful, saccharine, blech! I still felt that way during the concert, this was my bathroom break song.

You Can Get Your Loving Right Here – This is supposed to be her “sexy” song but again the horns! Not a big fan of this song.

Whatcha Gonna Do – This song kind of evokes the feel of "Whatever You Say" from years ago. It's a pretty good song about a relationship (man) that can never make up its mind. Are we on or off? Boy do I understand that. I love the sarcastic “whatever” in this song.

Teenage Daughters – This was already a radio hit. It is a pretty clever song, especially if you have teenage daughters.

Summer of Love – This is about a summer romance, and she wanted to evoke a “Strawberry Wine” feel here, and I originally felt it didn't quite work but the song has grown on me. I would have liked to see her perform it to see how she delivered it, but she didn't sing it.

When You Love a Sinner – This song title and melody have the potential to be interesting, but I originally thought the song didn't say quite enough to make you feel. Not sure I was right on that call. It has some good lyrics in it, but I want to know more of the story behind it. She’s been with her husband for like 20 years so obviously and hopefully it’s not about him.

Long Distance Lullaby – This is actually a beautiful song to her family when she’s on the road.

You’re in My House Now – Has the potential to be a sassy song, but there are like two measures in each verse where she goes "la la la la, la la la la, la la la la la la," like she just forgot the words or was too lazy to write them. WTF?

Closing Time – It’s an interesting concept, likening closing time at a bar to the end of the relationship. It evokes an old-fashion country feel. But I feel like it was better live as one of the closing songs--on the CD it's a bit too slow.

Ask the Boy – WTF? This song makes no sense. I originally thought I didn't like it cause I didn't know what was being asked of the boy, but in listening to it several times, what bothered me is that she switches tenses in the song. She talks about "me" in relation to the boy, but they says something like "if you just ask the boy." Who is the you?? What happened to me? That part really makes no sense. The melody is kind of interesting, so if it made a bit more sense, it could have been better.

I Give It to You – The first word was Jesus. Enough said. Fast forward and the CD is finished. Bummer.

RIP, Reed

I found out last Friday that a neighbor and former board member on my neighborhood association's board passed away unexpectedly. He had a heart condition, so this was not totally implausible, but still quite a shock and sad. He was only 45. The night he passed away, we were supposed to have dinner but I rescheduled cause things were busy, and he was just getting back from vacation. I thought, we'll just do it another day.

Well, there is no other day, and I'm really sad. Though, I admit I would probably have felt worse if I'd gone to dinner then found out he died right afterwards. It just all sucks no matter how you look at it.

Tomorrow is his funeral in DC. I would like to go, but practicality won out. I am new at my job, he's not a familiy member or boyfriend where it would make sense to be there, my dog is sick and I have to conserve my time off to deal with that, etc. I hate it. I hate the fact that life in DC is so annoying and work is so all-pervasive that I feel I can't even ask for a few goddamn hours to honor a neighbor who was a good guy and a good friend. So, I wanted to let it be known that while I cannot be there in person, I am there in spirit and heart. RIP, Reed.

Giant Rant

First of all, I hate grocery shopping because it takes precious time out of my very-time-crunched weekends. Second, the prices keep going up, while sizes keep going down. I am soooooo frustrated cause I try not to eat out during the week so I can "save money." Ha. I went to Giant today so I can get their Shell gas miles, and everything I bought, just about, was way more expensive than last time I was there. Blueberries were like $3.99 a pint! This price is fine in winter, when there are no blueberries, but summer? They should be like 2 for $4! WTF?

Then I go to check out and I use their recyclable bags to earn the 5 cents per bag. The stupid woman loads all the large things into one bag--two large containers of OJ, one 1/2 gallon of milk, 2 tubs of yogurt, etc. and I make a comment and she's like "oh I can change it for you." Well, duh, you shouldn't do it in the first place, you motherf*cking idiot! I am not the bionic woman with endless strength. I was quite pissy to her, plus I was furious at the prices so she's lucky I didn't just let her have it for the complete unfairness. I stopped going to Shopper cause they were so idiotic, Harris Teeter and Safeway are WAYYYY overpriced, so what am I supposed to do?

Sonny, Tony, Grandpa

It is with great sadness that I post about my wonderful grandfather's passing this past Thursday, July 27. He was 96 years old, and lived 4-1/2 years after my grandmother's passing. He was doing pretty well up until a year ago, then things got tricky after some surgery that I felt was unnecessary but others apparently did not. He was never the same after that--how is a 96 year old going to recover from surgery? Really?

Grandpa was sharp-minded, right until the end. I spoke with him last about 2 weeks ago, and he remembered that I had a problem in my basement with these hopping crickets. He was at my house only once, about 10 years ago, but he remembered these bugs and was giving me advice on how to get rid of them. He also thought I should white wash my basement. It was the most awesome confersation, and somehow I knew it would be our last.

I will never forget how amazing he was . . . smart though he'd never gone to college, handy, sharp as a tack, opinionated, Democrat! (old people are never Democrats), a major Yankees fan. He was a big music fan, and taught me all of these old songs as a kid. To this day I still remember the words to "I Love My Baby" and "I Took My Girl." He always took us to get Slurpees as kids, and told us the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" no matter how many times we asked.

I leave tomorrow for the services in NY. My grandfather was very well-loved, there will be a lot of people there to pay respects, and it will be very hard to get through cause there will be a lot of tears. He was my last grandparent. It's the end of an era and I'm so sad . . .

July 4 Beach Weekend

This past weekend I hit the beach with NOAAGirl and we had tons of fun, starting with riding in her cute little red VW bug convertible. We were loving the attention we got as we rode with the top down, rocking out to great 80s tunes.

We left Saturday morning and it took a while to get to the beach. Saturday night we hung out on the Rehobeth boardwalk, having dinner at the awesome Pig and Fish. We shared the fried green tomatoes and pork tacos as appetizers, and probably could have stopped right there cause they were so awesome. But we got entrees, I had the swordfish (sustainable, of course) and NOAAGirl had tuna. My swordfish was out of this world, cooked just perfectly. The Rehobeth boardwalk was quite a spectacle and we earned our place in hell by people-watching and making fun of everyone who walked by.

Sunday we spent the day at Bethany Beach working on our tans. At night we went to Matt's Fish Camp, which also was outstanding and had a cute young waiter who was flirting with us. We drove to Cape Henlopen, recommended to me by a cute coworker, and watched the sunset from the beaches there. Then we cruised through Dewey back to Bethany where we hung out at the boardwalk and had more Kohr Bros. frozen custard.

Monday we left for home, and were determined to find Evolution Craft Brewing Co., on the way. It turned out to be closed, and we were peering inside sadly when a guy with beautiful blue eyes came out from the back and let us in. NOAAGirl bought a "growler" of a beer she'd loved the night before, and then we got samples of another Summer Session, which I wound up buying. Score! It was the perfect ending to a really fun, flirty, and fabulous weekend. Best of all, there was no traffic on the way home, unbelievable!

Quittin' Time

Ok, I have finally found a new job and accepted it! I start as of May 31, after taking a few days off for Memorial Day.

First, I am thrilled to be making more money. A lot more . . .

But second, I am very sad to be leaving some coworkers I truly love. As much as I complained, I am having a hard time dealing with all of this. The wine is helping, but not enough :( Maybe the brownies in the oven will help more. Today was a hard day having to tell everyone.

Hopefully I am making the right decision. Time will tell. But it is a great opportunity, one I cannot in my right mind turn down. But it is hard.

Getting the Last Word

I can't believe I haven't written since the crazy dog lady incident. But I got my revenge on her! I came across her and her dog playing this morning with another dog. She was letting it romp, etc. and the other dog owner was laughing delightedly. Oh, how I wanted to march right up to her and say "I thought dogs weren't supposed to play like this" but I didn't (cause then I'd be a crazy dog lady).

In any case, I kept walking and lo and behold she wound up walking right in front of me. I could not bite my tongue, and commented that I thought she didn't let her dog play like that. Huge pause . . . she didn't know what to say since she got busted! So she said, "Well, your dog jumps a lot." Which she doesn't, no more so than the dogs that were playing this morning. Great comeback.

Then she said "Well, you won't have to put up with us much longer we're moving." What an idiot, giving me such a free opportunity! So of course I said that was the best news I'd heard in a long time. And kept walking. I win!!

Ok, crazy . .

So I had this run-in this morning with this dog owner who never likes her dog to play, she says the dog gets upset when they play too rough or some crap like that when it's pretty obvious the dog is having fun. I have always thought she was a bit odd, her husband too. They're like this psycho couple. In any case, I approached her this morning and my dog really likes hers and they started playing.

The woman said she was pressed for time, so I started to leave. Then she turns and says "You know, your dog plays too rough, you should discipline her. Dogs aren't supposed to play like that. You should read some books." I just stood there in shock cause I'm like, where is this coming from? Who disciplines their dog for playing? And what books are she reading that tell her that dogs don't like to play that way? If they didn't like it, they wouldn't do it and most dogs in my neighborhood do.

I should have said to her but thought of it too late, "Maybe you should stop reading so many damn books and let your dog be a dog." Ok, crazy . . . and what right do you have to tell me how to parent my dog? F*ng bitch!

Thrown Under the Bus, Survived

WARNING: CO-WORKER RANT AHEAD!!

It's been a long time since I've put up a work rant, so it's about time. I don't think I can let this go until I vent about it. There is a particularly unpleasant co-worker in my small office of 14--not a good situation. Let's call him "Mark" cause, well, that's really his name.

Mark hates me, thinks I am incompetent and lazy. Which I am not. Nor does anyone else at work think that. He is a pompous ass. In any case, we have had many run-ins but it's been a while.

Today, a board member emailed Mark to tell him that he was having trouble finding some info on our Web site, which I maintain. He thought the information should be more readily apparent, he had some marketing tips for us, yadda yadda. (It's always so much fun when everyone tells you how to do your job.)

So of course it's immediately my fault--not the board member who probably didn't look real hard to start out with. Mark forwards the message to me and my boss as FYI. Then he responds to the message seconds after forwarding the "FYI" telling the board member that he would "work with me" to correct the problem and he would welcome marketing advice. As if that wasn't bad enough, he copied his entire department, my boss again, and the CEO. That's like 6 people out of the 14 on staff. Way to throw me under the bus, fucker.

To his credit, the board member wrote back and said something to the effect of: if only Mark had copied a few more people it would have been the entire staff on email. Ha! What a burn! (Yes, that expression shows my age.) I was so gratified to have Mark called out on throwing me under the bus. I win!