New Year's Resolution

Can you still make a New Year's Resolution on the 6th??

I wasn't going to make one. I usually don't stick to them very well.
Last year it was to cuss less. That didn't f**ckin' work.

But just today, at work, I decided I should resolve to not get so worked up while at work.

This job is MUCH less stressful than my last one. But every once in a while something comes along and really gets my panties in a wad. Now I shouldn't react the way I do because it's still a cake walk relative to what I used to have to put up with. But I think I do it just to get the good ol' blood flowin' again.

But it's never worth it.

So today, even though it's been a shitfest (relatively speaking, of course) I'm not getting all worked up over it.

I'm just not.

Finally - Disney pictures!!

Ok - so our Christmas present to each other was to go on a mini-vacation to Disneyland in California. It worked because I happened to be in California for work the second week of December... So David flew out to join me and we hooked up with great friends of ours who live in LA and headed out to Disney.

It was me, David, Christy and Ann.

Fun was had by all.

Me and David at California Adventure (Ok, we didn't just go to Disney....)

David muggin' for the camera.

David and Ann strikin' a pose...

Christy, Ann and me. Notice it was a bit chilly??!!! I SWEAR we were in southern California!!! I want a refund!!!

Me and David - and David wearing the Matterhorn as a hat... ; )

Ann, Christy and me.. again!! : )

Now, one day we decided to have Mexican for lunch in "Downtown Disney". They had this great Tequila menu and since Christy and I don't know jack about tequila we decided to partake of the tequila flight - same thing as a wine flight - nice little sampler of three. Except I had to explain to Christy what to do with the lime.

Apparently I didn't give a good explanation....

So that's a quick summary of our Disney trip. And here is a final Christmas picture to top off things.

Getting used to it

You guys are great and funny! Thanks for the comments about Gertie.

Em - btw - David's response to your comment was "Oh God... it's not that big!"

Don't get me wrong - I'm not ungrateful for having a new car, esprecially one with so many bells and whistles. But you know - I was just attached to Gertie. But guys and your comments made me laugh.

But I do have the best husband in the world. And to help me settle into the Jeep he loaded a MILLION of my CD's onto my iPod and got me an adapter so I can utilize the auxilary jack in the car. That is the COOLEST feature EVER!!! I can rock out to my iPod now right through the car's sound system. I had one of those adapters before but it's just not the same... so I really didn't use it. (wow - all those years without a new car I'm realizing I've been missing out on a lot techno features....)

Now the problem is that I'm about out of space on my iPod and not all the important CDs aren't even loaded yet... maybe a new iPod for my bday?? *wink*wink*

(honey - if you're reading this my favorite nano colors are green and purple... ; )

Ok - now to get moving on getting some Disney and holiday pictures posted. You guys gotta see my brother-in-laws pornstache he came home with at Christmas... my MIL was not amused... I thought it was GREAT!!!

Bittersweet

Gertie, the Green Goddess. My 2001 Ford Explorer, V8, 5L with 135,000 miles. She was a great gal. Never gave me any problems. Bought her in Colorado when I was a single cowgirl looking for transportation for dogs that I longed to own one day. I slapped a hitch on her so she tow anything - although "anything" ended up being mostly a bike rack...

I drove her all over creation (did you see the mileage??) and back. She's been all over the Rockies, the Adirondacks, the Appalachians... ok, never out on the west coast... She's carried me through snowstorms, camping trips, NASCAR races, my own wedding, I've moved a few times (although I was good to her and had her transported form CO to OH... no need to add unnecessary miles.) And of course, she been the grand chariot for Liam and Nikki forever. When we moved here she was anointed with "K9 SUV" plates.

Gertie has been my girl. She was actually my dream car. I told people that and it was the truth. She was the right size, not too big, not too small. Just enough features but not too fancy.

Even though she's been running great it was time to look to trade her in. Sad day. It was time.

So the K9 SUV plates are now on a silver 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's got a bazillion features. Heated leather seats, sun roof, Sirius radio, iPod jack, all these controls in the steering wheel, and I'm sure a million more I can't think of right now and another million more I don't know even know about...

In theory it's a much better car than Gertie. But it's not. Not yet anyway.

So how do I explain to my husband why I was crying last night after we picked up the new car? Not shedding a tear.
Crying.
Like for an hour.
And I'm even tearing up as I write this.

How do you explain that your car was part of your identity?
That you had your car longer than you had your husband?
That your car was the last true remaining symbol of independence and freedom from when you were single?

Well, I hope I get used to this new one. If not I guess David will inherit it. Good thing he likes it - especially since he never drove it until after I bought it. (but then again - he did used to work for Jeep....)

RIP Gertie.

Made it!

Well, D and I made it back from Disneyland!! It was iffy because of the snow. Dad may or may not make it in to Syr. tonight...

I'm at work right now - have lots to catch up on. I'll try and post some pictures over the holidays. Dont' worry - D was a photo-takin' fool!

cheers!

Whew!

Well folks, my tradeshow is done. The website is launched (with a few minor tweaks when I get home). I hung around and packed up the remaining items from our booth last night - 5 boxes and 1 pallet-o-stuff to be sent back home.


Although I didn't eat lunch any day this week I won't divulge how well I've eaten for dinner each night... (I'll give you a hint - I ate at Morton's last night...) so I can't complain. Although I did have to pick up that bill (company expense, of course) and I had to do the math in my head twice for the tip. Let's say there were 7 of us and the tip was WAY into three digits (I'm not counting cents, folks...)


Thanks you guys for the kind words on the website! and in case you didn't get to see the old one here's a peek at the OLD homepage:















So I'm going to take a break and head off to Disney.

Website

It just occurred to me that I should have you guys look at our old/ current website (for work) and then have you look at the new one when we launch!!!

Problem is we're supposed to launch tomorrow... ("supposed to" being the catch phrase...)

So if you happen to read this today go check out http://www.monaghanmed.com/

and then check back in a few days.

You'll know it's the NEW site if it has a picture of a female clinician front and center with the tag line "Your partner for aerosol delivery solutions". If you don't see that then it's the old school one.... I'd like to think it's VERY apparent which one you're looking at....

Wish me luck!!!

baby shower update...

well folks....

I didn't get asked the inappropriate question I was dreading. Although I'm sure one lady was close but I did a quick "duck and dodge" before she could get it out.

But also I admit I didn't mingle extensively prior to the luncheon starting... Aunt Ginny, Lucy, MB and grandma were there, along with cousin Dana. We all sat at the last table on the far side of the room and had our own "party"... That sort of gave me license (ok, not really - but that's my excuse) to plop my ass down and not mingle lots with said friends of the Aunt throwing the shower - lest I get pestered with "the question".

Aunt G and I were discussing good comeback lines you guys all shared - she loved 'em!

Thanks for all the great ideas. I promise they will not go to waste as we all know I'll continue to get the question....

Although Ginny agreed that I should feel free to respond "None of your fuckin' business."

I *heart* her! She's the one that gave her daughters t-shirts that said "boys are dumb throw rocks at them". She's quite the contradiction... happily married to the same man (Uncle Gino.. my F-I-L's brother - big bald Italian guy, works in waste management... ; ) for decades.

On another note David and I met up with a good friend of his from college (K) and his wife (N) on Saturday since they were in the state visiting. David was excited because he hadn't seen them since their wedding almost 10 years before. I, of course, have never met them. A while back David had given them my blog address and I guess N had been reading my blog on occasion. While on one hand I find that very neat - I LOVE reading other people's blogs!! - now that I was meeting them for "real" I was thinking "oh shit - they probably think I'm a flake.. or worse..."

ok - I guess I am a flake... and worse...

but I digress....

I do a bad enough job on a first impression sometimes, I don't need the added pressure of what she's read on my blog!!!! (I mean really - I've nicked my nipple with a razor for god's sake!! and WRITTEN about it!!!!)

But it turned out great! (or at least I thought so... maybe she's just a really good actress... ; ) And the weird thing is I can see why D and K were such good friends in college... I noticed the two of them were even wearing the same thing!!! (plaid-ish button up shirt under a zip neck pullover sweater.... ) they were just wearing different color schemes.... must be a NY enigneering uniform... me being from SC, I wouldn't know....

So I had quite an eventful weekend to gear up for a busy week. You may not hear from me for a while. I'm going to be bogged down in work this week and then I leave for my trade show on Thursday to launch my website I've been working on for the past 7 or 8 months (or so....). and then I'm going to DISNEYLAND!!!

really... I'm not joking.
I'm going to Disneyland.

So you really might not hear from me until after the holidays. Maybe before - but probably not until after. So just in case:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

blurrrrrr

I'm having one of those weeks where I can't remember what day it is... Not because of my can't-remember-my-zip-code-bad-memory kind of can't remember... It's the I'm-so-stressed-the-days-are-flying-by-so-fast-I-can't-keep-them-straight kind of can't remember.

And to top of this fabulous week I have a baby shower to go to this weekend. Not just any baby shower... a family baby shower. D's cousin's wife is prego and my MIL and I are going. At first I was pleasantly looking forward to going. (excited is too strong a word...) And then it hit me.

Shit.

I bet I get bombarded with "So, when are you and David going to start a family???!!" or some such iteration of the question.

We've been married approximately three weeks longer than the aforementioned prego couple and are a few years older. Not a good mix when it comes to "baby" questions - assuming you don't yet have them - which, of course we don't.

I want to reply with "none of your damn business".

Because it's not. But I shouldn't be so rude. But then again, they are by even asking...

Maybe we don't want children.
Maybe we're not ready.
Maybe we've been desperately trying since the moment we said "I do" and by asking they keep opening an emotional wound.

Maybe we don't have a clue just yet.

Regardless of the answer - it's none of their business...

Now I have some friends of mine - probably some of you reading - that have asked me this very question. If I've not given you an answer then I'll admit I'm probably not comfortable talking about it with you. Sorry. If I have given you an answer, well then I've obviously known you long enough and well enough to share. But I don't go around discussing this with everyone. And honestly - not everyone gets the exact same answer.

And I'll tell you right now - there is no one at this shower with whom I feel comfortable discussing my reproduction plans.

So - between work and this shower I'm a bit stressed.

And how am I really going to answer if someone asks???
"Oh, ... why, that's quite a personal question. (insert coy smile here). I'd rather not discuss it."

...and I'm really going to try and be nice about it and hope my overactive eyebrows don't give me away...

whoops...

Two weeks ago I deemed it officially winter by putting the electric blanket on the bed. Last year we got the fabulous Tempurpedic and for some reason I decided not to put the electric blanket on the bed last winter. I don't know why - just didn't.

Well, maybe because I was lazy. Because this year I had to untangle the stupid cords, plug into the blanket to test which control went to which side (one control for each side, you know), climb up underneath the stupid bed to split the cords, plug in the stupid thing....

Getting the impression this was all quite stupid? Well it wasn't stupid, per se, but I'm sure I looked stupid as hell, with my head under the bed, arse up in the air, trying to get it all figured out.

Once it was all settled I was sure I was going to be quite cozy. See, the best part of having the electric blanket is to use it to "preheat" the bed. It specifically has "preheat" on the controller. You set it to the highest level 30minutes before you go to bed and when you get in it's all nice and toasty for you. Never fear - ours automatically shuts off after 8 or 10 hours so you don't have to worry about burning your house down. And since it has the 2 controls it's really great for me and D since we never can agree on the temp.

So Saturday I wasn't feeling so great - sinus issues or something. I set the blanket, started getting ready for bed, popped 2 Benedryl and crawled in. Now it didn't take me anywhere near 30 minutes from when I turned on the blanket until I got in. When this happens I usually lay there until I start to get warmed up and then gradually turn the bed down until it's where I want it for the night. Usually in 3 minute increments... it heats up pretty fast once you're under there.

Well, I remember turning it down a few notches once....

The next thing I remember is D moving around. Now remember, we have the famous Tempurpedic - so he's really got to be thrashing for me to wake up.

Then I vaguely recall thinking, "Holy shit! I think I'm on fire! I think my skin is smoking...."

Then it hits me, while I'm fighting against my Benedryl coma, whoops... forgot to turn down the blanket....

The Benedryl musta kicked in and I never got around to turning down my side of the blanket. Meanwhile, D is hotter than hell and can't figure out why. (by the way, it's 2AM...) he turned his side of the bed off hours ago and is still burning up... not knowing that I conked out with my side still set to "inferno".

I'm baking, basting, something... on my side of the bed. I literally start wafting the covers to let out the heat that's trapped - I'm THAT hot. I start panicking... "Oh my god - will this melt our patented Swedish memory foam developed for NASA??!!!"

Never fear, gentle readers.... out Tempurpedic is still intact. But I now have legs like Christy Brinkley and a permanent tan from the neck down!!

My New Favorite Christmas Song

I'm having an issue getting the video to embed.... so you're just going to have to go to the link and watch it. But believe me - it's worth it!!

New Favorite Christmas Song

Habits

Ever notice a habit you have and wonder where/ when/ why it started? I was in the shower this morning, shaving my legs and noticed I do something odd.


Well now, if you're a longtime reader of my blog there's no questioning when or why this habit started.


October 6, 2007


If you haven't been reading that long you must read here and brush up to understand what I'm about to explain.

I'm shaving, got my leg propped up on the wall in front of me and reach across my body with the razor to rinse off the blade. While I'm rinsing I find myself cupping my exposed "girl" with my left hand.

Really.

It doesn't take me 2 seconds to process what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I stop and think and realize I've been doing this... oh... probably over a year now and just now realizing I'm doing it.

Now I have a million other weird and funny habits. Not many of which I could probably explain the wheresits, whatsits, whysits, howsits and such. I do them just because I've done them that way forever.

But this one... this one I know why.... funny how we adapt...

Two of us couldn't figure this out...

Several months ago we had lightning hit our building. (did I blog about that? I can't remember...) Anyway it required us to purchase a new color printer as it fried our old one.

The color printer I'm referring to is a networked printer for the office. So it's medium sized, with big honkin', expensive ink cartridges and such - not some desk job that each of us probably has next to our home computer.

So about 2 weeks ago the printer started telling us it was about time to replace the black cartridge: "order black cartridge". Thanks for the heads up HP! So one day I catch CB and RR standing over the printer with the lid up messin' with the cartridge trying to compare the cartridge CB ordered with the one they're going to replace. Something is totally amiss. (apparently they've been standing there quite a while too...) The reordered one doesn't look ANYTHING like the one they're about to take out. So I stand there for even longer trying to see if there's anything I can contribute to the situation.

There isn't.

So CB calls the office supply place, explains the situation and they tell her:
1) you don't need to replace the cartridge when it first tells you, it will stop printing when you must replace it. Wait until then - and
2) we'll come over with the correct cartridge - something must be wrong with what the delivery guy dropped off - we'll fix it immediately.

Great. Office supply lady comes over, confirms what we have has the correct reorder number on the box but the product in it is NOT correct (how that happens I'm not sure), takes away the wrong product, drops off a box with the correct reorder number. We think we're good to go.

So today apparently by boss needed to print something in color. We (me and CB) find him going back and forth, irritated at the color printer wondering why it won't print. Ah ha - the black cartridge must have finally pooped out. dun-dun-dun-da!! (insert superhero music here...) Never fear - CB and I will take care of this!!!

I go to the printer, open the black replacement cartridge, open up the top of the printer and lo and behold - it's the same WRONG FRICK'N cartridge!!!

WHAT??!!

Anyone can tell the cartridge coming out is much smaller than the one they keep telling us to put in. We've checked the reorder numbers a million times the last time this happened. We're POSITIVE we have the correct numbers - it's right here in the HP manual!!!! What is it that we aren't seeing??

Then it hits me.

If this is the black cartridge, where are all the color cartridges located? Because all I see when I lift up the top is this one cartridge.

CB and I pause.... thinking....

Frantically, in tandem, I start flipping pages in the manual and she starts looking on the side for a way to get to the inside.

As I find the page in the manual, she finds the magic key. Like I found the location of the pirates treasure on the map and she found the actual treasure.

The whole front of the printer drops down, revealing FOUR FRICK'N HUGE CARTRIDGES!!!!

black
cyan
magenta
yellow

Huh, how 'bout that.

I reach in, grab the top cartridge, pull it out. It's the same shape and size as the cartridge we've been saying all along "isn't going to fit"!

Sure it'll fit - IF WE PUT IT IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!!!

This whole time we've been taking something out of the top of the printer, thinking it was the black cartridge, when in fact, it wasn't.

We still have no idea what it is. I can't find its description in the users manual.

The office supply lady clearly doesn't have a clue either because she thought we were right all along too.

So - when buying a new piece of office equipment it helps to read the WHOLE users manual... not just reference it for the reorder numbers for the ink cartridges....

duh....

Why I shouldn't multi-task

The other day I called a colleague and while the phone was ringing I decided to email my husband some info before I forgot. You know me, if I didn't email D right at that moment I'd get finished with my phone conversation and what I needed to tell him would have vanished into thin air never to be thought of again. (No, really, I don't have ADD. I've been tested.)

So while I'm emailing it appears my colleague, Cari, is not in the office and her voicemail message begins. Great! more time for me to finish typing! The next thing I know I hear a beep.

me: Hi hon. It's me.

long pause. wait. momentary lucidity lapse... what am I doing? am I typing to D or am I leaving him a message?? SHIT?! I'm typing him an email! Who the hell's voicemail is this? Shit!! CARI!

me: Oh my God, Cari... sorry. I didn't mean to call you 'hon'. Sorry. (my speed of talking proportionally increasing with my embarrassment) I'm so embarrassed. I'm typing an email to my husband and got confused. Oh, never mind. Sorry. Oh my god. Call me back.

Lucky for me Cari is the sort that would find that funny. Still embarrassing on my part, nonetheless. Next thing you know I'll be ending work phone conversations with "love you". You just watch...

I'm slackin'

WOW! I'm slackin'. Sorry folks. I would say lots going on... there is and there isn't. I'm just going to work, the usual grind, ya know? But no funny stories to tell. I haven't gotten caught pickin' my nose, my pants haven't fallen around my ankles in public, no one's mistaken me (again) for a 40-something-year-old...

I've just been working. And it's not even really been fun lately. That's really just about it.

It's sad, really.

So I'm still here - I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I just don't have anything to share at the moment. When I do I will.