Where has the time gone?

A month ago today we arrived in San Francisco for a week. It seems like a lifetime ago. And I now have a better appreciation for Tony Bennett's song about the city. We can't wait to go back. What a fantastic city. What a fantastic vacation. Here are only a few of my favorite pictures from the week.

Union Square viewed from high atop (okay, not really that high) Macy's at the Cheesecake Factory.




Sea lions at Pier 39! Say it with me... "Awwwww!"




Say hello to my little friend! A ray (manta?) at the Pier 39 aquarium.




*sigh*




*sigh*

I mean...

NOM!



We've decided that when (WHEN, dammit!) we win the lottery, we're definitely getting a place in San Francisco. And our friends and family are all invited to visit us there as often as they want!

Good news - I'm giving my notice tomorrow! I'm sure my boss will be shocked! Though we all know she shouldn't be. All the warning signs have been there for quite some time, I've even tried to talk to her several times about my grievances, but she didn't want to hear it. So, see ya! My new job will be as a payroll administrator. Going to start on July 7. I've got a good feeling about it. Let's hope it lasts a long time!

Well isn't that special?

The DaVinci Code was on the Encore Mystery channel Tuesday night, and since I didn't feel like playing Mass Effect or watching the Red Sox game (no, really, I feel fine), I decided to watch it. I thought it was... interesting... and decided I'd like to read both books. I went to ebay yesterday morning and plugged in the author's name, Dan Brown, and get this - 666 items were found. No joke! I snortled (you know, a cross between a snort and a chortle) and thought maybe I won't purchase them through ebay. Or I'll leave it up to The Man to pick up copies somewhere.

9 days to San Francisco! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awwwww...

I'm always wanting to make cards for The Man's niece and nephew. They're still very young and I know they'd get a kick out of them. I finally made myself sit down and make them each a card for Easter, and they're going in the mail tomorrow. No worries - they'll have them on Saturday!

Here's the card for his nephew. It's a CASE of a card a friend of mine found on Splitcoast Stampers. Love it! The last panel being slightly askew is getting under my skin, though. Knew I should've used a ruler to line them up.



Here's the card for his niece.



I'm not thrilled with how his niece's card came out, but after spending about 3 hours trying to come up with something, I just decided to keep it simple.

I hope they like them!

I planned to take a picture of the card we sent this past Christmas, but I couldn't find it! If I can't take a picture right away of something I've made, I always keep one card aside so I've got a template. It'll turn up somewhere. As soon as it does, I'll share!

Busy, hectic, crazy week. That's nothing new. My brain is fried, and I'm exhausted. Still feeling overwhelmed in English Comp, but know I can get through it.

And, we're both off from work tomorrow! His office is closed, and I'm taking a personal day. It's going to be so nice sleeping in tomorrow. The only plan we have so far is going to the Olive Garden for lunch. Being that it's Good Friday, I'm going to make that my main meal for the day. Well, half of the portion size will be my main meal! Their portions are ginormous. The only thing I know for sure that I'm getting is an Italian orange cream soda. Yum!

Not sure yet what we're doing on Easter. We'd originally planned to head to NY, but it just didn't pan out. Then I wanted to invite everyone out here, but Dad's not feeling great, and I wouldn't want him and Mom to be alone on Easter if my sister and her family headed out this way. So, we may head to The Man's grandmother's house for Easter dinner. Or I may just cook up the itty bitty roast beast I picked up at the grocery store today, make some garlic mashed potatoes, find a good veggie and have our own humble little Easter dinner.

I'm having a Tastefully Simple party next Saturday. I wish you two could make it!!! I'm looking forward to it, though. I've got 5 positive responses so far, and two maybe's because they might have to work. If you've never heard of Tastefully Simple before (I hadn't until my neighbor had a party back in October), check out their stuff here. Their beer bread mix is fantastic. And I love the fact that when someone orders something at or through a party, the order is shipped directly to them - it doesn't all go to the hostess who then has to dole it all out and deliver it. That's freakin' sweet.

Okay, so this was way too scattered. Good thing it's not being graded!

Valerie, you'll have my email shortly! :-)

She's Alive!

Lucky for both of you who read this blog, the course I'm enrolled in right now highly suggests that we journal on a daily basis. I'm not saying I'll be able to post every day but compared to how much I've been around here lately, anything will be an improvement. So, strap yourselves in and get ready for more excitement from the life of the mundane!

Okay, but really. HI VALERIE! I've missed hanging out at your place. I'm going to stop over this evening to say hello (not enough time right now - I'm on my lunch break, and still need to give the kittehs their treats before they revolt). OH! And thank you for getting to the bottom of the MASH game for me! Your investigation revealed that I did play it when I was young! I'd completely forgotten that's what it was.

So, yes, I'm still taking college edumacation courses. Right now I'm enrolled in an English Comp class, and am horrified at my beginnings. Turns out you forget a hell of a lot more than you think you did since high school. I can look at a sentence and know the structure is wrong, and fix it so that it looks right. However, this whole simple sentence, complex-compound sentence thing, along with proper adverb and adjective placement thing is going to push me over the edge. I talked with the prof last night and he gave me some really good examples that I wrote down in an effort to remember going forward, otherwise I'm going to continue to suck in this course. And that pisses me off, because I love to write. Between you and me, I honestly don't give a rat's ass if a sentence is wrong because it contains an out-of-place adverb that can be uttered only by the Pope during every other year that Easter falls in April. But for the sake of doing well in this course, I kind of, sort of, have to. At least the prof is cool. For once, a teacher "gets" me. Before our conversation ended last night, he thanked me for having a personality in the class forum, and in person. There are quite a few folks in the course who are pretty lifeless. I can't remember a single class forum discussion in any of the classes I've taken so far where any of the teachers or the other students "got" me. So thank you Senor P for your understanding, and for your own wry sense of humor. Hope my future holds more of your courses. I'll bring the Swiss cheese and mustard.

I had an interesting job interview last month that, if anything, made me feel absolutely fantastic about myself, my intelligence and my capabilities. It was for an Administrative Assistant position at a brokerage firm. Roughly 10 to 15 minutes into the interview, the guy told me flat out that he wasn't going to hire me. The reason? He said that between what I was telling him, and what he saw on my resume, I was going to be bored inside of a year and leave. He went on to say that I was too smart to continue doing admin work.

Wow.

That was a hugely refreshing ego booster. My current employer squashed that pretty quickly though. But I don't want to get started on my ire towards them right now.

The cats are starting to swing from the curtains. I'd best get their treats.

More later!

The 80's - my favorite decade!

A little trip down memory lane, survey style.

1. How old were you in 1980?
10

2. How old were you in 1989?
19

3. Were you a Toys R' US Kid?
You betcha!

4. Did you watch Transformers?
Nope.

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen?
Several times.

6. Did you own a Lite Bright?
Yes. That thing rocked.

7. Who is your Favorite Golden Girl?
Sophia.

8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?" you think?
GHOSTBUSTERS!

9. What was/were your favorite toy(S)?
Merlin, Simon, was Atari a toy?

10. Did you have a Pogo Ball?
A what now?

11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
Good God, no.

12. What New Kid did you have a crush on?
To this day I don't know who any of them are, and I'm okay with that.

13. Did you play M.A.S.H?
No... didn't know it was a game. I watched M*A*S*H on TV though.

14. Did you watch The Care Bears?
Sometimes.

15. Did you have Jelly bracelets?
Gazillions.

16. Did you own a glo-worm?
Nope.

17. Did you ever own a slap bracelet?
No. I didn't like them.

18. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles?
Awwwww, man. Do I have to choose?? Hmmm... Sixteen Candles.

19. Did you have a crazy hair style?
Not until I got that perm in my senior year. Holy crap. What was I thinking?

20. What was your first bike?
A little red tricycle!

21. Name one thing you still own from your childhood?
I've got my huge Bear Bear that my brother gave me, the koala my parents gave me (and who is currently residing with my parents), and a little trinket box my Mom's best friend gave me when I was really, really sick. Okay, that's more than one. Get over it.

22. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Kid?
Never. Those things were, and still are, creepy.

23. Did you dress like Madonna?
Uh, no.

24. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
Strawberry Shortcake.

25. Did you watch Miami Vice?
Every Friday night at my sister's house, without fail.

26. Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
Yeah, I wore them once. Those things suck.

27. Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
Yup. It had a picture of a couple of very cute gray tiger kittens on it.

28. Atari or Nintendo?
We had Atari. Frogger ruled.

29. Did you play Pac-Man?
That's what we played when we weren't playing Frogger.

30. Which was better:
To this day I've never played Nintendo, so I have to say Atari.

31. He-Man or She-Ra?
Yikes. I'll pass.

32. What movie scared you the most?
Alien (I know it came out in 1979, but I didn't watch it until 1982).

33. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson?
No.

34. What Is The First Thing That Comes To Mind When You Hear "Flux Capacitor"?
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit."

35. What other colors did Pepsi come in?
Clear. And it was gross.

36. Roger Rabbit Or Howard The Duck?
Roger Rabbit!

37. Did you ever beg your parents to have your school picture taken with the 'LASER' background?
No.

38. Do you know what the Ninja Rap is?
Awww man, now I'm gonna have nightmares about Vanilla Ice. Jeez.

39. Do you know why people cringe when they hear the word BUCKNER?
Oh yes.

40. Can you name the family members from National Lampoons Vacation movies?
Clark, Ellen, Rusty, Audrey, Christie Brinkley, cousin Eddie, Aunt Edna, Lasky, Roy Walley, Uncle Lewis (Christmas), that's all I can think of right now.

41. WallyWorld or Europe?
WallyWorld! WallyWorld! WallyWorld!

42. What was your favorite movie from the 80's?
Anne of Green Gables (the 1985 version in which Anne is played by Megan Follows). Love, love, love, love, love that movie.

Best. Super Bowl Commercial. Ever.

Oh, and by the way -

GO GIANTS!!!