9 posts from October 2007

How are you celebrating Halloween today?

Well, I'm starting off the day with work. I'm hoping my sister and little guy make it down here and he decides to wear his Halloween costume. He's a skunk and it's adorible. I hope I get to show him off to my work friends. My sister is excited about getting a tour so it kills a couple birds with one stone.

I'm a little leary how tonight is going to go. See, we tried to get Nathan to wear his costume last night and he flat out refused unless he was going outside. He's been testing boundaries lately to see what he can get away with. It's weird that it's already happening at 2 and a half but I guess that's when it starts. I'm already tired of it and not expecting to have much patience with the constant screaming of a bossy and stubborn 2 year old.

Deep breaths, one instance at a time.

Once we got the costume on him he was very cute, although very confused. He thinks he's a bee. He buzzes around all over the place. I'm not sure why he thinks he's a bee other than his costume is mostly black and has lots of padding that makes him look round. However, it has a fluffy tail and white stripe down the back. It's very cute and hopefully he'll wear it. I'll post pictures of him when I can.

We will probably go from friends house to house and get candy. I don't think we'll walk around the block. Most of the houses stop at 7 serving candy, which is sad to me. I can remember it being around 10 or so by the time I was done and I lived in a big city compared to this small town.

So wish me luck that he will wear his costume!!!

So, I've been looking and looking for a good idea for a Halloween costume for my husband. See, he doesn't want to dress up for this Halloween party we've been invited too and I don't want to miss it. Oh how lovely it is when opposites attract.

My first idea was to get chicken stickers, or even small stuffed chicken animals and put them all over him. Then he'd be a chick magnet. Clever eh? Well, where do you find chickens on short notice? I don't know. So my quest continued.

Wrap him in tinfoil and call him a leftover? No...too much waste and not comfortable.

Cereal Killer? No. Not enough time to eat the cereal we would need.

And then I found it...

He's going to wear normal clothes with a sign that says "Nudist on Strike".

Perfect. Now to find something for me.

It all started a year ago when I bought my car. See, after the first rainstorm my car had been though there was a muddy residue on the windshield. I went to get it off with the wiper fluid and alas, they had forgotten to fill my car with fluid before I had driven it off the lot. So, I needed to remember to get wiper fluid.

Here's the problem with that. Have you ever noticed that windshield wiper fluid is always strategically placed on the way OUT of the store? Not on the way in so you think "oh good! I need that!" or even on an endcap so you always know where to go...no. It's always located on the way out of the store right next to the door. When you see it it's too late and instead of thinking "Oh I need that!" you think "Damn it! I'll have to get it next time".

Can you imagine the thousands of people who are thinking the same thing I am! All the dollars that are lost because every store thinks this is the best way of selling windshield wiper fluid!

I'm sad to confess that this month my car and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary and I have yet to get windshield wiper fluid for my car. It's not the money, honestly I can afford the dollar fifty it would cost for a gallon of the stuff. However, it's the fact that it's located on my way out of the store that makes it an issue. Why are you selling me things after I've already paid! But I digress. Hopefully some fellow voxers will share my pain and we can raise our voices to the retail floor planners of America and get this sad situation changed. It's not only harming us as consumers, but them as well for all the dollars they lose by us lazy people who will not turn around just to put another $1.50 on our bill.

I happen to work for a pretty awesome place. They allow me to take a day and go to a educational seminar if I see one that I think will be benificial to my job. So, being new in HR I decided to go to one on HR essentials. Though I've learned a ton in the 6 months I've been in the position I thought it would be good to hear it from another source and see if we're missing anything.

Alas, hell decided to open and send Satan himself to lead this seminar. O.K. maybe I exaggerate a little and he's not Satan himself, but definatly a minion.

This man told us not about HR essentials but his life story, his hatered for politics and global health care, Mrs. Clinton, and even a racist joke or two. Yes, this was indeed an HR course and this man opened up his mouth and said "if we gave $5,000 to everyone who had a baby could you imagine all the latinos? They'd be rich!"

Did he just say that?

Yeah, he did...along with some other really choice references to how he dislikes young people in the work place (yeah, that would be me retard!), thinks women need a confidance boost in order to get the competitive edge on men, and yell at the hotel manager about not being exactly 70 degrees in the room.

It was an interesting day. Red Lobster for lunch was the best part...although what could have competed with that?

Show us your Halloween preparations.

HalloweenHouse02

Spooky right? OK, It's cheesy but it's fun.

Ugh. I love the fall but I hate the season change. It's just a weird few weeks of 80 degrees and humid one day and 40 degrees with high winds the next. This makes for a horrible time of sickness around our house. Our 2 year old was taken to the emergency room yesterday with a 102 degree temp. He has an ear infection and strep throat. Cheese N Rice that's frustrating.

This especially sucks for my sister, who out of the kindness of her heart (and not wanting to deal with my parents any longer), came down to help us out for the next 6 weeks. My daycare provider is out on maternity leave and we needed help pronto. She came to our rescue. Within 3 days of her arrival, Nate is sick and she gets to stay home with him. She says she's alright with it but I feel really bad. No one wants to stay home, in the house all day, with a 2 year old sickling.

No matter what they say.

It's so hard walking away from him when he's so sick and just wants to cuddle with mommy. He's just fine at home with my sister but it's not me. I remember being sick and no one but my mom would really do. Makes working this week just that much harder. I'm glad things are going well at the office or this could be tragic.

I'm going to make some hot chocolate in the break room and hopefully heal my scratchy throat.

What are your top five favorite cooking seasonings? 
Submitted by skip.town.

Alright, so I'm a little biased, but I love these seasonings for cooking.

These are the best seasonings you'll ever try. Their extracts are AWESOME too. Go here to order: www.watkinsonline.com

Yummmm!

In honor of World Teachers' Day today, tell us about a teacher who had a positive impact on your life.

I was actually thinking about this the other day. I've had some really great teachers but one that sticks out is  Mr. Berg. He wasn't my favorite teacher. He intimidated me quite a bit. I never felt like he thought I was smart enough for any of his classes. However, he did teach me how to dance.

Yes, this does sound a little crazy. Not something that a math and history high school teacher should be doing. However, he thought dance was an art form just like a painting or a song. He taught us how to two step, how to waltz, how to electric slide, and much more. Dance days were always so much fun. Some days he would open up all his classes to dancing and it was one big party all day long. If you were lucky enough to have more than one of his classes or had a teacher who liked you enough to go play in his class for a while then you could spend all day dancing and not be sent to detention. It was pretty cool.

Why do these things have to happen? In a world that is already so cold with crime and political scandles, gang murders and child molestations...why do the bad things continue to happen at what is supposed to be the happiest times of our lives?

My co worker and friend lost their baby this weekend. He lived all of 12 hours. She had complications during the pregnancy but things seemed to be alright. They induced her on Friday and she had the cesarian Saturday. He lived just long enough to see his mom after her recovery.

I didn't go full term but I lost a baby. I can only imagine how much more it hurts after you get to meet them. Giving birth is supposed to be such a natural thing. Women are built to have babies...it's what we're programed to do given our primary animalistic nature. We're told, over and over, how beautiful it is to be a mother. However, realistically it's one of the most endurance testing, walking on eggshell, mind engulfing things you ever have to do.

This is the second friend I've had to lose a baby after full term. Most of the women I know have lost a child due to miscarriage. I have family who can't and never will get pregnant. So much for being "natural" and "part of our nature".

Yes. I know I'm being negative and dark. Yes. Everything happens for a reason. Yes. I get that eventually things will be alright. They're not alright today. They're not alright for my friend. They're not alright here at work today. Everything seems so minor compared. Everything seems like a dream.

When things like this happens you're not supposed to dwell or you go crazy. You can make yourself sick thinking of all the "what ifs" and "How comes". I'll do my best to not go there. I'm glad I can hide in my office today and I don't have any meetings. I sound so selfish...as if it happened to me. I wanted things to go well for her so badly. I don't think there is anything worse than wanting a baby so bad, and not being able to have one.