SHADDIE...from what I get out of your rant...it is called a paid in-house vacation. Good on you for good work ethics.

CHELLE...who is your friend that is coming from CA? I am being nosy...male or female? hehe

MELLIE...dad is loving having bro and SIL there. Someone to talk to and hang out with...lol. Bro and dad went to the computer store on Sunday, one of dad's favorite things to do. Then they stopped at a chinese buffet. He loves buffets. I personally do not go to buffets, I cannot get pass the part where other people linger over the food I might eat. GROSS! and people I do not know...YUK!

CEEG...feeling any better today?

Hello to all the lovely ladies in our worldlie life!!

Loves

LMAO MELLIE....and it is only 29 days till spring!!

Not much is new on this end. I'm still sick but better.

Shad
Good for you in your work ethics. Sometimes that's how I feel but as of this past week. I'm trying my best not to do anything. They call this a babysitting job and that's what I'm doing is babysitting.

Annie
Yes I'm getting better though I don't sound like it. I'll be glad when I'm free of this infection.

Mel
I can't wait for Spring. It's almost here. Glad you are having a good week. We all deserve that.

--------
I've decided that I'm talking to human resources this week end about an incident that happened over the past week end. This incident broke the camels back.

Morning all. Tuesday and back to work.


Patty – I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. Praying that his scan today shows that the cancer is not widespread and can be treated effectively. Come back with an update when you’re able.

Happy – Ick, hate being in smokey places and reeking of it afterwards. Soooo glad IL has the smoke-free laws now, but there are still house parties that are a challenge. Sorry your feet are still in such pain – I too was hoping that stopping that job with so much on-your-feet time would help. :Re the steaks – we got them from the butcher and instead of picking them ourselves, bf told the butcher to pick the ones he’d buy for himself. Well, he just picked the two closest. They all looked good and not very different from each other…but from now on I’m sure we’ll choose them ourselves, and pick the ones with the most marbling. Yeh, after stopping at the giant Goodwill store yesterday (and leaving emptyhanded), I decided I liked the little thrift shop I usually frequent. Just more pleasant and fun to shop there.

Shad – No, it’s not stupid or crazy or old-fashioned to actually want to be doing the job you are paid to do. Of course it would help if they knew and you knew what that job is. Sorry you’re being so severely underutilized and being left to feel so useless. Moving on sounds better because nothing seems to be getting better there - they will keep extending contracts month-to-month and it could go on and on – sounds pretty awful. Good job on the swimming! I’ve never been much of a swimmer, but I will probably wish I were when the aches and pains of old age have me seeking gentler ways to exercise.


Mel – I watched an episode or two of Monarch of the Glen a few years back and thought it was entertaining, but I don’t see it airing anywhere now. Might have to see if the library has it…I think I just have one more Downton episode to watch – the finale. I’ve watched everything that I dvr’d on our own tv and feel guilty that I haven’t touched the library dvd, at all, yet I haven’t returned it to the library for others to enjoy. :blush: Hey, looks like you’re soon going to have just about all the Worldlies on board the Downton train!!! I suppose with the storms you’ve gotten out East everyone tries to be more prepared. Not a bad thing. LOL re that last graphic you posted…how true.

Happy – My folks had a pontoon boat. They didn’t live all that close to where they kept it in the water and they didn’t want to trailer it around, so it didn’t get much use. The one time I was on it, it was comfortable and pleasant. It could be used for fishing too, right? As long as you think you’d get use out of it, it sounds like a fun thing to have. Is your dh eager for a brand spanking new one, or would he look for a “pre-owned” one? I should imagine used ones are plentiful with people eager to move up to a bigger and better version...

Michelle – Sorry you didn’t get to do the doggie playtime session. Nice to have a visitor from “home”. Do you have anything special planned for the evenings? Hope your divorcing friend finds a place to stay – it would be nice of you to be able to help her out until she can afford a place.

Annie – Glad you enjoyed your belated valentine's meal. And as usual, you're busy as ever. Glad Chris can do the painting on C’s house - you're way too busy to do it all sister! How nice that you’ll have a tenant you know in the house!! That’s the scary part of being a landlord, right? But I guess knowing the last tenant, C’s daughter, didn’t make a lick of difference. But this’ll be different, I’m certain! Re tea – I do like chai latte a lot (or should I say "a latte", haha), but I find the syrups like the ones the coffee shops use to be too sweet for me. I’m still trying out all different brands of chai tea bags, and I might venture in to one of the Indian supermarkets one of these days to buy some of the spices and make my own chai concentrate.

Ceejay – Nice of your boss to pick up your pin for you. I sure hope you’re getting better, I just hate when an illness lingers. And taking all those meds, and then those make you feel crummy too.

===
Yesterday's holiday was alright. Bf and I went out to breakfast at a little diner first thing in the AM. A bit later in the morning, I went out and did a bunch of errands. It was nice and sunny and mild in the AM and when I was out in the yard with doggy briefly, I turned around to find him rolling on his back on the grass. Later in the afternoon when I took him for his walk, it was overcast and began to rain halfway through. And after that, it became cold and really windy. Yuck.

We had a bit of snow this morning, no more than a dusting, but enough on the sidewalks to make me slip twice and slip and fall once. Grrrr. Not a good start to my day.

Might go to the movies tonight to see one of the Oscar-nominated movies, "Amour". Supposed to be very well done, but also very difficult to sit through, so I'm on the fence.

There's an all-employee meeting this afternoon. Not in the mood to go, but no excuse not to.

Okay, back to work.

Ugh. I was hoping that his gf wouldn't be moving out for awhile, because I like that my ex and I have been able to be friendly to each other and don't want her to throw a monkey wrench into that. I just found out that my ex is flying to CA on Friday and will be loading gf's stuff (and ex-DMIL's furniture) into a moving truck and the two of them will be driving out to WI. They should be here by Wednesday or Thursday (2/27 or 2/28).

Oh well, I knew this was coming. Hopefully, she'll be able to be civil to me (since I'll still be dropping Santa off at their house daily). And hopefully I'll be heading west in a couple months so that I don't have to deal with her for long.

Hey there,

Geez - I went to bed terribly late this morning. I have to stop this. Will probably have to Zzzz-Quil myself tonight and go to bed earlier and get into a better routine. It's just that I'm not tired at 3am. I will say that since I have been following my own body clock, I am getting a more restful sleep. I think it's because I get a better sleep between 7 and 9am and when I went to bed early and got up early I was missing the most restful REM sleep?

It's sunny and cold out there. We got a light dusting of snow last night. It was too pretty to happen when it was so dark because it was the light fluffy stuff that is pretty to watch. Not enough for DH to fire up the snowblower tho. I hear him scraping the deck outside. We got a thin layer of freezing rain before it started to snow and I think it glued itself to the deck and pavement.

My foot really hurt me bad yesterday - doc is going to have to do something more drastic. I did assemble a bunch of papers I needed to go through and sat at the dining room table with my feet in the foot spa while I went through the piles so I was at least able to get something productive done. I hurried to assemble the trash for pick up and changed the bed clothes but did not do laundry or much of anything else that required standing. I saw some shoes on QVC the shopping channel - Orthaheels with built in orthotics. I know they make everything "As Seen On TV" look amazing but I looked up the shoes on Zappos dot com and they have several styles in shoes and slippers and all were given very high reviews. They especially talked about pronating feet and getting back to a neutral position which is what I need. Zappos has a fantastic return policy so I bought a pair of slippers and clog type slings to try out. Right now I can't tolerate anything much other than my Crocs or my winter boots so I'm getting desperate. There is a boat show in one of the towns outside of here starting tomorrow that we were going to check out - I hope my foot calms down enough so I can go.

Michelle - so is ex-DMIL coming to live with the ex permanently? Sort of ironic that both of you are cross countrying to be back with family again. I just can't imagine his new/old girlfriend moving in with him AND having the mom in the house. I mean it's one thing if you were married for a while like you guys and Mom comes to stay with you. I mean by then you are settled in and can work around the disruption introducing another member into the household can cause. Let's see how long that relationship lasts I hope for your sake that she can be civil about this because he has been helpful in many ways and like you said it will only be for a few more months - might as well help each other along. (Tell her it's part of the divorce agreement and you both have to avoid stress for the "kids/dogs" )

Laura - yes you can use a pontoon for fishing but a fishing boat is better. He's thinking pontoon because it would be easier for me to get in and out of. He does not want to be stuck on one body of water - we have so many up this way so we would not dock it but would trailer it instead and he agrees that if he went fishing by himself it would be too awkward to maneuver the pontoon by himself. I'm not so sure I'd like fishing but I would enjoy the boat rides. We talked about looking at used boats but some of them he saw at the dealers looked like they had dents from improper docking and there is always the fear of someone mishandling the thing and problems later on. I wouldn't mind a used boat if we knew someone treated it like we would. We had the same experience with the butcher picking out the most convienient meat or worse, picking 2 steaks and you seeing others that you would have selected on your own. If you frequent a place and get to know someone, then I'd ask for their opinion. And sometimes you luck out and get a good person who actually will pick the nicest stuff for you so don't give up. Are the casinos smoke free in Illinois now? Been over 10 years since we went to them. Seeing how all of ours out this way are Indian Reservation casinos, I think they are exempt from state and federal laws so it will probably be the last bastion of smoking here. We are smoke free in restaurants and bars here. Be careful outside. I looked at the weather last night and saw a warning up your way that rain would change to ice as the temps dropped suddenly.

Ceejay - I will give you one piece of advice I learned too well. Think carefully about going to Human Resources because unlike what everyone thinks - they are NOT there to protect the employees. They are there to protect the company from being sued. And some times the employee can be a victim twice. Or they are ineffective and you just bring unwanted attention to yourself. And a few rare times they are helpful. Just think about it before you make your decision.

Mel - loved your sign today The "You Made Me Be This Way" was an incident back in the 80's that I carried through my life. I was running a Help Desk. We had this manager Mark at work who was most onery. But I liked him and he liked me. He was a straight shooter who called things like they were so you had to appreciate him for what he was even if you didn't like it. He was trying to get something simple done and was mired in some gawd awful corporate red tape. I did agree that it was way more complicated than it had to be but my hands were tied. He was getting more and more frustrated and finally burst out with the "Just remember that YOU MADE ME BE THIS WAY" so don't go hollering and rolling your eyes because of my reaction. I laughed and agreed with him and I have used that phrase often in my life to explain what would seem like irrational behaviors. Another favorite phrase is "I guess he/she forgot to listen and or care". I just wish I'd written alot of this stuff down for my book. I almost spit my coffee out laughing about the idea of sending the most PITA seniors out on the pontoon boat for a long ride. That would work. And you probably want to change your chair leather from a dark color to a light one as the sun is quite intense here and would heat up the chair (and stress out the leather). Most pontoons have a sun canopy but like our patio furniture with the umbrella - as the sun moves about in the sky, so does the shade so I can't always promise you'll be covered up. But you will ALWAYS have a cool, refreshing drinkie

Annie - Lil Man is eating cheeseburgers already? Geez I guess he's not an infant anymore. Growing up while I'm not looking. I would imagine you'd be a fast packer and would not have alot of crap in your desk drawers. Good for you for being on the move. I can imagine Dad will be happy having some company. That's a good plan for brother to move into C's house to free up Dad's. At least you can get rid of one place.

Shad - did you calm down enough to get a good night's rest? I think you need to part ways with this crazy place.

Patty - when will you hear more about your dad's diagnosis?

Sat here long enough. Need to get off the computer. Have a good one ladies.

Sorry, not feeling up to posting today. Will be back when I get my head together.
Probably Friday, when I go home.

Think I have made a big mistake and now I am feeling pretty low. Trying to decide whether I want dinner or not now.

GOOD MORNING EVERYON

DOING LAUNDRY. ONE IN HE MACHINE RIGHT NOW.
NO NE IS EVEN ROAMING AROUND THE HALLS.
HOPE I GET DONE BEFORE ANYONE DOES!
ALL IS WELL IN MY CORNER OF THE WORLD.
NOTHING TO REPORT.
HAVE A GREAT DAY




ANNIE.....I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT BUFFET TABLES LIKE THAT BEFORE.
GOOD THING I CAN'T GO OUT ANYMIORE:"lol3:
GLAD DAD LIKES THE COMPANY.
JUST WHAT THE DR ORDERED.
28 DAYS NOW!!!





CEEJAY....HOPE EACH DAY UOU FEEL A LITTLE BETTER
GOOD LUCK IF YOU DECIDE TO TALK TO THE hr SEPT.
HAD A LAUGH AT THE "BABYSITTING" JOB




LAURA....WAIT TILL YOU SEE THE FINALE. THEN WE CAN TALK. LOL
THE MONARCH OF THE GLEN HASN'T BEEN ON LIKE IT WAS.
BUT I DID SEE ONE EPISODE SOMEWHERE...NOW I FORGET WHICH CHANNEL.
IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
I LOVE MIDSOMMER'S DREAM....GREAT MYSTERY SHOW.
DID YOU END UP AT THE MOVIES???
THIS SNOW IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH....AND BONES!
I TOLD JEN THAT'S THE BEST PART OF HAVING THE CHAIR.
I AM NEVER IN THE SNOW!! BUT I DO MISS IT A BIT.




MICHELLE....WITH THE GF HERE, THERE WILL BE BETTER CLOSURE.
NOTHING LIKE REALITY TO SLAP A GAL OUR OF IT.
YOUR NEW LIFE WILL BEGIN VERY SOON. FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT



HAPPY....THE STORY OF MARK IS TOO FUNNY.
I CAN JUST HEAR HIM YELLING THE LINE.
WISH I HAD KNOWN IT DURING HURRICANE SANDY.
I THREW A HUGE YELLING FIT IN THE LOBBY AT 3 PROMINENT MEN.
THE AIDE WITH THEM MELTED INTO THE WALL BEHIND THE MAYOR.
HE DOESN'T KNOW ME OR WHAT TO EXPECT.
I COULD HAVE SAID IT ALL WITH ONE SENTENCE
I STILL USE THE ONE ....APPARENTLY YOU MISTOOK ME FOR SOMEONE WHO GIVES A CHIT.....PEOPLE LOVE IT.
SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE FOOT.
GET THE INJECTIONS AND GIVE IT A CHANCE BEFORE THE SUMMER COMES.
IT WAS INJECTIONS RIGHT?? NOW I FORGET. LOLOLOL ANYWAY....GOOD LUCK




SHAD....SO SORRY YOU'RE FEELING DOWN.
IS IT SOMETHING THAT CANNOT BE UNDONE?
HOPE YOU HAD DINNER AND A GOOD NIGHT'S REST.

SHADDIE...sending you happy thoughts a feel better good vibes. Today is a new day and better things will come to you.

BRB

Shad - Sending you much love and hugs and good vibes. As Annie said, today is a new day. I hope whatever is making you blue can be turned around. I'm feeling like I made a mistake about something too (and no this doesn't involve my divorce), and I'm not sure how I can turn it around gracefully.

Happy - Yes, ex-DMIL is living with my ex now. And since the GF is selling her CA house, I guess this is serious...and I really hope they all get along. When my ex and I first moved in together after dating for 4 years, she moved in with us. It was an adjustment, but it worked out great. Hopefully it will work out even better for the three of them.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. Lots to get done.

Much love and many hugs,

Happy
You are probably right with me going to HR. Think I needed to vent about it and my boss/friend let me do that. I will be talking to the supervisor some time in the near future abaout this incident though. He could get into big, big trouble if he keeps doing this. Sorry that your feet are bothering you.If you order those shoes let me know how you like them. I may get some. I've been lucky with the Easy Spirit brand shoes.

Michelle
Hm ex's mother is moving in with him and with gf in tow doesn't sound to much like a winner to me. Guess we'll see if this will work out. I'm not sure if it will.

Mel
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. Kinda like that it's quiet. Sure hope my day is quiet.

Laura
Lucky you in that you had President's day off and got a lot of errands completed. That's what I'll do tomorrow.

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We have a winter storm advisory in effect until tomorrow. Supposed to be an ice storm. Am not looking forward to this at all.
Nothing else is new.

Morning all.

Ceejay - I'd have to agree w/ Happy re getting HR involved. They often only make things worse. Glad you were able to vent with someone. So we're both tired of winter by now. We're getting a storm that'll start sometime Thurs into Friday. This isn't welcome.

Michelle - The ex didn't wait long at all after the ink is dry on the divorce papers to get the gf out here. Okay, that sounded unkind. I do hope everything works out alright because both the gf and the xdmil have sure traveled a long way for their moves. I'm not sure I ever knew - did you move to WI to be close to the ex's family or strictly for a job?

Shad - I hope things are looking better now, or rather, that you're having a good sleep and it will look better when you wake up.

Mel - Hope you can finish your laundry in stealth mode!

Happy - I was flipping channels last night and saw one of the shopping channels had the Orthaheels sandals, funny coincidence. Sounds like your foot problem is more serious now than what a shoe can handle, well for the pain, for sure. Hope your doc can help - sounds like it's time for a cortisone shot. Re smoking in casinos - yeh, I'm pretty sure there's no smoking in IL casinos. I recall there was a big fuss about the smoking prohibition - about how they would lose so much business, blah, blah. Boo hoo.

Patty - Any news re your father's diagnosis?

Annie - How's it looking for Friday's move? I know you're ready - is the new space ready??
==
I'm out of sorts for a number of reasons today, but I guess one of the reasons can go away for now, since a meeting got cancelled, or postponed I should say. I suppose I'll be grumpy until Friday - bonuses will be paid then, and the weekend will be near.

I didn't go to the movie last night because it was at the theater that was far from home, and it wasn't starting 'til 8:00, and we know that means 8:15-8:20 after all the previews. And the movie was over 2 hours long, so it would have been too late of a night for me. And I've heard critics say the movie ("Amour") is very well done, but very difficult to get through and that they'd never watch it a second time. It's a story about a husband who cares for his wife, who's had a stroke. So I'm sort of glad I didn't end up seeing it.

Still haven't watched the Downton finale, and I better do it soon because I'm worried about spoilers!!! Maybe tonight!!

Bf made chili last night, but he got a late start so I had a smart ones for dinner. Tonight I might make some more of the middle eastern lentil soup. I have a different recipe to try.

That's about it for me. TTFN!

Howdy chicks,

Shad - I am sorry that you are feeling a bit blue. I hope it was not a true mistake but maybe just a blip in judgement and perhaps not as serious as you are feeling at the moment. to you - hope a good sleep finds you able to take a deep breath and think things through.

For those who have commented on their keyboards acting wierd when they do a post, look at the smilies when you think things are goofy. If they move erratically I'm blaming it on the ads at the site. When that happens I copy my post, open a new browser window (refresh does not always work) and paste my clipboard and start again. As others have commented, I only have problems with this site.

Laura - seeing the Orthaheels on QVC is what got me interested in them. They had the open sandal type on the show - Zappos has several styles. I got a clog slingback because sandals really aren't a good option here both because of the weather and the ticks in the grass in the summer. They are supposed to be delivered today - will let you know what I think. And yes, right now an orthotic will do nothing to help the bursitis pain in my foot, but I still have the problem of pronation which this should help with. Sorry you missed the movie but I think you made a wise choice avoiding what could have been a very late night. So you're not up for BF's chili tonight? Might be better tasting the next day although chili tastes are so personal, hard to get both to agree on the same flavorings. I take my chili melted with Velveeta cheese and scooped with tortilla chips. Occasionally that is. Are you watching both season 2 of Downton and Season 3 at the same time? That might be confusing.

Mel - we'll be sure to get the upgraded cable / satellite package at the commune so you and Laura can keep up with the British programs. Then you can explain them to us As for snow, we'll just give you a big bucket next to your chair and you can lob snowballs off the deck. Don't worry - we have you covered. I think the Sandy Storm would be the perfect reason to use the you made me be this way phrase with all the chaos. Yell to get their attention because you are SERIOUS people!!!

Ceejay - saw that you might have some really yuccky weather coming through. Hope not. Would rather get buckets of rain than ice. Be careful. Glad you were able to vent about the work situation.

Michelle - now that you've changed your name do you have to go through the whole hassle of changing everything in your life? At least you changed your name legally. Back in TN 2 of my coworkers got divorced (actually I was the only person on the whole team who had not been divorced) however they didn't change their names at the time. So later on when they wanted to be known as Madame X, they couldn't change it at work because their social security records were still as Madame Z. You are probably better doing what you did.

Annie - plodding through the day and packing dust. Hope things are going well for you.

I think it's time for some lunch. Have a good one chicks. to those who need a little extra lovin' today.

Ceejay - I don't know if things will work out for my ex with his gf and mom living together. It worked fine for me, but there was some occasional tension. Not my concern anymore...even though I do care a lot about my ex-dmil.

Laura - We moved from CA to WI because we were both laid off during the dot com crash.

Happy - Once I get the divorce paperwork back from the judge (he had to review it and sign it after the hearing), then I'll go to DMV, and Social Security and get everything changed back to my maiden name. Then to the bank and credit card companies, etc.

Sorry that I don't have time for personals...lunch break is over.