No Tea, Just Work..and Spoilers

Second day back and I think I am finally adjusting to the fact that no one will bring me afternoon tea at 4 and there will be no cookies awaiting me at the top of the grand staircase. Now, if someone could just tell my stomach. Between the growling pain and the intense pollen-induced burning in my eyes this day is quite long.

Perhaps it is causing me inability to focus. Since I was able to catch up on my tv shows last night and am now left with an overwhelming urge to read about Gossip Girl.  And of course read through the spoilers. And even more of course, share them with CareBear. Now I have managed to distract both of us. Whoops!

I guess it wouldn’t be such a big problem, were I not under a pile of work making it appear that i was gone for a month rather than a day. Stupid Spoilers, oh how you taunt me.

 

 

Spas, Horses and Romance

So I did not train a falcon, although I probably could have if I wanted to. Actually, I think we probably could have done anything we wanted to. While my honey hasn’t quite gotten the pics online quite yet and I can’t like to them. Let me say that the website to the Greenbrier does not do the place justice. Not only is it more beautiful , more serene and more elegant… the pictures do not capture the feeling. Picture the movie Titanic, as they walk into the ballroom and the ship changes from broken down and sunken to the most luxurious ship (or however they described it). That was what this place felt like. The main house/ mansion was extravagant in itself but the fact that it was also nearly empty – save the dozen or so staff members waiting to help you at every turn- so it felt like we were alone most of the time.  

As if just being there wasn’t enough, there were so many activities to choose from that I decided Peanut had to go train himself. We went to the spa each day, toured the famous bunker , ate atop the golf course, sipped tea in the afternoon, toured the grounds on our trusted steeds and enjoyed a relaxing carriage ride. It was amazing. I really felt like one of those 18th century noblewoman who made the place their home…. well except the noble thing and those really painful looking hoop skirts.

And while I can’t pinpoint my favorite activity, I can pinpoint my favorite moment. Sorry ya’ll but it was my anniversary so I’m gonna get a bit mushy. After our 5 hour drive to the grounds, we were starving and ran to the golf course to  get something to eat. We were both hungry and tired and so excited to be there and ordered what sounded like the most amazing food ever at the moment and relaxed. While my honey ordered himself a cup of french onion soup -my favorite back in the milk eating days– he received what can only be described as a pile of bubbling cheese with some soup under it. While it was very good, there was a bit too much cheese even for my Norwegian mouse. As he sat there carefully picking through the cheese in an attempt to find some onions, he suddenly exclaimed I found a patch. Then he asked if I would like a bite.. and since it was food, i of course said yes. So he fed me his soup and pushed away his bowl… to which I said why did you do that. He replied that was the last of it. And I looked at him and said well then why did you give it to me. And he simply shrugged looked at me and said, “because I love you,” just like that. It was like living one of those old lifesaver commercials.

Anyway, a good time was had by all but sadly I am back in the present day , where there is apile of work waiting for me…seriously.. I was gone for ONE day!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

I’m Gonna Train a Falcon

So before I get into why and how, let me pose this question. When you’ve just sent 7 emails to the same person with 7 different requests all marked urgent and with the same deadline of 2 hours from now, do you ever stop and think.. “hmm, how the hell is she gonna manage that.”

And thus why I will be training my new pet falcon to search and destroy. His name will be “Peanut” and his talons will be mighty. OK, I’m not really gettign a Falcon named Peanut but I may go learn how to train one this weekend. My husband and I finally decided upon a destination for our 5th anniversary getaway. As we had to abandon all hope of Europe for the time being for fear that the all-mighty dollar will kick our all-mighty asses into poverty. Stupid weak economy!

But alas, we have an alternative fit for a king. We will be headed to West Virginia, which until my good pal Pithy located for me, I had no idea existed beyond bad jokes. However, it turns out the lovely state is home to one of the highest ranked resorts: The Greenbrier.

Tonight I will be packing, tomorrow I will be driving and by Saturday I will be training Peanut to attack. I can’t wait.

Maybe I came back wrong?

Having once again gone through a Buffy marathon, as I do pretty much every time I have the chance- Its a sickness really- I noticed a theme. After her friends pulled her back from her brief death, she continued to mumble “I think I came back wrong.” I’m starting to think maybe I did as well. Although, I wasn’t dead, I have been having some issues for the last couple weeks. Perhaps even though I made it to the other side, I made it wrong. Things just seem off lately. Not with everyone mind you- but save my hubby and a few other folks who still seem to be on my side. I feel like some of the others may have fallen off the thisgirl bandwagon. Problem is, I don’t know why.

And sadly, I kind of need some of my more support-y folks right now.  With granny legs in the hospital and the mass exodus at work, my stress levels are a bit through the roof. Feeling utterly disconnected right now is probably some sort of crazy side-effect of everything I guess.

But at least if I had some idea what the deal was I could try to fix it, but alas, the best I can come up with is I came back wrong.

Sorry about that…

I have been horrible about writing lately but perhaps it has been the whirlwind of activity in the last few days.. or it could be the more obvious just waiting for wordpress to put spell check back. Regardless of the stalling , here I am armed with a week and a half of events. For those of you who have been reading you know that the last few weeks at work may or may not have been traumatizing. The arrival of my long awaited hope was short lived. Flashback to last Monday if you will. Starting a brand new week, fresh and ready for work, all of last week’s drama behind me, I arrived at work. As the day progressively began to look much like the previous miserable week, it took on  a whole new misery of its own. As quickly as my hope came to me, my hope was leaving. As she broke the news to me that just one month later that she realized she needed to leave, I was happy that she wouldfind somewhere that better fit her. Perhaps I took the news better than the fearless leader with whom I have had my own not -so-fun encounters. This was worse, I could see him physically shaking as he heard the news. Ok well it was an hour later – but he was still shaking! And with that she was escorted from the building.

As the morning’s activity died down and we all got back to our daily routine. It occurred to me there was a bigger and more anxiety ridden departure that needed my preparation , my husband was going home for a week (actually 10 days.) So I went and got my cute remember me things together to send with him to his hometown in Norway so as not to forget his wife loves him and misses him. So armed with 4 greeting cards carefully marked with days of the week on which they should be opened, I headed home.

Two days later, our department had all settled back down from our latest loss, well all but me. My workload which had thinned upon the arrival of the new cutie and tripled upon her departure. Not only did I get a supplemented version of my actual work, i got her work which had also been augmented to justify two people’s attention. Mother F^&*^r.  And more importantly I have to take my man to the airport and leave him for ten days. This was not going well. But, after a teary see you in a  week, I arrived back at the office(well a teary goodbye and 2 hours of traffic) to make my load more manageable. And all had settled down.

The weekend was fun. Many hours of entertainment, not to mention sangria and empanadas, with the little blonde midget and the Sheppardess. New hair, new clothes and many long distance minutes later it was Monday again. Did get some bad news about my grandmom, who has been in the hospital for the last few days- she’ll be ok. She’s a tough little lady- plus the evil keeps her young.

Monday morning. Again I promised myself new week, better days right? Well right indeed, the doubling workload is obviously only one of the many issues I have been having here in the land of the paychecks. Repeated run-ins, which I am not even entirely sure by what they are being caused, with a particular individual had taken its toll on this fun girl. Leaving a rather bitter, extra bitchy, non-princess like shell. Well Yippee-Kay- Yay Mother F&(*&r, no more wicked witch! And as an added bonus both Bones and Gossip Girl were on last night!

Now if we could do something about the boy being gone still… sigh six more days..  

Oh and on a very sad note, this earth day marks the 19th anniversary of a family friend’s death .. as well as the 19th anniversary of the first (and only) time I saw someone die.. creepy huh? We miss you Ben.  

Good food, Good friends, Good service- Well 2 out of 3

Despite the insane amount of cake I ate yesterday in preparation for CareBear’s birthday, we managed to make it out to our dinner fun.  As the birthday girl and I sauntered into our most favorite restaurant in all of DC, Chilli’s of course, we realized it was a packed house.  So, as our favorite booth was occupied, we made our way to the bar to sit and wait for DC’s newest semi-goth resident, our very own Fibonacci …seriously Count has nothing on you :) We were in luck, two minutes left of happy hour.. and happy we were!!!  We were even clever enough to dodge their up-selling prowess, “would you like some wings..um no .. duh” And in an amazing twist in what promised to be a series of luck for the evening, our booth opened up. Flying across the room, leaping over tables, charging ahe….ok whatever so I walked, we secured OUR booth. Unfortunately, our booth was strewn with its previous inhabitants food and drink. Eh, still ours!

Suddenly a text came in, “I am around the corner”. Yay, the numbers didn’t throw our little genius. As she sat down, we looked at our table and realized – hey no one’s cleared this table, then at our watch, and it’s been an hour.. hmmm. And then our eyes were drawn to the neon flashing light. Free Wings! They were free, we had not thwarted the attempts of the mean capitalist pig?? What’s going on here. As we sat amidst free wings and cleared tables, we began to see that we have been mistaken about our luck. At that moment , we beckoned to our server, um can we order? Turns out they mistakenly thought we had eaten and finsihed and were juts taking up one of their limited booths. As she rushed away to go bring us food and drink , we three princesses relaxed and enjoyed our first night out together in  forever. Despite the turmoil , it was a fabulous birthday feast for CareBear- wingless and under a pile of other people’s dirty dishes-but happy.  

In other news, if I don’t stop eating so much. I’m going to explode. Mom just stopped by bearing a surprise present for my husband and food.. lots and lots of food.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Carebear. Can’t wait for dinner tonight.. despite the fact that I just ate half a cake.. I think I’ll go die now.

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Scrab-u-suck

I’m a writer, I know big words, I can spell ( although I can’t type) so why am I so bad at Scrabble? It’s been my shame for years. I am horrible at Scrabble… not too mention most other board games and word games. My most recent embarrassing encounter was at least somewhat lightened by the competition. I mean, CareBear and Elvira are tough but really anyone can beat me at it. It just never lines up for me. From a series of horrible letters to bad placement, my scores just don’t cut it. BUT, I pledge to try harder, do better, actually go when it is my turn if you guys are willing to try again.

This day has not started well and is threatening to get worse so I will continue later…

Crazy Voicemail Fun

I just spoke with my mother who believes I am cruelly and secretly taunting my callers. If you are fortunate enough to catch me at my desk, bully for you. However, for the 99% of other callers, as is dictated by my profession, I must leave an alternative means of contacting me. So I offer those in need of speaking to me, my cellphone and email. As my voicemail clearly states, you may feel free to try me on my cellphone. It says nothing about me actually picking it up. It also very sincerely states that you should go ahead and email me, it in no way indicates I will respond to you just because you’ve emailed.  My mother has convinced herself that it is some kind of sadistic game I play. I have no idea what she is talking about. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go change my voicemail message to say “nope not here either but nice try.”

And………………..Yay, it’s Friday, it’s sunny and I hear the thing to do this weekend is picnic with the Cherry Blossoms.