Fantabulous Friday!

Fridays are generally good. All of them. It marks the end of the work week and the start of the weekend. (and if you don't love weekends - I don't know you)

I woke up late today (hardly unusual) and didn't have time for breakfast. This is normally cause for grumpiness (I'm unpleasant when I'm hungry.) ('Unpleasant' is an understatement.) ('Understatement' also being an understatement.) but today I held my head up high because I had 4 purchases on iTunes just waiting to jump out of my iPhone and soothe my soon to be famished soul.

I'm also nearing the end of Dracula so there's that too. (I love that you can read books on the iPhone! How unacceptable would it be if I had a full on book at my desk; A book with pages to turn and stuff- my wherewolf *ahem* Supervisor would have a field day!) (Full Moon Night?)

Actually, he's not very aggressive. You know how SpiderMan is like SPIDERMAN-all saving the world (or just New York City) and stuff and his alter ego is this weenie boy of a man Peter Parker? It's like that. Except in his case the whole dressing up as a WhereWolf thing is seasonal (as far as I know...or even want to know for that matter!) and high schoolers and middle schoolers...and grown-ups aren't always nice (understatement) to the minimum wage monsters...okay, he's nothing like any superheros just the weenie alter egos. I digress.

I knew today was going to be a particularly good Friday when there were bagels (BAGELS!) in the kitchen! I don't know about you but I love me some bread! And bagels? Num, num, num...

And have you been reading the blogs today?! Normally Fridays aren't the best day for the Blogosphere (don't you love how you can just insert 'blog' into anyword and make it blogworthy? Oh look, you can add it to words too!) (I'm a dork. I know this.) but today, today it seems like everyblog I've read is super funny and/or interesting! And make me want to jump out of my seat and shout "YES!" while pointing with a [toothepaste commercial sized] [or Mentos commercial] smile at the computer. (Not the "Bob" smile though-that's too much smile.)

I'm hoping that my debit and credit cards are waiting for me in my mailbox when I get home. Actually, I'm counting on it because of said iTunes purchases my Gift Card will not last the weekend...

A great jump off for the upcoming weekend, no?

AND it's not been cold as shit lately. (Icing on the cake!)

AND it's PayDay! Sweet Jeezus, the Gods are smiling down on me TODAY! Ooooh Weeee! (Most definately the cherry and whip-cream and chocolate syrup and nuts on the cake!) (With a side of Chocolate Malted Crunch Ice Cream!)

I gotta go buy a Lottery Ticket! Big Money coming my way! I can FEEL it!

2009 Trends stay the same...

A week and a half off work and now I'm back! No wait- who put that exclamation point there? Really, it's a sad face and a cry out for some drink! (Spike my Starbucks with Baileys please. Thanks.) (They really should sell shots of Baileys though, right!) Today is actually day 2 at work. I was here yesterday but I wasn't here yesterday, y'knowat am sayin'?

I was hoping (kinda-resolutions…) that I would come back to the office and a mountain of sweets to climb would await me upon my return to the IceCubey to help me cope. Sure enough it was Everest but with twice the cold and minus the sweet mountains. So I guess it is more Antarctica than Everest.

Clearly, the cold has affected my ability to think properly. But I can type with gloves like a Champ! Oh yeah and my floor heater died. I [repress bad memories and] forgot all about work [as soon as I walked out the door] (coulda been the copious amounts of wine too-either way.) and my dire need to buy a new floor heater.

IceCubey – 2, S. – -5 and [frozen] solid.

I'm considering changing the name of this blog to "The Little Eskimo" (nickname at home) or "Hell Froze Over, I'm in It" or "Typing With Gloves" or "Brrrrrrr!" or "Warm and Fuzzy Don't Live Here" or "FrostBitten and Bitching" or "Fighting the Frost. & Losing." or "Fu-fu-fu freezing" or "The Cold is My Kryptonite" or something….but maybe (please, Please, Pleeeeeeze!!!) things will change in the summertime? (I'm wishin. And hopin'. And prayin'.)

I did get my Christmas wish though! We've had the heater since Christmas Eve (at home)! Yay! AND I got a new blanket. So (at 74) I'm no longer wearing a beanie and gloves but I AM still wearing 2 pairs of pants plus knee high socks and a pullover a longsleeve shirt to bed. I'm pretty sure I'm cold blooded.

My New Years was awesome though. Hit up a couple of parties. Our designate [*cough* *cough* drunk] driver got lost. Maybe she was feeling lady luck on her side because we was headed toward the casino. Between us and the casino-(dark) desert; and after the casino-(dark) desert. (She caught on and found her way- no casino. More wine money for us!)

But then there was the spilling,

(I need to invest in a sippy cup.)

I did not fall.

I did not puke.

I spilled.

I even spilled (red wine) on my friends shirt. He now has a red nipple on his blue shirt. He wasn't drunk enough to go with my foresight that it would be the new trend of 2009. Nor was he for my idea to spill red wine

all over to make the rest of the shirt the same.

His loss. You just wait. It's gonna be a trend. I'm convinced. (I convinced myself.)

Wait-Is this BAD news? You're sure?

The company is cutting back. In a meeting yesterday we were informed that wages will be cut and yada-yada there will be cutbacks (just short of bringing your own TP to work).

WAIT! Hold the phones! WAGE CUTBACKS?! GTFO. The room is closing in on me.

Lucy! You got som splaining to do!!!

The company will be closing down for the holidays (From noon on Christmas Eve to the 5th of January) we will only be getting paid for the 2 holidays and can use our PTO time if we choose to do so.

Bad news? Sure my paycheck will not see 44 hours of pay. But it's all sunshine, sleeping in and silverlining from my starry eyed perspective. VACATION!!!! Yes. Pleze. Totally worth it.

He continues...workshare program. This is where our work week is cut to 32 hours a week. That's one day off everyweek. 3. DAY. WEEKEND!!! Woot! Woot!! Hello Peepole, this should have been done long ago! Really though. 5 days of work and 2 measley days off. Who's the stupid who came up with that Bad Idea? In yo face sucka! 4 days now. 3 days to play!

But that's not all. On that one day of the week that we are off. We get to collect unemployment. Sure, 8 hours of unemployment is less than 8 hours of work. But TOTALLY worth it! Did I mention that we'll be getting 3 days off a week? Just checking.

So after that terrible news I was smiling and skipping back to my desk from the meeting while the rest of my coworkers carried confused faces. I'm the math genius of the bunch. Clearly.

3 days off 32 and then a little hours of pay > 40 hours of cubey time.

No contest.

I'm Making A List...

Facts and truths.

(as I know them.)

• When you don't want to eat your vegetables hiding them in your pocket is a bad idea if they are not dry. (true story)
• Chopsticks are awesome.
• I think I'm addicted to Pumpkin Pie. Seriously. Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie. Lunch: Pumpkin Pie. Dinner: Veggies because I'm full from snacking on Pumpkin Pie.
• I like lists.
• 4 years of working in an office is killing my ability to sleep in. (It's Sunday and it's 9:30am right now. There is something terribly wrong about that.)
• Christmas lights are the best thing. But they should do they're little blinkity blinks coordinated-like. When one side of your house is blinking crazy, speed freak fast and the other side is all lazy eye. That's not cool. If you do this: You're Fired.
• Being witness to somebody's first taste of Wasabi is golden. Really though, why do they give out such a huge lump? It's so deceiving. And it looks like balled up Avocado. And they use Avocado in the rolls a lot. I think those Sushi Guys like to see people make a Wasabi mishap. Tricky fellas. Japanese are cool.
• I want to be a Samurai Warrior. (I watched Kill Bill. Kill Bill inspires me.)
• Cheating is still passing. (the lights on my 3-foot high fiber optic tree are coordinated)

Vacation. Vacation. How I love thee so much!

My 6 days off were awesome.

Our flight was at 6:30am on Wednesday so Tuesday night I (grudgingly) had to pack.

Hate.

Hate. Packing.

I tried to make the best of it so I put Michael on blast and dance partied it up! My mom and I were dancing it up and boogie-ing down! We had a blast! The packing, however…the packing did not get completely done. I was scrambling in the morning throwing ev-er-ey-thang in my suitcase that I could think of. (I did okay.)

Ontario Airport – dead.

An hour and a half layover at Houston Airport – dead.

Waiting in the Fort Meyers (FL) airport Chili’s for an hour – dead.

Biggest travel day of the year?

I’m thinking: no.

The media was mistaken.

Yesterday it was pretty busy though.

We had a Southern Thanksgiving at my mom’s boyfriends friends [vacation] home a few streets over.

Southern.

Southern accents. Souther food, complete with Greens, Fried Turkey (that’s right. That whole mutha effer was fried) and some homemade PeeCAN Pii. They were really nice “folks”. It was totally different from the usual T-day but it was way cool. And everything I tried (anything sans meat--I heard the Fried Turkey was mighty tastey though and I didn't try the pie--too full) was really good. (Fattening though. My ass did not appreciate this.)

We fished like everyday. I caught a Referee fish (read: Sheepshead but wtf, man! It was striped (last I checked sheep were fluffy not stripey, those fish namers are way animal planet challenged...and apparently there’s already a zebra fish so I called it a Referee fish) and a blowfish and a Blue Crab. Almost. The crab let go as soon as we (read: not me) was about to grab it. I saw it though, it was so freaking awesome and cool looking. I was stoked.

Fishing is fun. (And it goes hand in hand with drinking. Need I say more!) We fished in the harbor and it was totally Animal Planet live! We saw all kinds of fish (that we caught-they’re kinda shy), bunches of sting rays, different types of birds galore! It was beautiful and the weather was great. The last day it did rain and storm but it was cool since we don't get that much here in SoCal. And we saw a double rainbow. You can't beat that.

Flying Through Airports

Who said today was the busiest travel day of the year? LIES. ALL LIES!

S.

Sent from my [naked] iPhone

Vacation Rocks! But then there is packing. Ugh.

My flight for Florida leaves at 3:30 in the A. M. (AM!!!)

I haven't packed a thing, I'm supposed to be doing this now.

I'm a procrastinator. Watcha gon' do.

I know what my mom is gonna do. She's gonna nag me into packing and I will grumble. And I will gripe. I will yell, "I hate packing!!" about 18 gadgillion and 9 times (this is an accurate number) whilst I stomp through the house (because this makes packing easier.) (I'm a good coper). And I will grudgingly begin throwing random stuff in my suitcase about 2-3 hours before we are suppose to leave (so that I can get 1-2 hours of my 9 hours of required beauty sleep) and hope for the best.

This is a vacation ritual. (it sounds better this way ha?)

Packing has to be--no. Packing IS. BY FAR. the WORST. part about vacation (next to leaving vacationland and having to unpack and go to work. Talk about a kill-joy.) and it's pretty hard for the spirit to drop when you know vacation is just around the bend.

• 6 consecutive days of non-work. (YEA BABY!!)
• Friends and coworking hard-core hating because you get 6 days of non-work. (Bring on the hate! Give. It. To. Me! I'm loving it!)
• Busiest travel day of the year. Long lines. 5 hours of sitting with minimal elbow space. (Got the iPod on standby, I'm ready for ya! Vacation. Vacation! VACATION! Woot! Woot!)
• Packing.

**shutter**

Ugh.

I need inspiration. Vacation just isn't standing up to the dreaded packing.

This calls for Michael. P.Y.T, Thriller, Billie Jean...Oooo Weeee!

I'm off to stomp now. Let the stomping commence....

Ugh.

My First Stab at the Pumpkin

Okay so get this; I'm 23 and this past Halloween, my 23rd Halloween was the first ever Halloween that I carved a Pumpkin! 23! That's ludacris! (as in unbelievably shocking to go 22 Halloween sans P-carving! Not "Move, Get out the way" rapper: Ludacris)

So I mentioned it Monday to my Mom after seeing my 60-something year old uncle's carved Pumpkins. Tuesday Mom comes home with Pumky and a carving kit in tow (cue: aaawww) (overlooking that the previous 22 Halloweens there were no of oversized orange veggies let alone sharp objects to poke at them with. Overlook...check.)

I immediately flipped through the design book and settled on a design of 4 ghosts with top hats, it was some pretty advanced stuff but I'm 23 and I was determined; overwhelmed with excitement, stars in my eyes (so to speak. Kinda.) and I wanted to start off with a bang!

Once I was on to the actual carving phase eyebrows were raised when I was still deadset on the 4-ghost design. It was ambitious but I had my Pumky, my tools, my excitement and, I had my game face on.

About an hour or so into the tedious carving, the stars left my eyes and I was wishing that I had picked a less ambitious design, a simple and SINGULAR ghost design, no top hat just ghost.

I perserveered and finished what I started. My Pumky was a beaut! Magnifique!

I am now a (self-proclaimed) Pumpkin Carving Extraordinaire!! Seriously, I have totally busted out my Pumky pic to like EVERYBODY! Sharing is caring, right? And you better believe I made sure that all the 5 (literally) trick or treaters that knocked on our door admired my handywork.

So here is my Pumky in all it's glowing glory! My proof that I can, in fact, be trusted with sharp objects...

S.

Sent from my iPhone