going to out on a limb here

but I am gonna say that as long as I don't wind up in a neurosurgeon's office with David my birthday tomorrow will be totally awesome and better than last year even if I am working retail x2 tomorrow.

I hope the porridge is just right

one job is entirely too hot the other too cold...it'll be a miracle if I don't come down with pneumonia this holiday season

some days it's like working for your grandparents

the music is too loud
the music is too rock 'n' roll
the music is too weird......
did I mention I work at a record store?

what happened to fun field trips?

you know a museum, a ball game, the zoo or an amusement park? 5th grade field trip is to a place called Biztown, it's a Junior achievement thing all the kids get jobs & work for the day...um won't they be out in the real world getting jobs soon enough? or as David pointed out being "wage slaves"
C piped up that this would be fun and I told him I would write that down and remind him in 20 years when he was getting up & going to work everyday!

back to the grindstone

it's David's first day back to work! It's time and he is much improved of course I am still concerned but he has reassured me if he did not feel ready he would not be going. It still kinda makes me feel the way I did on C's first day of school. While I hated the circumstances it was kinda nice to have David around the house more, convenient for Christmas break& snow days plus he had been taking C to swimming & basketball as well as frequently having dinner cooked by the time I got home!

I am grateful for my job

truly I am I swear:
I am grateful to get a paycheck every two weeks.
I am grateful for an employer that lets me work sometime unconventional hours so that I can be in school or I can fetch my child when he is early dismissed from his school. They are also okay with the infrequent times I have to bring him along to hang out for a shift.
That being said one of the few perks at getting stuck working on Saturdays was the fact that absolutely no one else was in the offices working, just me except somewhere along the way the owners have started working on Saturdays disturbing my peace and quiet and it makes me very cranky very cranky indeed!

weekend what weekend??

-C has a basketball game in the morning
-I have to work 5-6 hours tomorrow
-homework and lots of it needs to be accomplished
-grocery shopping
-laundry
-a little house de-clutter really needs to happen
-we have current plans that involve foot ball watching most of Sunday at a friend's house
and I am not even going to begin to discuss my Christmas tree which yes is still up

snow day

yeah not really for us growned ups but the kiddos are out of school. I would love a snow day comfy & cozy in my pjs but David & I will fall back to our snow routes and go to work together 'cause you know what icy roads I don't like 'em never have even when I lived in the land of real snow-yes I am a snarky northerner when it comes to snow and you know what the only difference is "they" clean the streets all of them an generally really well so you aren't trapped in your house. Luckily C will get dropped over at MIL for snow day at her house which I am sure will entail lots of video game playing. I guess we should get this show on the road!

almost like clockwork

I am a buyer for a stored have been for many many years now. Each holiday season one of the owners takes note of what other similar stores in other markets are selling in their gift guides & online specials etc and inevitably I get a cavalcade of emails asking hey what about this? should we carry this too? why don't we have this stuff? and the ever popular look at this....
And inevitably every single solitary flippin' year if he would take the time and look at the merchandise in his own store there would be no need to send me goofy emails a point which I make to him every holiday season but sadly it's a point he never actually gets!

Christmas is how many days away??

crap now I am doing pretty okay in the gift buying department but hell the tree is not decorated, the yard isn't either, cards have arrived but I have not even begun to start envelopes, there are cookies to be baked, rum cakes to be made, cheer to be spread...damn I do not have enough time in my day 'cause I have a ton or stuff backed up at work not good product needs to be on the sales floor so it can sell, have a ton of school work due in less than 2 weeks including 2 exams, several social events are planned and then the big belated birthday weekend in Atlanta the very weekend before Christmas. I am tired just thinking about it all..maybe I'll go to bed now and gather strength for the coming weeks
I should really add Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year always has been even working in retail I love this season..I would really like to be able to enjoy it once in awhile because at this rate next time I blink it'll be Valentines Day

signs of the times

-trade show seems lighter this year with many vendors foregoing the show all together
-the sales rep I use to spend the day with I spent all of maybe an hour with this year
-the penny & nickel slot machines once hidden in the back corners of the casinos are all over the place and very easy to find

not really a commuter town

I grew up in a commuter town with the majority of folks including my father commuting each and every day 50-60 miles each way, all our Dad's did it was not exactly exciting or news worthy so it has always amused me the perception of distance that so many Knoxville folks have. The cool & trendy (insert tongue in cheek) view South & North Knoxville as the place to live and well West Knoxville pack a lunch it is sooo very far away East Nashville if you will hmmm come to think of it I have some friends that fit that description too...my daily commute under 20 miles each way not exactly at the far ends of the earth

Sunday randomness

-dear neighbor who always leaves your garbage can at the curb I have once again resisted the temptation to knock the can over..is is so much effort to walk it to your house and then back down to the curb once a week...like all the rest of us do?
-dear lady in the grocery attempting to shop with 4 kids in tow thanks for reaffirming my decision to only have the 1
-dear parent who was no where in sight while your 2 boys were acting stupid and running around in the grocery maybe you should have stuck with none or maybe just control the 2 'ya got
-does it not figure meet the teacher day would be on the afternoon I will be out of town? not that 2-3 in the afternoon is a golden time for me anyway... much thanks to MIL for being able to pick up my slack
-dear work I do regard having to come in for an hour long meeting today as ruining my entire weekend. I have been at this job for over a decade and then some these meeting tend to be the exact same meeting no really the exact same meeting. and trust me they stopped being fun when alcohol was banned several years ago

the mark of a crappy vacation

coming back to work more stressed and cranky than when you left...
more on all of that later I have a pile of junk to dig through that is even worse than the pile I left which is no small feat I might add

which is worse

-my co-worker watching this dvd at lunch
-my recognizing the film at first glance
or
-the fact that I saw this movie in the movie theater back in the day
you be the judge

just a day

a rainy kind of lazy but also kind of productive Saturday. I had the benefit of not having to go into work (um yay!) but David did and so the alarm went off at ugh 5:15 this morning. I got up made coffee and the decided what the hell I am going to back to bed and did, luckily remembering to set the alarm so I could go get the kid from his sleepover. Sleepover being a total oxymoron in this case. After pickup we headed out to do some clothes shopping and even after swearing up and down that all C needed was shorts and a belt he wheedled 3 new shirts out of me as well. We then went and finally spent some of the gift cards he got for Christmas on a memory card & a new game as well as a new watch & I warned him the alarm had better not go off at 3 in the morning or the watch we be so gone. The kid is notorious about playing with any watch, clock or in fact anything with a timer so it goes off in the middle of the night not waking him of course just me & David. We then hit Five Guys Burgers finally and well hell yum great burgers and loads of fries. It'll be added to our repertoire I am sure. Then swung by grocery to pick of a few things and home again C played video games and I managed a little cat nap and some mindless magazine reading. David came home and we enjoyed a little pasta with clam sauce for dinner-thankfully we still had a bottle of wine to enjoy! caught up on Bill Maher, managed some laundry in between it all..it has been a good day.
now tomorrow on the other hand is going to suck as I have to go to work at 3 to do inventory I hate inventory I would rather have my appendix out than work inventory

woohoo spring break

gee spring break was a whole lot more fun back in the olden days when it meant I had a week off. While I have no school this week all that just translates into I can work complete days during week and have next Saturday off...of course my dream of a weekend off not so much as the dreaded inventory is scheduled for next Sunday! It just figures doesn't it?! I'll save my diatribe on just how much I hate doing inventory for next weekend.

the bestest cake in the whole wide world

carrot cake seriously. I have no idea who first thought hey let's shred this vegetable and bake it in a cake but sheer brilliance I tell you. I freakin' love carrot cake but not with nuts & raisins that just mucks up the cake. Who needs all that crap in their cake? in my trail mix or yogurt fine okay but leave it outta my cake. And believe you me me carrot cake without the nuts & raisins can be difficult to find. The European bakery I worked out in high school may have made the very best carrot cake ever. Well they made the best cakes ever anyway but the carrot was my favorite, although the mocha was good and this another cake I have never seen or heard from anywhere ever again was a furstpuchler, don't know if that is spelled right but it was a yellow cake with layers of chocolate, strawberry & vanilla butter cream an layer of pineapple preserves and maybe raspberry preserves with a hard chocolate shell. I take that back I found it in a cafe in Mainz Germany but made with ice cream instead of butter cream.
So over all the bake sale at the school carnival tonight was pretty crappy a surprise as the bake sales over at the Primary school were always pretty amazing. Perhaps if they were a little less concerned with having an International flair they would have had a better showing?! I made my spice cake & a basil swirl bread which was a new recipe & looked good, so good I might have to make us one this weekend, after I buy another rolling pin I could not find ours and rolling out dough with a soda can is doable but not so easy.
Right the carrot cake C decided he need to buy something to bring home to daddy and he settled on the carrot cake and I am glad he did it doesn't have nuts & raisins...yummm

wanna see the Features play??

they are playing at the Disc Exchange tonight at 5!
information here

monday monday again

the new year bumps slowly along and today starts the first full week at work in what seem simultaneously feels like forever and not quite long enough. Tomorrow C starts back to school and can someone explain why it makes more sense to start on Tuesday instead of Monday have they not been off long enough? School for me starts on the 15th why a Thursday? who knows? What I do know is my school schedule will have me working on Saturdays which I am not looking forward to but I have to keep focusing on the end game and remember this is only going to get more difficult as I progress ever so slowly towards nursing school. hopefully.