The best compliment of my life.

Apparently, my honey was talking to his good friend who I hadn't met yet, and trying to reassure him that he and his wife would like me. (We were all getting together for dinner.) He told his friend, "If you don't like Cheryl, there is something wrong with you."

That made me cry. Sometimes it is hard for me to believe compliments about myself.

Working in Fangs

Work did the Halloween thing today (big party) so I threw on my Vampire outfit for the day. Let me tell you how fun it is to work in fangs! I have a good set, the kind that you get molded to your eye teeth and they look and feel real.

I was in a meeting with my boss, and she started laughing and told me she couldn't talk to me seriously with me grinning at her with fangs on. LOL!

Just got back from dinner out and I'm so glad it's Friday! It looks like NJ/NY is a go, but we haven't sorted out the details yet. I'll probably be going the week of my b-day. That will be weird!

Modern Family

OH. MY. GOD. The new show "Modern Family" is totally freaking nuts. I was laughing so hard I was choking on my spit. Anybody watching it?

Okanagan Beef

Late dinner. I was craving a Philly steak sandwich, and with the meat I have now, I made a good one! I have one third of a fresh steer from friends in the Okanagan (hence the mention in the previous post) and I swear meat from the grocery store will forever be crap now! This meat is absolutely delicious! No hormones and weird chemicals, it is so flavorful. It needs no seasoning! It came all neatly packaged and flash frozen. Had to get an extra freezer. There is enough meat in there for an army! Won't be going hungry anytime soon. PETA eat your heart out! Haha.

Mental Day

I stayed home from work today; I just couldn't do it. For the last 30 hours I have been relaxing and recouping. Lots of resting. You can only burn the candle at both ends for so long before you collapse. But I know my limits. My boss sent me a really nice email, and the dogs love it when mama is home, they don't leave my side. My sweetie bought me pizza and gave me meds. The perfect combo! There may have been talk of me not working in the future. I'm not quite ready yet but retreating further into the mountains (with satellite internet of course) does sound really nice. Perhaps about 20 acres of land in the mountains somewhere with a custom-built house surrounded by the most beautiful landscape? OK! I don't know what the future holds, but I certainly have paid my dues. You don't wait for life to happen; you make it happen.

Brownie Batter

I was a little down today, so I made some brownies. Some people eat ice cream, I make big batches of gooey brownies with chocolate chunks in them. Then, I stick my finger in the mix and eat half of the batter before I even put it in the oven. Somehow, I get it all over me, too. I have some sort of problem. I'm not messy with cookie dough, so WTF?

New Bling

OK, now that I'm done with all the poop-scrubbing, here is a picture of the fabulous bracelet "R" brought me back from Hawaii. (My coworker.) How sweet is that? I love her. Also, my boss called me from NJ yesterday and said I might be going out there next Sunday! More to come once I know for sure, but I can tell you this, I will spend one day eating in, and photographing New York City. Come hell or high water! I hope this trip goes forward, I've never been past the West Coast, and I need to expand my horizons. New York is on my Bucket List, too! It would be so cool to get to go for free, too, I just don't want to get my hopes up, and then get all disappointed. I don't do disappointed well, as you all know.

20 piles of runny poop.

OMG I just woke up to 20 piles of runny poop. (Maggie has the shits apparently.) I almost stepped in it. Then the toilet backed up and overflowed. Then I puked.

It has been a SPLENDID morning.

Dinner & a Movie with Mom

I made it home. Barely. Thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel. Went out with mom tonight and had prime rib, went shopping and then went back to her house and watched "Along Came Polly". I love that stupid movie. I don't know why that tired me out so much, but it did. Now I am going to hit the sheets and fly off into dreamland. So, until tomorrow my blog peeps, sleep well.

Straws and camel's backs.

I bottle things up, and then I let things go. Then, one day, I explode all over you with hell's fury. I can only take so much bullshit until I tell you how it is. That was work today. Then I get a bunch of condescending crap and people trying to say I can't handle stress. It is not stress, people. It is anger. AT YOU. NOT the same. If only they KNEW how much crap I've put up with and stress I've endured in my life. What I can't handle is incompetence, arrogance, laziness and people's PERCEPTIONS of reality. I get so damn sick of judgmental drama. Just get the fuck out of my face.

Sometimes I really hate people. No wonder I like dogs better. I guess what gets me through times like this is knowing who I am. If I was having an identity crisis, I'd really be in trouble. I have my good points, but I also know that once I get to the breaking point, well, it isn't pretty. I'm very direct and I don't mince words. Many people aren't ready for that, especially since I'm mostly calm, collected and usually the comic relief. I deflect with humor. I'm tired and I've been working too much. I think it's time for a break. Like it or not. Let's hope it isn't someone's arm.

No Ideas

I have no freakin' idea what to blog about.

You've heard enough about me working, you've seen enough of my weird jewelry, and I'm sure if I take another picture of my feet or head, you will stick something sharp into your eyeball. So that's where I'm at. Blah. Nothing. Food? It's been all fast lately. Mood? Serious and focused. Yesterday I wanted to crack skulls, some of my coworkers across the country need a kick in the arse. I'm thinking of hanging a noose in my office as a Halloween decoration.

I'll post more later when I can think of something to say. I have to go eat my Quarter Pounder with cheese now, and I don't want to hear about it. My ass is going to be the size of Texas if I don't get it together.

VP Love

Wow! I just got a personal email from the VP thanking me for my hard work and long hours! (I've NEVER been the recipient of an email like that to just me! VP's don't normally do that.) She CC'd my boss and the director. Weeeee! I feel special.

Working From Home

More work, work, work, except I just got kicked off the VPN. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

The best things about working from home are the puppy dogs lying next to me, and not having to wear pants. Got a big pot of chili cooking and the house smells delicious. I haven't eaten anything yet today and I'm starving. The smell is killing me, and it won't be ready until 3.

Something is wrong with me.

It is bad enough that I have no life outside of working really, but when I work all day Friday, into Friday night AND THEN KEEP GOING until 4:30 am Saturday, well, you start to wonder about yourself. Now, one of my coworkers went to Hawaii last week and I was given impossible deadlines, but I can't believe this is happening to me. I am becoming one of those people I never thought I would be. When I was younger, I remember stupid things happening at work and someone would say, "Screw it, it's not like we're curing cancer here." HA. Now I can't say that. That is what my company is actually trying to do. So much for excuses! :-)

So, I slept all day and am all turned around. I went to bed at 4:30 am, got back up at 9 am and had breakfast from the Sultan Bakery, then went back to bed and slept until 4 pm. I'm totally screwed. This is worse than jet lag, NOT that I would know what that is like because I've never been out of the Pacific Time Zone. Fuck I'm pathetic.

I just ordered a pizza. For the second time this week. So much for healthy. I have about 50 unwatched DVDs sitting here and am trying to decide which one to watch. It is a party, I'm telling you. The dogs even abandoned me last night around 2 am and went to bed without me. They are confused. I have "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock here to watch, but I'm thinking something like "Woodchipper Massacre" might be more appropriate tonight. Hehe.

Native American Jewelry

A friend of mine's mom is Native American, and she made me this beautiful necklace and earrings. The pictures don't do them justice of course, but the bead work is amazing. In the picture of the necklace, it looks like a photo in the middle, but it is actually a rock of some sort. It's swirly! I love the word swirly. Swirly!

A New Kind of Tired

I have found a new kind of tired. A kind that goes beyond no sleep. I don't know how I drive to work some days. It must be autopilot. At a certain time of night, things get blurry and fuzzy - even with glasses on. Things are getting that way right now and I promised someone something for work tomorrow. I can't do it. I hope I can get up early and get it done because I am a woman of my word.

 
It would be so much easier to be a lying, unethical slacker. Damnit! Some say I push myself way too hard, but that is who I am.

Insomnia

2 am. Awake. Neat.

Fall has arrived.

It looks like a tornado ripped through the neighborhood. We are having a nice little windstorm, and of course it is trash day. There is trash EVERYWHERE, rolling cans, knocked over fences, and tree branches and shrubbery. The dogs are non-stop barking. Which is nice. UG. They are pacing the perimeter of the house as if they are protecting me from monsters, it is kinda cute. My little ankle-biters. Actually, Louie has huge teeth and can snap a bone in half, not your usual "little" dog. He is a little tank. I'm so worried about him though. Did I tell you he has something wrong with his spine? I noticed him wobbling a little on his back legs one day and took him to the vet. They did the thing where they flip the paw over and see if the dog flips it back, and he didn't! It is nerve damage. (That was the day I sobbed at the vet.) They have him on pain management meds and some kind of powder that lubricates his joints, and he seems to be doing well, but I see him deteriorating from the puppy I knew, and it KILLS me. I'm not going to handle this well, I can tell. He is fine for now, though, and I HAVE to concentrate on that.

I don't know what to do with myself tonight. I don't feel like watching TV, I am NOT going to work, and now I've blogged. What do I do? Clean? Pffft. Maybe I'll read.

Appreciate the Little Things

I'm not going to post the pictures I took of the house I looked at. The house was great, but it is not reality for me. At least not right now. It is a pipe dream due to my sordid past. I simply can't afford it at this time. The backyard was HUGE, a wooded forest was its neighbor. I could put TWO pools back there! The dogs would be in rolling Heaven. The master bath had a beautiful big soaker tub and two sinks. I can barely fit my toothbrush holder and the soap dish on my master bathroom counter. It had a fireplace with a mantle that I could decorate with pine garland, stockings and candles at Christmas. I have no fireplace. All stupid things to you, I'm sure, but it seems so luxurious to me. It's the little things I appreciate, like tile in the front walkway. It's OK. Some day. I'm just going to be happy with what I have for now.

That makes me think. Appreciating the little things. Let's make a list, shall we? You can contribute to the list too, if you like.

Things I appreciate:

1. When someone says something nice to me, and they actually mean it.
2. When I smile and someone smiles back.
3. When my favorite foods go on sale.
4. Those rubber thingees that help you open jars. (Ever since I fractured my wrist, I just have the hardest time with that.)
5. An unexpected surprise. (The good ones, not like when you get in your car and it won't start.)
6. When my dogs pee OUTSIDE.
7. Candles that burn ALL the way down to nothing.
8. Baristas that care about their job, and therefore make the best coffee.
9. Watching something nice happen to someone.
10. Someone with a good sense of humor.
11. Reading a good blog post, there are so many of you out there!
12. When someone appreciates me back.
13. All the people who listen to/read my B.S.
14. Good memories.
15. People who comment.
16. Good cheese, good wine.
17. A good antivirus program that doesn't slow down your computer.
18. Fast internet connections.
19. When someone knows when to leave me the hell alone, and someone who knows when to not.
20. A coworker in a good mood.
21. Great hand lotion.
22. Fiesty people.
23. Fiesty dogs.
24. A heart in the right place.
25. A hand in the wrong place. (Sorry, couldn't help it.)
26. A good massage.
27. Good conversation.
28. Good meat.
29. Bending the rules.
30. Aleve.
31. Taking a chance, and it being worth it.
32. When someone believes me.
33. When someone believes IN me.
34. Naps. Naptime should be mandatory in the workplace.
35. When a man takes control of the situation. (You know, in a good way.)

Things I DO NOT appreciate:

1. Verbal jabs.
2. Waking up and stepping in some sort of dog mess.
3. A half-assed job.
4. People who can't get over themselves.

3 things

1. The movie 2012 comes out the day after my birthday. It's like they made it just for me! I see shit like that in my dreams. It doesn't make for sound sleep. I can't wait for it though! And John Cusack is in it! Bonus! He is such a cutie. I'd marry him. I don't usually like high-action type films, but this is an exception because it is the whole doom's day thing, and you know me and global disaster stuff. Shut up, some people have more bizarre hobbies than me.

2. I'm going to look at a house today. I am thinking I want something with a little acreage. I have to stay in this state for now because I don't want to leave my job, but I'm sick of being on top of neighbors. I'll take pics.

3. I was thinking about getting a small tattoo that says "CrazyDogMama" because I will forever BE CrazyDogMama. The lettering would be gothic-ish and in black and red. I would put it in a low profile place. I also need to do something with my old one, but I don't know what.