work sucks...but i need de bucks.

why do we work?

never mind the standard answers: for food. rent. mortgage. bills.

why?

and also how did the whole concept of one person working for another come about?

why?

why do i ask impossible questions?

maybe because it's Friday, and i've got to go in tomorrow.

maybe i'm just wishing we could win the lotto, and pay off everything for everyone we know, then travel the world.

maybe because it's soooo bloody hot here. and humid. miserable does not even begin to describe it.

maybe because i feel i'm losing my mojo on all things creative - and work has been such lately that there's not much time to be creative, much less think about it.

maybe i'm just rambling.

i need a creativity break.

but it's toooooo dammmmm hottttttttttttt.

think i'll imagine myself out on a snowy hillside. icy cool breezes blowing. me wishing i had another sweatshirt.

dang. THAT was a buzz-killer.

happy Friday, y'all.

stop the insanity...

OK - so you know we got a new laptop.

it's all things to all people. it ROCKS!

and i forgot how cool it is to type on a new keyboard...lotsa spring to the step.

or fingers.

but...lately in the a.m., i've been online. checking email. checking blogs. checking stuff out.

and losing time.

now see, the smart thing to do would be to get ready for work, then spend the time on the 'net.

but noooooooo. i goof around on it until it's so late that if i don't get moving, i will be late for work.

not good.

this. must. end.

i'm too old to tell my boss that i was late because i was on the internet. it's not like it's a new thing...especially for me.

oooh. gotta go. "Dog" is back on.

you are an obsession...you're my obsession...

guilty pleasures...

where would we be without 'em?

how boring would life be, if we didn't have something we could enjoy...something that can't hurt you but brings you joy.

laughter.

excitement.

ladies & gentlemen: i present to you my latest guilty pleasure...

Dog the Bounty Hunter.

oh yeah.

it's a train wreck of a family, but i cannot look away.

started watching it last week in PA. see what you'll do when you're lonely?

but it is a cool show. it's weird, too, too see this family form a prayer circle, then after they get their fugitive, to be dropping F-bombs just seconds later.

weird.

cool show though.

what was i thinking?!

heard that song on country stations? couldn't tell you who sings it, but it's called What Was I Thinking? i love this song. all about you KNOW somthing is a mistake (like a date with a chick who's daddy doesn't like you), but you just keep doing it anyway.

well....

i got a spray on tan.

you may laugh now.





done? OK.

my arms & chest look great. it's just light enough so it looks natural (well, as natural as color will look on someone as lily white as me), but my legs & feet....not so much.

it's kinda walnuty-bordering on orange.

flashbacks to junior high & QT & orange palms.

so....

really got nothing else to add.

but i guess some color is better than none, for us transparent chicks.

altho' i love my own bed...

in my own place with my own husband & cat...

there is something sooooo "princessy" about having the "staff" make my bed, clean my bathroom & generally straighten up.

gotta love that.

got in Friday, had lunch with Husband before he took off for work. didn't do much of anything yesterday except nap (soooo nice. except when it's hot & humid like it is here, then you end up sweaty & gross). unpacked & straightened up yesterday, got a pizza for dinner & watched a movie till all hours.

life is good, no?

took today off to spend with Hubbs, now it's a matter of deciding what to do. Disneyland? movies? mini golf? ah the choices are endless, and with neither of us capable of making a decision, well, we're probably screwed.

oh, and did i mention we're watching "Amazing Stories" on SciFi?

if you've never seen the show, it was Spielberg attempt to bring back the old comic book version of basically the Twilight Zone, but much lighter. sometimes downright funny.

oh, and season one comes out on DVD next Tuesday. hmmmmm.....there might be a shopping trip in my future.

but not today. today is all about us.

ain't i the selfish one?

peace out. i be representing the sweaty contingent here in So.Cal.

for those that live in the East, i salute you

and not with a middle rigid digit.

granted, i live in California, the Nirvana of Good Weather. we have the occasional earthquake (Mother Nature having cramps, is what i call it), but for the most part, weather here is good.
hot in the summer, but good.

here i am in Philadelphia. highs have been in the upper 80s.

with 80% humidity.

now, as Cyn will remind us all, dry heat is better than humidty.

amen that sister.

see, a thunderstorm just moved through here. and with it, came a short, cloudburst. big heavy ass drops the size of, well...my ass.

hmmm...let's take 80% humidity and add rain!!!

nice joke. i ain't laughing.

this was 15 minutes ago. everything was soaked.

it's half dry now.

i leave the office in a few minutes.

it sucks to be me.

but on the bright side - Hubbs sent me a bouquet of flowers here in the office. my husband. he doesn't do things like that much any more.

he made me cry. the big lummox.

and the chick who brought them to me must think i'm crazy. i kept telling her they couldn't be for me. why? (and i don't believe i actually said this)
"my husband's too cheap."

tacky, tacky, tacky. but he doesn't do this. a wonderfully bright spot to an otherwise really hard, lonely, crappy week.

you rock, baby. i miss you. i can't wait to see you Friday.

the rest i will leave to your imagination. stay dry. stay cool.

i so want to play hookey...

but no. not me.

here in Valley Forge, PA. it's bee-u-tee-full out today, very little humidity, the breeze is blowing AND I'M FREAKING STUCK INSIDE AT WORK!!!!!

calm....calm.....calm....ommmmmmmmmmmm

there. better.

just counting the hours till i'm outta here today, then begins my frantic tourist trips. feel free to call me crazy, but here's what i wanna do within two days:

* Independence Hall/Liberty Bell
* Philadelphia Musuem of Art (hey - can you say the "Rocky" statue? i'm such a hick)
* Valley Forge National Park
* Gettysburg
* Hershey Chocolate World
* HersheyWorld (yep, like DisneyWorld)
* Amish Country

ain't no way. well, at least i've got reservations for Independence Hall & the Liberty Bell. across from all that is something called the National Constitution Center but i have no idea what that's all about & their website doesn't offer the info i'm looking for. so, if you know, leave me a comment so i can check it out.

oh...and I SAW DEER YESTERDAY.

hick, thy name is Valerie.

i know, i've seen deer before, zoos, petting zoos, etc. but live out in the open romping through the forest deer? naah. so i saw two of them. scampering. just like Bambi, but without the rabbit, skunk & owl. oh and a huge flock of geese. just moseying like they've got nothing else to do.

wait. they probably don't. wish i was a goose. ;o)

back to work. happy Friday everyone!

did i not just get home?

and i'm leaving again?

sheesh. you'd think i was important. not.

i'm off again to Valley Forge..a week & a half this time. all by myself, too, so i get to be a big, brave girl - - i hope. the one good thing about this is that i'm staying over a weekend (if you can call that good) but THIS time i'll get to go someplace: Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Hershey (hey - you gotta love a city that has the top of their street lights shaped like Kisses). i'll get to see something besides the office & hotel, with a restaurant in the middle.

sad that Hubbs won't come out for the weekend. oh well. there's a lot on his plate with the family, his mom's passing, and well, i think a little PMS-ing to boot (him, not me).

so forgive if i'm erratic in postings. say a prayer for me flying (i hate it!) and that i won't let anyone down in either of the offices. i'm a little nervous about being on my own out there.

peace out. hope your Glorious Fourth was Safe & Sane.

thanks

by the way...thanks so much for your postings & emails regarding my mother-in-law's passing. Hubbs & i really appreciate it.

here's a quick giggle for you: sister-in-law was talking to her husband about the cremation, the urns, you know. well, the 3 yr old was listening & asked mommy what an urn was.

mommy explained it was a little container so she could always keep a little of granmama with her. she further explained that it looked kinda like a salt shaker.

the 3 yr old thought about it for a minute.

"mommy - i don't want granmama on my eggs."

'nuff said. peace out.

celebrating America's Freedom

so honestly. who's bright idea was it that on the Glorious Fourth, we, as Americans, should celebrate our leaving the MotherCountry with lots of booming, stinky, pretty explosions of gunpowder?

it's OK if you rat someone out. i'm pretty non-confrontational. i wouldn't stalk.

but on the other hand...

first, let me clarify. i really love fireworks. don't care for sparklers (they scare me for whatever stupid reason), but ground blossoms, fountains, heck, i even still miss snakes. (remember them?)

but...

where i live, here in humid-as-the-jungle So. Cal., is across the street from an amusement park called Knott's Berry Farm. Hubbs & i got married there. the couple who started it, actually started it as a real berry farm with a roadside stand. then, as people gathered to buy their produce, Mrs. Knott's started selling her fried chicken dinners on her wedding china. then as the lines grew even longer, Mr. Knott started a little "Ghost Town" with gunslingers, can-can girls, the whole enchiladas - to entertain the folks in line.

heck, he even built a replica of Independence Hall. it's currently right next door to the new water park Knott's recently opened. something not quite right about that, but that's another posting.

back to the fireworks.

now, about 5 miles or so from us, is Disneyland. yes, the Happiest Place on Earth, that does fireworks every night during the summer. sometimes, i can see them from our bedroom window. tiny, but there. we can also hear the booms...nice & quiet.

can't say that about Knott's.

Knott's only does fireworks on the 4th & on New Year's eve @ midnight. but, being only a 1/4-1/2 mile from them, it's like they're going off under my apartment. the place shakes. the air reeks. they seem to go on forever.

just like the hundreds of car alarms that go off as the fireworks do...and stay on way after the show is done.

don't get me wrong - it is a cool show. i love watching it, but haven't for the last few years. see, we have an epileptic cat. not full-blown, though. our vet doesn't want him on Phenobarbatol since he has them so infrequently.

when we lived downstairs, the other cats would sit outside our patio door, tormenting the little Furrball....then the kids would start. seizures were more frequent. but once moving upstairs, all those distractions disappeared. and, as he has grown older, the seizures are almost non-existent.

yippee!! i hate cleaning pee from the carpet.

but, as you know, fireworks scares animals. they don't understand. they get scared. they run. they get killed.
simple solution: keep your animals inside. tranqulize if need be.

i just make sure i'm at home when they go off. Elvis won't run (like he used to), but lays near one of us, ears pinned back & tail a-flappin'. he ain't happy about the whole boom-boom thing, but will tolerate as long as someone is near to talk to him in even soothing tones.

part two of WHY I HATE FIREWORKS
oh, first, i should say that last year when the fine City of Buena Park voted on keeping fireworks legal, i did vote for it. all the stands around here are non-profit groups. having been part of one years ago, i can tell you we cleaned up on that stand. honestly made enough to clear our budget for the year.

what i hate are people. (not again with the "i want to live as a hermit." please.) see, they shoot off their fireworks all around the driveways here.

then they don't clean their mess up.

let's talk about something that irritates me more...wait. can't think of any.

how hard can it be? bring a bucket of water, after the piccolo pete has shot its wad, put it in the bucket. then, after everything is nice & soggy, you toss it in the trash.

it's so simple why both Forrest Gump & Slingblade could do it.

but apparently they are both geniuses compared to the residents at our complex.

so. if you've read this far, i congratulate you, Gentle Reader. if you take nothing else with you (besides the fact that i rant occasionally) then take this:

1) take care of your animals on the Fourth, and other times during the year.
2) clean up your firework messes.
3) stay tuned to Random Thoughts.

you never know what i'll bitch about next.