Wednesdays Child

So far this week my work homie (A.) was fired, her wedding may not be happening now (a wedding I was looking forward to sooo much too because it would be beautiful and lovely and unique and they are both adorable and...oh I can't think about it), and I have TOTALLY blown my diet. Holy mother of god, like cake for breakfast blown my diet.

I want to scowl and cross my arms in front of my chest and say "hmmmph, not fair." I mean, okay the diet blowing is totally in my control and fault. But the rest. Ugh. A. was really awesome and totally unique here in a land of 23-year-old frat boys and math nerds. Thankfully she wrote me a really sweet email and I know we'll remain buds. But I'll miss our morning coffee run. Of course, my debt snowball might appreciate it.

The good thing though....my BFF Jennifer is PREGNANT!!!! Pregnant after 2+ years of having to wait through chemo, drugs, hair loss, tiredness, tests, losing an ovary and now....KNOCKED THE HELL UP! Plus her tests came back all clear too. Miracles do have a way of sneaking in.

Out of Ideas, officially

1. What are your nicest and ugliest articles of clothing?
Nicest: As in most expensive? Probably my bridesmaid dress for a wedding in December. My favorite/nicest piece of clothing would be my long pink fall coat. I love it, although now it’s too big.
Ugliest: Hmmm...I get rid of clothes I don’t wear pretty fast. And I’m kinda a girl that likes my clothes the uglier the better. But maybe a red and gold necklace from my great-grandmother’s costume jewelry collection. It’s so ugly I haven’t found a outfit to wear it with yet.

2. What are your favorite and least-favorite things about the city/town you live in?
Favorite: There are a million people or more here and they are all totally different looking. I love watching them in all the restaurants and cafes available close by.
Least: The commute and rats.

3. What were the longest and shortest durations of your romantic relationships?
Longest: Current, 11 years with theMan. Before him 2 years. I always thought I'd never get married because I couldn't stand boyfriends after 2 years.
Shortest: 1 date with a dude from high school, who ultimately ended up killing someone and himself at college. Dodged that bullet, literally. But I think I still have his really sweet love note to me somewhere.

4. Who are the oldest and youngest people in your family?
Youngest: Heaven (cousin’s baby)
Oldest: Great Grandpa Bob (91)

5. Who are your neatest and messiest friends?
Neatest: Erica. They have a lot of stuff, but it’s always clean enough to eat off of.
Messiest: Probably Jordan. Bless his heart. Sis and I used to clean his place for him back in the day to trade for beer and partying at his place.

6. What’s a gross food you like anyway?
Blue cheese, the stinkier the cheese, the better.

7. Who’s an unlikeable person you like anyway?
If I say, then that person will know others mislike them. I see what you did there!

8. What’s an unpleasant task you enjoy performing anyway?
Organizing, anything. Scraps of paper, clothing, shoes, bathroom cabinets. ANYTHING. OR maybe grocery shopping. I absolutely adore grocery shopping. Especially now that my grocery stores sells pints of beer while you shop.

9. What’s a dumb song you enjoy anyway?
Anything by Justin Timberlake and Ciara. The lyrics are usually stupid, but I can’t stop dancing.

10. What’s a lousy restaurant you frequent anyway?
Taco Bell (but only with my sister and we eat it while driving on back roads so our healthy husbands don’t find out...oops.)

Off the Chain

Lately at lunch at work I’ve just been combing the internet for design ideas. I’ve got an itch that only DIY projects can scratch and thankfully, the interweb is fukkin’ awesome for such projects. Since I have exhausted the design possibilities at mi casa, I’ve moved on to an obessession with my cubicle at work. I change my pictures using different color families (right now it’s blues/greens) but seriously, that’s lame. I want more pizazz. I want people to stop by and go "whoa".

But in my quest I’ve found some other great links. So I thought I’d share. Because I’m seriously lacking for content right now. Enjoy!

http://www.thethriftshopper.com/
TheThriftShopper.Com is a one-stop web destination for all your thrift shopping needs. Search for thrift stores in our national thrift store directory, join our online thrifting community, and learn more about thrift shopping!

http://designsponge.blogspot.com/2007/09/clip-wall.html
An idea for hanging art without having to buy 1,000 frames.

http://day-lab-diy.blogspot.com/
I want a TV cabinet or kitchen cabinets I can do this too. Because it’s awesome. Could almost do it in any room of your house. Even a bathroom cabinet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhappymeal/1202195183/
Pictures like this make me want to paint.

http://chicago.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/how-to/how-to-make-a-pushpin-canvas-board-030038
I’m slowly amassing ways to brighten up this cubicle at work.

Oh and my 15 books in a year project is going well on it’s way. I’m currently in love with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. “Player Piano”. I’d hoped to read his entire collection by 2007 end, but I didn’t realize how many I still had left. But hey, I made a hell of a dent.

9/11 Re Rill Never Rorget

Just to take the edge of my angsty pissed 9/11 post the other day. A moving tribute that should be on our dollar bill.

http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/002246.html

Working Closet

Since I have about wrapped up the 365 Project on Flickr, I've now joined the Working Closet pool. Basically it's "What did YOU wear to work today?" Nothing more, nothing less.

In the past year(s) I've been trying to make more of an effort to put outfits together, do my hair, etc. So why not be held accountable with pics? I'm already held accountable for my food since I've joined a weight-loss competition. Anything that can keep me from being lazy and going back to my standard, plain shirt, dark pants, black flats and ponytail. The world needs more crazy colors in our beige cubicle farms. Right?

Plus I kinda treat it like "What not to wear" and get ideas from others. I also feel a little like Cher from Clueless too with her polaroids. Anyways though, it's fun! So if you check my Flickr don't think my vanity has gone so bad that not only do I take 400 pics of my hair, but now my outfits. Actually um....go ahead and think it. It's probably true.

9/11

It's 9/11 today and also falling on a Tuesday like that day in 2001. I like the idea of everyone doing something good for someone today more than the ceremonies and memorials and such. So I think that is what I'm going to try to do.

Where were you on 9/11?

It was my second day of work at my new job in the big city after moving to Chicago. In the elevator I heard someone talking about it but it didn't hit until after I got to work. My co-worker from New York was listening in horror to the radio at full blast down in the basement where we worked. We listened for about 30 minutes until after the buildings fell then decided to get the hell out of there once we heard threats of the Sears Tower getting hit. This was also when the false reports of car bombs going off and stuff in front of buildings around Washington, etc.

I ran full out with 500,000 of my closest Chicagoans also pouring out of buildings to the EL trains. On the ride home people were crying and giving updates from their cell phones (those that worked) to everyone and kinda generally just coming together when normally people are silent and want to be left alone on the train. theMan picked me up and we raced home and spent the entire rest of the day on the couch with our roommates glued to the TV. Switching back and forth to the international stations to get details that American TV wasn't showing (people falling out of the buildings, etc) to get more of the story. I vividly remember newscasters crying and how eerily quiet it was without the airplanes going back and forth from O'Hare over our apartment. The phones were all out too. I'm not even sure if we ate that day.

Sadly, where I sit 6 years later I firmly believe more and more that things are not what they seemed that day. I believe that the entire thing reeks of controversy and lies. Whether I can prove anything remains to be seen, but I do know from that day forward I have had no trust in our government and leaders. None. I've only felt sadness. Those leaders should spend the rest of their mortal days serving others in a soup kitchen in the worst parts of the world and sleep on a cot in a jail cell at night.

Large numbers of people die everyday around the world, sure, but what really hit me about the entire thing was how our freedom, our sense of security went away so fast and how our government used it to make us fear absolutely everything and give away our rights. For that they should have to face a choice of burning to death or jumping out of buildings on fire while we look on from the comfort of our living rooms in horror.

Funk-ta-fied

Man. I'm in a funk. There is a sadness on me for the past week that I just can't shake. It was so bad Friday I had to just come home and sleep until Saturday or a bitch was going to get cut. ("Bitch" being anyone within 10 feet of my person.)

The only thing I can figure, besides my weight loss dealio, is that our schedule is about to and continually getting really crazy. We have no weekends free until mid-November. While I treasure my social life, I think it's starting to catch up with me before it begins. Especially if I'm able to sleep 12 hours just because I decide too.


We went to Theosofest (or however those fucking hippies spell it) this weekend. I sat in the lawn by myself and walked a labyrinth to try to still my mind a bit. I just had this overwhelming feeling that I wanted to be alone. I even attended a class on "clearing your chakras." It was all well and good but I still feel all anxious and sad inside. But I did manage to score some books for $0.25 and some really angry young man asking me if I was a witch.

There is just nothing for me to be that sad about, right? I mean, I did lose 4 lbs., so that's good! And I now have more family living close to us to visit (which is where I spent my Sunday). We're paying off debt! So I think I'm just going to put up some happy kitty posters around my brain and get the fuck over it. Whatever this is.

I think that's why depression is not only everywhere but frustrating. You just can't describe it and in my head at least, I feel like I should be able to just have a laugh already and move on.

Sounds like a good night for some funny movies.

Labor Day Joke

You might want to do a little research on the "North American Union" if you are concerned about the state of this nation. It's happening.

Just think! Your government passed this on LABOR DAY!

U.S. to Allow Mexican Trucks

By ROBERT GUY MATTHEWSFebruary 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Following a decade of dispute, the U.S. will open its highways to Mexican cargo trucks, in a move that could alter the economics of the domestic trucking industry and is already uniting some American lawmakers, unions and trucking companies to oppose the change.

The Transportation Department on Friday said it is starting a pilot program that could begin as soon as April that will allow 100 Mexican trucking companies unfettered access to U.S. roads. Under the program, both drivers and trucks must first pass certain safety checks designed and overseen by U.S. officials in Mexico. The program could eventually be expanded to include additional Mexican trucking firms.

If the trial succeeds, the U.S. trucking industry could change drastically. Mexican drivers are paid one-third to 40% less than their U.S. counterparts, who make an average of about $40,000 a year. An influx of Mexican truckers would be a boon for U.S. businesses with production lines in Mexico, by decreasing costs and delays from the current need to shift U.S.-bound goods at the border to American trucks from Mexican ones. According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. imported $198 billion of goods from Mexico in 2006.

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Wow, we really are a country devoted to the almighty dollar, aren't we?